Return to Hong Kong Island for a Century

Chapter 278 Crowdfunding Controversy (5000+ views)

"Our company is preparing to establish our own global navigation system!" Li Song said again.

Ma Shengli's eyes widened upon hearing this, because Li Song had mentioned wanting to get involved in aerospace last time, so Ma Shengli had been cramming on some knowledge.

Do you know what a global navigation system is?
That's the world's most advanced technology. The Americans started working on this in 1964 and have invested massive amounts of money and resources every year. Even now, the errors are so large that they make people's scalps tingle.

Meanwhile, the neighbor to the north only started construction in 1976 and has not yet launched.

And this young man in front of me actually said he wanted to build a global navigation system.

Other countries use the resources of the entire nation to build this system.

However, Ma Shengli felt that Li Song didn't seem to be lying.

Just a few months ago, Li Song said he would travel by private jet, and now, the private jet has begun ground testing.

"Mr. Li, do you mean you want to develop a global navigation satellite? The most advanced technology in the world?" Ma Shengli was practically asking directly, "Is this copied?"

"It's not just navigation satellites, but also communication satellites."

Satellite TV!

“Weather satellite!” Li Song exclaimed.

"Weather satellite?" Ma Shengli was a little confused when he heard the words "weather satellite".

"Satellites can take pictures of the ground and show what's going on, like a drought or a flood in a certain area."

"It can also capture images of clouds. For example, if a typhoon begins to form in the Pacific Ocean, it can be continuously tracked to calculate its trajectory and predict where it will make landfall," Li Song explained simply.

Ma Shengli nodded upon hearing this. However, Ma Shengli thought of another use: since it could be used to photograph clouds, it could also be used to photograph buildings on the ground.

"I will report the relevant situation truthfully!" Ma Shengli could only report according to the procedure.

"Ok!"

"After we reach an agreement, I'll take some technology, mainly rocket and satellite technology!" Li Song knew, of course, that Ma Shengli didn't have much authority.

Li Song also knew the reason for Ma Shengli's surprise: the technology represented by navigation satellites and meteorological satellites was too advanced!

Designing a satellite for 1980 would be far too easy for professionals in 2080.

Li Song roughly understood that the manufacturing and R&D costs of the entire satellite accounted for about 5%, launch accounted for 2%, ground equipment accounted for 50%, and operation accounted for more than 30%.

Throughout the entire satellite operation system, Li Song's technical costs were very low.

Basically, it saves about half the cost compared to overseas.

Moreover, spaceflight is truly the crown jewel of human civilization.

It allowed humanity to truly break free from Earth and enter the universe.

The difficulty in this regard can be seen by considering how many countries in the world will be able to launch rockets decades from now.

Some developed countries have experienced repeated rocket launch failures.

Li Song's own position is that even if these technologies were handed over to certain countries, he wouldn't be able to implement them.

In other words, if you put the blueprints and technology in front of these countries, they can only stare helplessly!

Let's not forget who laid the foundation for our country's aerospace industry.

It is precisely because of these older generation experts who laid the foundation for our aerospace industry that our aerospace industry has continued to improve.

Other countries simply don't have such talent.

In other words, if Li Song wanted to develop aerospace technology, the mainland was his only option.

However, if the mainland wants to develop aerospace technology, it doesn't necessarily need Li Song to take it one step at a time.

The main problem with our country's space program is its weak foundation, both in terms of talent and economy.

If our country's economy were one-fifth the size of Aramco's at the same time, our achievements in the aerospace field would probably be even greater!

Of course, by the 1980s, our new generation of aerospace engineers had grown up.

The technology that Li Song presented was simply an acceleration of the technology that these aerospace engineers were researching!

There is another objective problem in mainland China, which is a lack of money.

Spaceflight is a truly expensive endeavor.

If you succeed, great; but if you fail, it means all your previous investments have gone down the drain.

Its success is either zero or one hundred percent.

This is why many countries have been slow to develop their space programs.

Because once a failure occurs, it's very difficult to find the reasons for the failure, as rockets are a systemic thing.

It's possible that the reason you find the cause of the failure isn't the real reason for the failure. When you think you've solved the problem and then relaunch, it may still fail.

Li Song has money, technology, and manpower, while the mainland has people and the ability to manufacture rockets and satellites, so the two sides complement each other.

As a country's administrator, one must use the money in the most effective way.

Moreover, aerospace technology cannot be achieved simply by throwing money at it.

All experiments need to be conducted step by step, recording various data step by step, and then optimizing.

Each experiment represents a burning of funds.

Therefore, given the delicate international situation in the 1980s, the country's leaders turned their attention to economic development.

The goal is to ensure that everyone in the country has enough to eat.

This seemingly simple requirement remains unfulfilled by many countries even a hundred years later.

Some people call it an intelligent system?
For developing countries, how many people could be hired with the price of one robot?
Moreover, the era of intelligentization will inevitably lead to the relocation of all manufacturing industries to countries that have successfully transformed to intelligentization.

