Section 9: Stunning Effect
The main content of this small gathering soon spread to San Francisco and Oakland, and people in Los Angeles in the south and Seattle in the north began talking about "a special young Chinese man". Of course, the January 17th edition of the San Francisco Chronicle and the January 18th edition of The New York Times played a crucial role.
"On January 6, the San Francisco branch of Citibank reached a deal with a Chinese man surnamed Long for a gold transaction worth $12 million, the largest private gold transaction in U.S. history. The young gold magnate drove a new car that exceeded 30 miles per hour (obviously an unscientific statement), becoming the focus of attention among San Francisco residents in recent days. According to William Wallace, head of the bank's department, this Chinese man has developed technology and equipment for mass-producing such cars and is currently looking for partners in industries such as metallurgy, petroleum, electricity, and rubber in San Francisco and along the entire West Coast to establish a large enterprise group with automobile production as its main business. Moreover, this car has broken the speed record of Henry Ford of Detroit!"
The San Francisco Call Antonio Marconi
"On January 1st, our reporter George Best, while traveling by train from San Francisco back to the East Coast, unexpectedly spotted a yellow car speeding down a dirt road in Nevada at an estimated speed of over 60 miles per hour! Several gentlemen on the same train corroborated the reporter's account. This would mean that the automobile speed record has been broken once again, and the era of automobiles is imminent!"
The New York Times News Briefing
Two newspapers in the eastern and western United States quickly caused a sensation! Long Jianming involuntarily became the focus of attention. A net worth of $120 million made him an object of public admiration, as well as a target for factory owners who needed to inject capital; The shocking Hummer H2 became the target of pursuit by photography journalists, and many car companies and industrial enterprises also sent representatives or technical spies to investigate... In Detroit, Henry Ford had already boarded the westbound train, regarding cars that were faster than his racing cars (actually much faster). Henry was extremely interested, he abandoned the management of the stagnant Ford Motor Company (the other brilliant Ford Motor Company was rebuilt in 1904), just to figure out how to make a car run at a speed of 60 miles! Meanwhile, Mr. H.W. Durant, a carriage manufacturer in San Francisco (not using his real name in history, only with the same surname), observed and distinguished between true and false reports in secret, also plotting how to cooperate with that young "Golden Baron"...
Robert Whitney, the general manager, was designated as the "partner selector" and entertained many visitors, establishing one-on-one discussions and negotiations with interested companies based on Long Jianming's standards. Meanwhile, Long Jianming spent his time touring San Francisco and researching technical transformation issues with Kuang Donglin and Wang Yong. According to Long Jianming's development schedule in his mind, the machinery company should develop new machine tools and industrial power equipment at the fastest speed. Therefore, providing necessary basic knowledge training for Kuang Donglin and other technical personnel in the company was a top priority. The knowledge and concepts that differed by centuries were to be communicated and guided through this training to guide the thinking of technical personnel. Technical progress is first and foremost a progress of ideas and knowledge.
"The steam engine has a large volume and low thermal efficiency, and is being replaced by internal combustion engines. The era of internal combustion engines will arrive soon! As a professional mechanical manufacturing company, if we can't seize this revolutionary development opportunity, we will be eliminated by latecomers. Let's take a look at the relatively mature internal combustion engine, with Otto-style and diesel engines as the main analysis and research targets. Internal combustion engines can be used in industrial machine tools, power generation, automotive power, ship propulsion, and all aspects of industrial production, with an extremely broad market prospect. What I'm analyzing here is a set of drawings for an advanced Otto-style (gasoline) engine." Long Jianming handed out the printed drawings to each person's hand, these 20 or so technical personnel were the first batch of objects to receive "modernization" education, including outstanding Chinese technicians Kuang Donglin and Luo Guoqiang. Because it was in Chinese, some white technical experts were arranged to receive training at another time."
