The train driver in the courtyard

"Railway signaling system".

"Patriotic steam engine".

"Railway network system".

It must be said that the French dare to stand up to the US, which shows their formidable economic strength.

This was just like ordering food; they ordered four or five expensive dishes in one go.

Even a big-bellied man who runs a restaurant?

Li Aiguo and the accompanying railway ministry leader exchanged a glance, both seeing smiles in each other's eyes, and agreed without hesitation.

They also offered the best price.

"Our current railway network system has been upgraded to the second generation. In addition to real-time monitoring and dispatching of trains, it is also connected to the container system, which can dispatch containers. Are you interested?"

Li Aiguo chuckled.

"Oh? This is a good thing!" Marjri's eyes lit up, and he immediately decided, "I want it! I have to have it!"

The container standards set by Dongda Railway have now become the standard adopted by most countries, and major freight terminals around the world have installed supporting equipment.

Only the American family and the Russian family go their own way, using their own standards.

John Bull's family has always aligned themselves with Little America's family, so naturally they'll take this opportunity to change their standards.

Li Aiguo and Marjri were only responsible for discussing the big picture.

The details were left to the comrades from the Ministry of Railways and the delegation from France.

Both sides were very sincere, and in just a few days, the negotiations were almost complete, and a basic consensus was reached.

Marjri, who came from the old district, had a good impression of the area and often wandered around the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. When he learned that the Qianmen Locomotive Depot also produced minibuses, Marjri proposed a cooperation.

"Comrade Patriot, our tourism industry is very developed, and many tourists like to travel by minibus. However, the environment inside the bus is too dark, and tourists are very dissatisfied."

If you can help us design a new type of minibus that can meet tourism needs, we will definitely purchase it in large quantities.

"How much do you need?"

"At least ten thousand vehicles."

Ten thousand cars may seem like a small number in later generations, but in those days it was an astronomical number.

In particular, minibuses are products with extremely high profit margins.

After hearing Marjeri's request, Section Chief Xing was also tempted and asked, "Are you confident?"

"It's just four wheels, plus a car body, and a lot of glass. The technical difficulty isn't high, but other research work will probably be delayed during this period." Li Aiguo set a timeframe for himself.

The small aircraft has already started test flights, and it is estimated that it will take about a month to pass the test. The mass production of the flight helmet is being overseen by comrades in the military industry, so Li Aiguo really doesn't have any other work to do.

“No problem, you’ll focus on building buses this month!” Section Chief Xing nodded immediately.

This cooperation with France is no longer just an economic partnership; it involves governance.

"I will report this matter to the higher-ups now and request support from the ministry."

The ministry was very pleased to hear the news and specially contacted the Ministry of Machinery Industry to send a group of car manufacturing experts to help.

In fact, Huaxing Bus Factory has now gathered a large number of excellent car manufacturing experts and has all kinds of equipment. The only problem it faces is how to design this kind of minibus.
Li Aiguo recalled a type of double-decker bus commonly seen in later generations, with 30 seats on the lower level and 20 seats on the upper level, carrying a total of 50 passengers.

Both sides are made of large glass windows, and the upper roof has a sliding plexiglass panel in the center that can be fully opened in the summer to accommodate the hot Parisian weather and passengers' smoking needs.

The interior is constructed of wood panels, which are then polished.

"Aiguo, the polishing requirements for these wooden boards are too high, and the thickness is also insufficient. It's very difficult to handle." After receiving the interior decoration drawings, the staff of the wood products business department made an attempt.

It's not that we can't manufacture it, but the cost is too high.

"How about we go for a metal interior, and paint it gold? That would be even more luxurious." The untrained car expert was up to his crazy ideas again.

Li Aiguo shook his head: "Wooden boards are lighter than metal, which helps to balance the center of gravity of the double-layer structure. Besides, those old rich people in France look down on nouveau riche the most."

Li Aiguo didn't mention one more point: the wooden components are easy to replace, reducing long-term operating costs. As a form of public transportation, sightseeing buses can't operate like private cars without regard to costs; capitalists never do business at a loss.

"How about we go to the lumber mill and ask them if they have any ideas?" the wild car expert suggested again.

He didn't mention it, and Li Aiguo had forgotten about it.

