Chapter 120 Kingdom and King

The big iron door of the factory is half open and half closed, and from time to time there are bursts of engine roars from it, and from time to time there is a sharp sound of rapid braking.

At this time, the workers of the iron factory of the industrial company stood outside the factory curiously, looking at the thing that could run without a carriage.

This is just a guy with black, big wheels, chassis more than two feet above the ground, and even no windshield. To some extent, it is not even as good as the black carriage parked in the factory.

But this is a car!

China's first car, the first car made by China.

Driving the car back and forth in the factory yard, sometimes accelerating, sometimes braking, Chen silently testing the car that he designed and even made by himself over and over again.

From the perspective of future generations, this car is not even as good as a tractor, uh-huh! At most, it is similar to the small tractor in the countryside in later generations, but the tires of the small tractor are also more advanced than him. The tires of this car are just small steel wheels, but from the perspective of this era, this car is a veritable car.

"This kind of car is like a coffin on four wheels. Will anyone buy it?"

Looking at the car and the proud owner of the car, several technicians from Li Xifa Iron Factory who participated in the development of the car compared it with the car bought by the company. These unbearable cars made them mutter in their hearts.

As soon as he stepped on the brake, Chen Moran shouted at the worker next to the gate!

"Open the door of the factory, I want to go out for a ride!"

As soon as the factory door opened, the black, even ugly car rushed out of the door and drove on the rammed earth street after the rain in Pudong. Although the roar of the "multi-fuel" engine was a little harsh, it sounded like the most beautiful music in Chen Moran's ears.

The hard wheels rolled up the mud in the rammed land. Occasionally, when passing through the mud pond-like mud pit, the car suddenly splashed muddy water and rushed out of the mud pit. The car's surname could make Chen Moran very satisfied.

In order to test the car's ability, he saw the muddy construction site on the roadside after being soaked by rain and trampled on by the car, Chen Moran almost hit a dozen steering wheel without thinking, and the car turned into the construction site. The original speed of almost 20 kilometers stopped in an instant, and the speed slowed down, and even connected the car. At the bottom of the body, some mud even splashed into the car, but the car was still struggling to drive there, adjusting the steering wheel left and right. The black car was like a loach, moving slowly in a mud pit more than a foot deep. Although the speed was not fast, at least it was still driving there.

The workers in the construction site who were desperately rushing for the progress of the project couldn't help but cast a curious look at the strange mud truck. Even the captains who supervised the progress of the project forgot their duties and watched the boss driving the car slowly in the mud nest with a whip in their hands. Drive. .

The car was driving desperately in the mud nest. Suddenly, the body suddenly sank, and the front wheel seemed to be stuck in a deeper mud nest. The car that was originally driving slowly stopped suddenly. Chen Moran quickly stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and hit the steering wheel.

"Oh..."

The roar of the "multi-fuel" engine echoed on the construction site. Chen Moran did not know that this was a pit. The car slowly drove in, and the sticky yellow mud even spread over the wheels, entered the front of the car, and entered the car along the closed door. The tail was still spraying the tail along the exhaust pipe. Smoke, the four-cylinder multi-fuel engine is still roaring.

Li Xifa, who followed the carriage, looked nervously at the car that was almost muddy in the mud pit. He clenched his fists with both hands. While worrying about the car, he was worried about the safety of the boss. However, the boss was very familiar with the driver of the car, although this was the first time he drove the car, maybe he was in the past. In the boss's mind, he has driven this car countless times.

Just as Chen Moran was sweating on his forehead, the front of the car began to rise. The front wheel, which seemed to be unable to work hard, carried the ground. After a while, the speed of the car increased again. This scene made Li Xi feel relieved, and at the same time wiped the sweat from being too nervous with his hand.

"This car... is about to catch up with the tractor!"

After struggling to break through the mud pit, Chen Moran grinned and laughed. Seeing the bricks and stones piled up in front of him, which were piled up like hills and ready to break the paving foundation, his eyes lit up. As soon as he hit the steering wheel, the car rushed to the hill-like masonry pile.

"Be careful..."

As soon as the voice shouted out, I saw that the speed of the car full of mud slowed down, and the car slowly climbed the gravel to the top. The sight below made everyone's eyes wide open. The car was driving in the gravel like a mule.

"Absolutely better than a tractor. It should be able to catch up with the Model T!"

Driving this car, Chen Moran slightly raised himself to the same level as the Model T car. Although the design idea of this car refers to the Model T to some extent, it only deliberately enhanced his ability to pass under harsh road conditions.

The car was driving in the mud pits between the construction sites. At this time, the carriage could not work. Chen Moran, who was driving the muddy car, would patrol the boundary of Pudong along the road paved with broken masonry cinders, like the king reviewing his territory.

