Chapter 453 Working hard for the strength of the motherland

 In the Mingzhou Shipyard, the lights were bright.

Although it is already evening, the workers are still working enthusiastically. After dinner, they will work overtime for several hours.

The basic salary is very high, and overtime pay is also provided. Seeing that the orders in the shipyard are tight and overwhelmed, everyone is voluntarily working overtime. In fact, it doesn't matter how much they earn, because their wages are already beyond this industry. That's a lot.

 In the dock, work continues.

It's just that you can't see the sparks of the electric arc here. All you can see are the sparks of the friction of the grinding wheel, and what you can hear is a harsh sound.

 They worked very hard.

In a short period of time, the rust removal work on the bow has been completed, and the entire ship has revealed a shiny appearance. The front half, which shines with metallic luster, forms a sharp contrast with the rear half, which is still reddish brown. .

“Everyone, come on, polish another half meter, and then we’ll go back to bed!” Kozlov shouted loudly.

“Why should we go back to sleep? We can just carry the bedrolls and sleep in the bridge. The ship is getting more and more beautiful, and I am reminded of the scene when we welded it,” said a companion.

It was originally welded with such bright steel plates, but after several years of exposure to wind and sun, its appearance changed.

Now, seeing the ship reveal its former outline under their own hands, how could they not be excited.

 For them, wages and other matters are secondary. They can’t wait to bring the ship to life.

A cloud of dust filled the air, blocking their sight. They did not see a group of people approaching.

 Lao Liu was very excited.

I have been dreaming of an aircraft carrier for many years. Now, the dream is finally turning into a reality. This aircraft carrier is right in front of me!

The polished parts shone under the light, and everyone felt a little dazzled. They didn’t know whether it was reflection of light or because their eyes were wet.

“Mr. Liu, be careful.” Seeing Mr. Liu going up the scaffolding, everyone was a little worried.

"I'm not old yet." Mr. Liu said, climbing up the scaffolding vigorously, looking at the bow of the ship close at hand, and gently touched it with his hand, just like stroking his own child.

“After everything is polished, a layer of anti-rust paint will be applied. If we apply it now, it will be contaminated by the dust over there.” Qin Tao said: “Now, do all the leaders want to go back?”

“We just came here, how can we go back? We have to go up and have a look!” Mr. Liu said and continued to climb the scaffolding.

 The height of ten stories! Qin Tao really regretted not setting up a special lift for the construction site next to him. Now, he can only watch Mr. Liu walking up the ladder made of steel pipes step by step, and he is really worried that he will miss the mark.

 Fortunately no.

Mr. Liu came to the deck and stood on the **** of the jump deck.

From here, you can see the hugeness of the entire warship. Although the middle part is still being polished, causing dust to rise, the outline of the rear half can still be seen under the light.

"Lao Maozi's industrial foundation is still very strong, especially this kind of deck steel." Qin Tao introduced: "It belongs to the second level in the world, with high strength and strong corrosion resistance. With a little polishing to remove the floating rust on the surface, it can be Reveal this metallic luster."

“Do we have this kind of steel in our country?” Mr. Liu asked.

The aircraft carrier is a huge system project that involves progress in all aspects. It is also very difficult to select steel for the aircraft carrier. There are too few deck steels in the world that can produce this kind of deck steel.

"Currently, our Mingzhou Group is developing similar steel. The performance is close to Lao Maozi's steel. However, we have not yet fully mastered the smelting technology, and the quality of the steel produced is uneven." Qin Tao said: "Also, we don't have The area of ​​the steel plates smelted by large-scale steel rolling equipment is not large enough, and there will be many welds. Later, when we master the smelting technology and purchase large-scale steel rolling equipment, we can make large steel plates."

"Mr. Qin has done so much work. It seems that the aircraft carrier built by our navy will definitely fall to your Mingzhou Group." A leader said.

"Of course this requires bidding, and we also have to follow the rules. In the future, the navy will need more aircraft carriers, and there must not be only one shipyard to undertake the order." Qin Tao said, "Just like the United States, there must be at least two A shipyard to build it.”

 “Is there too many?”

"Yes, our country has a vast sea area and a long maritime transportation line. How can we use it if we don't have it? We need five or six ships at least, not counting this one." Qin Tao said: "We have only one shipbuilding company in Mingzhou. The factory will definitely not be able to produce it.”

 Five or six aircraft carriers!

Wu Shengli lamented again, you kid, you are really talking about nothing. Do you know how much an aircraft carrier formation costs? Our country is still struggling over whether to have an aircraft carrier. One of the reasons is the issue of funding. The navy is a waste of money!

