The April day is full of flowers and green trees. Ferdinand, who was in the middle of spring, 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 treasures.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the automobile was not a new thing, both practicality and safety, compared with the 19th century, it has been greatly improved, and the horse-drawn carriage has begun to be banned, becoming the new toy of the wealthy aristocracy.

As early as 1769, the Frenchman N· J. Güniu built the world's first steam-powered three-wheeled car, and since then the age of human automobiles has begun.

However, the steam engine car, due to its performance in all aspects, was not popular, and it was not until 1897, when the German Rudolf Diesel successfully trial-produced the first diesel engine, that it changed!

The emergence of the diesel engine is a great breakthrough in power engineering, its emergence not only found a place for diesel, but also it is more fuel-efficient than gasoline, large power, relatively less polluting, and is one of the best power systems for automobiles at that time.

On August 15, 1883, Daimler and Maybach invented the gasoline internal combustion engine. In 1885, the German Gothrieb Daimler invented the first four-wheeled car and ushered in a new era of automobiles.

Before 1900, after Germany and France, the United States, Britain and Italy had a number of such workshop-type automobile production companies, and in 1900 Europe and the United States produced a total of 9,504 cars.

Ferdinand, who knew the importance of the car, of course, followed suit! In 1901, Bulgaria independently developed its first car - Ball!

At that time, the performance of "Ball" was also considered to be the world's advanced level, it was able to travel at a speed of 15.1km/h, continuous driving for 3.5 hours, and was also equipped with the clutch, steering wheel, transmission and other equipment that people later became familiar with!

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

However, Ferdinand still did not give up, but continued to increase the investment of funds. After all, in this era, the automobile industry has just started, and the whole world is full of handmade workshops, all of which are crossing 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, and the consortiums have not yet realized the huge profits contained in it!

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

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

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

It has made a series of improvements, taking into account passenger comfort, 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 I finally got rid of the trouble of repairing cars every day! But its superior performance is based on the premise of increasing costs!

So this car is not what Ferdinand wants, its production cost of up to 16,000 leva is enough to prohibitive!

Coupled with the cost and profit of R & D, the final luxury version of the "Bol II Generation", which requires a price of 50,000 leva (about 2,000 pounds), is destined to be a rich man's toy, if you want to rely on it to promote the development of the transportation industry, forget it!

There is no way, the R&D cost investment is too high, the market is too small, the output is too low, and the production cost can't be reduced!

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

The times are constantly advancing, and in 1907 the "Boer III" was also developed, which is also a rich man's toy, which has greatly improved both comfort and safety, but unfortunately its cost is still high!

In this context, Ferdinand proposed to the designers to design a low-cost model that was unadorned, durable, easy to drive and maintain, and had low road requirements to meet the needs of the mass market!

In fact, Ferdinand's expectations for this car are not high, and the biggest benefit from the birth of this mass version of a cheap car will not be Bulgaria, even if Bulgaria is the number one car manufacturer in Eastern Europe!

With the birth of cheap cars, it will only be the oil-producing countries that will benefit the most, and in Europe, the Russian Empire and Romania will be the winners of this revolution in the transportation industry!

Of course, Bulgaria is not a loss, due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, Bulgaria's domestic road network is now among the best in Europe, basically realizing the road network coverage to every township!

Anyway, Ford is about to explode, and Ferdinand still doesn't mind being ahead of the Americans than being preempted by the Americans!

"So fast?" Ferdinand said with some surprise

This car only took more than two months from his order to design and the finished product, and he was very worried that the designers had misunderstood, and it was a cheap car if it was deleted and reduced at will!

After all, the cheap car that Ferdinand asked for was not feasible for a thousand or eight hundred, and the production cost had to be reduced to at least one-third, or even one-fifth, of the original!

"Of course, can we be unhappy with what you command?" Alan Heidelberg said proudly

"Let's go, take me to see it!" Ferdinand said happily

At present, most of the scientific research tasks in Bulgaria are carried out by Bulgarian universities, and some are responsible for the newly established Sofia University and the R&D institutions distributed to various enterprises!

Alan Heidelberg was recruited by Ferdinand from the University of Vienna in Austria to serve as the head of the Department of Mechanics at the University of Bulgaria, mainly responsible for the research and development of power systems.

After arriving in Bulgaria, he has also achieved remarkable results, and has achieved many notable results in this field, and occasionally comes to visit the car for a short time.

Bulgaria was able to bite the tail of the great powers tightly in the field of power, and he contributed greatly, almost as soon as people came out, Allen Heidelberg's team was able to do it in a few years!

Therefore, this old man with an explosive IQ, almost zero EQ, and no one's account is still sitting 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 to the point of frenzy, if it is left in a few great countries, there is no such treatment, and there is no shortage of talents!

In fact, before Alan Heidelberg came to Bulgaria, he was in an awkward position at the University of Vienna, a guy who had achieved many results, only had an associate professor position, and he couldn't even get together the research funds!

After all, Austria-Hungary has no shortage of talents, and it is not impossible to compare with him, and the Vienna government does not attach much importance to it, basically allowing the natural development of science and technology, and this kind of person with insufficient emotional intelligence naturally can't get mixed up!

£100,000 a year in research funding, and not interfering with its use, was the price Ferdinand paid! Under the temptation of this huge amount of money, Alan Heidelberg also put on a good shelf, grinding and chirping, and came to Bulgaria!

