Rebirth in 1960, My Industrial Age

Chapter 219: Setting a benchmark (Subscription required)
"Leader, what's the situation with the person who came to the factory for an interview today? I feel like something is wrong. The questions he asked are too leading."

"What? You don't know? Wasn't this the task you arranged?"

"I'll ask Pan Heng later and then call you. OK, then ask the leader. Three newspapers came to the factory for interviews today. The assistant said it was a task assigned by the higher-ups."

After Zhou Fengnian hung up the phone, he immediately went out to look for Pan Heng. After finding Pan Heng in front of the factory office building, he immediately asked, "Xiao Pan, which leader called this morning? What did he say?"

"It was Deputy Leader Luo from the Fourth Machine Department, the one who visited our factory last time."

Pan Heng was confused by the question, but he still answered honestly: "Deputy Leader Luo just said that a newspaper came to interview me and asked me to tell you this. He didn't say anything else."

"What about those people from the newspaper?"

"They have already left, but I ran into Mr. Yan at the door. He asked me a few questions before leaving. I have written it down and am about to send it to you, the factory director, after sorting it out."

After Pan Heng finished speaking, he handed Zhou Fengnian the notebook in which he had just recorded the newspaper interview. On it was a shorthand summary. He had originally wanted to go back and sort it out before giving it to Zhou Fengnian, but from the look on Zhou Fengnian's face, it seemed that there was something wrong with these reporters.

"Director, what happened?"

"I don't know. Wait for the news. Do you think they ask these questions to promote us?"

After reading it, Zhou Fengnian asked with a sigh, "Isn't it obvious that he is here to cause trouble? What's wrong with Deputy Leader Luo?"

"Not really. It's more like they want to disperse your credit and reduce your influence. When I asked Director Yan just now, they repeatedly guided Director Yan and wanted to take all the credit from you."

Pan Heng was also a word player in college, and he felt something was not right after listening to Bei Xiaqing's talk for a while.

However, he had the same concerns as Deputy Director Chai. He could not stop them from conducting the interview in front of so many people. Otherwise, it was hard to say what these people would write after returning.

"Oh, go and get busy. There's nothing for you to do next."

Zhou Fengnian waved his hand and told Pan Heng to go about his business, while he went back to his office to continue research and development while waiting for news.

He sent Old Yan to the electronics factory to make demands. If the other party was willing to do it but couldn't do it, then Zhou Fengnian would need to step forward to help solve the problem.

However, most things are moving forward steadily. We will start manufacturing trials at the end of the year, and we will be able to see the finished product by the middle or end of next year.

After a while, the phone in the office rang suddenly.

Zhou Fengnian picked up the phone and said, "I'm Zhou Fengnian."

[Fengnian, I've asked clearly. I should have told you in person, but we are both so busy, so let's just talk briefly over the phone.

Next, we should communicate more with the outside world, export or import some technologies, and establish an image of a technologically advanced country. The personal computers you developed are eye-catching, and so are you. 】

[The Fourth Ministry of Machine Building wants to establish you as a representative figure in the computer industry. When your factory successfully manufactures large computers, they will promote it. However, your personality...
Some people don’t like it, but they don’t dare to say it openly, so they try their best to find loopholes in you, such as saying that personal computers were not invented by you, or that your role was very small. 】

"I see. That's why I keep bringing up my education, as if graduating from a technical secondary school is something that bothers them."

After listening to this, Zhou Fengnian suddenly understood. He understood what was meant by this. In the 1970s, they began to gradually communicate with the outside world.

Xiao Rizi and America's relationship improved during the past decade. Although we have just entered the 1970s, we must prepare in advance if we have plans in this regard.

For example, if we improve some of the domestic industries that are worth mentioning, we cannot talk about missiles and mushroom bombs, as some countries have more than one of them, and talking about this in foreign countries is just hooliganism.

Many scientists at the national level are also unable to show up, as they will be madly targeted by the enemy if they do.

The only other industry that can bring honor is probably industry. After all, foreigners have always believed that China is a backward agricultural country. This is their stereotype.

But China already has the world's top nine-axis machine tools, the world's first personal computer, and exports a large number of cars and electrical appliances.

But these are all related to Zhou Fengnian, so I decided to report some of Zhou Fengnian's deeds.

