Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1268 The Midterm Exam at Beijing Steel Plant (4k)

The commander guessed correctly. Lubyanka was at its peak fighting strength at this time. Although their fighting strength was mainly focused on dealing with John Bull, it did not prevent them from quickly sending a public message back to their country.

“They’ve gotten so close…” The two polar bears in charge of coordinating the cooperation between the two sides in this intelligence report sat together with furrowed brows. One was responsible for us, and the other for Gaul.

The White Bear side was certainly not unaware of the cooperation and exchanges between the two parties, but this time was different.

Prior to this, the cooperation between the two sides was only in specific technologies. Even if it involved military, aerospace, and aviation, it was only at the tactical level or in specific matters. No matter how much cooperation there was, it could be seen as just that both sides had gaps to fill.

In this context, such cooperation appears harmless.

But this time is different. This is a huge collaborative project that even involves the level of industrial strategy. Once something involves industrial strategy, the situation becomes complicated and may have a deeper and higher impact.

“They have similar status and circumstances, and if the conditions are right, they will eventually reach this point.”

"We have to do something."

"what can we do?"

"Should we talk to our comrades in the South? Ask them to cancel this cooperation?"

"Heh, don't forget, even when he was alive, he couldn't make the Southern comrades bow down. I don't think our intervention now will yield any good results. Especially now that cooperation has already begun and has achieved some results. You know, the Southerners have always valued their reputation, even with the Gauls. This is their reputation." Both of them knew perfectly well who "he" was.

"Then put pressure on the countries participating in the economic and technological cooperation between the two countries to prohibit them from participating in this cooperative outcome?" In other words, put pressure on them to prohibit them from purchasing.

"That would offend the Southerners terribly, isn't that unnecessary? Besides, without a legitimate reason, the countries in the Economic Assistance Association might not listen to us. As long as the results are good enough to impress these countries, the Southerners' status is enough to give them full confidence. Moreover, some of the countries in the Economic Assistance Association are already becoming somewhat alienated from us. It would be a loss to increase their resentment for something like this. Don't forget, all outbreaks are built up little by little in ordinary times. And many of these countries are not members of the Economic Assistance Association, so our influence is even smaller."

Every family has its own troubles, and this couldn't be more fitting for the situation of the polar bear and the American man.

"So what suggestions do you have? This matter doesn't rise to the highest level, but it's extremely dangerous in every respect."

The person who had consistently opposed the intelligence was no pushover, having presented such compelling arguments and reasons on so many occasions: "Have Lubyanka deliver this intelligence to 'The Mole' and send it to the Langley Center."

The Mole, a double agent who has been discovered but has not yet taken action.

"Hmm? You mean to let the Americans control the Gauls? But there's no need for that. No matter how weak the American intelligence network is in the south, this kind of public information will quickly reach them, and then the Americans will naturally deal with the Gauls."

The person who gave the suggestion shook his head: "No, no, no, the same intelligence has different meanings depending on where it comes from. You understand what I mean? What we leak here might be taken more seriously by the Langley Center, and thus affect their superiors."

It's like the creative cakes sold at tourist attractions. They taste almost the same but are more expensive, but people still want to buy them. It's the same principle: different origins mean different meanings.

"Hmm...maybe you're right."

The Lubyanka man was right; the Langley Center sent the intelligence to their president almost immediately.

After all, in the current Oceania system, the most troublesome country is Gaul, and the country that the US has suffered the most from is the other protagonist of this intelligence.

If the polar bears handled this matter with relative calm and composure, the Citizens were far more serious. They hadn't forgotten that Gaul was still a revolutionary base, and anything could happen.

"They've actually deepened their cooperation..." The Citizens' commander was also having a splitting headache as he held this intelligence. An old rival plus a traitor, and both of them were equally powerful. Anyone would have a headache in that situation.

Like the polar bear, the Citizens were not entirely unaware of the cooperation between the two countries, but they held roughly the same assessment of the depth and potential threats of that cooperation. However, they never expected that these two countries would actually join forces to pull off such a massive operation!
Economically, it could pose a threat to its own top industry – large passenger aircraft.

