Development of productivity started in 1981

Chapter 172 Planning to cooperate with the army to produce new lighters (asking for monthly tickets)

"Jiankun, are you saying that you figured out the technology to make lighters based on the lighter samples you saw in Raozhou?"

"Yes, I learned blacksmithing at a blacksmith shop in Fengshan before, and also read some stamping manufacturing principles in Raozhou. Then I figured out a set of technology for making lighters based on the samples.

Uncle, let's go to the lighter factory after dinner and you will know. It's not very complicated, except for the spring and flint. I asked someone to help with the processing of the spring before, and then I obtained the relevant technology and got the equipment from my uncle. Then I opened a spring manufacturing factory in Fengshan Commune.

The manufacture of flint is still relatively complicated, and simple production equipment is still under research. It is estimated that it will be manufactured in the second half of the year, and then we will be able to manufacture it ourselves."

"Okay, take me to see it after dinner. It's incredible that our team can actually make lighters, and the output is so large."

Because it was Qingming Festival, there was no big fish or meat. Grandma steamed Qingming fruit, stewed rice, and fried some vegetables at noon to get by. She would prepare something delicious in the evening.

So my uncle ate very quickly, and he looked like someone who had been released from a starvation prison.

"Hongbin, eat slowly, don't choke." Grandma saw her uncle eating so fast and asked him to slow down.

"Mom, I've been in the army for a long time and I'm used to eating fast. When I first joined the army, I finally saw so much food, but I ate too slowly, so when I wanted to get a second serving, there was no left. So since then I've eaten faster and faster, and it's hard to change now." The uncle answered, slowing down his eating a little.

"Then just chew it a few more times in your mouth. Eating too fast is bad for your stomach. It's easy to get stomachaches when you get older." Grandma reminded with concern.

Wang Jiankun then used his superpowers to observe his uncle's body and found that his uncle's stomach was indeed a little diseased, but it might be because he was young and exercised regularly, the cells in the diseased area were constantly being replaced by new cells, and the problematic cells were also being devoured by the body's immune cells.

"Okay, Mom, now I've been transferred to the Hongdu Military Region, which is the rear area. I'll be able to relax a little, and I'll slowly change my habit of eating too fast." Seeing that my mother was still very concerned, my uncle comforted her.

"That's good. There won't be any danger in the rear. I received your letter saying that you went to the southern front. Your father and I couldn't sleep all night. Later we heard that a soldier in Sikou Town also went to the southern front and never came back. Only a few things and ashes came back. Your father and I were scared." Grandma said with fear.

"Mom, I'm back safely, right? Let the past go. There shouldn't be any wars in the future. I'm safe in the Hongdu Military Region."

"Don't say anything, old lady. Isn't Hongbin back safe and sound? Just let him have a good meal first." Grandpa interrupted grandma when he saw that she wanted to talk about her previous worries and fears.

When Wang Jiankun was checking his uncle's body just now, he found that his uncle was indeed injured. There was a large scar on his thigh, and he didn't know whether it was caused by a bullet or shrapnel. There were also some minor injuries in other parts of the body. They have almost recovered now, but the wound sutures done by the front-line hospital may be very mediocre, and the wounds in some places are very ugly.

When my uncle first went to the battlefield, he was only a deputy company commander. He actually stayed on the front line for three years and was promoted to battalion commander when he came back. This is not a slow pace. After all, my uncle has no background. My grandfather's connections only helped him when he was promoted to squad leader. After that, it all depended on my uncle's own ability.

So my uncle must have fought bravely on the front lines and made great contributions, otherwise he would not have been promoted to battalion commander so quickly.

Since my uncle ate very fast at the table, he indirectly led the whole family to eat, so lunch was finished in less than half an hour.

After dinner, grandma and mother cleared the table, and Wang Jiankun took his sister to make tea.

The uncle took out two toys from his backpack, one was a tank model made of bullet shells, and the other was a pistol model made of bullet shells. He also took some food he bought on the road and gave it to Wang Jiankun and his sister.

"Uncle, did you make this pistol and tank?"

"Yes, do you like it?"

