"Foreigners' perception of China is only in the era of poverty and ignorance. What we have to do is to establish the overall brand of Huaxia. Meng Xiang said.

Later generations have a first impression of the recognition of a country, and the image of the country is like a brand, composed of many elements.

For example, when it comes to the Germans, elements such as machinery and the German Army have created an image of a rigorous and stereotypical army staff officer; Hollywood in the United States has succeeded in portraying the image of a brave cowboy in people's minds; said that he was always described as an obscene image by the Chinese, and his low height was also related to the factors of love action movies; When foreigners think of China, they don't think of the Chinese delicacies that have changed their tastes to suit their tastes, but the ceramics and silks that are praised in many Western allusions in the earliest period. As for the Chinese people, they are always associated with the early braids, the red in the middle period, and the later image without a sense of public morality.

In this era, many foreigners' impression of Chinese people is limited to braids.

"People's consumption and purchasing habits are also affected by this, if they like something in a country, they may love the house and Wu, and even their other goods will be liked." Meng Xiang had a group of haha people in his mind, and there was no need for a reason to buy and consume. Some have watched a few more film and television works, and a lot of stick goods are bought at home as high-end goods.

Although they exaggerate, the positive establishment of a country's brand is indeed conducive to the country's political and economic interests. Just as the United States is preparing to build Tsinghua University, making those Chinese elites feel good may influence their lifelong decisions about the United States.

In the final analysis, the image of a country comes from the strength of the country and the overall quality of its citizens.

At this time, the national mentality had fallen to the bottom. The total denial of oneself and the all-round acceptance of foreign flattery are all moving towards extremes. For so many years, even conservative people knew that Huaxia had declined.

Internally, it needs a long-term development process, slowly cultivated, and the external effect is often much faster, often a work or film can give people an intuitive first impression, and the red sorghum of later generations has given many foreigners another standard for understanding Chinese people.

But where is cultural penetration so simple and so fast? The dominant culture of the West rejects Eastern elements. Even the fast food of the family portrait relies on low prices to attract low-end consumer groups, and the taste of foreigners is different from that of Chinese people. So many fast food products are introduced in order to constantly adjust the taste to adapt to the local eating habits. This is also a re-innovation of Chinese cuisine.

When food was scarce during World War II, pig food was turned into a delicacy. People always have some nostalgic attachment to things that are deeply memorable. Mengxiang's early layout is to take this opportunity to create a Chinese food classic.

At this time, the impression of Huaxia had already taken root among adults, and Huaxia did not have enough strength to overturn the impression in their minds at this time.

"To change the image of Huaxia, we must start with the doll!" Meng Xiang's instructions not only made compulsory education universally available in China, but also began his impression of Chinese people abroad from childhood.

"Let's start with the children, so that they can have a good impression of Huaxia from an early age." Meng Xiang thought of the Barbie doll in later generations. Barbie's blonde hair and blue eyes have become the standard of beauty in the minds of many Chinese people.

Under Meng Xiang's arrangement, two toy factories were established in the Special Economic Zone early on, which absorbed a large number of idle people into employment. On the one hand, the toy factory develops educational toys for children to play, and on the other hand, it is also producing Fuwa. The kind at the door of the family portrait is just one of them. After more than 100 processes of wood, celluloid and rubber materials, Fuwa went down the assembly line, and with a series of trendy clothing launched by Caiyun Clothing Company and Fuwa Toys, Fuwa has become the most fashionable toy today.

"Dumping at low prices, trying to have one for every child. It doesn't matter if the price is low now, it will pay off later. Meng Xiang instructed, thinking that a Barbie doll in later generations would have hundreds of sets of clothes, and he knew where their high profits came from.

Not only do family portraits buy this kind of blessing at the door, but also various children's foundations and organizations that protect the interests of children are also distributing these loving donations for free. Meng Xiang's principle is that you don't lose money. However, due to the hot sales of Fuwa, although many low-grade gifts have to lose money, the mid-to-high-end dolls have become gold coins.

The hot sales of Fuwa toys have also made the toy factory continue to expand, and some components have been contracted to those individual workshops, which has led to the rise of a number of industries. Every day, many peasants come to the city to look for work during the off-season.

In the Special Economic Zone, it is not unusual for new factories to open every day and a large number of jobs are needed.

The stable environment, as well as the financial support of the Taiping Bank through the political axe of the Special Administrative Region, and the influx of hot money investment from other occupied areas, have led to more and more industries in the Special Economic Zone. Similarly, with the stability of the surrounding area, industry and commerce in the Beijing-Tianjin area have also begun to recover.

"Taxes on industry and commerce are getting higher and higher, but there is also a shortcoming. Private capital invests in light industries that produce quick results and reach the investment level, while heavy industries are only concentrated in mining. Zhou Bai pointed to the statistical report at the end of the year and said worriedly, "Without the development of heavy industry, Huaxia will always be controlled by others!" ”

He is a strong supporter of the development of heavy industry, and has been mentioning it in Meng Xiang's ear several times.

