The Fiery Era: Becoming an Industrial Giant

Chapter 114 Chen Li arrived home and felt the person looked familiar. [Please subscribe]

"Everyone, I am Zhou Zhiqiang, the person in charge of our electroslag welding team. Next, we will work together to overcome the problem of the molten slag conducting electricity and generating heat."

Zhou Zhiqiang entered the room, looked around, and then began to introduce himself.

There were quite a few people who came, and they were all older than him, but Zhou Zhiqiang was used to it; after starting his research and development work, he rarely saw colleagues younger than him.

After Zhou Zhiqiang introduced himself, the person on the far right spoke first: "Engineer Zhou, I am Dong Zhengyu from Shanghai Power Plant, a level eight engineer. I have some knowledge of electrical and mechanical engineering. Please assign me any relevant tasks."

"Mr. Zhou, this is Liang Kang from the Heilongjiang Provincial Welding Institute."

The others introduced themselves one after another, which allowed them to get to know each other and understand each other's strengths and responsibilities.

However, they all called Zhou Zhiqiang "Engineer Zhou," a title that felt somewhat novel to him, since he was not an engineer.

Although the head of the technical department has the title of "technical expert," he is not a technical cadre; however, given his achievements and contributions, it is still acceptable.

Zhou Zhiqiang asked, "Have you arranged your food and lodging?"

One of them said, "It's all arranged. We went to our accommodations first before coming here, and we've put our things down."

"That's fine. Let's first talk about the goals of our team. We've already overcome the theoretical derivation of electroslag welding technology. Next, after three experimental steps to confirm that the theory is sound, we can modify the manufacturing process."
You are all elite professionals in your respective fields, and this project needs your participation to improve it.

As Zhou Zhiqiang spoke, he took out the technical process principles and corresponding process equipment drawings that he had prepared beforehand.

These are all things his team needs, but they're not finished yet. He needs to communicate with them first so that the rest of the team knows their goals, understands the progress, and can work together.

While explaining and teaching, Zhou Zhiqiang became quite familiar with the principles because he had read through a book and a document, and then, as if by a flash of inspiration, he received the deduction results and quickly understood all the deduced technical processes.

Therefore, when teaching others, Zhou Zhiqiang explains things very clearly.

However, it's also because the people who came this time are all talented; it's not difficult to understand, and basically everyone can understand it after being explained once or twice.

The more difficult theories require Zhou Zhiqiang to explain them repeatedly, but this doesn't faze him; he has plenty of patience.

We talked until noon, and drank two large cups of tea.

Zhou Zhiqiang stopped knocking on the door after hearing it, and then asked the person closest to the door to open it.

After the door opened, Miao Hong walked in and asked Zhou Zhiqiang, "Team Leader Zhou, it's almost lunchtime. Should we notify the canteen to reserve some food for you?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhiqiang picked up his watch and glanced at it. He had been writing on the blackboard non-stop, but he found it too troublesome and had put it aside.

"It's already one o'clock. Let's stop here for the morning and go have lunch. We'll continue in the afternoon."

After looking around, Zhou Zhiqiang continued, "Did you all bring lunchboxes?"

"Yes, yes, I brought it. I definitely brought my tools of the trade."

"How could I not bring my tools of the trade? They're all in my bag."

The other people in the room said that since they couldn't cook in their accommodations, their meals were definitely provided by the ministry, so they carried their own lunchboxes with them.

Zhou Zhiqiang laughed and said, "Okay, let's go eat first. The food at the ministry is pretty good, and the chef's skills are excellent."

Engineer Liang laughed and said, "Since Engineer Zhou has said so, then we should really enjoy the food provided by the ministry later."

Today, I probably knew that a new team was coming. The food in the cafeteria was pretty good; there were two meat dishes.

Although they arrived late, causing the food to get a little cold, the taste was indeed excellent; the dishes cooked in a large pot were just as good as those cooked in a small pot at a state-run restaurant.

Zhou Zhiqiang also had a big appetite at noon, eating three steamed buns and drinking two bowls of soup before he was full.

After finishing their meal, Zhou Zhiqiang and his team returned to their office to continue discussing the electroslag welding project.

Before assigning tasks to advance a project, the technical principles and the responsibilities of each party should be clearly explained.

To put it simply, it's about teaching. This theoretical foundation is currently only understood by Zhou Zhiqiang and two other people in the main research team who helped analyze, summarize, and organize it.

But Zhou Zhiqiang is the only one who knows him best, so he is the most suitable for the rest of the church team.

It wasn't until after 9 p.m. that Zhou Zhiqiang noticed someone starting to yawn, realizing it was already quite late.

So they were told to go back and rest, and recharge for the next day.

