While Google and Apple were bustling with activity, the Jiangnan Group was remarkably quiet. After all, the Jiangnan Group hadn't made any major headlines recently. It continued to operate its company in a perfectly ordinary and common manner.
So, what was our boss Huang doing at this time? Was he anxiously racked by the current situation?
The answer was no. Boss Huang was currently assembling a brand-new team, comprised of the absolute top talents in China's mechanical industry.
This included a chief designer with over 30 years of experience, specializing in various mechanical designs. His previous project was a military product that could not be disclosed to the public.
There was also a technical engineer with more than forty years of experience, a true super-genius who had previously "hand-crafted" a tunnel boring machine. Yes, you read that right, hand-crafted. At the time, Germany wanted to sell tunnel boring machines to China at an exorbitant price, treating them like fools. This individual then, within his unit, hand-crafted a 1:25 scale model that was identical to a real tunnel boring machine, proving to the relevant domestic departments that China could also produce tunnel boring machines.
And there were five or six more such brilliant individuals on the team. Each of them would be responsible for leading an independent team, with each of those teams having hundreds of members.
That's right, hundreds of members per team, totaling a colossal team of around 3,000 people. Every member of these teams was either a top graduate from China's mechanical engineering programs or a seasoned veteran with over 10 years of industry experience.
Boss Huang spent a staggering 1.5 billion RMB to assemble this entire team and then solemnly announced their mission: "We are going to build a Gundam!"
"Gundam?" Upon hearing the name, the veteran engineers looked bewildered, completely unaware of what Gundam was. But the younger generation was different; they stared at Boss Huang, China's super-rich magnate, in disbelief, wondering if he had gone mad, wanting to build such a thing!
"Then first, let's play a promotional video of Gundam so everyone knows what Gundam is!" Boss Huang snapped his fingers, and the screen in the conference room began playing the promotional video.
The moment the promotional video appeared, the veteran engineers and chief designers were stunned because what they saw was animation.
It was footage of a robot from an anime performing various actions and battles. The younger people, however, had expressions that clearly indicated they already knew what it was, as they understood the name "Gundam."
At the end of the promotional video, it finally transitioned from animation to reality. A Gundam, identical to the robot in the anime, stood by the roadside, receiving cheers from the surrounding crowd.
"The Fusang people have actually built something like this?" Seeing a Gundam standing in reality, many old engineers were astonished.
However, before Boss Huang could personally explain, a younger person spoke up, "Gentlemen, please don't misunderstand. That's not a real Gundam at all; it's just a large plastic model. It's entirely made of plastic. It just stands there for show, with some lights, and can't do anything else!"
"Boss Huang, are you bringing us all together to build this?" one of the elderly gentlemen immediately voiced his displeasure. They had agreed to be here because they heard that the Jiangnan Group planned to spend tens of billions of RMB to build an unprecedented super-machine. These retired engineers, living in idleness, had been persuaded to appear here with the intention of creating something truly earth-shattering before their deaths. Otherwise, they would never have given Boss Huang face.
However, upon discovering that Boss Huang intended to build a plastic toy, their expressions immediately changed, and they were ready to leave.
"Please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to build a plastic toy. As I said, I plan to spend tens of billions of RMB… no, even a hundred billion RMB, I wouldn't hesitate to spend it. I want to use this money to build a real Gundam, a Gundam that can stand on the earth, walk on the ground, punch, and perform various human-like actions. A Gundam that can even fly using thrusters, excluding the weapon system, almost identical to the mecha in the animation!" Huang He said with a smile, stating his goal.
Upon hearing this goal, the old man who had just been clamoring to leave stood frozen in place.
He glanced at the Gundam in the video, then at Huang He, and finally, obediently sat back down.
Good heavens, if what Huang He said was true, this was incredibly exciting. Only a fool would leave. If they could truly build this thing, they would have no regrets even in death.
Of course, more people were incredulous at Boss Huang's idea. An experienced engineer immediately asked, "Mr. Huang, may I ask why you intend to build this Gundam?"
