Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 188: The first achievement, debate within the group (please subscribe)
"Team Leader Zhou, take a look at this"

Two project team members handed a calculated data to Zhou Fengnian and asked him to accept the results.

Zhou Fengnian looked up and took it, looked at it for more than ten seconds, then took a pen and marked two places on it and said, "This is not right, go back and recalculate it."

After everyone left, Zhou Fengnian lowered his head and continued his research and development.

Although he told Zhou Yan on the first day he returned that he would go back earlier in the future, Zhou Fengnian never did so in the following month.

I really can't outlast these people. Maybe Zhou Fengnian is more energetic than them, but this group of people seems to not be able to rest until they faint.

Since the others didn't want to leave, Zhou Fengnian felt embarrassed to leave alone, so he had to stay here with others.

Out of seven days in a week, I only went home early on two days, arriving home a little after nine o'clock; on the other days, I went home after ten o'clock, and I even stayed in the institute for two days.

Fortunately, it is summer, so you don’t have to worry about catching a cold just by laying out a blanket.

Zhou Fengnian couldn't stand it at the end of the month. He often came home very late, and the noise made his wife unable to sleep. So he secretly asked Director Yan whether everyone in the project team worked overtime so late.

Director Yan told Zhou Fengnian: "As long as you, the actual person in charge of this project team, don't leave, they won't dare to move. They left earlier than you, the person in charge with the greatest contribution. What nonsense!"

"Is there such a thing?"

Zhou Fengnian heaved a sigh of relief after listening to this. He just wanted to go home earlier every day in the future; the research and development time was completely sufficient, and it had even exceeded expectations to complete the planned tasks.

There is no need to put in extra effort.

The project team leader is Director Yan and Zhou Fengnian is the deputy team leader, but Zhou Fengnian is responsible for many research and development results and he also decides the general direction. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the actual person in charge.

From then on, Zhou Fengnian would pack up and prepare to go back home at nine o'clock every day, and at the same time he would remind them: "Comrades, go back and rest early, we have already completed the task beyond our expectations."

At about eight o'clock on Saturday evening, Director Yan came to Zhou Fengnian with a happy face, tapped the table twice and said

"Fengnian, the first medium-scale integrated computer is almost ready. After the third electronics factory delivers the electronic components the day after tomorrow, we will be able to complete the assembly and start testing."

"The day after tomorrow? Okay, it happens to be Monday."

Zhou Fengnian suddenly remembered something and continued, "Director Yan, I won't come tomorrow. Please make an appointment with the project team."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"My eldest brother-in-law is getting married, and my father-in-law wants me to go and have a chat. I can't refuse."

After hearing this, Director Yan smiled and said, "With such a good son-in-law like you, we must use him to calm the situation. Don't worry, I will just keep an eye on it."

The project team was progressing so smoothly that in just one month, they were about to produce the first medium-scale integrated computer.

However, in Director Yan's opinion, this is a bit slow; with a complete technical summary, their plan is to make six machines in three months.

We just have to be cautious when manufacturing the first medium-scale integrated computer as some electronic components have not yet been developed. The manufacturing speed will be increased next month.

After chatting with Director Yan, Zhou Fengnian packed up and went back. He had to attend Zhou Kai’s wedding banquet tomorrow, so it would be better for him to go back early.

When they got home, Zhou Fengnian suddenly came back early, which gave Zhou Yan a big surprise. Usually, he would come back at around nine o'clock at the earliest, but he came back so early today.

"Why did you come back so early today? Are you done with your work?"

"No, I have to accompany you to the wedding tomorrow, so I came back early to rest today. Have you prepared the things you need to bring?"

"That's all. There's nothing much to prepare."

Zhou Yan took a look at the things on the table: two bottles of Xifeng and a pack of cigarettes; they were not cheap for an ordinary family, as they were all Peony cigarettes, which only cadres could smoke.

Zhou Fengnian could not even get a whole carton of cigarettes out of his quota. Every time it was distributed, it was divided up, either taken by Zhou Fugui or by the eldest and second brothers.

Zhou Xiangde, the father-in-law, would also divide it into several packages.

"Take off your clothes and I'll wash them for you. You've been wearing this dress for three days. I've just accumulated three or four days' worth of clothes. You can put them in the washing machine together."

"No need, I just put it on."

"You've only worn it for three days, take it off now."

