As soon as the Chinese and German technical experts met on the Sino-Soviet thermal power plant cooperation project, they immediately felt a sense of kinship. The Soviet experts were quickly relegated to the sidelines, listening to the discussions between their Chinese and German counterparts. This wasn't because the Chinese and German experts were intentionally excluding the Soviets; rather, both sides operated within an industrialized system, and their experts shared a similar mindset regarding cost considerations.

In industrial competition, enterprises on both sides aimed to make a profit. To win in fierce competition, one had to lower costs. Thermal power plants were a technology- and capital-intensive industry. Once the technical principles, implementation paths, and technical parameters were determined, the thinking of technical experts naturally turned to how to reduce costs.

Compared to the Chinese and German experts, the Soviet experts' job was to complete tasks assigned from above. This naturally limited their thinking, making them insensitive to the content of the Sino-German discussions and unable to effectively integrate into the conversation.

After several frank exchanges, the German experts concluded that China, as the esteemed "Party A," had ample funds and technical proficiency, making this a highly reliable deal. The Chinese experts also gained much; Germany, as the industrious and capable "Party B," possessed advanced technical concepts, deep accumulation in heavy industry, and superb precision machining capabilities.

China had already completed its second 30,000-ton die-forging hydraulic press, and the fourth 15,000-ton die-forging hydraulic press had been delivered for use. Dozens of hydraulic presses over 5,000 tons were providing components for the automotive and internal combustion engine industries. Chinese experts, having experience with this equipment, realized that Germany should also have its own high-power die-forging hydraulic presses. Even conservatively assuming that Germany's 30,000-ton and larger die-forging hydraulic presses were not yet completed, they should be finished in the short term.

The reason they dared to be so certain was that, based on the parameters provided by the German experts, without 30,000-ton or larger die-forging hydraulic presses, the power plant components Germany hoped to undertake simply could not meet the parameter requirements.

With the confirmation from experts on both sides, the intentions were finalized quickly. The Soviet side was satisfied to confirm that they could continue deeper cooperation with Germany. This news was immediately sent back to Moscow, bringing a sigh of relief to the responsible Politburo members. Although trade between the Soviet Union and China was very close, the Soviet Union was still more inclined to believe that European technology was the most advanced in the world. Since China had set no obstacles to the cooperation, the Soviet side felt that long-term technical cooperation with Germany was secure.

The German experts tirelessly flew back to Berlin and immediately went to see Schacht. Schacht was not particularly surprised by this result; he merely expressed his appreciation and prepared to move on to other work. It had been fifteen months since the Nazi Party came to power, and Germany's unemployment rate had dropped from six million to less than one million. To provide enough jobs, Germany had started too many factories. Schacht now had to use his personal political credit to make guarantees to foreign governments and enterprises that had reached economic cooperation agreements. Since this order went so smoothly, Schacht did not need to step in personally.

"Mr. Schacht, please wait a moment." William Douglas, the head of the German technical expert group responsible for the negotiations, had something to say.

Out of respect, Schacht sat back down, though his tone was somewhat urgent. "Mr. Douglas, please get to the point."

William Douglas had hesitated initially, but now he could only voice the speculation in his heart. It wasn't just the Chinese experts who discovered the other side's equipment level through technical details. In the judgment of the German experts, China's precision machining capabilities were likely superior to Germany's, because the error rates proposed by China were difficult even for Germany to achieve. During the discussions, the German experts frankly presented Germany's views, and the Chinese experts stated that if Germany could not meet them, they should leave enough machining allowance, and China would perform the final procedures.

The components required for thermal power plants were all ultra-large, often weighing several tons, and required extremely high precision. These multi-ton precision components had to go through dozens or even hundreds of procedures to be completed. If any single processing step went wrong, it would lead to problems with the expensive component.

Since the level of the Chinese experts was not poor, the German experts believed it was impossible for them not to know this. Since the Chinese experts proposed that China perform the final precision machining, they certainly knew that this inevitably carried the risk of processing failure, leading to the scrapping of the component. regarding this, Expert William suggested that perhaps Germany could probe China in these fields.

