Chapter 178: A New Beginning! The Gamble of the Century!
"Carbon fiber embedded with titanium alloy!" Deng Peng's eyes were filled with the reflection of the fan blade that seemed to be emitting magic. Deng Peng, who had just been arguing with Luo Tianrong and Li Hezai, had completely lost his anger, replaced by endless shock and envy.
Lee Hyuk Jae raised his chin slightly and said, "Yes, this is the engine fan blade made of carbon fiber and titanium alloy. I just want to ask you, can you make it if I give you money?"
Deng Peng seemed to have his spine pulled out. He sat down on the chair, dazed and unconscious, unable to speak.
As we all know, civil aviation engines are now dominated by turbofan engines. Unlike turbojet engines, turbofan engines have a very large diameter fan in their low-pressure system. The air that enters the fan instead of the core engine is called bypass air.
Of course, this is a very rough literal translation, but in the current civil aviation engine field, considering the aircraft speed and propulsion efficiency, the mainstream field hopes that the so-called passing air through the peripheral fan is as much as possible. Therefore, a concept was born in the field of civil aviation engines, the ratio of the air passing through the fan and the air passing through the core engine, that is, the bypass ratio.
In the civilian field, the trend of large bypass ratio is basically unstoppable. However, this does not mean that you can get a turbofan engine with excellent performance by simply increasing the diameter of the fan.
Because when the fan diameter is increased, due to the existence of centrifugal force, under the ultra-high speed conditions of tens of thousands of revolutions per minute, coupled with the extra-long blade length and the increasing blade weight, ordinary materials may not be able to withstand such huge strength requirements and fall apart, so there are two ways to solve this problem.
CFM, or more precisely, GE, took a simple approach: Since the pressure requirements for high bypass ratio engine fan blades are very high, I will reduce the weight of the blades while increasing their strength.
While the world's aviation engine manufacturers were at a loss, GE took the lead in completing the certification of carbon fiber blades. Carbon fiber blades are much lighter than conventional alloy blades, but their strength is increased, which perfectly solves the fan requirements of high bypass ratio engines.
However, this is not the end, GM's technological capabilities have not yet been fully demonstrated.
After equipping the blades with carbon fiber, General Motors found that the blades could indeed perfectly pass the centrifugal force test under high-speed rotation, but the carbon fiber blades did not perform well in the bird strike test.
When encountering a bird strike, carbon fiber blades do not perform as well as conventional alloy blades.
If an ordinary company encountered this problem, it might be dumbfounded. However, General Motors has developed a process to embed light and high-strength titanium alloy into the blade edge.
In this way, the weakest part of the blade is wrapped with titanium alloy, thereby further increasing its strength, so that it can perfectly pass the bird strike test.
First it was the carbon fiber blade technology, then the titanium alloy mosaic technology. These arm-length engine fan blades were almost the pinnacle of human materials science, and they did not allow Deng Peng to feel hopeless.
It is precisely because Deng Peng is an expert that he can better understand the technical content contained in this blade and the gap between domestic and world-leading levels.
CFM company directly showed off the carbon fiber embedded titanium alloy blades and suppressed the whole audience. Everyone in the field was silent and no one dared to say anything.
Li Hejae hummed a light sound from his nose, but the sound was like thunder to Deng Peng's ears, shaking Deng Peng's mind.
Just with regard to the blade technology, even if they were given sufficient funding, it would be impossible for them to make any substantial progress in less than 20 years.
This is the cruel reality. Science and technology not only require continuous and strong support, but also time accumulation. In terms of first-mover advantage, Europe and the United States are much stronger than China.
Li Hee Jae's expression turned slightly regretful, and he patiently advised: "Manager Deng, this is an era of globalization, don't have that kind of closed-minded thinking. We are all doing business, as long as you are willing to pay, then we will provide the best products, isn't this good for both you and me?"
Deng Peng gritted his teeth and said, "What does the extra 15% premium mean?"
