"Five years ago, the Ministry of Machinery, Ministry of Fueling and Metallurgy jointly carried out the development of a 12 cubic meter excavator, and created the first prototype last year. Industrial experiments are currently being conducted. The 25 cubic meter excavator project proposed by the Ministry of Coal is a continuation of this project, right?"

Once Feng Xiaochen figured it out, he put away his cautious appearance and began to talk to the old man.

"This is all visible on the information, you are right." The old man said lightly. He took out a cigarette box from his pocket, took out a cigarette and held it in his mouth, and gestured to Feng Xiaochen again, meaning to ask Feng Xiaochen to smoke. Feng Xiaochen waved his hand and pointed to the notice "No smoking" written on the wall with his finger. The old man hesitated for a moment, put away the cigarette box in disappointment, took down the cigarette from his mouth, and put it on his nose to smell it to satisfy his cigarette addiction.

Feng Xiaochen was somewhat respectful to the old man's actions. He clearly saw that when the old man came out with a cigarette box, the information officer Wang stared at them, but had no intention of stepping forward to stop him. It was obvious that the old man should be a powerful figure in the research institute, and this restriction of prohibiting smoking may be invalid for him. However, for Feng Xiaochen's reminder, he could actually do good deeds and would rather use his nose to smell the cigarette roll to satisfy his craving than violate the regulations. This shows that the old man is quite reasonable, which also made Feng Xiaochen feel a little relieved.

"In the previous plan of the three ministries and commissions, there was no arrangement for the development of a 25-mile excavator. The consensus reached by the three ministries and commissions at that time was that the 12-mile excavator could meet the needs of large open-pit mining. After the prototype was successfully trial-made, it would have to go through strict industrial experiments, fixed designs, and then produce more than 100 units and put them in mines in various places. Only after that, the construction of the 25-mile excavator would be considered."

Feng Xiaochen continued to say that the plans and arrangements of the three ministries were clearly written in the previous documents, and the documents were not too secret. Ordinary staff in the industry can also view them. Feng Xiaochen had read this document in the information room of the Metallurgical Bureau and was relatively clear about this process.

The old man nodded and said, "You are right. The original plan of the three ministries was indeed like this. But after the movement was over, the central government put forward new construction requirements, and the original plan was no longer applicable. The Ministry of Coal organized the development of a 25-mile excavator because of the urgent requirements of several large open-pit mines. If the country cannot provide excavators of this specification, we have to spend a lot of foreign exchange to import from abroad. This is the reason why we are eager to launch this project."

Feng Xiaochen said: "There is nothing wrong with the reason. The question is whether we have the ability to develop a 25-mile excavator? If the plan is built on the sand, no matter how beautiful it is, it is just a mirage."

"How do you know that we don't have such ability?" the old man retorted.

"How did you know that we have such ability?" Feng Xiaochen did not show any weakness.

The old man was choked by Feng Xiaochen all of a sudden. Perhaps he had become accustomed to being a leader, and no one would have contradicted him directly. Wang Yaru was already ready to come over and interfere. The old man handed her a look and told her not to be troublesome. Then he gave her two deep breaths before saying:

"My reason is very good. Before developing a 12-mile excavator, someone raised a question like you now, believing that it is impossible to develop an excavator of such specifications with China's own strength. Then, our workers only took less than three years to build a prototype. Isn't this the best fight against this doubt?"

When he said the last sentence, the old man's face regained some glory, as if he felt that his counterattack was very powerful, enough to make Feng Xiaochen hide his face and leave with shame.

Feng Xiaochen was not surprised by the old man's answer. He smiled faintly and said, "You should know better than me, how the 12 m2 excavator prototype was made, right? The quality of the rotary motor was not up to standard. During the experiment, the coil was broken down, and the original manufacturer had to wrap a coil and send it over for replacement. The ring rail and the rotary roller casting process were not up to standard, and the scrap rate during casting was as high as 80%. The hydraulic reducer could not be found in China, and abroad refused to provide it. The last thing was to use spare parts for imported 15 m2 excavator..."

"Enough!" The old man said angrily. How could he not know what Feng Xiaochen said? He had suffered from these defects with technicians and workers. Hearing Feng Xiaochen say this in a scolding tone, he couldn't help but scold him:

"Aren't these all difficulties in the development process? Do you have such a big deal when you are born, instead of your parents teaching you to the point of urination? Western developed countries also had such a stage in the early stage of technological development. If they did not go through this stage, how could they have today's mature technology?"