In later generations, the interior of double-decker buses used plywood, which many people looked down on. In fact, when it first appeared, it was more expensive than solid wood, and of course, it was also more beautiful.

Plywood is also relatively simple to manufacture.

It is it.

Li Aiguo glanced at his accumulated points, now totaling 2681 points, and casually purchased the dry continuous production technology for plywood.

Accompanied by a near-absent dizziness, countless unfamiliar pieces of knowledge flooded my mind. With the system's support, this knowledge became simple and easy to understand.

Materials: Birch, poplar, pine, linden, willow; phenolic resin adhesive.
Steps: splicing, gluing, assembling, and hot pressing.
The required equipment is a horizontal veneer cutting machine and a multi-layer hydraulic hot press.

It looks simple, but the technology of plywood has taken decades to mature. In this day and age, plywood is particularly prone to delamination and breakage.

The decorative panels on the plane Li Aiguo took to Moscow were made of plywood, and their quality was poor, and their aesthetic appeal was far inferior to that of later generations.

Li Aiguo still doesn't understand what stage the domestic plywood technology has reached.

After getting off work in the evening, Li Aiguo originally planned to go to Chen Fangxuan's house to talk to Chen Xingjia about plywood.

But they saw Chen Xingjia and his sister-in-law sitting at home with their child, chatting with Chen Xueru.

"Patriotism is back!" Chen Xingjia immediately stood up to greet him upon seeing him.

"Brother, sister-in-law, what brings you here today?" Li Aiguo asked with a smile, knowing that Chen Xingjia was quite busy with work.

The eldest sister-in-law spoke first: "Don't mention it. A project in their lumber mill laboratory failed, and Xingjia was criticized. He was feeling really down and just happened to miss the kids, so I brought him here."

“What do you mean by being criticized? The factory leaders didn’t say anything. It’s us technicians who feel sorry for the factory’s investment and feel bad.” Chen Xingjia quickly stopped his sister-in-law.

Despite her usual loud and boisterous demeanor, she's actually a little afraid of Chen Xingjia when he gets serious.

She quickly grabbed Chen Xueru's arm and said with a smile, "Xueru, come on, let's take the kids to the park and let the two grown men have a good chat."

Chen Xueru smiled and nodded, then followed her sister-in-law and the children away.

Only Li Aiguo and Chen Xingjia remained in the room.

Li Aiguo poured Chen Xingjia a cup of hot tea, handed him a cigarette, and asked, "Brother, what project is it that you're so interested in?"

"Ugh, don't even mention it. Remember the plywood project I mentioned to you before? We spent years in the lab, countless manpower and resources, and the engineered wood we produced was completely unusable. The ministries and factories didn't really say anything, but we were really upset." The older brother sighed, a cigarette between his fingers.

That's how it is these days. Workers and technicians really treat the factory like their own home. If they can't produce results, they'll regret it before the factory manager even has a chance to speak.

Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo immediately became interested: "Brother, can you tell me about this artificial board?"

Chen Xingjia was surprised that Li Aiguo was also interested in wood, and said, "Our lab engineer Liu is a top student from the Industrial University and also an expert in wood."

I read in a journal that foreign countries had begun researching dry veneer pressing technology. The pressed boards are aesthetically pleasing, highly waterproof, and have a wide range of applications, representing a future trend in the timber industry. So I decided to try and develop it myself, even collaborating with the Woodworking Institute of the Forestry Research Institute. However, the products we produced were still substandard and failed to meet usage standards.

Chen Xingjia spoke with great emotion, and his words were incoherent, but Li Aiguo still understood him.

Currently, plywood in China is produced using the wet veneer gluing and hot pressing method.

This process is inefficient, energy-intensive, produces uneven adhesive layer thickness, and results in unstable pressure and a deformation rate as high as 20%.

Even if this kind of plywood were manufactured, it could only be used as a packaging box.

Xiao Mei's and Xiao Ou's families have already started using single-board pressing technology, and the results are much better.

However, it is still far inferior to the dry continuous production methods used in later generations.

Thinking of this, Li Aiguo looked at Chen Xingjia, who had a worried look on his face, and said, "Brother, have you ever heard of dry continuous production?"

(End of this chapter)