novelaction Chapter 768 Perfect Cooperation.
Chapter 768 Perfect Cooperation.
The sun moved seven times over the tin roof of the seven wind tunnel laboratories. The morning mist, wrapped in frost, dispersed and gathered again. The twilight pressed down on the snowflakes, which fell and melted again. Even the snow tracks left by the sentries changing shifts froze hard and then softened. A week passed by quietly.
No one said it aloud, but everyone understood.
Nobody enjoys memorizing a thick stack of regulations emblazoned with the word "confidential." The veteran geologist, holding the booklet, didn't even notice his reading glasses slipping down to his nose, his brow furrowed so deeply it could trap a mosquito. The technicians at Institute 706, accustomed to slide rules and drafting pens, felt their heads spin and their eyelids swell at the pages filled with phrases like "Do not disclose without authorization," "Requires at least two people to operate simultaneously," and "Strictly prohibited from recording in non-confidential books."
Even Engineer Chen was no exception. His originally sickly complexion turned an unnatural rosy red from the embarrassment of being forced into this situation. Even the pain that kept popping up in his lower right abdomen seemed to be suppressed by this inexplicable irritability.
But there are exceptions to everything.
Factory 112, which is next to the Seventh Institute.
At the other end of the factory area, next to the heavily guarded tarmac, a group of people were holding the same confidentiality regulations, their eyes shining as they read them, their fingers twirling the corners of the pages with an eager and serious air.
Perhaps this is because, in the nearby open hangar, the actual Il-28 bomber, specially transferred from a certain unit, with its long fuselage and cold-gleaming skin, lies quietly dormant. Its very presence is a silent yet weighty promise and call.
Or perhaps it was because the improvement plan described by a young engineer with a stubborn tuft of hair sticking up on his head, and his promise to give this mature platform a new lease on life and powerful combat capabilities, was simply too tempting. Compared to being able to touch, study, and modify such cutting-edge equipment, what did studying a few thick regulations matter?
At this moment, a week has passed since Jiang Xia put forward the idea entitled "A Preliminary Study on a Fusion Detection Technology Based on Proton Precession Magnetism Measurement and Pulse Induction Radar".
Although Jiang Xia was extremely anxious and wished he could immediately use the new equipment to find the lost gold, the chip's production cycle was not subject to his personal will at all.
Chip manufacturing is an extremely precise, complex, and lengthy process, far from being accomplished overnight. From single-crystal silicon preparation, photomask fabrication, wafer oxidation, photolithography, etching, diffusion doping, ion implantation, to the final dicing, packaging, and testing… every step must be carried out in an ultra-clean environment, consuming a significant amount of time, and its cycle strictly follows the objective laws of semiconductor physics and processes. These objective laws, like an invisible wall, stand between ideal and reality.
No matter how anxious Jiang Xia was, he could only patiently wait for news from the electronics factory under the Academy of Sciences.
Fortunately, the current threading technology isn't as advanced as it would be in later generations; with a little extra effort, we can still produce small batches.
So, during this week-long waiting period, Jiang Xia did something crucial: he gathered most of the researchers from the original Dongfeng-113 project team and conducted an initial screening and project mobilization. Right next to the massive silhouette of the Il-28, he briefly explained his improvement concepts and the required technical directions to the blueprints and blackboard.
It was this open and honest presentation that allowed the key technical personnel, who had been filled with anxiety and uncertainty about their future due to the project audit, to see an unprecedented and exciting new platform and a weighty trust. "We're going to install a new fire control radar on it, using our own silicon components as the core, so it can lock onto ground targets dozens of kilometers away at night. This job is even more practical than the fighter jets you've worked on before. Are you in?"
The researchers' eyes lit up at these words. Before, they'd been pondering blueprints in vain; now, with a real machine to modify and a clear objective, who still thought the secrecy regulations were "long and tedious"?
Holding the booklet, they read it word by word. Even clauses like "no one may approach the helipad without permission" were regarded as essential "participation certificates" for them, for fear of missing any detail and jeopardizing their eligibility to participate in this great transformation.