After Zhou Yan finished speaking, she stepped forward to help Zhou Fengnian take off his coat. After taking it off, she immediately smelled the sweat on it and couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

Her husband was usually very clean, and even if his clothes got dirty after working in the workshop, he would change into new ones the next day.

But now I just have to make do with what I have. I wear the same clothes for three or four days without changing them, especially in the summer when I sweat a lot.

Zhou Yan missed the time when she and Zhou Fengnian worked together in the machinery factory. They went to work together every day, ate together at noon, and went home together at night. They earned a lot of money.

Now we don't see each other for days. We can only talk at night. In the morning, he goes out after I say hello.

The next day, early morning on the weekend.

Zhou Fengnian got up early, went to the bathhouse after breakfast, and came back after taking a bath before rushing to his father-in-law's house with Zhou Yan.

When they arrived, Zhou Xiangde's face was wrinkled from smiling, and he immediately invited Zhou Fengnian to the main table.

Now that supplies have been restored a lot, Zhou Xiangde set up two tables in the yard on Zhou Kai's wedding day.

However, the two tables only had vegetables and meat, and the neighbors in the yard had to bring their own staple food. If they provided staple food, Zhou Xiangde's family's food coupons would not be enough, and each household could only provide one person.

The things Zhou Fengnian brought made Zhou Xiangde proud. Even when he held a wedding banquet for his son, the wine he served was only Erguotou and the cigarettes were only ten cents a pack.

Although he felt a little sad to give away the good cigarettes and alcohol, today was the only glorious moment for his eldest son. Although Zhou Xiangde felt sad, he still gave away the cigarettes and alcohol that Zhou Fengnian brought.

When the neighbors in the yard saw that the good cigarettes and good wine were brought up, they kept praising the food.

Zhou Fengnian sat in the main seat and didn't say much. He glanced at the new daughter-in-law and then looked away.

He has an ordinary appearance, but a very white face. He has a city hukou and is the child of a worker, but he doesn't have a job.

However, Zhou Kai is also an apprentice, and it is difficult for him to find a wife with a job, so this is considered good for him.

Zhou Xiangde also wanted to reassure Zhou Kai that he quickly found a matchmaker for him to marry. However, the girl's family was quite concerned about him as the son-in-law of the "Zhou family". They might have heard about Zhou Fengnian's identity from Zhou's father, so they were somewhat flattering when they spoke.

Zhou Fengnian also responded politely, and the wedding banquet began after a short chat.

The chef hired by my father-in-law is okay at cooking. I can’t say he’s particularly good, but he can make the neighbors in the yard smile when they eat.

The girl's family also felt that Zhou Xiangde attached great importance to them, so they set up two tables, served good cigarettes and wine, and also invited the deputy factory director's son-in-law to come.

In addition, Zhou Xiangde's family is also a dual-working family, so their daughter was lucky enough to be picked up.

However, if the girl's family knew that Zhou Kai was a street urchin before, they might be less concerned about this idea.

After the meal, Zhou Fengnian and Zhou Yan said goodbye and went back. There was nothing much to talk about after the wedding banquet.

Moreover, Zhou Yan seemed to have quarreled with Lu Honghui again, and finally she made an excuse that she felt a little uncomfortable in her stomach and took Zhou Fengnian back home.

Attending his eldest brother's wedding banquet was one of the few times that Zhou Fengnian could take a break and relax. However, after this day, Zhou Fengnian returned to his busy research and development work.

------

"The computing speed is 500,000 per second. Holy crap, is this something we created?"

When Director Yan saw the test data of the medium-scale integrated computer in front of him, he was so shocked that his mouth opened wide.

He also participated in the research, development and production of large computers in the past two years, and he still remembers the computing speed at that time, which was 100,000 times per second.

This is already very fast and a historic breakthrough.

But now they have built a medium-scale computer that can do half a million operations per second! ?
Director Yan himself couldn't believe it.

After Director Yan and his colleagues returned to the project team, they told the whole team the news, which immediately shocked everyone.

"How much? Half a million per second?"

"Team leader, are you sure it's 500,000 and not 50,000? Is there fog on your glasses?"

Director Yan was a little angry and embarrassed. If he didn't speak up, he would be accused of having Alzheimer's disease. "It's just 500,000. Can I make up such data? Xiao Wang and Xiao Ma went with me, how could it be false?"