Regarding the concept that heavy industry is the basis of industry, this Meng Xiang knows better than him. In later generations, China maintained its economic reading power because of the solid foundation of heavy industry, and compared with India, we can see the great role of the construction of China's industrial foundation for decades.

"Heavy industry, in particular, is an inherent law that cannot be strengthened overnight. He is the foundation of the industrial system, from the extractive industry to provide cheap high-quality minerals, to metallurgy, chemicals, to bearings, screws, gears, and further to machine tools, to various industrial products. It needs to be consolidated step by step, and significant benefits cannot be seen in a short period of time. In times of war, it is normal for private capital to lack interest. If you invest in it, and you don't produce it for three or five years, you will be occupied by devils, and you won't lose money. In the end, there is still a lack of confidence in us. Meng Xiang said indifferently.

The basis of heavy industry is the raw materials for energy. Regarding the use of materials, Meng Xiang already had a deep understanding at this time.

A lot of achievements have been made in various laboratories, but they have not been able to promote production, and the most important thing is that Huaxia lacks all kinds of materials at this time.

Just steel, Huaxia can't help but be small in quantity, and the quality is not up to par. If it wasn't for some steel materials on the base products, some tests could not be done.

It takes a long time to develop it yourself, and under the condition that the basic research is not relaxed, Meng Xiang also bought the German formula.

The metallurgical level of the Germans has always stood at the top of the world.

At this time, the blockade of technology was not so serious, and the technology purchased by Meng Xiang was not the most advanced, and the bid was high, so there was some metallurgical technology of the Germans.

Out of the Germans, Meng Xiang also set his sights on the Czechs.

As far as Meng Xiang knows, the world's best midboard armor for warships in World War II was the British 1930CA and the German KCN/A. Among them, the 1930ca was imported from the Czech Republic. The British can bring it in, but the Chinese may not be able to bring it in. Although the technical barriers are weaker at this time, the formulas of such materials are a national secret, and they cannot be obtained without a certain relationship.

Meng Xiang tried once to no avail. The British could provide protection to the Czechs, and it made sense for the Czechs to send the recipe. Although the Czech Republic is a second-rate country in Europe, it still looks down on China.

"In less than half a year, whether it is technology or people, I will also search for them all." Meng Xiang calculated the time, and the first half of 39 years was the time when the Germans invaded Czechoslovakia. At this time, the Czech Republic was also an industrial power in Europe, and 70% of the original Austro-Hungarian Empire's industry was concentrated in the Czech Republic, and its machinery manufacturing was very strong, and the military production was also good, and the excellence of the Czech machine gun was the embodiment of their strong industry.

Meng Xiang has already collected a list of Czech experts, and more than a dozen international students who have studied in the Czech Republic for half a year will help their mentors and more talents escape from German rule when the time is right. Although they won't all come to Huaxia, if they adopt a little strategy halfway, some of the people they focus on will be brought.

"The steel mills in Qidu and Jinan produced a total of nearly 20,000 tons of steel last year. At this time, there was Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant, and the construction of Laiwu Steel Plant was nearing completion. It is estimated that it will be put into production next year. Next year, we will be able to produce more than 100,000 tons of steel. Zhou Bai was also very excited about this amount. Excluding the steel mills in the hands of the vanguards, the total steel output of the unoccupied areas of China this year is less than 50,000 tons.

"Investment in heavy industry still needs to be led by a political axe to guide others to take shares. If it really doesn't work, the political axe force can directly support investment, and then absorb private capital after stability. This is more conducive to management, as in Soviet Russia. Zhou Bai said.

Meng Xiang smiled, for the involvement of the power of the political axe, this is inevitable, even Europe and the United States after World War II are large-scale political axe intervention, just grasp the problem of a degree.

Regarding the 100,000 tons of steel, he also felt to some extent that the weapons and equipment of the vanguard army did not need the support of the special zone iron and steel mills, and the annual output of many small steel mills that were shut down in later generations also exceeded 100,000 tons.

"Next year, we will launch new projects, Handan Iron and Steel Plant and Xuanhua Iron and Steel Plant can start construction. In addition, if the two metallurgical technologies that are being tackled next year are developed, we will be able to produce even higher output. The two metallurgical technologies mentioned by Meng Xiang were prompted by Meng Xiang before they began to tackle key problems.

Every innovation in material technology is an opportunity to break the old pattern. Undoubtedly, the metallurgical technology of oxygen top blowing and bottom blowing converter is a technology that breaks the order of steel.

At this time, the international steelmaking furnace still used the Martin open-hearth steelmaking method and Thomas's converter steelmaking method. In addition, the electric arc furnace steelmaking method, which was invented in 1899 to smelt high-quality steel, uses raw materials from scrap steel. Larger-scale production is still the first two.

In 52, the oxygen top blowing converter method appeared, which supplied oxygen from above the converter.

