RPAGF #400 - The aftermath of a circumnavigation
#400 - The aftermath of a circumnavigation
After Liu Wensheng's global voyage broke through the Bering Strait, the remaining journey was uneventful.
The journey was smooth and uneventful, without much excitement.
After all, in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the seabed depth of most sea areas far exceeded the submarine's limits, and there was nothing that could threaten the No. 001 nuclear submarine.
He bypassed the Cape of Good Hope, crossed the Mozambique Channel, realized a close-range visit to the Maldives, and then calmly crossed the Strait of Malacca, passed through the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea, and returned to the home port!
During this period, the voyage exceeded 50,000 kilometers!
After 46 days and nights of non-stop voyage, it created an amazing new history of submarine navigation on the Blue Star of the "Bright Sword" world.
If it weren't for the incident of crippling the Norfolk, this matter would have been announced without any controversy.
However, after the conflict involved a superpower, the top management had to be cautious.
After about a month of deliberation and research, the highest level decided to still announce the successful global voyage of the nuclear submarine!
However, the original decision to conduct a graphic introduction of all the famous landmarks passed by during the voyage, and all the classic photos taken from the submarine were archived and not released.
Now it has become a pure text press release, published on the front pages of major newspapers!
As soon as the news was announced, the people of the Eastern Great Country were naturally jubilant, but it caused an uproar abroad.
"Rogue Eagle demands an explanation as to whether the Bering Strait incident was our doing," Staff Officer Ye routinely came over with key materials to chat with Ren Zhong.
"The Great Bear demands that we publish the details of the global voyage and whether it violated their territorial waters."
"John Bull protests our intrusion into territorial waters."
"We are facing great pressure now. We have really stirred up a hornet's nest this time. We have offended three of the five permanent members, and the remaining Gaul also said sourly that the actions of the Eastern Great Country will provoke a new round of arms race, which is very detrimental to the overall development of Blue Star."
Ren Zhong smiled.
"The pressure is not on our side now.
Frankly speaking, our Qin-class nuclear submarine did a great job this time.
It not only achieved a global voyage, but also experienced actual combat!
It has solidly revealed our combat power.
With such strength, I don't think we need to respond to anything."
"Whether they believe it or not, whether they are happy or not, we have the right to freedom of navigation in international waters.
We only need to declare that in the global international waters, everyone only has the right to freedom of navigation, and that is enough."
Ren Zhong said, "Not only that, but starting from today, we must do our best to promote freedom of navigation as one of the six freedoms of the high seas, and work towards a new Blue Star maritime convention.
In addition to freedom of navigation, we must also advocate for freedom of overflight over the high seas, freedom of fishing, freedom of scientific research, as well as freedom to lay submarine cables and pipelines underwater, and freedom to build artificial islands and other facilities permitted by international law."
"I think this rule can be called the 'United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea'.
Since we have the ability to navigate freely, then promoting such an international treaty is imperative."
"After the Qin-class nuclear submarine sets an example as our first freely navigating vessel, I hope that every nuclear submarine that enters service in the future can have a long voyage to commemorate its maiden voyage and acceptance qualification.
It is unqualified for our nuclear submarines if they have not passed the test of crossing two oceans."
"Do we need to be so tough?
If we propose a new convention now, I'm afraid not many countries will respond.
After all, not many countries can protect their territorial waters now, let alone navigate freely on the high seas," Staff Officer Ye was still a little hesitant.
Announcing the global voyage is already very high-profile.
If we take advantage of this hotspot to propose a new maritime convention, the outside world will inevitably interpret it as the Eastern Great Country starting to expand.
"It doesn't matter, let's propose it first.
As long as it is reasonable, I believe it will gradually be approved by most countries," Ren Zhong didn't care.
The formation of a convention may take decades of arguing, but so what?
As long as there is a draft treaty, even if it is not ratified, we will have a moral high ground in our hands when we have the ability and conditions.
Why should the definition of freedom of navigation be defined by others?
Today, since we have the strength to define the rules, then we should have the courage to stand up!
The current Eastern Great Country already has the ability to overturn the table, so there is no need to honestly sit at the table and suffer losses!
Just like now.
Liu Wensheng directly crippled the Norfolk, and now he is indirectly admitting that he did it, but so what?
Does Rogue Eagle dare to come and say to the Eastern Great Country, 'I want to retaliate'?
Before figuring out the truth about the Qin-class nuclear submarine, he doesn't even dare to make any war threats!
This is when you have confidence.
Regardless of whether it is reasonable or unreasonable, with a dominant position, others dare not easily take revenge.
When a rabbit and a tiger walk together, the tiger will not consider the rabbit's feelings at all and can do whatever it wants.
But when an elephant walks with a tiger, even if it is the king of the forest, the tiger dares not fail to consider the elephant's reaction.
"There is one more thing.