Other countries can only become dumping grounds for goods and suppliers of raw materials.

The price difference between raw materials and commodities means that the country's supply of raw materials alone cannot meet the price of commodities!
This will lead to the country becoming increasingly poor.

Ma Shengli went to report on his work again, and Li Song received no news. He flew directly to Chang'an early the next morning.

It's snowing in Chang'an, and Li Song saw many people shoveling snow on the roads!

"It will be great once our cars are manufactured." Li Song was riding in an imported Ford!
This car used to be in Guangzhou, but it has now been sent here.

Moreover, after Li Song got off the plane this time, there was a 212 Jeep clearing the way for him!
When Li Song arrived at the aircraft manufacturing plant, it was almost noon, and the airport runway had already been cleared.

"Thanks to the military region, every time it snows heavily, a lot of them come to shovel snow!"

"The main issue is the anti-freezing system; it's not cost-effective to use it now," Chief Engineer Ma explained as soon as he saw Li Song.

Airport runways have anti-icing systems, which mainly involve spraying salt water.

These brines will be collected and recycled. Of course, they will be filtered and evaporated during use because the presence of snow water in the brine will reduce its concentration.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work!" Li Song nodded, knowing that things were not always the same.

"The ground test results were excellent!"

"Flight tests are expected to take place during the Spring Festival."

"We've already obtained the special airworthiness certificate in China!"

"If all goes well, this aircraft will be finalized in four months!" Engineer Ma reported on the recent progress.

"Ok!"

"I have the engine technology and blueprints here. Can your factory manufacture it?" Li Song asked.

Ma pushed up his glasses: "A turboshaft engine?"

"no problem!"

"As long as we have the technology and the data, we can just set up a technical task force!"

"We will begin testing and manufacturing high-bypass turbofan engines next year."

"My only concern about medium- and long-range passenger aircraft is the manufacturing of components such as the main beam and landing gear."

"I'm not worried about anything else!"

"The equipment installation and debugging in the engine manufacturing workshop has been completed, and trial production will begin soon."

Seeing Ma Gong push up his glasses, Li Song forgot what he had thought of before: the field of optics! So he quickly placed a bounty on a second-hand platform for optical lenses and coatings, which are also quite important in the smart era because many things require image acquisition.

"You don't need to worry about that!" Li Song didn't know how long it would take to build the 10,000-ton hydraulic press, but he estimated it wouldn't be long.

Because the higher-ups are even more anxious about this than we are.

Super-large steel plants, super-large chemical plants, super-large hydropower, thermal power, nuclear power, tunnel boring machines, and diesel locomotives!
This equipment is a core component of aircraft, not only for fighter jets but also for civilian aircraft.

Every industry is waiting for this national treasure, so Li Song doesn't urge it at all.

For a long time, China's steel industry has been subject to foreign control.

The main issues are equipment and technology.

Moreover, foreign equipment often fails to adapt to local conditions in China.

Foreign conglomerates discovered the reason: the domestic steel contained many impurities.

Therefore, foreign conglomerates have begun to invest in high-quality iron ore raw materials overseas.

For a long time afterward, my country's steel industry was not only exploited by others in terms of technology, but also controlled by others in terms of raw materials!
Because using domestic raw materials and its equipment and technology, it is impossible to produce qualified steel; only imported materials can be used.

Nippon Steel, the smaller of the companies, made the most money.

They sell technology and equipment on one hand, and invest in raw material production areas on the other.

In other words, if a steel plant is built in the mainland, he will make three profits from that steel plant.

The reason why China was unable to manufacture these core equipment domestically during this period was because it lacked such national strategic assets!
Even if you design it yourself, without such a national treasure, you can't manufacture the equipment; you can only buy the complete set of equipment from them!

Because if you buy his core equipment separately, on the one hand, he won't sell it, and on the other hand, he won't provide technical support even if you buy the core equipment.

The small country's smelting industry developed earlier than that of the mainland.

During World War II, Japan was able to build battleships with a displacement of 10,000 tons.

Then, after World War II, due to the Korean Peninsula issue and the need to contain Russia, the US transferred a lot of technology and equipment.

Because at that time, the United States already had a surplus of steel production.

Not to mention that Amei also stole a lot of things from San Dezi.

So they transferred all the equipment and technology to the notebook.

This is also why Japan was able to rise rapidly after World War II.

"Hmm!" Ma Gong didn't ask any more questions after hearing Li Song's response.

"Then I'll bring the data next time!" Li Song planned to bring the helicopter-related technology next time.

"Okay!" Then Li Song stood on the control tower and watched the Starshine business jet conduct ground tests.

Unbeknownst to Li Song, his speech in Hong Kong caused quite a stir in Europe and America.

What caused a sensation was the crowdfunding that Li Song mentioned.

As for Li Song's ability to manufacture small jet airliners and Taiwan's ban on him, these are not significant issues for people in Europe and America.

