Chapter 47: The Great Leap Forward-style Development (Part 2)

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  They didn't waste a single penny, because compared to others' inventions, they might need years of theoretical verification and equipment development before putting them into production. Chen Xiaoqi, on the other hand, provided a complete set of production techniques and technologies, and in the near future, can directly provide them with corresponding equipment and machinery. This speed and service have greatly reduced their time spent, allowing them to enter the new era of petrochemical industry years ahead of schedule!

  If Chen Xiaoqi hadn't arrived, the catalytic cracking process would have had to wait another 20 years to be introduced, and that was still a fixed-bed process. If it were a fluidized bed process, it would have been delayed until the 1950s. Furthermore, Chen Xiaoqi had already mastered the catalytic reforming technology, but he simply didn't plan to develop it now because it didn't serve his interests.

  Through this series of large projects, DuPont and Mobil Oil Corporation had to help Chen Xiaoqi purchase large machine tools in order to get the production equipment they needed as soon as possible. US Steel Corporation provided various high-strength low-alloy steels, corrosion-resistant steels and other synthetic metal materials under their cooperation. In a short period of time, the metallurgical laboratory team sent by Chen Xiaoqi obtained the production technology of various types of alloys.

  The large machine tools didn't cost Chen Xiaoqi much money, and he still set his sights on the German market, which was still in the process of being divided up and sold at a low price. Those large machine tools with exquisite craftsmanship and top-notch quality were the "big fat meat" in the mouths of the victorious countries led by the United States, and naturally wouldn't fall into anyone else's mouth, especially those used in the manufacture of warships. The super-long bed body, which was over 100 meters long, was something that couldn't be made without decades of accumulation.

  Chen Xiaoqi had only seen such huge machines in steel mills in later generations. Without these machines, the keel of large ships couldn't be manufactured, and without matching large hydraulic presses and oil presses, qualified steel frames couldn't be manufactured, let alone hundreds of meters long heat treatment furnaces, which were unimaginable super-large machines.

  Why couldn't China produce battleships from World War II in later generations? Because that was a symbol of the concentrated embodiment of comprehensive industrial technology, whose complexity and technical content were still not outdated even in the 21st century. It's completely without foundation, can't buy ultra-large machine tools at all, and shouts "can't make it, can only rent it" every day, which is really ridiculous! Without qualified machine tools, even large engines and large boilers can't be manufactured, and there is no experience in large metal processing. The armor steel plates of those battleships, which are hundreds of millimeters thick, can't be spliced together with 100-200 mm thick steel plates, not to mention surface treatment! Those giant guns with a caliber of over 400 mm are not something that can be made just by talking about it.

  In the entire world before World War II, for a long time, except for Britain and Germany, other countries including Japan, France, and the United States couldn't make cannons with a caliber exceeding 300 mm!

  Without the help of a super wealthy consortium, Chen Xiaoqi would absolutely not be able to afford these ultra-large devices. Without these epoch-making projects as bait, how could those powerful and arrogant consortia possibly take notice of this outsider? Without these things as a guide for stealing skills, even if Chen Xiaoqi had a computer that could connect to the 21st century internet at this time, he might not necessarily be able to research it out. That thing is completely different between saying and doing!

  When Jin Xueyu arrived in Shanghai and established China's first radio station in March 1922, the first voice to go down in history was Chen Xiaoqi's pre-recorded phonograph record. His slightly excited, sentimental but deeply emotional voice echoed across the land of China, whether in the south or north, city or countryside, every family and individual with a radio waited eagerly by their side, and thus heard Chen Xiaoqi's first greeting: "Fellow countrymen, dear ones, hello!"

  Qian Xiaqi deliberately slowed down the broadcast rhythm, letting people all over China know what standard Mandarin was for the first time. Those so-called official languages with southern and northern accents sounded awkward and rough in front of his voice expression. Later, the voices of two announcers, one male and one female, became the symbol of the sound of this era, just like Teacher Zhao Zhongxiang's thick male voice in later generations, which was the standard for decades. This is the advantage of being a pioneer.

  Chen Xiaoqi's name became a household name along with his speeches, and after they established their own wired broadcasting network throughout Shanghai, millions of people knew about the legendary figure "Little God of Wealth". His series of inventions and heroic deeds also moved the hearts of countless young talents for the first time. The situation where Chen Xiaoqi had been working hard for two years but couldn't recruit a few talents was broken so easily. Hundreds of thousands of passionate young people, for their great ideals, for the dream of industrial salvation, applied to work in Chen Xiaoqi's company. When they heard that Chen Xiaoqi had been taking out huge sums of money two years ago to support students studying abroad, Chen Xiaoqi's status in their minds rose even higher. Some radicals even regarded him as the hope for China's future prosperity, shouting passionately that they would follow him to death.

  This unexpected outcome not only greatly exceeded Chen Xiaoqi's expectations, but also almost changed the course of history. Many major events that should have occurred in this era became even more mysterious and confusing due to his accidental meddling. The topic of him sparked a wave of discussion among the people on the streets and alleys, as well as in the wider community.

  Chen Xiaoqi's series of inventions, the most crucial medicine for human life and health - "Sulfonamide", after benefiting more and more people around the world, caused a huge sensation domestically. Some people who are extremely familiar with the West even suggested that this achievement should be nominated for the Nobel Prize, otherwise it would not be enough to show the importance of this great invention.

