Chapter 156: When Will Grievances End

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Under Yang Hui’s arrangement, the French friends boarded the motorcycle sidecar, and at this moment, Zhong Jianshe began to suffer. Riding the sidecar helplessly, he reluctantly became the honored driver—a coveted position in the 1980s.

The distinguished sidecar’s speed was undeniable; it always raced ahead of the car, hurtling along like a gale, thunder crashing. From behind, Yang Hui could faintly hear the roar of the sidecar. The sound of a motorcycle overpowering a car was no ordinary occurrence.

After traveling twenty kilometers, the convoy stopped. The French friends, unable to endure the sidecar’s roar any longer, requested a halt. For the sake of their ears, they were willing to endure a sore rear.

The friends climbed back onto the truck with the help of others on board, and the convoy resumed its journey, leaving Zhong Jianshe alone to endure the sidecar’s roar.

Yang Hui heard the sidecar’s sound grow distant and guessed that Zhong Jianshe was speeding to the second institute—after all, a brief pain is better than a prolonged one.

Back at the second institute, Yang Hui found that the crowd had thinned considerably. Not because fewer people were present, but because everyone was busy with their own work, huddled in offices engaged in design.

Director Bai, knowing Yang Hui had not returned for some time, briefly recounted the developments of the past few months at the institute.

“The institute is no longer like it was. Our personnel are once again sufficient, and all subprojects of the new engine are underway.”

The technical staff had surged in just a few months—not the kind of increase that could be faked by recent graduates. To have so many experienced designers meant the director had certainly set his sights on the Liyang Factory. That was certain.

“That must have come at a great cost, with support from Liyang, right?”

Yang Hui guessed correctly the origin of these personnel but was mistaken about the reason for their arrival. Director Bai corrected his misconception.

“These people do indeed come from Liyang Factory, but the cost wasn’t high. I am now the acting director of Liyang Factory; the previous director was transferred back to Fengtian. So these Liyang personnel were transferred by me, though there was some cost: the chief engineer of the new engine was assigned to Yang Sanfa, who came from Liyang.”

Yang Sanfa? Who was this? Hearing the name of a chief engineer sharing his surname, Yang Hui racked his brains to recall the details.

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This key figure from Liyang was quite capable, having been responsible for designing and finalizing three engine models, and overseeing the technical appraisal and production finalization of two engines. Most importantly, he was a staunch advocate of turbofan engines. While the Republic spent the 1980s obsessed with turbojets, he actively promoted the development of turbofan engines.

In his previous life, the Su-7 fighter used a turbofan engine. He maintained contact with the 0611 side, hoping to introduce foreign technology. Although the Su-7 did not succeed, the research on its engine laid the foundation for Liyang’s transition from turbojets to turbofans.

Therefore, this elder’s support for the new turbofan project was assured, as evidenced by his appointment as chief engineer for the new turbofan.

With a clear understanding of the chief designer’s distinguished background, Yang Hui felt assured—at least the upper echelons of the design team now shared a unified vision for the new engine.

“That’s excellent. Director Bai, now that you hold the director position at Liyang Factory, it must be a great boon for the new engine’s development. At the very least, we won’t face the embarrassing situations we encountered last time during parts prototyping.”

Director Bai was quite proud of Yang Hui’s observation. This was precisely why he had fought so hard to take the Liyang directorship—he wouldn’t wade into the troubled waters of Liyang otherwise.

“Yes, I took on the role for that very reason. The development schedule for the new engine is extremely tight; we must exhaust every means to ensure its success. Come, I’ll take you to see the technical progress upstairs, and you should also meet the technical personnel from Liyang.”

Thus, under Director Bai’s guidance, Yang Hui headed toward the base’s design building. As for the installation of computer-aided systems, that would take longer—the computers at the second institute had not yet arrived.

As they passed by, some faces were familiar to Yang Hui, while others, presumably from Liyang, were strangers. They only glanced briefly until they met Li Jufeng, in charge of the new engine’s high-temperature turbine development.

“Yang Hui, this is Comrade Li Jufeng, responsible for the turbine blade development on this engine. He leads the entire base in high-temperature turbine research. Under his leadership, our directionally solidified, net-shape precision-cast hollow air-cooled blades are the fastest progressing subproject of the new engine.”

Yang Hui never expected the most challenging high-temperature turbine blade project to be the fastest progressing. If he hadn’t heard it directly from Director Bai, he wouldn’t have believed it. This high-temperature turbine blade had been a project of the Fengtian Liming Factory for many years in his previous life.

Although Yang Hui respected Li Jufeng’s capabilities, he felt compelled to inquire further.

“Director Li, your turbine blade design is progressing faster than Fengtian’s. Is there any special technique?”

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Special techniques are hardly useful in high-temperature turbine blade design. The main reason for such rapid progress lies in a unique factor that Fengtian lacks.

Director Li patiently explained, “We haven’t taken any shortcuts in design. The key is that we received strong support from the Hongqi Factory, thanks to Chief Engineer Wu Daguan. He was previously responsible for Spey engines at Hongqi, and he used his influence there to help us. Hongqi’s net-shape precision casting technology has now been brought to our side. We have fully mastered this technology, whereas Fengtian still hasn’t broken through it, which is why we have advanced ahead.”

What? How could this be? The turbojet-14 project at Fengtian started many years before the new turbofan, so if our base has mastered the technology, there’s no reason Fengtian couldn’t too.

“But didn’t Fengtian also receive support from Hongqi? Is there some hidden issue here, or is Fengtian simply incapable?”

As soon as Yang Hui finished speaking, a man came out of the office. Judging by his attire, he wasn’t from the south, but had a strong northwestern style—a region Yang Hui knew well from his years at Northwestern Polytechnical University.

The northwestern man did not shy away from the question: “That’s right, we have indeed kept something back. Fengtian did not receive all the net-shape precision casting technical data. Their conflicts with us are known throughout the system—I won’t elaborate.”

To discuss the grudges between Liming Factory and Hongqi Factory, one cannot ignore their two canceled engine models: Hongqi’s turbofan-9 and Liming’s legendary “super artifact,” the turbofan-6.

These two engines were lifelong rivals since their inception, fiercely competing over funding, intended aircraft, and which would be canceled first.

Amidst this rivalry, the development teams became entangled. Turbofan-6 was canceled before turbofan-9; to retain the developers, the turbojet-14 project was launched, meaning turbojet-14 inherited turbofan-6’s original team.

Given this, after turbofan-9 was canceled, could the two sides truly cooperate sincerely? At least to Yang Hui, it seemed utterly impossible.

Under such circumstances, it was inevitable that Hongqi would retain the most vital parts of the net-shape precision casting technology. Hongqi and our base had no such bitter history, and with Old Wu’s mediation, cooperation between Hongqi and our base was feasible. (To be continued.)