Anti-Japanese War, weapons designer at Fengtian Arsenal

In the reception room, Li Jin and Mr. Tang sat together and chatted. On the table in front of them were piled tea, drinks and various fruits. It was obvious that Li Jin attached great importance to Mr. Tang, unlike Cole, who was only given a bottle of Coke by Li Qinwu when he came.

Li Qinwu pushed the door open and saw Mr. Tang at a glance.

Mr. Tang was wearing a grey Zhongshan suit and round-framed glasses. He looked like a very easy-going person. He had a slightly literary air, but he did not have the sour air of a bookworm. Instead, he looked quite capable.

Li Qinwu was looking at Mr. Tang, and Mr. Tang was also looking at Li Qinwu. He smiled and said, "Is this Mr. Li Qinwu, a weapons designer? I heard that the Sweeper submachine gun designed by Mr. Li played a significant role in the Songhu Street Fight. I saw in the newspaper that our soldiers used submachine guns to defeat the Japanese invaders. I was very happy. I have long wanted to meet Mr. Li, and now I finally get my wish."

"Ah, I don't deserve it. Please take a seat, Mr. Tang."

Li Qinwu's old face turned red. The Sweeper submachine gun was copied from Sten. It was not his own thing. He dared not take credit for it in front of this true God.

Everyone sat down, and the two sides exchanged meaningless greetings for a few minutes before getting straight to the point.

Mr. Tang asked first: "Mr. Li, why do you want to design cars? The word 'car' sounds simple, but there is an extremely complex industrial system behind it. If you just want to make money, I advise you to give up as soon as possible and not make that meaningless investment."

When Li Qinwu heard this, he knew that Mr. Tang was testing his determination to build cars, and his next response would determine whether he could be allowed to stay.

Li Qinwu thought quickly. The man in front of him was a true patriot. He spent three years to make a charcoal car and obtained a five-year patent. However, Mr. Tang did not use the patent to make a profit. Without saying a word, he made it public for people all over the country to imitate.

According to the character of this person, Li Qinwu replied: "Mr. Tang, some things have nothing to do with making money, but are related to life and death, and the survival of the nation!

The transportation capacity of automobiles is extremely important to the development of my country's military industry. If we cannot produce automobiles, my country will always be an agricultural country with backward productivity.

Mr. Tang should have read in the newspaper that in the Battle of Shanghai, the Japanese used the Yangtze River to send more than 19 troops behind the 1th Route Army. This location was more than 30 miles away from the front line of defense of the 19th Route Army. The 19th Army had no time to dispatch troops to stop them. If the two sides had not reached a ceasefire at the negotiation table, the th Route Army would have been in danger!

If you get beaten, you should know the pain, and don't let yourself be beaten again next time. So I think it is imperative to develop automobiles. Even if it is difficult to develop automobiles, we have to overcome them one by one.

We can start by buying some precision parts from abroad, or we can make some low-quality but usable parts ourselves, and then we can overcome difficulties one screw at a time. One day, we will be able to make a completely self-made car with excellent quality!"

Mr. Tang's eyes flickered as he heard this. He resigned from Renault Automobile Company in France and returned to China to work. The current situation in the country made him terrified!

He had worked as an engineer in many factories in China. Many of those factories could not even produce screws and had to import them from foreign countries, especially Japan, an industrial country relatively close to them.

After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan stopped importing industrial products to China for several months. As a result, one-third of the machinery in the company where Mr. Tang worked was paralyzed due to lack of replacement parts!

This horrific situation was like a sword of national destruction hanging over his head, keeping him awake day and night. Therefore, he resolutely embarked on the path of saving the country through industry, with the main focus being on the automobile project.

Mr. Tang clenched his fists, looked at Li Qinwu's determined eyes, and remembered the report in the Julong Daily about the Julong Steel Plant's project to conquer the automobile industry. He no longer hesitated and made up his mind!

He took out a blueprint from his briefcase and placed it in front of Li Qinwu.

"Mr. Li, I read in the newspaper that Julong Company wants to produce its own cars. I wonder if you have ever thought about the fact that our country is extremely short of fuel and is extremely dependent on imports. One liter of fuel costs 40 copper yuan. Such a high price is not something our country can afford.

This is a charcoal car that I designed in my spare time. Its performance is not as good as that of a traditional car, but after my experiment, I found that this car can run 32km per hour and only consumes one pound of wood per road! "

Li Qinwu was delighted, and a golden fat man appeared in his mind and shouted, "You passed the test!"

He picked up the drawing and looked at it with great care. It was a schematic diagram that described the principle of the charcoal car. The main principle of the charcoal car was to burn charcoal in a furnace, spray water on the charcoal while burning it to make it burn unevenly and produce gas, which was then used to propel the car forward.

The advantage is that the technology is simple. It burns firewood, or to be more precise, gas. There is a gas generator on the car, which generates gas and transports it to the modified engine. The engine can burn gas to power the car. This set of facilities is simple and the production process is relatively easy, which is very suitable for China, which is currently short of oil.

There are even more disadvantages. If you want to start a charcoal car, you have to light the stove first. The starting time is at least 10 minutes, and it requires two people, one to drive and the other to add firewood at the back of the car.

The power is limited and it can only run at about 40km per hour. It is very difficult to go uphill and cannot be overloaded. Although the equipment is easy to produce, it has too many parts and is difficult to clean and maintain.

Unreliable, charcoal trucks often stalled. Writer Lao She was deeply touched by this. Once he took a charcoal truck and the truck broke down many times on the road, and passengers had to get off and push it. He was inspired to compose a doggerel poem:

We went two or three miles, broke down four or five times, got off the bus six or seven times, and were pushed by eighty or ninety people.

After briefly scanning the drawing, Li Qinwu put it down and looked thoughtful.

Mr. Tang looked at Li Qinwu with some trepidation. Mr. Tang was an honest man. He annotated the advantages and disadvantages of the car next to the picture he showed Li Qinwu, of which the disadvantages accounted for more than half. He was a little worried that the rich man in front of him would not like his design.

It doesn't matter if it's not to his liking, Mr. Tang consoled himself. He knew that he would definitely make the charcoal car anyway. He came here just to make use of the industrial base and financial research of Julong Company. If it didn't work out, he could push the project forward by himself, but the speed would be much slower.

While he was daydreaming, Li Qinwu slammed the table and said, "Great! I'll invest in this project! If you have any needs, please let me know soon. All the resources of the Julong Factory can be deployed to Mr. Tang. I hope Mr. Tang can make a useful charcoal cart as soon as possible!"

Huh? You agree now?

Mr. Tang was a little bit incredulous. He pointed at the blueprint tentatively and said, "Mr. Li, you should take a good look at the blueprint. There are many problems marked on it. When I tested it myself, I also felt that the upper limit of the charcoal car was not high. If you increase your investment, you may not be able to make suitable products, which may affect the operation of your company!"

Li Qinwu said firmly: "Mr. Tang, you don't need to say anything more. Julong Steel Plant has invested in this project! The five newly built factory buildings in the factory will be given to Mr. Tang as a laboratory. The factory will also provide you with any equipment you need. As for the research funds, it will be temporarily set at 5 yuan, and another 10 will be added after it is spent!"

Mr. Tang's facial expression was out of balance. How could this young man be so generous? He invested 10 yuan without blinking an eye?

Li Qinwu's idea was very simple. Although the charcoal cart was eliminated in later generations, it had been prosperous for more than 60 years. The 60-year period of use was enough for large-scale investment.