nashuaworldcup Chapter 374 Slaughtering the Fat Sheep
Chapter 374 Slaughtering the Fat Sheep
The transport captain actually came to him personally and asked Lu Chen to help train pilots. This really puzzled him. You know, the transport captain had specially hired professional instructors and opened a special flight training class before! Why did he send the trainees to him now?
Lu Chen pondered over it, but still couldn't figure out the real intention behind the transport captain's move. Since he couldn't figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. Anyway, it wouldn't be a bad idea for him to train these pilots. As long as the transport captain was willing to pay the corresponding tuition, Lu Chen thought it was no problem to help. After all, if a war broke out, training one more excellent pilot would give China's vast sky an extra solid protective force.
Thinking of this, Lu Chen smiled and extended his right hand to Zhou Zhiqian standing in front of him, saying warmly and friendly: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, I'm very happy to meet you!"
Seeing this, Zhou Zhiqian immediately smiled and reached out his hand in response. He shook Lu Chen's hand tightly and said, "Mr. Lu, I have heard of your name for a long time! I am so happy to meet you today!"
"Oh? I wonder who Mr. Zhou heard about me from. You know, I have been living abroad for many years. According to common sense, few people in China should know of my existence!" Lu Chen looked at Zhou Zhiqian with confusion.
Zhou Zhiqian waved his hands quickly and retorted with a look of disapproval: "Alas, Mr. Lu, you are too modest! You are well-known in our China. Not to mention the people in Magic City, even the people in Jinling are familiar with your name!"
Hearing this, a thought suddenly flashed through Lu Chen's mind - the Yun family had once helped him become famous in China. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but curse the Yun family several times in his heart. However, on the surface, he remained calm and pretended to be extremely surprised, and asked Zhou Zhiqian:
"Is it really so? I am so famous in China? Then why am I famous? Is it because I have worked hard in the United States for many years and made a huge fortune? Or is it because I generously donated money to support Franklin's participation in the US presidential election?"
Zhou Zhiqian couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, and said slowly: "Haha, there are rumors everywhere in the country that you, Lu Chen, are a well-known business tycoon and a successful person!"
"Is that so?" Lu Chen nodded slightly, thinking to himself. Seeing that Zhou Zhiqian avoided talking about the previous topic and obviously didn't want to tell the truth, Lu Chen wisely decided not to dwell on this issue any more.
He took a deep breath, looked directly at Zhou Zhiqian with a firm gaze, and asked directly: "Mr. Zhou, in this case, let's get straight to the point. How do you plan to cooperate with me?"
Zhou Zhiqian showed a meaningful smile on his face and asked slowly, "Mr. Lu, before that, I would like to know the actual situation of the pilot training school you founded. After all, this is related to the specific plan and conditions of our subsequent cooperation."
Lu Chen smiled and responded confidently, "Don't worry, Mr. Zhou. The instructors hired by my school are all ace pilots carefully selected from the military. They not only have excellent flying skills, but also have rich teaching experience. Whether it is theoretical knowledge teaching or practical operation guidance, they can definitely guarantee first-class teaching level. Moreover, my school is located in the Middle East, where the vast airspace provides students with sufficient flight training time. In addition, you don't have to worry about the fuel supply. I have enough reserves to meet the students' daily training fuel consumption needs."
Lu Chen enthusiastically introduced the school's hardware and software facilities to Zhou Zhiqian in detail, from the spacious and bright classrooms, advanced and complete teaching equipment to the broad and flat training grounds and various types of aircraft with excellent performance, etc.
Zhou Zhiqian listened to Lu Chen's story attentively. As he got to know more about these facilities, the envy on his face became more and more obvious. Compared with the training class they opened, it was a world of difference. In their training class, due to limited resources, the students' flight practice time was strictly limited, and they could only experience it for a short time each time; and the number of aircraft was scarce, far less than that of Lu Chen's school. Fortunately, the instructors in their training class were of high level, and it could be said that they could barely be compared with Lu Chen's school in this regard.
After Zhou Zhiqian pondered for a moment, he asked, "Mr. Lu, how many students can your school recruit at present?" Lu Chen answered without hesitation, "It should not be a problem to accept another 200 students." This sentence flashed through Zhou Zhiqian's mind like a flash of lightning, and instantly made his eyes shine with excitement. There are still 200 places for students! If he can take them all, then he only needs to wait for one or two years to have 200 excellent pilots with actual combat capabilities. Thinking of this, Zhou Zhiqian was so excited that he could hardly control himself, and hurriedly shouted loudly, "Mr. Lu, I want all your 200 student places!"
Zhou Zhiqian's words hit Wu Xuance's heart like a heavy hammer, and his face instantly became extremely gloomy. He thought to himself, "This Zhou Zhiqian is too arrogant and unreasonable! He actually wants to take all the places in his pocket without considering the feelings of others. If he succeeds, how should we, the Red Gate, deal with it? We must not let him get all these precious places as he wishes!" Thinking of this, Wu Xuance was extremely anxious, and he quickly turned to Lu Chen and said anxiously:
"Brother Lu Chen, we at Red Gate also need 20 places!"
However, Lu Chen was also very surprised at this time. He never expected that Zhou Zhiqian's ambition was so big that he asked for two hundred quotas at the first sight. Not only that, even a gang like Red Gate came to join in the fun, which really made him a little confused. After all, in his opinion, Red Gate was just an ordinary gang. What was the purpose of having so many pilots? Could it be that they were planning to fly planes to fight with others for territory?
