Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1245 Let's modify the current machine first (5k, adding yesterday's chapter, 9k more today)

Amid the roar of the engines, there were occasional bursts of gunfire, but our comrades could not hear any of it.

They simply "escorted" the C-47 all the way to an airport south of Songjiang.

As soon as the plane landed, it was surrounded by people.

The people on the plane had completely polarized feelings.

On one hand, there's no major disaster except death, and according to the other side's habits, as long as you don't do anything reckless, you definitely won't die.

On the other side, however, is a completely different scene.

Director Guo seemed to know that his fate was beyond redemption. He stood up, carefully straightened his collar and cuffs, dusted off the hem of his clothes, pulled up his trouser legs, adjusted his hat, and tried to put on a serious expression.

This seemed to be its last bit of "pride".

The aircraft door was opened, and one by one, people stepped out of the plane amidst the watchful eyes of the surrounding young soldiers.

The section chief picked up his gun, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes, and made up his mind several times, but ultimately lacked the courage to pull the trigger.

This is not surprising. If he had that kind of courage, he wouldn't have been arrested decades ago and quickly defected to become an executioner.

He painstakingly took the gun out of his mouth, put it in its holster, carefully fastened it, and then began to walk towards the cabin door, each step incredibly difficult.

As soon as he stepped off the plane, he froze, and the person in front of him seemed to look somewhat familiar.

He was a comrade who didn't look very old, but whose hair was already a bit gray. He looked at the colonel with hatred in his eyes.

"It's been 41 years since we last met, and you've been living a carefree life! That's him! Take him away!!" With a wave of his hand, several soldiers rushed up, grabbed the man from behind, handcuffed him, and took him away.

The crew members who were not under strict control were stunned by what they saw, yet also somewhat relieved.

Fortunately, I obeyed and did not continue to resist stubbornly in the air.

A colleague next to me said, “Come with me, we’ll do a basic screening, and then you can fly back. Of course, if you want to stay, you’re welcome to do so.”

Several crew members, feeling fortunate to have survived the ordeal, caught up with our comrades, while several soldiers followed behind with their guns.

These few don't need to be watched too closely; as long as they have brains, they'll know what to do.
-
February 9th, the 26th day of the 12th lunar month, is an auspicious day for marriage, and the birth charts of the person is quite compatible with those of Lou Shouxing and He Wu.

Although we live in a new society, the traditional custom of choosing an auspicious date for marriage, which carries good intentions, can generally be followed either by adhering to the old customs or by adopting new ideas.

Most importantly, it was a Sunday.

"Big brother, stand up straight, hey, right, right." Gao Zhendong looked Lou Shouxing up and down, his eyes full of smiles. As the chief executive of Zhenxing Electric Technology Group, Lou Shouxing, who had seen a lot of things, seemed a little reserved at this moment.

His face showed a mixture of anticipation and unease about married life, which was normal. To paraphrase a saying Gao Zhendong had heard in his previous life, "You'll feel numb even if you stomp your feet," everyone is the same.

"Zhendong, why do I feel a little uneasy?" Lou Shouxing said to Gao Zhendong, who was considered a senior in this matter.

“It’s alright. Once you kowtow and the couple bows to each other, you won’t panic.” Gao Zhendong acted like he had experience, but in reality, he only had that one experience in his two lifetimes combined.

On He Wu's side, things were much more lively. Compared to Gao Zhendong and Lou Shouxing, who didn't say much, He Wu and Lou Xiao'e were chatting happily.

The two sisters-in-law were laughing and joking, very excited.

"Xiao'e, your ruby ​​jewelry is so beautiful." Even He Wu, who was well-traveled in Hong Kong, looked surprised and envious of Lou Xiao'e's "Dawn" jewelry.

"If you bring this up, I'm wide awake," Lou Xiao'e said with a smile, touching her earrings. "This one? The stone was a gift from Zhendong. My parents had it made. I don't usually wear it. If it weren't for today being your and my brother's big day, this set would still be lying at the bottom of a trunk."

She doesn't usually carry this with her.

