Great Entrepreneur of the Universe

Chapter 260 The man rubbing the parts of the ship with his hands

December 1905, 12, the winter solstice.

In the truck production workshop of the Zhujiang Automobile Factory in Baoan New District, batches of steel parts and various accessories are assembled manually under the leadership of engineers headed by Wang Shouliang.

The Liberty Trucks originally affiliated with North America gradually took on the appearance of the Pearl River Liberty Trucks.

From the truck wheel and engine combination, to the cockpit, to the truck frame in the back, and the waterproof awning...

The total length of the truck is several meters, and it is several times larger than the Pearl River T. Not to mention the eyes of the group of engineers who are assembling it are getting more and more dazzling, including the guard Xu Si, some other darts, and Bai Xiong who are watching from the sidelines. Brother Qi and Bai Xiuzhu watched intently.

The more I look at it, the more I am amazed!

One thing to say is that the difficulty of manufacturing and assembling the Liberty Truck is much greater than that of the Jeffrey Truck, because the Liberty Truck can carry a maximum load of between 2.7 tons and 4.5 tons.

That’s a maximum load capacity of 4500 kilograms. How many people can it carry? It is easy for 20 young men to carry various long and short guns, engineering shovels, water bottles, sleeping bags, tents and other supplies.

While the Jeffrey truck can only carry 1.8 tons, Jeffrey excels in speed, with a top speed of more than 30 kilometers per hour.

The maximum speed of the Liberty Truck is only 24 kilometers per hour.

Hundreds of poached automotive engineers worked for a year... Mainly under the leadership of Wang Shouliang, it only took about ten days to complete the design drawings.

The production of various parts of the truck design is more cumbersome, and it also burns diesel instead of gasoline, but it doesn't matter, just take it step by step.

Wang Shouliang's copying operation... The copying operation must follow basic physical laws. So far, only more than 10% of the parts of the free truck that took more than a year to produce can be mechanized, and more than 80% are manual DIY.

Several ghost guys who came over were also very excited, "Wang, this truck is an epoch-making development and innovation, but it is much more difficult to industrialize it than the Pearl River T-type truck."

All in all, he was the one who contributed the most to plagiarism, otherwise it would not have been possible to build the Free Truck ten years and an era ahead of schedule.

But it doesn't matter. Wang Shouliang's skills as a fitter, welder, forger, etc. are all at the level of the top eighth-level master. He is the man who rubs parts for dreadnoughts and aircraft carriers.

If these trucks were specifically used to carry cargo, more Model Ts could carry more people.

It’s still early! !

Otherwise, I would not be a life mentor for a large number of engineers who pursue science and ideals.

"In 1907, if the Liberty Truck can achieve an annual output of more than 100 units, it will meet my expectations."

After entering 1906, more than a dozen Xijiang trucks, combined with seven or eight Free Trucks, could carry about elites at a time, fully armed except for artillery, for a raid exercise.

He is just a hard-working little bee, just moving the production line from the Genesis Plane little by little.

There is another very important issue, that is, the Xijiang truck with a load capacity of 1.8 tons is also one of the very useful artillery tractors.

When the final assembly was completed, inspection and oiling were completed, Wang Shouliang acted as the driver himself and drove the Liberty truck for a lap in the spacious test square of the automobile factory before getting out of the car excitedly, patting the front cover and saying, "Okay It’s a really good thing, and it’s worth having hundreds of engineers working on it for more than a year.”

Even so, Wang Shouliang still took the lead in promoting the free model because it carries a heavy load!

"With the hand-made production capabilities of our current large team and more than a hundred engineers working together, it is estimated that it will only take one or two months to produce one."

After all, during World War I, North America officially played free trucks. It was the National Society of Automotive Engineers who worked together to produce parts from more than 150 different companies, and 15 companies participated in the assembly together, which made this big leap happen.

Wang Shouliang laughed, "Even if we only saved six or seven new trucks in 1906, it would be enough to promote the development of Xijiang trucks."

The Xijiang truck he was talking about was the Jeffrey four-wheel drive truck, which was less difficult.

"We still need mechanization and mechanized production. We must get more mechanical equipment and spare parts."

Identify various gears, governors, cylinders, crankcases, pistons, lubrication systems, and more.

Not to mention World War I, it was World War II. Light trucks with a load of more than one ton have always been the main force in towing howitzers and rapid-fire guns with calibers of 105mm and below.

The medium-sized Freedom Truck has a maximum load of 4.5 tons and can already be used as a tractor for a 150MM heavy-duty howitzer.

There is no need to change any carriages, just tie them up with steel cables. Cannons that weigh several tons or even more than ten tons all cover the wheels and gun carriage frame.

