The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 100 Promoting the Research and Development of Large Machine Tools [Please Subscribe]

"He wasn't an engineer. He seemed to be about my age and graduated from the Beijing Institute of Technology."

Chen Li thought for a moment and said, "Although we are the same age, our section chief's abilities are far beyond my reach."

I heard that he single-handedly developed the production and manufacturing process for small tractors, enabling our factory to transform its production and now achieve foreign exchange earnings of over seventeen million US dollars.

"Over seventeen million US dollars? Your factory?"

Upon hearing this, Fei Yunzhi was even more shocked. In his opinion, these two words should not be put together, so it didn't sound real.

However, news from the Canton Fair hasn't spread yet; it might be published in the newspapers only after the main force returns to Beijing.

It's understandable that Professor Fei Yunzhi didn't believe it, considering that the total trade volume at the Spring Canton Fair a few months ago was only a little over ten million.

Now that Chen Li is telling him that a factory has more than 17 million, Fei Yunzhi's first reaction is that it is normal not to believe it. However, he quickly realized that Chen Li, his student, is very steady and would not lie to him with such an easily debunked lie.

After listening to Chen Li's detailed explanation, Fei Yunzhi became even more interested in the young man, Zhou Zhiqiang.

"Chen Li, do you know where he lives? I want to go find him right now."

"Now?"

Chen Li looked embarrassed and said, "Teacher, I really don't know. Why don't you come to our factory on Monday?"

Fei Yunzhi shook his head and said, "I have classes on Mondays, and I'm basically busy from morning till night, so it's not easy for me to ask for leave; besides, aren't you all very busy lately? If I go to your factory, it will take up your factory's time."
He's from the Industrial University, right? Wait a minute, I'll go ask him."

After Fei Yunzhi finished speaking, he was about to use the phone in their community to call a friend at the University of Technology to ask.

All of them are universities within Beijing. While I wouldn't say I have friends all over the place, I do know people from various universities.

After the call was connected, Fei Yunzhi quickly said, "It's me, Fei Yunzhi. Lao Xu, can you help me find someone? There's a graduate from your school named Zhou Zhiqiang who went to Dafa Agricultural Machinery Equipment Factory."

"You know? That's great! Where does Zhou Zhiqiang live? Tell me."

"I'm not looking for trouble, I just have a problem and want to ask him for advice. I'm not being modest, Lao Xu, could you help me find out about him? I'll wait for your call here."

After hearing his friend's agreement, Fei Yunzhi hung up the phone and waited.

As Chen Li stood beside him, she thought to herself that if she had taken the section chief home back then, she might have known where he lived, and she wouldn't have had to make this phone call to ask.

Shortly after, Fei Yunzhi's friend called back and told him Zhou Zhiqiang's address.

A while ago, Dafeng Machinery Factory had a collaborative project with their school, which was officially recorded at the school.

Fei Yunzhi's friend called to inquire and learned about Zhou Zhiqiang's situation: he was Lao Guo's son-in-law.

Their school also had Guo Linhua's address on file, so they directly told Fei Yunzhi.

In other words, Fei Yunzhi was not a stranger. He was a professor at Yenching University before and is now a professor at Tsinghua University. In addition, the school would only tell him if he needed to contact Zhou Zhiqiang.

After hanging up the phone, Fei Yunzhi said to Chen Li, "Chen Li, come with me. It's in Nanluoguxiang, only a 20-minute bike ride away."

Chen Li asked, "Teacher, is it really necessary to be in such a hurry? I feel it's a bit impolite to come to our door suddenly on Sunday."

Fei Yunzhi nodded and said, "Indeed, as the saying goes, an uninvited guest is an unwelcome guest, but machine tools are too important to our country's industrial development."

The notebook you brought contains many important technologies and processes for the improvement and development of machine tools, and I don't want to wait a moment longer; I'd like to discuss them with Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang as soon as possible.

After saying that, Fei Yunzhi and Chen Li rode their bicycles towards Nanluoguxiang.

By the time they arrived at No. 63 Nanluoguxiang, it was almost noon.

Chen Li felt rather embarrassed, as the sudden visit, especially at noon, came without her or Teacher Fei Yunzhi bringing any food coupons.
dong dong!

Fei Yunzhi didn't think too much about it; he was just thinking about discussing machine tool improvements with Zhou Zhiqiang.

He had just seen many ideas in this notebook that seemed like they could be used to manufacture large machine tools.

"Who?"

Zhou Zhiqiang was cooking when he heard someone knocking on the door as he came to the front yard to get coal. He went out and opened the small door.

