Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 370 Don't even think about it.
The shipyard was very close by, located on the outer slope of the river embankment, so the three of them simply walked there.

After leaving the water transport company and turning west, it took less than two minutes to walk up a long slope to the river embankment.

Like the Hexian waterway wharf, there are also more than twenty "small hills" piled up on both sides of the river embankment here, stretching for several miles.

However, the outer dikes of the Yangtze River are very large, so no matter how much cargo is piled up, it won't stand out. But the dikes here are much smaller than the Yangtze River, so they look quite spectacular.

Generally, the goods piled up in the open on both sides of the riverbank are basically three types.

Yellow river sand and gray fine sand are both river sand, but yellow sand has larger particles, while fine sand is the kind of sand commonly found on riverbanks, which is very fine. In building materials, these two types of sand are suitable for different scenarios.

Apart from these two types of river sand, the rest are all pebbles.

In northern regions, buildings are generally constructed using quarried and crushed mountain stones. However, in the Jiangnan region, where rock mines are scarce, local materials are sourced from rivers and lakes, where pebbles are dug for use. These pebbles come in various sizes and are suitable for different architectural scenarios.

When Chen Fan was building his house, some of the building materials delivered to him by various teams were all cobblestones. The ground in front of his new house and the small sloping road were paved with cement mixed with cobblestones, making them sturdy and durable.

On the other side of the long slope directly opposite is the Nanhu Commune Water Transport Wharf.

This is a purely cargo terminal; no passenger ships dock here, only cargo ships.

Except for passenger ships and fishing boats that came on their own.

Chen Fan walked up the embankment and looked down. He saw a long loess slope extending into the river, with a cement boat 3 or 40 meters long moored on the water's edge.

Two "shovels" were placed on the ship's side at one end and on the shore at the other. A group of porters were unloading goods onto the shore. There were horse-drawn carriages on the slope. After each carriage was loaded, the driver would wave his whip to drive the horses up the slope.

The water level is still quite high, and the height difference between the embankment and the plank is less than 10 meters. A dozen or so horse-drawn carriages are crammed together, making it look rather crowded.

Chen Fan looked at the cement boat, whose side was almost submerged by the river, his eyes filled with curiosity.

These cement boats were popular in the 70s, and could be seen from Chongqing to the coast. Originally, they were made to make up for the shortage of steel production, and the method of using steel mesh to hang cement was adopted to produce these boats, in order to replace the wooden boats that had been sailing on the water for thousands of years.

甚至在74年的时候，还造出过一艘长105.2米、宽14.5米、深8.1米、重3000吨的巨型水泥船“古田号”。

However, after only one voyage, the giant ship was laid up because it was too fuel-consuming to operate!
The original idea of ​​the higher authorities was that if the ship could be put into use and generate benefits, they would promote the construction of such large cement ships, specifically for near-shore transportation, or even for armed use.

However, after a ministerial-level preliminary review jointly organized by the Ministry of Transport and the State Administration of Building Materials, experts from various fields defined the ship as follows: "The steel wire mesh cement ship has advantages such as convenient maintenance, strong water tightness, and stable hull, but it has weaknesses such as being unable to withstand collisions and being heavy, so it is not suitable for widespread adoption."

At that time, whether it was a large wooden ship, a cement ship, or a steel ship, the power all relied on ship propulsion, which burned diesel fuel.

Therefore, the heavier the ship, the higher the fuel consumption. That cement ship weighs as much as 3000 tons, and then with the cargo added, how much diesel fuel does it consume to run?!

It's obviously not worth it.

Thus, the massive wave of cement ship construction came to an abrupt end.

Apart from cement ships under construction and already in production, the order book for cement ships visibly decreased in the following years, until it was completely cancelled.

In its place came steel ships.

There was even a clear plan from higher authorities to completely replace cement ships with steel ships in order to save fuel.

That was in 74.

On the embankment, Secretary Tian saw Chen Fan staring at the dock and couldn't help but smile, saying, "Teacher Chen, are you also interested in the cargo dock?"

Chen Fan looked back at him, then at Anquan, and said with a smile, "When I first arrived in Lujiawan, I had nothing. I was worried about how we would survive. We can't expect to live off relief food, right?"