The internal combustion engine is driven by the instantaneous explosion of a mixture of fuel and air, and the specific theory is no longer new. Currently, the internal combustion engine needs innovation in manufacturing processes and quality, shrinking volume, increasing power, improving component precision and reliability are key issues to be solved. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to work together from multiple aspects such as materials, electrical matching, processing technology, etc. This puts forward higher requirements for our professional abilities, in addition to mechanical design and manufacturing, we also need to understand some knowledge of metallurgy, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering. Everyone looks at the design of this engine, the electrical system composed of spark plugs, high-voltage coils, small generators, batteries, electric starters, and power fuel pumps requires extremely professional electrical knowledge; various sealing rings, adhesive materials, and electrical wire insulation require knowledge of chemistry and rubber industry; cast iron or aluminum alloy cylinder blocks, cylinder liners, alloy connecting rods, piston rings, etc. also require specialized personnel in metallurgy and alloy materials. Therefore, we can say that the future development of industry is a process of specialization, integration, and refinement. Any successful industrial product is a manifestation of the overall level of industrial technology, not something that can be achieved with just one or two inventions. Everyone can divide into several small groups according to their interests and hobbies, each group studying related topics, and later the personnel in each group will continue to increase. Based on the specialized technical research team, let's bring out the 2.5L inline four-cylinder gasoline engine that everyone has been designing, this is the first task, the necessary materials have already been handed over to Engineer Kuang, who is also the project leader of the 2.5L gasoline engine...
Long Jianming focused his main energy on cultivating Kuang Donglin, although he didn't understand mechanical manufacturing, but from the technical principles and design ideas, he could influence Kuang Donglin, not to mention that there were very detailed drawings and a ready-made sample (Hummer H2) for reference. Kuang Donglin also absorbed these new knowledge quickly, under his leadership, the development of 2.5L gasoline engine and new machine tools went smoothly.
Watt's steam engine pioneered the Industrial Revolution, creating industrial powers such as Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and Japan, making these countries rapidly rich and powerful, constantly expanding their influence, seizing raw materials for industrial production, and developing overseas colonies! At this time, Britain, as the undisputed number one power, owned nearly half of the world's land and almost all of its oceans. Britain also became one of the centers of new technology; while the United States, after independence, desperately developed industry, and after the Civil War, even increased its efforts, trying to build an agricultural America into an industrial power. Finally, in the past two years, the United States' industrial output value exceeded that of Britain, becoming a rising industrial giant. In the Dragon God Plan, Long Jianming will spare no effort to promote the transformation of industry from the steam age to the internal combustion engine era, and must grasp the lifeline of the internal combustion engine era - the automobile industry and petroleum! To ensure China's leading position in industry in the future.
The 2.5L gasoline engine and new industrial machine tools are the first step of the Longshen Plan in economic and industrial technology!
January 21, 1902, Long Jianming met with a special guest. The carriage manufacturer from Flint, Michigan, H.W. Durant, finally couldn't help but find him. At this time, Mr. Durant had no idea that his other self in another space-time would become the founder of the world's largest enterprise - General Motors! In that space-time, Mr. Durant would invest $50 million to acquire control of Buick Motor Company in 1904 and enter the automotive industry, establishing General Motors with unstoppable momentum. However, all this changed because Long Jianming deliberately came to this space-time! At this time, Durant was still the boss of a carriage company, with his famous great-grandfather, DuPont II, backing him up, preparing to make a big show and create his own business! The carriage company in Flint obviously couldn't achieve such greatness, only the "Golden Tycoon" - the mysterious yellow car - was Durant's ultimate goal.
Durrant hopes that this time, he can persuade young Chinese people to give up this car with amazing magical powers. At the very least, he wants to cooperate with Long Jianming, who is preparing to enter the automotive manufacturing industry!
Long Jianming could only hold deep regret, because after this meeting, the future chairman of General Motors, Durant, would not exist, his life trajectory was changed by "having ulterior motives and being extremely selfish" Long Jianming!