In fact, Deng Peng is not a rigid person. On the one hand, he has always had the dream of developing domestic aircraft engines and is willing to work hard for it. On the other hand, he can also correctly recognize the reality.
The technological gap in fuselage design of domestic large aircraft is not as large as that of aircraft engines. In other words, if all of them are independently developed, it is very likely that the fuselage structure can be built, but the aircraft engine cannot be built.
Therefore, Deng Peng also agreed to let domestic large aircraft use foreign engines at the beginning. This decision was made based on the pressure of reality and was a compromise in order not to slow down the overall self-development speed. When domestic aviation engines have made breakthrough progress, we will gradually replace them with our own power heart.
However, after this decision was made, AVIC naturally wanted the best engine for the advancement of domestic large aircraft. Among the world's aviation engine giants, GE is naturally the best. The LEAP series newly developed by its joint venture CFM based on the CFM56 has been determined to be the power source for the next generation of narrow-body aircraft of Airbus and Boeing. With the endorsement of the two major manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, AVIC also intends to choose this cutting-edge engine.
However, the price CFM quoted to AVIC was 15% higher than that of the AB model in the same series. Although it is normal for prices to fluctuate slightly due to slight differences between models, a 15% premium cannot be explained by engine differentiation.
You know, the power system of an aircraft often accounts for half of the value of the entire aircraft, which shows how high its value is. This 15% premium added to the high price of the engine is not a small amount.
Moreover, this premium is based on the catalog price. In other words, CFM's offer to AVIC is not preferential at all and will increase the price. However, according to the unspoken rules of the industry, the actual price obtained by Airbus and Boeing must be lower than the catalog price.
In this round of negotiations, AVIC was simply being taken advantage of. This was exactly what Deng Peng could not accept the most. CFM clearly saw that China could not produce high bypass ratio aircraft engines and kept raising the price.
Yes, AVIC can also go to other engine manufacturers. Although there is a lot of competition among the three major aviation engine giants, they are quite consistent in taking advantage of customers. Therefore, it is basically impossible to raise the price by 15% at CFM, but not at Rolls-Royce or Pratt & Whitney.
This situation is actually a bit like what happened after the domestic large aircraft project was launched, when Boeing and Airbus almost simultaneously lowered their prices. This is their consistency on certain goals.
Deng Peng felt aggrieved. This was a typical case of someone taking advantage of his weakness and then sucking his blood away. But the reality is that if AVIC has some aspirations for its own large aircraft, it will have to accept this unequal transaction.
After all, the world is not limited to the three major aircraft engine giants, there are also some smaller aircraft engine manufacturers. These engine manufacturers may not be as stable as the alliance of the three major aircraft engines, and it may be possible to find a relatively "honest" manufacturer.
But no matter how angry we are, we have to admit that the international high-performance engines are monopolized by these three companies. If we want a good engine, we can only go to these three companies, and we will inevitably be severely ripped off.
This is a dead end!
"Didn't Mr. Li just say that it was adjusted to match our engine, and there are also some external factors. We can't ignore this, right?" Luo Tianrong from the Aviation Materials Company explained impatiently.
Deng Peng snorted coldly, "I've never heard that fine-tuning an engine would generate such a huge premium. You thought it was 5%, it was 15%, 15% of an engine worth nearly 100 million yuan. You guys should tell me what fine-tuning you did. I want to see what kind of fine-tuning can cause such a huge premium. As for the external factors you mentioned, that's something you need to coordinate with Boeing and Airbus, not something we need to bear."
"Manager Deng, I'm sorry, this fine-tuning plan involves our business secrets and it's not convenient to disclose it." Lee Hyuk Jae said lightly.
Deng Peng sneered, "I'm afraid trade secrets don't exist at all, right?"