Of course, other treatments are also indispensable, villas, cars, maids, cooks, bodyguards are all available, and even assistants are at his disposal among Bulgarian university students!

In addition to these treatments, the Ministry of Education has also set up a special problem handling office in Bulgarian universities to help foreign scientists, including him, coordinate interpersonal relationships, otherwise let these scientific research bigwigs deal with it themselves, and it is estimated that the scientific research team will not know how many times they will collapse!

Basically, this kind of person who is super capable and doesn't mix well is the master of low emotional intelligence, otherwise it would not be Ferdinand's turn to poach, and people can mix everywhere!

……

Soon, Ferdinand saw the real thing, Alan Heidelberg let people drive directly to the gate of the palace, if it wasn't for the guards to stop, it is estimated that he would not mind letting people move directly to Ferdinand!

The car in front of him was really shabby, and it was very ugly, Ferdinand sweared, he had never seen such an ugly car, even if it was once scrapped from the garbage dump, it looked better than it!

The car features a 4-cylinder, 20-horsepower internal combustion engine with a front position in the hood, a planetary transmission with two forward and one reverse gears, pneumatic tires, and a boat-shaped body with two rows of seats.

As for comfort? Sorry, this is not in the picture!

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

The equipment inside is even simpler, except for the car itself, there is almost nothing else! Thrifty to the point that the seats are made of cheap woodwork, and the windows are not even bothered to be glassed!

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

Oh, Alan Heidelberg was still complaining while introducing, devaluing the cheap car that Ferdinand asked for as useless, as if to say: Your Majesty, I am giving you face to bring my subordinates to do this, otherwise I can't afford to lose this person!

Ferdinand just smiled slightly, he always laughed at Alan Heidelberg's complaints, if he took it seriously, he would probably be able to people off!

Seeing that Ferdinand was still smiling in his signature style, Alan Heidelberg was still chattering and complaining: "Your Majesty, what's the use of you wanting such a bad car?" You see, remove the carport at the back and use it directly to pull goods, and it's okay, if you sit on someone, this way, almost tossed my old life......"

Ferdinand suddenly had an idea, isn't it, as long as the carport is removed and modified, isn't it a pickup truck for later generations?

Now for Bulgaria, it is still too luxurious to let ordinary people use cars, and it is far less suitable than pickup trucks!

"You're right, just remove the carport at the back and modify it to pull goods!" Ferdinand thought for a moment and said

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

Looking at the stunned Alan Heidelberg, Ferdinand said with concern, "What's the matter, Mr. Allen?" Rest assured, your design is still valid, the reward remains the same, and the patent fee will not be missing your share! ”

Alan Heidelberg reacted and quickly explained: "No! Oh, nothing! Your Majesty, your credit is still trustworthy, and I don't worry about rewards! But can this thing really be sold? ”

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

Listen to him, as if Ferdinand's credit might still be in trouble! Ferdinand dared to say that even if he wanted to break the contract, he would not be able to regret it for such a small amount of money, right?

With a reward of tens of thousands of leva, Lao Tzu's income in a day is more than this number! Forget it, I don't care about you a lot! Ferdinand comforted himself.

Ferdinand said a little depressed: "This is not a problem you should worry about, if you think you can't sell it, it doesn't matter, you can directly sell the patent to the Bulgarian First Automobile Factory!" ”

Alan Heidelberg nodded contentedly, as if he felt that Ferdinand's words were very reasonable!

Depressed to depressed, Ferdinand still didn't forget to ask: "By the way, how much does this amount of car cost?" ”

"Not counting the labor cost, the total cost of light materials is 1324.8 leva!" Alan Heidelberg has come up with a very accurate figure

Ferdinand was stunned for a moment, and reacted casually, he seemed to have asked 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 is it a labor cost? The laboratory and the production floor are two different concepts entirely!

"Well, I see! Don't forget to submit the list of designers to receive the reward! Ferdinand said lightly

Alan Heidelberg looked a little complicated and said embarrassedly: "This is the work of mechanical students!" ”

Just now I was bragging about how much I attached importance to this task, and it was immediately exposed!

But Ferdinand was not angry, but very satisfied. The fact that the students were able to complete the design of this car shows that Bulgarian education is a success!

Maybe in the next ten or eight years, these students will really grow up and change the current miserable status quo of Bulgaria in the field of scientific research, which is all about poaching people!

Perhaps feeling embarrassed, Alan Heidelberg directly escaped ahead of time on the grounds that he was busy with work!

After a closer look, Ferdinand put away his curiosity. Car design is too strange for an otaku who couldn't even drive a car in his previous life!

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

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

……

Cars are designed, but when they will be produced is not certain! After all, Bulgaria is not an oil producer, and now it is brought to the market to make wedding dresses for others!

Even if Ferdinand could make a fortune from car sales, it was the long-term profit that people made by selling oil!

Unless the current global patent protection can be as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as in later generations, once this car is launched, it will not be long before the world is full of pirated copies!

If you want to make a fortune from patents, don't dream! That is, at the beginning, the automobile industry was not valued by the consortium, and it was possible to make a profit, and in the later stage, it was able to maintain the current market share in Eastern Europe, and Ferdinand was content!