"I like it, and I like the food too." Although the younger sister said she liked the tank and the pistol, she quickly aimed at the bag of food and opened it. She is a little older now, and although she is still a little curious about these two toys, she is a girl after all, and is not very interested in these, so she held the bag of food tightly.

After the uncle took the gifts for Wang Jiankun and his sister, he took out a few small red boxes from his bag and handed them to grandpa and father.

"Dad, brother, these are some military medals, can you take a look?"

"Well, your service as a soldier was not in vain. You actually won so many honors." Grandpa said happily as he looked at the five military medals lined up on the table.

"Hongbin, can you tell me what types of military medals these are? I don't really understand." said my father.

"This one is a second-class merit medal, these two are third-class merit medals, and these three are battle commemorative medals." My uncle first explained the differences between the medals, and then picked out some things that did not need to be kept secret and talked about the origins of these medals.

Although my uncle concealed many details and described some of the battle processes very briefly, it is not easy to be awarded second-class and third-class merits. It must have been charging and fighting on the front lines, and many times they were determined to die in order to attack the enemy's positions.

At this time, the whole family sat together and listened to my uncle talking about his experience in the army. My uncle might have received confidentiality training before coming, so most of the time he talked about some things about training and rest at the base. The battle part was very simple, only talking about how many people were on the opposite side, how many people were on our side, what weapons were used, and other things that did not need to be kept confidential.

"Hongbin, you are the battalion commander of the Hongdu Military Region. I haven't seen you mention it in your letters before. Can you tell us about it now?" Grandpa asked.

In fact, the whole family was very curious. In their opinion, the rank of battalion commander was already a very high-ranking leader. When my uncle became a company commander, my grandfather was very happy. He even went out to buy wine and firecrackers to celebrate. So they were very curious about my uncle's silent promotion to battalion commander this time. My uncle had not revealed any news in his previous letter.

"Dad, please don't spread what I said everywhere. I can't explain it in too much detail. Just listen to it. What we should tell everyone is that you have made contributions on the front line and were promoted because you were valued by the leaders." The uncle solemnly gave his family a shot of prevention.

"I've heard it all. Don't tell anyone else. Just forget it after you hear it," Grandpa added.

After everyone expressed that they would keep the matter a secret and not tell anyone else, my uncle slowly began to talk about how he became the battalion commander.

"When I went to the front, the company commander was suddenly transferred away, so I was temporarily appointed as the deputy company commander to perform the duties of the company commander. Unexpectedly, not long after I arrived at the front, I was promoted to a regular employee.

After that, I led the company to defend the position. During that period, many battles took place. Sometimes the enemy came up to scout out the sentry and attack, and sometimes we went to destroy the enemy's firepower points and outposts. In short, although there were no major battles during that period, small battles occurred frequently.

Later, we launched a large-scale counterattack, which was mainly an artillery battle. I was responsible for leading people to cover the artillery observer to go to several commanding heights for observation. I learned some skills from the artillery observer temporarily, and I didn’t expect it to come in handy. The observer sprained his ankle while walking, but the attack order had already been issued, so I temporarily took over his task and led people to the commanding heights to observe and report the enemy’s position to the artillery in the rear.

That time, I led the team to not only repel the enemy's multiple attacks and eliminate many enemies, but also reported very accurate coordinates. After the battle was evaluated, I was awarded the second-class merit, and the company also received the third-class collective merit. After that, I caught the attention of the leaders.

Later, I had an opportunity to study in the Guangxi Military Academy, so my superiors sent me to study for half a year. When I returned to the front, I became the deputy battalion commander. At that time, I was always on the front line and could not talk about what happened in the military academy, so I did not mention these in the letter.

Then the troops I led continued to make meritorious service. At that time, the troops with combat effectiveness were retained, while those without combat effectiveness and those with heavy losses were streamlined. The troops I led had fewer casualties and made more meritorious service, so they were retained. In addition, they were noticed by the leaders. Later, they mainly served as a teaching team, explaining the situation on the front line to the troops sent to fight in rotation, and led them for a period of time. I did a good job in training, but because I had been on the front line for far longer than the stipulated time, with the help of the leaders, I was promoted to battalion commander, and then went to the Hongdu Military Region to lead the newly formed troops. ”

My uncle briefly talked about his promotion process. The first step of being promoted to company commander was partly due to luck. The company commander was transferred before the war, and my uncle took the opportunity to become a regular employee. The subsequent promotion was mainly due to meritorious service. My uncle was smart and had solid basic skills. After learning how to do it temporarily from the artillery observer, he took the opportunity to make meritorious service and also caught the attention of the army chief. So my uncle became the battalion commander of the military region with hard work and a bit of luck.

