A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

"The East is Red! The sun rises!"

"A new talent has emerged from the East..."

Jiang Xia, still basking in the excitement of his conversation with the old man, sat in the small jeep. Old Wang, despite his awkward stance while driving, was surprisingly skilled.

"Stop dreaming, where are you going?"

“Go back to the factory! Didn’t you see the leader sent this document? Go back and think carefully about how to get some money out of them! Uh, no, I mean, deepen our friendship and let them know that we are friendly friends!” Jiang Xia waved a document that his secretary, Xiao Liu, had copied from the computer screen for him.

Yes, copying. The printer isn't ready yet, so we have to copy by hand for now. This is the frustration of not having the necessary equipment; it's a unique manifestation of the limitations of a high-tech era.

The document contains freshly released information, specifically details about "a piece of cloth on one's head," sent from the outer section just half an hour ago.

The two men who arrived were named Fahd and Salman, both young lads. Although it was rather impolite to address them like that, just those names were enough to make Jiang Xia's hair stand on end and his eyes gleam.

"Is this what they call the fate of the nation? Sending these two important guys right under my nose so early?" Thinking about how these guys would squander money in the future, Jiang Xia decided to help them develop good values.

Well, although in the public's perception, these two are currently just crown princes ranked low, in Jiang Xia's eyes, it's as if he sees a glittering mountain of gold. Just thinking about it makes his little dandruff drool.

Old Wang thought he was hungry. "How about we go somewhere first? It seems like Old Li took Jiang Dong and the others out for a nice meal. Shall we join in?"

Jiang Xia glanced at his watch suspiciously. "It's already 9 p.m., are you sure there are still restaurants open?"

"Nonsense, let's not even talk about 'Old Mo,' even Donglaishun is still open!"

"Oh! Wasn't it said that the supply was tight?"

"Tsk, don't forget we've had a lot of foreign guests lately. We have to make sure they're well-fed and watered. Those guys seem to be jet-lagged and can't sleep at night..."

"Pah, they're just bored. Let them go climb the Great Wall at Badaling if they have nothing better to do, they'll behave themselves when they come back!"

Jiangxia pouted, and Old Wang chuckled.

The Badaling Great Wall today is not as clean and tidy as it is in later times. Although it is still majestic, the ancient buildings with moss-covered cracks in the walls are not as easy to walk on as they are in later times.

It's not impossible that someone could accidentally slide down the collapsed city wall and up the hillside. Plus, local farmers often take bricks to build pigsties or something similar. So, its appearance isn't very aesthetically pleasing now.

Although it has been listed as one of the "first batch of national key cultural relics protection units" this year, it still falls short compared to the Summer Palace, which has always been well protected.

They continued on their way until Old Wang parked his car at a restaurant called "Cuihualou" that still had red lanterns hanging in the air.

A conference room in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

After experiencing the "high-tech" creations of Xiao Daimao, Minister Wang immediately summoned his elite troops.

After signing a long list of confidentiality agreements, with the badge warriors present, Minister Wang excitedly recounted everything he had seen and heard that day to the researchers below.

"You mean, Jiang has just invented something that can achieve telegraphic functions through a computer and telephone line? And it's very fast?"

"That can't be called fast!" Minister Wang closed his eyes and recalled his experience: "It was incredibly fast!"

"The typewriter here finishes typing away, presses the Enter key, and the message immediately appears on the screen over there!"

"Uh, faster than making a phone call?"

"That's pretty much true, but how many of our people can afford a telephone these days?" Minister Wang waved his hand dismissively.

"Just think about it, comrades, how much convenience this system would provide to the people if it were brought to our Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications!"

Seeing Minister Wang's enraptured expression, everyone was still puzzled. In their minds, the telephone was the most effective means of communication, and besides the telephone, there was the telegram.

A young researcher raised his hand and asked, "Minister, do you mean it's faster than a telegram?"

"Right! Think about it, our telegrams need to send codes, copy codes, decode codes... Lao Liu, you're from the telegraph office, tell me how many words our most skilled telegraph operator can send per minute?"

"Yes!"

"According to our most skilled telegraph operator, one can send 130 codes per minute, which is about 40 characters. After sending the codes, the copyist copies the message, and the translator translates it. A telegram takes at least five minutes!"

"Five minutes! In five minutes, that thing on the other side must have transmitted at least several thousand words!"

Minister Wang smugly shook his finger.

"What! Minister, you mean that Jiang Gong's system doesn't need to be decoded?"

"Several thousand words in five minutes! That would require an enormous amount of power!"

"Ha! That's outdated. What power do we need? With our old, worn-out cable, we can achieve this level of performance without any upgrades!"

Well, Minister Wang elegantly omitted the tiny amount of power consumed by the modem. After all, the power consumption of that imitation Type 47 switch was truly astonishing; even a tiny bit of electricity leaking from its fingernail would be enough to overwhelm the modem.

"Take a look at the documents. I finally managed to get them from there. You'll understand once you see them. Remember to keep it a secret!" After his excitement subsided, Minister Wang sat down in his chair and picked up his teacup. Time waits for no one.

My head is a little dizzy, I need to rest.

Despite feeling dizzy, Minister Wang's face was still full of smiles: "Hey, the only achievement of that unfilial son of mine is that he built a good relationship with Engineer Jiang from the very beginning, otherwise he wouldn't have been invited to witness such a great moment today. Especially since he ran into those old folks at the outer coking department..."

Looking at his right hand, which he had shaken with the elderly, Minister Wang decided not to wash his hands for a week!

Thinking about the increased efficiency of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications after using this system, Minister Wang squinted his eyes, as if he could see the public praising the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

Wow, it's beautiful! This is what a people's post office should be like!

"Minister, we've reviewed the document, but it might be difficult for us to actually use it!"

"Difficulties? Of course there are difficulties! The difficulty is that we don't have enough telephone lines!" Minister Wang waved his hand. "You guys take a look and put together a project proposal. Let's strike while the iron is hot. I'll make another trip to the Foreign Coking Department. They have a lot of people there; they'll definitely increase our budget!"

"Let me tell you a secret, all the old folks really like this thing!"

"Uh, Minister. Uh, I guess it's hopeless!"

"What!"

"You see, to achieve this function, you have to use the Academy of Sciences' 'Big Yellow' (a reference to a specific research institution). As far as I know, 'Big Yellow' is a rather high-level institution; it's jointly managed by four departments. According to the procedure, to obtain it, you'll have to run around to those four major departments..."

"Putting that aside, even just considering its price, well, if we wanted it for civilian use, even if we sold ourselves, we still couldn't afford a few units..."

"..."

Minister Wang's excitement was immediately dampened by the researcher's cold words.

It took him a long time to raise his head:

"Don't worry! Don't forget who our designer is! Just beg him properly, and he'll definitely be able to come up with a solution!"

"Uh, Minister. It seems that Engineer Jiang only signed the appointment letter for the switch designer, right?" the researcher cautiously reminded him.

"Pah! Who said that? This modem is also a physical connection, why can't it be counted together?"

"Hurry up, get the project proposal done! Who cares if it's even worth it? Let's just go for it!"