Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 659 Independent Research and Development
Yang Kangnian hurriedly returned to his office, pushed open the door, and saw Chen Fan sitting leisurely on the sofa, reading the newspaper with his legs crossed.

Only Chen Fan could enter this office when he wasn't there.

He took a couple of breaths, closed the door behind him, glanced at Chen Fan, and walked to the corner. "Where did you come from this time?"

Chen Fan stood up to greet him, then picked up the thermos to refill his teacup, and said, "Lujiawan, where else could it be?"

Yang Kangnian wiped his face with a towel, threw the towel into the basin, rolled up his sleeves and walked over, looking quite surprised. "You've been staying here for over a month without going out?"

Chen Fan hummed in agreement and sat back down on the sofa. "There's too much work at the office, I just want to come back and find some peace and quiet."

This is no lie. As long as he's in the workplace, Chairman He and Secretary-General Xu will always find him something to do.

They either made him teach at a correspondence center or urged him to write a book.

Or perhaps we could discuss with him whether or not we should go out for exchanges or visits.

Chairman He made it sound nice at the time, saying that he could just be a figurehead and nothing else would happen. But then, there was this and that, and he should get a raise!

Yang Kangnian sat on the other sofa, looking at him curiously, and tossed him a cigarette. "Didn't you do anything else?"

Chen Fan took the cigarette, lit it, and laughed, "Yes, I do. I'm running all over the village during the day, first helping with the autumn harvest, then running a side business. I have a lot to do."

I wrote a news article during the autumn harvest and spent every day working at my side business; those count as part of my job, right?

Yang Kangnian smiled, clearly not very convinced, but he didn't say much, and instead asked, "So you haven't written any new novels during this time?"

Chen Fan pursed his lips, "Why does everyone ask this question?"

Yang Kangnian sighed and said irritably, "Who told you to write so slowly? I've read all the books you wrote before, and you still haven't written two more."

Chen Fan's eye twitched slightly as he said, "I'm still writing it, but this one is quite difficult to read, so it might not be published until next year or the year after."

This untitled realistic novel only requires a few hundred words to write each day.

Most of the time, he was writing "The Legend of the Dragon Knight," which could make him a lot of money. After more than a month, the second part was completed, and the third part was started.

Zhou Yali will definitely come over to play during her winter vacation, so it's perfect to have her take some people back with her.

When Yang Kangnian heard Chen Fan say that it wouldn't be published until next year or the year after, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. "Why is it taking so long this time?"

Chen Fan: "It hasn't been that long. It used to be serialized in magazines, but I plan to finish writing this book before publishing it. Besides writing this book, I've also been publishing articles in magazines, here and there, so there's always something new to write."

After finishing his cigarette and chatting for a while, Chen Fan finally got down to business.

He looked at Yang Kangnian with a serious expression. "Uncle Yang, we talked last time about which direction you plan to develop in. Have you thought it through?"

Yang Kangnian is currently the Party Secretary and Director of both Yunhu Machinery Factory and Yunhu Automobile Factory. However, at the end-of-year meeting, these concurrent positions will be reassigned, and he will only be able to manage one of the two factories.

Moreover, it is inappropriate for him to hold both the positions of Party Secretary and Factory Director.

This was done in the past to make it easier for him to manage the unit after his retirement. Now that everything has been clarified, he can no longer handle both administration and production at the same time.

He could either become the Party Secretary, in charge of administration, and pursue a political career, or he could become a good factory director, focusing on production, and develop his career in state-owned enterprise leadership.

If it were 20 years from now, there would be no question about it; of course, the former would be the better choice, as the future would be brighter.

However, in that era, and even until the mid-90s, production units with good performance offered better benefits and career prospects than the former.

During this period, the emphasis was on "putting production at the center," and all resources were to be directed toward production units.

This policy didn't just come about after the reform and opening up; it was established in the 5s and 60s.

The reality at that time was to simultaneously manage social classes and production.

Yang Kangnian was initially puzzled when he heard Chen Fan's words.

Didn't he bring this up when he came last time? Why is he bringing it up again today?
And judging from his posture, it seems he came specifically for this?
He looked at Chen Fan and pondered for two seconds, a vague guess forming in his mind, "Has something happened?"

Chen Fan smiled, took out a cigarette and handed one over, then lit one for himself. He then said with a smile, "Well, the reason I came here this time is to ask the machinery factory to develop a machine."

Yang Kangnian's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared intently at him. "Is this machine very important?"