Faced with the old man's anger, Feng Xiaochen was not discouraged and continued to choke with the same angrily evidence:

"The problem is, have we solved these technical problems? When we were on the 12 m2 excavator, we had this idea, believing that as long as the main machine was created, the supporting problems would be solved slowly. In fact, so far, we have not solved the supporting problems, and there is even a feasible plan to solve the supporting problems. At this time, we are eager to launch the 25 m2 excavator, and in the end we can only repeat this way of compiling together on the new model."

The old man said, "Then according to your opinion, we should stop here and wait until all the problems are solved before catching up with the advanced trends of the world? By then, no one else knows where they have gone. Can we still catch up?"

Feng Xiaochen asked back: "Old comrade, I want to ask you, do you think the gap between our country's industrial level and the West is reflected in the gap between 12 m2 and 25 m2 excavators, or is it reflected in the gap between the qualification rate of beam castings 20% or 100%?"

"This..." The old man suddenly became speechless. He instinctively wanted to say something to refute Feng Xiaochen, but he clearly felt that Feng Xiaochen's words were so sharp that he pierced a layer of window paper and saw a beam of fresh light. He vaguely felt that this seemed to be an answer he had never found. At this moment, it was spoken by such a terrible young child.

"But, we don't have time to wait." The old man's tone became quiet. "The central government has given us a new task. The output of several large open-pit mines must quadruple within five years. Otherwise, it will not meet the requirements of national economic development and will drag the national economic growth. If you say, practice your internal skills first and then move forward, we can't wait. I went to the casting factory for research in person. They told me that it will take at least 3 years to improve the high-manganese steel casting process and reduce the scrap rate from 80% to below 30%. This is still under the premise that the country can fully guarantee the technical transformation funds."

"This kind of words is basically just an excuse, or just want to find an excuse to apply for technical reform funds from the country." Feng Xiaochen said.

The old man had a stern face and said seriously: "I can accept your other words, but I absolutely cannot accept this sentence. You have never seen how the workers and technicians work day and night. In order to improve the casting process, some of them did not close their eyes for seven days and seven nights, and you are not qualified to criticize them like this."

The old man's voice was majestic, which was a majesty based on justice, which made Feng Xiaochen feel awe-inspiring. He was silent for a while and said, "Yes, I'm abrupt. I apologize to you and them."

The old man waved his hand, meaning that this matter could be revealed and he would not pursue it. Feng Xiaochen spoke too frivolously, which made him feel unhappy, but Feng Xiaochen knew that he could correct his mistakes and did not make any mistakes. This made the old man feel that a child was teaching. He said to Feng Xiaochen: "Let's talk about the topic just now. Our country urgently needs a large excavator of 25 to 30 cubic meters. If we can't build it ourselves, we can only rely on imports. How do you plan to solve this problem?"

Feng Xiaochen said: "It's very simple. Walk on two legs, use the introduction of equipment as a condition, introduce technology from developed Western countries, and quickly improve our country's equipment manufacturing level. We can no longer be satisfied with pieced together a piece of equipment, and then claim to be giving someone a loud slap. Without the modernization level, relying on the collective efforts and the method of ants gnawing elephants to create one or two pieces of equipment is not the modernization we want. This is just a political achievement project that satisfies the face of leaders."

The old man's face turned green again. Perhaps the sarcasm he had suffered in the past few years was not so short. Feng Xiaochen's words were indeed sharp. The old man felt quite proud of the 25 mln excavator project was purely satisfying his face. Who is the leader, isn't he? Feng Xiaochen's words were simply pointing at the monk and scolding the bald donkey, which made him feel sorry for him.

However, this can only blame the old man himself. It is too embarrassing for him to not explain his identity to Feng Xiaochen from the beginning. When it comes to now, it is too embarrassing to show off his identity to make Feng Xiaochen shut up. Besides, although Feng Xiaochen said something ugly, it is just like the child in the emperor's new clothes, which is a well-known truth.

"You just said that the introduction of equipment is a condition to introduce technology from developed Western countries. This proposal was proposed by the central leaders as early as last year. The Economic Commission and the Import and Export Commission are all studying corresponding policies. For specific 25 m2 excavators, do you have any specific ideas? Can you tell me?"
Chapter completed!