A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"Jiang, since you have something to attend to, we won't bother you any longer. This information should keep us busy for a while."

The senior researcher stood up with a smile: "Also, Minister Wang asked us to bring this to you, please take a look..."

"No, don't bother me. Do you want me to explain the 'Source Coding Theorem under the Fidelity Criterion' to you again? I'm pretty good at channel coding problems now!"

"No need, don't bite off more than you can chew. Let's go back and study first. The dial-up phone and reed relay you mentioned earlier will probably keep us busy for a few days..."

Jiang Xia accepted the sealing wax envelope handed over by the senior researcher, wanting to keep them a little longer.

What's in the envelope?

After obtaining consent, the envelope was torn open, and an appointment letter appeared before Jiang Xia: "Comrade Jiang Xia is hereby appointed as the chief designer of 'A Switching Technology Based on Physical Connections,' with the term of appointment commencing from... During this period, our organization will provide you with the necessary working conditions and support to ensure the smooth progress of your work. We believe that under your leadership, the project will surely achieve fruitful results and contribute to national development."

"Ah, this..."

"Jiang, please sign this. This is the first special appointment letter since the establishment of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications!" The old researcher's eyes were sincere. "Please don't say anything about whether you deserve it or not, that's too vulgar!"

"That's right, Engineer Jiang, with your theories, even a chief engineer would be wasting your talent!" The researcher with red eyes patted his notebook with heartfelt admiration.

Hehehe, Master, I've made something of myself! I'll take on the role of chief engineer without hesitation!

Jiang Xia pursed his lips as he recalled the painful period later known as the "Seven Kingdoms, Eight Systems".

Bah! Once we get through this difficult period, see if I can come up with something globally consistent!

Seeing Jiang Xia successfully sign his name on the appointment letter, the smiles in the eyes of the researchers grew even wider.

"Jiang, I'll take my leave now. You're busy! We'll keep you updated on the progress of the project!"

After leaving a copy, the researchers from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications walked away quickly, as if they were being chased by a ghost.

Jiang Xia chuckled to himself for a moment, holding the appointment letter. Then, glancing at his secretary, Xiao Liu, who was still eyeing him, he waved the letter like a command flag: "Little Drill Wind! Make way for this king! I want to see who dares to cause trouble on my turf!"

Wow, you're something else! Those old men in the workshop are not easy to deal with!

"Okay! I'll clear the way for you, and then I'll explain the details..."

"Leaving aside the details, you managed to steal my manuscript? There was even a yellowed crumpled piece of paper inside?"

"Yeah! I told you not to leave the manuscript lying around, or you'll be causing trouble for others. Be careful, or people will badmouth you! Keeping the confidentiality rules in mind is a real headache."

"Putting aside whether it's petty or not, the paper ball wasn't opened, was it?"

Secretary Liu paused, her fingers unconsciously flicking.

"No, we have strong professional ethics. We don't look at what we shouldn't see, and we don't listen to what we shouldn't hear!"

……

Let's not even mention the two who ran towards the secret workshop.

After leaving the steel rolling mill, the group of researchers from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications went straight to a utility pole marked with a red sign.

One of them pulled out a blue work uniform from his backpack, put on a willow-lined helmet, and climbed up using both hands and feet. In no time, he had pulled down a spare telephone line.

With a whoosh, the telephone line was quickly connected to a simple walkie-talkie.

"Hey! Internal testing, three taels and five fen, help me catch the cave demon!"

"Minister? I've accomplished my mission. Engineer Jiang has already signed the appointment letter!" The leading researcher breathed a sigh of relief and said cheerfully.

"Good! You guys did a great job! Hahaha, Xia Heizi, you didn't expect me to have this trick up my sleeve, did you! Serves you right for holding onto him! By the way, how's that thing going?"

"We've benefited a lot, but Engineer Jiang still wants us to work on the air-division switch first..."

"Well, that's fine too. Let's take it one step at a time..." Minister Wang clicked his tongue regretfully on the other end of the phone. The main reason was that the digital switch described by that young brat was just too tempting; everyone would want to achieve a better life in one leap.

"Minister, Engineer Jiang also said that we should manufacture one generation and then conduct preliminary research on the next! Judging from his tone, it seems that he already has preliminary ideas for the future of digital switches!"

"At the same time, regarding the wiring, Engineer Jiang has also put forward several ideas, but they haven't been put into writing yet. Minister, we've discovered that Engineer Jiang seems to be working on more than just switches, but rather..."

“It’s a whole communication system, but our foundation is not solid. No matter how good Jiang’s ideas are, they will only be castles in the air…” the old researcher interjected.

"Alright, alright! We'll discuss the details when we get back! When the project is underway, learn a lot from Engineer Jiang. That kid, aside from anything else, is incredibly accurate in predicting the future development of a project! If he says it's going to happen, then it definitely will! Like the Air Force's 'Big Cannonball No. 2'... cough cough cough..."

Ignoring matters that aren't his concern, the researcher casually continued, "No, Minister, what I mean is, Engineer Jiang is too amazing! Why don't you transfer him to the ministry? It'll be much easier for us to ask him questions in the future!"

"Do you think I don't want to? If I could just transfer people, why would I bother with a contract? That bastard Xia Heizi, he really goes all out. Ouch~~ That hurts like hell!"

"However..." Minister Wang chuckled again on the other end of the phone, "My letter of appointment doesn't have an expiration date, so we can keep in touch with it anytime we want!"

"Oh, is that so? I thought you forgot to write it..."

The surrounding researchers suddenly realized what was going on, and regardless of whether Minister Wang could see it or not, they all gave a thumbs up: "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

……

"So, did you open the paper ball or not? Hurry up, the readers are all waiting for the result!"

Seeing Secretary Liu's embarrassed expression, Jiang Xia shamelessly kept asking questions.

"Huchi..."

Furious, Secretary Liu pressed her nose and blew hard: "Come on, let's hurt each other!"

Those two are disgusting!

From afar, the sounds of commotion from the confidential workshop could be heard.

Jiang Xia stopped in his tracks: "By the way, what exactly happened? It seems like a fight has broken out. Is this what they call 'Big Wang'?"

Secretary Liu rubbed a handful of snow on her hands: "It's no use, he doesn't dare mess with anyone. He even got punched when he went to break up the fight."

The person from the Ministry of Chemical Industry is an old acquaintance of yours—Director Liu. The person from the Ministry of Petroleum is Wang Tie. And the one arguing with them is from the Second Ministry of Machine Building.

"Why? Because these veteran comrades are all top-notch people!"

"What are you talking about? Someone's centrifuge is amazing! It can purify methane to 94% using a three-stage tandem purification process..."

Upon hearing that it was about centrifuges, Jiang Xia turned and left.

"Hey...where are you going? Go break up the fight!"

"What's there to persuade them about? This batch of goods belongs to the Second Ministry of Machine Building. Even if other departments took it, they'd have to obediently return it..."

"Let's go, to Old Mo. Bring all these old acquaintances with you!"

Jiang Xia clapped the stack of tickets in his hand like an old Taoist priest playing with talismans.

"There are only so many tickets available. People who arrive late won't be able to get in..."