Luo Tianrong, who spoke fluent Chinese, seemed to be the secretary of the CFM representative. When he heard Deng Peng insisting on the product premium, he scolded him: "Deng Peng, if you keep dragging your feet, the negotiations will break down. Where are you going to find engines? Fifteen percent is fifteen percent. This is the added value that high-tech products should have. If we can't make it, we can only accept it."
"Luo Tianrong, that's 15 percent. 15 percent of the catalog price. Do you know how much that is?" Deng Peng was almost vomiting blood in anger: "You just said that so easily?"
"Then what do you say we should do? Look, can that thing be made?" Luo Tianrong said, nodding at the carbon fiber blades.
"You..." No matter how angry he was, as soon as the carbon fiber blades were mentioned, Deng Peng's anger went out like gunpowder filled with water. He looked at Luo Tianrong and Lee Hyukjae hatefully and could not utter a word.
Some of the other people at the meeting were trying to appease Deng Peng, while others were discussing the price with Lee Hyuk Jae. However, the general direction of these people was not the question of whether to accept or not, but just hoping that CFM could lower the price.
That’s right, these people have already accepted CFM’s behavior of fleecing them, they just hope that the fleecing won’t be so harsh.
In fact, the tone has been set by this point. A fan blade made of carbon fiber and titanium alloy is worth a thousand words, and it is the object that truly sets the tone for the whole event.
This is only part of the low-pressure system of the aircraft engine, not to mention the rotor technology of the core engine. It is unknown whether domestic aircraft engine technology can solve the most fatal engine surge.
That was really an all-round lag! The reality was ruthless and directly penetrated the defenses of everyone present, making them gradually realize the situation and choose to hold their noses and swallow this loss.
It is foreseeable that in the subsequent meetings, the focus of the discussion was on how to not overcharge CFM. Deng Peng, who had the most intense reaction, looked ten years older. His tired face was completely devoid of color, which was a sign of despair due to the huge technological gap.
It’s too difficult, it’s really too difficult!
"Everyone, we understand the difficulties faced by AVIC. For the sake of our future cooperation, I can lower the premium by two percentage points."
Upon hearing this, everyone in the field showed expressions of gratitude, but the expressions on most people's faces were a little stiff, and it seemed that their gratitude was not sincere.
But Luo Tianrong was the most proud, and he even echoed: "Boss Li has shown great sincerity for our subsequent cooperation. Deng Peng, you are still looking so gloomy, shouldn't you thank Boss Li?"
Deng Peng's face suddenly turned gloomy. Just as he was about to argue with Luo Tianrong again, he heard a chuckle in the meeting room: "Comprador?"
The sound was not loud, but it was like a powerful bolt of lightning striking the entire venue. The effect was even more shocking than the fan blades made of carbon fiber and titanium alloy that Lee Hyukjae had just taken out.
The conference hall, which was a little noisy a moment ago, was suddenly silent. In the atmosphere where you could hear a pin drop, everyone's eyes fell on the figure of a young man sitting at the last seat.
It’s Xu Cang!
Xu Cang had a harmless smile on his face, his eyes fixed on Luo Tianrong in the front, with his head tilted as if asking a question.
Lin Ming, who was beside Xu Cang, slowly smiled after the initial shock. Luo Tianrong, on the other hand, recovered after a period of brain failure. He looked grim and asked with a look that seemed to be asking for advice: "What did you say just now?"
Luo Tianrong's voice was not loud, but it was like a flash of hidden thunder, which contained an extremely dangerous meaning. Everyone knew that Luo Tianrong was only a hair's breadth away from exploding.
However, under this circumstance, the smile on Xu Cang's face melted away in an instant, like the winter snow, leaving only the coldness of winter: "I'm surprised... In this era, as a comprador, you can still behave like a human being!"
Bang!
As soon as these words were spoken, Luo Tianrong's face changed drastically. This sentence seemed to tear the skin on his face, revealing his ugliest side to everyone.
Everyone knows that he is a comprador, and he knows it too, but that doesn't mean that someone can expose this truth that everyone knows in public.
