December 35th, the sixth year of Taiping in the Ming Dynasty, is New Year's Eve.
The sound of crackling firecrackers sounded, and people surged into Longzhong Village. As in previous years, the children of the Zhuge family who are scattered all over the country, as long as they can walk far, will take various means of transportation to Beijing from late December... I have been to this China The festival that people value most.
On December 35th, the children of the Zhuge family who returned to Beijing will gather together at Longzhong Village to have New Year's Eve dinner together and pay homage to their ancestors. For the children of the Zhuge family scattered everywhere, the annual Spring Festival gathering at Longzhong Village is not just as simple as having a meal and wishing each other happy New Year. It is also a way for most of them to maintain family connections and perhaps family support. Even if it is effective, it is also the lowest cost method.
Those Zhuges who are prospering need to recruit juniors from the family to be their helpers, while those Zhuges whose talents are temporarily unappreciated or simply do not have much talent need to use the opportunity of the Chinese New Year to get close to those "big Zhuges" in order to gain promotion. opportunities. There are also many self-employed Zhuges who also need to take advantage of this opportunity for everyone to get together to raise some venture capital. There are also many Zhuges who have a lot of spare money in their pockets and no place to invest. They also want to use this annual family gathering to find some profitable projects...
So on New Year's Eve, you can always see some novel things here in Longzhong Village, which is almost like an expo. On New Year's Eve this year, the most eye-catching things here in Longzhongzhuang are undoubtedly cars and airships!
"Right rudder, full right rudder... Uncle One Hundred and Eighth, turn the steering wheel to the right quickly..."
Outside the "Beijing Institute of Technology" building in Longzhongzhuang, Zhuge Weidao was holding a steering wheel and driving a handmade wooden-shell convertible under the guidance of Zhuge Weili, Zhuge Weijiu's grandson.
Zhuge Weidao had learned to drive in his previous life (he had not bought a car yet), and he had learned to drive an airship in this life, but this was the first time he heard someone shouting "right hand rudder" in a car, and the "steering wheel" he was holding on was the same. You can tell by looking at it that it is a steering wheel used to steer a ship.
In addition to using a steering wheel instead of a steering wheel, the interior of this car is also very poor. The chairs are hard and it hurts your butt when you sit on them, but the material is quite solid and seems to be made of mahogany. There are definitely no seat belts, and don't even think about airbags. But fortunately, there are brakes, but they are not pedal-operated, but hand-operated. As for manual transmission or automatic transmission, there is no transmission. The speed of the car is entirely controlled by the accelerator. Once the car is kicked to the bottom, it will move forward at full speed. This car is equipped with a four-cylinder in-line 12-horsepower engine and can speed around the "Beijing Institute of Technology Building" at a speed of up to 30 kilometers per hour. .
In addition, the endurance of these two cars is much better than the previous "horse-electric hybrid" car. You only need to prepare one type of fuel, which is gasoline. As long as the fuel tank is filled up, you can run for 300 kilometers continuously! Based on Zhuge Weidao's experience and this point alone, the final winner in this round of "battle between gasoline and electricity" must be the car.
Of course, it is impossible for this car to be put into mass production at the moment. This car is not even a prototype. Dingtian is just a test car for the power system. If you want to build a car that can be marketed, you must at least have a car seat that does not rub your butt, a transmission that can shift gears, a seat belt, a brake that you can step on, a windshield, and a A roof that can protect you from wind, rain, and sun, oh, and a shock absorber spring... This is the industry chain!
The industrial chain of the automobile industry is quite long. When the automobile industry matures, a car will need tens of thousands of parts, and these parts will also have their upstream supporting companies. The entire industrial chain added together is a huge industrial system.
It was this industrial system that helped the Chosen Country in another timeline win two world wars and finally become the world hegemon!
Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao released the accelerator and then pulled the brakes. The car's brakes were very hard and it stopped suddenly, as if it was a sudden stop. Zhuge Weidao's body rushed forward and almost hit the steering wheel. Fortunately, Zhuge Weili beside him was quick-sighted. Pulled him.