This is a busy construction site. There are 13 construction sites of industrial companies and 136 construction sites of other companies that rent land to build buildings. The car quickly drove to Lujiazui, which may be the land of Pudong. It is the most eye-catching landmark building. On the construction site of the Industrial Bank Building, several chimneys roared with thick smoke. The steam pump continuously pumps the mud water extracted from the foundation pit.

In the lake-like foundation pit with a depth of ten meters, it is crowded with workers working on anti-seepage projects, and the thirty steam pile driver towers up to more than ten meters are the most eye-catching. With each steam spitting out, asphalt pine piles with a diameter of more than two feet and a few meters in diameter will be punched into the ground for several feet.

The geology of Shanghai is different from other places. The Yangtze River has been impacted into a soft foundation, which has always limited the number of buildings in Shanghai. Even on the coast of the Bund, some buildings have been flooded because the foundation is too soft. Because of this, Fang Jingyuan, the chief architect of Pudong architecture, quoted the building towers on the ancient soft land foundation in Shanghai. With the experience of short piles, the high-rise tower brakes used hardwood as piles in ancient times. The hardwood is waterproof and can not rot for hundreds of years after being soaked in tung oil.

Fang Jingyuan chose pine wood according to the Western method. Because pine wood is rich in pine resin, these pine resins can well prevent the corrosion of groundwater and bacteria, and the price is also relatively cheap. In Pudong, ordinary pine short piles have become more than 30 meters deep, such as the Industrial Bank Building. It reaches a depth of nearly 100 meters. In addition to soaking the pine wood in tung oil for three months according to the traditional process, it will finally be soaked in tar.

The Industrial Bank Building uses five groups of 100-meter-deep piles, as many as 100 sets, and is also supplemented by nearly 100 sets of newly invented and unproven reinforced concrete on-the-situ column piles, which is perhaps the most time-consuming and basic project of the Industrial Bank Building.

But even so, the soft foundation in Shanghai still allows Chinese and foreign architects involved in Pudong's architectural design to develop a brand-new thin steel plate tower pit system, so as to avoid the problem of subsidence after the building is completed.

Standing in the car, he first looked at the construction site of the Industrial Bank Building, and then looked at the Huangpu Bridge, which had started construction. Looking at the ant-like small workers rushing with the progress of the project, Chen Moran showed a little pride when he was proud.

"This is my city, and I am the king here!"

I am the kingdom here!

Although he thought so in his heart, standing in this simple car, Chen Moran knew that his real kingdom might not be the land of Pudong, but... He raised the corners of his lips, restarted the car, reversed the car, and drove in another direction.

It used to take half an hour to get there by horse-drawn carriage, but now it only takes more than ten minutes to drive along the rammed gravel road. This car has a speed of only 24 horsepower. According to Chen Moran's estimation, it can reach a speed of at least 60 kilometers per hour. The car stopped in front of the same construction site. This is Chen Moran's real kingdom. If the Industrial Bank Building will be the heart and brain of this kingdom in the future, then this is the real torso.

"It's just here to supplement calcium!"

Chen Moran was happy to say this. The place along the Huangpu River, which covers an area of 1,200 mu, is the future automobile city, China, no! It is the first large car city in the world.

In order to build this automobile city, he didn't even use Fang Jingyuan, the "royal architect", but hired Albert, a famous industrial architect from the United States. Cohen is responsible for the plant design of the automobile company. When designing the new factory building, Cohen adopted the most advanced reinforced concrete building technology. At the same time, he used a lot of glass to increase the lighting of the whole building to reduce the cost of lighting. Although the factory was designed by Albert, the whole design referred to a basic principle, that is, Chen Moran designed it. Production line, although the production line is still being conceived and improved, the basic design of the plant must cooperate with this assembly line operation.

Looking at the factory that had not even shown its prototype, Chen Moran couldn't help shaking his head and sighing after being proud.

"Unfortunately, if the light steel structure factory is used, maybe the factory will be built faster!"

Although it will take a year for the factory to be completed, it will become the cradle of cars in the future. Chen Moran believes that at that time, it will become a place of respect and admiration for the Chinese people and even the whole world, and it will replace Ford's position in the automobile industry.

Half an hour later, Chen Moran, who completed the "territory" inspection, returned to the warehouse of the original Taikoo Yanghang by the river. In the past, this was the old factory of the machine factory of the industrial company, but now it is the iron factory of the industrial company. To some extent, he is Chen Moran's first steam. There are twelve such iron factories in Pudong that will provide auto parts here in the next month, and this is a single auto assembly plant.

As soon as the mud-stained car drove into the factory yard, the happy technicians and workers gathered around. Before they could speak, Chen Moran stood on the seat and shouted loudly.

"Big guy, hurry up! From now on, we will continue to produce this kind of car. We want this kind of car to conquer all the roads in China and even the world, and make it affordable for everyone.