"Little bastard, who are you? I remember you shouldn't be at this meeting." Luo Tianrong gritted his teeth and said with the little rationality he had left.
Xu Cang was too young and stood out in a meeting where the average age of the people was over 40.
"Xu Cang, my name is Xu Cang!" Xu Cang did not hide his name at all, and it was impossible to hide it. He faced Luo Tianrong's murderous gaze without fear: "I am indeed not a member of this meeting, but this does not mean that what I said is wrong."
"Xu Cang?" Even though Luo Tianrong was furious, Lee Hyuk Jae next to him remained calm. However, after hearing Xu Cang's name, his expression finally changed a little, as if he knew Xu Cang's name.
Deng Peng's reaction was quite dramatic. After Xu Cang told him his name, he was stunned for a moment, then he quickly thought of who it was and shouted at Xu Cang, "Are you the young man that Mr. Chen mentioned?"
When Deng Peng asked the question, his eyes stayed on Xu Cang for a while, and soon moved to Lin Ming who was next to Xu Cang. Lin Ming nodded slightly, confirming Deng Peng's guess.
Luo Tianrong did a quick search in his mind and found that there was no such person as Xu Cang in the huge network of people he knew, and there were not even many people with the surname Xu.
Almost instantly, Luo Tianrong classified Xu Cang as an insignificant little person. And just as Luo Tianrong guessed, Xu Cang was indeed an insignificant little person.
However, even a small person like a blade of grass can burst out with unparalleled brilliance.
"Little bastard, today I'm going to let you know what it means to speak ill of others!" Since it has been confirmed that Xu Cang is most likely an unknown little-known figure, Luo Tianrong naturally has nothing to worry about.
Just when Luo Tianrong was about to explode, Lin Ming's face turned cold and he was about to stand up to stop him. But before he could make any move, a solemn and cold snort came from outside the door: "Luo Tianrong, is this the place where you can act wild?"
The voice was accompanied by Wu Yue, the director of the Flying Marks Department. Wu Yue stepped in and looked directly at Luo Tianrong: "The department has gathered you here to discuss things, not to let you fight. Luo Tianrong, if you want to go crazy, get out."
Luo Tianrong was feeling depressed, but since Wu Yue was present, he couldn't yell any more. He could only suppress his inner irritability, pointed at Xu Cang, and said viciously: "So this little bastard can slander me at will?"
Wu Yue didn't even frown: "What did he slander you about?"
"He said I was..." At the end, Luo Tianrong himself couldn't even say the word comprador, and hesitated for a long time.
As a result, Luo Tianrong didn't say anything, and Xu Cang said directly: "I said he was a comprador."
As soon as these words came out, there was another uproar in the room, especially Deng Peng, who was really impressed by Xu Cang. Although everyone knew what kind of person Luo Tianrong was, Xu Cang deserved the reputation of being fearless by repeatedly mentioning the word "comprador".
The reason why Xu Cang said that Luo Tianrong was a comprador was because it was true. Luo Tianrong was the representative of a domestic aviation material company. Once the domestic large aircraft selected CFM's LEAP engine, the import of these engines would have to go through Luo Tianrong's company, which would make a lot of profit.
Moreover, once the domestically produced large aircraft is really launched, there will be a lot of orders at least in China, which will be a huge market for Luo Tianrong's aviation material company.
Airlines do not need to go through aviation material companies to buy aircraft. However, the subsequent maintenance and replacement of engines is the business scope of aviation material companies. As long as they can reach out, they can squeeze out profits, and not just a little bit of profit.
Deng Peng was angry because of this. If it was just for research, it wouldn't consume too many engines. If there was really no other way, he would just accept it.
But once this precedent is set, all the premiums will be passed on to the airlines when domestic large aircraft are delivered to domestic airlines. Moreover, the number of engines purchased at that time will not be a few for research, but hundreds or even thousands. What an astronomical figure is 15% of hundreds or thousands of engines?
