Bandits rob money

  This abrupt telegram scared Lin Zhenhua out of his wits. His first guess was that the workshop of Hanhua Industrial Corporation had collapsed, and at least five or eight people must have died. His second guess was that something unexpected had happened with the shareholding system, and the Public Security Bureau was waiting for him at the factory to arrest this destroyer of socialist walls.

  He subconsciously reached into his pocket to find his phone, while trying to recall Zhu Tiejun's or someone else's phone number. After thinking for half a day, he suddenly remembered that the phone was still in the lab and hadn't been taken out yet. How frustrating! How did people survive without mobile phones?!

  It was okay, long-distance calls were still available at that time. Lin Zhenhua ran to the Huaqing University post office, paid a deposit, and finally connected to the factory's office phone. The person who answered the phone was Director Kong Haijiang of the office. Over the past year or so, Kong Haijiang and Lin Zhenhua had gotten along very well.

  "Kobayashi? You're back?" Kong Haijiang asked in surprise.

  "Lao Kong, I'm still in Beijing, what's going on at the factory?" Lin Zhenhua asked anxiously.

  Kong Haijiang was taken aback: "What? Nothing happened? Ah, yes! Yesterday, Wang, the master of the container workshop, beat his wife and even the factory director had to intervene. Are you referring to this incident?"

  "My goodness! Lin Zhenhua was so angry that he almost vomited blood: "Old Kong, I received a telegram from the factory, urging me to return immediately. What's going on?"

  Kong Haijiang seemed to turn his head and ask someone on the other end of the phone, then replied: "Oh, I just asked, it was Director Zhu who had someone send you a message, telling you to come back immediately. There's an urgent task at the office, Director Zhu said that you and Old Hu must return to make a decision."

  "Old Kong, please tell Director Zhu that I hate him!" Lin Zhenhua slammed down the phone and went to the counter to settle the bill, only to find that he had lost over ten yuan, which was a lot of money at the time.

  Although Lin Zhenhua said he hated it, he still hurried to find a way to buy tickets. The urgent task assigned by the Light Industry Bureau must be quite important. Before leaving, Lin Zhenhua went to ask for leave from Zhu Tiejun, and had already told him that he would play in Beijing for a few days. Zhu Tiejun laughed at the time, asking if he was going on a honeymoon with Yang Xin ahead of schedule. If there's nothing particularly urgent, Zhu Tiejun shouldn't have disturbed him.

  Train tickets are always in short supply, but Lin Zhenhua's luck was not bad. The next morning, he and Yang Xin rushed to Beijing Station together, lined up for half a day, and actually bought two train tickets to Jiangnan Province the next day. Just like that, the young couple's honeymoon plan was abandoned halfway, and on the third afternoon, the two returned to Hanhua Factory in a hurry.

  Lin Zhenhua let Yang Xin go home first, and he came directly to Zhu Tiejun's office. As soon as he entered the door, he was startled again, only to see that the room was filled with smoke, like a fire scene. He calmed down and found that four people were sitting in the smoke, looking very serious. These four people were Zhu Tiejun, Hu Yang, Fan Shibin, and Luo Qingsheng. Each of them held a cigarette in their hand, and the floor was covered with cigarette butts.

  "What's going on?" Lin Zhenhua asked in surprise.

  Zhu Tiejun nodded slightly at Fan Shibin, and Fan Shibin handed a drawing to Lin Zhenhua for him to look at.

  Lin Zhenhua took the drawing, glanced at it roughly. This was a mapping drawing, which depicted an irregular axis with several curved surfaces that looked strange in shape and didn't seem to be machined by ordinary machine tools.

  "Which axis is this on?" Lin Zhenhua asked.

  Zhu Tiejun asked in a low voice: "Little Lin, estimate for me, how much would an axle like this cost?"

  Lin Zhenhua picked up the drawing and took another look. The drawing had descriptions of materials, heat treatment processes, etc. Lin Zhenhua estimated the machining time and other expenses, then replied: "This kind of shaft doesn't seem to be domestically produced. These several non-standard surfaces require a five-axis CNC machine. Calculated at the price of imported parts, I estimate it would cost around $300."

  Zhu Tiejun nodded: "Your estimated result is not much different from what Lao Fan and Lao Luo calculated. But do you know how much money others are asking us for this axle now?"

  "How much?"

  "Thirty thousand dollars."

  "Thirty thousand dollars!" Lin Zhenhua exclaimed, "Why didn't they rob? Who is this black-hearted guy who set the price?"

  "Damn Japanese devils!" Zhu Tiejun slammed his hand on the table, furious: "They don't dare to rob us now, but this is even more infuriating than being robbed of our money!"

  "Japanese?" Lin Zhenhua seemed to have caught a glimpse of something, and he asked: "Director Zhu, what's going on here?"

  Zhu Tiejun let out a sigh and recounted the whole story from start to finish.

  It turned out that the Jiangnan Province Second Fertilizer Plant had recently introduced a set of large fertilizer equipment from a Japanese chemical equipment manufacturing company called Nikko Heavy Industries, including two 210,000 kcal ice machines. During installation, for some reason, the main shaft of one of the ice machines was actually broken.

