Bulgarian Empire

The sky in April is full of flowers and trees. Ferdinand, who was springing, received good news.

"Your Majesty, we have already developed the low-cost car you requested, come and take a look with me!" Alan Heidelberg said like a child, running over to offer a treasure.

At the beginning of the 20th century, automobiles were nothing new. Whether it was practicality or safety, they had been greatly improved compared with the 19th century. Horse-drawn carriages had already begun to be banned and became a new toy for the rich and noble.

As early as 1769, the Frenchman N.J. Gunew manufactured the world's first steam-driven three-wheeled vehicle, which opened the era of human automobiles.

However, the steam engine car was not popular because of its poor performance in all aspects. It was not until 1897 that the German Rudolf Diesel successfully trial-produced the first diesel engine, which changed!

The appearance of the diesel engine is a great breakthrough in power engineering. Its appearance not only finds a place for diesel, but also is more fuel-efficient than gasoline, more powerful, and relatively less polluting. It was one of the best power systems for cars at that time. .

On August 15, 1883, Daimler and Maybach invented the gasoline internal combustion engine. In 1885, German Gottlieb Daimler invented the first four-wheeled automobile, which opened a new era of automobiles.

Before 1900, following Germany and France, there were many such workshop-style car production companies in the United States, Britain and Italy. In 1900, Europe and the United States produced a total of 9,504 cars.

Ferdinand, who is familiar with the importance of cars, of course followed up! In 1901, Bulgaria independently developed the first car - Boer!

The performance of "Bohr" was at the advanced level in the world at that time. It could run continuously for 3.5 hours at a speed of 15.1km per hour. It was also equipped with clutches, steering wheels, transmissions and other equipment that are well-known in later generations!

Unfortunately, like the cars of this era, its stability is extremely poor. Basically, after running for hundreds of kilometers, it needs to be repaired once. And both production cost and maintenance cost are very high, not popular!

However, Ferdinand still did not give up, but continued to increase capital investment. After all, in this era, the automobile industry has just started, and the whole world is full of manual workshops, and everyone is trying to cross the river by feeling the stones!

People don't pay enough attention to the automobile industry. Basically, individuals are promoting the development of the automobile industry. The financial groups have not yet realized the huge profits contained in it!

There is a good saying that the progress of science and technology is all piled up with endless resources!

With Ferdinand's continuous investment, Bulgaria's automobile industry has finally achieved remarkable results and has reached the forefront of the world!

Following the "Boer", in 1904, the "Boer II" was born, and the performance of the second-generation Ball was greatly improved.

It has carried out a series of improvements, taking into account the comfort of passengers, optimizing the structure of the car, and the aesthetics of the car have also been significantly improved!

And in terms of stability, it has also been greatly improved, and finally got rid of the trouble of repairing the car every day! But its superior performance is based on the premise of increasing costs!

So this car is not what Ferdinand wanted, and its production cost of 16,000 levs is enough to make people daunting!

After adding R\u0026D costs and profits, the final deluxe version of "Boer II" will cost 50,000 Levas (about 2,000 pounds), which is doomed to be a toy for the rich. If you want to rely on it to promote the development of the transportation industry, forget it!

There is no way, the investment in research and development is too high, the market is too small and the output is too low, so the production cost cannot be reduced no matter what!

As of the end of 1907, Bulgaria had produced more than 8,000 "Boer II" vehicles in more than three years, so it has also become the best-selling car brand in Eastern Europe!

The times are constantly improving, and in 1907, the "Three Generations of Ball" was also developed.

Similarly, this is also a rich man's toy, which has greatly improved both in terms of comfort and safety, but unfortunately its cost is still high!

In this context, Ferdinand proposed to the designers: design a low-priced model that is unadorned, durable, easy to drive and maintain, has low requirements on the road, and meets the needs of the mass market!

In fact, Ferdinand did not have high expectations for this car. Bulgaria will not benefit the most from the birth of this popular version of cheap cars, even if Bulgaria is the number one car manufacturer in Eastern Europe!

The birth of cheap cars will only benefit the oil-producing countries. In Europe, the Russian Empire and Romania will be the winners of this transportation revolution!

