Chapter Eighteen: Secret Research Institute
Having dealt with these administrative trivialities, Liu Ye began to focus on the institute. As of now, the first phase of the institute's construction has been completed. The institute was built in a mountain valley on the south side of the port, which used to be a natural cave. Later, Liu Ye had engineers expand the cave, partitioning it into many small areas and installing lighting equipment, turning it into a secret research institute. He also had Yu De-gui lead 50 Green Camp soldiers to guard the place specifically. The entire mountain valley was surrounded by electrified barbed wire within a 200-meter radius, prohibiting anyone from entering. Institute personnel could take turns going out once a week, with 30 people each time, escorted by Yu De-gui one-on-one. To outsiders, it was strictly forbidden to mention the institute, only saying it was an oil warehouse.
Apart from the foreign engineers working in various factories, more than 40 technical personnel of all kinds were idle every day. This can't be blamed on the laziness of these foreigners, but rather Liu Wei didn't give them a direction for research. Now, Liu Wei first announced the nature of the institute, this institute will serve as a confidential unit, any research details and progress cannot be disclosed to outsiders, the institute will implement military management, all researchers will lose some freedom. In exchange, the salaries of all researchers will increase to 10 times that of Europe, and they will share the research results with the researchers who have achieved results. Of course, whether or not to join the institute is voluntary, those who are unwilling can go back to work in the factory until their contract ends.
Out of over 40 technical personnel, only 8 people stayed behind. After all, in this era, there were not many Europeans and Americans who believed in a backward Chinese research institute. Liu Fei had long been mentally prepared, asked about the expertise of these 8 people, signed new contracts with them, and kept them at the institute to make preparations. In a few days, Liu Fei would bring them specific research content.
They claim to be researching, but in fact, many are just imitating. In the hold of the fishing boat, those motorcycle and truck parts can be used to imitate engines, motors, generators, batteries, transmission gearboxes, sealing devices, industrial rubber, and so on that fit this era. The two automatic rifles and bullets can also be imitated and researched into various rifles or automatic rifles, as well as propellants and explosives. The electrical appliances on the fishing boat can be imitated and researched into wireless telegraphy, sonar, and even radar systems of this era. Only submarines still have to wait for David to bring back samples or designers from Europe to study again.
Liu Ye focused on the research of marine diesel engines, electric motors, batteries, explosives, wireless telegraphy and torpedoes according to his plan. The latter had no future samples to draw from, only modern torpedoes bought from European countries for reference, plus a few military books on fishing boats as inspiration, relying on researchers to explore on their own.
To keep these secrets, it is necessary to completely control the research work in one's own hands. If necessary, killing people to silence them is also acceptable. Liu Ye then lured more than 20 of the remaining hundreds of foreign technical personnel into the institute with various temptations and provided the samples and related items that needed to be copied to different research groups.
These foreign technical personnel, who were originally confined in the research institute for various reasons, were immediately stunned by these exquisite machine devices like handicrafts. Liu Ye's eyes also became very complicated, and Liu Ye felt that if he was caught by an alien in a spaceship in the future, his eyes would probably be like this too.
As technicians moved into the research institute, Liu Fei also insisted on staying in the institute for several hours every day. Not only could he solve some of the researchers' daily life problems, but he could also answer some of their professional questions from a slightly higher level, thus improving their research efficiency. Don't underestimate these questions. Since they were not products of the same era, many modern people thought that simple problems were secrets that no one could think of at that time. Liu Fei was not solving technical problems for them, but helping them see further and more clearly.
Liu Ye discovered some problems he had not noticed before while working with these researchers, and made up for them in time. If the small group was found to be insufficient or short-handed, he would immediately telegram David, asking his European company personnel to collect information on relevant research personnel, set targets, and use sugar-coated shells of money, beauty, and achievement to establish connections. Then, those who agreed to cooperate were sent to Taiwan as quickly as possible to work in the institute.
Because the machinery factory, steel mill and chemical plant were still under construction, research work could only be limited to the laboratory stage, and most of the materials and equipment used had to be purchased from Europe and America, so the progress of research and imitation would not be fast. However, looking at a group of researchers who were wholeheartedly devoted to researching new things, Liu Fei felt that his plan was one step closer to success.
