A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

However, the expected violent kicking of the door did not occur; instead, there were three crisp and polite knocks:

"Boom, boom, boom."

A slightly hurried yet steady voice came from outside the door: "Jiang Xiao, Comrade Jiang Xia, are you inside? I'm from the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, here to pay you a special visit!"

"The Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry?"

Before Jiang Xia could react, Old Wang interrupted coldly, his tone full of vigilance: "What kind of excuse can you come up with? Do you think we're some bumpkins trying to fool us? When did this Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry appear out of nowhere? I've never even heard of it! Creating a civilized city? Why don't you say you're creating a hygienic city?"

Jiang Xia nodded repeatedly. He had never heard of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building. Even though he had flapped his butterfly wings so hard that he had brought up the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building ahead of time, he had never heard of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building!

Well, don't blame the kid for not studying history well. If you told him that the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry was the mother of the Norinco Group and the China Ordnance Equipment Group, he would probably understand.

In fact, the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry was no small force.

Its predecessor was the Second Ministry of Machine Building, which was established in the early years and initially oversaw the three major fields of weaponry, tanks, and aviation. Later, the aviation industry was separated and the Third Ministry of Machine Building was established, while the original Second Ministry of Machine Building focused on the weaponry industry.

In that year, the country made a comprehensive adjustment to the machinery industry system: the First Ministry of Machinery Industry focused on civilian machinery, the Second Ministry of Machinery Industry took on the heavy responsibility of nuclear industry and nuclear weapons research and development, the Third Ministry of Machinery Industry was in charge of aviation, the newly emerging electronics industry was transferred to the Fourth Ministry of Machinery Industry, and the weapons industry was officially transferred to the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, with the shipbuilding industry following suit as the Sixth Ministry of Machinery Industry.

In this sense, the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry was indeed a key link in the national defense industry system, and its core function was to oversee the manufacturing, research and development and production of weapons nationwide.

But at this moment, we are on high alert. No matter what department you are from, an unfamiliar identity is equivalent to a risk.

Old Wang tightened his grip on the gun, his eyes fixed sharply on the door, as if the person standing outside wasn't a visitor, but an enemy ready to pounce at any moment.

There was a two-second silence outside the door, followed by a somewhat helpless reply: "Is that Wang Kui inside? You little brat, how come you can't even recognize my voice? Show yourself, you son of a bitch, and see who I am!"

"You think I'm stupid? You think you can get me to show my face just by giving me a stupid name? No way!" Old Wang roared, while simultaneously making a series of concealed hand signals to the soldier who had jumped down from the third floor and was now aiming his gun at the door.

The gesture means: verify identity, organize an encirclement, and prepare for action.

The young soldier nodded almost imperceptibly, his gun still firmly pointed at the doorway. His free left hand swiftly reached into his breast pocket, pulled out an unassuming tin whistle, put it in his mouth, puffed out his cheeks slightly, and a strange whistling sound drifted out:

"Chirp—chirp—goo!"

This is not an ordinary warning whistle, but a special signal in the "Anvil" contingency plan, specifically to notify the comrades waiting upstairs: to carry out a covert maneuver against the unidentified person outside the door, form a tactical encirclement, and block all escape routes.

No sooner had the whistle fallen than a low laugh came from outside the door, the tone full of mockery: "Hey, Comrade Wang Li, listen to this, the silly kid inside is still trying to pull this trick on us! He's blowing the whistle to signal the people upstairs to cut off our retreat!"

Another slightly hoarse voice chimed in, tinged with helplessness: "I mean, are you guys really going to go this far? Even if you know that batch of data is valuable, you don't have to use battlefield tactics on your own people, do you?"

Upon hearing this, both Old Wang and Jiang Xia inside the gate were shocked!

How did he know the meaning of the whistle?

Before Lao Wang and Jiang Xia could ponder the sound outside the door, it suddenly changed tone, transforming from restraint and politeness to a thunderous roar, carrying a fiery temper honed by years of battle:

"Wang Kui! You idiot! Press your eyes against the crack in the door and look carefully! See who I am! I'm your Uncle Chuangcheng! Back when your mother had no milk, I crossed three mountains to find you a goat with calves to feed you!"

"Open the door now! If you delay our business, I'll skin you alive!"

Huh?

Old Wang drank quite well when he was a child. Didn't some experts say later that goat milk is better than cow milk?

No wonder he's grown up so strong...

Jiang Xia's thoughts had drifted off to who-knows-where again. Tsk, having too much of a racing mind isn't good either.

"Hmph, even if you know about this, don't think you can let your guard down! My Uncle Chuangcheng is a cannon maker, not some lowly Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry..."

Old Wang tiptoed to the door, listened carefully to the sounds outside, and only after confirming that there were only two people breathing did he slowly bend down, press one eye against the crack in the door, and peer out carefully.

Two men in gray Zhongshan suits stood outside the door. The middle-aged man in the lead had strong features and a faint scar on his cheekbone. Beneath his thick eyebrows were a pair of eyes, and even through the door, one could almost sense his familiar fiery temper.

He looked exactly like the old man who helped create the city, only his face bore more marks of time and his temples were now gray.

Half a step behind him stood a middle-aged cadre with glasses and a refined demeanor, clutching a thick briefcase tightly in his hand, looking helplessly at the door panel.

