Returning to 1949, I decided to hand it over to the state.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chunsheng sighed softly.

"It's definitely a good thing."

"But products aren't so easy to coax out."

His gaze swept past the edge of the carriage, looking out at the sprawling factory area and tracks, and his tone slowed.

"To be frank, our current resources are still too meager. Our equipment is either lacking, outdated, or broken."

"Many machine tools, rolling mills, and supporting equipment are all pieced together from the remaining parts. They break down slightly every three days and severely every five days. It's already difficult enough to produce steel. If we really want to move towards precision products, there are many more difficulties."

He paused, then continued:

"On a larger scale, the current situation in China is also what it is. Various regions are still recovering, market order has not yet truly stabilized, circulation is not smooth in many places, currency is unstable, and ordinary people do not have much spare money."

"You say you're making things to sell, but who are you going to sell them to? How are you going to sell them? What's the payment method? These aren't things you can solve just by thinking about them."

Upon hearing these words, Jiang Fan couldn't help but nod in agreement.

As expected of someone who studied abroad, their insights are indeed profound.

What Zhou Chunsheng said was almost identical to the difficulties he had thought of last night.

A product's success isn't guaranteed simply because it's "needed."

We also need to consider purchasing power, the market environment, and currency and circulation.

Consider whether the country as a whole can absorb this expansion of industrial products as it recovers from war.

So he continued asking questions.

"That's true."

"However, I think we don't necessarily have to focus only on the people in our own country. Shouldn't we also look outwards?"

"If we could sell the goods to foreigners and earn money from abroad, it might be more worthwhile."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Chunsheng shook his head almost immediately after hearing this.

"Engineer Jiang, you've been out there before, don't you know how they see us?"

"What do people recognize now? They recognize the US dollar, the British pound, and the currencies of countries that have already established a foothold."

"We haven't even officially established our capital yet, and we haven't fully established a unified currency system. What are we going to use to negotiate settlements with others?"

"To put it bluntly, these past few years have been filled with war and chaos, and trust has been destroyed. If you take a bunch of goods out, people may not believe that you can deliver on time, nor may they believe that your factory can supply goods in the long term, let alone be willing to settle accounts with you at a fair price."

Jiang Fan listened and remained silent for a moment.

That is indeed true.

At this stage, the most crucial elements in international trade were credit and settlement capabilities. However, the People's Republic of China had not yet fully established a complete international credit system, let alone easily sell its products overseas.

In later generations, "exporting to earn foreign exchange" would be a perfectly normal idea. But in 1949, many seemingly reasonable business logics were hampered by finance, shipping, recognition, and the political environment.

Even so, Jiang Fan was still not completely convinced.

Difficult as it may be.

But is it really true that products made in China can't be sold?

Not necessarily.

Many industrial and light industrial products in later generations were developed little by little under extremely difficult conditions.

Some companies break into surrounding markets, some start by replacing imports, and some first meet special needs and then gradually grow to a large scale.

Therefore, logically speaking, this path is definitely not non-existent.

It's just a matter of finding the right product.

Find something that is practical enough, in high demand, and well-suited to current capabilities, while also possessing potential for cross-regional circulation.

And the idea of ​​a "gas cylinder" became clearer and clearer in his mind as a result.

If all else fails, make the container first, and then think about its uses.

While civilian applications cannot be sold, there may still be room for military applications.

Even if it's not called a "gas cylinder," it can easily expand into areas such as pressure-resistant containers, transport cylinders, and gas storage equipment for special scenarios.

As he was thinking, Zhou Chunsheng suddenly glanced outside and said:

"arrive."

After saying that, he picked up his tool bag and walked directly to the side of the carriage.

Jiang Fan was stunned and before he could react, he saw Zhou Chunsheng grab the edge with one hand, flip his body, and make a move to jump down.

The crucial point is, the train hasn't stopped yet!

Jiang Fan was startled and quickly grabbed him.

"No, Engineer Zhou! You're jumping down like that?"

Zhou Chunsheng was startled by his tug, turned around, and burst into laughter.

"It's okay, it's okay, it won't stop."

"What?"

"At this speed, jumping down is no problem. That's how we usually jump. If we wait for it to stop, how much time will we waste?"

As he spoke, he clapped his hands.

"Come on, come on, don't be afraid, we've jumped over this many times before."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he nimbly leaped down.

Jiang Fan stood by the carriage and watched Zhou Chunsheng take two steps forward on the ground and stand steadily. He was completely stunned.

Does this work too?

He subconsciously glanced down at his watch.

He had only been on the bus for about ten minutes, but it felt like a long time.

Before he could hesitate any longer, Zhou Chunsheng's shout came from below.

"Hurry up, Engineer Jiang! If we don't get off now, we'll be at the next work site soon!"

Jiang Fan gritted his teeth, thinking to himself that since he had already time-traveled, he shouldn't be so cowardly as to jump on a slow-moving minecart.

The next moment, he followed Zhou Chunsheng's example, grabbed the edge, aimed at the ground, and jumped down.

The force of the impact caused him to stumble, almost falling forward. Fortunately, Zhou Chunsheng reacted quickly and caught him.

"Haha, are you alright?"

Jiang Fan steadied himself, patted the dust off his trousers, looking somewhat disheveled.

"It's nothing...it's just my first time experiencing this."

Zhou Chunsheng was amused.

"You'll get used to it. This train basically runs back and forth between the factory and the mine. It doesn't stop just for us. Everyone gets on and off as they please. The distance isn't too far, but it's still much faster than walking."

Jiang Fan could only nod.

"I've learned something new."

"Let's go."

The two walked along a dirt road.

After regaining his footing, Jiang Fan finally had the chance to look up and carefully examine his surroundings.

Upon seeing this, his impression of "how big Ansteel is" was completely refreshed.

The factory area has almost all kinds of supporting facilities.

Ironmaking has blast furnaces, steelmaking has open-hearth furnaces and supporting systems, rolling has rolling mills, coking has coke ovens, and there are also machine repair, auxiliary processing, transportation systems, storage areas, dedicated railways, and even several supporting branch plants for specific purposes.

Of course, many places are not yet "complete".

Some are now just ruins.

Even so, just standing here, one can still feel the oppressive atmosphere and vitality left by that massive industrial system.