Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

In the height of summer, cicadas chirped hoarsely in the sparse poplar trees of the northwestern suburbs, as if they too were lamenting the ever-decreasing emptiness of the "Red Star Service Center" showroom. The overwhelming success at the opening was still fresh in everyone's mind, and in less than a month, over 90% of the nearly 120 cars moved from the Taiji Space had already been sold! Only a handful of demo cars, used for display and maintenance training, remained, parked forlornly on the gleaming showroom floor, reflecting the mixed expressions of pride and subtle anxiety on the faces of the sales staff.

Booming sales and rapid cash flow are certainly good things. But He Damin knows very well that this "water without a source" model is unsustainable. The remaining vehicles in the small world space (mainly spare tank hulls and special vehicles) are no longer suitable or sufficient to support further sales. He can't really keep acting as an "international thief," stealing cars all over the world, can he? Putting aside the risks, the very existence of this bizarre "source" is enough to attract endless suspicion and investigation.

It is essential to have its own "self-sustaining" capabilities.

Standing at the window on the top floor of the office building, He Damin looked calmly down at the undeveloped reserved land behind the service center. There was still land; there was enough space. The initial plan had already reserved room for expansion. Now, it was time to start the second step—building their own assembly workshop.

Having a workshop alone isn't enough; you also need equipment. In the Taiji Space Anode World, the industrial machine tools, forging equipment, and even some precision testing instruments collected from Japanese warehouses and scattered throughout later generations could finally be put to use. Although the models were mixed, and some were quite old, in this era of extremely weak industrial foundations and a scarcity of even decent lathes, these devices were undoubtedly a huge asset. With a little modification and adjustment, they were enough to support a rudimentary automobile assembly and parts processing line.

"Assemble..." He Damin muttered to himself, a preliminary workshop layout already forming in his mind. Body stamping, frame welding, engine and gearbox hoisting, interior installation, wiring layout, vehicle inspection... a prototype of an assembly line, not advanced but relatively complete in function, gradually became clear.

But assembly requires parts. Thousands upon thousands of parts. With China's automotive parts industry practically nonexistent, relying on external purchases is nothing short of a pipe dream. Most core and common components must be produced domestically, or… manufactured by reliable partners on a contract basis.

His gaze fell on the area outside Dongzhimen—the Lou's Steel Rolling Mill, or more commonly known as the "Red Star Steel Rolling Mill," that vast factory area.

Lou Zhenhua was indeed a man of great vision and courage. He not only preserved the family's traditional steel rolling business, but also seized opportunities before and after the liberation, using his connections and capital to gradually expand the steel rolling mill into a "hodgepodge" complex integrating steelmaking, rolling, rough processing, and even simple machinery manufacturing. The factory had blast furnaces, rolling mills, a foundry, and even a small machine tool repair and parts processing workshop. Although most of the equipment was old and the processes were relatively crude, it had the advantage of being relatively complete in its categories and having a large workforce.

More importantly, Lou Zhenhua was a discerning and ambitious man. His extravagant order of fifteen trucks in one go last time, and his subsequent desire for technological advancement and industrial upgrading, left a deep impression on He Damin.

"Perhaps I could talk to him," He Damin thought to himself. Simple outsourcing might not be attractive enough. But what if... I included technical expertise?

He turned and walked back to his large desk, taking out a stack of white paper with a special texture and a drawing pencil from a drawer (actually from his Tai Chi space). Instead of using the dip pen or fountain pen commonly used in this era, the pencil's lines were easier to modify and to draw intricate patterns.

He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. The complex and chaotic memories of his past life were instantly illuminated, like a dusty library. The vast knowledge he had acquired as a "perfect disguise" and "investment of interest" hidden beneath his identity as a cold-blooded assassin flowed into his consciousness like a gentle stream.

In his past life, he possessed terrifying learning and memory abilities. Each time he infiltrated a target area under a new identity, he needed to quickly master the corresponding skills and knowledge. Student, engineer, financial analyst, artist… he played countless roles, striving for perfection each time. To this end, he invested a huge amount of "commission" in self-improvement and "identity investment." MIT, Caltech, ETH Zurich… many of the world's top universities have received papers from anonymous "genius students" and huge donations from "generous alumni." His research covered firearms principles and modifications, the mechanical analysis of combat techniques, the chemical synthesis of disguise materials, the structure and evolution of multiple languages, the underlying logic of hacking attacks and defenses, the operating rules of global financial markets, cutting-edge physical and chemical theories… and even the core principles and design methods of modern mechanical manufacturing.

Speakers of thirty-two major languages ​​and countless dialects and minor languages ​​enable him to read cutting-edge technical materials from around the world without barriers. His top-tier assassin skills have given him an ultimate understanding of precision mechanics (firearms) and ergonomics. And the knowledge he has gained in-depth study of mechanical engineering, materials science, internal combustion engine principles, and transmission system design under the guise of "interest" and "investment" has now become his most valuable trump card.

