"General Master Zhang, the venue has been set up and everyone from the other party has arrived."

The secretary in charge of Xingang cooperation negotiations reported to Zhang Xingyang.

"Negotiations can begin at any time."

Zhang Xingyang quickly walked to the conference room while browsing the Xingang work log of the past few days.

His time is limited.

The entire negotiation process must be compressed into two hours.

"Did Yingjiang say anything about the conditions they gave?"

Zhang Xingyang didn't look up and said to the work secretary beside him.

"Not yet, we asked before."

The secretary quickly replied: "They said they want to interview you after seeing you."

"snort!"

Zhang Xingyang sneered: "They just want to ask for more things."

The other party knew very well that all the actual approval powers of Xinggang were in Zhang Xingyang's hands.

If they can convince Zhang Xingyang, then they can occupy a large share after serving in the star port.

"But what they think is doomed to fail!"

Zhang Xingyang stood at the door of the conference room and said softly.

Then he straightened his collar to make sure there was no image problem.

Then he gave the secretary a look.

With quick eyesight and quick hands, the secretary quickly pushed open the heavy conference room door.

After entering the conference room lobby.

People from both parties had already filled both sides of the conference room.

After Zhang Xingyang Dama Jindao took his seat.

"Your Excellency, we"

Before the scientist, who spoke less fluent Mandarin, could finish speaking.

Zhang Xingyang directly stretched out his right hand to stop his next speech.

"It's not your turn to speak now!"

Then he stood up and scanned the whole place with sharp eyes and said:

"I know what your intentions are."

"We won't talk nonsense anymore!"

"With a one-billion-dollar quota, how much you can secretly learn is up to you!"

"I've finished my words, let's talk."

Zhang Xingyang's words were like a nuclear bomb.

It exploded in the crowd instantly.

Different people have different reactions.

Our own personnel are generally surprised that this amount is low.

You must know the expenditures of Star Port in all aspects.

It has now exceeded 40 billion.

This does not include a large number of domestic aerospace systems, various equipment, services, etc. provided at nearly cost prices.

Complete completion of the first phase of the project will require an investment of at least 100 billion.

The number of members that the first phase of the project can accommodate is far from the final plan of 1,000 people.

Even one tenth of it is considered overloaded.

In fact, according to the plan, the first batch of astronauts and experts to settle in the space station will not exceed 20 people.

If it is really the settlement quota after the completion of the Star Port.

The price of one billion US dollars may barely cover the cost.

For Eagle Sauce's negotiators, this price is ridiculously high.

The project that Yingjiang currently invests the most in space is the International Space Station project.

But the total investment in the International Space Station is only US$100 billion.

Moreover, this US$100 billion was invested by more than a dozen countries.

Although Yingjiang occupies the dominant position in the International Space Station, he actually only accounts for a little more than half of the funding.

That’s less than $60 billion.

But there have been more than 100 astronauts who have boarded the International Space Station.

On average, the investment per person is less than US$600 million.

After all, they might as well continue to work on the International Space Station project.

"Mr. Zhang, is this price too expensive?"

Joseph, who was in charge of the negotiation, said with a dry mouth.

The numbers reported by Zhang Xingyang are indeed a bit scary.

NASA's total annual funding is estimated to be insufficient for a few people to board the star port.

"Can you lower the price a little bit?"

When he said this, Joseph felt very embarrassed.

How had they ever been so humble before this?

Now they have to bow their heads under the technological hegemony of the Dragon Kingdom.

It seems that since the Dragon Kingdom's first manned space flight was successful, they have been making rapid progress in aerospace.

Joseph thought in his mind.

And those idiots at NASA are still basking in the glory of the past.

They didn't realize that the gap between them and the Dragon Kingdom was getting bigger and bigger.

And they are the ones left behind.

The people of the Dragon Kingdom have begun to build a giant space station with a capacity of 10,000 tons.

They are also arguing with other countries on the International Space Station project.