The person matches up, but...

Why would a perfectly good commander give up his post and call himself the Minister of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building?

Weird!

Given this person's past experience, even seeing his appearance didn't make Lao Wang open his mouth. It wasn't until the badge warriors on the third floor arrived and checked him that Lao Wang relaxed his guard a little.

He first made a gesture towards the door that said "Lift the encirclement and remain on alert," and the soldier responded with a whistle.

Old Wang slowly released his grip on the gun, unlatched the door, but still stood in the doorway, his wariness not completely gone: "It really is Uncle Chuangcheng... What brings you here? And what minister are you now?"

"Mind your own business!"

"Not a minister! He's a deputy!"

Perhaps it was looking at the younger generation he had watched grow up that made the city's creation efforts a little irritating.

"Damn it, the current head of the Ministry of Defense insists on sending an outsider to my office."

"what?"

Old Wang has been wandering around outside with his idiot son for the past six months, so he's been a bit behind on news from Beijing.

So now you know why various places and even companies liked to set up offices in Beijing in the early 1980s, right? It's simply because they were the first to know when the river warmed up in spring.

"Who else could it be but the one who commanded the Tata Mountain sniper battle!"

"Tch, he doesn't know that this change is exactly what I wanted! Let's see if I don't take care of those good-for-nothing bastards who can't even make decent weapons!"

"Alright, get out of the way. I don't have time to waste with your nonsense!"

Old Wang looked annoyed: I just said "ah" once, but you were the one who rambled on and on without caring whether others wanted to listen or not...

The comrade in charge of the city's creation campaign strode into the room with a stern face. After quickly scanning the room with his eyes like a searchlight, he nodded with satisfaction: "The situation is special, and your high level of vigilance is a good thing. But now, we have more important matters to attend to."

His gaze finally settled on Jiang Xia: "Comrade Jiang Xia? I am the Vice Minister of the Fifth Ministry of Machinery Industry, and this is Comrade Wang Li, the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Ministry. Let's get straight to the point—did you just receive some... something that could save our steel furnaces tens of thousands of tons of scrap iron and save us a few years of detours?"

Ok?

Old Wang hunched over and passed by the comrade who was working on the city's creation campaign, then stood in front of Jiang Xia.

"Hey, you kid..."

The comrades involved in the city's creation campaign were unsure whether to praise or berate Wang Kui...

After thinking for a moment, Comrade Chuangcheng reached into his canvas bag and rummaged around. Jiang Xia, curious, clung to Old Wang's sturdy shoulder and looked over.

Watching the former commander pull out a gunner's scope from his bag, then a round steering wheel, and finally handing both items to Wang Li beside him, he pulled out a thin piece of paper.

"Look... this gentle old man wrote me a letter in his own handwriting. He told me you have some good stuff here!"

Jiang Xia took the letter and compared the handwriting with that in the photos he had received before. Wow, it really is this big shot's handwriting!

It turns out that while this "second-generation yellow" was making its debut in Geneva, a profound transformation concerning the foundation of industry was quietly underway in China.

The establishment of the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building was not simply an addition of an institution, but rather a sign that the country was elevating its weapons research and development and production system to a new strategic level.

The first minister, Comrade Chuangcheng, was a veteran who had come through the flames of war and deeply understood the hard truth of "fighting with whatever weapons you have." As soon as he took office, he grasped the crux of the problem: whether the weapons were good or not, in the final analysis, was up to the steel mill!

Without qualified, top-quality steel, even the most ingenious design blueprints are nothing but castles in the air. Tank armor requires extremely high strength and toughness, the lifespan of the gun barrel depends on the steel's resistance to ablation and fatigue, and even the most ordinary firearm parts have stringent requirements for the uniformity and machinability of the steel.

However, at that time, the domestic steel industry, especially in the field of special steel, was in a predicament of "enthusiasm but lack of discipline; breakthroughs but difficulty in mass production".

Chu Guozhang's initial idea was to convene a conference of major steel mills and research institutes across the country to unify thinking and assign tasks. However, this proposal was strongly opposed by Wang Li, the deputy chief engineer.

"A meeting? A meeting is no substitute for going to the actual site!" Wang Li adjusted his glasses, his tone anxious. "Minister, you have no idea what the situation is like down there! Those steel mills, and their affiliated research institutes, I don't know who led them, they've all become like 'crooked-necked engineering students'! They're bold, have wild ideas, but lack systematic coordination!"

As he spoke, he pulled out a bunch of crumpled records.

"Deputy!" The comrade in charge of creating a civilized city emphasized his position.

"Fine, I'll listen to you. Let's go down and check things out first!"

It was this report that completely changed the work approach of the person in charge of the city's creation campaign. He realized that holding closed-door meetings to report was not as effective as getting a clear picture of the situation on the ground; and that issuing general tasks was not as effective as providing precise guidance for collaboration.

Yes, guiding collaboration.

Although the Fifth Ministry of Machine Building now appears to have immense authority, with directly affiliated factories and even affiliated educational institutions, the steel mills, a massive undertaking, are still under the unified management of the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry.

While he was conducting research at several key steel bases in Northeast China, he received a message from the gentle old man: someone at the Darian Naval Base may have obtained extremely valuable international advanced steel technology data through "special channels".

Thus, this precise yet abrupt "visit" took place.