Courtyard House: Initial Donation of 50 Million

Li Huaide's drive and efficiency are beyond question. After receiving Wang Huanbo's thick, dozens-of-pages-long, richly illustrated, and data-driven "Project Proposal and Preliminary Technical Plan for the Development of the 'Red Star' Brand Multifunctional Small Wheeled Tractor (Code Name: Little Cannon)," he studied it overnight, becoming increasingly excited with each reading. The next morning, he barged into Secretary Yao Jianghe's office, bringing along Wang Huanbo's "Discussion Report" on the improvement of automatic rifles (he believed this demonstrated Wang's more comprehensive strategic vision).

Yao Jianghe carefully read the "Little Cannon" project proposal. This veteran revolutionary, though not entirely familiar with the specific technical details, possessed rich experience in rural work and a keen political sense. He immediately realized that if this "Little Cannon" could be successfully developed and widely adopted, it would have immeasurable practical and political significance in improving agricultural production efficiency, improving rural transportation conditions, reducing farmers' labor intensity, and consolidating the worker-peasant alliance. This perfectly aligned with the national call to "vigorously support agriculture"—a genuine "support for agricultural products"!

As for the rifle improvement report, Yao Jianghe's expression grew even more solemn after reading it. He certainly knew the importance of weaponry. The professional depth and foresight shown by Wang Huanbo in the report secretly impressed him. This was no longer within the scope of an ordinary engineer. He carefully locked the report in the safe and said to Li Huaide, "Comrade Huaide, the tractor project is of great significance. The factory must fully support it and get it started as soon as possible! As for the other report… I will forward it to the relevant military departments for reference through confidential channels. Comrade Wang Huanbo… is truly a peerless national hero!"

With Yao Jianghe's explicit support, the massive Hongxing Factory began operating efficiently. A few days later, the factory's Party Committee formally passed a resolution to establish the "Hongxing Brand Multifunctional Small Wheeled Tractor (Little Cannon) Research and Development Project Team," with Deputy Factory Director Li Huaide as the team leader and Chief Engineer Wang Huanbo as the chief designer and technical advisor. The team would concentrate the factory's technical, production, and material resources to ensure the project's progress and strive to produce a prototype in the shortest possible time!

The project team was quickly assembled. It primarily consisted of key personnel from the automotive branch's technical, process, chassis, and engine workshops, with additional elite talent drawn from the main plant, including several senior engineers. Wang Huanbo personally interviewed and selected the team, forming a core team of thirty people covering mechanical design, power, transmission, hydraulics, electrical, process, and materials. Many of the selected technicians were thrilled; participating in a major project personally led by Chief Engineer Wang was a tremendous honor and a valuable learning opportunity.

The project launch meeting was held in the conference room of the newly completed technology center building of the automobile branch. Wang Huanbo stood in front of the large-scale layout plan of the "Little Steel Cannon" hanging in the wall, and facing the project team members gathered together, he did not waste time with empty talk and went straight to the technical topic.

"Comrades, we are gathered here for a common goal: to build the best small tractor made by the Chinese people!" Wang Huanbo's voice was steady and powerful. "What will it be called? 'Red Star Little Cannon'! Why 'Little Cannon'? Because it will be like a cannon—powerful, durable, and versatile—becoming a powerful tool in our rural socialist construction!"

He picked up his pointer, pointed to the blueprints, and began to explain in detail the design concept, technical parameters, and performance indicators. From the key improvements to the 40-horsepower electric start diesel engine to the ingenious design of the 8+4 gearbox; from the reliability design of the hydraulic suspension lifting system to the universality considerations of the standardized three-point suspension and PTO interface; he especially emphasized the design concept and significance of achieving 45 km/h road transport with a 1.5-ton trailer.