The more Joseph thought about it, the sadder he became.

"Sorry, this is the price we set after internal discussions. We can't agree to anything lower than this number."

Zhang Xingyang shook his head and said:

"Actually, I don't know how happy those royal families in the desert would be if they heard this price."

Zhang Xingyang's statement gave Joseph a blow.

For Yingjiang, to maintain his status, he must maintain his global military strength.

In recent years, the rise of the Dragon Kingdom has suppressed Yingjiang in many aspects.

This forced Yingjiang to compete with Longguo in many high-tech fields.

To this end, huge amounts of money have been invested in many military projects.

In order to have more money invested in military projects, including many high-tech projects within NASA Space City.

All were abandoned.

NASA's current funds are actually very limited.

Not to mention Dragon State, which has invested huge amounts of money in the aerospace field.

Even desert countries that have just started to enter the aerospace industry and are preparing to develop the aerospace industry cannot compare.

These countries, which rely on the oil economy, have also been pursuing industrial transformation in recent years.

They are far more willing to spend money on these industries than Eagle Sauce.

Joseph's face became very ugly.

But he couldn't turn his back.

Because Zhang Xingyang now controls the entire technology tree of Starport.

If you want to catch a ride on future interstellar development, you have to ask Zhang Xingyang.

Unless they want to fall behind other countries in the space age.

"If we are willing to pay such a price, will our people's activities inside the star port be restricted?"

Compared with Joseph who was obsessed with the high price, the scientists on the opposite side were more concerned about whether there would be restrictions.

If you can move around the starport without restrictions.

So the price of one billion US dollars is not expensive.

It's equivalent to paying a certain price to steal someone's skills.

Zhang Xingyang could naturally hear what the other party was planning.

Smiling, he said, "Except for some generally prohibited areas."

"Such as: energy room, power room, material cabin and other key areas."

"We will not impose special restrictions on entry into other areas."

restrictions in these critical areas.

Everyone here can understand.

After all, if someone with bad intentions enters these key areas.

Then an unimaginable disaster will break out.

Therefore, as the leader of the Star Port project.

The Dragon Kingdom must have all the key areas in its hands.

"It's actually good for us."

The science advisor whispered in Joseph's ear.

"Maybe we only need a few billion dollars to know all the secrets of their star port construction."

Obviously, Yingjiang wants to cross the river by imitating the Dragon Kingdom.

I hope that I can copy the overall plan for the construction of the star port at a very small cost.

Joseph's originally somewhat decadent eyes suddenly became more radiant.

"You mean we only need a few experts to know their technical details?"

Realizing that his career future seemed to be saved, Joseph quickly asked.

"I have studied the technical information currently leaked from the Star Port."

The scientific advisor spoke quickly in Joseph's ear:

"Although the star port is currently 900 meters in diameter, its width is only ten meters."

"Even if you spread it out in its entirety, it's actually about half the size of a small city block."

"Without considering the technical details, we only need no more than ten people to figure out its design plan."

It is impossible to fully understand the technical details of the star port.

Just the recipes of various materials can tire people to death.

But as long as you know the design standards of the star port.

Then they only need to come up with materials with similar technical indicators.

Although Eagle Sauce has lagged far behind in space metallurgy.

But in terms of traditional materials science, hundreds of years of accumulation have been accumulated.

It still gives him a lot of advantages.

If they weren't doing metal processing in space, they would actually be able to make quality parts.

"Are you sure that ten quotas are enough to understand all their design details?"

Joseph asked rhetorically.

When it comes to spying on the design details of Longguo Star Port, the more people, the better.

But they also have to face a fact.

The price of one billion dollars per person is simply too expensive.

This is more than ten times more expensive than the same weight of gold!

But if there are fewer people sent up.

You have to face another problem.

That's the problem with missing details.

If it is traditional ground equipment, such as tanks and warships.

After an error is discovered, there are many opportunities to remedy it.

Even if it has been launched into the water, it will not cause significant loss of personnel and equipment.