It's not bad, but there are still five or six ships!

However, Wu Shengli did not speak, because he could see that when Qin Tao said this, Mr. Liu was obviously very excited, and his eyes were full of expectation.

 The navy will definitely have aircraft carriers in the future, and there must be a sufficient number of aircraft carriers, so as to safeguard the maritime rights and interests of the motherland!

“Leaders, I have looked and touched. Can you go down now?”

Qin Tao looked at the flying rust where the rust removal was being carried out and felt a little worried. This was dust pollution! Just take a look at it, everyone, don’t finish it!

In Qin Tao's eyes, this is really nothing to look at. When the renovation is completed, you can come up again. How beautiful it will be then!

“Yes, we have to go down, but we have to go down from the bridge and take a look inside!”

 Qin Tao frowned, what's there to see down there? Now we are just doing rust removal work on the outside, and the inside has not started yet. It looks like a mess. What’s the point of looking at it?

"Taozi, it's not easy for me to come here. I don't know when I can come next time. You can't refuse the request of an old man like me." Mr. Liu said.

 So, Qin Tao could only nod.

 Scaffolding has also been set up on the bridge. When the rust removal operation reaches the middle of the hull, the bridge will also be polished. After all, it is also the color of rust.

There is no one there yet. Under the leadership of Qin Tao, everyone passed through the deck where the rust was being polished and walked into the bridge.

When passing workers along the way, these workers opened their eyes wide and looked over curiously, not knowing what these people were doing.

"Work, keep working, what are you looking at?" Kozlov greeted his men.

Amidst the harsh sound of metal friction, everyone entered the hangar area below. It was like a stereo, the sound of friction was amplified, and it was like entering a bell, and then someone outside was ringing the bell.

However, the enthusiasm of the people has not diminished at all.

Qin Tao had no choice but to continue introducing it to everyone, passing through several decks and finally stopping in the engine room.

 Looking at the mess on the ground and the damaged places, everyone had mixed feelings in their hearts.

“These old fools really don’t know how to cherish it. Such a good ship has been damaged into this state!”

"Yes, did these old guys do it on purpose? Did they know they were going to sell the ship to us, so they deliberately destroyed it like this?"

"Of course not. Lao Maozi took apart the things inside, but it was all for selling money. If Ah San bought this boat and went back, it would be like this."

“This ship reminds me of the Red Empire. Its shabby appearance is just like the lost empire, which has been in disarray and decay.”

 This sentence got everyone thinking again.

 That’s right, that once powerful empire has now become what it is before our eyes, which is really disappointing.

"However, it will be reborn in our country, just like our motherland, and it will gradually become stronger! Our Chinese nation will also stand tall among the nations of the world!"

Wu Shengli looked over in surprise. He couldn't believe that Qin Tao said these words.

This sentence not only represents Qin Tao’s voice, but also represents the voice of everyone present.

“Yes, for the sake of the strength of our motherland, everyone must work hard!” Mr. Liu was also very excited at this time.

 When we left the aircraft carrier, it was already midnight, and there were all the stars above our heads.

"Your Mingzhou Group's guest house is said to be very luxurious, but today, we will stay at the Fleet Guest House. When the ship is made public in the future, we will go to the Mingzhou Group Guest House again." Mr. Liu got on the car with a smile, and Others leave.

Watching these people go away, Qin Tao yawned.

This is really a busy day. I am tired. These people who are twice as old as me must be even more tired. However, they are all in good spirits. This is really a good time for people to feel refreshed. Seeing this situation , they couldn't help but be excited.

"Mr. Qin, I just received the news... How about we wait until tomorrow?"

"What's the news, just tell me!" Qin Tao felt that in his current state, he wouldn't be able to sleep at all when he went back. After all, he was a little excited today, so he might as well listen to what happened so that he could participate in the decision-making.

“During the construction of our nuclear power plant, we hired several geological experts to do a survey. It turned out that there was something going on at Xiaolie Mountain.”

If it is an ordinary nuclear power plant, site selection is very important and requires careful geological exploration. However, the Mingzhou Group's nuclear power plant uses a complete system of nuclear submarines. Even if the mountains collapse, this system will not There will be no major problems, so the early geological exploration was not carried out at full strength. It was almost construction and exploration at the same time.

It’s just that when they were exploring the Dali Mountains, how did they discover that there was something wrong with the Xiaoli Mountains?

Qin Tao was a little curious.

 “What’s going on in Xiaolie Mountain?”