The technicians were working with great enthusiasm, while Li Huaide and Yang Youning were also performing their "good cop, bad cop" act with consummate skill.
Yes, thanks to the outstanding performance of Li Huaide and Yang Youning, the officials being audited had no time to care about what the researchers from the original Dongfeng 113 project were actually doing.
Yang Youning fully displayed his meticulous nature, and he dragged Director Zhao and other cadres through the vast sea of equipment ledgers, material lists and financial statements. His strictness and meticulousness were so extreme that they could be described as "nitpicking".
As soon as the statistical verification of all the large equipment was completed, he immediately pulled these people into the process of tracing the logistics support process and auditing the consumption of materials. From whether the procurement approval process for a special screw was complete, to whether the usage record for a pair of gloves was clear and met the quota standards, he checked everything with extreme care and asked extremely tricky questions.
This has left the relevant personnel extremely overwhelmed and almost unable to get away.
“Deputy Director Wang, your workshop received 120 pairs of work gloves in the third quarter, exceeding the quota by 35 pairs. Where did each pair go, what were the reasons for the loss, and what were the reissue approval forms? Can’t you provide them? If you can’t provide them, it’s a management loophole and a waste of state property! You’ve already become lax in your thinking!”
Yang Erlengzi jumped onto the table again, using his heels as drumsticks, filling the entire conference room with ear-piercing noise: "Also, why did the budget for the factory's heating pipe repair last year include funds for purchasing lathe accessories? The accounts were mixed up, and the procedures were incomplete. This is a serious problem! It must be clarified. Everyone involved should write a report and put it on my desk first thing tomorrow morning!"
From whether the total monthly coal consumption for heating in the workshop is reasonable, to whether the purchase price of a bearing during equipment maintenance is fair, every single matter had to be traced back to its source, leaving the cadres dizzy and overwhelmed, without even time to drink a sip of water, and the office lights often stayed on until the early hours of the morning.
Li Huaide would always arrive "quietly" in the evening after Yang Youning had raged and slammed his fist on the table to question him. He would then urge Director Zhao and the others to "quickly fill in the missing records and improve the procedures as Yang Youning found out."
"Logistics work is complex and multifaceted, and oversights are inevitable. The key is to have the right attitude and to remedy problems promptly!" he reassured them.
How complex are the logistics records? There are more than a dozen categories. From daily maintenance records of precision lathes and consumable replacement vouchers to the requisition and registration of office pencils and erasers, and even the application and acceptance forms for replacing broken workshop window glass, everything must be recorded and traceable.
The cadres were pressured by Yang Youning and "persuaded" by Li Huaide to work overtime until midnight every day, racking their brains to "perfect" various materials and records.
But seeing Li Huaide's "understanding" and "guidance," they felt as if they had grasped a lifeline and worked with extraordinary enthusiasm.
They generally believed that as long as they did a good job of making these "superficial" things look good and completed these "procedures," they could get through this sudden audit storm safely and keep their jobs and projects.
These people have neither the time nor the intention to interfere further with the researchers' "closed-door study of the regulations."
Therefore, during this seemingly calm but actually turbulent period, Jiangxia was able to successfully complete the initial integration of personnel and technical assessment.
……
That morning, Jiang Xia was standing by the tarmac of Factory 112, his brows furrowed as he pondered the daily reports from the Navy, when suddenly, a familiar engine roar came from afar.
He looked up and saw another Il-28, bathed in the morning light, landing smoothly on the runway and slowly taxiing to the apron.
The plane came to a stop, the cabin door opened, and two skilled personnel in flight suits quickly descended the stairs. The middle-aged man in the lead strode up to Jiang Xia and gave a crisp salute.
"Reporting to Comrade Jiangxia! Former crew member of a certain unit, reporting for duty!"
"Comrades, you've worked hard!" Jiang Xia quickly returned the greeting, but his gaze involuntarily drifted towards the plane's cabin door.
Has the baby arrived yet?