"He was already that capable back then? This stone isn't cheap." Judging from the quality of the ruby, it's certainly not cheap. He Wu still knew when Lou Xiao'e got married. At that time, her somewhat mysterious brother-in-law had only been working for a short time, and he could afford it, which truly surprised her.

The key point is that they bought stones instead of finished products, which required considerable skill to obtain in those days.

Hearing her words, Lou Xiao'e laughed even more happily: "This stone is man-made and worthless."

"Man-made? This thing can be made?" This really piqued He Wu's curiosity to the extreme, since these days, things like man-made rubies are not very well known to ordinary people.

“Yes, but don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s man-made; it has quite a history.” Lou Xiao’e naturally couldn’t let Gao Zhendong’s good intentions be buried quietly. She couldn’t tell anyone else about this, so this sister-in-law in front of her was the best choice.

Lou Xiao'e gave a brief account of the origin of this "Dawn" set, her words filled with pride.

After saying that, she breathed a long sigh of relief, as if she had finally "gotten her secret."

Upon hearing this, He Wu gasped. This stone was so important? Was his brother-in-law really that powerful? If he had to guess before, now his brother-in-law's special abilities were finally being revealed in a small way.

"Oh, you say it's not expensive? The origin of this stone is priceless." In the eyes of our overseas compatriots these days, things like being number one in the world are also extremely important. They know that only when they have more of these things can they stand tall.

The two sisters-in-law were chatting in the room, while the two elders of the Lou family, also dressed in new clothes and waiting for the auspicious hour, couldn't stop smiling.

There weren't many people present; they were just some of Lou's real relatives and friends, as well as a very small number of Lou Shouxing's childhood friends. In total, there were less than three tables of people, all gathered at Lou's house.

"Brother Lou, congratulations!"

"Thank you very much..."

Mr. Lou wasn't busy, since there weren't many people around. But what would have seemed desolate more than a decade ago now brought him immense peace of mind.

"The auspicious time has arrived!!!" With a loud shout, the Lou family became even more lively in an instant.
-
"Chief Engineer Gao, we've come again to learn from your experience. Oh, Lao Zheng, we heard you're having a great time here."

Fan, the deputy director of Jinggang Steel Plant, has been promoted to director. He is currently in the conference room of the Third Branch Plant, exchanging pleasantries with Gao Zhendong and Zheng Liangshu.

This is a rare technical meeting that Zheng Liangshu can attend, aside from factory meetings, because today's topic is none other than steelmaking technology.

Fan, the deputy director of the urea steel plant, was very familiar with Gao Zhendong, who came to the factory to do research, and was also very familiar with Zheng Liangshu, who had served as the director of the AOD branch plant at Beijing Steel Plant. Coming to the third branch plant felt like coming home.

Factory Director Fan, who had just been promoted to factory director, spoke to Zheng Liangshu without any airs.

Firstly, he himself had only recently been promoted, while Director Zheng had come down from the ranks of the ministry leadership. Secondly, Director Zheng Liangshu's current rank was the same as before his promotion, meaning they were at the same level, only differing in rank (one as the head and one as the deputy). However, the fact that Director Zheng was in the crucial Third Branch Factory effectively compensated for this difference.

As for Gao Zhendong's rank, it was special, even Director Fan himself wasn't sure. Therefore, Director Fan was more at ease with Zheng Liangshu, after all, Zheng had worked under him before.

Zheng Liangshu laughed and said, "Not at all, it's all work, all work." This was a difficult question to answer. If he said that he was comfortable at the Third Factory, wouldn't that imply that he wasn't so comfortable at the Jinggang Steel Plant? He certainly wouldn't make that mistake.

After a few words of laughter and conversation, Director Fan steered the conversation back to the purpose of their visit.

"I've come here with good news. Of course, the follow-up to this good news is that the ministry asked us to come and learn from their experience. Our converter steelmaking trial production has been successful."

Having learned the general details of the matter from the ministry leaders, Director Fan was undoubtedly grateful to Gao Zhendong.