 “In Xiaolie Mountain, a huge cave.”

"What?"

 Qin Tao was shocked by the news: "How big is it?"

“It is said to be very big, about six million cubic meters.”

“Great, it should be no problem to store five million tons of crude oil like this.” Qin Tao immediately made a decision: “Let’s go and take a look!”

“Mr. Qin, is it too late?”

 “It’s not too late, and I can’t sleep anyway.”

 “We have to take a boat there.”

 “Okay, let’s talk about it tomorrow.”

 Early in the morning the next day, Qin Tao took a boat to Xiaolie Mountain.

"Mr. Qin, when we were conducting geological exploration, we could always hear strange echoes. After repeated judgments, we thought there was a cavity underground here, so we went to Xiaolie Mountain and tentatively drilled a hole. , it can be drilled through about ten meters below sea level." Standing on a small mountain with an altitude of less than fifty meters, geological expert Zhang Wenlong said.

When Mingzhou Group was building the shipyard, they invited Zhang Wenlong. After that, the two parties established a cooperative relationship. No matter what geological exploration project they encountered, they would come to Zhang Wenlong.

The construction of a nuclear power plant this time is no exception. After Zhang Wenlong arrived, he began to explore, and then he was surprised to find that there was a situation where the underground might be empty!

Everyone is worried. If the mountains are empty, is it safe for them to build nuclear power plants? Maybe the whole project will have to be stopped. As a result, after drilling, it was found that it was solid and there was no problem.

So, what’s going on with the echo?

After searching for a long time, they finally determined their location and aimed at Xiaolie Mountain.

Ordinarily, Xiaolie Mountain was no longer under their control, but they still wanted to give it a try, so they came here and drilled a drill. After doing this, they immediately discovered that the bottom of Xiaolie Mountain was empty!

In fact, they had already discovered this result during the day yesterday, but since Qin Tao had been accompanying the leader, they could not pass the news to Qin Tao. It was not until the leader left that Xu Zhengyang reported the news to Qin Tao.

It is indeed inconvenient to take a boat at night, so Qin Tao can only arrive now. However, this news is really important to Qin Tao.

“We used some methods yesterday to conduct a rough detection. This space is about six million cubic meters, and it is a very rare underground cave area.”

Qin Tao nodded: "Yes, this is really good news. We can use it as our natural oil depot!"

 Originally, I planned to buy a batch of scrapped oil tankers and directly find a dock to dock them and use them as floating oil depots. But now there is no need for them. This underground oil depot is enough!

"Mr. Qin, is there any leakage here?" Xu Zhengyang was a little worried.

“If there is a leak inside, then what we explore is not a cave, but a well.” Zhang Wenlong explained.

This underground cave is naturally formed and involves complex geological tectonic movements. There is no need to explain these. Just make it clear: This thing does not leak!

The top of this cave is ten meters below sea level, and the entire cave is underwater. If it leaked, water from the outside would have poured in, filling the entire cave.

“So, will it leak after we use it?” Xu Zhengyang was still a little worried.

 What if it didn’t leak originally, but then it leaked after millions of tons of crude oil were put into it? If this is missed, we will be in big trouble.

The best way is to test it in advance to make sure that everything inside is in good condition and can withstand it before using it. However, if you go in for survey, it will definitely be a big project.

"It has withstood strong water pressure underwater and has not leaked. If we pour crude oil into it, it will definitely not leak. Moreover, even if it leaks, the crude oil will not leak out under the action of water pressure. This kind of underground oil depot has been widely used abroad for a long time."

 After 1973, countries began to increase crude oil reserves, and they had to figure out a way: how to store it?

If you put it in oil drums and pile it directly on the dock, of course there is no problem, but it is too wasteful!

 Build a big jar to store? The cost is not low either.

 So smart people began to think of a way: use natural caves to store crude oil! It can also be something like an abandoned mine, which can be stored!

 Won’t crude oil leak?

Then you have to choose a site, choose a place with groundwater, and you have to choose a cave that is lower than the groundwater. In this way, the static pressure of the groundwater in the rock wall is greater than the static pressure of the oil storage, and the crude oil is always sealed in the rock. The water in the walls and cracks forms a closed space and will not leak out.

The crude oil will not go out, but the water will seep in, which is equivalent to mixing water into the crude oil. However, this problem is not difficult to solve. The specific gravity of oil and water is different. As long as they are not stirred intentionally, oil and water will not mix. , water is heavier than oil and will only fall under the crude oil. Just set up a water pump at the bottom of the cave to pump away the water that leaks in.