Hearing this, Schacht felt he was wasting time. How could Germany have time to entangle itself in these details now? Out of respect for the expert, Schacht asked, "Mr. William, can Germany's current technology meet the needs of German industrial precision?"

William thought for a moment before answering, "It can satisfy them."

"If China really possesses the precision machining technology you believe they do, then are these technologies essential for Germany right now?" Schacht continued to ask.

William shook his head. "Not absolutely essential, but..."

Schacht interrupted William. "Mr. William, if you have the opportunity to communicate with China in the future, you can try to ask the Chinese side what level their precision machining technology has reached. If you get accurate news, please be sure to tell me."

Hearing this, the experts, including William, understood Schacht's meaning and honestly rose to take their leave. Leaving the Ministry of Economics, the experts would soon go their separate ways. Seeing William Douglas looking somewhat frowning and miserable, a few kind-hearted colleagues persuaded him, "Mr. William, I think there is perhaps another possibility. The Chinese side is just bluffing. The parameter precision I heard didn't feel like it had been technically verified. That amount of calculation requires a large number of experienced engineers to discuss and calculate together. I don't think the Chinese side would consume so much manpower for such a small technical issue. What do you think?"

As an expert, hearing this, William also felt that perhaps he was being too sensitive. As these experts said, coming up with such high-precision data required a massive investment of engineers. Leaving aside whether China had so many experienced engineers, William didn't think China could have so many engineers available in such a short time. Even if they did, mobilizing so many engineers meant high costs. From an economic perspective, this was completely uneconomical. And it shouldn't have happened.

Having untied the knot in his heart, William invited everyone for dinner. But the German experts had all endured a long, bumpy flight and had been away from home for so long, so they all declined. Someone said, "We will have opportunities to cooperate in the future. We'll eat when we meet next time."

Thus, the group of weary experts, eager to return home, said their goodbyes. They got into cars, horse-drawn carriages, and some even sat on the back seats of bicycles ridden by family members who had come to pick them up, dispersing in their own directions.

***

Meanwhile, in the Guizhou No. 2 Computing Center, engineers had finally led technical workers to finish rushing repairs on a burst water pipe. Everyone was soaked and exhausted. Just as they sat down, the Party Secretary of the Computing Center arrived with a group of people invited from a nearby village to help the tired engineers and workers up and take them for a hot bath.

Although they were no longer children and wouldn't be forced to bathe, this attitude alone was heartwarming. Moreover, after soaking in ice-cold water for several hours, their physical strength was truly exhausted. The group, half-supported, went to the bathhouse. The tiled bathhouse pool was filled with clean hot water. Because the tiles were light blue, the water appeared even more clear and transparent.

Seeing this, the villagers couldn't help but click their tongues in wonder, envious of the treatment of the experts and technical workers. Not only was the large pool ready, but the stones on the electric stove in the sauna room were heated red-hot. A ladle of water thrown on them immediately produced a sizzling sound, and steam rose accordingly. Turning on the showers, hot water sprayed from the nozzles.

Everyone washed up warmly. In the break room, ginger tea to drive away the cold was already prepared, once again driving the chill out of the laborers from the inside out. Even so, the next day, several people still fell ill from the cold. Among those attending the meeting, several had stuffy noses, but they managed to persist in attending.

The computing center was built in the mountains, utilizing the terrain. A karst cave had been thoroughly remodeled to serve as the machine hall for the computing center. Power came from several nearby hydroelectric stations. Equipment cooling relied on circulating ice-cold groundwater delivered through pipes.

As soon as the meeting began, the engineers complained. The heat generation of the newly installed transistor computers was much greater than that of the previous electron tube computers. To save money, the higher-ups had ordered the full utilization of the old piping system. To increase cooling, water pressure had been increased, but the old pipes weren't strong enough. Coupled with the fact that the piping system had been in use for a long time, this was already the third failure. The cooling piping system had to be redesigned!

The person in charge of the Computing Center was a professor who, according to regulations, had worked here for nine months and was about to return to his university. He naturally agreed to adjust the cooling system immediately, but the person responsible for funds at the Computing Center was the Party Secretary, so he looked towards the Secretary.