Lu Chen was muttering to himself while thinking about countermeasures. Suddenly, he had an idea. Since these people came to him eagerly and offered him money, how could he refuse the God of Wealth? Although recruiting more than 200 students at once would indeed bring a lot of pressure, fortunately, the school he was running was still large and should be able to accommodate them. As for the coaches, he could just find a few more when the time came.
As long as he accepted these students and slightly raised the tuition fees, he could immediately make enough profit from them, and might even be able to recover the training fees he had paid for his second brother's 100 students.
So, Lu Chen looked at Zhou Zhiqian with a smile on his face, and said slowly: "Mr. Zhou, you may not know that training pilots is not an easy task. The human, material and financial resources required are all huge. So, if you want to recruit 200 students, I wonder if you can afford the high tuition?"
Zhou Zhiqian frowned and calculated silently in his mind. According to the standard of training pilots in his country, the average cost of each student is about 500 to 600 US dollars. In this way, the total cost of 200 students is about 100,000 to 120,000 US dollars.
Thinking of this, Zhou Zhiqian couldn't help but ponder the situation on Lu Chen's side. The conditions of the school managed by Lu Chen should be better than his own, so the training cost must be increased. However, it shouldn't be too much higher. So, after some thought, Zhou Zhiqian decided to add an extra 50% on top of his own expenses. In this way, he could roughly calculate the cost on Lu Chen's side.
After all the data was clearly listed in his mind and carefully calculated, Zhou Zhiqian finally felt relieved. After all, the total cost was only about 200,000 US dollars. For them, although this amount of money was not a small amount, they could still afford it with a little effort. He raised his mouth slightly, revealing a confident and calm smile, and said:
"Mr. Lu, please rest assured! There are only two hundred students. We are definitely able to afford their tuition fees."
Lu Chen was secretly delighted and couldn't help thinking, "Hey, since you guys are able to afford it, then I don't need to be polite!"
Lu Chen had previously learned about the tuition fees of local flight schools in the United States. These schools train ordinary civilian pilots, and the annual tuition fee is roughly around $1000 per person. However, it should be noted that this fee only covers the teaching expenses, and does not include other related expenses such as actual combat training, accommodation, and meals.
In contrast, the flight school founded by Lu Chen is completely different. This school is a cradle dedicated to training fighter pilots, and a strict military management system is implemented on campus. Not only that, the students' food and accommodation are all provided by the school, and live-fire shooting training courses are also organized. After taking all these factors into consideration, Lu Chen thought that the annual tuition fee of $2000 for each student should be considered a very reasonable and not expensive price.
Thinking of this, Lu Chen smiled and said calmly to Mr. Zhou in front of him: "Mr. Zhou, our school charges each student 2000 US dollars per year. If you intend to send students to study here, the total tuition fee per year will be as high as US dollars. Of course, if you think this price is acceptable, I can immediately reserve admission places for you."
After that, he turned to Wu Xuance and said:
"Brother Wu, the same goes for you. If you can accept the tuition, I will also accept the twenty of you."
Zhou Zhiqian was shocked by the price Lu Chen offered. He stammered:
"Two to two thousand dollars per person? How can it be so expensive? We only need to spend five or six hundred dollars."
Lu Chen smiled and explained:
"Mr. Zhou, don't think my place is expensive, but there is a reason why it is expensive. If you go out and ask around, in the United States, even for civilians to learn to fly in ordinary flight schools, it costs a thousand dollars. And this is an ordinary flight school. They don't teach people to fight in the air or drop bombs.
My school trains pilots for the military. In our school, students not only learn how to fly, but also learn how to fight in the air and drop bombs on the ground. They all have to undergo actual combat training. So you can't compare my school with ordinary flight training classes. I charge you 2,000 yuan per school year, which is already very cheap. "
After hearing Lu Chen's words, Zhou Zhiqian suddenly remembered the students he had sent to Germany to learn flying. Didn't the Germans ask him to provide them with ten tons of tungsten ore? According to the value, the cost of this one person was about two to three thousand US dollars.
Compared to Germany, Lu Chen's tuition is much cheaper. After making the comparison, Zhou Zhiqian quickly accepted Lu Chen's price. He said:
"Okay, $400,000. We'll pay for the tuition."
Lu Chen was very happy when he heard that Zhou Zhiqian agreed to his offer. Four hundred thousand dollars, he would make a fortune. Although he did teach more than ordinary flight schools, the tuition was not much more expensive.
The main cost of training pilots is actually the daily training expenses, and the largest proportion of these training expenses is fuel consumption.
But for Lu Chen, oil is not a problem at all. He has the mining rights of the oil field in the Middle East. He can get hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil every year. Then he and Dio opened an oil refinery there, and he can produce the oil himself. The price of the oil he produces is much lower than the market price. So Lu Chen can save a lot of money on the oil cost.
As for food and lodging, anyone who has worked in the catering industry knows that there are a lot of tricks involved. It's just a big pot of rice. Lu Chen doesn't spend much money.
Having made money, Lu Chen was in a good mood. He smiled and said to Zhou Zhiqian:
"In that case, Mr. Zhou, go back and select the students. Once you have selected the students, notify me immediately. After I receive the notification, I will immediately send someone to your place to receive the students."
After Zhou Zhiqian finished talking, Lu Chen looked at Wu Xuance and said to him:
"Brother Wu, what do you think? If you really can't afford it, you can send fewer students to my place."
Wu Xuance was originally unwilling to accept Lu Chen's price. He thought that two thousand dollars was too expensive, and he wanted Lu Chen to lower the price. But when he saw that Zhou Zhiqian had agreed to the price, he could no longer bring up the idea of lowering the price.
He said somewhat unhappily:
"It's only a few tens of thousands of dollars, and we at Red Gate have agreed to it."