Chapter 1377
The Attack of Kinki Railway Vehicles: The Iron Corps and the Iron Alliance are Coming,
The atmosphere inside the Ministry of Railways' conference room became even more enthusiastic.
An assistant rushed in.
"Leader, we just received a call from Comrade Kirov, Chairman of the Iron Group."
The Iron Group wants to organize a tour group to visit our place for a firsthand inspection!
Upon hearing this news, the leaders in the conference room were stunned and looked at each other in bewilderment.
The Railway Group is the railway cooperation organization of the Eastern Family.
Although it is the agency responsible for railway affairs, its organizational structure is relatively loose.
Its main function is to bring together various parties to exchange technologies or to negotiate and formulate unified regulations for railway transportation.
They rarely take the initiative to get involved in specific matters.
Not to mention something like this, where they're so openly and proactively proposing to conduct on-site inspections at other people's homes.
What exactly is the situation?
"They didn't go into details over the phone, but according to our specialist in the Iron Group, it was several vehicle manufacturers from the small notebook who sent inquiry letters to the Iron Alliance."
The assistant gave a detailed account of the situation reported by the specialist.
Ultimately, the whole thing started with that report that distorted the facts.
Kuronuma watched as his fabricated report stirred up such a huge uproar.
He felt as if he had embarked on a golden road, and the throne of the newspaper's editor-in-chief seemed to be beckoning him.
As for the veracity of the news, he had long since forgotten about it.
In order to further expand its influence.
This guy has recently published several more articles, making this a hot topic within the family.
The Kinki Railway Company also took the opportunity to send a letter to the Railway Alliance, using a ridiculous reason: the Eastern Electric Railway in the east was lying about its speed, which might affect the reputation and orders of their Shinkansen.
Iron Alliance wasn't particularly interested in this kind of thing originally.
But unexpectedly, Xiaomei's representative stepped forward and publicly voiced support for Kinki vehicles.
Xiao Mei's family is the leader after all, and when the leader speaks, it carries a different weight.
Having no other option, the Iron Alliance contacted the Iron Group in the east through external channels, requesting their intervention to investigate the matter.
"This is a troublesome matter." After understanding the situation, the leaders all frowned.
"Yes, our 'Extreme Speed East' is still in the testing phase."
"If the visiting group comes to inspect and something goes wrong during the testing, or even if they abandon the project halfway through, we'll lose face big time."
"There's also the issue of secrecy. The Speedway East might become our export train in the future. What if those guys manage to get their hands on the technology?"
The meeting room was filled with discussion. Listening to everyone's concerns, Leader Teng coughed lightly twice, silencing the crowd.
"Comrade Aiguo should be arriving soon, right? He built this train himself. I think we should listen to his opinion on this matter."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the same assistant pushed the door open and walked in again.
"Sir, Comrade Aiguo has arrived. However, he did not come alone; he also brought Mr. Louis from the Gallic family."
"Louis is here too?" Leader Teng stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"It seems Comrade Patriot has come prepared. Alright, let Mr. Louis wait outside for a moment while we invite Comrade Patriot in."
"Yes."
At this moment, in the corridor outside the door.
Li Aiguo and Louis were sitting on a bench, discussing the differences between Russian ballet and French ballet.
Upon hearing his superior's summons, Li Aiguo nodded to Louis: "Louis, wait a moment."
“It’s alright, Li, work is important, you go ahead, I completely understand.” Louis shrugged and waved with a smile.
When Li Aiguo pushed open the door, several leaders were still discussing the Iron Alliance.
Leader Teng pointed to the empty chair opposite him, gesturing for him to sit down.
Li Aiguo didn't stand on ceremony and pulled out a chair to sit down.
"Boss, why are you in such a hurry to see me? Has something happened?"
"Here's the situation..." Leader Teng explained to Li Aiguo the news he had just received and the movements of the Iron Alliance.
After listening to the leader's account, Li Aiguo was not nervous at all; instead, he was amused and annoyed by the shameless behavior of the vehicles from the Jinji area.
What do you mean by affecting your orders?
It's simply a horror of slipping the world!
Others may not know, but Li Aiguo knows very well.
Undeniably, the Shinkansen, which officially began commercial operation last year, truly stole the show within the Shinkansen family.
However, the first-generation 0-series Shinkansen had a fatal flaw.
First of all, that thing doesn't have a mature aerodynamic noise reduction design at all.
When a train travels at high speed, the pressure waves generated when it passes through tunnels, the screeching sound of wheel-rail friction, and the violent vibrations along the line can cause a level of disturbance to residents that can be described as catastrophic.
Secondly, the 0 series uses an all-steel body, which is relatively heavy, resulting in extremely high energy consumption when driving at high speeds.
This thing only works on flat coastal areas like those in small notebooks.
