The Grandmother in the Siheyuan

Chapter 493 Divergent Thinking
In the past, Liu Hualai would always take a taxi to Jiangnan Shipyard by himself. This time, Jiangnan Shipyard sent a convoy of four Audis to pick him up, led by a deputy director of the shipyard.

It's important to know that the general manager of Jiangnan Shipyard is a very high-ranking official, so having the deputy director personally greet him at the airport is already a very high-level gesture.

"Why all this fuss?" Liu Hua asked, puzzled. "I'm an old acquaintance of the people at your Jiangnan Shipyard. You could have just sent a car to pick me up."

“Things are different now. In the past, you would always come quietly, but this time you called ahead to let us know.” The deputy factory director said with a smile, “If we didn’t know before, that would be fine, but now that we know, we definitely have to give you a high-level reception. It’s just that our factory doesn’t have a plane; if we did, we should fly over to pick you up.”

"You flatter me."

Upon arriving at the Jiangnan Battle Site, after a short rest and exchanging pleasantries with the general manager, Liu Hua put down his teacup and said, "I've come to discuss something important with you all."

"I expected this. Let's not even mention the destroyer on the slipway." The boss said with a smile, "You informed us of your arrival beforehand, which means this is no small matter."

Nuclear power.

With just three simple words, the boss of Jiangnan Catering Factory immediately sat up straight. When it comes to nuclear power in our country, there is only one thing that comes to mind: nuclear-powered black carp.

"A nuclear-powered giant black carp? Aren't those usually built by shipyards in the north?" the boss asked doubtfully. "How come we have the honor of undertaking such a large project now?"

Liu Hua shook his head, and the boss immediately started brainstorming: "If it's not a nuclear-powered black carp, it can't be a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, can it?"

Liu Hua shook his head: "You're just dreaming. The country asked me if we could scale up the thorium-based molten salt reactor we're currently researching and eventually apply it to ships."

"In other words, the main component is the nuclear reactor, not the ship."

Liu Hua nodded and said, "Our country has no plans for an aircraft carrier yet. The 10,000-ton destroyer on the slipway is already the largest we have. There's no need to use nuclear power."

"What do you mean?"

Liu Hua waved his hand: "Call over all your chief engineers, let's have a closed-door meeting together."

There were about a dozen people from all sides of Jiangnan Shipyard gathered in the conference room, looking at their boss and Liu Hua sitting at the head of the table.

They all greeted Liu Hua with smiles. They were all old acquaintances. They owed their success to Liu Hua, which was why the technology at Jiangnan Shipyard had improved so much.

"Engineer Liu, what good news do you have to share with us this time?"

Liu Hua nodded: "It is indeed good news, very, very good news. Now we need you to build a ship, a nuclear-powered one."

People subconsciously associate nuclear power with warships because around 2000, nuclear-powered ships were rarely equated with civilian ships; if they existed, they were few and far between, and the technology was not yet mature.

Liu Hua said seriously, "When we held a big meeting some time ago, I talked with some leaders in the Navy about land reclamation and island building. So I wanted to design a ship specifically for land reclamation and island building."

"But shouldn't land reclamation start by expanding the island bases, for example, by planting coral reefs?"

Some people do have some technical knowledge, but Liu Hua can only say that they don't know much.

“This is the internationally accepted method of land reclamation,” Liu Hua smiled. “What are we? Can we use this conventional method?” “Professor Liu, please tell us your best ideas. We’ll listen to you.”

Liu Hua nodded: "I do have a suggestion, though it's not perfect, and I'd like you to give it a try."

“You are all geniuses in shipbuilding, so you must know a lot about cutter suction dredgers.”

"Of course I know, our factory has made them too, but these things are generally used in shallow seas or inland rivers."

“Think outside the box.” Liu Hua gestured to his temple. “Don’t assume that just because Westerners have given him this responsibility, he can only be used for this purpose. You should know that many drugs now have uses beyond just guiding their use.”

Seeing everyone deep in thought, some scratching their heads, the general manager of Jiangnan Shipyard was very protective of his own.

"Hey, Engineer Liu, just say what you want to say. Everyone is already under a lot of work pressure. If you put on an even heavier workload, I reckon they'll all have to take sick leave tomorrow. If I send them all to Qiongya for recuperation, won't that still delay your business?"

“You,” Liu Hua pointed at the boss and shook his head, “I’m telling them to learn from this example and apply it to other situations. You just had to speak up at the last minute. That’s not how you protect your own people.”

"Just say what you have to say. Our Jiangnan Shipyard is just too busy."

Liu Hua nodded helplessly: "What I mean is, a cutter suction dredger is just a dredger that sends a pipe down to the bottom of the river to pump out the mud, and then sends another pipe up to spray it out. We can use the same idea. The lower pipe can be lengthened to increase the pressure, and the upper pipe can also be lengthened to increase the pressure."

"We collect silt from the seabed and spray it onto the seabed for deposition, thus realizing our goal of land reclamation and island building." A chief engineer suddenly realized and said, "This idea is very practical. Some of our islands and reefs have seabeds that are very close to the sea surface, making them very suitable for this method."

"The question is, can we build a sturdy island using only the silt on the seabed?"

Liu Hua smiled and shook his head: "You guys still haven't developed this kind of thinking. I'll just add a cutter head winch below, break up all the rocks deep in the seabed, and then build them up together. Then, I'll use high-pressure jetting. What's the difference between that and concrete?"

Almost all the engineers nodded: "That makes sense."

"There's still another problem," someone asked. "The pressurization device, the cutter head, the winch, and so on—all of these consume a lot of energy."

The engineer next to him slapped him on the shoulder: "What's wrong with your brain? Didn't Engineer Liu just say it? Nuclear power, nuclear power."

"Oh, right, with nuclear power, we won't have to worry about energy."

Liu Hua slammed his hand on the table, looked at the general manager of Jiangnan Shipyard, and then turned to ask, "Now that the principle makes sense, are you all confident in completing this design?"

"Some designs are not our factory's specialty."

Liu Hua waved his hand: "Don't worry about these details. If you can't design them, I will. My weakness is communication design, but my strength is mechanical design."

The boss, who had been sitting silently to the side, suddenly clapped his hands and said, "Since the principle makes sense, then it can be designed. If we can't do it, we still have Engineer Liu. If Engineer Liu can't do it either, I'll ask for help from higher authorities. In such a large country as ours, there must be someone who can do it."

(End of this chapter)