Struggling for a breath (Released on Friday, please leave a monthly ticket)

  "So it was those detestable little devils after all."

  Lin Zhenhua was also filled with indignation after hearing Zhu Tiejun's explanation. The Japanese have done this kind of thing many times before. Many times, the equipment sold by the Japanese is much cheaper than that of their European and American counterparts, attracting Chinese companies to come and purchase it. Once we buy their equipment, they will propose unreasonably high prices for parts and accessories, making a profit of several dozen times from you.

  The Japanese take pride in this swindling method, rather than being ashamed of it. They even call it a clever marketing tactic and write it into textbooks to spread the word everywhere.

  China is inferior in technology, and when encountering such shameless extortion, it can only be swallowed with gritted teeth. However, it was precisely because of this extortion that the Chinese people were motivated to work hard to achieve import substitution, making the Japanese people's calculations completely futile.

  In this regard, there is a quite interesting story. It was something that happened in the 21st century, and the Japanese were still playing such tricks. The inkjet printers they produced were very cheap, but the matching ink cartridges were extremely expensive. A set of color ink cartridges, the size of a matchbox, cost several hundred dollars, and could only print two or three hundred pages. Some companies spent more on buying ink cartridges than they did on purchasing the printer itself, with some cases being multiple times more.

  This scam was eventually cracked by clever Chinese people, and a great shanzhai spirit of Chinese manufacturers developed a device called "continuous ink supply system". It uses four bottles of ink the size of easy-pull cans, connected to the print head through pipes. This set of ink supply systems costs only as much as one set of ink cartridges, but can print several thousand pages. Since this device was invented, Japanese manufacturers' dreams of selling ink cartridges were shattered.

  "Kobayashi, everyone has been waiting for your return these past two days. This matter can't be done without you." said Lu Xiansheng.

  Lin Zhenhua said, "What do I know? The five-axis machining experiment last time was completely designed by Old Hu. I just did some odd jobs. By the way, Old Hu, have you seen this drawing? Do you think we can make it?"

  Poplar nodded: "I've roughly calculated it for the past two days, and using our previous technical plan, it should be feasible. However, I'm still a bit uncertain by myself, so I raised it with Director Zhu and asked you to come back and discuss it together."

  "It was I who asked someone to send you a telegram. I know it's not easy for you and Yang Xin to go to Beijing, and you want to play for a few more days. But there's no way, things are urgent, you can wait, the country can't wait. The Second Bureau is waiting for this equipment to be tested." Zhu Tiejun said.

  Lin Zhenhua said with a bitter face: "Director Zhu, you asked me to come back, and I'll definitely come back. Alright, can I ask you, next time when sending a telegram, please write it clearly, just one sentence 'See the telegram and return quickly', do you know how scared you made me?"

  Fan Shibo said: "Sending a telegram is like this, do you know how expensive the telegram fee is?"

  "You saved on telegram fees," said Lin Zhenhua. "I was so scared that I had a heart attack, and my medical expenses are not trivial!"

  Everyone burst out laughing, which dispelled some of the dull air in the room. It's strange to say, but the other four people in the house were all more than twice Lin Zhenhua's age, yet they seemed to still have a dependent feeling towards him. Lin Zhenhua had an unyielding spirit, and with this spirit, he created the rolling gear machine, buried arc welding, and made the Labor Service Company thrive. Everyone had a strange feeling: as long as Little Lin was around, all difficulties could be solved.

  After laughing, Zhu Tiejun solemnly announced: "Alright, I declare that the Hanhua Machinery Factory's 210,000 ice machine main shaft breakthrough team is now formally established. I'll be the team leader and you four will be deputy leaders. Xiao Lin will take charge of technology, Lao Luo will take charge of production, and Lao Fan and Lao Hu will assist Xiao Lin. How does that sound?"

  "No, no, I'll be Assistant Director Fan's assistant instead." Lin Zhenhua said with a mix of fear and respect.

  "Don't be modest, this is also the organization's trust in you," Zhu Tiejun said. "The factory department has already discussed it at a meeting and the leaders all agree that Xiao Lin's coordination ability is strong, his knowledge is relatively comprehensive, and he is young and full of energy. Old Fan and Old Hu have excellent technical skills, but they are older and can't keep up with the younger people."

  "Hmm... so that's what it means." Lin Zhenhua said gloomily, "I thought I was going to be the leader, but who knew I'd end up being a laborer instead."

