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

Inside the closed workshop of the West Plant, after several days and nights of continuous study, Jiang Fan's understanding of the Type 94 ultralight tank has become increasingly profound.

As he expected, the research progress of reverse engineering was extremely slow, even extremely difficult.

The smelting team has already tried firing several batches of experimental steel, hoping to replicate armor plates with the same composition one-to-one.

However, after the molten steel is poured out and cooled, the resulting samples are either brittle like glass and break easily when struck, or they bend easily when folded.

The veteran smelters, their faces etched with worry, squatted beside the furnace, puffing on their pipes and muttering to themselves:

"What kind of weird stuff did those Japanese devils put in their steel? Why can't they get it to that hardness?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan could only smile bitterly to himself.

It should be noted that Japan's metallurgical industry had already established a fairly mature heavy industrial system as early as the 30s.

The special alloy steel formulas they use often contain a variety of rare elements such as nickel, chromium, and molybdenum, and the quenching ratio during heat treatment is extremely precise.

Given Ansteel's current rudimentary conditions, it lacks both sophisticated chemical composition analysis instruments and stable alloy additives due to Western blockade.

It's really asking too much of people to replicate it exactly with just a few sledgehammers and experience.

However, he didn't say anything to dampen the spirits.

After all, in this era of extreme poverty, allowing workers to accumulate smelting experience was an excellent choice.

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What's more, he himself was secretly studying this pile of iron lumps in another way at the moment.

Now, he feels he has almost figured out the data about tank chassis.

However, to reassemble this pile of scrap metal into another type of machine, mere imagination is not enough; professional mechanical engineers are needed to oversee the process.

Jiang Fan felt it was time to give Zhou Chunsheng a heads-up, since the kid's mechanical drawing and hands-on skills were truly impeccable.

He turned his head and glanced at the other end of the workshop.

Zhou Chunsheng was currently bent over, lying on the engine casing, measuring dimensions with calipers in his hand, and muttering data to himself.

Jiang Fan strolled over to him without making a sound.

"Zhou, how's it going? It's been several days, have you come up with anything yet?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chunsheng raised his head and exclaimed in admiration:

"You know what, the bore and stroke ratio of this engine is really interesting; it's much more compact than the diesel engines we have."

"It's a pity it's a gasoline engine; it's a bit of a shame to use it."

That's for sure; gasoline engines are indeed less fuel-efficient than diesel engines in heavy machinery.

Then, Jiang Fan exchanged a few pleasantries, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice and blurted out the thoughts he had been holding back for several days:

"Engineer Zhou, I have a bold idea. What if we dismantle the tank's weapon system and turret, and then install a towing frame and power take-off shaft at the rear of the hull?"

"Could this thing transform into a completely different machine?"

Zhou Chunsheng was taken aback, and a look of "What are you up to now?" slowly appeared on his face.

Over this period of time, he had been amazed by Jiang Fan's wildly imaginative and ingenious ideas several times.

Ironically, every time Jiang Fan says something, if you think about it carefully, it actually makes a damn good point.

So Zhou Chunsheng put down the calipers, straightened up, and looked at Jiang Fan seriously:

"Engineer Jiang, what you're saying... a tank is a tank. Even if you remove the turret, it's still a tank. What other kind of machine can it be?"

Jiang Fan chuckled and raised an eyebrow:

"Don't you think its chassis looks a lot like... a tracked tractor?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chunsheng was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously scratched the back of his head.

It is worth noting that Japan started agricultural mechanization very early, and imported these tracked tractors for land reclamation from the United States a long time ago.

As a top student who studied in Japan, Zhou Chunsheng naturally witnessed it firsthand.

Now that Jiang Fan had reminded him, he looked down at the tank's chassis, tracks, and power system...

Hey!

It really is the exact same approach!

"Hey, Engineer Jiang, you know what, your gesture actually does look a bit like it!"

Zhou Chunsheng's eyes lit up instantly.

Seeing that he had successfully piqued Jiang Fan's interest, he immediately pressed his advantage:

"Absolutely! Engineer Zhou, think about it. If we could convert this tank into a tractor, wouldn't that be much more practical than having everyone sitting here mindlessly trying to figure out the steel formula?"

Zhou Chunsheng was stunned by this unprecedented suggestion.

As expected, Jiang Fan always said something surprising whenever he opened his mouth.

He swallowed hard and stammered:

"This...this isn't a good idea, is it? This is a top-secret mission from above, to reverse engineer tanks."

"If we were to secretly plot how to modify the tractor behind the factory manager's back, wouldn't that be a bit against the rules?"

"No, no!" Jiang Fan waved his hand and said earnestly, trying to fool people.

"Zhou, think about it carefully. It's been several days now, have we made any substantial progress in our workshop?"

