Lin Ju smiled faintly upon hearing this question:
"Of course, we're not going to produce tractors. What we are going to produce is new artificial rain machinery.
As for the specifics, we'll discuss that later. Mr. Guo will be the second deputy factory director, and he will lead everyone to continue moving forward."
Guo Shen, upon hearing that he had been appointed as the deputy factory director, had no emotional reaction, but he still bowed slightly as a sign of accepting the job.
The workers were somewhat perplexed upon hearing about the production of rain machinery, yet they couldn't help but feel a vague sense of being high-end, worthy of the assistance from America's engineers.
To assure these workers, Lin Ju immediately began the next process: paying wages.
In front of everyone, he took out all the cash and stacked it on the table. Bundles of banknotes piled up like a small mountain, stunning everyone present.
Lin Ju called the finance officer, a skinny middle-aged man, to distribute the overdue wages and bonuses according to the payroll.
Cai Yuanfa was very excited to see the cash. As a technical school graduate who was once the most educated person in town, he was indeed eager to achieve something significant.
Learning that the factory had been brought back from the brink and would now receive support from an American company, he felt that his own status would skyrocket.
With an agility that belied his years, he went through the pay slips one by one, accurately and efficiently handing out the wages.
Due to several months of arrears, everyone received at least ten thousand, and holding a thick wad of cash in hand brought immense reassurance.
After the overdue wages were paid, there was still a significant amount of cash leftover. Lin Ju asked the workers to gather again, and this time, everyone was much more compliant and the lines were very neat.
As long as wages were paid, Director Lin and Old Director Lin were indistinguishable!
Lin Ju was satisfied with their performance and gave another important speech:
"Now that everyone has received their wages, let's move on to work time today. Any objections?"
"No!" The response was loud and clear.
"Good, the equipment shipped back from America will arrive tomorrow. Today's task, under the leadership of Deputy Factory Director Guo, is to clean the factory area and reach international standards to match the quality of Europe and the United States.
Factory Director Guo, it's over to you now."
Upon receiving his assignment, Guo Shen did not hesitate. He immediately began to tally the number of people in each team and workshop, clarifying everyone's responsibilities according to NASA's practices.
As an intermediate engineer commanding more than a dozen elites, his management skills were by no means weak, and he quickly earned the workers' respect.
Even though the international standards were a hassle, everyone diligently followed through in the spirit of learning from America.
Meanwhile, Lin Ju pulled Chen Rong aside and asked him to bring the two most skilled craftsmen from the factory.
According to the system description, the effect of the Skill Enhancement Card was related to the person's foundation and level of knowledge; the greater the potential, the bigger the improvement.
Chen Rong was a level four fitter, and although the other two were slightly inferior, they were younger and more educated, making them suitable candidates for enhancement.
Taking the three people to the office, Lin Ju activated the skill cards. Each of them zoned out momentarily, then quickly regained clarity, with something different in their minds.
Lin Ju also received a prompt in his mind that the enhancements were successful. Chen Rong was upgraded directly to a level five fitter, and the other two to level five welder and level four fitter, respectively.
Now that they were all system people, Lin Ju signed new contracts with them, raising their wages and benefits slightly above the industry average, with no need for secrecy anymore.
With these three high-level technicians and the help of Guo Shen, operating the system equipment to produce rockets wouldn't be an issue; after all, it was only a small rocket.
The three had also realized that the true goal of the tractor factory was to produce rockets, and each of them became excited.
Compared to tractors, rockets were in a completely different league.
By evening, Guo Shen had already directed the workers to clean up the entire tractor factory.
All materials and resources were sorted and stored properly, the equipment was given basic maintenance, the hygiene was tidied up, and potential electrical hazards were eliminated, etc.
Because the factory was small and relatively simple, cleaning it up went rather smoothly.
However, the roughness couldn't quite be shaken off; no matter how one looked at it, it still exuded the vibe of a small rural town factory.
Before the end of the workday, Lin Ju announced a three-day holiday for the factory's upgrading and transformation.
Only after all the employees had dispersed did he keep Guo Shen and three technicians who had undergone the upgrade.
At nine o'clock that night, Lin Ju used a D-class Base Upgrade Card.
The tractor factory, already in a remote location in the outskirts, was usually quiet apart from its own vehicles, but suddenly the rumbling sound of trucks approached from a distance.
More than ten heavy trailers and a few buses, along with various engineering vehicles, drove into the factory compound, continuously making the noise of air brakes releasing.
Over a hundred neatly-dressed workers disembarked from the two buses and assembled under the command of a white American in a red hard hat and dress shirt.
The white man then jogged over to Lin Ju and handed him a project plan:
"Mr. Lin, the equipment and personnel from Connecticut Oak Engineering Company have all arrived. I'm Kate, the project supervisor from the equipment provider. Please confirm that the workshop is ready so that we can immediately start construction."
Lin Ju, his eyes nearly popping out, numbly nodded, allowing this suddenly emerged construction team to move about freely.
Supervisor Kate immediately directed the workers to erect steel frames on top of the factory buildings at an inhumanly fast efficiency and also installed metal sheets on the perimeter walls.
The cranes also spread their support legs to unload the upgraded equipment one by one, orderly and efficiently.
Guo Shen, Chen Rong, and the two technicians followed the construction crew, assisting with technical guidance.
Once again shocked by the power of the system, Lin Ju watched for a while before returning home.
The next day, when he came back to the factory area, he found the construction team fully operational, with scaffolding everywhere and the figures of hundreds of workers visible all around, working at a fast-forward pace.
There were also some onlookers from the staff outside the factory; they all greeted Lin Ju upon his arrival.
"Director Lin, Director Lin!"
Lin Ju heard someone calling him and realized it was Wan, who showed a look of mistrust upon seeing him:
"Director Lin, you've really kept me in the dark! Just the day before yesterday you looked all worried, and hey, today the American construction crew is bustling with work.
You must have had it all sorted out already, right? What about that $500,000 loan? Do you want me to keep it for you at the credit union?"
Wan had heard yesterday evening that the tractor factory was back in business, and had come to see for himself today, only to find a massive construction site.
And he couldn't help but believe it after hearing what the employees said.
Moreover, he had no choice but to believe it since the engineers from America and the international engineering team were already at work!
Now, the $500,000 loan surely seemed real. Although the tractor factory still had debts, its value was rapidly rising.
He felt that Director Lin was not being forthright with him, his father's old friend for many years, yet he was also happy for the rebirth of the tractor factory and the disappearance of its bad debts.
"Wan, actually, I wasn't sure myself whether the Americans would come, so I didn't mean to keep it from you.
You might have heard that we are going to switch to producing a new type of high-end rainmaking equipment, the kind that sells for $5 million internationally... Can the town or the city give us some support?"
"Five million?" Wan found it a bit exaggerated, but thought that the 'high-end rainmaking equipment' might indeed be worth the price.
"Director Lin, if you really are working on such high-tech, the town can conduct a site visit to the new factory. As long as the technology meets the standards, there will definitely be special subsidies and preferential policies.
If a factory capable of producing machines worth $5 million each really emerges from our town, it will surely be heavily promoted by the city as a model and receive strong support!"
Lin Ju was very satisfied with this response and assured confidently:
"Don't worry, uncle. In a few days, the factory will be upgraded, and it will certainly be top-notch high-tech!"