  "Kobayashi, being a leader is about serving others. You're young and capable, but you don't take on the heavy responsibilities, instead you let us do it?" Hu Yang said with a chuckle.

  Everyone in this house is a doer, not good at making empty promises. Lin Zhenhua was polite for a few words and accepted the task assigned to him. He walked up, took away the things on Zhu Tiejun's desk, spread out the drawings, and said to everyone: "Let's start now, first roughly plan the processing route. Who will speak first?"

  Hu Yang said, "This drawing, both Old Fan and Old Luo have carefully studied it with me over the past two days. This axle uses GCr15 bearing steel, and the blank is forged into shape through die-forging. The pressure of our factory's forging machine is not enough, so the Light Industry Department has contacted the National Defense Office to ask for assistance from Changhong Machinery Factory. If everything goes smoothly, the rough parts from Changhong Factory can be delivered as early as tomorrow morning."

  "Chang Hong Factory is for making cannons, it has large model forging machines." Lu Qingsheng explained to Lin Zhenhua.

  Lin Zhenhua had heard of this factory, which was built during the years of preparation for war and famine in a large mountain valley in northwestern Jiangnan Province, with quite advanced technical level and equipment conditions.

  "After getting the blank, we need to do normalizing treatment and then rough machining, which are relatively simple. Next is tempering treatment, and then semi-fine processing. With our current equipment and technology, it's not difficult either. However, as for the workers..." Hu Yang turned his head to look at Luo Qisheng.

  Luo Quan Sheng hastily replied: "No problem, I'll arrange for Zhou Hou Cheng to drive the car, there will absolutely be no mistakes."

  Hu Yang smiled and continued, "The most difficult part is the precision processing of the high-frequency quenching surface. This includes the non-standard curved surface processing of these parts. I've studied it with Old Fan, and the Japanese must have used a five-axis CNC machine to process it. We can't create a process file for ordinary machines to do this. Fortunately, Xiao Lin has some technical reserves..."

  Lin Zhenhua smiled and said: "Old Hu, don't be modest, this is your technical reserve, isn't it?"

  Hu Yang said, "For the past two days, I've been working on fitting these several curved surfaces with an envelope curve. The amount of calculation is enormous, so I asked Director Zhu to call you back, Xiao Lin. You can't rest for a few more days, let's calculate together."

  "No problem," said Lin Zhenhua, "since I've already returned, I naturally didn't plan on resting."

  "Also, the processing of this axle requires the use of large horizontal lathes and planer machines. We've already dealt with the fixtures on the planer machine, but we also need to design the fixtures for the lathe, which might require bothering Teacher Wei again." Hu Yang said.

  "Let's send a letter from our factory to Fenhua Middle School and ask them to lend us Teacher Wei," said Zhu Tiejun. "This research project is a political task, the provincial government has spoken about it, and Fenhua Middle School should support it."

  Lin Zhenhua nodded: "This is also good, saving Teacher Wei from always being a behind-the-scenes hero. In the future when we successfully tackle the problem and wear big red flowers, we'll also give one to Teacher Wei."

  Zhu Tiejun burst out laughing: "Xiao Lin, are you already thinking about wearing a big red flower? Aren't you afraid of not being able to pull it off?"

  Lin Zhenhua said, "Listening to Old Hu's explanation, I went through the process in my mind and felt that the problem was not big. The Japanese made this axle directly on a five-axis CNC machining center, while we do it manually; if designed properly, our precision will be even higher than theirs."

  "Can it be more accurate than the Japanese?" Zhu Tiejun was somewhat skeptical. Although he had been the deputy factory director in charge of production for two years, he had dealt with administrative matters most of the time and had a very limited understanding of technical aspects, so he didn't know whether Lin Zhenhua was telling the truth or not.

  Fan Shiben nodded: "If it's done well, it's possible to be more precise than the Japanese. After all, they are mass-produced, and we are single-piece production, measuring carefully and making one by one, which takes a bit more work. However, this depends on whether Old Hu and Little Lin can compile the process files, these few irregular surfaces need to be cut out with envelope lines, to be honest, I don't know how to calculate it."

  "Alright, after hearing everyone's words, I'm confident now. If the Japanese devils can do it, we can too - let's not lose face, let's compete for a mouthful of air. As for design and production, these are things I don't understand, you all go ahead and do them. I represent the factory department to express our attitude: if we succeed, the credit will be yours, the factory department will give everyone bonuses, heavily rewarded. If we fail, responsibility will fall on us few factory heads, you all won't have to bear any mental burden."