Chapter 2778
, Part 9: The Harvest Moon
Chapter 2778, Part Nine: A Bountiful October
Back in the courtyard, Yang Xiaotao saw Ran Qiuye preparing a meal at home, and a television set on a table under the window not far away.
There were also many benches placed below, all reserved by people in advance.
After greeting the people in the courtyard, Yang Xiaotao went to the kitchen to help prepare the meal.
"How is Comrade Lao Jin doing in the village?"
Yang Xiaotao asked, and Ran Qiuye nodded, "It's alright. Nothing's different."
Yang Xiaotao smiled. After what happened at the car factory, Comrade Lao Jin felt deeply hurt and stayed in Beijing. Ms. Cui had asked him to return to Shanghai many times, but he just wouldn't go back.
But this is good too. Staying in Beijing means there will be someone to keep Grandpa company and keep the two old men company.
"By the way, Grandpa said he'll be harvesting grain soon and asked if we have time to go back and help."
"Go back when you have time."
Yang Xiaotao said something, and Ran Qiuye laughed and said, "I've delivered the message. Whether you go back or not is your problem."
"No, what's wrong?"
Ran Qiuye raised her eyebrows but remained silent.
Yang Xiaotao looked outside and saw the children playing wildly in the yard. He took a few steps to Ran Qiuye's side, reached out and pulled her into his arms. "Wife, we're completely open with each other and have no secrets. Why are you still hiding things from me?"
"Get out of here, who's been honest with each other? This is getting more and more outrageous."
Ran Qiuye said irritably, but Yang Xiaotao didn't let go and instead intensified his grip.
"Let go now."
Ran Qiuye felt a bit hot by her ear. She tried to push him away twice but couldn't. She quickly whispered and begged for mercy, "Let go, and I'll tell you."
To everyone's surprise, Yang Xiaotao pretended not to hear him at all. Instead, he leaned close to Ran Qiuye's earlobe and blew gently, causing Ran Qiuye's cheeks to turn red immediately.
"Grandpa said that the village road has been repaired, and we should celebrate."
Ran Qiuye leaned almost on Yang Xiaotao to say what she had to say.
It was only then that Yang Xiaotao remembered the matter of road construction.
Road construction started last year, but after many twists and turns, it took almost a year to complete.
If this were in later generations, it could be made in three to five months at most.
Well, it's hard to say.
Some roads may take three to five years to repair.
Let go~~
Ran Qiuye spoke softly, but Yang Xiaotao still held on tightly until he had taken enough advantage of her before whispering, "If you dare to conceal military intelligence, I'll deal with you tonight."
Ran Qiuye could only nod; even tonight was better than now.
There are still many people outside.
Just after Yang Xiaotao released Ran Qiuye, a figure rushed in from outside. After entering, the figure was stunned for a moment, and then immediately shouted, "Dad, go and adjust the TV, the signal is bad."
Rongrong jumped around and shouted loudly.
Yang Xiaotao stepped forward and picked up his little girl. "Come on, let me go take a look."
Upon entering the courtyard, I saw that some children were already sitting in front of the television.
I'm not even this enthusiastic about eating.
After putting Rongrong down, Yang Xiaotao went to the television.
Nowadays, there are more TV programs than in previous years, especially in Beijing. The channels that used to start at 7 p.m. have now started at 6:30 p.m. and the program lasts for three hours.
This can be considered progress.
Of course, aside from the animated films at the beginning, there were mostly model operas later on.
After fiddling around with the TV for a while, spots appeared on the screen. After waiting a bit longer, a picture finally appeared.
The children below immediately cheered.
Yang Xiaotao smiled and said that in later generations, let alone such small television sets, even those with large CRT screens would be obsolete.
He also remembers the old television set that his family replaced, which became the vehicle for him and his younger brother to play games together.
At that time, the two of them never imagined how precious a television was in those days.
"Just a few decades."
Yang Xiaotao sighed and turned to walk into the house.
As soon as I entered the room, I glanced behind the TV and thought, "It seems like the learning machine's port is in the back."
That evening, Yang Xiaotao kept his word.
The next day, Yang Xiaotao arrived at the Ninth Department feeling refreshed. As usual, he took a stroll around the office building, and when he found nothing urgent, he went to the research institute.
Unlike usual, this time Yang Xiaotao took the initiative to invite Xiao Pang and Wang Kun along.
After Liu Lixue invited the group to her office, she didn't leave immediately but listened attentively.
She sensed that something was definitely wrong with Director Yang this time.
And it's a big deal.
Sure enough, after Yang Xiaotao had the group sit down, he expressed his opinion.
"I want to add a feature to the game console."
When Yang Xiaotao said it, Xiaopang and Wang Kun were not worried at all; on the contrary, they were eager to try it out.