Chief Engineer Gao is a man of great vision and decisiveness!

As for why Chief Engineer Gao did this in such a magnanimous way, those who know, know.

The comrades at Beijing Steel Plant lived up to the trust placed in them by the ministry, and quickly completed the trial production and inspection of the top-blown converter.

The factory was working incredibly hard, and the department was eager to push things forward quickly, which made the progress of this matter exceptionally fast.

"It's embarrassing to say, but with the New Year approaching, I'm still bothering you again." This is a phrase that people asking for favors almost always say as the year draws to a close.

"You're too kind. Whether it's the New Year or not, we still have to work," Gao Zhendong said with a smile.

After saying that, he stretched out his hand: "Come, come, let me see the situation of the converter."

Everyone took his words for granted. It could be said that the 17th Ministry of Machine Building had no technical defenses against Gao Zhendong and had no secrets from him.

A technician who came with Factory Director Fan quickly pulled out a thick stack of documents from his bag and handed them to Gao Zhendong. The documents were quite heavy, and the technician had some difficulty carrying them, but Gao Zhendong easily took them with one hand.

They weren't sure what Gao Zhendong was interested in, so they brought everything they could, including materials for inspection.

Fortunately, Factory 1201 recently acquired a new piece of equipment called a photocopier. Although it wasn't cheap, it wasn't a major problem for the Jinggang Steel Plant's office and archives, as they had sufficient funds and qualifications to purchase it. This greatly facilitated their work, since some documents were unique and it wasn't appropriate to simply bring them out.

Gao Zhendong was stunned when he opened the document. It seemed that Jinggang Factory was quite quick to act, already using a photocopier. Some of the materials were clearly printed by a photocopier.

"Very good, very good." With a hint of extra relief, Gao Zhendong flipped through the materials in his hand.

Gao Zhendong was unaware of the milestone of the first industrialized converter steelmaking machine built by Beijing Steel Plant after the founding of the People's Republic of China. After all, in his previous life, he couldn't even distinguish between a converter and an open furnace. He wasn't a professional in this field, and online arguments usually don't touch on such basic technical areas.

This is a good opportunity to take a look; it's much more detailed than spending money to find it yourself.

"Oxygen supply from the top vertical oxygen lance, high-pressure furnace top, high-temperature, high-humidity forced draft... Hmm, good, good..."

Gao Zhendong looked at it and praised it. Although the furnace did have some defects, after all, it was the first one. But it was something we had made ourselves, which was remarkable. This furnace could be said to have embodied the hard work and sweat of the steelworkers.

What is Iron Man? This is Iron Man, at least that's what Gao Zhendong thinks.

Hearing Gao Zhendong's praise, Director Fan felt a little embarrassed. He knew his own business best and was very familiar with the furnace. It did have some problems. He might have been able to cover it up a bit when dealing with outsiders, but there was nothing to hide from Gao Zhendong.

Do you think people won't notice if I don't say anything? Are you kidding me?
"Chief Engineer Gao, this furnace actually has some problems. The smelting cycle is a bit long, and the furnace life is also low, only 200 furnaces, less than half of the current international mainstream level..."

At this time, the international mainstream oxygen top-blown converter has a furnace life of 500 to 800 heats. Simply put, it can produce this many heats of steel before it needs major maintenance and replacement, which costs a lot of money.

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "It's the first one, the important thing is whether we have it or not. A few minutes or ten minutes longer in the cycle is not a big deal, and a lower furnace age is not a big problem either. The important thing is that your 1200 cubic meters/hour oxygen supply machine can be said to have solved the problem of the steelmaking gas source for the converter in one fell swoop."

Regardless of the technical approach used, converter steelmaking requires one thing in common: a large amount of oxygen. This is not something that can be solved simply by squeezing an oxygen bag.

Speaking of this, Director Fan was quite proud, and they had every right to be proud: "Well, we put a lot of effort into this. The oxygen concentration is 99.5%. After replacing the air, the nitrogen content is reduced to below 0.002%, which can significantly improve the toughness of the steel."

