A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"640K is too extravagant for computer memory..."

A prominent figure on Microsoft once made this remark in the 80s.

Not to mention that this genius was proven wrong by Moore's Law a few years later, in this era where storage capacity is discussed in tens of kilobytes, 2 megabytes of storage capacity is equivalent to giving every computer a massive amount of storage space.

Most importantly, the things stored inside can be preserved even when the power is off.

Think about that big yellow dog at your kid's house, why can't it go out for a walk?

So what if the power is off? The data is just wiped out, right?

If we make a converter and write a fixed conversion program directly into the magnetic tape, wouldn't that magnetic tape be usable as a first-generation portable medium?

It's simply a matter of converting analog audio into digital signals; it's promising! Let's get started!

However, it's still a bit troublesome. The converter needs to use transistors to build the logic gates of the digital circuit. I still have some transistors left over, and I'll slowly build one when I have time.

Yes, I have free time, but I'm really busy right now.

The factory work alone was keeping Jiang Xia extremely busy. Whether it was the test line for cold rolling in Project 301, the improved version of the original two-cylinder diesel engine—the four-cylinder four-stroke diesel engine, or the improved deep-hole boring machine, they all devoured the little guy's normal working hours.

The remaining rest time was also divided up by people from Factory 331 and a radar research institute in Northeast China.

Jiangxia hasn't handed in her homework to "Teacher Qin" lately!

Fortunately, many people from other departments came to help, including some who were capable of handling important matters.

So much so that the little brats, under the guise of letting them learn and grow, assigned them all the basic tasks, only showing up at key points in the equipment to solve some practical difficulties.

Only in this way can they barely maintain a normal level.

Now comes the crucial moment for the four-cylinder engine – the ignition test.

"Ignition test of the 485 diesel engine begins!"

As Ma Zhendong, who hadn't appeared for a long time, waved the red flag, everyone huddled behind the explosion-proof steel plate. On the test bench, a row of five diesel engines emitted a low, muffled roar.

"Judging from the sound, it sounds pretty good. Tie Jun, your skills have improved a lot..."

Tie Jun and Jiang Xia, who hadn't seen each other for a long time, finally got together. Jiang Xia started by saying, "The wind rises and the clouds fly, the four cylinders shake off their sharpness."

Or it has to be the Iron Army, whose emotional value is immediately maximized: "The pistons leap like swift steeds, the crankshaft spins to compose a powerful chapter."

"Oh my, your skill has improved. Next up: Swallowing mist and spitting smoke to ignite hot blood, thunder and lightning to gather strength in the intestines."

"Your strength paves the way through mountains and rivers, and your spirit fills the journey of building dreams."

"Fantastic! Fantastic!"

After a few silly poems, the awkwardness between the two of them, which they hadn't seen for a long time, immediately disappeared.

Jiangxia opened the scanner, and the green color was pleasing to the eye. It even received a rare comment.

"An unnamed four-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine with a bore of 85mm and a maximum output of 95 horsepower. Overall performance is good!"

That's more like it. Now that the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill has a whole row of machine tools, they still can't even make a decent four-cylinder inline engine. Jiang Xia might as well drag Tie Jun and the others to hang themselves from a tree in the southeast.

“I think the engine should be fine. Are things like ‘clearing mountains and rivers’ all ready?” He pulled Tie Jun outside the workshop and the two began to talk.

"The chassis manufacturer in Yuhuayuan gave us two units, which should arrive this afternoon. Except for the boom, which you mentioned is still being worked on in free forging, everything else is almost done." Tie Jun waved his large, fan-like hand.

"When I went there to support the production of small steel cannon engines, they were still asking if we wanted to bring back all the remaining chassis, and they offered us a cheap price."

"Yes! Bring them all back! But, do they stop producing tracked tractors?"

"Hey, that's for sure, they've all switched to producing small firearms. They say the tracked tractor project has been discontinued, and the supporting equipment has been temporarily stored away. This batch of tracked chassis is among those stored!"

Tsk, Jiang Xia didn't know what to say about this.

So much money was spent on this project, and it's just being shut down now?

No matter how good the "small steel cannon" is, its horsepower is limited. In the harsh environment of land reclamation, tracked vehicles are clearly more advantageous. Especially in the Great Northern Wilderness and the area at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains, even if the small steel cannon exerts all its strength, it cannot catch up with the tracked vehicles.

Let alone using sheer numbers to fill the gap, logistics in remote areas remains a persistent challenge. Moreover, wheeled chassis are inherently inferior to tracked chassis in terms of off-road capability.

"Hey, really. If we mainly used tracked tractors, and then supplemented them with small cannons, that would be the perfect combination of high and low power." Jiang Xia thought of a topic that was often discussed in later generations.

"Supporting facilities!" Under current circumstances, this term has both positive and negative connotations. The positive aspect is that it enables major undertakings; the negative aspect is that it leads to enormous waste.

Like this chassis, it was originally classified as an accessory for tracked tractors. When tractors were discontinued, this chassis production line was also abandoned.

If it were a special type of equipment, it wouldn't be a big deal to store it up since it's not used much. But tracked chassis are universal. If Jiang Xia didn't make the most of this chassis, he'd be doing a disservice to his status.

"Alright, never mind that, we'll talk about it later. Have you finished working on the components for the 4108 diesel engine?"

The 4108 diesel engine is a real gem. With a cylinder diameter of 108 millimeters, it can deliver up to 140 horsepower. This engine was prepared by Jiangxia for the Yellow River trucks in Quancheng.

This would be the perfect replacement for that bulky and rudimentary marine diesel engine.

Tie Jun clapped his hands: "It's almost done, but we can only start using it after this batch of 485s has finished testing. My mentor said that the Ministry of Machinery Industry issued a new notice saying that we can't blindly launch new projects. Project funding is very tight now..."

"Even with this engine, the current procedures haven't been completed..."

Hey, this is a mess~

It's estimated that the previous extravagant spending earned the Ministry of Machinery Industry a lot of criticism, and now they are so cautious about applying for projects that they are almost nitpicky.

It's an overcorrection, but what can you do when the steel rolling mill has submitted so many projects? Jiang Xia's eyes lit up and he had an idea.

"Tsk, this isn't a new project, it's clearly an improved version of a twin-cylinder engine. Why not just treat these engines as sub-projects?"

"Huh? This will work?"

"What's wrong with that? This is what it means to delve deeply into early-stage research projects..."

Jiang Xia tugged at Tie Jun, who was still deep in thought: "Don't be afraid, just do it. If it really doesn't work, treat these things as the steel mill's self-developed projects. If they want to 'switch production' in the future, we don't need to pay them any attention unless they put up real money!"

That's true. It's only because the steel mill is currently quite wealthy that it can support the simultaneous commencement of these projects.

Should we switch to another factory?

They'd probably be driven to the brink of madness just by applying for an alloy steel.

After bidding farewell to the Iron Army, Jiangxia walked and pondered as he went.

Should we acquire the chassis production line of the Imperial Garden? After all, we could use it for excavators and pushers.

They could even install that twin-cylinder engine, reduce the chassis size, and make a snowmobile for the soldiers on the border.

Yes, that’s it!

Jiang Xia chuckled as he recalled the increasingly white and smooth dough.

Go, Li Huaide, the growth of the excavator family depends on you!