Dreaming back to 1949, the great powers were there to deceive us

Suddenly, Lao Hu's bodyguard Qu Xiaodou shouted loudly,

"The shock-absorbing steel plate is cracked!"

Upon hearing this, Hu Zhenhua jumped up, not caring about the pain in his butt, and limped towards Qu Xiaodou.

The shock-absorbing steel plates of the Sibu Xiang, also known as shock-absorbing bow plates, are composed of eight strip steel plates in each group. The entire Sibu Xiang uses a total of four groups. They not only play a shock-absorbing role, but also bear the load of the entire vehicle. Their quality is of vital importance.

Hu Zhenhua has already seen the piece with cracks!

If the eight pieces hadn't been interlocking and sharing the load, the car would have probably overturned.

Hu Zhenhua was scared out of his wits. He had just passed the pit at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour. If he had rolled over, he would have been either dead or injured!

He blushed and shouted,

"Who provided the steel plates? I want to kick him out!"

Wen Youyou, the manager of Puxi Iron and Steel, almost fell down when Qu Xiaodou shouted "there are cracks". Now that he heard that Hu Zhenhua wanted to kick him out of the supply chain, he looked pale and trembling all over, and could hardly utter a word.

Zou Du looked at the old man and said,

"Mr. Hu, Puxi Iron and Steel is the most advanced iron and steel company in Shanghai. If we kick them all out, we'll have to import the steel we need!"

Hu Zhenhua felt sorry for Wen You and his anger subsided a lot.

"Manager Chou, where does your engine steel come from?"

“Imported!”

The engine has very high requirements for steel, which must have high strength, heat resistance, fatigue resistance, high toughness, wear resistance and other properties.

The huge pressure, impact force, tensile force and high temperature generated during engine operation cannot guarantee the stability of the engine structure if the performance of the steel is not good.

For parts like piston rings, the steel also needs to have good wear resistance to ensure long-term use.

Hu Zhenhua took a deep breath and remembered a documentary he had watched before.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the leader gave a speech in which he said: "What can we make now? We can make tables and chairs, teacups and teapots, we can grow grain, grind it into flour, and make paper. But we cannot make a car, a plane, a tank, or a tractor."

This speech by the great man fully reflects the country's industrial predicament.

At this time, the power generation capacity of the entire China is not as much as that of the small Korean Peninsula.

The country's fertilizer production is not enough to meet the consumption of one city.

The output of copper is only more than 2,000 tons.

The output of steel was less than 20 tons, while that of the United States during the same period was over million tons.

Even at this time, China's production of matches, soap, and cigarettes was extremely low.

Hu Zhenhua walked to Wen Youyou, held his hand, and comforted him,

"Mr. Wen, I apologize for what I said earlier, but could you explain to me why the steel plate cracked?"

Old Hu's amiable attitude affected Wen Youyou. With Zou Du's help, he stood up and after observing the cracks, he stammered,

"Carbon... Carbon, it's a matter of carbon content!"

Zou Du took over the conversation and said,

"High carbon content makes steel brittle, which is not noticeable normally. However, on the shock-absorbing arch plate, it bears a lot of weight, and when the vehicle is moving, it will vibrate at a high frequency, which increases the risk of cracking."

“How to reduce the carbon content in steel?”

Wen Youyou had already adjusted his mood and replied,

"There are several methods, the most common of which is stirring, which promotes contact and reaction between carbon and other substances to achieve the purpose of decarbonization. The more advanced method now is oxidation, which blows oxygen into the furnace to react with carbon, producing carbon dioxide for removal. Steelmaking is a very complex process that requires a lot of technical accumulation. As long as there are enough orders, we are confident that we can improve the process and increase the strength of the steel!"

Hu Zhenhua laughed awkwardly twice. His company didn't have much demand for steel at all.

The steel industry is a capital-intensive and technology-intensive industry. The investment in any small steel plant will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Please note that this is a steel mill that smelts ordinary steel. If high-performance alloy steel is involved, the cost will double.

Many times, even if you have money, you can’t buy the supporting technology.

Hu Zhenhua rubbed his eyebrows.

The importance of steel is self-evident. Not to mention other things, buildings, bridges, railways, roads and other facilities rely heavily on steel to ensure their strength and stability.

Secondly, the machinery manufacturing industry cannot do without steel. From various mechanical equipment to transportation vehicles, the performance of steel directly affects the quality and reliability of these products.

Furthermore, steel also plays a vital role in the national defense industry. Weapons, equipment, warships, tanks, etc. all require high-quality steel.

The production of many daily necessities and industrial products is also based on steel, which provides necessary support for many industries.

Moreover, the steel industry can also drive the development of related industries, such as the mining industry and the energy industry, and has a broad and profound impact on the entire economic system.

Steel plays an irreplaceable and important role in the national economy and social development and is a veritable basic industry.

Hu Zhenhua thought for a moment and asked,

"Mr. Wen, what method do you use to smelt earthquake-proof steel plates?"

“Stirring method!”

“Why not use oxygen blowing?”

Wenyou was silent for a moment, but decided to tell the truth.

"Mr. Hu, our main product is ordinary steel. In the mid-to-high-end market, it has always been dominated by imported products. Even if I produce it, I won't be able to sell it!"

Hu Zhenhua was speechless after hearing this. It was unexpected that a business operator had so little confidence in his own product.

Sad for its misfortune, anger for its indisputable!

Lao Hu didn't want to comment too much. After all, Wenyou's vision was to survive, not to become bigger and stronger.

"If I provide you with some funds to improve the steelmaking process, can you produce another batch of steel by this time tomorrow?"

Wenyou was silent for a moment, as if he had made up his mind, his eyes became firm.

"Mr. Hu, thank you for your kindness. Puxi Iron and Steel can raise funds for the experiment on its own. I would like to make a request!"

Hu Zhenhua made a gesture of invitation.

"Speaking!"

"If we solve the problem of earthquake-proof steel, can we, Puxi Iron and Steel, provide all the steel for the carriages, main beams, and other parts of the Sibu Xiang?"

Hu Zhenhua laughed and asked,

"An order for 1 Sibuxiang vehicles would require over tons of steel. Can you produce them?"

Wen Youyi gritted his teeth and shouted,

"We can!"

Hu Zhenhua waved his hand and rejected his request.

"Mr. Wen, a single flower doesn't make a spring; a hundred flowers in full bloom make a full spring. Leave some space for other iron and steel companies. I make you a promise: if you can solve the problem of the seismic steel plates, the order for the main beams and seismic steel plates for these 10,000 Sibuxiang vehicles will be yours!"

Wen Youyou was about to speak when Hu Zhenhua interrupted him.

"Ordinary steel only makes a few grand. Mr. Wen, it's time for you to consider entering the mid- to high-end market! I'll make you another promise. As long as you can provide qualified steel, Tongan's orders for the next year will not be less than 10,000 tons!"

Wen Youyou opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

Ten thousand tons, plus this order of "Si Bu Xiang", TA company's total demand for mid-range steel has reached tons.

Has he finished using it?

You are not bragging!

In fact, Hu Zhenhua was just bragging. He was not afraid of harming Puxi Iron and Steel because after the liberation of Shanghai, the people's government vigorously carried out construction and the demand for steel was endless. As long as you can produce it, you will not have to worry about sales.

Hu Zhenhua looked at Wen Youyou's expression and knew that he didn't believe it. He smiled and said,

"If you can produce qualified steel, I will pay you a deposit of 20 yuan first!"

The ocean was obviously more convincing than words, and Wen Youyou smiled.

"Okay, I'll go back and test it now!"