On Gao Zhendong's side, when replicating the materials in the steel materials handbook, there were similar methods of using oxygen to replace air, but those were all experimental equipment with small output and the technology was not suitable for large-scale promotion. What the comrades from Beijing Steel Plant did, however, was capable of industrial production.

"Overall, our furnace has four major problems: high oxygen consumption, low furnace life, slightly long cycle time, and insufficient automation. There is still a lot of room for improvement."

Director Fan knew his own company's products inside and out, and his summary was very comprehensive.

After thinking it over, Gao Zhendong realized that compared to getting the converter working and making good use of it, other improvements weren't particularly urgent, and these things could be done simultaneously.

"Let's not talk about what I'm planning to do yet. Let's discuss these issues with your furnace first. If there are any results, you can go back and improve the furnace while you're working on my project. At least let other factories use the converter first to further improve labor productivity."

A converter's steelmaking time of about 30 minutes, even if ours is 40 minutes, is still a huge improvement compared to the several hours of open-hearth furnace. Time equals output.

"That's wonderful!" Factory Director Fan was overjoyed. The problem with this furnace had kept them up all night. A furnace with only 200 furnace cycles was really pathetic, wasting a lot of time and money, which was extremely disadvantageous in the production of a bulk product like steelmaking.

Moreover, Chief Engineer Gao is equally magnanimous. He told you to go back and revise your work, and that the credit should mainly go to you. Since he had already said that, how could you not work your butt off?
"Chief Engineer Gao, which aspect do you think needs to be changed?" He didn't know which of the four major issues Gao Zhendong wanted to change.

Gao Zhendong laughed: "First of all, there's the issue of automation. Our colleagues at the Third Plant have a lot of experience in this area. The slightly longer cycle time and slightly higher oxygen consumption are process issues, which are closely related to the actual situation. You can adjust them yourselves, but the level of automation can also lay a good foundation for your process adjustments."

"Good! Good! Good!" Director Fan was very pleased. He knew that, to put it nicely, the furnace was semi-automatic, but in reality, it still relied heavily on the experience of the workers to make judgments. The most impressive part of the furnace's automation was the automatic furnace gas analyzer; everything else was lacking, and the automatic control was even weaker.

This is also one of the reasons for the long cycle and high oxygen consumption.

If we follow Chief Engineer Gao's idea and start by modifying the automatic control, it will indeed lay a solid foundation for subsequent process improvements.

The automation capabilities of the Third Factory are renowned throughout the entire system, and even outside of it, such as the Twelfth Ministry of Machine Building.

Although it wasn't his biggest concern about furnace age, being able to automate the process was already a very good result.

"Okay, then I'll have Section Chief Fang from the Technical Department of the Third Factory lead a team to your side. You've cooperated before, so you're familiar with each other." Gao Zhendong didn't hesitate to give his subordinates a chance, and Fang Yinghong was indeed a master in this regard. Her reputation as a female general was not only known within the Seventeenth Ministry of Machine Building.

"Good, Section Chief Fang is just as capable as any man. She already showed her skills when it came to urea steel. With her support, we have even more confidence." Seeing that Gao Zhendong had already appointed a top-notch subordinate, Factory Director Fan was overjoyed.

"Next, let's talk about the furnace life issue. I just looked at it and I have some thoughts." If the furnace life issue isn't resolved, steel production will still be affected, and it will also affect the promotion of converters. Given that various industries need a large amount of steel, this is something that must be addressed.

With food in our bellies and steel in our hands, and knowing that our predecessors have already solved the food problem, we can focus on solving the steel problem ourselves.

After years of research and exposure to modern steelmaking processes, Gao Zhendong has truly gained expertise in this area. Moreover, he possesses a trump card—a portion of documents he found regarding converter technology. It might not be effective against other types of equipment, but it's perfect for dealing with the converter at Beijing Steel Plant.

"Ah? Really? That's wonderful, that's wonderful!" Director Fan felt overwhelmed with happiness; how could he possibly accept this?
(End of this chapter)