"Leader, something is wrong."

Zhou Fengnian suddenly thought that the scientists in the northwest did not show up because they were afraid of danger, and he was afraid too.

"Even though we haven't seen any enemy spies for several years, what if there are still one or two left and they come looking for me? I'm a coward."

[I knew you would say that. We have assigned you three more security guards. This was approved by the boss. Also, we have someone take your car back and modify it for you.]

[Normally, you are rarely needed to show up. I will definitely give you the greatest guarantee for safety. I cannot guarantee other places, but Sijiu City is definitely the place that has been cleaned up the most thoroughly in the past ten years.]

When Zhou Fengnian heard about the series of arrangements made by the ministry, he recalled his schedule in the past two years.

The farthest place I have been to is Hongjia Village. Moreover, the enemy spies in the old city were indeed well eliminated, and the mediators in the 1950s were withdrawn in the early 1960s.

If it were in the old city, two security guards would indeed be enough. Many department-level leaders did not have two security guards following them.

"Thank you, boss. I hope I can ride in the car openly in the future."

[You could have done it before, you were just too cautious. The ministry will reimburse you for the gas ticket, and you can take the bus back home in the evening.]

"Okay, thank you, leader."

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Fengnian felt relieved. He wondered what the three newspapers wanted to do today, but it turned out that they wanted to downplay his contribution.

Can they downplay this real achievement?

Zhou Fengnian himself said that it was the credit of his collective comrades. That was just his modesty. If anyone really thought so, they would be a fool.

After knowing the inside story of the matter, Zhou Fengnian didn't take it to heart and continued to study supercomputers.

Just before getting off work, Zhao Qiang came to report that his previous car had been returned and had been modified and reinforced.

Security has been greatly improved, and there is also one more security guard following him every day.

Following Zhou Fengnian is a relatively easy thing. He basically goes between home and the factory now, and even goes out for a walk seldom.

After Zhou Fengnian returned, he lent his bicycle to his second brother, as he could not use it after taking the bus.

However, after two years of cycling, his body has been in good shape.

A few days later, when Zhou Fengnian arrived at the technical department early in the morning, he saw a man holding a newspaper and hailing him, "Director, you're on the newspaper again!"

"Again? It should be the interview from a few days ago. Let me take a look."

Zhou Fengnian took the newspaper and started reading it. After finishing reading, he chuckled and said, "These writers are really annoying. It's not wrong to say that they are a second-rate newspaper. I really want to suggest that they remove the word 'people' from their title. They don't deserve it at all."

The entire report seems to be a compliment, but it constantly doubts whether the creation of the personal computer was the work of Zhou Fengnian alone.

There is also the saying that in a group, if one person performs very well, then is the credit to the group greater or to the individual?

"Director, these people are talking nonsense."

"Yes, they don't understand us. If they knew, they would not be ashamed to talk nonsense like this."

Some people from the technical department said that how much Zhou Fengnian contributed to the team, and they, the participants, didn’t know it.

To be honest, without Zhou Fengnian, the project results might have appeared ten years later.

"Forget it, just ignore them and slap them in the face when the results come out."

Zhou Fengnian waved his hand and said, those people may be able to cover up the shining gold, but they can never cover up the shining sun.

"Keep working. It's not long until the end of the year, and the computing architecture hasn't been finalized yet."

After hearing Zhou Fengnian's words, everyone in the technical department stopped chatting and got down to work.

Not long after, Yan Zhengzhi also rushed back and discussed the feedback from the electronics factory with Zhou Fengnian.

".No, there is no such substitute. They are getting more and more perfunctory. Fortunately, I felt yesterday that they were unreliable and would definitely not be able to think of a solution."

After listening to Yan Zhengzhi, Zhou Fengnian found the technical information in his briefcase and continued, "Old Yan, let's go again. This time I'll go with you.
By the way, when you go out in the future, ask Pan Heng for a bike and tell him that I allow it. Don’t ride a bike if you want to go far.”

------

Time flies, and Zhou Fengnian's project at the electronic computer factory is progressing rapidly.

A group of people worked together and soon finalized all the architecture of the supercomputer, and then started manufacturing it before the New Year. Holidays are definitely needed, but there is a difference between building before the New Year and building after the New Year. Even if you build a little, it will look better when reporting at the end of the year.