It's simply unrealistic to expect to extend this to the terrain-difficult regions of Europe and North America.
Also.
The Shinkansen was designed entirely for the mild coastal climate.
It has extremely poor resistance to cold, blizzards, and sandstorms.
If you were to take it to a high-latitude region or the far northwest, it would freeze to death in no time during the winter.
Most importantly, large companies in small countries are extremely greedy in business and like to monopolize profits.
They patented all the technologies related to the Shinkansen.
Even a screw of a special specification can be sold for an exorbitant price, and the vehicle's failure rate is not low.
In later history, the Gallic family and the Santoku family introduced some Shinkansen technology and equipment in their early stages.
As a result, the railway companies responsible for operations were almost bankrupted.
Now they're turning around and accusing us of affecting their orders.
"Comrade Patriot, the situation is rather complicated right now. The other side has come with great force this time, clearly prepared. They've not only brought in the Iron Alliance, but also asked the Iron Group to investigate. What's your opinion on this?"
"Leader Teng asked."
"I have no objection. Our Speedy East is fine as it is," Li Aiguo said frankly.
"We have complete confidence in your technical capabilities regarding the train itself."
Leader Teng nodded, then changed the subject, "But what everyone's biggest concern right now is the issue of secrecy. Those people came with magnifying glasses; what if..."
"Sir, you can rest assured about this."
Our core technologies, such as high-power traction motors and microcomputer control systems, are all encapsulated inside the carriage.
As long as they are not given the permission to disassemble the vehicle body for detailed surveying.
Even if they see something amazing just by looking at it from the outside, they couldn't possibly steal the technology.
Li Aiguo was very confident in keeping the matter confidential.
"That's good. With you saying that, we can rest assured!" Leader Teng's anxiety subsided, and he stood up to give instructions to his assistant.
"Draft a reply immediately, in response to the Iron Alliance..."
Li Aiguo thought for a moment and then raised his hand again: "Leader, I personally think that since this visit was proposed by the Iron Alliance, why not invite some members of the Iron Alliance?"
The moment these words were spoken, the meeting room fell silent, and even Leader Teng was stunned.
It's important to know that the vast majority of Iron Alliance members are from the West.
We usually keep to ourselves, so why are you inviting them over now? What's your intention?
However, after careful consideration, Leader Teng realized what was going on.
Yup!
Electric locomotives of this caliber, such as the Dongfang, are incredibly expensive, both in terms of research and development and manufacturing costs.
Not to mention the construction of the supporting high-speed railway.
In those days, life was tough for everyone in the east; few could afford to build anything.
But the old capitalist countries in the west are a different story.
They have money and a strong demand for passenger transport upgrades.
Why is Louis, the representative of the Gallic family sitting outside the door, going to the Changxindian Locomotive Factory every day lately?
It's not that they're interested in importing our high-speed Eastern-style vehicle!
“We have already established formal relations with the French, so this does not constitute a violation of policy.”
However, we don't usually have any official contact with the Iron Alliance, so if we suddenly extend an invitation, they might not accept it.
One leader has some concerns.
“Who said there’s no middleman? There’s one sitting right outside.” Li Aiguo smiled and pointed towards the door.
Leader Teng suddenly realized what was going on, pointed at Li Aiguo and laughed and scolded, "You little rascal, Li Aiguo, so you were waiting here all along!"
"That explains why you insisted on bringing Louis along today!"
Li Aiguo smiled and shrugged, offering no explanation.
Actually, he hadn't planned it in advance.
The original intention of bringing Louis here today was simply to let this potential big client become acquainted with the leaders of the ministries, laying the groundwork for selling trains to France in the future.
Unexpectedly, this happened just in time to help me out.
Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a lucky accident.
Louis was sitting on a bench outside the door, looking around curiously.
This government building, full of oriental charm, was decorated in a style that was both solemn and dignified, yet also exuded an indescribable warmth, which he found very refreshing.
Louis only snapped out of his daze when his assistant called him twice and then walked into the conference room.
Li Aiguo didn't mince words; in front of the leaders, he told Louis in detail about all the disgusting little tricks that Kinki vehicles had been up to behind the scenes.
"Shameless! Utterly shameless! These damned island nation businessmen can't compete in the international market, so they resort to these despicable tricks!"
I saw it clearly in Changxindian recently: the Dongfang Express is definitely a miracle that represents the future direction of railway development!
This is blatant jealousy!
Upon hearing this, Louis slapped his thigh in anger and cursed indignantly.
“Mr. Louis, true gold fears no fire. Since they want to see, we will let them see openly.”
We have decided to grant the Iron Group's request for a visit.
Li Aiguo looked at Louis: "However, for the sake of fairness, we also hope that members of the Iron Alliance can join this tour group."
After all, good things should be seen by more knowledgeable people. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you, my friend, to mediate this matter.