Politically, it's not a good thing for Citibank that these two countries have come together, let alone the possibility that they might develop deeper ties.

Militarily speaking, well, there's never any good news in the military sphere.

"Send a diplomatic note to the Gauls, demanding that they immediately terminate their cooperation with the Easterners!" The Citizens commander made the decision immediately, without even needing advice from his staff.

"Sir, perhaps the Gauls won't listen to our demands. They've always been like this ever since that man came to power." At this moment, the American was incredibly nostalgic for the Gaulish surrender faction from Season 2. Those people were so useful back then.

"I know, but we have to show our attitude, don't we?" Actually, Citibank was at a loss as to how to approach Gaul at this moment.

“I can provide some weapons,” said the military advisor who had been silent all along.

"Please speak, General."

"Regarding the engine, I'm not very clear on other details, but there's one thing I am very clear about: the passenger planes used by the Gauls use our JT-8D engines."

The JT-8D is a good engine, but its fuel consumption is not ideal, which is why the Mercury 100 has a limited range – fuel consumption has already been reduced, and the engine's fuel consumption is still not ideal.

However, this is already the best passenger plane engine that the French can currently obtain.

Therefore, the Citizens' commander immediately understood what he was thinking.

"If they refuse to comply with our demands, will we suspend the supply of JT-8D engines?"

"Yes, just like the F-8 fighter jet."

But he forgot one thing: the Gauls no longer needed F-8 fighter jets. "Alright, proceed with this decision." This was the best course of action they could come up with under the current circumstances.
-
The high-tech product exhibition is progressing smoothly and has entered its second half.

Just after the Gauls successfully secured a cooperation agreement with us on racing engines and to participate in various European car races, the delighted Gauls had no idea that their home base might be attacked.

Of course, this kind of raiding might not work in their domestic market for the time being, but it's hard to say how it will fare in the European market.

The reasons are somewhat complicated, but the main storyline is quite clear.

Lou Shouxing set his sights on automobile sales, and Zhenxing Electric was established in Hong Kong Island, which was temporarily under John Bull's administration.

For him, this identity was very subtle, as it allowed him to do things that others couldn't.

"Zhendong, what do you think of my idea?" Lou Shouxing asked Gao Zhendong while pouring him wine during dinner. In matters like this, his brother-in-law's ideas were much more sound than his own, and Lou Shouxing felt inferior.

After all, this is not as simple as just selling cars overseas.

"Hmm, that's a good idea, but are you sure you have a way to open the doors of these countries?" Obtaining an agency status isn't difficult. From the Ministry of Foreign Trade's perspective, selling anywhere is selling, and being able to sell to the core regions of the other party is something the Ministry of Foreign Trade would welcome.

Regarding the issue of tactical execution, Lou Shouxing was not at all confused: "I'm confident about that. Thanks to you, we have a lot of patents and many licensed companies all over Europe. These patent licensees are also a kind of resource for us, and now it's time for them to play their role."

Clearly, Lou Shouxing's reliance wasn't just on the identity he obtained through exploiting bugs; he possessed far greater power. The identity merely facilitated his actions and resolved the most basic issue of qualifications; he held far more leverage.

As for the specifics, Gao Zhendong didn't ask. He wasn't interested in the details. Since his brother-in-law dared to say that, there must be no problem.

"If that's the case, then this idea is quite good, and I imagine the Ministry of Foreign Trade will strongly support it." For the Ministry of Foreign Trade, this is exactly what they wanted.

“Okay, since you agree, I’ll get on with it.” Lou Shouxing was a man of action; when it came to business management, he was a pragmatist.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "Should I help you make some contact first?"

Lou Shouxing shook his head: "It's not necessary for now. We'll talk about it if there are any problems. I'm quite familiar with them, so it's best if you don't get involved."

Zhenxing Electric Technology had many connections with the Ministry of Foreign Trade, so this matter seemed very simple to Lou Shouxing. Lou Shouxing simply wanted to act as an agent, helping to sell some cars, which was essentially no different from his previous agency business. He also had no intention of transferring technology to produce the cars himself, making the actual difficulty even lower.

