Ekins and McGee followed Mao Haodong for several streets, and felt more and more shocked. They found that although each of the companies on these streets was small, some even had only the shop owner and did not even have a helper, all of them had strong manufacturing capabilities together, no less than a large machinery factory.

Ekins did come with a few drawings on this trip. He randomly entered a shop and asked the owner if he could help him make a set of molds according to the requirements on the drawings and how much it would cost. The young owner inserted the USB drive that stored the electronic documents of the drawings into the computer, called out the files, and then watched the files start to calculate for Ekins. He explained each production process clearly, and the work hours and cost composition of the process were almost exactly the same.

“Can you make it at $1,500?”

After hearing the owner's offer, Ekins was almost shocked and blurted out with an exclamation, without considering that saying this might prompt the other party to raise the offer.

"So, how long will it take?" McGee asked.

"It's too late today." The owner looked at the watch on his wrist reflexively, and then said, "It's about eight o'clock tomorrow morning. If you're anxious, it's okay at six o'clock..."

"How is this possible!" McGee exclaimed this time. He had also ordered molds with other companies in the United States, a mold that was simpler than this. The other party dragged it for a month and a half to make it. What kind of destiny is this young man in front of him? He dared to say that he could deliver the goods in 14 hours.

"This is a deposit of $500. Can you start making it for us now?" McGee counted out five US dollars and handed it to the store owner.

"It's totally OK. You can go out with Brother Dong first. Just come and get the goods tomorrow morning." The owner accepted the money and said confidently. He and Mao Haodong know each other, so he has the title of Brother Dong.

"No, we want to stay here and see how you did it," McGee said.

"This..." The owner was a little confused. He turned his head to look at Mao Haodong and asked, "Brother Dong, what's going on?"

Mao Haodong smiled and said, "Amin, these two people opened factories in the United States. They wanted to know why we were able to take such a large order, so they came here specifically. It's okay, they wanted to see it, so they let them see it. There is nothing we can hide from others."

"Well, okay." The shopkeeper named Amin surrendered. He picked up the phone, dialed a number, and said something to it in the local dialect. Then he returned to the computer and sent out the drawings and documents that Ekins had just given him.

Mao Haodong explained to Ekins and the others: "Your mold must be forged and pressed into blanks with steel No. 13. Amin does not have a forging machine here. He just called and arranged for someone else to do forging."

"So, how far is this forging factory from here?" Ekins asked.

"Not far away, it's the street in front, called Gan Sheng Zhuan Gong." Amin pointed in a direction and said.

"Can we go and have a look?" Ekins asked.

Amin learned the style of foreign movies, shrugged and said, "Whatever you want, actually, what's the best thing about this?"

But Ekins didn't think this was nothing good. His curiosity was completely aroused. He wanted to see how the Chinese made the mold he needed in 14 hours. According to his ideas, it was a great thing to be able to make this mold in 14 days.

Mao Haodong had to take Ekins and McGee to Gansheng Forging Company again, which was actually just another small factory. Mao Haodong has some connections in the local area and is also an acquaintance with the boss of Gansheng Forging. After listening to Mao Haodong's introduction of the situation, the boss smiled and greeted Ekins and McGee to sit down, saying that he had just placed an order for the billet of mold steel for No. 13, and the steel shop would arrange for someone to send it here.

Sure enough, after less than a quarter of an hour, someone drove a pickup truck to deliver the steel ingots. The boss asked several guests to sit for a while, and took the workers forward to collect the goods and transported the steel ingots into the workshop behind. Mao Haodong took Ekins and McGee into the workshop, and saw that the workshop had already started construction vigorously.

Heating, oven-out, cooling, drawing, upsetting, punching, annealing... A series of operations were orderly, and the water press was roaring and hitting the billet, which looked quite industrially beautiful. Eggins and McGee were both experts, and they naturally saw more things. They found that in every operation link, the boss controlled temperature and pressure, and showed very high skills.

Because the annealing treatment time of forgings was very long, the group escorted the forged forgings back to Amin's mold shop. It was already past 9 o'clock in the evening. Amin had made various preparations before production. After receiving the forgings, he arranged for people to do inspections to determine that the geometric dimensions, defect depth, annealing hardness and other indicators of the forgings met the requirements of the original design, and then began to enter the machining process.

