Chapter 198 A Gathering of Heroes
The next morning, Liu Biao convened a work meeting with leaders of various departments and workshops, including chief engineer Li Cunzhu.

The content of the meeting was mainly about the timely delivery of production tasks before the end of the year. He asked the entire factory to unite and strive to complete this year's production tasks ahead of schedule.

At the end of the meeting, Liu Biao announced two things. One was that the superiors had allocated funds for the renovation of the chemical workshop. After the equipment renovation was completed, the chemical workshop would become the key workshop for the military-to-civilian transformation of the entire factory. Future production tasks would also be mainly fertilizers. This was an important signal for the entire factory's transformation.

Another thing is that the bulletproof vest research and development project applied for by Xu Qiang has been approved by Liu Biao himself. He requires all workshops to actively cooperate and allocate some manpower and equipment to assist Xu Qiang in his research and development work.

No one present had any objection to such a decision. After all, Xu Qiang had already proven his technical strength before, and the products he developed had even been highly praised by provincial leaders. Moreover, Xu Qiang was a newly promoted model worker in the factory, so it seemed understandable that the factory director could give him such strong support.

Only Li Cunzhu felt a little surprised.

You know, a few days ago, Liu Biao had specifically talked to him about this matter. At that time, Li Cunzhu also explained to Liu Biao the application status and market prospects of bulletproof vests in China, and believed that this product had no value in research and development and production at all.

At that time, Liu Biao also agreed with his point of view and said that he would not approve Xu Qiang's research and development application. However, just a few days later, Liu Biao changed his mind and asked all departments and workshops of the factory to fully cooperate with him. Such a quick change was obviously beyond Li Cunzhu's expectations.

But for Li Cunzhu, Xu Qiang developing a new product with no market prospects may not be a bad thing for him...

So when Liu Biao finally asked Li Cunzhu to transfer a few people from the technical department to Xu Qiang's project team, he immediately agreed.

After returning to the department, Li Cunzhu immediately called all members of the technical department together for a small meeting.

"From today on, the people whose names I read will join Comrade Xu Qiang's project team. You will follow his work arrangements until the project is finished..." After Li Cunzhu announced the factory director's instructions to everyone, he began to select the list of people who would join Xu Qiang's project team: "Group One will have Liu Yonghong and Wang Shuangjiang, Group Two will have Li Chuange, Group Three will have He Wei..."

The people Li Cunzhu read were actually newcomers in the technical department. They had been working for less than half a year after graduation and had basically no experience in participating in the research and development of new products. Others were "people with connections" who had no technical skills at all and could only get by in the technical department.

As for those elites with high technical levels, Li Cunzhu had already pulled them into his product development project team. Naturally, he would not use the power in his hands to help Xu Qiang.

"Chief Engineer Li, I don't want to go to Xu Qiang's project team..."

After the list was announced, He Wei was the first to raise objections.

Although He Wei and Xu Qiang were classmates at the workers' night school, from the very beginning he looked down on this temporary worker who came from the countryside and had a lower level of education than him.

So the last time Li Cunzhu arranged him to Xu Qiang's project team, he asked his father to step in and eventually he withdrew from Xu Qiang's project team.

What he never expected was that Xu Qiang's project team of only two people actually successfully completed the project task, and the products they developed were praised by provincial leaders. Correspondingly, Xu Qiang, as the project leader, was promoted to a full-time employee, became a model worker and was given a house, and Liu Siying, who participated in the project, also received a nice bonus.

He Wei, who quit midway, got nothing and was even ridiculed behind his back by the entire technical department because of this incident. They thought he didn't catch the pie in the sky and lost several months' salary in vain.

As for the honors and rewards Xu Qiang received, He Wei felt hatred and envy in his heart, but there was nothing he could do.

Even so, he still looked down on Xu Qiang, who came from the countryside and only had a junior high school education.
So when He Wei heard that Chief Engineer Li still wanted to assign him to this project team this time, he immediately raised an objection.

"Let me tell you, although Comrade Xu Qiang is not from our technical department, his technical level is very good. His previous projects have all been successful. We arrange for you to join his project team, which is also an opportunity for you to learn and accumulate experience, which will be very beneficial to your future work." Li Cunzhu said.

"But Chief Engineer Li, how can Xu Qiang's technology compare to yours? I still want to join your project team."

"I have enough project team members, and the names of the names have been reported. Let's do it next time..." Li Cunzhu said with a frown.

"But……"

"Unless someone in my project team quits, we don't need more people for the time being. You should obey the arrangements!" Li Cunzhu said in a serious tone.

"Uh." Hearing Li Cunzhu say this, He Wei immediately shut his mouth. He was still somewhat afraid of Li Cunzhu.