Wang Jiankun found that when his uncle was describing the battle, his eyes were bloodshot and his heart beat very fast, which showed that the battlefield must have been very cruel. His uncle must have seen many life and death scenes, so he became emotional when he thought about it.

"Uncle, is the unit you are leading now still an infantry company?" Wang Jiankun asked.

"We are still infantrymen now, but we are about to start the transition to armored infantry. We are already taking courses on tank driving and maintenance. We will probably be equipped with armored vehicles in the future."

"Oh? What kind of equipment are you preparing? I see we are cooperating with the United States. Are you going to prepare the American armored vehicles?"

"I'm not sure about that, but it should be impossible. American products are so expensive, how can we afford them? Now our army has to find ways to start side businesses to ensure food and allowances. How can we use such expensive armored vehicles?" said my uncle, shaking his head.

"Ah? So the troops have to raise funds on their own? Aren't they getting enough from above?"

"We owe a lot, and prices are rising very fast. The funding we were given before is not enough to buy daily necessities. In addition, the leaders are competing with each other to improve the level of the troops and upgrade their equipment, so the funding is not enough. Our battalion has been assigned a mission to find a way to earn enough money to buy five trucks."

Wang Jiankun and his family were quite surprised to hear this. They didn't expect that their uncle, who had just been the battalion commander for a short time, would have to consider making money. They originally thought that their uncle just needed to lead the troops well and practice hard to kill the enemy.

"Do you have any solution? You have just become the battalion commander, don't let this get you transferred away!" Grandma said worriedly.

"I have no idea yet. I have only taken over for a few months. Other camps are also worried. Everyone is not afraid of leading troops to fight and has many ideas, but they are clueless about how to make money. Some have tried a stupid method, such as raising livestock at the base, but I think that can only earn some allowance money, and it may even lose money. After all, a fortune does not count. If there is a plague, all the manpower and material resources invested in the early stage will be wasted."

"Uncle, think about it carefully at home. I'll take you to see how lighters are manufactured later. If you really have no other options later, your family can pay for it." Wang Jiankun suggested.

"It's hard for my family to pay for this. After all, this is a long-term thing. I may have to raise more money later. It's not easy to start this. I'd better go to the lighter factory first to see if it can bring me any inspiration."

Afterwards, my uncle chatted with his family for a while, and everyone told him about some things that had happened in the past two years. From these words, my uncle understood the role of Wang Jiankun. He was becoming more and more confused about this nephew who was taller than him and whom he had not seen for several years.

In the afternoon, the uncle followed Wang Jiankun to the lighter factory. Although it was Qingming Festival, the factory did not stop production completely, and half of the production lines were still in operation.

After the Chinese New Year this year, the sales of lighters have actually started to grow slowly again, so we must now step up production, otherwise we will not be able to keep up with market demand.

Although sales are increasing, Wang Jiankun's profits are decreasing because raw materials are rising in price, especially copper and iron. This is not because the partners deliberately raised prices for Wang Jiankun, but because the raw materials in the entire domestic market are rising in price. In fact, they have already increased prices generally, and are trying their best to meet Wang Jiankun's needs.

Wang Jiankun knew some of the reasons. Although the state issued a document last year to control private enterprises engaged in the hardware products and transportation industries, these two industries are basic needs and cannot be banned by a single document. After implementing them for a period of time, many places found that economic development had slowed down or even regressed, so they relaxed the regulations. Some private enterprises cooperated with collectives and the government and received support in disguise. Therefore, economic development in various places has been accelerating this year, and the demand for raw materials has increased rapidly, leading to this wave of abnormal raw material price increases.

In view of this situation, Wang Jiankun has begun to prepare to replace the raw materials for the lighter. He plans to use plastic as the main body of the lighter and piezoelectric ceramics as the ignition mechanism, so that only a small amount of gray iron or brass is needed.