The Strategic Planning Center has given a new development plan for the automobile industry, Lao Di Ren.
Our automobile industry is developing very rapidly now.
The annual output has exceeded one million vehicles.
The automobile industry has now become a major industry.
Do we still need to make such a big adjustment?" Staff Officer Ye threw out today's second topic.
Being in the main world in 2024, you may not have any concept of an automobile output of one million vehicles, because the top automobile factory can sell millions of vehicles.
But looking back at history, we achieved a breakthrough of 1 million vehicles in annual automobile production in 1992!
That is to say, it took 43 years after the founding of the country to develop an annual output of one million.
However, in the "Bright Sword" world, with Ren Zhong's promotion and technology introduction, the annual output of various vehicles has exceeded one million in 1954, and the difference is not a small one.
However, unlike the automobile output in the main world in 1992, in the "Bright Sword" world, the main types of automobiles at this stage are still three categories: trucks, jeeps, and agricultural vehicles!
This is matched by the relatively primary stage of development, and most automobile consumption is used for production.
Trucks and agricultural vehicles are the main production tools, and jeeps are the preferred means of transportation in this period.
It's not that there are no other models.
In fact, the types of automobiles are now almost the same as those in the main world.
Buses, cars, cranes... these have begun to appear, and pickups have even surpassed the number of buses.
For Staff Officer Ye and others, this is already very good.
There are more than 500 various automobile manufacturers in the country producing.
"It is very necessary," Ren Zhong said bluntly.
"Because we are on the eve of a major outbreak in automobile production.
In the early stage, we let the automobile industry develop freely, but from this development process, we have already seen the drawbacks, that is, the automobile industry is large but not strong.
We don't even have a few well-known brands.
If this continues, the competitiveness of our automobile industry in the global market is almost zero.
In the future, if we open the door to automobile imports and compete with the world's automobile giants, our automobile companies will almost only have a dead end."
"The above is the problem of the industry itself.
Next is the problem of demand.
I think that after two five-year plans, our automobile consumption should start to accelerate and enter families."
Ren Zhong was talking about the consumption upgrade in the country. After two five-year plans, hundreds of millions of workers had accumulated in the cities, as well as millions of privately-owned factories and enterprises invested by independent and autonomous private capital. Even if the amount of capital varied, these people could be considered to have surpassed the level of the middle class compared to Europe and the United States, and they already had a greater demand and purchasing power for automobile consumption.
Old Chevrolet
Old Willis Jeep (the car logo was modified by the owner)
And now, the most suitable vehicles for them to buy are Jeep or SUV models based on the Willis Jeep, as well as pickup trucks known as the 'King of Pickups'. There are also knock-off small cars based on improved models of Chevrolet and other sedans in China.
But no matter which type, for Ren Zhong, they are all garbage!
The current automobile industry truly embodies what is meant by 'small, scattered, chaotic, and poor'!
Of course, this is from Ren Zhong's perspective.
For people of Ye Canmou's era, a factory capable of producing tens of thousands of cars a year was already a veritable large factory.
The current automobile industry is fighting on its own, seemingly blooming with a hundred flowers, but in reality, there are some preliminary chaotic phenomena of disorderly competition. After all, the industry has not yet prohibited the entry of private capital. With capital's pursuit of profit, it is impossible to stop the enthusiasm for the automobile industry's start-up.
Moreover, the initial welcome of any type of factory has led to the emergence of so many automobile factories, with some having an annual output of only a few hundred vehicles.
Currently, the first echelon of the domestic automobile industry is basically the Hongxing Automobile Factory, which started with Bianqu Hongxing agricultural vehicles and trucks. Now, it mainly produces agricultural vehicle series and Hongxing Generation 2-ton and 5-ton trucks, and it is basically the king in the domestic transportation vehicle field.
The second largest automobile company is Taiyuan Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., under Taiyuan Heavy Industry. They mainly produce heavy-duty vehicles and special engineering vehicles such as excavators, cranes, and bulldozers. Due to the large-scale construction of the First and Second Five-Year Plans, the engineering vehicle business is very popular. Taiyuan Automobile has switched to engineering vehicles with ease by virtue of its advanced technology and craftsmanship in producing tanks. At the same time, Taiyuan Automobile Industry also produces the Willis Jeep developed under the guidance of Ren Zhong, which is almost the dedicated car for leaders above the county level in China.
Next is the Fengjing Automobile Factory in Fengjing. It was originally left by the Little Japanese. After the liberation and restoration of Fengjing, it was transformed into Fengjing Automobile, producing trucks and several imitation small cars. The most famous of these is the imitation Chevrolet small car. It was lukewarm during the First Five-Year Plan. With the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan, there are more and more wealthy people in the country, and Dongfang Automobile has begun to have a tendency to catch up.
