I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 14 These hands are magnificent.
"Master Wu, Master Sun, how's the grinding of our plungers and fuel injectors going?"

Inside a cave dwelling, Chen Chang asked two masters who were working by the window with their four apprentices.

Before joining the army, these two craftsmen were skilled artisans, grinding eyeglass lenses and making jewelry; they were both qualified to take on apprentices.

But in this chaotic world, it is incredibly difficult to live a peaceful life.

Mr. Wu and Mr. Sun's experiences are the same as those of ordinary people in this world.

He was originally an honest and hardworking craftsman.

But the little money they earned to support their families eventually ended up in the hands of local warlords.

When even artisans can't make a living with their skills.

Then we had no choice but to put down our tools and pick up guns.

Master Wu said, "These two little things are too difficult to grind."

Director Chen, your requirements are quite high.

The scrap rate is extremely high.

Over the past few months, we've tried more than a dozen different abrasives, from coarse to fine, before finally finding one that's barely acceptable—a fine abrasive capable of grinding these two materials.

It uses diamond powder to make grinding paste.

This substance, used as jade-refining powder, has been used for thousands of years.

However, we don't have much diamond powder here.

Moreover, the diamond powder we grind now is not fine enough.

But it doesn't matter, we can think of another way and we'll always be able to make even finer diamond powder.

Now take a look at the plungers and nozzles we've ground, and see if they're up to standard.
We feel that even if it's bad, it's not that much worse.

Besides grinding these two components, the nozzle's spray hole is too small.

Drilling this tiny hole is really difficult.

Too much force will break the drill bit; too little force will prevent drilling.

We're currently thinking about how to improve our tools so we can make these two little things better and faster.

After saying that, Master Wu opened a small wooden box on their workbench.

Inside were four small metal components wrapped in cotton cloth.

These are two sets of high-pressure plungers and two sets of fuel injectors.

If we were to say what the most labor-intensive and precise component of a diesel engine is, it would be...
Then it has to be this high-pressure plunger and fuel injector.

Diesel fuel needs to burn in a high-pressure combustion chamber.

That means the diesel fuel must be atomized.

To atomize diesel fuel, high pressure is required to spray it out from an extremely small hole, only one-tenth of a millimeter in size.

This is how you achieve the effect of atomizing diesel fuel.

If there's nothing else available right now, Chen Changzai can use something else as a substitute.

For example, we still cannot produce qualified ball bearings.

Chen Changzai replaced it with bronze bearings.

There are no rubber seals now.

He used tanned cowhide instead.

He currently lacks the means to chrome-plat cylinder liners, pistons, and piston rings.

He made his own nickel sulfate and hypophosphite, and used the chemical nickel-phosphide alloy plating method to phosphate the cylinder, piston, and piston rings, growing a phosphate layer.

To improve their hardness and wear resistance.

Chen Changzai could figure out how to handle these things, but he really couldn't do anything about the core components, the plunger and the fuel injector.

We don't have the advanced processing tools of later generations. Nowadays, we can only patiently grind and drill these things one by one.

A pair is a pair; they cannot be replaced.

There was no other way. Looking at this gleaming, mirror-like plunger assembly…

Chen Changzai said, "Master Wu, Master Sun, you've worked hard."

We will need a lot of this kind of thing in the future.

Now, in addition to the hard work of making the physical objects, you also need to figure out how to create better tools.

The most important thing is to train more apprentices.

If only the two masters do it themselves, the output will be low.

"You've all worked so hard." "It's nothing for us to work hard. We've also spoken to Political Commissar He and asked him to help us find some skilled, patient, and patient people who can sit still for long periods of time."

Patience is the most important thing for this job.

"If you don't have patience, you can't do this."

"Yes, patience is key. You really can't do this job without patience."

However, you two masters, what do you think about letting some women come and learn from you?

This woman has a lot of patience.

"this."

When Chen Changzai suggested that female comrades come and learn from them, the two looked at each other, their eyes filled with hesitation.

Although they have all been in the team for many years.

However, it's impossible to say that they don't harbor any patriarchal thoughts.

How can traditional ideas that have existed for thousands of years simply disappear?

Furthermore, when they were apprentices, there was a saying in the craft industry that skills were passed down only to men.

Master Sun then said, "Director Chen, it's not that we don't want to teach, but, you see..."

After saying that, Master Sun stretched out his hands.

His hands were covered in calluses, from years of grinding things with his fingers, which had deformed his finger bones.

Master Sun continued, "If you want to do these kinds of jobs, you have to endure this kind of hardship and suffering."

Looking at the hands of the two master craftsmen, Chen Changzai said in a deep voice, "These are the hands of the working people."

Only with such hands can our country stand equally before the world's great powers.

Such hands are magnificent.

After hearing Chen Changzai's words, the two master craftsmen lowered their heads and remained silent.

The four apprentices nodded repeatedly with firm expressions after hearing Chen Changzai's words.

After a moment of silence, Master Wu said, "Alright, let's talk to Political Commissar He."

Let Political Commissar He find some female comrades who are willing to do this job, skillful, and patient, and we will teach them together.

Don't worry, Director Chen. Since we said we would teach you, we will definitely not hold back.

They will definitely bring out all our best skills and experience from the bottom of our hearts.

As long as the country becomes strong, the people will not be bullied and will have food to eat.

We're risking our lives, why are we hiding these insignificant skills?

At this moment, Chen Chang tightly grasped the hands of the two masters, shook them vigorously, and simply said, "Thank you, thank you both, masters."

That evening, Political Commissar He came to Chen Chang's place.

The two of them lit hand-rolled tobacco.

Political Commissar He said to Chen Changzai, "Changzai, Master Wu and Master Sun came to see me today."

He told me what you said to them today.

I think you're absolutely right.

Especially what you told them: these hands are the hands of the people, hands that can make our country strong, hands that are great.

I think your statement should be published in our newspaper.

Let more people know that what this country needs to become strong is countless hands like these.

This is a draft I wrote. Take a look. If you think it's okay, I'll send it to headquarters tomorrow.

If the leaders also think it's okay, then we'll let it be published in the newspaper.

I think this will definitely inject an inspiring force into our place.”

Chen Changzai was looking at the draft written by Political Commissar He.

The core of the manuscript is still that sentence that Chen Changzai once said.

However, what comes out of this sentence is very inspiring.

Those who work with words are really good with their pens.

However, when I looked at the signature, it was Chen Changzai's name.

After reading it, Chen Chang shook his head, crossed out his name with a pen, then thought for a moment and wrote down the two words "People".

(End of this chapter)