However, this type of plastic lighter is not suitable for using kerosene, because the plastic is molded in one piece, kerosene is difficult to add, and the split plastic will have problems with poor sealing and low strength, so it is best to use liquefied petroleum gas such as propane or butane.

The current problem is that propane and butane are difficult to purchase and transport, and the inflation process is also very dangerous. It would be very unsafe if they were placed in the Wangjia Production Team. After all, the space here is limited, and it is best to use such hazardous chemicals in a place with fewer people.

Now my uncle said that the army is trying to find a way to raise its own military funds, and the more the better. So, can we cooperate with his military region or the chief to let them handle the purchase and loading of lighter fuel? The profit from sales can be negotiated separately. Wang Jiankun doesn't mind giving up more profits, which may allow my uncle to have a more stable position in the army.

During the visit, Wang Jiankun first introduced the manufacturing process of lighters to my uncle, which was indeed quite simple. It mainly involved stamping parts, then painting and assembling. The equipment also looked quite simple. For some things that Wang Jiankun couldn't explain well, he said they were bought from other places or made with help from others. My uncle didn't doubt anything, but just felt that Wang Jiankun was very smart.

On the way back, Wang Jiankun told his uncle his idea and showed him a plastic-shell lighter that he had improvised using his superpowers.

"Jiankun, are you talking about cooperating with our troops to produce this new type of lighter?"

"That's right. The lighters we are making now use too much iron and copper. The prices of iron and copper have risen sharply, and the profits are getting lower and lower. However, the price of lighters can't increase much, so I plan to produce this new type of lighter. At that time, your troops will be responsible for the purchase and filling of lighter fuel. We will discuss sales later. If your troops are capable, they can also participate in sales. How to distribute the profits will be discussed later. Do you think it can be done?"

"It's possible. The propane and butane you mentioned are now burned as waste gas by domestic oil refineries. The price should be very cheap. As for transportation and storage, you said we can get professional transport vehicles and storage tanks from Hong Kong. It's no problem. The army can just build a site for gas storage and loading. It shouldn't be difficult. Our place is very big."

"That's good, uncle. You'd better convince the leaders to participate in the transportation and part of the sales, so that I can allocate more profits to the troops, and the leaders will also know that they are getting an advantage. In this way, your contribution will be greater, and your future path will be wider. You decide how to report to your leaders." Wang Jiankun said.

Wang Hongbin looked at Wang Jiankun who was talking freely and thought a lot at once. This nephew has changed a lot in the past few years. He knew before that he was smart and a good student. Now that he has grown up, he has even started to consider his future.

"Jiankun, you will lose a lot this way!" The uncle still found it difficult to get over the hurdle of being taken care of by his nephew. What Wang Jiankun did was equivalent to giving money to the army, and in a reasonable and legal way.

"I have nothing to lose. With your participation, the production and sales of this new lighter will be more stable."

"Then I will call the chief tomorrow to report on my work and mention the cooperation in manufacturing plastic lighters. If the chief agrees, we can discuss it in detail. At that time, you may have to ask the Hong Kong man named Chen Xingdong to go to Hongdu to finalize the cooperation."

"No problem, I'll send him a message. If needed, he'll be there anytime."

"Okay, Jiankun, I didn't expect that you would help me solve a big problem as soon as I came back."

"Your important matter is not this, but when you are going to get married. Grandma didn't mention it today. She is immersed in the joy of seeing you. Maybe she will mention it tonight."

"You little brat, why are you talking about things that are not relevant? You don't need to worry about this." The uncle actually blushed a little, patted Wang Jiankun on the back, and strode forward towards home.

Wang Jiankun was watching thoughtfully from behind. His uncle should have a girlfriend or be showing signs of it. Well, his uncle is 25, which is considered old in the countryside. All those who were delayed and didn't get married in the team got married this year. Now there are no unmarried young men in the team. His grandmother got worried when she thought about it. She couldn't urge his uncle to get married before when he was in the army, but now that he is back, she will definitely keep urging him.

Wang Jiankun thought about it, shook his head, and quickly walked forward to catch up with his uncle.

(End of this chapter)