  In fact, the expert who invented sulfonamide in history was awarded, but on the premise that there is a powerful country behind him and he is also a Westerner. Who dares to say that the Nobel Prize is completely fair and selfless? Moreover, in this era, everyone knows about the dwarfing of nations.

  Some insightful people had predicted that Chen Xiaoqi would almost certainly not win this award. Not only that, but no one even bothered to nominate him for the award. This was not just because he was a previously unknown young man, nor was it just because he was Chinese. The key reason was that this incompetent country and government were too busy with corruption and power struggles to care about the welfare of the people or the greater good of the nation.

  Anyway, Chen Xiaoqi was thoroughly fired up, his occasional broadcast of regular recorded readings made it almost impossible for people to forget his existence, and many people began to try to learn his tone and pronunciation to read books and speak, while the announcers' pre-arranged training classes were also successfully held.

  All this was unknown to Chen Xiaoqi, who was far away in the United States. News traveled so slowly at that time, and an international telegram was so expensive that it was impossible to describe anything. A letter would take God knows how long to arrive.

  There were nearly twenty Chinese people at the Chicago Flying School. After Chen Xiaoqi spent money to set up a flying club, more and more people were sent there for training. He himself also registered an aircraft manufacturing company and soon produced the first generation of biplane single-engine aircraft. The first test flight was conducted by Feng Yan personally, and when it soared into the sky, he burst into tears.

  Next, Chen Xiaoqi directly abandoned the research work of the biplane and took out a top-secret aircraft design drawing that shocked everyone. If a World War II enthusiast saw it now, they would definitely recognize it - the design drawing taken out by Chen Xiaoqi was clearly the classic German Stuka - Bf-109.

  Chen Xiaoqi didn't expect this thing to be made in a few years, because the engine at that time couldn't meet the requirements, and the metal materials were not suitable. The aerodynamic layout also needed a lot of experimental verification to get the real drawings, but these were not problems. Chen Xiaoqi just gave them a direction for their efforts. In this era, monoplane was an unimaginable thing, and many people refused to acknowledge it as an airplane when they saw it for the first time.

  In the entire "MeiHua Laboratory", Chen Xiaoqi has absolute decision-making power, and all the scientific research development so far is still under his control. What should appear, what should be in what form, are all in his mind. Useless or temporarily unnecessary things will be vetoed by him without hesitation, because he doesn't have time or energy to let these stubborn technical personnel consider what his future goals are. He only needs what he will need in the future.

  Young people who were nominally studying at flight schools actually spent a lot of time learning to fly in flying clubs. Even without an order from the US government, Chen Xiaoqi produced 24 aircraft intermittently, which he thought was extremely ugly and useless, just for training research room and production technology department's skills, by the way, used for pilot training, nothing else, on the battlefield, this thing can't withstand a blow.

  But after having his own plane, Chen Xiaoqi also learned to fly a plane, and those secret soldiers who had been trained for a long time also learned to fly a plane, which can be considered as an early reserve of military skills.

  It's still a long way to go before the Bf-109 can be designed, and Chen Xiaoqi cannot let these people idle. After some thought, he decided to add another project - seaplane, which happened to use the biplane design.

  There is still a lack of talent around him, and Chen Xiaoqi cannot carry out larger-scale research work. His energy is not enough to be used, and he can only stare at which one is which.

  In 1922, Chen Xiaoqi sent a large number of high-quality seeds and advanced agricultural technology materials from the United States to his home country. Illinois was already a well-known agricultural state in the US, with top-notch planting techniques and good breeds. Chen Xiaoqi easily collected a large number of seeds and various agricultural technology materials locally, which were essential components for the future Great Leap Forward in agricultural production on his territory.

  Unconsciously, he had become one of the largest landowners in China at that time, but having a lot of land did not necessarily mean being rich. Later generations, Chen Xiaoqi once saw some data, Shandong agriculture reached its pre-war production level from 1931 to 1936, with an average annual planting area of 16156.9 million mu for grain crops, a total output of 107 billion kilograms, and an average yield of 66.2 kilograms per mu. The main economic crop cotton had a planting area of 623.1 million mu, a total output of 0.86 billion kilograms, and an average yield of 13.9 kilograms per mu. Peanuts had a planting area of 641 million mu, with an average yield of 99.7 kilograms per mu. In 1936, there were 508.9 million large livestock, with an average person having only 281.5 kilograms of grain.

  By 2006, with the reduction of agricultural land to 1 billion mu, grain output reached 40 billion kilograms, cotton 1.02 million tons, pigs 277.8 million heads, sheep 291.8 million heads, cattle 81.8 million heads, and countless poultry.

  From these data, it can be seen that as long as there are suitable technical means and good breeds, the agricultural output value of Shandong alone has such great potential. Looking at the whole country, it is not difficult to imagine that in an era when the arable land area was almost twice that of the 21st century, with a population of only one-third, doubling the national agricultural income is not a difficult task, as long as there are sufficient good breeds, fertilizers and agricultural machinery. It's not that hard for Chinese people to have enough food.

  Shandong has a population of over 30 million, and Chen Xiaoqi's land is still far from enough, so he must work harder.