Age of Legends

Chapter 252 Overtaking!

Zhang Zhonghua understood Park Jung-soo's displeasure all too well. This representative of the Korean joint venture, who could speak fluent Chinese but deliberately used a Korean accent to appear unreasonable, considered the challenge to his company's technology a great humiliation.

This situation is not surprising to Zhang Zhonghua, and even to Chinese companies.

When Nam Kwong Group introduced the production line from South Korea, the South Korean engineers adopted a "no-teaching" strategy for the Chinese employees. The core technologies and production line had to be operated by South Korean personnel. Zhang Zhonghua was even reprimanded for trying to see how the South Koreans operated the line.

Secondly, past technology transfer negotiations were characterized by extremely harsh terms, often demanding that China abandon its independent technological path and accept only a "contract manufacturing" role. Nam Kwang Group's 25-inch production line fell into this patent trap, leaving it unable to escape the constraints of South Korean technology.

Back when Zhang Zhonghua and the former factory director visited South Korea, a senior executive from the other company bluntly stated at a dinner, "Your technology is at least 20 years behind ours!" Zhang Zhonghua was trembling with anger, while the former factory director smiled and drank with him. Later, when Zhang Zhonghua expressed his dissatisfaction to the former factory director, the latter's words chilled Zhang Zhonghua to the bone: "The technology is in their hands. If you confront them, if you argue back, and thousands of people in the factory go hungry, are you going to take responsibility?!"

Later, the South Korean executive probably felt that he hadn't given the Chinese face enough, so he added at the end: "I also believe that it's only a matter of time before Chinese companies catch up in technology... but the market won't give you time."

All of these things were actually the result of Zhang Zhonghua's youthful spirit.

This is why he insisted on taking on the FD29 project and persisting with this independent research and development path.

Therefore, when Park Jung-soo, the technical director in charge of innovation and management at LG Korea, who was extremely confident in his own technology and came to Namkwang Group to discuss joint ventures with the idea of ​​taking this place as his own, the sudden emergence of Chenguang Display was tantamount to an ambush in his eyes.

Park Jung-soo imposed extremely stringent conditions on the Chinese side's technical verification. The Chinese verification samples had to undergo rigorous random inspections by the Korean side, including dissection of the structure, explanation of the origin of internal components, and provision of supporting documentation. In addition, the data verification had to be sent to LG's headquarters laboratory for calibration using precision Korean equipment.

In the conference room today, Park Jung-soo talked at length about his work experience and technical journey, appearing almost like he was lecturing the entire Chinese audience, exuding an aura of subtly overwhelming them.

While it's infuriating to see the other party acting this way, it's precisely the norm for domestic companies dealing with foreign companies that possess core technologies.

Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua from the Nam Kwong Group sat upright, adopting an attitude of "you can talk all you want, go ahead and brag, I'll just pretend I'm blindfolded."

Zhou Ping glanced occasionally at the mayor's secretary, Xi Mingrong's representative. This time, the municipal government and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission were leading the effort, and Zhou Ping could only follow orders, but he wasn't entirely without the intention of watching the power struggle unfold. Xi Mingrong was now fully supporting Zhang Zhonghua. If Zhang Zhonghua failed this technical verification and LG regained the initiative, he would lose face badly. Xi Mingrong was probably anxious, and even if he wasn't present today, he was likely waiting for news from behind the scenes.

As for Zhang Zhonghua's technology, Zhou Ping knew Chinese engineers all too well. Testing in China might pass, but if it were sent to South Korea, their testing equipment would be inadequate. Furthermore, Zhou Ping, who had his own ulterior motives in suggesting Zhang Zhonghua's FD29 be sent to South Korea for testing before Park Jung-soo, was likely to engage in some "internal manipulation" by the South Korean side. This increased the likelihood of Zhang Zhonghua's project failing. South Koreans would likely not want their technology surpassed by China and might even resort to underhanded tactics to protect their crown jewel of technology.

Although Zhou Ping didn't understand technology, he understood human nature and the Korean mentality of valuing face.

Zhang Zhonghua did indeed take this into consideration, so he required that someone of his own be present for all random inspection items. This time, the people escorting the samples to South Korea were his right-hand men, Zhao Dongqing and Zeng Qiang. The two of them submitted the samples for the first test yesterday afternoon and opened them this morning to conduct tests on other indicators. They are also keeping in touch with Zhang Zhonghua by phone at all times to communicate and resolve any problems.