"Mr. Durant, thank you for your fondness for my car, but unfortunately, I won't sell it to you or anyone else. You also know that I'm about to enter the automobile manufacturing industry and prepare to produce new cars that are far more advanced than current ones, and in large quantities! If you're willing, I'd be honored to have you as my special assistant." Long Jianming ruthlessly shattered Durant's dreams but "kindly" opened a door for this 40-year-old American gentleman, inside which lay boundless prospects... For someone with background and ability like Durant, Long Jianming was absolutely unwilling to let go. The "History of the Automotive Industry" evaluated Durant as a master of socializing, a wealth accumulator, a speculative hunter, and an idiot in business management! Long Jianming urgently needed a bridge that could soon connect him with the eastern financial groups, even the US government, and also needed a partner with extremely accurate speculative vision. This Durant was the most suitable candidate!
"Mr. Durant, maybe my suggestion is a bit too much, but I believe that frank communication between us will be more effective. I can assert that the future car market will be firmly controlled by me! You'd better become my partner and private friend at the beginning rather than wasting your energy as my competitor. Here are some small pictures, hoping they can help you make a correct decision after reading them." Long Jianming handed Durant several black-and-white renderings of classic car models, which were originally called Ferrari F40, Buick V8 1960, and Jeep Wrangler 1986 in their original time and space.
Durant never thought that his usual eloquence would be met with an inexpressible feeling in front of this Chinese person. This was not because the other party had a strong language level, but because the information conveyed by the other party's concise language was very persuasive! As for the future development prospects of automobiles, Durant did not have any doubts. The young Chinese man in front of him had obviously mastered the key technology of advanced cars, which was fully proven by the H2 that appeared on the streets of San Francisco every day and the few small pictures in his hand. Moreover, this young man also had strong financial resources and could invest a large amount of money in building an automobile production plant at any time. Cooperating with him to produce automobiles represented a huge fortune that was within reach, while opposing and competing with him was unthinkable!
Durant was about to agree to accept Long Jianming's invitation! But thinking of the powerful DuPont family behind him, he hesitated: as long as he could buy a car and find technical experts to study it, imitation shouldn't be a big problem, right?
"Mr. Long, thank you very much for your kind invitation, but I was entrusted by the DuPont family to contact you about purchasing a car, please reconsider my previous request, money is not an issue, as long as you are willing to sell." Durant decided to try again, fulfilling his responsibility, and if that didn't work, they would discuss cooperation.
"Mr. Durant, I admire your persistence. However, please forgive me for speaking bluntly, I am not willing to let you spend money to buy this car that you cannot manufacture! You should be very clear that a car requires not just one technology, but the sum of steel smelting, petroleum refining, rubber, electrical equipment, precision instruments, power machinery, leather craftsmanship, and perfect assembly techniques. Industry is holistic and systematic, its technological development is gradual! You can go take a look at my car, look very carefully, and if you have confidence that you can manufacture it, I will sell it to you then, okay?"
Long Jianming made an open-hearted and righteous gesture since he wanted Durant to join his camp. He was very clear in his mind that the industrial technology of 1902 could not produce a Hummer H2 of 2003! Even if he had all the technical data, he would need to spend ten years establishing a complete automotive industry chain, upgrading the entire industry chain's technology, and digesting new technologies before he could barely imitate a Hummer with much worse performance. Because there was no electronic technology, the car's performance would naturally be greatly discounted, Long Jianming had never thought of developing microcomputers within ten years! It was too unrealistic!
“Ah...” Durant's mind was racing, he suddenly understood the true meaning of Long Jianming's words. He had to admit that this Chinese man made a lot of sense. Industrial technology is a comprehensive development technology, small inventions can only play a driving role. Even Watt, it was on the basis of summarizing the experience of his predecessors that he invented the practical steam engine. Almost all new inventions have a process from quantitative change to qualitative change, and this process is called accumulation. It seems that one's own ideas are indeed too naive, even if DuPont has a lot of money, he can't buy a whole set of technology! No wonder the entire West Coast was spreading rumors that the "Golden Baron" wanted to acquire coal, iron, metallurgy, electricity, and oil companies, it turned out that he was really preparing for mass production of cars! Durant, who is good at speculating, immediately made a decision, he wants to invest! Invest in Long Jianming's business!