Seeing the professor observing the rules, the Secretary replied, "I already reported this upwards yesterday. The higher-ups gave two suggestions: either we put it out to tender, or we make the cooling plan ourselves. What do you all think, comrades?"

Hearing that the problem was about to be solved, everyone felt much happier. They began to discuss exactly how to solve it. More people leaned towards the Computing Center making its own plan, while a minority felt that tendering was more appropriate. Seeing that the discussion had run its course, the Secretary said, "If we make the plan ourselves, how much time will it take? This time must necessarily come from outside working hours. After the plan is made, do we have engineers responsible for specific parameters to work them out? After completion, it needs to be submitted for argumentation, and then tendered. Even if it passes, I can't be sure how much the bonus will be. After all, our plan isn't a universal one. So there's no guarantee of getting a patent."

After speaking, the Secretary looked at the crowd. Seeing quite a few people looking blank, the Secretary smiled, "Since we are a computing center, I'll list the process and expenses for everyone. You'll know once you calculate it."

The Computing Center did not lack professionals who calculated based on parameters. The Secretary listed the entire process on the blackboard, and many staff members with superb mental arithmetic abilities began to write. Soon, they calculated the time required for different processing methods, as well as the related returns.

After comparing them, the numbers clearly proved that for the Computing Center to propose parameters based on current needs and hand them over to the higher-ups for tendering was the most beneficial option for the center.

Once the numbers were out, there was no need for further discussion on what to do. The engineering department immediately began organizing to prepare the tender documents. The head of the Computing Center found the Secretary. "Will doing it this way increase costs too much?"

The Secretary looked at the professor; he could understand this view. There were specific cases in Party School training where students conducted actual exercises and analysis. The course instructor analyzed it clearly: from a psychological perspective, all living things have a kind of dominance. In human society, this manifests in the form of fighting for dominance.

Placed in the context of the matter at hand, since the Computing Center couldn't get economic benefits from this project, the impulse to fight for dominance would manifest in the form of "nitpicking."

However, from an operational perspective, the Computing Center was a small component in the entire social mass production. The job of the Computing Center was to do the work at hand well, smoothly connecting the preceding and following stages, allowing the entire system to operate well. It was not to nitpick on these matters. Even if one were to nitpick, it should be on matters affecting the normal operation of the Computing Center, not to gossip across fields.

Thinking of this, the Secretary still wasn't quite sure if his thinking was correct. After all, the other party was a professor, an expert with considerable education. The Secretary smiled and said, "Does the Professor know a team that does this?"

Seeing the Secretary asking with a smile, the Professor felt there was a chance, so he lowered his voice slightly and said, "I have a cousin who does piping. I think the level over there is not bad. The difficulty of this project isn't high; he should be able to land it."

The Secretary felt a wave of revulsion in his heart. So the professor really wanted to get this order for the people around him. But the Secretary had received sufficient education, which included how to refuse. He didn't give the professor a political ideology lecture directly, but advised, "Since you know this project is going to be tendered, tell your cousin. Let him pay attention to this matter. Tenders are open now; he can bid."

The professor thought for a moment. He felt that there were more and more enterprises now, and competition was becoming increasingly fierce. Although this project wasn't particularly large, it wasn't small either. And there were quite a few enterprises that could cooperate with the Computing Center; they were experienced, and their probability of winning the bid was greater. He probed again, "This is our own project after all. A lot of it involves non-standard designs. It's still easier to discuss if we find our own team."

The Secretary shook his head. "Look at our work right now, where do we have the time and manpower to manage so much? I think we should still follow the system."

"That will cost a lot of money," the professor continued trying to persuade the Secretary.

The Secretary shook his head. "It's not us spending the money. Let the higher-ups worry about it."

Seeing he couldn't persuade the Secretary, the professor gave up. After the professor left, the Secretary considered whether to write a simple report. But after thinking about it, he abandoned the idea. This report would, after all, affect the professor's evaluation. Since the professor had already given up and caused no impact, there was no need to do this behind his back.