"Many people might ask, tractors are for working in the fields, why do they need to run so fast?" Wang Huanbo's gaze swept across the room. "I'm telling you, what rural areas lack isn't just machinery for tilling the land, but also transportation machinery! Delivering grain, transporting fertilizer, delivering building materials, selling agricultural products, even urgently transporting patients... all are hampered by transportation issues! Carrying loads by hand, using oxcarts and horse-drawn carts, is far too inefficient! Our 'little cannon' is a master at tilling the land, but when you attach a trailer, it becomes a 'transportation vanguard' for rural areas! It will liberate farmers from heavy physical labor and connect rural production and consumption more quickly! That's one of its greatest values!"

These words stirred the passion of many technicians present, who came from or understood rural areas. They knew all too well the rural areas' yearning for transportation!

"Our goal is not just to build a working prototype," Wang Huanbo said firmly. "What we want to build is a 'small powerhouse' that is advanced in performance, reliable in quality, reasonably priced, affordable, easy to use, and enjoyable for farmers! Every part, every process, must withstand the test of the field and the test of time! We must live up to the country's investment, and even more so, live up to the expectations of the hundreds of millions of farmers who will use it in the future!"

The meeting room erupted in enthusiastic applause. Wang Huanbo's pragmatic yet passionate speech instantly boosted the team's morale and sense of mission.

Next came the intense yet well-organized technical breakdown and task allocation. Wang Huanbo divided the team into several specialized groups:

1. Power Unit: Responsible for the improvement, trial production, and bench testing of a 40-horsepower diesel engine. Coordinated technical aspects with units such as the Shanghai Diesel Engine Factory.

2. Chassis Transmission Group: Responsible for the detailed design and trial production of the gearbox, rear axle, steering system, and braking system.

3. Hydraulic suspension assembly: Responsible for the design and trial production of hydraulic system, lifter, and three-point suspension device.

4. Electrical Body Group: Responsible for the design of electric start system, instrument lighting, cab safety frame, and body panels.

5. Process Tooling Group: Responsible for formulating the machining process routes for all parts and designing and manufacturing necessary special fixtures, molds, and inspection tools.

6. Supporting Collaboration Team: Responsible for coordinating the external procurement and outsourcing of tires, batteries, hydraulic seals, standard parts, and other components.

Wang Huanbo personally oversaw the overall design and key technology breakthroughs, holding daily meetings with various teams to discuss technical details and resolve difficult problems. His office and the floor where the project team was located were often brightly lit until late at night. Lines crisscrossed on the drawing board, slide rules and hand-cranked calculators clattered, and the sound of metal cutting during the trial production of parts filled the workshop.

The first challenge the power unit faced was the diesel engine's electric start system. Although the principle was clear, integrating a high-power starter motor, a large-capacity battery, a generator, regulator, and starter switch into the tractor's cramped space, and ensuring reliable operation in harsh environments of vibration, dust, and rain, required repeated testing. Matching the starter motor's torque and speed to the engine, the battery's capacity and low-temperature starting performance, the wiring layout and protection… every detail had to be perfect. Wang Huanbo personally participated in the debugging, even modifying the contact material of a starter relay, resolving occasional poor contact issues.

The chassis transmission encountered difficulties in gearbox design. The 8+4 gear arrangement made the gearbox structure more complex than that of traditional tractors, placing higher demands on gear strength, bearing load, and the shift synchronizer (which was still a novelty at the time; Wang Huanbo introduced a simplified design). A group of young technicians disagreed on calculating the final drive ratio. Wang Huanbo called them to his office that evening and spent an hour deriving the optimal solution from theoretical formulas to analysis of actual road conditions, leaving the young men deeply impressed.

When the hydraulic suspension assembly was trial-producing the hydraulic cylinder, it encountered a problem with leaking seals. At that time, the quality of domestically produced rubber seals was unstable. Instead of simply blaming others, Wang Huanbo took the process engineers to the newly established Hongxing Rubber Products Branch Factory, where they analyzed the rubber formula and molds with experienced workers, improved the structure of the sealing rings and the heat treatment process, and ultimately solved the leakage problem. They also improved the technical level of the rubber factory in the process.