“The chairman of the Iron Alliance this year is from our French family, and he’s an old friend of mine. I’ll take care of this.” Louis immediately agreed.
Louis was overjoyed.
He's been worrying lately about how to persuade the conservatives in the country to spend a large amount of foreign exchange to buy electric trains from the East.
Isn't this opportunity just delivered to our doorstep?
If we bring over those domestic railway experts to see the speed of the Dongfang Express with their own eyes, those old fogies will definitely shut up and hand over their money!
After the matter was finalized, the Ministry of Railways acted swiftly, contacting the Railway Group through official channels and issuing a formal response. The wording of this response was also very deliberate.
"Your Excellency Chairman Kirov: It is a great honor for us to inform you of this."
We have achieved a major historical breakthrough in the modernization of the railway industry.
Li Aiguo and his team at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot successfully developed a new type of high-speed electric train.
To promote the exchange and development of international railway technology, we extend a sincere invitation to you and all members of the Railway Alliance.
Group visits and guidance are welcome...
That's a very well said statement.
Didn't your team "voluntarily request" to conduct the investigation?
Instead of taking that approach, we turned it into us "inviting" you to visit our achievements.
A single word can completely reverse the initiative and stance, and have entirely different implications.
Warsaw, headquarters of the Iron Group.
Upon receiving the letter, Chairman Kirov was somewhat amazed by the sincerity of the other party, and for a moment even felt a little guilty.
"Is it a bit much for us to agree to help Kinki Railways make things difficult for our little brother in the east?"
"Chairman, there's nothing we can do about it."
As you know, our leader was severely criticized by the Medal General and even made a solemn pledge.
If we can find out the flaws of the Extreme East type this time.
Or, if we can verify the claim about the Kinki vehicles, the pressure on us will be greatly reduced.
"That's what one of the deputies said."
"Sigh, I understand that, but I just can't understand why our two families can't reconcile."
"My dear Chairman, please be careful what you say!" The deputy was startled and quickly lowered his voice, nervously pointing to the door.
"This is not something you should be thinking about."
"If those people wearing blue hats outside hear this..."
Kirov's expression immediately changed. After the Medal Marshal took office, the Cheka's power not only did not shrink, but expanded.
Many people have gotten into trouble because they said things they shouldn't have.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore." Kirov took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the irritation in his heart.
"Now we can only hope that our little brother in the east will be lucky enough this time, and that the train he builds will be able to withstand the test..."
Chairman Kirov signed his name on it and handed it to his deputy: "Immediately, in the name of the Iron Group, contact Big Brother's family, Jack's family... and call on all the members on our side who have influence!"
"understand!"
……
With the rapid transmission of radio waves, urgent telegrams were quickly sent to all parts of the world.
The members of the Iron Group already knew about the successful development of the new electric train, and they were all very interested when they heard that they were going to visit it.
"I heard that their design speed reaches an astonishing 281 kilometers per hour?"
If this is true, then we should definitely have more contact with the East, whether it's importing technology or purchasing complete vehicles!
"I just don't know how much it will cost..."
"No matter how high the cost is, whether or not we can afford it is one thing, but it can't hurt to go and take a look!"
We absolutely must fight for one of the spots for this trip to the East!
Firstly, it was an opportunity to reconnect and strengthen relationships.
Secondly, railway construction in the East has been booming in recent years, so we can go and learn from their experience.”
Soon, more than a dozen members agreed to join the tour group.
There are also those who haven't joined, such as Sugar Family.
Ever since the Russians withdrew their Intercontinental Firecrackers, things have become difficult for the Sugarcane family.
The passenger ferries that used to operate on fixed routes have all been cancelled because of Xiao Mei's family.
On the other hand, Louis also relayed the railway department's invitation to the Iron Union.
The reaction from the Iron Alliance members was no less enthusiastic than that from the Iron Group.
Needless to say, in France, Louis was calling every day to report on the technological advancements of the electric train, and the higher-ups had long been interested.
The Bull family was particularly interested in the new electric train.
As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, his family's railway equipment had long been outdated and in disrepair.
It is simply impossible to meet the ever-increasing passenger demand.
They have actually been planning to build their own high-speed rail network for a long time.
Even London's old subway lines urgently need to be upgraded with electric locomotives.
However, the situation of the British and French families is not quite the same, and many things are not convenient to discuss openly.
They were wondering whether they should use Hextech as a go-between.
Now that the opportunity has arrived, how can we miss it?
"Please tell the east that we will definitely arrive on time."
Besides these two, the pasta family, the little bi family, the windmill family, the bullfighting family, and the grape family also agreed to go.
The Lu family is an exception. This country is so small that you can cross the border with just a bicycle, so there's really no need to bother with high-speed rail.
Of course, as parties involved in this incident, Xiaomei's family and Xiaobenzi's family certainly cannot be absent.
