A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"Tiejun, how's the machine?"

Jiang Xia, who had just sent Jiang Qiu to a certain affiliated high school, happily rushed to the factory.

Jiang Qiu was a promising student. After being examined by the professor, he directly entered the first year of high school with the professor's recommendation letter.

Jiang Xia counted on his fingers and realized he could graduate from university just before the wind picked up.

I'm so happy, this will save me a lot of trouble.

"We've gone through all the tests you recommended. It doesn't seem to have any major problems. Yesterday, Master Ning, who's been working with us, suggested we start making the punch press parts right away?"

"Alright, let's see what they're made of!"

Jiang Xia approached the machine and listened to the sounds. Finding no extraneous noise, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Tungsten carbide gears are really good. By the way, we still need to return that set of diamond tools, right? Let's take this opportunity to sharpen as many tungsten carbide blades as possible!"

Ning Dawei chuckled and pulled out a large handful of knives: "Last night, besides making some small things, I didn't do anything else but sharpen knives. It's a pity we don't have much tungsten steel left. If we had a little more, we wouldn't have to worry about it for at least three years!"

Jiang Xia gave a thumbs up; there was a document that came with this batch of tungsten steel.

The steel rolling mill was strictly ordered to properly store the remaining steel, not even allowing the slag to be lost. It would be collected by others later.

If we don't take this opportunity to get more, we don't know if we'll have another chance to see tungsten steel next time.

As they were talking, a group of people poured into the confidential workshop.

Leading the group was Minister Xia from the First Ministry of Machine Building, followed closely by several elderly men whom the group did not recognize.

Following behind them were Yang Youning and Li Huaide.

Before the others could greet them, the old man who had been following Minister Xia stepped out from the crowd.

"This is not a machine tool!"

The old man carefully examined the mechanical creation in front of him.

It's a huge lump, but judging from its appearance, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's not a machine tool.

Because Tie Jun installed the protective shell on this thing yesterday, what was presented to everyone was a large metal box.

However, through the opened front cover, you can still see a spindle that is much larger than that of a regular lathe. The spindle is perpendicular to the worktable, and there are as many as four tool clamping devices at the front end of the spindle.

"This isn't a machine tool! This is a machining center!"

The old man carefully examined the fixture and pointed to a blank space in the machining center.

"This is where we're going to put the knives, right?"

Jiang Xia took one look and thought, "Oh ho, here comes someone who knows what they're doing."

The old man looked again at the various clamp mounting holes on the workbench, and finally, disregarding his image, he lay down.

"Automatic indexing! Your workbench has an automatic indexing function!"

An expert! A true expert!

Showing off to experts is more rewarding than showing it off to others.

"Not only that! Look at this ball screw guide, isn't it beautiful?"

"Oh oh oh~~"

"Hey, look at this! Isn't this cooling pipe amazing!"

"Oh oh oh~~"

One explained in detail, and the other listened attentively. Before long, the two of them went to the back of the machining center.

Minister Xia and the other elderly people didn't take it seriously.

"That's just how Lao Liu is. Come on, Comrade Yang Youning, let me introduce this lathe to you. Oh, no, it should be called a machining center!"

Accompanying Minister Xia were several vice ministers from the First Ministry of Machine Building. They had seen countless machines, let alone touched them.

There's something strange about mechanical creations: the more advanced they are, the more beautiful they tend to be.

The machine in front of him struck Minister Xia as absolutely beautiful.

Both its overall structure and its steady, low standby sound are captivating.

As I got closer, I couldn't resist touching it.

"Minister, this is a processing center that we built ourselves!" Yang Youning emphasized the last part of his statement.

"The machining center is long overall... and all the core components are made of tungsten steel, resulting in higher precision..."

As Yang Youning explained, Minister Xia kept looking around the machine tool.

Finally, they picked up the gears and pressure cooker body that Tie Jun and his team had tested the previous night.

"Great! With this machining center, exporting pressure cookers shouldn't be a problem!"

Minister Xia fiddled with a pot, opening and closing it repeatedly; it was quite smooth.

After circling around, the group arrived at the back of the processing center.

"No~~"

Before Yang Youning could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Old Liu, who was standing next to Jiang Xia.

"I disagree!"

"what?"

Everyone was stunned.

Old Liu said angrily, "What kind of pressure cooker is this? It's an insult to the child!"

As he spoke, he gently stroked the machining center. Wherever his hand touched, the machine emitted a faint warmth, causing the old man to squint his eyes in contentment.

"Make the pot body? That's like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito!"

"It was born to make machine tools. To make a pressure cooker out of an industrial machine? How could you even think of that!"

Upon hearing what Old Liu said, Li Huaide's eyes lit up, then darkened again. He quickly ran to Yang Youning's side and nudged him.

"what?"

"Danger! Danger! We need a plan, a plan!"

"Good cop, bad cop?"

"Of course, the bad cop is the best choice! The good cop will just show up on his own! Quick! Otherwise, we might not be able to save this machine!"

"what?"

"Nonsense! That old Liu is in charge of machine tools! He's taking the stuff to the No. 1 machine tool factory in a bit!"

Yang Youning was shocked upon hearing this. He gritted his teeth and signaled Li Huaide to kick him.

Li Huaide stepped on his little toe without any hesitation and even spun it around twice.

Then, with tears in his eyes, Yang Youning began to explain how difficult the design of the machining center was and how many factors needed to be considered. He said that his company was just a steel rolling mill, and it was already quite an achievement that they had managed to build the machining center.

But in order to complete the tasks assigned by the Ministry of Machinery Industry, they lived a simple and frugal life, relying on their own efforts.

"These were all done by our workers during their rest time after their regular work hours!"

"Especially our designer, Comrade Jiang Xia, is working overtime every day. The office electricity bill has increased significantly, and Comrade Jiang Xia has lost more than ten pounds!"

His tearful performance brought tears to the eyes of many of the bigwigs.

Old Liu looked at the thin Jiang Xia and put his arm around his shoulder.

"Good boy!"

After saying that, he lowered his head, seemingly lost in thought.

Yang Youning realized that this wasn't enough and they needed to increase the stakes!

"On the same day that the machining center was assembled, Comrade Jiangxia produced the blueprints for the mechanical punch press!"

"Call out~~"

Oh no, the little brat has come up with another long, awful name. I can't remember it!

He quickly pulled out the blueprints and flipped through them:

"A single-action crankshaft punch press driven by a slider, (6.3T)"

Old Liu stepped forward and snatched the blueprints. After looking at them for a while, he looked at Jiang Xia with suspicion and asked, "Kid, did you make this?"

"Ok!"

"Have you been to a machine tool factory?"

Jiang Xia shook his head in confusion, "Why would I go there? The security guards there are so fierce. They glare at me as I pass by!"

Old Liu paused, patted Jiang Xia's head, and continued reading.

"The stopping mechanism for the punch press slide, you're not using a brake? What is this?"

Jiang Xia peeked out and said, "Clutch! The clutch on the little hot cannon, combined with the brakes, makes it very responsive!"

Old Liu gave a wry smile and pointed to the punch press designed by Jiangxia.

"What a great clutch! It's a real eye-opener!"

"How long have machine tool manufacturers been stuck on the control part? Why hasn't anyone thought of adding a clutch?"

As he spoke, Old Liu looked at Minister Xia and said, "The machine tool factory has spent two years trying to solve the problem of the slide block stopping, but they just can't stop it!"

"Hey kid, how about coming to the machine tool factory with me? I'll teach that guy who's been glaring at you a lesson!"