The tooling and fixture group had the heaviest workload. Many parts had unique shapes and high precision requirements, necessitating the design and manufacture of a large number of specialized tooling fixtures. Wang Huanbo demanded that, while ensuring quality, modular and adjustable fixtures be used as much as possible to reduce the number of specialized tooling fixtures, lower costs, and shorten the preparation cycle. He introduced the rudimentary concept of "group technology," classifying and grouping parts to optimize process routes, which broadened the horizons of both instructors and young process engineers.

The entire Hongxing Factory seemed to have received a shot in the arm thanks to the "Little Steel Cannon" project. In the automobile division's workshops, one side was the assembly line for Hongqi sedans and Hongxing Mengshi (Red Star Warriors), while the other side was bustling with the trial production of various parts for the "Little Steel Cannon." Hearing that they were building "iron oxen for the farmers," the workers were incredibly motivated, racing against time and meticulous about quality. Li Huaide provided ample logistical support, ensuring unimpeded supply of materials and adequate food allowances, leading to unprecedented levels of enthusiasm among the technicians and workers.

Meanwhile, Wang Huanbo's report on the improvement of automatic rifles, forwarded by Yao Jianghe, also attracted great attention from relevant departments of the General Staff and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. Several senior firearms experts and leaders of the military industry system, after careful reading, were astonished by the depth and foresight of its insights. Many of its ideas, such as optimizing the gas system to improve accuracy, adding a bolt hold-open device, and improving ergonomics, were precisely the directions they were considering or exploring. Furthermore, the concepts of "universal tactical rails" and "optical sights" showed them entirely new possibilities for the development of individual weapons.

Soon, a high-level secret research team jointly formed by the General Staff Equipment Department and the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense quietly arrived at the Hongxing Factory. They did not make a big fuss, but under the pretext of "investigating new industrial technologies," they held several long and in-depth closed-door talks with Wang Huanbo, accompanied by Yao Jianghe and Li Huaide.

The content of the meeting was kept highly confidential. However, according to the recollections of a very few people who participated in the reception, the experts and leaders from the military emerged looking excited and treating Engineer Wang with utmost respect. Shortly afterward, a top-secret order was issued to the Hongxing Factory: while the "Little Cannon" project was progressing smoothly, a top-secret pre-research group, codenamed "August 1st," was to be formed, composed of absolutely reliable politically and technically competent personnel. Comrade Wang Huanbo would be in charge of technical guidance, and the group would conduct preliminary principle verification and feasibility studies on certain key technical directions mentioned in the report, to build up technical reserves and explore for the development of future new types of individual automatic weapons. All necessary conditions were to be guaranteed with the highest priority.

This meant that Wang Huanbo bore an even heavier burden. But he gladly accepted it. Contributing to the modernization of national defense was precisely his wish.

Inside the courtyard, rumors about Engineer Wang's "new project" were rampant. Some said he was building a "magical iron ox that could plow the fields and transport goods," while others said he was working on an even more powerful "secret weapon." Yan Bugui spent his days straining his ears to inquire, but unfortunately, the project was highly classified, and he couldn't find out anything, leaving him anxious and frustrated. Liu Haizhong, on the other hand, felt the intense yet tightly guarded atmosphere at the factory, and his heart was filled with mixed emotions.

Wang Huanbo, meanwhile, was completely immersed in tackling technological challenges on two fronts. By day, he was solving various engineering problems in the "Little Cannon" project team; by night, in the top-secret "August 1st" team workshop, he and several carefully selected technical experts were working on improvement plans, conducting stress analysis and material testing of key components, using actual AK-47s (obtained through special channels) and blueprints. The prototype of the "universal tactical rail" and the sketch of a simple white light sight were gradually becoming clearer on the top-secret blueprints.

Time flies by in the midst of busy work. Autumn has turned to winter, and the first snow has covered the capital. The lights in the west courtyard still often stay on until late at night. In the workshops and laboratories of the Red Star Factory, the outline of the "Red Star Little Steel Cannon" is gradually transforming from blueprints into a real steel skeleton; and the future brilliance of the "August 1st" project is also quietly gathering in the hidden forging process.

A profound, technology-driven transformation benefiting agriculture and national defense is brewing in this cold winter.