Great Power Industry: You're a private company building an aircraft carrier?

"Quick, quick, bring the TV out!"

"Put it on the platform at the front door!"

It was seven o'clock in the evening, but it was still not dark. Everyone continued to work, and they were all very curious to see Qin Jianguo busy at work.

"Director Qin, what's going on? Are you making us watch TV?"

"This time slot happens to be the evening news broadcast. Is this to keep us informed about national affairs?"

"Let's just listen to it; we still have work to do."

"No, everyone come over here! Our factory is going to be on TV!"

On TV?

Everyone excitedly ran over, and soon, a crowd of people surrounded the television set in layers.

"Hello everyone, today's news includes... Small and medium-sized steel mills can also produce 'golden phoenixes': Laiyang Steel Plant has successfully broken the foreign monopoly on ballpoint pen tip steel..."

boom!

Everyone was in an uproar.

"The evening news is on CCTV! Our factory can even be on the evening news!"

"Yes, now our factory is famous!"

"Director Qin, by the end of this year, will we be able to go to the capital to attend the National Steel Conference?"

"Of course, we'll send Xiaochuan then. Wait, where's Xiaochuan?"

Qin Jianguo looked around, his gaze finally settling on the direction of the office.

Qin Chuan is on the phone.

"Hey, you guys are really being unfair! I invited Mr. Babbage, how did you manage to swindle him away? Do you even pay Mr. Babbage a salary? Even if you do, it's not acceptable!"

Babich had initially agreed to stay, and specifically to stay at the Laiyang plant, to oversee the production of the arresting cable.

However, that thing couldn't be produced for the time being, so the relevant departments sent people to take Babich on a tour. Qin Chuan didn't take it to heart. Now he finally had time to find Babich to come back, but unexpectedly, he didn't come!

Babich has been tricked into joining Project 891! Isn't this like poaching their own talent? Qin Chuan was very dissatisfied.

"Our factory is about to start manufacturing steel cables. You all know what these steel cables are used for. Mr. Babich said he wanted to see us produce them himself! We'll officially start work tomorrow. If you don't send Mr. Babich over, it won't be our responsibility if he brings up old grievances later!"

Snapped!

Qin Chuan hung up the phone.

"Brother Chuan, who dares to kidnap Babich? I'll talk to the old man and get him back."

"Director of Institute 701".

"What kind of institute is Institute 701? My old man was the director of a police station back in the day."

"The number one ship design institute in the country."

Li Jianshe's mouth dropped open. A leader of this rank was probably on par with provincial leaders, right? Qin Chuan had just argued with someone like that? Brother Chuan is truly impressive!

Cheers erupted outside.

"awesome!"

"Our news about coming to Yangchang actually took up thirty seconds!"

"We don't know when it was filmed!"

"It would be great to interview our factory director, or even Xiao Chuan."

Although the evening news program lasts a full thirty minutes, even taking up ten seconds of screen time is impressive, let alone thirty seconds.

Now, Laiyang Factory is famous!

The canteen of a certain unit in the capital.

A television set hangs in one corner of the cafeteria, allowing people to watch TV while they eat. And at this particular time, it happens to be the evening news, so they can catch up on important national events.

Pan Yang sat in a corner, eating absentmindedly while lost in thought.

"Panzi, what have you been up to lately?"

"Nothing much."

"I heard you were a translator for the CEO of a Fortune 500 company last time. Why didn't you go to Japan with him?"

"Don't mention it."

"Recently, in Laiyang County, Shandong Province, a small private enterprise, Laiyang Steel Plant, successfully developed ballpoint pen tip steel. Although the amount of this steel used is not large, it is very special and belongs to high value-added steel. Currently, only two countries in the world can produce it. Laiyang Plant's breakthrough has inspired the people of the whole country..."

Just then, this news story was broadcast on television.

"Laiyang Factory? Panzi, did you take the boss to this factory last time? What's it like?"

“This factory… has a problem!” Pan Yang put down his chopsticks.

"Hey, where are you going? You haven't finished eating yet! This is a waste of food!"

"I'm going to find the leaders and report the shady dealings at Laiyang Factory!"

Pan Yang clenched his fist. "Hmph, 38 millimeters thick steel—that's aircraft carrier deck steel! This kind of steel is urgently needed domestically, but they sold it to island nation customers for profit. If we take it too seriously, this is treason!"

We absolutely cannot let them have a good ending!

The island nation is very close; cargo ships can reach it in two or three days. The main delay is in loading and unloading cargo.

Fortunately, Kobe Steel's factory has its own dock, so the goods transported here can be parked directly at the steel plant.

Looking at the scrap steel sitting on the dock, Kobe Steel's vice president, Moriwaki, frowned: "Ishino, are you sure this steel, after smelting, will meet the performance standards?"

"Yes, I'm sure that by adding some rare metals after melting, we can make ballpoint pen tip steel, which is very hard. The steel that the customer wanted to buy this time required a very high hardness. We smelted more than a dozen batches, but none of them met the standard. We originally thought we would have to select one batch to modify the data, but now we don't need to!"

"Although we bought it for $3,000 a ton, after recycling it, we can sell it for $30,000!"

They went to the East to buy scrap steel, and of course, they had a purpose. Kobe Steel is very advanced; it can smelt all kinds of steel and meet all the requirements of users! Their data is quite impressive—number one in the world!

What if it doesn't meet the requirements? We'll have to make some changes.

Of course, this is the worst-case scenario. If they can achieve it, they still need to work hard, like they are now.

"Then what are we waiting for? Quickly, smelt according to the process you recorded!" Mori Waki ​​said, "Use our thousand-ton steel furnace!"

Steelmaking furnaces in large steel plants are generally one or two hundred tons. However, if large equipment is to be processed, such as continuously casting a large workpiece, one furnace is not enough. By the time the second furnace comes out, the first furnace may have cooled down. Therefore, large steelmaking furnaces are needed.

The world's largest steelmaking furnace can produce 2,000 tons in a single furnace, while the largest at Kobe Steel produces 1,000 tons.

Hirotoshi Ishino frowned. A furnace with a capacity of one thousand tons? What if it fails?

"What, don't you remember how they refined it?"

“Of course I’ve remembered it clearly, there’s no chance of making a mistake!” Ishino Hiromitsu said, “Let’s start the furnace now!”

Cleaning the steelmaking furnace, removing the rust from the scrap steel, and throwing it into the furnace took a full five or six hours before the furnace could finally be started!

Hirotoshi Ishino took out his notebook and, recalling the steps he had taken, issued one instruction after another.