Because Yang Bu doesn't usually say things casually.
Generally, the ideas that Yang Bu expresses are feasible.
The group listened attentively as Yang Xiaotao explained his request to connect the game console to the television.
After Yang Xiaotao finished speaking, the group looked at each other and remained silent for a moment.
Finally, Wang Kun said, "Director Yang, we can also do the TV connection function, but there's no port on the TV."
Yang Xiaotao waved his hand and laughed, "That's not a problem. We can just have the TV manufacturer design a converter and make sure it's compatible with the interfaces we need."
After a moment of contemplation, Xiao Pang nodded. "What Director Yang said is feasible. As long as we use a converter to match the signal frame rate of our game console and the TV, and ensure that the resolution and scan lines are synchronized, we can project the image onto the TV screen."
"And by doing this, you can control the controller to play games on the TV."
"The TV screen is much bigger than a game console."
"That makes it more appealing."
After Xiao Pang finished speaking, Liu Yongqiang and the others were filled with excitement.
After thinking it over, Wang Kun said seriously, "Minister Yang, give us a week, and we will definitely complete the task."
Yang Xiaotao nodded and smiled, "Okay, I'll give you a week."
"By the way, the development of game cartridges also needs to keep up. We can't just limit ourselves to Mario and Tank Battle. We need to work on new games as soon as possible. We need to keep releasing game cartridges. Game quality is the key."
Liu Yongqiang nodded immediately upon hearing this. He was in charge of the game design and development module and now had a team of more than 20 people, all of whom were students drawn from various schools and started working after receiving simple training.
These people will also be the main force in future game design and development.
The three left the office, and Yang Xiaotao picked up the phone to call Liu Huaimin.
At that time, television production was not the responsibility of the Fourth Ministry of Machinery Industry, but rather the First Ministry of Machinery Industry.
In other words, the factories that produced television sets were under the jurisdiction of the First Ministry of Machine Building.
Liu Huaimin answered the phone, and after Yang Xiaotao greeted him, they got down to business.
Once Liu Huaimin figured out what Yang Xiaotao wanted to do, he simply gave Yang Xiaotao the phone number of the Tianjin Radio Factory and the person in charge, saying that the Ninth Department could handle this kind of thing themselves.
Yang Xiaotao hung up the phone and asked Liu Lixue to make the call.
After Liu Lixue dialed the number and explained her purpose, the person on the other end of the line was still somewhat incredulous.
These days, there's no such thing as phone scams. People who can afford to use a phone aren't ordinary people.
Therefore, after Liu Lixue revealed her identity, the factory manager of the wireless factory immediately became serious.
For them, the Ninth Division was a cash cow.
Because of their connection with the Ninth Department, battery manufacturers have undergone a complete transformation.
Battery factories that used to make little profit and had to stockpile large quantities of AA batteries every year are now experiencing explosive growth thanks to game consoles.
The batteries produced are loaded directly into vehicles; there's simply no time to store them in a warehouse.
Which factory wouldn't be envious of such a good deal?
Even now, Wang Debin, the factory manager of the battery plant, still regrets not expanding the scale earlier, so that even though he could easily make a lot of money, he still couldn't make enough.
Now, people from the Ninth Department have contacted their factory and asked them to come to the Ninth Department to discuss some matters.
No matter what, it's definitely better than not receiving a call.
So, around noon, the factory director and secretary of the Tianjin TV Factory drove to the Ninth Department.
Li Hongfeng and Lao Hong were surprised by the arrival of the two men. After hearing that Yang Xiaotao had come to see them, they became curious about the reason and followed him to the research institute.
Before they even reached the office, Yang Xiaotao summoned them to the game console research institute.
Looking at the nearly completed game console in their hands, the two exchanged bewildered glances.
But when Yang Xiaotao explained the situation, the two immediately realized that this was a 'path to wealth'.
It's the same path to wealth as battery factories.
The more popular the game console, the more passive benefits they enjoy.
However, the two men who had risen to the positions of factory director and party secretary were not fools. After some deliberation, they made a new decision.
That is to add more ports to the TV to meet the design requirements of the game console.
In response, Yang Xiaotao could only say that these two people had great courage.
As for the outcome, Yang Xiaotao naturally hopes it will be good.
But can the production of televisions keep up with the production of game consoles?
The answer is of course no.
Therefore, at Yang Xiaotao's suggestion, the television factory decided to pursue both approaches simultaneously.
One task is to expedite the production of new television sets, and the other is to produce converters.
The opportunity has been presented; how much profit the other party can seize is up to them.
With the television factory deal finalized, the development direction of the game console research institute is now completely clear, and it has entered the final sprint stage.