Didn't the domestic personnel pay all the money in the end? Moreover, Deng Peng didn't believe that the aviation material company where Luo Tianrong worked wouldn't make huge profits, otherwise Luo Tianrong wouldn't be so active.
Wanting to gain benefits at the expense of compatriots in domestic and foreign transactions, and suppressing progressive ideas at home, isn't this behavior naked compradorism?
Therefore, Xu Cang's evaluation of Luo Tianrong was not slanderous at all, but just right. However, Deng Peng was embarrassed to point it out to him, so he used Xu Cang to vent his anger.
"Comprador?" The muscles on Wu Yue's face twitched a few times. He looked at Luo Tianrong, then turned to look at Xu Cang, and finally clicked his tongue: "Xu Cang, speak more tactfully next time, understand?"
Xu Cang nodded slightly, giving Wu Yue face.
However, Wu Yue's words were almost biased towards Xu Cang, and he did not deny Luo Tianrong's title of comprador. This was a great shame for Luo Tianrong.
However, at this juncture, Lee Hyuk Jae, who had been silent until recently, suddenly stood up. He spread his hands and said with a smile, "There's no need for everyone to be so angry. This doesn't seem to be a very complicated issue."
"This problem is indeed not complicated, but it is very serious, so don't speak in such a frivolous tone." Xu Cang said coldly.
At this time, one of the attendees seemed to be wondering who Xu Cang was, and said impatiently: "I know who you are. You are a pilot who caused quite a stir some time ago and dealt with several special cases. Young man, just be a good pilot and don't get involved in these things. Get out first."
"Oh, so you're just a small pilot! Which company are you from? Since when did a pilot become qualified to speak here?" Luo Tianrong asked sternly.
That’s right. In a meeting of this scale, an ordinary pilot is insignificant and cannot afford to have such a contemptuous attitude from Luo Tianrong after he learned of Xu Cang’s true identity.
At this time, Wu Yue also shouted softly: "Xu Cang, come out with me first."
This is not because Wu Yue has any opinion about Xu Cang, but rather he is protecting Xu Cang.
However, Xu Cang did not listen to Wu Yue's words, but looked at Deng Peng: "Director Deng, will you accept the conditions proposed by CFM?"
Faced with such heart-piercing words, Deng Peng was speechless for a moment and finally lowered his head.
At the same time, Li Hezai shrugged his shoulders and said to Xu Cang with a smile: "Xu Cang, no matter how serious the problem is, as long as it is not complicated, how about we solve it in a simple way? You are at least twenty years behind us in terms of fan blades, surge elimination technology, and high-pressure turbine high-temperature alloy materials. Isn't this reality? Is there any choice?"
At this moment, Luo Tianrong sneered from behind Li Hezai: "Mr. Li, why are you telling this to a pilot? Can he understand?"
However, Lee Hyuk Jae shouted coldly: "Shut up!"
Luo Tianrong's face suddenly changed . He never expected that Li Hezai would actually scold him: "Mr. Li, you..."
"Xu Cang! You... are very good!" Lee Hyuk Jae's eyes exuded admiration without disguising: "I know you have resentment in your heart, but being stubborn is never a good choice. Face the reality, admit your shortcomings, and accept the unfairness that should happen."
Deng Peng clenched his teeth when he heard this, but what Lee Hyuk-jae said was heart-piercing because they were all true and he couldn't refute them at all.
At this moment, Lin Ming, who had been silent, raised his eyelids and said softly: "Xu Cang, that's enough!"
No matter how much resentment or anger there is, the gap exists objectively and it cannot be changed by human will. Lin Ming slowly stood up and cast his eyes on Lee Hyuk Jae, his eyes full of indifference.
Deng Peng, who had already sat down, saw Lin Ming stand up. A look of shock flashed in his eyes, and he stood up as well.
"Mr. Li, your engine is very good, but your conditions are really too high. I'm sorry that we can't agree to it."