"Let's adjourn the meeting." Li Cunzhu glanced at everyone and signaled that they could leave.

Looking at the list in his hand, Li Cunzhu's mouth curled up.

If Li Cunzhu's project team can be described as strong and powerful, then the people in Xu Qiang's project team are just old, weak and sick.

Among the six people, four were recent technical school graduates, not to mention He Wei. There was also an old technician, Liu Yonghong, who transferred from the army to the technical department. He had a bad temper and loved drinking. Li Cunzhu couldn't control him, but he couldn't get rid of him either. After all, he was also a relative of a leader of the Provincial Defense Science and Technology Office.

These people naturally know nothing about chemical engineering. It would be a blessing if they don't cause trouble for Xu Qiang. Don't even think about being of any help to Xu Qiang.

The next moment, Li Cunzhu put away the list and handed it back to the factory director Liu Biao. His mission was completed...

...The next day, as soon as Xu Qiang got to work, he was called to Li Cunzhu's office.

"Xu Qiang, these are the assistants I assigned to you from the technical department. They are all excellent technicians." In front of Xu Qiang, Li Cunzhu began to introduce them one by one: "This is Comrade Liu Yonghao."

"Hello!" Xu Qiang smiled and extended his hand to the other party.

"Yeah." Liu Yonghao responded after hearing that, and then shook hands with Xu Qiang.

Liu Yonghao was quite tall, looking to be over 1.80 meters tall, but his appearance and temperament seemed somewhat out of tune with the other people in the technical department. He had stubble on his chin and wore a pair of green rubber shoes. His clothes were clean, but a little old and faded.

"This is He Wei..."

"We know each other. We were classmates in night school." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

He Wei just glanced at Xu Qiang and said nothing more.

"It's just Comrade Liu Yonghao who was assigned to our department this year..." Li Cunzhu began to introduce them one by one.

Except He Wei, several others also shook hands with Xu Qiang.

Although Xu Qiang is not in the technical department, there is no one in the department who does not know his name. They are all full of curiosity and envy about Xu Qiang, especially the four newcomers who just arrived at the technical department this year. It is a great encouragement for them to see Xu Qiang become a model worker only two months after joining the factory.

Therefore, there was no need for Li Cunzhu to do any ideological work, and these young people were willing to obey Xu Qiang's work arrangements.

"Starting from tomorrow, you can report here every morning, and then go to the scrap yard to follow Comrade Xu Qiang's arrangements until the project is completed. Do you have any other questions?" Li Cunzhu said to them.

Seeing that no one was talking, Li Cunzhu turned to Xu Qiang and said, "From now on, these people will be members of your project team. You should say something too."

"I am very happy to meet you all today. I just want to say one thing, that is, since we will be in the same project team in the future, we must maintain unity. If you can't do it, please leave now." Xu Qiang glanced at everyone and saw that they didn't respond, so he continued: "In the next few months, our team will be under great pressure. I hope everyone can obey the arrangements, do their duties, do our work well, and live up to the expectations of all the employees in the factory. That's all I have to say. Thank you!"

"Pa pa pa!" Upon hearing this, the few people clapped their hands symbolically.

"By the way, there is one more thing. To celebrate the establishment of the project team, I plan to treat everyone to dinner tonight at 6 o'clock in the evening. If you have nothing to do, come to the Wuqi Restaurant." Xu Qiang said with a smile.

Xu Qiang was not familiar with these people, and the fastest way to establish friendship was to drink and eat together. Moreover, as the head of the project team, if Xu Qiang did not give these people some benefits, they would not work hard for him.

Sure enough, after hearing what Xu Qiang said, everyone smiled, especially Liu Yonghao, whose smile became even wider.

Afterwards, everyone dispersed and started today's work.

Xu Qiang was in the corridor, just as he was about to walk out the door, when someone suddenly slapped him from behind.

"Um, Comrade Liu Yonghao, is there anything wrong?" Xu Qiang looked back and found that it was Liu Yonghao, so he asked.

"Are you treating us tonight?"

"Ah."

"Give me two bottles of Si Te liquor, and the dishes are fine." Liu Yonghao said.

"Two bottles, can you finish them?" Xu Qiang said with a smile.

This was the first time Xu Qiang had seen such a person in all these years. Most people would follow the host's wishes, but this guy came to Xu Qiang and asked to order wine first.

Xu Qiang knew that the people Li Cunzhu assigned to his project team would definitely not be the elites who worked honestly, but would more or less be people with some problems.

"Don't worry about it. It won't delay your work tomorrow anyway." Liu Yonghao said.

"Okay, I'll prepare it for you. Just come over and drink it tonight." Xu Qiang said happily.

"Thank you very much." Liu Yonghao said, turned around and walked away.

(End of this chapter)