This year, the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory was extremely proud. When Zhou Fengnian and Gao Zhiyuan went to the ministry for a meeting, they both felt that Gao Zhiyuan was walking with his neck held high.

The five five-axis machine tools exported were counted into the annual output value of the machine tool factory, which directly exceeded 200 million yuan in annual output value, making it the most dazzling factory in the country.

The managers of other machine tool factories were all shocked, but there was nothing they could do. They could produce CNC machine tools, but not five-axis machine tools.

The factory's technical department is also working hard on research, but technological breakthroughs are not easy to come by. They think Zhou Fengnian's method of optimizing machine tool technology once a year is unreasonable.

This time they could only watch the Huaxia Machine Tool Factory accept the praise, and they had to avoid Gao Zhiyuan, otherwise he might get close to them and then talk about the factory's performance.

The electronic computer factory was also praised. Although their output value was very low, only a few million in the first year, the technological breakthroughs were difficult to buy back in output value.

The initial positioning was that R&D was more important than manufacturing, and selling things was just a by-product; they did not aim for output value.

Zhou Fengnian was also asked about the research and development of the supercomputer. After hearing from Zhou Fengnian that everything was going well, Deputy Leader Li let him leave with satisfaction.

Half of the electronic computer factory belonged to the First Ministry of Machine Building, and the two departments shared the credit equally for the results.

After the meeting comes the Chinese New Year period, which is a rare peaceful time of the year.

This year, Zhou Fengnian was called back by his father to celebrate the New Year. He always had a special obsession with returning to the village to celebrate the New Year.

Zhou Fengnian was not very willing to go back, but several children really wanted to go to Hongjia Village; especially Zhou Xianyang, who almost knelt on the ground pretending to cry and begged Zhou Fengnian to come back to the village.

Finally the family went back, but this time one car couldn't fit so many people, and there were two babies.

So Zhou Fengnian asked his son to take the bus back with his uncles, and he and Zhou Yan took their daughter, niece, and two babies back.

Fortunately, Hongjia Village is not too far away. If Zhou Fengnian’s hometown was in Yanhe area, it would be a real pain to go back there.

Although I don't have much time to visit Anhui when I go home for the Chinese New Year, and there are many people visiting before and after the New Year, there are indeed many places where I can take my children to play.

Hongjia Village has also changed a lot. More than 20 families have renovated their houses and built red brick houses, and almost all families have bacon drying under the eaves.

As a manifestation of wealth, after distributing the money in Hongjia Village this year, there was still more than 8,000 yuan in the public account. They had never been so wealthy before.

The more than 8,000 yuan was left by Hong Changshan specifically because of Zhou Fengnian's instructions.

Otherwise, each household could get more than 100 yuan.

On the first day Zhou Fengnian returned, his son dragged him into the mountains. Finally, he had no choice but to ask his eldest and second brothers to go into the mountains with him.

Three pairs of fathers and sons took their weapons and stuff and went into the mountains to hunt; now there were more and more small prey near the mountains, and the villagers were busy growing mushrooms and vegetables in greenhouses, so few were willing to go into the mountains to hunt.

It is time-consuming and laborious, and the harvest is unstable. It is better to take care of mushrooms and greenhouse vegetables and earn work points.

This led to the proliferation of a large number of small animals near the mountains. In addition, there have been no reports of wild boars breaking into the village in recent years, so the three Zhou Fengnian brothers dared to bring their several-year-old children into the mountains.

After running in the mountains for two days, Zhou Weitian was almost exhausted, and in the end he only caught a wild rabbit.

This eldest brother gained a lot of weight after becoming a chef, and became fat instead of strong and sturdy.

After the New Year, Wu Youhai, the secretary of Sanshui Commune, also came to pay New Year's greetings, but this time Zhou Fengnian seemed a bit official.

After some pleasantries at home, they talked about business matters; after that, they did not try to keep Wu Youhai and politely sent him away.

He helped Sanshui Commune twice, which was very kind of him.

Last time other communes came to look for him, Secretary Wu Youhai did not show up but instead pushed his father out, showing that he is not capable of taking responsibility at all.

