The Meiya Chemical Factory was located to the northwest of Zhabei, in the suburbs of Shanghai at that time, which should be said to be the urban-rural fringe. But the so-called urban area here was not as good as the countryside in another time and space, so for King Kong, the factory was in the countryside.
There is a big river right next to the factory, and there are many small rivers in this area. In King Kong's impression, there wouldn't be so many rivers here in another time and space. There are four workshops in the factory that produce common chemical products such as acids and alkalis, with more than 180 workers. In King Kong's view, the production scale was small, but it was already one of the largest chemical plants in Shanghai at that time.
When King Kong arrived at the factory on April 20th, the manager was not there. The manager in the factory was Zhang Qingfa, a man of about forty from Ningbo. He said he had received a call from the company and was enthusiastically introducing the situation in the factory. He spoke more Ningbo than Shanghainese. King Kong simply spoke to him in Ningbo dialect, saying that he had been to many places with his master and was very familiar with Ningbo dialect, which immediately drew the two closer.
He asked King Kong to fill out an employee form. King Kong filled in his surname and given name. When he reached the "character" column, he habitually wanted to write the character "Yi". Fortunately, after writing the character "guang", he came to his senses and added the character "zhi" for a moment. There was also a "hao" below, but King Kong did not fill it in. Zhang Qingfa looked at his watch and asked if he had a number. King Kong joked that his friends called him by the nickname King Kong. Who would have thought that this joke would lead to many people calling him like that later on.
There used to be an engineer named Charlie Huang in the factory, who was a "turtle" and majored in chemistry. The English was good, but in King Kong's opinion, the technical level of chemical engineering was very low. Later, King Kong learned that it was because of the low level of technology at that time, and many college students learned less than high school students in the 21st century.
Charlie Huang is still reluctant to talk to the workers and looks down on them. At first, he also looked down upon King Kong, but after "discussing" a few times about chemical technology with him, he was quite impressed by King Kong's chemical technology. After that, Charlie never talked about technical issues with "Mister Xu" (that's what he called King Kong) again, but just chatted in English. King Kong passed CET-4 in college, but many of his classmates hated it at the time. In that atmosphere, King took the CET-6 once and missed by a few points, so he didn't take it again. Now King Kong is very grateful for the CET-4 and CET-6 exams, otherwise he might not have found the job and would have had a hard time dealing with Charlie Huang. Among the "upper class" in Shanghai, it's not just Charlie Huang who likes to speak a few words in a foreign language.
Charlie Huang used to say he couldn't handle it all, so when King Kong came, he was in charge of the technical work in two workshops.
Seeing the factory's backward production management, it really gave King Kong a fright. There was no plan for the maintenance of the equipment; it was fixed wherever it broke down. Some places have already started to leak, and if the leak is not serious, instead of rushing to fix it, they just put a basin underneath to catch it, not fearing an accident.
There are no dedicated maintenance workers in the factory. The workers are both operators and maintenance workers. There are no labor protection supplies such as rubber gloves, and workers are not safe at all.
This kind of piecemeal maintenance approach makes the equipment maintenance cycle very short. When a valve breaks down every now and then, production stops to repair it; A few days later, the flange on the side leaks, stop production to repair the flange. Maintenance often involves draining the semi-finished products from the tank, and the equipment, pipes, and gates are all made of less corrosion-resistant materials such as cast iron and copper. So under such management, the output is low and there is a lot of waste. The average continuous production time is only a week, and sometimes it has to be shut down for maintenance every two or three days. It's really like "fishing for three days and drying the net for two."
King Kong went among the workers, found a few skilled masters, inquired about the approximate maintenance cycle of each part of the imported antique equipment, and then set the maintenance plan. Once production is halted, all parts with similar repair cycles will be repaired, regardless of whether they are broken or not. In this way, the production lasts longer and the output is higher. During maintenance, King Kong pays special attention to the personal safety of the workers and repeatedly emphasizes safe operation. The workers felt that no one had ever paid so much attention to their safety, but King felt that the workers' operations were far too careless.