Of course, Bulgaria is not at a disadvantage. Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, Bulgaria's domestic road network is now among the best in Europe, and the road network has basically covered every town!

Anyway, Ford is about to break out, and Ferdinand doesn't mind getting ahead of the Americans rather than being the first!

"So fast?" Ferdinand said in surprise

It only took more than two months from the time he ordered the design of this car to the finished product. He was very worried that the designers had misunderstood it, and it was a cheap car with random deletions and deletions!

After all, the cheap car that Ferdinand requested is not feasible if it is cheaper by a thousand or eight hundred. The production cost must be reduced to at least one-third, or even one-fifth of the original one!

"Of course, what you ordered, can we be unhappy?" Allen Heidelberg said proudly

"Go, take me to see!" Ferdinand said happily

Most of the scientific research tasks in Bulgaria are completed by Bulgarian universities, and some are in charge of the newly established Sofia University and R\u0026D institutions distributed to various enterprises!

Alan Heidelberg was Ferdinand who poached a master in the mechanical field from the University of Vienna in Austria. He served as the head of the Mechanical Department of the University of Bulgaria and was mainly responsible for the research and development of power systems.

After arriving in Bulgaria, he also achieved remarkable results. He has achieved many remarkable achievements in this field, and occasionally he can take a short car copy.

Bulgaria is able to bite the tail of the great powers tightly in the field of power. He has made great contributions. Almost as soon as he comes out, the team of Allen Heidelberg can do it in a few years!

Therefore, this old man with a top-of-the-line IQ, almost zero EQ, and no one to buy, still sits firmly in the position of the head of the Mechanical Department, and even Ferdinand respects him very much.

This is also in Bulgaria, a country that attaches great importance to scientific research personnel. If it is placed in a few big power countries, there will be no such treatment, and there is no shortage of talents!

In fact, before Alan Heidelberg came to Bulgaria, his position at the University of Vienna was very embarrassing. A guy who has achieved many achievements in China only has the position of an associate professor, and he can't even get enough research funds!

After all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has no shortage of talents, and there are not no people who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him. The Vienna government doesn't pay much attention to it. Basically, they just let science and technology develop naturally. People with insufficient emotional intelligence like this naturally can't get along!

One hundred thousand pounds of scientific research funding per year, without interfering with its usefulness, is the price paid by Ferdinand! Under the lure of this huge sum of money, Allen Heidelberg put on airs and struggled a lot before coming to Bulgaria!

Of course, other benefits are also indispensable. Villas, cars, servants, chefs, and bodyguards are all provided, and even assistants are free to choose from among Bulgarian college students!

In addition to these benefits, the Ministry of Education has also set up a problem-solving office at the University of Bulgaria to help foreign scientists, including him, coordinate interpersonal relationships. Otherwise, let these scientific research leaders handle it by themselves. It is estimated that the scientific research team will not know what to do How many times has it crashed!

Basically, this kind of super-capable people who don't mix well are masters with low EQ, otherwise it would not be Ferdinand's turn to poach people, and they can mess around wherever they go!

...

Soon, Ferdinand saw the real thing, and Alan Heidelberg had people drive to the gate of the palace directly. If he hadn't been stopped by the guards, he probably wouldn't mind letting people move directly to Ferdinand!

The car in front of him was really simple and ugly. Ferdinand dared to swear that he had never seen such an ugly car. Even the scrapped cars that were thrown away in the garbage dump were more beautiful than it!

This car uses a 4-cylinder 20-horsepower internal combustion engine, which is placed in the engine cover at the front, a planetary gear transmission with two forward gears and one reverse gear, pneumatic tires, and a boat-shaped body with two rows of seats and a canopy.

As for comfort? Sorry, this is out of consideration!

Ferdinand didn't even see any traces of decoration, many areas were not even polished, and some areas still had uneven marks!

The equipment inside is even simpler. Except for the necessary equipment for the car itself, there are almost no other things! So frugal that the seats are made of cheap wood products, and the windows don't even bother to install glass!

Ferdinand couldn't complain anymore, after all, this is the cheap car he asked for!

Oh, Alan Heidelberg was still complaining while introducing, dismissing the cheap car Ferdinand asked for as useless, as if saying: Your Majesty, I brought my men to make it like this for your face, Otherwise, if I say it out, I can't afford to lose this person!