Gao Zhendong thought about it and realized that was indeed the case: "Okay, then I won't worry about it, you handle it."

At this time, the pressure was actually placed on Beijing Automobile Factory and Jiu'an Machinery Factory. One was the production plant for the Beijing series, and the other was the main production plant for microvans and the R&D plant for popular microcars.

If we go into more detail, there are also power plants and steel mills, since without steel there are no cars, and without electricity there are no steel.

There's a reason why people generally look at steel and electricity when evaluating a country's real economy.
-
Meanwhile, at the Jinggang Steel Plant, the comrades were in a workshop, including Director Fan, the top leader of the plant.

There's a reason why the head of a large steel plant is holed up in this workshop with his colleagues.

—The second converter, which uses the furnace life improvement technology learned from Chief Engineer Gao before the Chinese New Year, is about to break through 300 heats! For Jinggang Steel Plant, converters are normally operated continuously without stopping, so even with the time for modification, it did not take too long to break through 300 heats.

This furnace age is not outstanding internationally, and may not even be considered up to standard, but that doesn't stop our colleagues from being happy about it.

We shouldn't be jealous of how much others have; we should compare ourselves to our own past performance first!
The No. 1 furnace has only been in service for 200 furnaces, which is significantly less than the 300 furnaces in this furnace.

Most importantly, this 300 furnaces clearly does not appear to be the final result. Based on the analysis of furnace wall erosion, this number is far from reaching the upper limit of this new technology converter, not to mention that there are maintenance methods such as spraying and repair waiting to be implemented later.

There are two reasons why they take this 300-furnace project so seriously and why everyone came.

Firstly, according to information from the Ministry, the aftermath of the incident at the Third Rolling Mill had largely subsided. They could organize personnel to go to Chief Engineer Gao and learn what he was really trying to do. This furnace life improvement was something he had taught Jinggang Steel Plant in advance, helping them solve the problem first. Then, the attempted car explosion at the Third Rolling Mill happened, and it continues to this day.

However, what Chief Engineer Gao really wants to do hasn't been settled yet, and it needs to be implemented as soon as possible. So it's hard to say when we'll have time to gather everyone together after the 300 furnaces are finished, since most of the staff may be reassigned to Chief Engineer Gao's work.

Secondly, the 300 furnaces represent a 50% increase over the original 200 furnaces. From a purely technical upgrade perspective, this increase is a remarkable success and deserves to be witnessed and celebrated by all.

"300 furnaces? I reckon Chief Engineer Gao won't be satisfied, hahaha." Director Fan's words and facial expression were completely contradictory.

"Hey, it's normal for him to have high standards for himself. 50% is enough for me. Besides, given the current state of the furnace wall of Furnace No. 2, 300 is far from the limit. This is like a mid-term exam for us. Although we haven't met Chief Engineer Gao's requirements yet, it's still a milestone. Giving a score to make everyone happy and keep morale up is a good thing." The chief engineer of Jinggang Plant next to him was saying these words to comfort the plant manager, but in reality, he was laughing even more exaggeratedly than the plant manager.

"The steel composition meets the standards, tap it!" As they chatted and laughed, the 300th batch of molten steel gushed out of the taphole, its fiery white light tinged with a faint orange hue.

"Slag splashing protection!" A nitrogen gun was inserted into the converter, making a loud noise. The converter moved in coordination with the raising and lowering of the nitrogen gun, rotating its angle to ensure the slag splashing effect as much as possible.

"Slag residue is normal."

Even after the slag was cleaned up, the converter still emitted a great deal of heat, but this did not prevent the comrades from making a basic judgment on the condition of the furnace lining.

"The furnace lining is basically uniformly corroded, the furnace chamber is basically consistent from top to bottom, there is no obvious indentation at the trunnion, the surface of the fired bricks is basically flat, and no obvious corrosion is seen at the brick joints..."

Although not all tests have been completed, each report from the comrades brought a greater sense of joy to those present.

(End of this chapter)