"It's completely blank."

"It will probably take at least several more years before we can actually build this tank on our own."

"You know, if we were to be a little flexible and modify this existing thing a little, we could easily turn it into another machine."

"Not only is it faster, but isn't it also more meaningful?"

Zhou Chunsheng fell silent.

In the past few days, he has personally measured and mapped many core components. The more he learns about them, the more he realizes how big the gap is in our country's basic industries.

Although this little guy is considered outdated and antiquated abroad, he really felt that he couldn't master their special steel, processing technology, and precision parts in a short period of time.

Furthermore, Ansteel currently doesn't even have many decent machine tools, so Zhou Chunsheng believes it would definitely take at least three to five years to fully understand this tank.

In contrast, modifying a tractor by simply following the existing chassis structure is drastically less difficult; it's practically just making minor adjustments to the existing framework.

But he still had the concerns of an honest man, and like a thief, he glanced around to make sure the other master craftsmen were all busy forging iron, before approaching Jiang Fan and saying:

"But Engineer Jiang, if we secretly draw the blueprints for this tractor, what will we do if Factory Director He and the others find out?"

"What's so hard to explain? This is called strategic technology reserves!" Jiang Fan replied confidently.

"If we draw up the modification plan in our spare time, it's much better than having the reverse engineering stall and the whole factory ending up with nothing, right?"

"Didn't the higher-ups say we should accumulate experience?"

"Isn't the design process of this modified tractor also a way to accumulate experience in heavy machinery chassis?"

"Besides, if we actually manage to make this thing work, we could just drive it into the black soil of Northeast China and it would make a thunderous roar!"

"This is a tremendous help to the country in developing agriculture and solving the problem of people going hungry. We're putting ourselves in the country's shoes, aren't we?"

These righteous and awe-inspiring words completely ignited the fire of a tech fanatic within Zhou Chunsheng.

He was a pure engineer with an extremely strong sense of curiosity.

Jiang Fan's crazy idea of ​​"drastically modifying tanks" has opened a new door for him.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Chunsheng showed no further objection.

He silently took out his sketchbook from his personal tool bag and completely joined Jiang Fan's tractor-building camp.

"Okay, I'll do as you say, Engineer Jiang. How do you plan to modify it? Let's first go over the stress distribution of the modification!"

Seeing Zhou Chunsheng's curious expression, Jiang Fan couldn't help but grin.

The two then huddled together, heads close, and squatted in the corner, sketching and writing on the blueprints.

From the load-bearing welding points of the vehicle body after the turret was removed, to the structural strength verification of the added towing frame.

From the gear connection method of the power take-off shaft to how to complete the modification with the least amount of steel...

The two of them painstakingly reshaped that war machine on the blueprints into a steel behemoth that would soon be pioneering and expanding the black soil of Northeast China.

……

Time flies by during this intensely focused mental work.

Over the next few days, Jiang Fan and Zhou Chunsheng's notebooks were filled with several detailed sketches of their "tank-to-tractor" design.

That afternoon, Jiang Fan was squatting next to a pile of scattered track plates, studying the wear and tear on the road wheels.

Just then, for the first time ever, outsiders came to the entrance of the West Factory workshop, which had been closed for a long time.

A security guard in civilian military uniform strode in.

His gaze swept across the crowd, locking onto his target. He walked straight up to Jiang Fan and saluted.

"Comrade Jiang Fan, Director He wants you to stop what you're doing immediately and come with me to the telegraph room."

Jiang Fan was taken aback. During the closed mission, no one was allowed to leave the West Factory area at will unless a special order was issued by the superior.

Several possibilities flashed through his mind in an instant, but his intuition told him that the most likely possibility was that news had come back from the southern front!

He suppressed his racing heart, didn't ask a single question, but quickly stood up and winked at Zhou Chunsheng, who was not far away:

"Zhou, you keep working on it, I'll be right back!"

Zhou Chunsheng nodded knowingly and replied without looking up, "Go ahead."

Jiang Fan quickly followed the guard through the factory area and jogged all the way to the small white building where the factory offices were located.

For security and signal purposes, the telegraph room was built directly behind the small white building in a separate red brick bungalow.

The guard pushed the door open.

He Xiying was seen pacing anxiously back and forth in the room with her hands behind her back.

His expression was unusually serious, but there was a hint of joy in his eyes and brows.

On the wooden table in front of him was an old-fashioned black hand-cranked telephone.

The telephone receiver was placed on the table, and the telephone line was still connected, indicating that someone was waiting on the other end of the line.

Hearing the door open, He Xiying turned around, her voice trembling with excitement:

"Comrade Xiao Jiang, come here quickly!"

"The call was just transferred from the Northeast Bureau via the military."

"A buyer wants to purchase our Dongfeng-01!"