Because people in Europe and America are most concerned about the situation around them, while the Far East is considered a peripheral matter!

They don't care much about what happens in the peripheral areas.

Li Song promised to crowdfund the manufacture of a small propeller-driven aircraft at half the current market price.

Because Li Song commissioned the reporter who interviewed him to conduct the crowdfunding campaign.

So after seeing this, Amei's viewers started calling the reporter's company to inquire about the crowdfunding.

According to some later statistics, the United States and the northern country of Canada owned more than 20,000 private aircraft.

More than 90 percent of them are small propeller planes.

Many large farms in Amerinda buy these small planes for planting, fertilizing, spraying pesticides, or hunting wild boars!
In addition, many of Ame's farms are far from the city, and driving would be a waste of time, so some farmers buy small planes to commute.

In addition, there are ranchers. Ranchers mainly use private planes for herding. There are two types of private planes used by ranchers: one is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft, and the other is a small helicopter!

As for Canada to the north, many places can only rely on these small planes because there's simply no way to build roads there.

This shows that Aramco has a need for small aircraft.

Now a small plane costs only $20,000, half the market price.

So those who plan to buy a plane should definitely call and ask.

After all, it's half the price.

Moreover, this is not the final price; the more funds raised, the lower the cost.

According to the television station, they received 1,200 inquiries in one day, and more inquiries are still coming in.

The small aircraft manufacturers in America got anxious and started publishing articles in newspapers and hiring experts on television to talk about their aircraft!
In short, the point is that this is impossible, and Li Song said that this whole thing was just a publicity stunt.

But most people still want to give it a try.

The crowdfunding terms were very clear: register first, and only if 100 people crowdfunded would the other party manufacture a prototype!
Mass production will only continue after the prototype has been manufactured and passed inspection.

In other words, before the aircraft is inspected and accepted, everyone only needs to register briefly.

It doesn't require anyone to pay a single cent.

The TV station where the reporter worked clearly recognized this as a potential news story and asked the reporter to communicate with Li Song again to reiterate the crowdfunding conditions, preferably in writing.

Of course, we'll also interview Li Song and then do an exclusive report on our own TV station!
The reporter immediately contacted Parkson!

Baisheng Company can only contact BMW!

BMW then contacted Ma Shengli, who eventually got in touch with Li Song through Section Chief Zhou.

Li Song was originally going to Shanghai the next day, but due to this incident, he had no choice but to return to Guangzhou.

Back at BMW, Li Song called Tian Jiahui!
"Boss, a reporter from CBS wants to do an exclusive interview with you. According to him, there are already more than four thousand inquiries about the crowdfunding plane."

"Eighty percent of them want to know more about the situation and some written information!" Tian Jiahui quickly reported after receiving Li Song's call.

"More than four thousand inquiries?" Li Song was curious when he heard this. Was there really that many?

"Yes, it's said to include America, Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south!"

"According to this reporter, both countries have a significant demand for private jets!"

"In addition, it is said that there is a high demand for private jets in South America because of their tropical rainforest environment."

"In Canada, because most of the land is permafrost and the population is sparse, private planes are used for many purposes. However, some of them are amphibious aircraft, and this reporter suggested that they could also use those!"

“South America is a tropical rainforest environment in the east and a mountainous environment in the west. It is said that many places can only be reached by plane.” Tian Jiahui also asked this reporter for more information.

"Let me make some plans first, and I'll call you back tonight!" Li Song keenly realized that this was an opportunity.

What an opportunity!
It is certainly an opportunity to showcase our enormous industrial manufacturing capabilities.

“Mr. Ma, a reporter from CBS TV wants to interview me. I’d like to invite this reporter to Guangzhou to see the motorcycles and outboard motors manufactured in our factory.” Li Song then approached Ma Shengli and explained what had just happened.

"I'll report this to my superiors right away!" Ma Shengli quickly went to report the matter.

As for the manufacturing technology of propeller-driven small aircraft, Li Song was not in a hurry, because the design of such aircraft on second-hand platforms was less difficult.

It can use a radial piston engine, a V-type piston engine, an opposed horizontal engine, or an inline piston engine.

It mainly depends on the purpose and size of the aircraft.

"Huh?" When Ma Shengli came to report on his work, the leader of the work group was also surprised.

Everyone knows what Li Song said in the interview. It was originally thought that Li Song's remarks about Taiwan would cause some trouble in Europe and America.

Unexpectedly, a casual mention of crowdfunding by Li Song led to a series of developments!

Moreover, 80% of the more than 4,000 inquiries came from people interested in crowdfunding, which means there were more than 3,000 people.

"Shouldn't we ask Li Song about his plans first?"

"However, we need to report this to the authorities when reporters come to interview us."

"The main issue is the content of these reporters' interviews. If we review it, they'll have objections; if we don't, we're afraid they'll edit it haphazardly," the leader of the working group said.

"Then I'll go back and ask right away!" Ma Shengli nodded and hurried back to ask Li Song.

(End of this chapter)