Chen Fan nodded slightly and said seriously, "If the research and development is successful, and it is combined with the breeding manual summarized by Lujiawan, it will help our country's poultry breeding to make rapid progress and increase farmers' income."

Yang Kangnian was immediately taken aback, and said with a serious expression, "You can't just say things like that!"

Chen Fan smiled and explained, "What I'm developing is a live poultry incubator that can hatch thousands of chicks at the same time."

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian's eyes lit up. "An incubator? Incubating thousands of eggs at the same time?"

If this machine can really be developed, it will indeed be of great help to poultry farming in rural areas, just as Chen Fan said.

Previously, raising too many chickens was prohibited, and there was a shortage of chicks. Breeding stations often lacked chicks, so vendors selling chicks in baskets became the main source of chicks in rural areas.

If the problem of scarce seedlings can be solved, coupled with the current lack of restrictions on rural family farming and the existence of collective farming models, then many places can start farming as a sideline business.

only……

The next second, he frowned slightly, "As far as I know, in addition to seedlings, restrictions on rural family farming also include disease prevention and feed, especially the feed issue."

Yunhu is a land of plenty, but the feed it can provide is likely only a small amount of rice bran and wheat bran; it still relies mostly on vegetable leaves and wild vegetables. If even Yunhu is like this, it's doubtful that other areas with low grain yields could provide enough feed. If the number of livestock to be raised is to be increased, the feed problem must be solved first.

When it comes to feed, even disease prevention has to take a backseat.

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Didn't I just say that with an incubator and the breeding manual provided by Lujiawan, most of the problems in rural poultry farming can be solved?"

Yang Kangnian looked at him and asked, "Could it be that the breeding farm in Lujiawan has some unique methods?"

Chen Fan: "That's right, you don't actually think that the chickens in Lujiawan are all raised on grain feed, do you?!"

Yang Kangnian immediately became interested. "Tell me about it quickly."

Chen Fan explained with a smile, "Chickens have a wide diet. In addition to rice bran and wheat bran, insects, wild grass, wild vegetables, vegetable leaves, and even small fish and shrimp can all be used as feed."

In the beginning, Lujiawan encouraged every household to raise earthworms. After scientific processing, earthworms were fed a mixed feed made from vegetable leaves and rice bran.

Therefore, even in areas with low grain yields, as long as earthworms can be raised and wild vegetables can be grown, chicken farming can be tried. In addition to earthworms, agricultural universities also have methods for raising insects. The animal husbandry bureau can integrate these breeding methods, on the one hand using incubators to increase the supply of seedlings, and on the other hand providing farmers with training in making mixed feed, which includes methods for raising earthworms and insects.

As long as chickens are raised using scientific methods and their feed is processed properly, the feed problem is not difficult to solve.

After Chen Fan finished speaking, Yang Kangnian fully understood what Chen Fan meant.

He held a cigarette between his right fingers and tapped his left hand lightly on his thigh. After thinking for a long time, he finally exhaled a long breath, looked up, and smiled, "I understand what you mean. If I'm going to pursue an administrative career, this incubator is indeed more suitable for me than a car."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. "You still want to take control of the car factory?"

Yang Kangnian nodded slightly, a hint of melancholy on his face, and said with a smile, "For me, an incubator can indeed help me take a step up, or even several steps. But for me, a car is a dream I've had for many years, and your father's hard work is also involved in it."

So, by comparison, I'd much rather be watching from the car factory…

At this point, he suddenly laughed, "Besides, even if the incubator is handed over to the machinery factory, I can still benefit from it."

Chen Fan rolled his eyes slightly, nodded and smiled, "That's right. Although you no longer manage the specific affairs of the machinery factory, you are still its leader. Regardless of whether you were still at the machinery factory when it was developed, as long as the project was initiated during your tenure, you will undoubtedly deserve credit."

Yang Kangnian threw his head back and laughed heartily, then patted his legs and stood up. "Let's go, I'll take you to find Lao Xue and give him a free credit."

……

Half an hour later, in the old factory area of ​​the machinery plant, in the small conference room.

All the members of the leadership team of the machinery factory in Yunhu rushed back.

Yang Kangnian presided over the meeting, which was attended by Deputy Factory Director Xue, Chairman Zhao of the Trade Union, Secretary Zhang of the Youth League Committee, Director Qian of the Women's Federation, Section Chief Sun of the Finance Department, and Director Liu of the Office.