In the following days, the Computing Center received notification that several large projects were being distributed, and all computing centers had to be prepared for overtime. The Computing Center was long accustomed to such things. In the past, only the demands of the military industry would be like this; it seemed there was some new equipment preparing for calculation.

Just as everyone thought, a few days later, troops suddenly arrived and first took over the security of the No. 2 Computing Center. Everyone had experience, and the takeover proceeded very smoothly. Once security issues were handled, a group of field officers and experts arrived at the Computing Center. The No. 2 Computing Center was one of the first batches to install transistor computers. The computing power of transistor computers was dozens of times greater than that of electron tube computers. Work that previously required many computing centers could now be solved by a single one.

The Secretary also saw an acquaintance, Wang Donglu, the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Aircraft Manufacturing Bureau. Due to confidentiality measures, the Secretary only communicated with Wang Donglu during the meeting and had absolutely no other interaction.

Wang Donglu was also incredibly anxious at this time and had no intention of paying attention to surrounding matters unrelated to work. The new fighter jet had encountered problems just before mass production. And this problem wasn't a minor one; rather, after the new wind tunnel was completed ahead of schedule, the new fighter jet immediately underwent full-scale wind tunnel testing. Several problems that couldn't be detected before were now discovered.

In addition to new discoveries in aerodynamics, metal flaw detection and metal crystal phase diffraction detection technologies had also achieved breakthroughs ahead of schedule. These technological breakthroughs were great things, but they triggered a discussion. The core discussion was whether to redesign the current J-9 fighter jet.

Opinions in the Manufacturing Bureau were divided into two types. One was to proceed according to the previous design, and the other was to use all the new technologies to perfect the design. In the final vote, Wang Donglu voted to perfect the design. In his explanation, Wang Donglu stated, "Many of the technical parameters that this design initially wanted to achieve could not be completed at the time, so we settled for the next best thing and chose the current plan. Since materials science can potentially solve them now, why don't we proceed according to the initial plan?"

There were more people supporting the second plan, so the second plan was chosen. Although Wang Donglu decided on this matter, he was still anxious in his heart. Because the new fighter jet was the turboprop propeller combat plan proposed by He Rui. The fighter jet shape hand-drawn by He Rui was initially seen by the Aircraft Design Bureau as an overly idealized plan. But after all, it was He Rui's plan; no matter what opinions everyone had in their hearts, they couldn't say them out loud. However, unexpectedly, with the advancement of various technologies, some of He Rui's initial views actually had the possibility of success.

Wang Donglu respected He Rui very much, so the last thing he wanted to see was someone using He Rui as an excuse. In recent years, there were more and more people in the Aircraft Manufacturing Bureau, and the number of incompetent people had also increased a lot. These people had their own characteristics, but from their traits, they all lacked technical research ability, so they habitually shirked responsibility. And the best method of shirking was undoubtedly to drag politics into it.

In present-day China, He Rui undoubtedly had the greatest political influence. Dragging He Rui out as an excuse was the most legitimate reason. So Wang Donglu came here personally this time to eliminate political influence and focus on doing this job well.

Calculation began quickly. Wang Donglu conducted technical discussions and research with his selected team in his temporary office. In the plan He Rui gave to the Aircraft Design Bureau previously, he mentioned the design concept of drilling holes inside the impeller. And in that original document, He Rui clearly wrote that this needed research; the drawing he drew could at most be used as an idea, and definitely could not be used as a research plan.

Yet when this prototype drawing was being reproduced, there were several times when people wanted to remove this instruction. It was experts, including Wang Donglu's mentor, who withstood the opposing opinions and firmly insisted on retaining the entire instruction. Something that seemed completely normal to technical experts actually had quite a few opponents.

Fortunately, the Aircraft Design Bureau used the team model ordered by He Rui, which finally allowed Wang Donglu and others to choose team members who shared their recognized concepts to participate.

And those guys who wanted to delete He Rui's note actually opposed this design group system. As if these weren't proposed by He Rui.

As soon as there was an opportunity, he definitely had to drive that bunch out of the Design Bureau. During his very short break times, such thoughts occasionally popped up in Wang Donglu's mind. These people were just pests!