In particular, the family of Xiaobenzi applied for a total of five visiting slots in order to find out the truth.
Subsequently, the two major international railway organizations, the Railway Alliance and the Railway Group, issued official announcements on the same day, a highly unusual occurrence.
The Iron Alliance Inspection Team is about to depart for the East to visit the revolutionary, high-speed electric train!
"Railway Inspection Group: A Miracle of Eastern Railway Technology – The High-Speed Dongfang Train Faces International Testing!"
Both news items were very brief, occupying only a small space in each newspaper, yet they caused a sensation around the world.
It's important to know that these two organizations combined encompass almost all railway departments worldwide!
This level of collective action is unprecedented in the history of railway development.
"My God! It seems that railway technology in the East has really developed to a level that we cannot ignore."
"Of course. Putting aside everything else, just take the railway signaling system and the railway network we use. They were all developed by the East."
"Wow, amazing! That ancient Eastern dragon has really made a breakthrough in railway technology..."
Public opinion was in an uproar, and the Ministry of Railways, as the host country, was somewhat bewildered.
Their initial idea was simply to send three to five people from each organization, forming a delegation of ten to twenty people to go through the motions.
Who would have thought that the other party would be so accommodating, sending so many people over so suddenly!
Moreover, according to the preliminary list sent back, almost all of those who signed up were top experts in their respective railway fields!
The level and scale of this visit and inspection were immediately elevated.
What should we do? Let's report it to our superiors!
In a study in the capital, a superior looked at the report and said with a smile, "Interesting, very interesting!"
Unexpectedly, this electric train created by our patriotic comrade has become quite a hot commodity within our community, attracting so much attention.
"Yes, according to what we understand, several of the visiting groups are interested in the Speed Orient. However, it seems that the Russians and the Japanese have other ideas."
The superior's expression remained unchanged as he gently tapped the table: "As the ancients said, 'Is it not delightful to have friends coming from afar?'"
All who come are guests, but there are good guests and bad guests.
For those hospitable guests who come with sincerity, we should certainly show our hospitality and treat them with great respect.
As for those malicious guests..."
"Then we can't be polite at all. We must treat them with reason and evidence, neither humble nor arrogant. In Li Yunlong's words, when it's time to draw our swords, we must not hesitate!"
The leaders of the foreign affairs department were visibly taken aback when they saw their superiors quoting Li Yunlong.
But after thinking about it carefully, I feel relieved.
Li Yunlong is now running rampant in South Asia.
It has gained a reputation within our own family and even within our extended family.
Li Yunlong was also praised by his superiors on several occasions.
"understand!"
"The composition of the visitors this time is extremely complex, and their numbers are also large." After a moment's thought, the superior gave the instructions.
"There must be absolutely no mistakes in security work."
Go and inform Comrade Farmer to personally select the people responsible for the security of this inspection team.
"Yes, I'll take care of it right away!"
After the foreign affairs department leader left, the superior leader picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and his gaze fell on the report again, and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Good lad, it seems that Comrade Aiguo is about to make another great contribution for us this time."
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, inside the Asahi Shimbun newspaper building.
After hanging up the phone, Kuronuma walked quickly toward the editor-in-chief's office.
Just now, the head of the bereaved families association informed him that the east side had agreed to allow vehicles from the Kinki region to send people to visit.
Kuronuma, as a special correspondent, will also travel to the East as part of the tour group.
This means that the long-planned project is finally about to begin.
He must ask the newspaper for leave immediately.
After learning about this, the editor-in-chief hesitated for a moment, but still processed the relevant procedures for Kuronuma.
"Kuronuma-kun..." The editor-in-chief handed over the leave request, his tone somewhat meaningful.
"Logically speaking, there are some things that I, as the boss, shouldn't be saying."
However, since we've worked together for so many years, as your senior, I'd like to offer you a friendly reminder.
Some things are simply not for people like us to get involved in.
"Don't get yourself into a mess and not even know how you died."
"Editor-in-chief, the more you say that, the more confused I get," Kuronuma chuckled, pretending to be clueless as he accepted the leave slip.
"Please don't worry, I'm just going to do some research and write a field report."
When I return triumphantly from the East, I will definitely treat you to sake at the best izakaya in Ginza!
After saying that, Kuronuma turned around and left the editor-in-chief's office without waiting for a moment.
The moment he turned around, the smile on his face immediately turned cold and smug.
Hmph, old man, you can just keep accumulating seniority here!
Once I achieve that unparalleled feat in the East this time, when I return, the editor-in-chief position you're sitting on will be mine!
However, before officially boarding the plane to the East, he still needed to make one more trip to the secret stronghold of the Remnant Clan Association.
The big boss has already devised a perfect action plan for him...
Kuronuma was feeling quite smug at the moment, unaware that a pair of eyes were watching his every move.
(End of this chapter)