From the moment we met today, apart from lunch and dinner, they did almost nothing but stay in the office, thoroughly studying the technical principles of electroslag welding.

After leaving the office, Zhou Zhiqiang rode his bicycle back home.

Team Leader Shen initially said he would arrange a driver to pick him up, but Zhou Zhiqiang's place was not far from the one arranged by the ministry; it would only take less than ten minutes to get there by bike.

Moreover, this area is within the patrol range of the security team at night, and Zhou Zhiqiang encounters it almost every night, so there is no safety issue. Therefore, he refused the offer of a ride.

When Zhou Zhiqiang got home in the evening, he found that his wife and son were asleep, but he wasn't very sleepy.

The reward he received for the simulation last time not only made his limb control very agile, but also greatly improved his energy.

I now sleep five hours a day and still feel full of energy.

The current task for the electroslag welding team is to quickly get others up to speed so that they can be divided into groups, each responsible for one aspect.

So when Zhou Zhiqiang returned home, he couldn't keep up with the electroslag welding team's work.

Let's organize the lathe and pliers training manual.

After making his decision, Zhou Zhiqiang went to his study to start organizing the lathe and pliers training manual.

I can't fall asleep, and lying in bed I'm just counting sheep, which might wake up my son and wife, and then they'll make a fuss for ages.

It's better to do some work in the study.

Zhou Zhiqiang discovered that he couldn't do anything else besides these things. There was too little entertainment in this era. Apart from comic books and other similar things, there were various kinds of dramas.

However, he didn't like drama and couldn't appreciate it; he did buy some novels about chivalry and comic books, but after reading them, he put them away in a box to preserve them.

The first three levels of technical training for lathe operators and fitters are not difficult, and Zhou Zhiqiang listed them in great detail.

He also drew a diagram. With Zhou Zhiqiang's current control over his hands, he can draw almost anything he wants, and he can measure out the exact diameter of the circle he wants to draw.

With pictures and text, if you still can't learn it after reading his training manual, then you should really consider becoming a boiler operator or a porter; skilled jobs are really not suitable for him.

Zhou Zhiqiang was busy until after 2 a.m. before he felt sleepy. He then turned off the light and quietly went to bed to rest.

------

Winter temperatures dropped, and shortly after the coal was brought in, it started snowing.

The snow this year came about the same as last year, but it stopped after only two days.

Zhou Zhiqiang felt a pang of emotion when he saw the snow. After the New Year, it would be 1958, and he'd probably have to be more frugal with food and drink then. Many rural areas already showed signs of communes, but the official name "People's Commune" wouldn't be confirmed until July or August.

By the end of 1958, and starting in 1959, there might not be enough food to eat.

Natural disasters are one aspect, waste is another, and debt repayment is yet another; if these three factors were to be separated for a few years, then certainly there would be no need to tighten one's belt.

But when all three reasons come together, it's a catastrophic blow.

Zhou Zhiqiang doesn't have that much ability. He invented small agricultural machinery to increase foreign exchange earnings, so that the country could use those foreign exchange reserves to buy more things from abroad. That's the limit of what an individual can do.

Fortunately, he was well-prepared. Zhou Zhiqiang knew that Deputy Factory Director An had almost taken over the factory's logistics work and was moving closer to the district people's congress.

Deputy Factory Director An then bought some more grain and milk powder, which should completely solve their material problems for the next two or three years.

The total weight of coarse and refined grains is nearly a thousand kilograms, along with fifteen cans of milk powder and some other supplies.

This is the result of Zhou Zhiqiang's continuous visits to Pigeon City over the past two years, as well as his requests to Deputy Factory Director An.

Therefore, Zhou Zhiqiang also helped An Xiangjie with some ideas and wrote an article on industrial development intentions as a reward to send to him.

An Xiangjie gained some attention in the newspapers and was soon nominated by the district people's congress. If all goes well, he could be elected next year.

After learning the news, An Xiangjie was very grateful to Zhou Zhiqiang and sent him some baby supplies.

Sunday.

Zhou Zhiqiang was drawing blueprints in his study when Guo Yuting suddenly walked in carrying her son.

However, Guo Yuting frowned immediately upon entering and then asked, "Zhiqiang, why didn't you even light the stove? Don't you feel how cold it is?"

"Why did you bring the child here? Quickly take him to the main house."

Upon seeing this, Zhou Zhiqiang quickly stepped forward and took his son into his arms, then continued, "I don't feel cold at all. Maybe it's because I'm young and strong. If you don't believe me, touch my hand."

"Being physically strong is just an excuse. Why are your hands so hot? There's clearly no stove in your study."