As for Deputy Factory Director Li, unfortunately, he went to the Beijing office to take charge of the work, and Chen Fan didn't ask what he was doing.

He is now explaining to everyone what an incubator is. "Artificial incubation technology has existed for two thousand years, but its low efficiency has always been a very real problem. No matter what kind of incubation technology is used, a person can only incubate a few hundred chicks at most at the same time, which is about the limit."

As early as 1918, Western countries invented large-scale incubators, and then in 1927, the first hatching machine appeared.

If we start from the beginning, this artificial incubation technology was first passed from our country to Japan, and then from Japan to Europe. As a result, they developed advanced machine incubation equipment first, while we are still using methods left by our ancestors two thousand years ago.

Deputy Factory Director Xue was already flushed with excitement.

How could he not be excited about a pie falling from the sky?

Upon hearing Chen Fan's words, he immediately said passionately, "Advisor Chen, what do you suggest we do?"

Chen Fan turned to look at him and said seriously, "We now have two paths before us. First, we can find a way to purchase a state-of-the-art incubator from abroad, have the machinery factory disassemble it and replicate it, so that we can develop it and put it into production as quickly as possible."

He paused for a moment, then glanced at everyone. "However, I do not recommend adopting this approach."

Chairman Zhao looked at him, puzzled. "Why?"

In the agricultural machinery sector, buying and dismantling the machinery has almost become a domestic consensus.

Many agricultural machines come from this.

Why doesn't it work in the incubator?

Chen Fan lit a cigarette and explained seriously, "First of all, this involves international intellectual property rights. my country doesn't have a patent law right now, so a single design is used across the entire industry; it's practically become the norm."

However, this practice does not work abroad, especially in Western countries.

If we copy machines from Western countries, then we're guaranteed that these machines will never leave the country. What if…?

After pausing for two seconds, he glanced around at everyone and smiled, "The newspapers have been reporting these past two days that top leaders are holding a working meeting. This is based on the information already published in the newspapers this year, combined with other sources."

For example, the need to utilize foreign investment and the former political commissar's visits to multiple countries clearly indicate a significant change in the current situation. It's not impossible that one day we will go global and invite foreign companies to invest in us.

If this were to actually happen, our country would certainly align itself with international standards in the area of ​​intellectual property.

Otherwise, wouldn't it be ridiculous to start a lawsuit before even engaging in any exchange or cooperation?

After hearing his words, almost everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

As I said before, people nowadays know that respecting patents is common sense, but back then, common sense meant that everyone should use what belongs to everyone.

Yes, back in the 80s, many organizations that had launched new products were ruined in this way.

Therefore, if it were anyone else, including Yang Kangnian, they would not care about these words at all.

But Chen Fan is different; without him, there would be no Yunqi Factory.

The "Five Principles of Factory Management," which are now being promoted throughout the Jiangnan region, were also proposed by him. They were first tested in a machinery factory and the results were surprisingly good.

After Yang Kangnian reported the case on behalf of the factory, it immediately attracted the attention of the Light Industry Bureau. After summarizing the relevant experience, the Bureau decided to promote it throughout the province.

If this management method proves to be universally applicable, they will report it to the relevant ministries and promote it nationwide.

In addition, Chen Fan's overseas relative also played a significant role.

They had long heard that Advisor Chen's uncle was a big shot in America, and perhaps what he had just said was something he had heard from his uncle.

In this way, the credibility is naturally very high.

In contrast, they considered the most important assessment of the current situation to be insignificant.

Since the shift in the wind direction is basically a foregone conclusion, it's just a matter of how and when it will change. Anyone with eyes can see this, so there's no need for Chen Fan to waste his breath.

After a brief silence, Yang Kangnian asked, "The second method is independent research and development?"

Chen Fan nodded slightly and smiled, "Actually, it's not difficult to develop it ourselves. The machinery factory has an industrial foundation. If we want to achieve results quickly, we can invite agricultural universities, Jiangnan University, and Jiangnan University of Science and Technology to join us. With their talent support, plus the machinery factory's inherent advantages, I believe that this incubator will be successfully developed very soon."

After he finished speaking, Yang Kangnian turned to Deputy Factory Director Xue and smiled, "Old Xue, this task is yours, but the final decision should still be made by you."

Deputy Factory Director Xue pondered for a few seconds, looked around, and finally slapped the table, "Then let's develop it independently."

He paused for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and said, "Maybe we can even participate in the Canton Fair and earn foreign exchange through exports."

(End of this chapter)