Zhou Fengnian will not think about Sanshui Commune in the future. He is asking Hongjia Village to save money now because he wants to open a fertilizer factory in Hongjia Village when enough money is saved.

As long as people are still farming and the quality and technology of fertilizers remain at the forefront, the factory will never go bankrupt.

This can become the golden egg of Hongjia Village, which is more reliable than the mushroom chili sauce factory and greenhouse vegetables.

After the commemoration, Zhou Fengnian can take some time to brush up on chemical-related skills and then help Hongjia Village build a fertilizer plant.

Of course, their family must have a share in the fertilizer factory, which can be regarded as a guarantee left by Zhou Fengnian for their family.

He and Zhou Yan do not need such protection, but Zhou Fengnian still has a son and a daughter.

After Wu Youhai left, there were other people who came to visit, but Zhou Fengnian thought it was troublesome, so he just took his son and two nephews to walk around the village.

-----

After the New Year, Zhou Fengnian and his group returned to the city comfortably.

After a day of cleaning up, it was time to start work. Zhou Fengnian adjusted his state quickly and directly devoted himself to the project of manufacturing a supercomputer.

The new year was 1971, and Zhou Fengnian was almost thirty years old, but according to the calculation method at that time, he was already thirty-one years old.

When the others arrived, they also became busy with full energy. The manufacturing plan had just been finalized before the New Year, and they were all working hard to build the first supercomputer.

As a result, we have to take a holiday during the Chinese New Year.

It feels like being interrupted just when you are about to feel comfortable!

Therefore, many people did not have a good rest during this New Year holiday. During their rest time, they were still thinking about supercomputers and could not wait to go to the factory to start work.

After the work started, the people in the technical department and some front-line technical workers were eager to work overtime at night and make up for the New Year holidays so as to build the supercomputer as soon as possible.

However, some electronic components cannot be rushed. Many of them are new ideas proposed by Zhou Fengnian, and the electronics factories need to try to manufacture them and test the effects.

The round trip is much slower and takes some time.

However, Zhou Fengnian checked it twice and believed that if a supercomputer was built according to the current design architecture, the effect would definitely be the same as what he created in the simulation space.

If there is a difference, it is just that some electronic components do not meet the standards. These problems are easy to solve, but it will waste some time.

In the third month after the start of construction, the news that a supercomputer was being manufactured even reached Deputy Leader Luo of the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building.

From then on, he often came to the electronic computer factory, under the pretext of research and investigation, to ask Zhou Fengnian when the computer would be completed.

Almost once a month.

During the third time, Zhou Fengnian couldn't stand it anymore and told Deputy Leader Luo to just wait for his notification, and then asked Deputy Director Liang to entertain Deputy Leader Luo.

He is no longer available to be a tour guide.

At that time, the production of the supercomputer was nearing completion, and Zhou Fengnian was so busy that he had to work overtime again. As a result, Deputy Leader Luo came to the factory again to ask questions.

One day, a semi-finished supercomputer with scattered parts was placed in the middle of the workshop, and Zhou Fengnian and others were checking every detail.

"A good year!"

Yan Zhengzhi ran in with a happy look on his face, holding a box in his hand. When he came closer, he handed the box to Zhou Fengnian and said,

"Okay, the 314 Electronics Factory has finally made it, and the performance has been tested. I'm watching it from the side, so there will definitely be no mistakes."

After saying that, Yan Zhengzhi handed the test results of this electronic component to Zhou Fengnian.

Zhou Fengnian took it and looked at it carefully, then opened the box and took out the electronic components inside for careful inspection.

Judging from the appearance inspection, it was exactly the same as he remembered, and he also trusted Yan Zhengzhi in the performance test.

So Zhou Fengnian immediately said, "Install all of these. There are only this many in the first batch. Be careful. If one breaks, it will take another half a month."

Seeing the skilled workers assembling the device, the onlookers were also very nervous. Yan Zhengzhi asked excitedly, "Fengnian, after the device is installed, we should be able to start testing its performance, right?"

"Well, I prepared for a month just for today's success."

After Zhou Fengnian finished speaking, he saw that Yan Zhengzhi was a little short of breath, and couldn't help but comfort him, "Relax, Old Yan, we will definitely succeed!"

(End of this chapter)