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The fourth is Northern Automobile, which mainly produces the pickup trucks proposed by Ren Zhong in the early stage. Because it can carry people and goods, pickup trucks have a wide user base among small business owners, and small business owners are the least lacking species in Dongda. Therefore, even though Northern Automobile is a rising star, its development momentum is very strong, and sales are very good at this stage, with a bit of a taste of catching up.
Next are the three bus companies, Modu Jiangnan Bus Factory, Jinling Shenlong Bus Factory, and Jincheng Shudu Bus Factory, forming a pattern of seven large-scale companies, and the remaining hundreds are small factories with hundreds or thousands of vehicles.
There is no intersection between them at all, and the proportion of general-purpose parts is so low that there are almost none. Even the tires don't match the holes!
For a complex mechanical body like a car, which involves tens of thousands of parts, it is difficult to say that quality control is reliable.
If this situation continues to develop, it will eventually be a situation of great chaos followed by a one-size-fits-all solution and then great governance.
Ren Zhong will naturally not let this most important industry in the next forty years toss like this, and miss the golden development time of the automobile industry in vain.
Taking the fragmented half of San Dezi as an example, in 1950, its automobile production reached 300,000 vehicles. In 1960, its annual automobile production reached 2 million vehicles. By 1971, its annual automobile production reached 4 million vehicles.
Not to mention the rogue eagle, the average annual sales of automobiles in the 1950s was close to 7 million vehicles, and exceeded 9 million vehicles in the 1960s. From 1940 to 1970, the number of cars soared from 27.5 million to 90 million, from an average of one car for every five people to almost one car for every two people! Automobile freedom was achieved in thirty years!
It is impossible for Ren Zhong not to be envious of this wave of dividends.
Of course, this market is not easy to get into. After all, no one is a fool, and even blind economists can see the driving force of the automobile industry on the economy.
Currently, except for Dongda's cheap and good agricultural vehicles that have begun to be exported to some markets in Southeast Asia, trucks and other things are rare goods that only staunch friends will import a part of, but not many. At present, most of the annual output of millions is still consumed by domestic demand, after all, the models produced are also related to construction.
Not only is the number of pure consumer-type cars small, but they are also not domestic and commercial enough.
Ren Zhong himself does not like the current domestic cars.
Previously, he was busy with the layout and development of the military industry, and most of the resources were tilted towards the military industry. Now, there are large blackfish, large destroyers, and even small flat panels, and satellites have also gone to the sky.
The military-first strategy can be appropriately revised and revised, and it is time to start turning to an era that takes into account both military and civilian needs.
The most suitable industry to bear the brunt is the automobile industry. After all, shipbuilding has already been brought on the road by Ren Zhong. With the current large number of merchant ships and warships contracts, it can already be ranked at least among the top three in Blue Star. In terms of technology, it has also overcome the construction of most types of warships and transport ships except for large aircraft carriers.
In terms of automobiles, there are technical barriers, but they are not high. For example, in terms of miniaturized gasoline and diesel engines for automobiles, the basic technology is now available, but no refined and developed classic power units have been developed. In addition, in terms of gearbox technology, chassis technology (including suspension), etc., we have not calmed down and started to introduce classic micro-innovations from the main world.
Therefore, the entire automobile industry is large but not strong, scattered and without a main line.
According to Ren Zhong's prescription, the first policy for the automobile industry this time is the automobile production access system. Production quality standards and a certain amount of capital investment must be set for automobile production. Regarding the production quality standards, the ISO9000 system of the main world is directly introduced, and the third-party supervision of this system is placed in the local quality supervision department for implementation. Those who do not meet this system must be shut down and transferred!
However, in order to prevent this ISO9000 from becoming a mere formality, Ren Zhong determined that third-party supervision cannot be charged, it is a normal function. Three audit centers are set up in China to perform quality management system execution audits, and spot checks are conducted every year. If anyone is found to be releasing water, they will be held accountable to ensure the seriousness and enforceability of the system.
The amount of capital investment should be able to undertake the three functions of research, production, and after-sales service of an automobile company, and eliminate small workshop-style production, so as to ensure that consumers can buy guaranteed automobile products.
Therefore, with these two measures, a large number of small and scattered automobile factories will be cleared out of the automobile industry.
However, Ren Zhong is not forcing them all to death, but letting them cooperate and support large automobile companies through several methods of shutting down, merging, and transferring, and a large number of them will be converted into parts production suppliers.
Give full play to the advantages of small factories in terms of flexibility, variability, and controllable costs. At the same time, establish the concept and production system of automobile industry standard parts, which will be the magic weapon for competing with the international market in the future.
The high quality and efficient low cost brought about by standardization will have a huge impact on the current Western automobile factories.
However, this is only the first layer.
In the second layer, what Ren Zhong thought of was more far-reaching, that is, not only to realize the orderly development of the domestic automobile industry, but also to achieve overtaking on corners as quickly as possible!