Zhou Fengnian also rushed over after hearing the news. After listening to what Director Yan said, he was not surprised at all; he already knew the effect in the simulation space, and five hundred thousand was not the limit that a medium-sized computer could achieve.

If there is another breakthrough in photolithography technology and medium-scale integrated chips are manufactured better, the computing speed will reach one million or even two million.

However, the current breakthrough is also a great achievement. The computer computing speed is much faster than that of the previous two years, and the size is also smaller.

"Report it after confirming that everything is correct. Some projects definitely require computers to calculate the results. If we send the computers over earlier, it can also relieve the pressure over there."

Zhou Fengnian smiled and said, "We are very efficient, but comrades should pay attention to rest and don't ruin your health for the sake of project progress."

The other members of the project team felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. The medium-scale integrated computer was the result of Zhou Fengnian alone. If he hadn't brought a complete technical summary, they would not have been able to manufacture it so quickly.

Now that this achievement is being attributed to the collective, they feel very embarrassed.

However, Director Yan knew that Zhou Fengnian said this because he wanted to go back home early to be with his family and was afraid that the project team would have to endure physical strain with him again.

After the others slowly left, Zhou Fengnian suddenly said with an idea: "Director Yan, if we make a large-scale integrated computer, is it possible to export this medium-scale integrated computer?"

"Of course not. Even if we make more advanced computers with better performance, we can't satisfy all places. Then the medium-scale integrated computers can be used by universities or other institutions."

Director Yan thought Zhou Fengnian was worried about the project team's funding, so he couldn't help but comfort him, "Team Leader Zhou, don't worry, our project team still has enough funding, and we can apply for more after it's used up."

“It’s not about the money, but I want to use this method to slowly eliminate the foreigners’ independent research and development.

By the time they get used to our products, it will be too late for them to manufacture their own products. By then, we can cut them off and paralyze the foreign computer industry."

"Your idea"

Director Yan looked at Zhou Fengnian with a strange look. Isn't this what the Russians did to them? The only difference is that the Russians were half aid and half export, and they also provided a lot of technology.

But the Russians didn't expect that once the aid was cut off, the country would have to work hard on its own, and now it is slowly developing.

"And I'm afraid we won't be able to sustain it for long if we only rely on funding. The more we develop in the future, the more money we'll have to spend. We can allocate tens of millions or even hundreds of millions now, but for the next four or five generations, we might need even more funding. It would be nice if we could ease the domestic pressure a bit."

Before Zhou Fengnian finished speaking, a person nearby who heard him couldn't help but interrupt him and said, "I object to your idea, Team Leader Zhou!"

"We have many places that need computers. If we can't satisfy everyone, how can we continue to work hard to export computers? We can't ignore comrades in other places just for the sake of money."

Zhou Fengnian shook his head and said, "You can't just listen to half of what I say. Computers are the lifeblood of industrial development. We can hold the lifeblood of other countries in our own hands. This is the purpose of exporting computers."
Moreover, we will export medium-scale integrated computers after developing large-scale integrated computers, so that we can maintain technological advancement."

The technology was reaped, and Zhou Fengnian was now paying it back in advance for how the foreigners would treat them in the future.

However, the comrade who argued with Zhou Fengnian still shook his head and said, "I still don't agree. When so many comrades in China don't have access to computers, we shouldn't consider foreigners' affairs."

"Forget it, forget it. You all have your own ideas. In the final analysis, they are all for our better development. There is no need to argue."

Director Yan quickly stepped forward to interrupt and said that this was not a technical debate, and the fewer other debates there were in the project team, the better.

"The project team will be reporting soon. If you have different suggestions, you can raise them to the leader and see how the leader will solve them."

Director Yan interrupted the argument with his words. He felt that both sides had their reasons.

It would be great if we could satisfy domestic computer demand while strangling other countries' computer industries by exporting them abroad.

However, Director Yan knew that his idea was a bit unrealistic. It was already very good to catch up with the level of foreign countries, and there was such a big gap in the country. Even if all computer majors in all universities only needed one, it would be a considerable number.

Zhou Fengnian thinks that they can be carried out simultaneously, even if it is just like exporting 20% ​​of the CNC machine tools.

And with him around, even if foreigners buy computers back home, they will never be able to catch up with the domestic ones.

By the time they have copied one, domestic technology may have been raised to a higher level, and foreigners will be far behind.

(End of this chapter)