Ferdinand just smiled slightly. He always laughed off Allen Heidelberg's complaints. If he took it seriously, he would probably drive people to death!

Seeing that Ferdinand was still smiling in his trademark way, Alan Heidelberg was still chattering: "Your Majesty, what's the use of such a bad car? You see, remove the carport at the back and use it directly to pull goods. It's okay, if I sit with people, I almost lost my old life this way..."

Ferdinand suddenly had an idea, didn’t he? As long as the carport is removed and modified, wouldn’t it be a pickup for future generations?

For Bulgaria now, it is still too extravagant for ordinary people to use cars, far less suitable than pickups!

"You're right, why don't you just remove the carport at the back and refit it for hauling goods!" Ferdinand thought for a while and said.

Alan Heidelberg stared at Ferdinand dumbfounded, obviously he was taken aback by Ferdinand's decision, he was just talking casually, it's true!

Looking at Alan Heidelberg who was stunned, Ferdinand said with concern: "What's the matter, Mr. Alan? Don't worry, your design is still effective, the reward will remain the same, and your share of the patent fee will not be lost! "

Allen Heidelberg reacted, and quickly explained: "No! Oh, nothing! Your Majesty's credit is still trustworthy, and I'm not worried about rewards! But can this thing really be sold?"

Well, Ferdinand thinks it's better not to talk to people with zero EQ, what they say can always make people mad!

Judging from what he said, it seems that Ferdinand's credit may still have problems! Ferdinand dared to say that even if he wanted to breach the contract, he couldn't go back on his word for such a small amount of money, right?

With a mere reward of tens of thousands of levs, my daily income is more than this figure! Forget it, my lord will not argue with you in large numbers! Ferdinand comforted himself.

Ferdinand said a little depressed: "This is not something you should worry about. If you think you can't sell it, it doesn't matter. You can just sell the patent to the First Bulgarian Automobile Factory!"

Alan Heidelberg nodded contentedly, as if he felt that Ferdinand's words made sense!

Depressed and depressed, Ferdinand still did not forget to ask: "By the way, what is the cost of this car?"

"Not counting labor costs, the total cost of light materials is 1324.8 levas!" Alan Heidelberg revealed a very accurate figure

Ferdinand was taken aback for a moment, and then he realized that he seemed to be asking the wrong person this question. In this era of hand-built cars, the most important expense is labor costs.

Looking at the rough workmanship of this car, you know that the cost of materials will not be too high! But what about labor costs? Laboratory and production workshop are completely two concepts!

"Well, I got it! Remember to submit the list of designers and receive rewards!" Ferdinand said lightly

Alan Heidelberg looked a little complicated, and said awkwardly: "This is the work of the students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering!"

Just now I was bragging, saying how much I value this task, and it will be exposed soon!

However, instead of being angry, Ferdinand was very satisfied. The students at school can complete the design of this car, which just shows that the education in Bulgaria is successful!

Perhaps in the next ten or eight years, these students can really grow up, changing the current miserable situation in Bulgaria's scientific research field, which relies entirely on poaching people!

Perhaps because of embarrassment, Alan Heidelberg escaped early on the grounds that he was busy with work!

After carefully looking at it, Ferdinand put away his curiosity. Car design, for an otaku who didn't even know how to drive a car in his previous life, is really unfamiliar!

"Come here, put this car in the museum for people to visit!" Ferdinand said lightly

This is also Ferdinand's collection habit, and he plans to leave more valuable collections to future generations, so that people can admire his great achievements!

...

The car is designed, but it is not certain when it will be produced! After all, Bulgaria is not an oil-producing country, and now it is being marketed as a wedding dress for others!

Even Ferdinand can make a fortune from car sales, but the long-term profits are earned by selling oil!

Unless the current global patent protection can be as deeply rooted in people's hearts as later generations, once this car is launched, it won't be long before there will be pirated copies everywhere in the world!

If you want to make a fortune from patents, stop dreaming! That is to say, at the beginning, the automobile industry was not valued by the consortiums, and they could make a fortune. In the later stage, they can keep the market share in Eastern Europe, and Ferdinand will be satisfied!