This kind of operation is to seal the cave oil reservoir with underground water. It has a history of several decades and is considered a mature technology in the West.

 Now, it is even more appropriate for our side to be built directly at the entrance to the sea.

Even if some people suspect that it is not environmentally friendly, destroys fresh water resources, etc., there is no problem. Anyway, the water flowing through here enters the sea and will not interfere with the use of the coast.

"This is at the mouth of the sea, and there is no bridge. Therefore, oil tankers of hundreds of thousands of tons can also move here. As long as the river silt here is cleared, a port can be built here, or a ship can be docked directly here. When tankers come for transshipment, the crude oil can be stored in this underground oil storage system, and then a pipeline can be laid directly to the shore. A refinery can be set up on the shore to smelt it directly and then transport it by land." Qin Tao continued to analyze: "This way, the place can function."

You can’t find anything even if you wear iron shoes, but it takes no effort at all to get there!

“Mr. Qin, will our Mingzhou Group also become an energy giant?” Xu Zhengyang was also very happy.

 Qin Tao shook his head: "No."

No?

"The expansion of our group is getting bigger and bigger. We should get less exposure to this energy source." Qin Tao naturally has his concerns: "Now, this project needs to be demonstrated first, especially the detailed geological analysis. Will it be possible?" There will be earthquakes and the like. If there are no problems and the demonstration is completely feasible, we will hand it over to the Navy. If the Navy is not interested, we will take over."

 Mingzhou Group is getting bigger and bigger. Qin Tao doesn't want the group to be too bloated. He hopes that the group will develop into a high-tech field. It is better to leave this kind of profitable business to others. To avoid being ridiculed, oil barrels are getting more and more expensive.

Of course, Qin Tao will not give the advantages to domestic oil companies. The navy needs these things even more. If the Navy doesn't want it, then the Mingzhou Group will have no choice but to take over on its own. Anyway, I have stepped in now.

Xu Zhengyang’s eyes are full of admiration. Mr. Qin is such a person, just like his father!

“If we can store five million tons of crude oil, will it be able to meet our domestic demand?” Zhang Wenlong was also very excited.

Qin Tao smiled: "That's a little more? How can five million tons be enough? Fifty million tons is not even enough, and 500 million tons is about the same."

 500 million tons?

Everyone was shocked by the number Qin Tao said.

 Actually, this number is quite a lot. It is the amount of oil imported by the motherland in later generations. In other words, if there is an underground oil depot that can store crude oil for a year, there will be many benefits.

 For example, when the price of crude oil is at its lowest, you can keep buying and buying, and then save it. When the price of crude oil rises, you can make a lot of money whether you use it yourself or sell it.

If you want to have a stock of 500 million tons, neither oil barrels, above-ground oil tanks, nor offshore floating oil storage devices are enough. The only ones that can be used are these natural rock caves transformed into underground oil storage systems.

“We don’t have to worry about this project. We can have three years to prepare.” Qin Tao said.

Xu Zhengyang has become accustomed to the various time points given by Mr. Qin. Mr. Qin said that he must believe it.

Of course Qin Tao will remember clearly that three years later, in 1998, the famous Asian financial crisis broke out, which in turn led to a slowdown in global economic growth, oil demand also began to slow down, and oil prices began to plummet. In January 1997, the price of oil remained at US$24.8 per barrel. By December 1998, the price of oil had reached US$9.75 per barrel.

Therefore, it was most appropriate to buy the bottom at the end of 1998. I bought it for less than ten US dollars a barrel, filled the underwater oil depot, and sold it in 2001. The price at that time was as high as US$29.43. After everything was cleared, the Internet bubble burst, the global economy declined, and oil prices began to fall again.

 Just these two rounds of operations, if done well, you can make a lot of money. Based on 6 million barrels, if you earn 20 US dollars per barrel, you can earn more than 100 million US dollars!

 Two operations, that’s more than 200 million.

 For ordinary enterprises, this is already an unattainable number, but for Mingzhou Group, it is child's play, and Qin Tao really doesn't like it.

However, there are still three years until 1998. During these three years, some other projects must be planned in advance. If they work well, they can squeeze out more competitors.

Dazhou Company has been destroyed by Qin Tao, and the next one to be destroyed is of course Sanxing Company!

This kind of business partners are meant to be a trap. How can we develop ourselves if we don’t rip them off?

 At this time, Xu Zhengyang, Zhang Wenlong and others did not know that Qin Tao's thinking could fly to such an extent.

 (End of this chapter)