Luo Tianrong's face darkened when he heard this, but Li Hejae's expression did not change much. He just chuckled and said, "Mr. Lin, there is no better aero engine in the world than the LEAP engine. Boeing and Airbus have placed the future of narrow-body aircraft on the LEAP engine. Do you have any better choice?"
However, Xu Cang interrupted directly and asked coldly: "Then I want to know whether the materials of the fan case and high and low pressure turbine blades of our engine are the same as those of Boeing and Airbus' LEAP engines?"
After these words were spoken, Lee Hyukjae's expression finally changed, but he quickly restrained himself. His emotional control was terrifying.
"Xu Cang, you talk too much!"
But when Deng Peng heard this, he suddenly got angry: "What do you mean? Are you going to give us a smaller engine?"
Lee Hyuk Jae took a deep breath and said softly, "This is a business secret. I have no right to disclose it."
"Damn it, Luo Tianrong, you are so dishonest just to make money?" Deng Peng pointed at Luo Tianrong and cursed him. You have to know that it was Luo Tianrong's company that had established a relationship with CFM. If the engine provided by CFM was a degraded version, Deng Peng didn't believe that Luo Tianrong would not know about it.
Not only is the price going up, but the quality is also lower than the Boeing and Airbus versions in the same series. Isn't this just ripping people off?
Luo Tianrong was already angry, and he immediately fought back: "You just listened to the words of a little bastard who knows nothing. Besides, you are so tough, why don't you build the engine? If you can build it, you don't have to suffer so much."
Luo Tianrong's words made Wu Yue frown, but he couldn't say anything because of his official status. But these words made Deng Peng speechless.
It is true that a thousand words cannot overcome the huge technical barrier.
If you can’t make it, you can only buy it, right?
"How do you know we can't make it?" Suddenly, Xu Cang's slight but unusually firm voice was heard in the field.
Luo Tianrong heard this and after his initial surprise, he immediately burst into laughter. Even some people at the meeting covered their faces in shame, feeling humiliated by such an ignorant boy like Xu Cang.
Wu Yue sighed: "Xu Cang, stop talking and follow me."
Luo Tianrong laughed particularly loudly, until he was laughing so hard that he fell backwards and glanced at the stern-faced Lee Hyukjae, and finally stopped smiling.
"Is it funny?" Lee Hyuk Jae snorted disdainfully.
Although Luo Tianrong stopped smiling, his eyes were still full of sarcasm: "Isn't it?"
However, Li Hezai no longer cared about Luo Tianrong, but stared at Xu Cang: "Are you laughing at him? Are you laughing at a man who is playing games with Boeing over 737NG blueprints and playing games with Rolls-Royce over three-rotor technology?"
Lee Hyukjae's words were like a splash of water dropped into boiling oil, which immediately caused the whole place to explode. Everyone, including Wu Yue, looked at Xu Cang in disbelief.
Amid the almost unfamiliar gazes of the crowd, Xu Cang's face flashed with an unusually determined look: "Let's make a bet!"
Li Hezai seemed to know what Xu Cang was going to say. He said coldly: "Even if you get Rolls-Royce's three-rotor technology, what about the fan system and the high-temperature alloy? Can you solve it? Xu Cang, you are excellent, very excellent, but you can't change anything!"
Deng Peng seemed to have sensed something from Li Hezai's words. He raised his head suddenly and shouted, "Xu Cang, this matter has nothing to do with you!"
Lin Ming beside Xu Cang also frowned, and Wu Yue called out softly, "Xu Cang, let's go!"
Everyone thought that Xu Cang was just being brave, but only Li Hezai knew that Xu Cang was asking this question seriously and solemnly.
"Look, they are all advising you to give up. Do you think you can make up for the gap of twenty years?" Lee Hyukjae's mood finally showed a very obvious change, and even his voice trembled slightly.
However, facing everyone's gaze, Xu Cang raised his chin slightly, just like his proud heart, and then said with great force: "Let's make a bet!"