"To be blunt, even if this thing could be built, it would serve no practical purpose beyond being a display piece, nor would it have any combat value… Even if you equipped this thing with weapons, I dare say that a single missile costing less than one million RMB could directly destroy this mecha, which cost 10 billion RMB to build."
"After all, this thing is so large; it would be very difficult not to hit it!" This elderly gentleman said sincerely. "As for commercial value, I don't believe many people in the world would be willing to buy something like this."
"Yes, you are absolutely right! This is indeed something with no practical value, and any money invested in it is wasted. But the problem is, I have money! And judging by the current situation, it seems I have too much money to spend. So, let it be wasted. As long as I can witness a Gundam standing on the earth, I will be content!" Huang He said with a smile.
"Why do you insist on seeing such a thing standing on the earth?" a young person couldn't help but ask directly out of curiosity.
"That's another story!" Boss Huang, feeling inspired to talk, decided to tell these young people the story. "This happened six years ago, around chapter 100. I had just led the company out of a difficult situation and was looking to expand further. Then, I encountered an unexpected situation."
"There were five people involved in this situation: a senior elder surnamed Ma, a peer surnamed Ma. One was a world-renowned investor with tens of billions of dollars at the time. One was me, and the other was my wife."
"We were all chatting at the time. To be honest, they looked down on me because, at that time, I was the poorest among the five. Even my wife was richer than I was."
"Then that internationally renowned investor suggested that each of us discuss our future goals, specifically what achievements we intended to have in 20 years."
"Only I and two friends surnamed Ma answered. I'm not at liberty to disclose the goals set by these two friends, but their goals are highly unlikely to be achieved. I, on the other hand, was quite greedy and stated five goals on the spot, saying I would achieve all five of them."
"Mr. Huang, what were your five goals!" Someone immediately couldn't contain their curiosity and asked. xxs
"Alas, it's hard to say. These five goals are somewhat audacious to speak of. I won't reveal them all. I'll only mention the simplest one, which is the current goal: to build a mecha that can move, run, and jump!"
"Actually, I'm not saying I want to build a Gundam; I'm just using Gundam as an example. It's a mecha that looks similar to a Gundam. But I require industrial aesthetics. The things I build must be beautiful, combining robust engineering with aesthetics. Otherwise, I won't accept it, hahaha!" Huang He laughed, unable to contain himself.
"Alright, that's why I want to build this mecha. As for whether you all want to join this team, I won't say more. You can all think about it here. If you're unwilling, you can leave directly, and we will reimburse your transportation and accommodation expenses."
"If you are willing, stay. I'll treat everyone to dinner tonight, and for a considerable period in the future, I will accompany you, at least to finalize the overall appearance of the mecha… Unfortunately, besides drawing the outer shape, I can't do anything else." Boss Huang said cheerfully.
After that, Boss Huang left the auditorium, leaving everyone inside to discuss among themselves.
Boss Tang had expected at least 10% of the people to leave. However, to his immense surprise, including the elderly gentlemen, not a single person stood up to leave. Instead, they all began discussing enthusiastically with those around them.
While Boss Huang was fully aware of how unreliable and absurd his mecha-building plan was, it was precisely because of this unreliability and absurdity that it possessed a tremendous attraction. This attraction might not be enough for people in other industries, but for men, for people who had spent their lives working with machinery, what else in this world could be more attractive than giant robots?
There was nothing, absolutely nothing!
Even the chief engineer eventually took the stage with a microphone and said, "Everyone, I hope you all stay. I know this mecha will have no practical use when it's built, but the process of building it will be thrilling."
"And during the manufacturing of this mecha, we will inevitably design and generate countless new technologies and ideas. If even 1% of these new technologies can assist other products, then we will have immeasurable merit and contribute our strength to the revival and prosperity of our great motherland!"
Good heavens, Boss Huang himself hadn't thought that far ahead, but he had!