[1980s] + [People's Defense Industry] + [Arms Dealer] + [Building Wealth] + [Major Industrial Power]
1980.
China's strategic focus shifted entirely to economic development.
A large number of military contracts were canceled, and many Third Front defense factories faced closure.
Su Yuan gave up a promising career in Yanjing and volunteered to go to Factory 304 to lead its conversion to civilian production.
"You bastard, you call this a gas cylinder?!"
When they saw the first product Su Yuan developed for Factory 304, everyone was stunned!
Twelve-millimeter seamless thick walls, a slot for a large-caliber fuse, plus four aerodynamic stabilizing fins!
He had turned an unsold cooking appliance into a giant demolition shell!
What?
Making weapons without authorization could land him before a military tribunal?
Su Yuan looked innocent. "This really is just an ordinary gas cylinder! What the customer does with it after buying it, they don't tell me!"
And, in case the customers didn't know how to use it, he thoughtfully included a "Safety and Usage Warning Guide":
Whatever you do, don't boil fertilizer and sugar together in an iron pot in the right proportions!
Whatever you do, don't weld a seamless pipe at a forty-five-degree angle and use a battery to ignite it!
The first deposit of 250,000 dollars hit the account.
The entire factory got its full wages, plus double bonuses!
The once lifeless Third Front factory roared back to life, and the long-missed aroma of meat finally drifted through the family housing compound.
It all began with a single gas cylinder.
These Third Front defense workers, forgotten by the times, were following their young deputy director as they transformed a factory deep in the mountains into an industrial backbone that would shake the world...