Just like Wang Shouliang's bombardment drill in Lushun, one Pearl River T-type vehicle did not have enough horsepower to tow the 150mm heavy artillery, so two or three vehicles could be towed together.

It was not until the latter part of World War II, in 1942 and 1943, that brand-new, technically mature, specialized crawler-type high-speed tractors replaced the majority of light and medium-sized trucks towing artillery.

It was the era of tank battles and intensive self-propelled artillery attacks.

Before World War I, including World War I, the most popular artillery tractors were oxen, horses, and crawler tractors! Yes, in this era, the technology of crawler tractors, gasoline-burning agricultural cultivators has matured.

Original track has mature products put into the market in 1906, and they are very popular!

But crawler tractors are far less sensational than light and medium trucks towing artillery, but the speed is too slow. In this era until World War I, crawler tractors towed artillery and heavy artillery at a speed of basically five or six kilometers per hour.

That was a crawler-type tractor, for agricultural use. In the following ten or twenty years, crawler-type tanks were developed, as well as the technological achievements of crawler-type tractors that continued to mature in the 1930s and 1940s.

For example, the Chatillon-Panhard tractor designed by a French lieutenant colonel in 1910 had a maximum speed of eight kilometers per hour. It was the first France to enter the era of motor vehicle towed artillery, but its effect was far inferior to the Liberty Truck and Jeffrey Truck.

Then come to the M1942-HST heavy artillery tractor, which was launched in North America and mass-produced in 4. It is a mature and professional product with assembly line operation. This HST is the abbreviation of high-speed tractor! !

The speed of the 1906 crawler tractor has soared from a few kilometers per hour to a traction speed of 56 kilometers per hour on good roads.

Not only can it tow heavy artillery of more than 150MM, but it can also accommodate 11 drivers and soldiers in the front cockpit and passenger seats.

This is the efficiency of scientific and technological development in 20 to 30 years.

Ten or twenty trucks are not bad at carrying people and goods, but they are not too scary. Pulling ten or twenty light and heavy artillery at a speed of ten or twenty kilometers per hour would be abnormal! !

The previous hundreds of miles of running were all on dirt roads and bad roads, which could easily affect the speed and efficiency of travel, but starting from the construction of large farms in the Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, and North China Plain 10 months ago.

The road construction has been going on for almost a year.

Without pursuing too strong efficiency, at least a lot of single-lane cement roads have been built between farms that can accommodate a free truck.

In 1906 and 1907, when the automobile and truck boom broke out in Pearl River, the roads became much better. It was really easy to cover or kilometers a day.

From Baoan New District to Yangcheng, you can reach it in one day! !

Efficiency mainly depends on road conditions and the amount of supplies in the artillery department. Thousands of heavily armed men were dropped at once, along with dozens of artillery pieces.

This is far from the last exercise. The efficiency of arriving from Baoan to Yangcheng in two days can be compared.

What this means...

Wang Shouliang chatted with a group of ghost engineers again for a while, and then he asked the guards to send them to the restaurant to have fun. He also asked thousands of hired ocean horses, golden cats and island sisters to come out to sing and dance to give back to the team.

It wasn't until all the professionals were gone that Bai Xiongqi came with Bai Xiuzhu. Lao Bai had already discovered that his sister looked at Shopkeeper Wang with a look of admiration and admiration.

But that's what he wanted most.

First, he congratulated Wang Shouliang decently, and then Bai Xiongqi reported, "The big shopkeeper, the negotiations between the great powers and North America have reached the final price. From 1906, within five years, the price of oil was set at one ton. The maximum is no more than $8.”

"North America will definitely not be happy, but thanks to the influence of the big boss, there are large oil fields with an annual output of millions of tons waiting to be developed..."

"Such big and exciting news is equivalent to a sudden increase in global oil production by a few percent. No matter how reluctant North America is, under the threats of Ying Lun, France and Hans Cat, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they have to hold their noses and admit it. .”

Wang Shouliang took a cup of tea from Xu Si and laughed, "Whether our shipyard under Sihai can start construction smoothly and when it can be officially put into production depends on the new oil field."

After he told Kevin and Joseph about the new oil field three months ago, no matter what Yan Lun's reaction was, Wang Shouliang quickly talked to William's younger brother, representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Czar of the Bear. stand up.

Send a telegram.

This fun... is so great!

Even if the oil production is 700 million tons a year, if one ton matches the current negotiation table price of $8, that is still $5600 million, or more than 1000 million pounds! Annual output! !

More than 10 million pounds means more than 100 million black Spanish eagles, which is 70 to 80 million taels of silver.

What if the annual oil production is higher, 900 million tons? That's hundreds of millions of taels.