The workers thought that he, as an engineer, not only had a high theoretical level but also a strong hands-on ability, could guide the workers to operate correctly and explain the reasons. He had no AIRS and cared about their safety (though he thought it was a bit of an overreaction, he knew it was for the workers' good), so he was highly praised by the workers.
Although Charlie Huang disagreed with the way King Kong was repaired, thinking it was a waste to replace some parts that were still intact. But King Kong did the math for him. The increase in product output and the reduction in intermediate product waste were lower than the cost of parts. And the usable parts, after being replaced, can be inspected, repaired and used again for the next repair.
But King Kong also found that the parts were imported from Europe and were too expensive. Shanghai can only produce parts like rubber seals, and the quality is indeed not as good as the imported ones, and the corrosion resistance is a little lower. Not only are the parts expensive, but the purchasing cycle is extremely long. It takes at least a month from ordering from the firm to shipping to Shanghai. So the workers have developed a habit of cherishing the parts.
King Kong lived in a small inn not far from the factory. There were only six rooms in the hotel, and he rented a small room on the second floor for just ten yuan a month. At a small restaurant next to the hotel, it only costs 70 cents a day. King Kong's salary is said to be 120 yuan during the probationary period and will be raised later depending on the situation. But the salary won't be paid until the next month. Zhang Qingfa asked him if he wanted an advance payment, but King Kong didn't. Since there was no need to pay in advance for food and accommodation, the shop owner said he would calculate it after he got paid. This was not taking care of King Kong, but rather the practice of shops in Shanghai at that time. If the boss dares to ask the customer to pay first, it is like suspecting the customer of having no money and insulting the customer. It seems that people are quite trustworthy with each other these days.
King Kong booked a copy of the Declaration and placed it on the counter at the inn where he was staying. Every day when he returned, he would look at the newspaper at the counter to get familiar with the situation at home and abroad in this time and space, the situation in Shanghai, and to learn traditional Chinese characters.
Although the names of many countries and people in the two different time periods are different, there are still many similarities in history and geography. The Great China where Shanghai is located is governed by the Congress Party, which nominally unifies the country; But the central government that was established actually controlled only a few provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Jiangxi, while the rest were ruled by warlords. The most powerful president of the Congress Party at present is Jiang Zhongcai.
There is an island nation called Japan to the east of the United Nations. They have been bullying the Great China over the years, most recently a few months ago when their sailors caused trouble in Wuhan and killed the Great China workers. The workers rebelled and they sent troops to Wuhan. The government is now talking about the military deployment. The common people call the Japanese "Japanese of the East", and they are so resentful at the mention of it.
According to the newspapers, there was war everywhere in the country at that time. The major battles were mainly between some warlords (who themselves called the government forces), such as the battles between the Sichuan warlords and the struggles between the men of the northern warlord General Feng and the central government forces. But Feng himself did send telephony from time to time, saying that everything would be subject to the central government.
Next came the army known in the newspapers as the Red bandits (King Kong thought it should be the Red Army) fighting against all kinds of "government forces", with gains and losses. The Red Army was led by the Great China Labor Party.
The third was a series of bandit raids and robberies, some so large as to capture county towns! Now there are countless bandits across the country. When the bandit ranks grow, they are organized into "government forces" and even become warlords. When the "government forces" are torn apart in the melee, or when the "regimental commanders and battalion commanders" are unhappy, they become bandits again. The so-called "soldier and bandit as one family".
Those that make the headlines are battles involving hundreds to tens of thousands of people. If it's a world headline from another time and space like "A bomb attack somewhere with two casualties", it won't be in the Great China newspapers here. Just as someone in another time and space has a wallet or a bicycle stolen, it doesn't make the newspaper.