Secretary Tian nodded slowly, seemingly without realizing it.

Outside of Nanhu Commune, almost no one knew anything about Chen Fan's background, and everyone assumed he was a native of Lujiawan Commune.

However, within the Nanhu Commune, everyone knew that Chen Fan had been rescued from the water by Yang Chuanfu, the captain of Team 6 in Lujiawan. When they heard Chen Fan's words, they naturally understood what he meant.

Chen Fan continued with a smile, "Back then, the storekeeper Huang brought me 30 jin of white rice and half a bag of sweet potatoes. If I ate them sparingly, they could last me a month or two. But we couldn't just keep spending without bringing in anything, so I was a little anxious. Then one of the educated youth in our team gave me an idea..."

He pointed to the busy dockworkers and chuckled, “She said that when the water rises, you can come here to work as a dockworker. At that time, the shipping company’s cargo ships come and go in an endless stream, and they need a lot of dockworkers. If you’re lucky, you can earn one or two dollars a day, or even more. As long as you work for one summer, you’ll have enough food for the whole year, and you might even be able to buy some meat for the New Year.”

When he mentioned coming here to work as a porter, Secretary Tian and An Quan were already grinning from ear to ear.

After hearing what he said, he was overjoyed and laughed heartily with his head tilted back.

After a while, Secretary Tian took a few breaths before smiling and saying, "It's a waste of your talents to have you work as a porter."

What is the concept of a porter? It's a laborer who comes when called and goes when ordered.

Any of the crew members on any of the boats moored in the water below are qualified to hire a few people to do the unloading.

Members of the five production brigades of Nanhu Commune were all proud to have relatives who were formal employees of the water transport company.

Especially during particularly busy times, temporary workers or apprentice relatives can be very helpful!

They were all racking their brains to find a way to earn that one or two yuan a day for their labor.

These are temporary dockworkers!

Who is Chen Fan?

When he came to the water transport company, Lao Tian personally accompanied him, a privilege that even Secretary Qian of the commune sometimes didn't receive.

The difference between the two is like heaven and earth!
Now that Chen Fan says he once planned to come here as a porter, how could Secretary Tian not laugh!

Anquan, still fanning the flames, looked at Chen Fan with feigned disdain, "Hmph, you think you can just ask to be a porter? Unless it's the busy harvest season, working as a porter here is a dream job that no other member of the production team can even dream of. Do you think a newcomer like you would get a chance?!"

Chen Fan also deliberately bowed and scraped, "Yes, yes, it was wishful thinking on my part. But back then, didn't Cadre An come here to stay? If we flatter Cadre An, maybe you'll soften your heart and say a good word for us in front of Secretary Tian. We might even get a job."

The two secretaries, Anquan and Tian, ​​exchanged a glance and burst into laughter.

Safety shook his head and smiled wryly, marveling at Chen Fan's shamelessness.

Secretary Tian pointed at Chen Fan and laughed, "Putting everything else aside, as long as you can demonstrate even a fraction of your writing skills, I can give you not only a porter position, but also a permanent employee position, and it'll be a cadre position!"

Chen Fan was already quite familiar with this kind of overt and covert solicitation, and immediately laughed and said, "Then you still don't know how to do business. In our current situation, if you put on a little airs and say, 'Little Chen, if you don't write me two articles, I won't give you the Lujiawan propeller,' I'll definitely be there to serve you, and the shipping company won't even have to pay me a salary."

Upon hearing this, Secretary Tian burst into laughter again, turned around, waved his hand, and walked forward.

He sighed inwardly, thinking, "Teacher Chen is indeed hard to recruit."

The three chatted and laughed for a mile before stopping.

Secretary Tian pointed to two factory-like buildings, one large and one small, on the outer dike that were almost submerged in water, and said, "The large one is the dock, where all the ship maintenance and repairs are done. The small one is the spare parts warehouse and office."

He turned to look at Chen Fan and smiled, "Shall we go straight to the warehouse, or do we take a tour first?"

Chen Fan grimaced, looked at the repair shop, then at Secretary Tian, ​​and asked curiously, "The water level hasn't reached the top yet. If it does, won't it flood the entire repair shop?"