  After investigation, the responsibility for this accident lies with the Chinese side, and the relevant personnel have been held accountable. The Light Industry Department has requested that Nihon Heavy Industries send another main shaft separately.

  Nihon Heavy Industries quickly responded: The main shaft can be provided immediately, and the quotation is $30,000.

  When they first saw the quotation, officials at the Ministry of Light Industry almost thought it was a mistake in the telegram. According to the price when introducing equipment, a complete 210,000 yuan ice machine would only cost more than $10 million, how could the price of one main shaft be quoted as $30,000?

  The Light Industry Bureau also had engineering technicians who carefully studied the broken main shaft, made accurate judgments on the steel used and heat treatment process, and came to a similar conclusion with Lin Zhenhua, believing that the cost of this shaft was no more than $300. Selling a $300 shaft for $30,000 is simply daylight robbery.

  The Light Industry Bureau expressed its dissatisfaction with the price to Nihon Heavy Industries in a veiled manner, and the other party gave a lengthy and unreasonable explanation. In the words of Xie Chunyan, the head of the production department who participated in the negotiations, the other party's words had only one meaning: You Chinese can't make it yourselves, whatever price I want to sell for, you have to accept it.

  The head of the Light Industry Bureau was annoyed, and he summoned the heads of various mechanical factories under his jurisdiction. He showed them the broken main shaft and called on each factory to launch a technical assault to process a similar shaft to replace the original Japanese one.

  When they heard the Japanese company's outrageous blackmail, all the factory leaders present were furious and wanted to go back immediately to organize workers to process the main shaft and compete with them. However, when everyone carefully examined the shaft, they shook their heads again. The factory directors were not necessarily technical experts, but they all brought their own technical personnel with them. The technical personnel knew that to process such a shaft, a five-axis machine tool was necessary, which China did not have.

  "Petroleum machine, old cow, can you take it down?" Xie Chunyuan started to count.

  Deputy Director of the Petrochemical Plant, Niu Beisheng, waved his hand and said: "Director Xie, I have already discussed this with our technical director earlier. With our current level of technology, it is impossible for us to process this axle."

  "Your factory is the best in lightweight system equipment, can't you dig up your potential and organize technical personnel to tackle it and make it happen?" Xie Chunyuan asked with a hint of luck.

  "Niu Beisheng shook his head resolutely: 'Director Xie, this is not a matter of digging up potential, we are simply inferior to others. They dare to ask for money like this, and it's also reasonable.'"

  "What the TMD is this!" Zhu Tiejun burst out at that time, "Relying on technical lead, can you bully people like this?"

  "Director Zhu, what's the use of just getting angry? With such a deformed surface, can your factory even process it?" Niu Beisheng said disdainfully.

  Zhu Tiejun turned around and looked at Fan Shiben, who had come with him, and asked: "Old Fan, take a good look and think about it. Is it possible for our factory to capture it? No matter what the cost is."

  "In terms of cost, the hall can fully guarantee it," Xie Chunyuan said. "The hall leader said that within 30,000 RMB, if we can do it, it's considered a victory. Everyone also knows that our foreign exchange is very tight now, and it's completely impossible to take out $30,000 to buy a new axle again."

  Fan Shibin walked forward, carefully stroking the broken axle, thinking about the processing technology in his mind. After a long while, he shook his head dejectedly at Zhu Tiejun and said: "Director Zhu, I think it's a bit tricky. These few irregular surfaces must be processed with a five-axis machine tool. With our current equipment, we can only process a shape that is relatively close. However, the 210,000 ice machines need to operate under high-speed and high-pressure conditions. If the main shaft shape is biased, it could lead to a major accident of machine destruction and human death."

  "So it can't be processed?" Zhu Tiejun asked with some disappointment.

  "Can't be processed, this kind of shaft must be done with a five-axis machine..."

  "Wait a minute!" Zhu Tiejun interrupted Fan Shibin's words, he thought for a moment, and a look of excitement appeared on his face: "Old Fan, do you remember that Xiao Lin and Old Hu did an experiment, I remember they mentioned something about five-axis machining centers."

  Fan Shibin had also visited the office of Hanhua Industrial Company to observe that strange and peculiar workpiece. After Zhu Tiejun's reminder, he thought of it: "That's right, the one Xiao Lin and others did was even more complicated than this shaft. Maybe we can really do it."

  "What? What?" Xie Chunyuan listened to the conversation between the two, as if grasping a lifeline: "Old Zhu, are you saying that your factory might be able to produce this axle?"

  "I'm not confident enough to give you a definite answer yet, but Director Xie, our factory's technical personnel have dealt with similar technical difficulties before. Old Fan and I need to go back and discuss it with them. Don't worry, when it comes to matters of national honor, even if there is only 1% hope, we will put in 100% effort."

  "That's great!" Xie Chunyuan said, "Old Zhu, I have a set of drawings organized by the technical personnel in our department here. Take it back and ask the technical personnel to take a look. If there are any difficulties, just let the provincial government know. This task is now a political task, we must complete it even if we have to sell our pots and pans."

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  Here is the translation:

  Note: The 210,000 ice machine incident was a real event that happened in the past, but the main axis and eccentric face are fictionalized for dramatic effect. Please don't compare it with actual device parameters.