Li Zhen is gone.
After staying in Xizhou for a month and a half, I finally left Xizhou.
He left quietly, and only a few people including Xun Shifei knew about it in advance. But they didn't go to see him off because Li Zhen refused and they wanted to see him off, saying that he would come back. And will be back soon.
When Li Zhen got on the airship, the people in Xizhou knew why Li Zhen went back.
He wants to go back and develop a machine that can replace farming and add fuel to the national food plan.
After the news came out, it quickly spread throughout Xizhou at a shocking speed. Everyone on the street knows it.
"Dean Li said he wanted to develop a farming machine."
"What? Can machines be used for farming? How can machines be used to farm? Farming requires people. Could it be that machines can help cut rice?"
"It's impossible to think about it. By the time Dean Li develops these machines, the day lilies will be cold."
"That's right. Machines are used to pull goods instead of mules and horses."
"Can machinery replace cattle? In paddy fields, cattle can go there, but machines certainly can't."
"Are you so sure that Dean Li can't figure it out?"
"I'm not questioning Dean Li. But this kind of thing is just a fantasy. Can the machine transplant rice? Can the machine sow? Can the machine plow the ground?"
"Dean Li is a bit out of his mind this time. Science is something that sometimes really can't be applied everywhere."
“…”
Even Xun Shifei was suspicious.
Can Li Zhen really develop such a machine
He couldn't help but think of the night when Li Zhen met him in Zhongzhou. At that time, he said that he could start the mechanical age. But then, Xun Shifei figured out that maybe it was just a young man's dream and wish.
Although Kyushu Academy of Sciences now plays a huge role in various fields.
But sometimes we have to admit that science also has shortcomings. It doesn't solve all problems.
Perhaps, science can only be used in military affairs.
At least the Kyushu Academy of Sciences can make people fly and develop cars.
But what else?"
In fact, many people are relatively unfamiliar with this aspect. Probably only those who are truly engaged in science can understand that it can really play a role in various fields.
Because the original intention of science is to serve mankind.
It was born to solve problems that cannot be solved by human power and bring convenience to people.
However, several major results have caused misunderstandings. I think maybe science is used at a high level.
It won't be used on ordinary people.
This is exactly wrong. It can be high-end or ordinary.
Whether everyone believed it or not, Li Zhen returned to Laoshan a few days later and held a meeting with the Jiuzhou Institute of Physics to express his thoughts.
Li Zhen said: "First of all, we have to solve the simplest and most needed problem at present. That is to replace cattle."
"Farming requires plowing, and cattle are limited. The workload of a cow is also limited, and many ordinary people cannot afford to use cattle to plow the land. What we need to do is to develop a method that can completely replace cattle. The capacity is greater than that of an ox, and the machinery does not know how to tire. Do you have any ideas for this goal?"
Li Zhen took a sip of tea and stopped talking.
Everyone was silent for a while. Ma Jianbin took a puff from his pipe, stood up and spoke:
"This is not difficult."
"If Dean Ma has any ideas, please tell me."
"Plowing the fields actually just requires a forward power. Whether it is a steam engine, a two-stroke engine, or a four-stroke engine, it can replace the forward power. And we only need to add a plow behind such a power engine. It is equivalent to developing a motor vehicle and adding a plow to the rear of the vehicle, which can perfectly solve this problem."
Li Zhen nodded: "You are right and very good. But a bigger problem is, if it is a car, how can it move forward in the paddy field? It is a muddy pond. Regarding this, Do you have any solution?"
Another student from the Institute of Motor Vehicles said: "This is not difficult. First of all, the speed of this plow does not need to be very fast. Then the speed is sacrificed and the power and torque are increased, which is solved. The cow is nothing more than It has four hooves that can step on the ground, so the movement is relatively flexible. As long as the power of the plow is increased, even if it has wheels, it can move forward in the field."
"To do this, I think four wheels will definitely not work. You have to use two wheels to make it look like a trolley. The person walks behind and the plow drives it in front. The person only needs to use the steering column to control it. Just the direction is enough. Of course, the wheel has to be special."
"How special?"
"The rims must be big and have off-road performance. Only by walking steadily can you walk with big feet. The plow is actually not difficult. Master Li, just leave it to our Motor Vehicle Institute. We can come up with the blueprints tomorrow."
Li Zhen nodded: "Okay. The Automobile Institute has taken the initiative, and the plowing machine will be developed by the Automobile Institute. I only have one request."
As he spoke, Li Zhen said seriously: "The cost must be low. As for how low, the lower the better. It doesn't matter if it is simple, but it must be affordable for ordinary people. It must be lower than the price of a cow. Not much The technical content is just two wheels and one engine, so you have to handle this yourself."
Lower than the price of a cow.
The people in the mobile hospital couldn't help but frowned again.
If you want to talk about the technical content of the plow, in fact, it doesn’t have any technical content at all. It's just a motivation to move forward. But the cost is lower than the price of a cow, which is difficult for people.
Just how difficult this is can be seen with just one question. What's the price of the car? What's the price of cattle
The cost of a four-stroke car is more than one thousand gold coupons. How much is a cow worth? Only two or three hundred gold coupons.
The core technology of the plow is the engine. But it just so happens that the cost of this engine is extremely high. How do you reduce the price? The Kyushu Academy of Sciences is not short of money, but there must be a factory to make it, right? The factory must make money. If the technology content is slightly higher, the cost will soar exponentially.
Li Zhen frowned: "Can it be solved?"
Ma Jianbin thought for a long time, gritted his teeth and said, "Yes."
Li Zhen turned around and said: "My plan is to roll out the plow machine in Xizhou first. There are not many, and every village can afford one. But the next step is a more difficult job. There are too few laborers in Xizhou." Most of them are elderly, and the labor force of the elderly is limited. So rice transplanting is also a technical job. Do you think it is possible to develop a rice transplanter?"
Ma Jianbin and others discussed it and found out that most of them were born with mud legs and were no strangers to farm work like transplanting rice seedlings. After exploring the principles of rice transplanting, I realized that there is actually little technical content in rice transplanting.
But no one dared to speak.
Because, since it is going to be used for farming, the cost must not be high. Li Zhen must also say that the cost needs to be reduced.
Then this will be difficult to handle. The core power of the rice transplanter is definitely the engine. If the engine cost of the plower is solved, the cost of the rice transplanter can also be solved.
The problem is that the rice transplanter is on top of the engine and definitely requires a lot of external facilities. A mechanical structure that replaces the human action of transplanting rice. This is not difficult. People from the Automobile Institute can draw a blueprint of a rice transplanter in just a few seconds.
The problem is back to square one. It’s still a question of cost…
(End of chapter)