Park Jung-soo was explaining the requirements for the joint venture in the conference room when a phone call came in. He paused, glanced at the caller ID—it was the headquarters' technical laboratory. At that moment, everyone in the room stared at Park Jung-soo, then at Zhang Zhonghua.

The government and State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission officials couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Today was the day Zhang Zhonghua's FD29 sample was sent to South Korea for testing, and the results could be out at any time. Now Park Jung-soo had called. Could it be that the results were out?
Although M&G Display has already conducted internal testing, people are still worried that it will be subjected to even stricter scrutiny from the South Korean side. They say that finding flaws under a microscope is already a green light, as their high-precision equipment can magnify any defect.

Park Jung-soo got up and went out to answer the phone.

Just then, Zhang Zhonghua's phone rang. He immediately got up and went out, answering the call and placing it to his ear.

Zhao Dongqing's voice came through the phone, almost in tears, "Zhonghua! The electron gun accuracy of the sample is ±0.1mm, but the report from the Korean side says we don't have an accuracy of ±0.05mm! How is that possible! How is that possible! We clearly measured it!"

Zhang Zhonghua's heart sank.

"Is there a problem with the sample we sent? Send a different sample, and send copies B and C!"

"It's already been measured! I have the data report from the Korean side right now, and it clearly states that the electron gun's accuracy is ±0.1mm. Let me read it to you, it's 0.1mm! What are we going to do?"

"Don't panic, quickly check the sample and find out where the problem is..."

Zhao Dongqing's phone call was still on, indicating that he was urgently negotiating with Zeng Qiang and communicating with the South Korean side.

But the conference room had already exploded, with a deafening roar.

Park Jung-soo clearly relayed the South Korean report to the meeting room, causing a stir.

The precision of the electron gun in CRT picture tube technology is crucial to image quality, directly affecting focusing performance, color reproduction, and display stability. If the precision is not up to standard, the image will appear distorted, which is why many early domestically produced TVs look like they have severe chromatic aberration. In addition, the decline in electron gun precision due to aging will also cause such chromatic aberration edges in older TVs.

The FD29's electron gun accuracy is ±0.05mm, the same as LG's Silver Core technology, reaching mainstream advanced levels. However, the FD29's superior scanning algorithm superimposes parabolic voltages of different frequencies into the horizontal and vertical scanning circuits, resulting in a focusing error of less than 0.03mm at the center and edges of the screen for the electron beam. This surpasses LG's 0.05mm, which is the foundation of its core technology.

However, if the electron gun accuracy of this batch of South Korean samples is only 0.1mm, it means that the basic technology is not up to par, and it's completely useless!

So when Park Jung-soo announced the result at the meeting, the entire venue erupted in cheers.

Park Jung-soo's voice boomed, "I told you it was a waste of time! Surpassing LG's Silver Core? What kind of product is this! It has an accuracy of 0.1mm, and they dare to boast about it! I now, on behalf of the LG Group, doubt the sincerity of Rongcheng's joint venture!"

Xi Mingrong's secretary, Yin Xiaoguan, turned pale. He was already teetering on the brink of becoming mayor, and he couldn't imagine what Xi Mingrong would think if he heard this result on the other end of the phone. The leaders on the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's side all looked grim.

"We must find out exactly what happened!"

Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua, representatives of the Nam Kwong Group, were watching the show with amusement. His strategy seemed correct: sending it to South Korea for testing would inevitably be more rigorous. However, he did not expect that Zhang Zhonghua would be so terribly wrong.

At this moment, Zhang Zhonghua walked in, and all the leaders in the conference room stared at him, undoubtedly as if he were a criminal.

Zhang Zhonghua said loudly, "Everyone, please calm down. There might be a problem with this batch of samples, because we have already tested them and confirmed that the basic technical indicators met the standards when they were sent to South Korea!" "You tested them in Rongcheng and they met the standards! But in our laboratory, they didn't meet the standards! Is there a problem with the precision of your testing?" Park Jung-soo immediately retorted.

Zhang Zhonghua stared at Park Jung-soo, his heart pounding and completely bewildered, but he still argued his case: "You also come from a technical background, you should know that such a gap is unlikely to occur."

