A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

After resting for a while in Li Changfu's office, Jiang Xia finally strolled back to the office of the Maintenance Section 1.

"Hey? Sister Wei Hong, where are Ma Gong and the others?"

Ma Weihong raised her head and said, "There was a problem with the rolling mill in Workshop 3, and they all went over to help."

Jiang Xia was taken aback: "Why is there a problem again? Wasn't it just inspected last week?"

As he spoke, he started to walk towards Workshop 3.

"return!"

"It's a minor issue; the roller is stuck. Ma and his apprentice have already gone to fix it!"

Ma Weihong grabbed him: "You think you're so great just because you fixed a bending machine?!"

"If you do all the work, what are others supposed to do!"

As he spoke, he slapped Jiang Xia on the forehead.

"I stayed here just to let you know. I'm off! I have to go too!"

"Alright, with two horses on the field, success is assured!"

Jiang Xia shamelessly flattered him again.

Ma Weihong chuckled, changed into her suede shoes, gave Jiang Xia a few more instructions, and then went out.

Jiang Xia lowered his head and pondered for a moment; it wasn't that he was enthusiastic.

The rolling mill in Workshop 3 is what we later called the Type 300.

The products from Workshop 1 and Workshop 2 are from different places and manufactured by different companies. The products from the first two workshops are all German products from the 1930s. Although they are old and still in use, they are durable and long-lasting.

The rolling mill in Workshop 3 was officially built with Russian aid, and it was said to have a production capacity of 300,000 tons. However, despite being built with Russian aid, this Type 300 mill was actually an experimental product for the Russians. It was plagued with various minor problems.

Either the rollers are misaligned, or the floor rollers are clogged.

In short, there's never a moment of peace.

But there was nothing we could do; it was the only rolling mill in the factory capable of producing rebar.

The entire technical department's maintenance team spends more than half of the year on it.

Moreover, the heating furnace of this rolling mill is a chamber heating furnace. Nowadays, there are no temperature probes. The heating level depends entirely on the experience of the master craftsmen.

If a misjudgment results in the billet not being able to be drawn into a strip shape, then the maintenance department has to step in.

In addition, the surrounding communes would occasionally send "self-smelted steel," and this was a certain kind of mission that you couldn't refuse.

With all this back and forth, it's not surprising that malfunctions frequently occur.

That's the situation, and what Sister Wei Hong said makes sense.

Moreover, Ma and his team had been working under the Russians on preliminary preparations, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Everyone needs to improve!

Jiang Xia locked the department door and turned to enter the small warehouse of the technical department.

The truck's sprinkler system still needs hoses; we'll have to look in the repair shop to see if we have any.

Although it's called a small warehouse, it's still about the size of a conference room. In the front half of the warehouse, there are some repair tools, various screws and nuts, etc., neatly arranged.

The latter half was much more cluttered, with many old and discarded machines, including telegraph machines from before the liberation.

The smell of grease that others would avoid at all costs, Jiang Xia found sweetness in.

He's the ultimate junk collector!

In no time, Jiang Xia found a few washers, a spring switch, and a few pieces of wire.

We just couldn't find a rubber hose to carry the water.

Tsk, I knew China was lacking in everything, but I didn't expect they didn't even have rubber hoses.

If that doesn't work, we'll have to use the 20 pipes from the water plant as a temporary solution. Anyway, we're delivering the goods to them, so the cost will ultimately be borne by the consumers.

I'll just make do with it for now and stop worrying about structural issues.

Using what's available is a garbage collector's instinct.

Jiang Xia, no longer troubled, found a clean spot and lay down comfortably.

I opened the simplified version of the system.

"Let me see what good stuff the system will give us this time?"

"System update in progress..."

Jiang Xia stared at the constantly flashing little dots, completely bewildered.

After all that, this is what they show us?

So all that "ding" was for nothing? I waited so long to open the interface.

It has to be you, Brother Tong!

"There has never been any cheat code, nor any reliance on gods or emperors!"

"To create happiness for Jiangxia, we must rely on ourselves!"

"Hey, who is it? Singing now? The tune is totally off-key in Penghu Bay!"

A shout came from outside the warehouse door.

Jiang Xia stopped his off-key singing and peeked out: "Hey, who do I think it is? It's Brother Tie Jun!"

"It's me! Jiang Xia, I'm at the scrap yard!"

The man who came was Li Tiejun, who shared an office with Jiang Xia. He was a technician who graduated from a vocational school. He was a big, burly man with arms that could support a horse running on them, and muscles all over his body. No one knew how he ate so much to get that kind of physique.

This man, as tough as steel, was also an artistic youth. He was amazed by Jiang Xia's casual remark, "The night gave me black eyes."

When he has free time, he likes to pester Jiang Xia to discuss literary studies.

Hearing Jiang Xia's voice, Li Tiejun walked in with his long legs bent and plopped down next to Jiang Xia.

"Hey! Give me one!"

Without saying a word, Jiang Xia lit a cigarette.

Seeing that Li Tiejun was about to light the fire, he quickly pulled him to the window.

"Didn't I tell you not to play with fire in the warehouse? It's full of oil and gas; if there's a sudden explosion, we'll both be done for!"

Li Tiejun shook his head dismissively, but still stuck his head out the window.

Seeing Li Tiejun covered in sweat, I asked, "Why are you back so soon? Is the Type 300 finished?"

"Damn it, you know how many times we've worked overtime to fix this bird!"

"You wouldn't believe how tightly I twisted the rollers! It took a ton of effort to get them off. Luckily, the support column wasn't bent, or the entire workshop would have been shut down for two days!"

Tsk tsk, what happened to the floor? It's not easy to fix this thing.

To put it simply, a rolling mill looks like a big lump on the ground, but actually, there's another big lump underground.

There's a huge lump underground that's this rolling device.

Why do you say it's troublesome to repair it?

Because they need to strike the "sky hammer"!

The Russian-designed Type 300 is so anti-human!

Looking at the indignant Tie Zhu, Jiang Xia gave him a sympathetic look: "What happened this time? Which commune sent revolutionary steel again?"

Li Tiejun shook his head, stubbed out his cigarette in his palm, and watched as Jiang Xia's eyelids twitched.

"The steel is good steel; this time, it's from the No. 49 Steel Plant."

After a moment's hesitation, Li Tiejun added, "My master said it's because the rollers are off-center!"

"It's the batch you stopped us from exchanging last time!"

"What the heck? Didn't I say that batch of stuff had a problem? Why were they replaced with this one?"

Li Tiejun shrugged: "I don't know, you forgot. Weren't we kicked out by that Deputy Factory Director Li? I reckon it was the Second Section that did it!"

"Alright, that's enough. I need to hurry and find some rollers to take back; my master is waiting for me!"

Jiang Xia nodded, "Go get the ones I marked with a Z-shape. The ones without the mark are useless to you even if you take them back!"

Li Tiejun gave Jiang Xia a thumbs up and then hurried off again.