When I opened the door, I found an acquaintance and a stranger standing outside.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Deputy Section Chief Chen, and this comrade, what brings you to my house? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Section Chief, this is my teacher from university, and he is now a professor at Tsinghua University."

Chen Li quickly stepped forward to explain: "The notebook you lent me before had some technical processes about machine tool modification that I didn't quite understand, so I took it to ask Professor Fei Yunzhi."

After reviewing the materials, the teacher was very interested in some of the technical processes you mentioned, so they wanted to discuss them with you.

"Oh, I see. Come in quickly."

Zhou Zhiqiang stepped aside to open the small door and said with a smile, "Deputy Section Chief Chen, Professor Fei, have you had lunch yet? If not, let's eat first and then talk. I'm cooking right now."

Chen Li said somewhat embarrassedly, "We haven't eaten yet, Section Chief. I'll give you the food coupons on Monday."

"Hey, it's just a meal, come on in."

Zhou Zhiqiang invited the two in and led them to the backyard, just as his wife, Guo Yuting, came out of the main house.

So Zhou Zhiqiang introduced her to his wife, "Yuting, this is Deputy Section Chief Chen from our factory. He and I are both in the technical department."

This is Professor Fei Yunzhi from Tsinghua University. He's here today to discuss something with me. He'll have lunch at our house.

Guo Yuting was a little surprised, but she still said, "Then Zhiqiang, add two dishes for lunch and cut a piece of cured meat."

"Okay, don't worry. What are you going to do?"

"There's a problem with the clothes I made for the child. I'll go find Aunt Liu to ask how to take them offline. I'll be back in a bit."

Zhou Zhiqiang cautioned, "Then be careful and watch your step."

Aunt Liu lives in the next courtyard. I often come to their house to borrow a sewing machine. It's less than a hundred steps from their house, so there's no need to worry too much.

However, we do need to add two more dishes for lunch, and four more steamed buns, otherwise it won't be enough.

After brewing a pot of tea, Zhou Zhiqiang asked the two to sit in the courtyard for a while, while he went into the kitchen to cook.

The weather in October is a bit chilly, but not too cold.

Chen Li looked around the courtyard and suddenly felt a little envious of those who could live here.

The courtyard was clean and tidy, and there was a bamboo trellis in the corner with several gourd vines hanging on it. Zhou Zhiqiang had originally planned to plant grapes, but it was too late when he finished setting up the trellis, so he just planted some gourd vines instead.

These gourd vines might not even survive; you can only plant them randomly.

Not long after, Zhou Zhiqiang had prepared lunch, and Guo Yuting returned around the same time.

After serving all the dishes, Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Deputy Section Chief Chen, Professor Fei, I didn't have time to make anything too fancy, please bear with me..."

Fei Yunzhi said with a smile, "Comrade Zhou, you are too modest. If these dishes are not good, then I don't know what is good."

Stir-fried cabbage with cured pork, steamed cured duck, braised eggplant and shredded potatoes; plus eight steamed buns. This meal, with two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, was quite sumptuous.

Zhou Zhiqiang didn't cook any particularly spicy dishes, as he was worried that Fei Yunzhi, an elderly man, wouldn't be used to them, so everything was rather bland.

Zhou Zhiqiang then invited the two to eat. Fei Yunzhi's appetite was whetted by the aroma of the food, and Chen Li was also a little hungry. She hadn't eaten much in the morning, and now the aroma of the food had further stimulated her appetite.

After finishing the meal, Guo Yuting helped clean up the dishes and then went back to her room to rest.

Zhou Zhiqiang then spoke up: "Professor Fei, you came to see me because of the notebook I wrote?"

"Yes, Comrade Zhou, to be honest, I think your theories and technical processes for improving machine tools are all very feasible."

If all these theories and technologies are realized, I feel it will be possible to manufacture large machine tools.

Zhou Zhiqiang shook his head and said, "It's unlikely. I never thought about manufacturing large machine tools. Our country also lacks large forgings. We can't just piece together a large forging, can we?"

Being able to manufacture small to medium-sized machine tools would be sufficient.

He naturally understood that the country was in dire need of large machine tools, and that with large machine tools, the construction of the military and national defense industry would advance by leaps and bounds.

However, to manufacture large machine tools, the problem of large forgings must first be solved, and they currently rely entirely on imports for these.

"Professor Fei, I think we should take it one step at a time. Even if we want to produce large machine tools, we should first accumulate experience in producing machine tools."

Now I think we should first achieve high-speed cutting and gear machining technologies, then do a good job of surface heat treatment of parts, and first produce a batch of high-precision medium-sized machine tools.”

Zhou Zhiqiang also started discussing with Professor Fei.