Guo Yuting didn't believe it at first, but after touching Zhou Zhiqiang's hand, she felt it was really hot, just like a hand warmer.

"Zhiqiang, why are your hands so hot?"

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "You're only just realizing that you practically cling to me every night? I thought you'd noticed a long time ago."

Guo Yuting immediately pushed him away shyly: "Don't talk about this. Your blanket is thick and you seem warm, so I leaned over to you."

"Take the child back quickly. I'm not afraid of the cold, but the children can't. It's dangerous for them to get sick."

Zhou Zhiqiang advised, saying that he knew some babies couldn't get cold, and that the current medical environment wasn't as good as it would be decades later, so if they got sick, it would be a big problem.

Guo Yuting was also concerned about her son, so she agreed and said, "Okay, then I'll put Bo Cai back first."

Zhou Zhiqiang nodded upon hearing this, then remembered something and quickly said, "Oh right, I made an appointment with Deputy Section Chief Chen from our factory today. She's coming to pick up something."

Please remind me when they arrive.

"Yes, yes, I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it. Chen Li has already arrived."

Guo Yuting only remembered why Zhou Zhiqiang had come to the study after he said that; she had forgotten because of the interruption.

"Chen Li seems to have been brought here by her father. I invited them in together, and they're having tea in the main room right now."

"How could you forget about this, Comrade Yuting?"

Zhou Zhiqiang glanced at his wife, then turned around and picked up the lathe and pliers technical training manual and another small threshing machine R&D design drawing from the table.

This was the purpose of his calling Chen Li to come; he wanted to give these two items to Chen Li.

The lathe and thresher technical training manual was compiled and organized by Zhou Zhiqiang over twenty nights. As for the thresher, it was a small agricultural machine that Zhou Zhiqiang had been thinking about developing and producing before.

It can be used both domestically and internationally, and it is even more popular abroad.

However, this was not the completion of the design drawings, and Zhou Zhiqiang had not experienced that.

What he gave Chen Li today was only the principle of the power structure and some key technical explanations.

Chen Li had to figure out and fill in the rest herself, otherwise Zhou Zhiqiang would have to feed her spoonful by spoonful.

Upon arriving at the main house, Zhou Zhiqiang immediately spotted Chen Li and a middle-aged man who resembled her. The man exuded an air of authority and sat upright.

Zhou Zhiqiang greeted him with a smile, "Deputy Section Chief Chen, and this is..."

"It's my dad."

Chen Li glanced at her father somewhat embarrassedly, then said in a slightly apologetic tone, "He's off today, so he had to bring me here, Section Chief. Just pretend he's not here."

The middle-aged man immediately thought to himself, 'This girl is really biased towards outsiders.'

"Comrade Chen, hello, thank you for making this trip;
The factory is closed today, and this happens to be the only day I'm free. I don't know where Deputy Section Chief Chen lives, so I'll have to trouble you to make the trip.

After greeting him, Zhou Zhiqiang explained that he didn't have much rest time, and he was almost always busy with other things on his days off, so he wanted Chen Li to run errands for him.

"actually."

"Section Chief, it's alright."

Before Mr. Chen could speak, Ms. Chen interrupted him, saying, "I don't have anything to do today, so it's only right that I come. You've been busy with an important project lately."

Zhou Zhiqiang said with a smile, "Let's get down to business first, so as not to take up any more of your time."
"Deputy Section Chief Chen, this is the lathe and milling technician training manual I mentioned before; please take it back, organize it, and ideally print it into a booklet, so that you can prepare a copy for the apprentices in the factory."

After taking the document and flipping through it, Chen Li exclaimed in surprise, "This contains all the techniques that junior machinists and fitters need to master? Section Chief, you've compiled it in such detail, it's practically ready to use right away!"

"It's on a notebook, so it's better to reprint it. Let the factory office contact the printing plant."

After Zhou Zhiqiang finished speaking, he handed Chen Li a set of drawings: "This is my design idea for a small threshing machine. It's just preliminary. Go back and gather the technical department to study it."
This small agricultural machinery is quite popular abroad, and it might even generate foreign exchange.

I've already clarified the most difficult part: the principles of the power structure. If you still have any questions, I'll explain it to you when I return to the factory."

"Okay, then I'll go back and gather the rest of the technical department to discuss it."

The two started discussing this matter.

With nothing to do, Mr. Chen began to look around the room.

However, after watching for a while, Chen's father suddenly felt that Zhou Zhiqiang looked a lot like one of his friends, and the more he looked, the more he resembled him.
The last time they met was after dark, so he didn't notice, but looking closely today, he realized that this Comrade Zhou Zhiqiang looked remarkably like one of his friends!

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(End of this chapter)