Secretary Tian didn't explain, but just laughed and said, "Want to know? Why don't you go and see for yourself?"

Chen Fan immediately smiled and said, "I would be honored to accept your offer. Thank you, Secretary Tian."

Following Secretary Tian down the road, which led to the small warehouse and office, Chen Fan noticed a small path worn by people, which extended all the way to a small door in the dock. It was obviously a shortcut made by the workers.

He quickly entered the repair shop's office, and before Secretary Tian could speak, Chen Fan understood why this place was not afraid of flooding.

Inside the factory, the space was divided into two levels. The lower level was empty except for some iron cabinets and tables and chairs, all painted red to prevent rust. Chen Fan tried to pick up a chair, and even with his strength, he found it rather heavy.

Needless to say, it absolutely cannot be washed away by ordinary floods!
Above this floor, there is another steel structure shelf, and that's where the regular office space is located.

The layer above is slightly higher than the surface of the embankment.

Seeing this, Chen Fan understood, but he still didn't understand one thing.

Even if we can work on the second floor, how do we get in and out?
He didn't need anyone to explain; he just remembered the cargo ship at the dock and knew the answer.

springboard!

The repair shop is less than 10 meters from the embankment, and can be easily accessed with just a long plank.

No wonder they built the repair shop on the outer embankment, without fear of it being flooded.

Just then, two people came running down from upstairs. A middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, wearing work clothes stained with indelible dirt, laughed and said loudly, "Secretary Tian, ​​Director An, you're here."

As he spoke, he took out a cigarette and offered it to the customer.

Anquan took the cigarette and laughed, "Hey, hey, I'm not the director yet. If I don't become the director, can you give me the position?"

The man laughed and said, "The director doesn't have one, how about I give you this factory director position?"

Needless to say, this is definitely the manager of the repair shop.

However, this repair shop is a subsidiary of the water transport company, so I wonder if he has any cadre status? Normally, the director of the repair shop should be the deputy general manager of the water transport company, so he should be a cadre, right?

While pondering, Secretary Tian, ​​with a cigarette between his fingers, pointed at Chen Fan and said, "This is Teacher Chen from Lujiawan."

Then, pointing to that person, he smiled and said, "This is Cui Baozhang, the director of the repair shop and also the deputy secretary of the water transport company."

really.

Chen Fan nodded inwardly, extended his right hand to Cui Baozhang, and said with a smile, "Hello, Deputy Secretary Cui."

Cui Baozhang immediately reached out and shook his hand, grinning as he said, "I guessed it was Teacher Chen just now. After all, there aren't many people who are as handsome as him. Sure enough, I guessed right."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "Don't call me Deputy Secretary or Factory Director. If you think it's too kind of you, just call me Old Cui or Master Cui, it's fine either way."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Then I'll call you Master Cui."

After a pause, he asked, "Master Cui, I'd like to take a look at those two sets of machines first. Is that convenient?"

Without saying a word, Cui Baozhang gestured and said, "It's in the warehouse inside. I'll take you there."

He then took the lead and walked forward.

Chen Fan quickly followed behind him, first walking to the middle of the factory building, then climbing up a U-shaped staircase to the second floor.

Cui Baozhang walked ahead and turned to Chen Fan, saying, "There aren't many machine parts here, and they're mostly small parts. If any large parts are damaged, we usually buy them on the spot rather than preparing them in advance. After all, large parts aren't cheap, and it's not worth keeping money tied up here."

Chen Fan nodded slowly and followed him to the innermost part. Without needing an introduction, he saw two sets of sizable thrusters and immediately walked forward.

While he was inspecting the thrusters, everyone else remained silent, even holding their breath, for fear of disturbing his inspection.

Even if Secretary Tian just said it was fine if it couldn't be fixed, a complete set of this machine costs more than 4000 yuan.

Each "Dongfanghong-12" tractor costs only 3500 yuan, but a single propeller costs more than 1000 yuan more than the entire tractor. How could he not feel the pinch?

Chen Fan examined everything very carefully, but he was also quite fast.

A few minutes later, he stood up, looked at Secretary Tian, ​​and gently shook his head. "The diesel engine, steering system, and gear system are not the main problems. The main issues are with the bearings and propeller, which are severely damaged and almost impossible to repair."