He was very familiar with machine tool modification. He knew the principles and techniques involved in how to modify the machine, what technical processes were required, how to process the materials, and how to manufacture them.

Now that a professor knowledgeable in mechanics and electrical engineering has finally arrived, Zhou Zhiqiang naturally wants to impart all the knowledge, principles, and technologies he possesses to him.

Discussing with the professor made things so much easier for Zhou Zhiqiang. After he explained it once, the professor would naturally build a model in his mind. In short, the experiment was just a matter of calculating it in his brain to see if it was suitable.

Chen Li, who was sitting to the side, was a little uneasy. She couldn't get a word in edgewise during the discussion, so she finally got up to get the kettle and pour hot water.

The two discussed from noon until dusk, even moving from the courtyard into the study, taking notes as they went, filling two notebooks with draft drawings.

Fei Yunzhi initially had some ideas, but later he gradually listened to what Zhou Zhiqiang said and mostly took notes.

Although there has been no production trial yet, the technology and process described by Zhou Zhiqiang is indeed a feasible method that is quite suitable for modifying machine tools.

dong dong.

Chen Li knocked on the study door, then came in and said, "Section Chief Zhou, teacher, it's almost seven o'clock now, is today..."

"It's seven o'clock already? That fast?"

Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at the sky outside; it was indeed getting dark. He then turned to Professor Fei and asked, "Professor Fei, why don't you stay for dinner tonight? We can talk again after dinner."

I also have some ideas about a hydraulic press that can handle tens of thousands of tons, but let alone our factory, even our ministries are unlikely to organize an experiment. I don't have a channel to report this, so it would have to be someone like you, a university professor with a wide network of connections, who can handle it.”

Fei Yunzhi was still somewhat unwilling when the topic of large machine tools was brought up.

Their country has virtually no experience with large machine tools. The Russians offered to provide assistance, but they were secretive and reluctant.

After all, large machine tools can support national defense and military industry, and China's military strength has already been proven by fighting seventeen opponents at once.

Such a tenacious fighting spirit, coupled with the rapidly developing defense industry, would make even the Russians uneasy.

Therefore, the Russians provided technical support for small and medium-sized machine tools, but they were always somewhat reluctant to provide large machine tools.

They wanted to develop it themselves, but they didn't have large forgings.

Zhou Zhiqiang mentioned this matter, saying that a hydraulic press is needed, and not a small one, but at least one weighing tens of thousands of tons, as the smaller ones are useless.

As they talked, they began to discuss the technical principles of the hydraulic press and the areas that needed improvement.

The domestic government is determined to design and research large-scale hydraulic presses next year. If it starts a year earlier and avoids some detours, the technology will be more mature.
That would have a real ripple effect on the development of heavy industry in China.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, you are too modest. Moreover, with a heart for building the motherland, how could you not have a channel to report? As for this matter, I will definitely report it to my superiors."

Fei Yunzhi nodded and said, "You're right. We can't keep relying on imports for large forgings. That would be handing over national defense to foreigners. What kind of country is that?"

And even though we wanted to buy, they wouldn't sell. They're guarding against us more fiercely than they guard against wolves!

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do. We have to stand up, but they want us to be crouching dogs. We can't agree to that."

Zhou Zhiqiang patted Professor Fei Yunzhi on the shoulder and said, "Forget it, Professor Fei, don't think about this and make yourself angry. Let's eat first, and we can talk about the rest after we finish eating."

"Too."

After Fei Yunzhi finished speaking, he suddenly noticed Chen Li's wide-eyed expression and quickly remembered that he should go home. He had a full schedule of classes tomorrow and couldn't ask for leave at all.

"No, no, Comrade Zhiqiang, we can't have dinner at your house."

"I have a full day of classes tomorrow and haven't asked for leave yet, so I have to go back to prepare; besides, it's not easy to travel at night, so I need to hurry back before it gets completely dark."

Fei Yunzhi was still somewhat reluctant when he said these words.

He genuinely wanted to chat with Zhou Zhiqiang for a while longer. Their expertise was relevant, their industrial development ideas were similar, and Zhou Zhiqiang had a solid theoretical foundation and a quick mind. Sometimes, his sudden ideas for improvement made him want to try them out immediately.

Unfortunately, he had to go back because of his responsibilities; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to explain things to the hundreds of students tomorrow.

"Comrade Zhiqiang, we have a very important conversation today. I will contact the relevant leader to report this matter to him, and I will definitely contact you then."

Fei Yunzhi made up his mind that if the leaders listened to his advice and really wanted to build a team, then Zhou Zhiqiang would definitely be an indispensable member of the team.

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)