Due to the use of pure oxygen blowing, it will reduce carbon at high speed, quickly increase temperature, and greatly shorten the smelting time. A 300-ton converter produces a furnace in less than an hour, of which the blowing time is only 20 minutes. Moreover, due to the use of pure oxygen blowing, the content of harmful gases such as nitrogen and hydrogen in the steel is low, and the steel produced is of many varieties and of good quality.

The most important thing is that this method has low infrastructure investment and production costs. In addition to the consumption of pure oxygen, the infrastructure investment of pure oxygen top blowing converter is equivalent to 60~70% of the open-hearth workshop with the same production volume, and the production cost is also lower than that of open-hearth furnace.

In addition, there is a bottom blowing method, but limited to technical conditions, there is no double-layer blowing pipe, Yan Enqi, Wang Zhixi, Wei Shoukun they developed only pure oxygen top blowing converter method. And the test furnace at the beginning was only 5 tons. But if these 5 tons are successful, they can also have an output of more than 10,000 tons in a year.

Meng Xiang has always kept this technology strictly secret, and this technology is an innovative technology that can quickly double steel production. When Huaxia was still very weak, it didn't do much good to Huaxia to spread it.

This is complemented by the continuous steel casting technology that emerged in the 50s. This involves many aspects, including the research of mechanical automation, although the research has been carried out at this time, but the progress is not large. Meng Xiang couldn't help it, he just provided these words and a little simple idea, and he didn't know the specifics.

Another technology that has the potential to break through soon is ductile casting.

Modern ductile iron was not successfully invented by the British until 1947, but unearthed in the Western Han Dynasty cultural relics, a lot of iron products show that ductile iron has already been obtained by the method of softening and annealing of low silicon pig iron castings, although it is only the original use of ductile ink, and some gaps from modern inventions, but it can not but be said to be a miracle. It's just that the casual surname of the Chinese people to science and the low status of craftsmen have made its production method drowned in the long river of history.

Compacted graphite cast iron has both ductile iron and gray cast iron, which can be directly cast by the cast iron method, and has the surname of steel, and the price is cheap. It is these excellent surnames that can make it develop more and more rapidly in later generations.

It involves the addition of rare earths, and the test is fine, but when it comes to production, it may be a little troublesome. But Meng Xiang knew that there were a lot of Baiyun Ebo, and if it was developed, Baotou Steel would also be built on the new territory of the vanguard army.

The study was led by Zhou Ren and his partner Zhou Xingjian. It was Zhou Ren who developed his own ductile iron in Huaxia around 50 years. The engineering research institute he presided over was also incorporated into several laboratories of the Vanguard Army, but Zhou Ren led more personnel.

In addition to the study of ductile iron, the two also worked together on electric furnace steelmaking. In later generations, it was they who smelted the first electric furnace steel in China in 39 years, and in this era, this time has been advanced, and in November, they have just succeeded. What helped them the most was the stable and large amount of electricity provided by the base power station.

The foundation of heavy industry is inseparable from energy. After the Mengxiang upgrade, the efficiency of the base power station has also been improved, and it has been improved to the highest combustion efficiency in modern times. The maximum efficiency of the base power station means that the supply of coal is not as tight as Meng Xiang imagined. Moreover, in the case of a long construction period of the power station, the stable transmission of electric energy from the base power station is more cost-effective.

The lack of oil and the backwardness of the efficiency of the steam engine have made Meng Xiang have been planning to let China enter the era of electrification. The future development is also the era of electrification, and electrical energy can be converted into different forms of energy, and the utilization rate is more convenient than that of internal combustion engines.

The technology for electric motors and generators, Meng Xiang also got from the Germans, although it was expensive and not necessarily the latest research results, but it was worth it.

After solving the problems of metallurgy and energy, the heavy industry in the theater of operations began to take off, and the equipment imported from the Germans has gradually entered the theater for installation and commissioning, and the purchased technology has also been slowly digested and absorbed by the study of many skilled workers in the special zone with the help of German technicians and Jewish technicians respectively.

"The road to the development of heavy industry is very long, let's not be impatient, lay a good foundation, and take our time!" Meng Xiang said with a smile. Of course, he doesn't need to be in a hurry, the weapons and equipment are all made in the base, and there is not much pressure that heavy industry lacks at all. This also allows Huaxia to slowly lay a solid foundation for future take-off.

"There's another base, it's time to get there, right?" He looked at the map of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and couldn't help but think.

During this period of time, he still did not come to attack, and even the smoke of gunpowder in Wuhan seemed to be light. He said that he was busy cleaning up the rebel groups in the occupied territory every day, and looting the wealth on the territory. The umbrella had already promised them a rapprochement, and the old parity was sold to them two Nagato-class battleships. But a different cooperation agreement was signed. One of them is that mines can be mined in the occupied areas and minerals can be shipped out.

Within a few days, an Italian consignment of an umbrella company arrived near Hangzhou Bay.

"What is this, why is it so big?" Miki Shigeichi looked at the big iron guy in front of him. The steel plates on it were a little rusty, but its sheer size was daunting.

"This is our mining machine." Jian 88, who was holding the pass of the Huaxia Dispatch Army next to him, explained with his head held high.