Secretary Tian paused slightly, seemingly surprised, "The diesel engine, steering system, and gears are all fine?"

Cui Baozhang also said in surprise, "But the engineers from the province said that the whole system was unusable and that we should replace it with a new one."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan fell silent.

Could it be that there are some areas that you didn't check?

He thought for a moment, then turned around and checked again without saying anything.

This time it will take longer.

However, even the longest length has its limits, because all the major components are disassembled and placed there, making it almost immediately clear which parts are good and which are bad.

A dozen minutes later, he stood up again, looking puzzled, and said, “I checked all the parts. Except for the impeller, shaft, and bearings, which have serious problems and are almost irreparable, the other parts, such as the engine, gearbox, bracket, and rudder, have some minor issues but are still repairable.”

The propulsion system has three critical components: the engine system, the steering transmission system, and the final propulsion system. The first two are fine, only the propulsion system needs to be replaced, which is consistent with the ship damage situation that Secretary Tian mentioned earlier.

Therefore, by simply replacing the propulsion system components, including the bearings and impellers, and making minor repairs to the components of the other two systems, these two propulsion systems can continue to be used.

Why do the shipbuilding engineers from the prefectural committee and the province say it can't be repaired?

After listening to Chen Fan's words, Secretary Tian and Cui Baozhang looked at each other in bewilderment.

After several seconds, Cui Baozhang murmured, "No wonder I couldn't find any major problems with the engine; it turns out there were no problems at all!"

Secretary Tian didn't even want to say anything. He just picked up the cigarette that Old Cui had given him, lit it, and smoked a third of it in one go.

Anquan wiped his face, trying hard to suppress his laughter, and said indignantly, "Needless to say, either the engineers from the prefectural committee and the provincial repair shop didn't check carefully, or they simply didn't learn anything. Who knows how they got their diplomas? Their skills are substandard, so naturally they can't find the problem."

Chen Fan nodded secretly to himself.

To be honest, many talented people have emerged from the college students who were recommended for admission over the years, and some of them have even become academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

However, overall, the majority of those who are just pretending to be competent still make up the majority. Otherwise, the vice president wouldn't have said that a few days ago, "That's Tsinghua Middle School and Tsinghua Primary School, not Tsinghua University."

At that symposium, professors and experts from their school spoke frankly, saying that some people did not even have a high school diploma when they graduated, and some even had only the junior high school level of 10 years ago. This was the result of the hard work of all the teachers in the school!
If things are like this over there, can we be sure that the situation in Jiangnan won't be any better?

Therefore, these days, "engineers" are not necessarily as reliable as master craftsmen who didn't finish elementary school. At least they get promoted based on their real skills, not by exchanging diplomas for benefits.

In this situation, Chen Fan only wanted to compose a poem... but never mind, earning propulsion units is more important.

He immediately coughed to attract the attention of Secretary Tian and Cui Baozhang, and then said with a smile, "Secretary Tian, ​​Master Cui, I don't know what the situation was like before, but according to my current inspection results, we only need to buy two new sets of bearings and propellers. The remaining minor problems should be solved with the cooperation of welders, fitters and forgers of level 5 or above."

Master Cui immediately said, "A Level 5 technician is just an intermediate level among intermediate technicians, not particularly skilled. We have one in our repair shop."

Chen Fan nodded, turned to look at Secretary Tian, ​​and smiled, "Then we'll see if Secretary Tian is willing to buy the new parts."

Ultimately, this isn't about whether or not to buy the parts, but about trust.

So far, Chen Fan's achievements in the field of machinery are only two: assembling two diesel engines and designing a small water tower. Compared with the engineers of the prefectural committee and the provincial capital, he is far inferior.

Whom will Secretary Tian ultimately believe?

Before Secretary Tian could speak, Chen Fan continued, "Or, let me make a suggestion, Secretary Tian. Since your shipping company is treating these two sets of machines as scrap anyway, why don't you sell them to us at scrap metal prices? That way you can make a pure profit, a sure win. What do you think?"

Secretary Tian rolled his eyes and said, "Don't even think about it!"

(End of this chapter)