William of Hans Cat had the idea of ​​visiting the Far East to interview Wang Shouliang, and expressed this idea to him many times by telegram or transoceanic radio.

Isn’t it the majesty-class battleship manufacturing technology? Isn’t it the Hanscat Braunschweig-level technology that is being sold off during the phase of elimination? ! Compared with such a terrifying oil field, that's nothing.

For this reason, a ghost-bear war of the same intensity was set off, with millions of casualties and casualties not considered a big deal.

As for how the situation has developed to this point, Wang Shouliang's biggest prediction is that the oil field can continue to be developed smoothly, and it is nothing more than Yan Lun, France, Hans Cat and Mao Xiong Tsar, etc., each holding one or two shares in proportion...

Yin Lun could get the largest share, but there was no other way. The Xingjiapo they colonized and Malaysia were separated by the Strait of Malacca, which was too close.

At this stage, Malacca has long been the most important Pacific waterway under the control of Yan Lun.

As a result of the exchange, Yalun, France, Hans Mao, etc. each provided their own shipbuilding engineers and technology to help the Sihai Escort build a shipyard.

He has chosen the factory site, which is in Bao'an New District.

As early as September, after he revealed the news about the large oil field, Baoan New District began to build coastal defense forts! With the development of time, car factories and future shipyards have become top priorities and super industrial bases.

Cooperate with a series of upstream refineries, power plants, water plants, etc.

For such an important thing, it is necessary to build an additional group of coastal defense guns and cooperate with mobile gunboats to form a water fort group.

Bai Xiongqi once again praised a few words, then smiled and said, "Big shopkeeper, the latest news, Louis from Qindao has made it clear that they can bring a large team from Qindao to Bao'an New District."

"Try to help us build a mobile floating dock within two years at the price of 500 million taels of silver, and help us train a group of qualified shipbuilders. This deal can help us manufacture three to four thousand tons of steel steam destroyers. , cruiser technology.”

Wang Shouliang took another sip of tea and smiled, "What does William want to change?"

Bai Xiongqi clicked his tongue and exclaimed, "The one who wants to get 2% of the oil field profits needs the help of the big shopkeeper."

"Of course, the Hans Cat Empire will contribute, and he will not be stingy. Where does the royal fleet need to go? Louis said that this news can be accompanied by Hans Cat's latest Maxim machine gun manufacturing technology."

Since Maxim was invented in 1884, Hans Cat has been focusing on its development and research and development. It began to improve in 1892, and then from 1901 to 1908, gradually small-scale experiments, medium-scale experiments, and then large-scale full-line installation.

This is the Maxim MG08 water-cooled heavy machine gun that killed and wounded soldiers in one day during the Battle of the Somme!

It will be 1906 soon, and the line of Maxim MG08 is not yet complete, but the overall technology is basically mature.

As for Qindao... Before the outbreak of World War I, Qindao had always been a place where Hans Cat had worked hard. For example, it built a floating dock with a displacement of up to 1.6 tons, which was towed by the Japanese with a Fuji-class battleship during World War I. Fortunately, he took back the island country.

This mobile floating dock was completely decommissioned and abandoned in the island country until 1987.

Over at Qindao, as early as 1901, a shipbuilding engineer from Aosta hired two to three hundred Chinese workers to train and improve their skills in manufacturing steel ships.

Therefore, William's sincerity is still sufficient.

Help them gain the ability to manufacture three to four thousand ton destroyers and cruisers in the next one or two years, let alone that, as long as they have the ability to manufacture torpedo boats and torpedo bombs.

China has no shortage of people, let alone death squads!

Even when fighting each other at the beginning of World War I, the torpedo boat charging was still very scary.

After thinking, Wang Shouliang nodded, "Tell Louis that William's royal fleet can come to the Mariana Islands."

The Mariana Islands, including Guam and other places, were the only way for North America to attack island countries in the Pacific during World War II. It is now a colony of William.

Of course Mariana is far from Sumatra, but it is the Pacific Ocean after all, so it is not too far away.

Bai Xiongqi nodded repeatedly and praised him sincerely again, "The great shopkeeper is really the best among men, the pillar that holds the world together..."

Wang Shouliang rolled his eyes speechlessly, "Stop it and go do something."

When old Bai San smiled and was about to leave, Bai Xiuzhu said with a sweet smile, "Big shopkeeper, I will be an adult in a few months. Can I invite you to my birthday party?"

Wang Shouliang, "..."

He couldn't help but be silent for dozens of seconds before complaining, "You will only be 14 years old in a few months. How can you be considered an adult? Children, don't think too much. Go back and study hard. That's the way to go."

(End of this chapter)