Park Jung-soo scoffed, "Who knows what other mistakes you might make?"

Zhang Zhonghua called again, and he quickly answered. Zhao Dongqing and Zeng Qiang said they had checked and found no problems with the sample. Zhang Zhonghua simply went outside. "Is there a problem with the assembly of the shadow mask? Check the coupling points, check the circuit board, are there any voltage issues caused by poor soldering that could lead to inaccuracies?"

“I’ve checked them all, Mr. Zhang! Besides, if one sample has a problem, it’s impossible for all the sets we brought to have problems!”

Yes, it's unlikely that so many sets would all malfunction at the same time. So where exactly is the problem?
"Wait a minute!" Zhang Zhonghua suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Could it be that LG's calibration instrument is malfunctioning? Have them switch to a different one for testing, quick! They should have a spare one; have them use the spare instrument for testing!"

"Holy crap!" Zhao Dongqing and Zeng Qiang immediately turned around and went back to the South Korean laboratory.

The time spent in the conference room felt like an eternity.

Everyone fell silent. Countless heavy smokers held their cigarettes, the burning butts glowing a scarlet red, and the conference room was filled with smoke.

Several hours passed.

Everyone is waiting for the results.

Park Jung-soo finally lost his patience and said, "I think it's pointless! Instead of questioning our testing capabilities, we should focus on improving our technology instead of resorting to these underhanded tactics!"

Zhou Ping and Ding Shenghua exchanged a glance, both knowing that today's events would become a laughing stock in the industry and a scandal in Rongcheng.

Zhang Zhonghua is completely finished!

"It's pointless. You can wait here. I'm going back to the hotel. I'll come back tomorrow with a new agreement." Park Jung-soo stood up and walked towards the meeting room. Just as he reached the door, his phone rang.

At the same time, Zhang Zhonghua's phone rang. The scene was exactly the same as before, leading those present to wonder if they were in a maze, wondering if this had happened just a few hours earlier.
But this time, as Park Jung-soo answered the phone and listened to the conversation, his expression gradually turned grim. "Are you... telling the truth?"

Inside the conference room, the department heads looked at each other in bewilderment because of the commotion.

"what happened?"

"Something's changed!?"

"Zhang Zhonghua's technical report is out? So it really was LG's testing equipment that malfunctioned just now?"

Amidst the speculations of the crowd.

Zhang Zhonghua, who was also on the phone, suddenly had to get up!

His hand trembled as he gripped the Nokia phone by his ear, its casing covered in chipped paint.

He walked past everyone, stepped onto the front desk of the conference room, picked up an eraser, and wiped away the technical notes that Park Jung-soo had written on the whiteboard with a few sweeping strokes. Then he picked up a pen and began to scribble on the whiteboard with bold, sweeping strokes, quickly filling it with various handwritten parameters.

Everyone saw the full picture of his handwritten notes—the left side contained the relevant parameters of LG's Silver Core technology, while the right side contained the parameters of FD29.

It must be put into practice.

This means that the test results from South Korea are in!

He tried to suppress his tone, but his slightly trembling voice still resounded throughout the room.

“根据LG集团实验室新检测仪器的结果！需要索尼技术授权的LG银核的动态聚焦精度是±0.05mm！而FD29的自研算法精度达到了±0.03mm！功耗155w！相比银核单管178w的功耗更节能！

Light transmittance! LG's vacuum ion plating pure ITO technology achieves 88% light transmittance, while FD29, using tungsten-doped ITO technology, reaches 92%!

"Based on the key indicators above, the report shows that FD29 has surpassed LG Silver Core!"

"We have just received confirmation from the South Korean laboratory that the sensors in the first set of testing instruments had a systematic error. The second and third sets of instruments have also confirmed that the above results are correct and true!"

He spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice filled with the pain of someone being executed. He also saw many people present who had just been waiting with him for the results, chain-smoking cigarettes from their pockets, their eyes also brimming with tears.

Zhang Zhonghua took a deep breath. "We...didn't lie!"

====
I highly recommend Zhang Xiaohua's new book, *Electronic Nezha*. It's really funny, with the same humor and wit as her previous work, *The Most Chaotic History*. A truly excellent recommendation!

　Thanks to uyoaix, 嘉德骑士po, 大锤春天加油, 烽梓丶, and 看啥呢铁子 for their generous donations.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)