The pen tip touches the paper and begins to glide across the pristine white canvas. The lines progress from simple to complex, from thick to thin, precise and steady, like the output of the most sophisticated instrument.

The first image is a simplified diagram of the formula and heat treatment process for automotive special steel. It's not some advanced alloy that's ahead of its time, but rather an optimization and adjustment of the proportions of elements such as carbon, manganese, silicon, and chromium based on the existing metallurgical level of the era (mainly the open-hearth furnaces in Lou Zhenhua's plant and the potentially improved electric furnaces). This is supplemented by specific rolling temperatures and annealing processes to obtain "automotive steel" that far surpasses current ordinary construction steel in strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance, making it more suitable for manufacturing key components such as car frames, suspensions, and drive shafts. Next to the formula, several possible local alternative mineral sources are also marked.

The second drawing is where things get more complex. It's a design sketch of a 2.2-liter, inline four-cylinder, side-valve, water-cooled gasoline engine assembly. The structure is relatively simple, lacking complex overhead camshafts or multi-point fuel injection, prioritizing reliability, durability, and ease of manufacturing and maintenance. The drawing clearly indicates key parameters such as bore, stroke, compression ratio, valve timing, lubrication system, and cooling cycle, even including rough stress analyses and material requirements for major components (such as the cylinder block, cylinder head, crankshaft, connecting rods, and pistons). Many design ideas subtly borrow from the advantages of certain mature engines of the era, but are simplified and optimized to suit domestic manufacturing capabilities.

The third diagram shows the transmission principle and parameters of the main gear pairs for a matching four-speed manual gearbox (with reverse gear). A synchronizer is not currently included (due to high machining precision requirements), and a simpler and more reliable meshing sleeve structure is used instead. The drawing also includes a simplified schematic of the linkage between the shifting mechanism and the clutch.

The fourth image shows the preliminary structural design of the monocoque frame, highlighting the reinforcement of the main stress points and the installation positions of the suspension (planned to adopt a common structure of independent front suspension and leaf springs at the rear).

These drawings are certainly far from complete engineering drawings that can be put into production directly. They are more like a detailed "technical feasibility plan" and "core parameter guide", which points out the direction and provides key data and principles, but the specific process tooling, tolerance fit, and detailed part drawings still require a lot of engineering and technical personnel to refine, trial-produce, and explore.

But that's enough. In an era when most parts of a bicycle need to be imported, such a design approach and core formula, with a clear direction, sound principles, and consideration of practical conditions, is of immeasurable value.

He Damin put down his pen and gently blew away the eraser shavings from the drawings. Outside the window, the setting sun blazed like fire, casting a long shadow of him. He stretched his wrists. Although drawing these drawings was hardly a waste of his cultivation level, the focused process of materializing the knowledge in his mind and planning the blueprints still gave him a long-lost sense of fulfillment that belonged to "creation."

"Lou Zhenhua..." he murmured the name. This "gift" was enough to move any visionary industrialist. In exchange for a portion of future automotive parts orders (especially for chassis, leaf springs, and standard parts) and this "automotive steel" formula, he could persuade Lou Zhenhua to allocate some of his steel rolling mill's capacity and processing workshops to trial-produce and manufacture many parts for him, in addition to engines and transmissions, while simultaneously establishing a stable supply channel for specialty steel.

This is a win-win situation. Lou Zhenhua gains access to technological upgrades, product expansion, and stable high-end orders; while He Damin can leverage an existing, well-established industrial platform to quickly build his own automotive parts supply chain, solving the "having or not having" problem. As for the more sophisticated core components such as engines and transmissions, they can be housed in his own assembly workshop, where he can gradually work through them using machine tools from later generations.

He even envisioned a more distant future: using the "Red Star Service Center" as the sales and repair terminal, and his self-built assembly workshop and the outsourcing system in cooperation with Lou Zhenhua as the manufacturing midstream, he gradually built a prototype of a microcar industry ecosystem covering R&D (currently mainly by him), manufacturing, sales, service, and even talent training. Although it looks small and rudimentary now, the seeds have been sown.

Carefully putting away the blueprints, He Damin stood up and walked to the window. Night began to fall, and lights gradually came on throughout the service center. In the repair workshop, technicians on the night shift were still busy, and faint sounds of laughter and conversation drifted from the staff dormitory.

The road ahead remains long, fraught with difficulties: technological barriers, material shortages, outdated processes, and a lack of talent. But he feels no fear. In his past life, he single-handedly navigated the world's major powers, accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks. In this life, he possesses a longer lifespan, greater personal strength, a more advanced perspective and knowledge, and… this land, ripe for development and brimming with potential.

"Let's start with this four-cylinder engine and this gearbox." He Damin gazed at the newly emerging stars in the night sky, his eyes resolute. Since they couldn't buy them or steal them all, they'd build them themselves!

Tomorrow, I will visit that "Lou Bancheng".