The changes at the game console research institute over the past two days have been observed by everyone.
It would be a lie for the people at the research institute to say they weren't in a hurry.
The photocopier research institute, in particular, was originally the one being challenged, and now, facing the challenge from the game console research institute, the entire institute was determined to prove themselves.
They found out that the game console research institute had ten days, so they set a nine-day deadline to finalize the template within those nine days.
Then, the original October task deadline was moved forward to September, allowing more time to produce more photocopiers.
This silent contest between the two sides has once again stirred up a wave of excitement within the research institute, forcing people in other institutes to bite the bullet and keep up.
And that's exactly what Yang Xiaotao wanted to see.
October has arrived.
During the National Day holiday, Yang Xiaotao went to the countryside as usual, and he didn't want to get involved in the affairs of Beijing.
Especially in recent years, I try to avoid going whenever possible.
If you really can't avoid it, find a corner to sit in, listen quietly, and resolutely don't say a word.
As for Li Hongfeng, he frequently represented the Ninth Department at various work meetings, but he would always dodge the question and, whenever it involved the interests of the Ninth Department, he would simply say, "I'll go back and discuss it with Director Yang."
Then there is no more then.
Good news has been coming in from the research institute just after the National Day holiday.
First, the 'Shiguang 70' copier from the Copier Research Institute passed the test. The new copier is a quarter smaller than its older counterpart, and its weight is reduced by one-third due to the use of plastic and aluminum alloy structures.
Such a photocopier is easily portable by an adult male.
In addition, the processing technology has also been improved.
During this period, the machine tool manufacturer specially allocated two Morningstar machine tools to support production, and their technology has improved significantly.
Finally, and most importantly, the advent of disposable toner cartridges simplified operation and improved market adaptability. This is arguably the most significant change in copiers.
Subsequently, the new photocopier began formal production.
According to Yang Xiaotao's original plan, he was to ensure the production of 10,000 new photocopiers by November. Although the task was very tight, it was not impossible after gaining experience.
Moreover, according to information from foreign trade sources, the sales of Canon copiers in Japan did not increase as rapidly as expected. This may be because the earlier emergence of Time copiers has captured a large share of the office market, preventing Canon copiers from gaining popularity quickly after their launch.
After all, the two copiers are not significantly different in overall performance.
Since you've already spent money on the Time Copier, why spend another penny on a Canon Copier with similar functions?
Many companies share this idea, which has inadvertently reduced Canon's customer base for copiers, hindering product promotion.
This was something Yang Xiaotao and Li Rong hadn't anticipated.
Unless Canon can develop a groundbreaking copier, like the 'Time 70', that would make factories willingly buy one to replace their old copiers, they have no future.
Is it really possible to get them to give up the photocopier they've worked so hard to develop and to reinvest the profits they've already made?
Even if they want it, the rulers of Japan don't.
Under these circumstances, Li Rong boldly predicts that Canon copiers from Japan will not affect the market for Time Copiers before New Year's Day this year.
It's hard to say what will happen after the new year.
After all, Canon has made improvements in certain aspects.
Furthermore, the other party can reduce production costs and lower prices, and given their relationship with the United States, they may gain a significant market share.
It's important to know that the United States alone accounts for half of the current photocopier market.
Losing the United States market would not be good for Time.
Of course, that's when 'Shiguang 70' should step up.
The second piece of good news is naturally the completion of the upgraded version of the new-era game console: the cartridge-based game console.
Thanks to the tireless efforts of everyone at the research institute, the newly developed game console was able to read game cards, as per Yang Xiaotao's requirements.
It supports a two-player cooperative gaming mode and can also be connected to a TV via cable for convenient two-player battles.
In the game card design, Mario became Super Mario Bros., greatly increasing the game difficulty and increasing the number of character lives to ten.
Tank Battle has also added levels, and it can also be played by two players.
In addition, based on the Contra game concept provided by Yang Xiaotao, the research institute also developed a new game, but Yang Xiaotao changed the name to 'Predator'. This classic game will also be released along with the new game console.
Finally, there are the television manufacturers.
TV manufacturers have really gone all out during this period.
In less than a month, they produced the equivalent of a whole year's output, and the production efficiency is still improving. They really went all out.
In addition, there are tens of thousands more converters. These things don't require much technology and are easy to make, so everything is ready.
As for Paradise Game Machine Company on the Japanese island, their Momotaro game can only circulate on the small island, and the 'four all-in-one game consoles' they are still researching are nearing completion.
After learning about the situation, Yang Xiaotao decided to start production and build up reserves first, and release their own version whenever the "four all-in-one gaming consoles" were released.
Then we'll see how strong the other person's mental fortitude is.
In conclusion, October is a month of harvest.