Attacks and killings involving a few or a dozen people may not make the news because there are so many that they happen every day and are not news. Just think, what kind of world is this!
In the National Assembly Party, apart from General Feng and General Yan in the northwest, there are also anti-Chiang Zhongcai in Guangdong and Guangxi. The condemnation of Chiang by various factions is one after another, and there are those who condemn him yesterday and support him tomorrow. What a lively scene!
There is war everywhere in the country, but the people of Shanghai around King Kong are not very concerned about these battles. They said to King Kong: "We've been fighting for so many years, and now these wars are 'small battles!'" . Compared to the "big wars" of the previous years, it's peaceful now! Yes, the national army is "downsizing", that is, downsizing, and that is the best proof of peace! "Allah Shanghai" is even more "determined Mount Tai"! King Kong finally has some understanding of the mentality of the people of Lebanon and Palestine in another time and space. It was only a month later that he himself got used to the time and space, because he was getting busier and busier from then on and thought less about the past.
King Kong read the newspapers for a month or so and went through all the newspapers left by the innkeeper over the past year to get an idea of the situation in this time and space.
King Kong had planned to send out the letter that Little Z had written to Zhang Shaoshuai when he arrived in Shanghai. Now I had to use the blood-stained letter as a manuscript, and based on the information of this time and space, I made some changes and copied it again.
Little Z's letter is very long, saying that Japan will surely invade the Great China because they have long had the ambition to encroach upon our country. It must have started with Northeast China, which is adjacent to Korea and Guandong Prefecture (that is, the area around Dalian and Lushun). According to the late master's calculation, the Easterners will launch an invasion in Shenyang on September 18, 1931.
Therefore, Northeast China should have taken countermeasures before 1931. First of all, we must resist and not take advantage of the Japanese bandits; Because the enemy is strong and we are weak, we should be prepared for a long war and arrange guerrilla warfare against the powerful enemy. Some factories were set up inside the pass, and supplies were distributed to small towns. Train guerrilla forces, set up secret camps and bases in mountainous areas and other places, and pre-place weapons and food... .
Z writes a lot about guerrilla tactics. That's also where Z excels in military theory. King Kong copied it once and felt like he was half an expert in guerrilla warfare.
The final signature was Zhang Yong, because it was indeed written by Little Z. I wrote Liu Yi, Shanghai Meiya Chemical Factory, on the outside of the envelope, fearing that the letter would not be delivered and would be returned.
To explain why the invasion of the East was said to have occurred on September 18, 1931, Little Z also claimed that it was the all-powerful master who calculated it from the fifty-two images in the Tang Dynasty's "Tui Bei Tu". Otherwise, it can't be said that it's because I'm from the future, can it?
This "Tui Bei Tu" is said to be a graphic and text that predicts major events in the Tang Dynasty and its later generations. The 52nd (Yi MAO) hexagram of the Tui Bei diagram shows a man in Han official robes walking down to the left, with a small sun in the upper right corner. The prophecy says
The comet appears unfavorable to the northeast
How can one walk alone to support the land of bliss
Praise says
When the gun is lit, it appears in the east
Wu Chu still has emperors
Not long after the guest came out of the door
The universe is recreated at Jiakang
Jin Shengtan's annotation:
"This sign indicates that the northeast is disturbed by foreigners, and there is a sign of moving the capital south. The horn is high in the South Pole. Then a wise ruler will come out, drive away foreigners, and restore peace."
By the time Jin Shengtan annotated, many of the hexagrams had already occurred, but Jin Shengtan did not know that later, the island with the sun as its flag in the northeast would invade our northeast, and at that time the ruler of the northeast was called Hanqing. Jiao, kang, can also be interpreted as the dragon.
King Kong also felt that this hexagram was somewhat similar to the event of the Eastern invasion of Northeast China. Could it be that this back-pushing diagram was also made by some future person who traveled through time to the Tang Dynasty?