At the end of his bold words, Chen Moran did not forget the best way to motivate these people. All workers were given a five-yuan bonus, and each technician, ranging from 50 to 100 yuan. The rewards of materials are real, and cheers are heard in this future car assembly factory.

In addition to an office in the office building of the industrial company on the Bund, there is also an office of Chen Moran in the iron factory, but to be precise, this should be a small warehouse. This is his design room, where he completes the design of the car.

Also here, together with a few workers, they dismantled the cars bought from the United States and Europe, and the technicians carefully remembered the specifications and design of each part of the car. Of course, this is not to reverse imitation, but to learn from their technology and find out at the same time. Which one did those foreign car inventors go?

After Chen Moran returned to the design room, he began to think about the shortcomings of the prototype and needed to be improved.

"Come in!"

Liu Zhongxia entered the door with a smile, and then gently closed the door. He is an unlicensed expert engaged in engine research from the company's excavation from France. He has not graduated from engineering school yet, but this man does have research on the internal combustion engine. When Chen Moran studied the "multi-fuel" engine, he made a 100-horsepower diesel engine. Although some of the leases are bulky, it is used as the Huangpu River. The "traffic boat" sailing inside was really good. Just after he took out the diesel engine, Chen Moran ordered two 60-ton iron-shell ships to Jiangnan Shipyard for communication with the island and Ma'anshan.

Looking at Liu Zhongxia's appearance, Chen Moran guessed that he must have something to say to him, so he politely asked him to sit down. He always respected capable people very much. This may be the embodiment of the advantages of engineering students in him, and respect people with real talents and learning.

Liu Zhongxia sat down at the table opposite him and leaned forward as much as possible. If he had stayed in France for a long time, he was also infected with the habits of foreigners.

"Chairman, I followed the carriage just now and watched you drive the road in that car. That car is really simple, uh-huh! Just like the white dragon horse of the Tang monk in the play!"

When Liu Zhongxia said this, he paused for a moment and looked at the chairman with a meaningful smile.

At this time, Chen Moran hasn't figured out what he means. Does he mean to give this car a name? It's really worthy of a name. He can't make counterfeit banknotes in the past, or for the proud reason, he even put a MR at the beginning of the RMB serial number. Use your own name.

Thinking of this, Chen Moran just smiled and waited for Liu Zhongxia to continue.

"Chairman, it is an honor and a blessing for Midsummer to work with a car inventor like you, especially the car you designed. In the eyes of Midsummer, I'm afraid the world can't find a better car than him, especially if he can drive on such a bad road."

After laughing for a while, Liu Zhongxia finally said what he meant to come here.

His flattery only made Chen Moran smile. Although he was a little proud, he was full of sincerity.

"Well, don't flatter me. The diesel engine you invented is good. It runs continuously for 400 hours without any problems. It's better than the foreign devils."

The chairman's praise made Liu Zhongxia modest, but he looked at the chairman in front of him.

"I don't know from the chairman's point of view, we will really build thousands of cars in the future and sell them to!"

Liu Zhongxia asked but didn't say anything, and Chen Moran had to pretend to be confused.

"What do you think?"

The chairman pretended to be confused and just made Liu Zhongxia smile.

"From the perspective of midsummer, I'm afraid that 2,000 vehicles can be sold in China in the next few years. First, the Chinese people don't have access to machinery, second, the road, and third, cars are not as demanding for carriages. Therefore, in midsummer, I'm afraid that the chairman's ambition is not in Europe and the United States, but not in China! Especially in the United States, even European cars are sold to the United States, and Americans are the most enthusiastic about cars in the world.

Looking at Liu Zhongxia, who was still smiling, Chen Moran nodded without denying his thoughts. The car market was abroad rather than at home.

"That's true!"

As soon as she heard the chairman's answer, Liu Zhongxia immediately laughed and patted the car, and he looked very excited.

"That's great, chairman. I don't know how you're going to make our car famous!"

"Advertising! The advertising and marketing that comes to your face!"

Chen Moran did not hide his idea at this time. In addition to the reserve price, I'm afraid it's advertising. Borrowing the advertisements used to in later generations to promote his car is nothing more than spending more money. With Mexico's oil fields as the foundation, are you still afraid of spending money?

"Chairman, Midsummer has an idea. I don't know whether to say it or not!"

Liu Zhongxia smiled a little mysteriously again. At the same time, she took out a book from her pocket. Chen Moran looked at the cover of the book. The cover of the book drew the earth, which should be a French map.

"Tay it, Mingxi, you know me. As long as the idea is good, I will definitely adopt it! And there will be a sum of money!"

"Chairman, I don't want the bonus, I just want..."

As he spoke, he opened the book in his hand. Liu Zhongxia, who had stood up and walked to his desk, looked at the director very seriously.

"If the chairman decides to adopt my advice, then let me be a driver and drive that car. I have only one requirement! Chairman, look at this, I think we can do this..."

(to be continued)