The machining operation also has a fixed process, such as rough processing, flaw detection, quality conditioning, heat treatment, finishing processing, etc. The workers were familiar with the road and did not feel busy at all. By the middle of the night, everyone felt a little hungry. Amin asked someone to make a call. Soon, the delivery guy came on an electric bike and brought a hot meal. Considering that there were two foreigners on the scene, Amin also ordered pizza for them. After tasting Ekins and McGee, they felt that it was even more authentic than the pizza in the small town of Bar.

“It’s simply perfect collaboration, great!”

At four o'clock in the morning, when Amin showed Ekins and McGee a set of test-passed molds, Ekins couldn't help but exclaim.

"Pizza, including it, is also a link in this collaboration chain," McGee commented.

"No wonder every time we order from Mr. Mao, no matter how complicated the fixture is, he can ship it within two days. It turns out that there is such a huge supply chain behind him."

"This is completely unimaginable in our small town of Bar."

"Mr. Mao, I want to ask, is your place the largest industrial center in China?" Ekins asked Mao Haodong.

"We are here?" Mao Haodong hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you talking about us Shi Yang or Jin Nan?"

"He must be asking us Haidong!" Ah Ming reminded. Just kidding, Jin Nan dares to say that it is the largest industrial center. How can you feel about Pengcheng when you make Pujiang?

Ekins didn't know what to say, so he gestured with his hands and asked, "I don't know if all the factories here refer to Shi Yang or Jin Nam."

Mao Haodong explained: "Shiyang is our county, and Jinnan is our city. There are twelve districts and counties in the entire Jinnan, all of which are similar to our Shiyang, and they are engaged in industry, but the industries of each district are somewhat different."

"Tomorrow, no, I mean today, can you take us to see the twelve districts and counties you mentioned?" McGee asked.

"I've been in a night, aren't you tired?" Mao Haodong stared at the two half-big old men in surprise. He was only in his 20s. After staying up, he was a little sleepy. Why do these two old men look more and more energetic? Could it be that the jet lag is not reversed?

However, Ekins and McGee seemed to be more energetic because of the jet difference. They were really stimulated by what they saw, and their cerebral cortex was in an excited state. The guest made a request, but Mao Haodong could not refuse. He arranged for Ekins and the others to go to the hotel to rest first, and he hurried home to sleep. At 9 o'clock in the morning, Mao Haodong found an acquaintance to help him drive, picked up Ekins and McGee at the hotel, and began to inspect other districts and counties in Jinnan.

"This is Songqiang County. In the early years, it was used to make connectors. 20% of the standard connectors in the world are Songqiang."

"Pingji County is particularly famous for gears. What gears do you need? You can't buy them elsewhere. There must be ones here. Even if they don't have one, they can make them for you immediately, and they will not be worse than those of big factories."

"Xianghe County, the one who makes bolts..."

Mao Haodong sat in the passenger seat and introduced the two foreign businessmen as he knew it. The car drove by the bustling streets, and the signs and large posters of the shops on both sides were overwhelming. Eggins and McGee sat in the back row, pressing the window glass to look outside, and their hearts were turbulent.

At that time in the morning, Ekins asked Mao Haodong if the local area was China's largest industrial center. He only referred to Shiyang County. But now he knew that Mao Haodong's Songqiang County, Pingji County, Xianghe County, etc. were all inferior to Shiyang. And there were as many as 12 such counties in this so-called Jinnan City.

"Mr. Mao, how many factories are there in your Jinnan City?" Ekins asked.

"This has stopped me." Mao Haodong said, "50,000, or 100,000? It's really hard to say. By the way, the chairman of our Jinnan Chamber of Commerce, Yao Weiqiang, gave us a report last time, saying that there are now 10 million migrant workers in the entire Jinnan, and we are locals in Jinnan, and there are almost 12 million workers. You can figure out how many factories there are."

"12 million workers?" Eggins was stunned. Are you mistaken? There are only 13 million manufacturing workers in the entire United States? There are 12 million people in Jinnan alone, which is equivalent to the size of the manufacturing workers in the entire United States.

Indeed, American workers have higher labor productivity, and the added value of products produced by a worker may be equivalent to 10 Chinese workers. But this is because the United States has dumped all products with low added value into China. Bolts, gears, fixtures, etc., are very labor-intensive when small-scale production. American workers disdain to make such things. They just import accessories from China and assemble them into valuable equipment. But if all these things are taken back and allowed to be made by Americans themselves, it will be too difficult to overcome. Where do you find 12 million workers to build an industrial system like Jinnan?
Chapter completed!