But space is different from these environments.

Space is very cruel, if anything unexpected happens.

The probability of survival of humans inside space artifacts is infinitely close to 0.

Even if not killed in the first moments of the accident.

And successfully put on an extravehicular spacesuit and floated in space.

They can also die from lack of oxygen, high-energy rays, etc.

"We may still need to calculate this number, and we cannot draw a conclusion immediately."

The science advisor hesitated for a few seconds and then said.

After Joseph nodded, he said to Zhang Xingyang:

"We need some time to discuss the number of places."

Zhang Xingyang waved his hand indifferently and asked them to go to the side room to discuss.

Wait until everyone in Yingjiang leaves.

Many of our personnel came to Zhang Xingyang's side.

I found that more and more people were surrounding me.

Zhang Xingyang finally raised his head and looked at them.

"If you have anything to ask, just ask."

"General Master Zhang, is one billion too little?"

"Yes, yes, we can't even get our money back!"

"It's not too much to charge them 10 billion!"

Zhang Xingyang laughed when he heard this and said to everyone:

"Did you listen to me carefully just now?"

"What exactly did I just say?"

The other people standing suddenly looked at each other.

"Didn't you say one billion dollars per quota?"

"I think I heard you correctly?"

"You heard that right, that's what I heard too."

Some people in the crowd had already reacted, showing expressions of surprise.

"General Master Zhang, you don't mean that, do you?"

Zhang Xingyang smiled and said, "That's what I mean!"

The people nearby looked at the two men playing riddles and were a little confused.

He quickly asked him to explain what he meant.

The man who had already understood swallowed his saliva and said:

"This billion dollars only buys a quota, which means it just gives them a ticket to join!"

The people next to him realized how dark Zhang Xingyang was talking about.

Since it is just an admission ticket, any subsequent activities will cost money.

The starport astronauts on the ground were undergoing adaptation training in the early stage.

What?

You said that you have boarded the International Space Station several times and do not want to pay for the experience?

The International Space Station at an altitude of 380 kilometers and the Star Port at an altitude of 36,000 kilometers face completely different situations.

If anything happens due to your personal lack of training.

We are not responsible.

So, dig in and pay for it!

Such a high-end, unique training program for humans.

Isn’t it too much to just force you to accept 100 million?

The launch fee required to travel from the ground to the star port.

Isn’t it too much to charge each person $50 million? !

What?

You said a trip to the International Space Station only costs $55 million?

But the height of our star port is almost a hundred times higher.

Doesn’t the extra fuel cost money?

It only charges 50 million per person, which is already very cheap!

Of course, you can also pay only $25 million.

We offer one-way service into Star Port.

We will send you a parachute on your return trip.

Then strap a rocket motor directly to you.

Just treat the parachute and engine as gifts from us.

And arrived inside the star port.

That means everything costs money.

Every water you drink, every breath of oxygen you take.

They are all transported from the earth tens of thousands of kilometers away at an astronomical price.

On Earth, the price of goods on the top of a mountain several thousand meters away can be ten times that of the foot of the mountain.

Selling it for a hundred times the price is not too much, right?

After such an explanation.

Everyone felt it after such a pass.

Ying Jiang wants to send someone to the star port for long-term work.

Excluding the one-billion-dollar admission ticket, at least four to five billion US dollars are needed.

Some people even started to frown and said:

"What if they react to such conditions and quit midway?"

"No, they won't!"

Before Zhang Xingyang could speak, the person who had just agreed had already answered first:

"They have already paid a billion dollars in the early stage, and the sunk costs will force them to continue on the same path until they end up in trouble!"

In fact, the reason why Zhang Xingyang firmly believes that they will not quit is even simpler.

That is, the Dragon Kingdom currently holds hegemony in space technology.

As long as Yingjiang doesn't want to be tied to the ground, he will definitely accept such conditions.

Even if they know that this is a glass of wine containing chronic poison, they will still drink it!

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