Zhuge Weidao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, turned around and said to Zhuge Weili: "Shaoxuan, your car is not bad, it has enough power and enough battery life, but there are still some areas that need improvement. I will give them to you later. An evaluation report for your reference."
Although Zhuge Weili is the grandson of a great military advisor, he is very polite in dealing with others and is not a dandy at all. He smiled humbly and said: "Uncle One Hundred and Eighth, thank you very much!"
"We are all a family, so why say thank you? Besides, I also invested money in your car dealership. We are doing business together. If you are good to me, I am good to you!" As Zhuge Youdao spoke, he opened a creaking door. He opened the car door and got out of Zhuge Weili's car.
But his test drive is not over yet, because there is not just one car that was pulled to Longzhongzhuang today, but sixteen various cars, trams, steam cars, and gas cars waiting for Zhuge Weidao to try them one by one. Then he has to write an evaluation report for each car, pointing out their advantages, disadvantages and areas for improvement, and giving investment suggestions - based on the results of the meeting of the military division, the Zhuge family will establish an automobile industry The fund focuses on investing in start-up automobile manufacturers. Among them, the money invested in automobile factories founded by the children of the three royal families, eight aristocratic families, and noble families can only account for up to 30% of the total assets of the fund. The remaining 70% must be invested in civilian entrepreneurs!
According to the tradition of the Zhuge Family Military Advisors, only the five youngest members have the right to decide on venture capital targets. Zhuge Weidao is now the youngest member of the military division, so he is the only one who has the task of test driving cars, trams, and gas cars.
In addition to test driving a car, after the New Year, he also had to test drive an airship... The Zhuge family established an aviation industry fund very early and spent a lot of money on the airship! Many airships, large and small, were built, including the "Flying Dragon III" boat that shined in the Battle of Peshawar. After the Battle of Peshawar, airships suddenly became a "hot industry" again, so today there are twenty or thirty airships of various sizes floating in the sky above Longzhong Village, all looking for investment.
Although Zhuge Weidao is not planning to build airships, airships and airplanes can fly in the sky. If you can build airships, maybe you can also build airplanes, right? So he has to carefully examine those airships to see which one has excellent workmanship quality?
...
The whole morning passed by just getting in the car, driving, braking and getting off. Zhuge Weidao's eyes were opened this time. It turns out that cars can be so simple and weird. But he was relieved. The Zhuge family alone had already created so many "classic cars". How many "classic cars" were there in the country? This is really a bit of the excitement of China's new energy vehicle market in later generations... But there is no "Tesla" in the West now, and I don't seem to have heard of Ford, Mercedes-Benz, or BMW. Ming Dynasty should be far ahead. , I feel happy just thinking about it!
Zhuge Weidao was thinking about happy things, while shaking his feather fan, "very Zhuge" walked into the "Beijing Institute of Technology" building that was like a holy place under the gaze of a group of "Zhuge entrepreneurs" - today In the afternoon, he and other members of the military division will worship their ancestor Zhuge Wuzhong there, and then go to the square outside the "Beijing Institute of Technology" building to receive New Year greetings from "Eight Hundred Zhuge", and then two hundred A multi-table New Year's Eve dinner (for Babai Zhuge and their families), and finally, setting off firecrackers, watching fireworks, and staying up late on the New Year's Eve, waiting for the New Year's Day tomorrow, and there are a lot of projects...all this and more Together, it’s really full of flavor!
"Brother 108, you came just in time. Come here quickly and take a look at this."
As soon as Zhuge Weidao entered the room, he saw the great military advisor Zhuge Weijiu waving him over with a feather fan, and seemed to be holding a telegraph newspaper in his other hand.
Zhuge Weidao hurried forward and took the telegram from Zhuge Weijiu. He looked down and frowned, saying: "The United Kingdom, France, Rakshasa Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Sweden, and the Kingdom of Sardinia are ready. Declaring war on the Turkish Empire together? How can we make so much noise to attack Turkey? Great Military Advisor, is this news accurate?"
Zhuge Weijiu said: "Look who sent it?"
Zhuge Weidao looked down and whispered: "Happy New Year, your dearest Marie Antoinette... It seems the news is quite accurate!"
