A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

The spoils of this battle, including but not limited to aircraft wreckage, photographs, and battle analysis, were sent to Beijing in batches as quickly as possible. For the more important items, the Air Force leaders even dispatched Tu-16 aircraft for transport.

Even the shameless Major Song was packed up and stuffed into the wide belly of the Tu-16 after the bomb delivery system was removed.

This guy wasn't even qualified to go to Beijing, nor did he deserve to fly in a Tu-16, China's only jet bomber at the time. A mere major, dreaming of getting into Gongdelin Prison, even though it's practically empty now…

But who told this kid to brag that he had gone through the Bald Eagle's full training course and was an expert in the piloting and use of the U-2, and that even the pressure suit he was wearing was a high-tech product, really impressive!

That's impressive, but that's not all. However, the observant reviewers noticed something.

That is, this kid said his flight altitude at the time was meters. And he was climbing towards meters.

But our radar shows that this kid only flew to...

Weird!

Among the reviewers was a senior member who had just gone through the review process for the "planting nails" incident. He immediately sensed something was wrong. "Damn it, the Russian bear has even planted nails for us with SAM missiles?"

It's chilling to think about. Even after the SAM missile is recovered, the operators won't be idle; they'll use it to capture data from their own aircraft. If the parameters are incorrect…

Good heavens, that Longdi East!

This is a serious matter. Before reporting it, the reviewers asked Major Song to provide more convincing evidence.

The kid pointed to the battalion commander, who was holding "Optimus Prime" in the courtyard with tears in his eyes, and the battle-damaged "Optimus Prime" next to him: "There's a black box on the tail of the plane, which records flight control data. If you guys are good enough, you can read it..."

Okay, now the battalion commander hated this frog major even more, perhaps because the part of the plane tail and the truck were joined too tightly, as if it had been pressed by the hydraulic forging machine that Jiangxia had tinkered with.

In order to retrieve the thing called the "black box," even the cockpit of the battle-damaged Optimus Prime was dismantled.

Looking at the "Optimus Prime" that was just a skeleton and the crooked radar, the battalion commander threw another wild punch.

"Black box? It's clearly red! That kid's talking nonsense, and you guys actually believed him? Waaaaah... My radar truck, my Optimus Prime!"

"My dear, the black box is just a name for this device; it has absolutely nothing to do with its color! Please believe me..."

Major Song quickly tried to wink at the battalion commander, but unfortunately, he was put away in a jeep by the auditors after only a few attempts.

The reviewers were terrified when they saw the group of missile battalion soldiers with their eyes gleaming red, fearing that this greasy frog-like major would be cooked and eaten by the soldiers.

After all, what the soldiers in the team like most is to turn the "frog soldiers and crab generals" into a delicious dish, such as spicy bullfrog and boiled bullfrog, which are so tasty!

"I will never let the U-2 live!"

As the battalion commander watched the jeep drive away, he jumped up and down, pointing to the sky and swearing an oath.

However, putting aside the facts, the battalion commander's later series of achievements may have started from this intense stimulation.

The title of "U-2 killer" should be able to soothe Battalion Commander Zheng's broken heart.

Oh, I forgot to mention, that Tu-16 was just acquired from the Russians in exchange for a modem and printer. They originally wanted to trade it for a Be-6, but the shrewd Hong Da Ge wasn't about to take that lying down. "Big Brother," he said, "our manufacturing capabilities aren't up to par. You've sold us the Tu-16 blueprints, but our strength is indeed inferior to the great Union; we can't build it!"

How about we get a few finished products to fly around in and have some fun? That way, some comrades can once again experience the greatness of the Alliance!

We showered them with shameless compliments, and coincidentally, the person in charge of this deal—Khalil, a rookie agent who had been thrown into the deep end—also wanted to build a relationship with us.

"Comrades in China, I personally have no interest in the exchange of goods, but the latest Allied documents state that the Tu-16, as a jet bomber, is already on the export control list. Especially for your country, China..."

"Ah...that's a shame. Since we can't trade, I'll take the machines I used for the initial trial back with me..."

"Hey, hey, hey, what's the rush!"

"Bombers can't be exchanged, but it didn't say transport planes couldn't. We just need to remove the bomb delivery system from the bomber, and it becomes a standard transport plane, right?"

Khalil winked at his Chinese comrade: "However, dismantling requires manpower, and this job isn't cheap..."

The Chinese representative grabbed Khalil's hand: "Comrade, don't say anything else, do you want some small yellow croaker? If you help me get it, I'll send you ten or eight, no problem!"

"No need. My cousin works at Factory 156 in Moscow; he still has a few prototypes there. It's just a system disassembly. But could you provide a few more of your modems and printers? My cousin is very interested in them..."

"The printer is easy to handle, but the modem is our latest research achievement..."

"Five! Five Tu-16 jet bombers—uh, no, jet transport aircraft! And we'll also give you four PD-3M turbojet engines as a bonus!"

"make a deal!"

With a wave of his hand, Khalil replaced the Be-6 seaplanes that were slated for the deal with five Tu-16s. To prepare reports for his superiors' review, Khalil prepared several copies and kept them on his desk.

Haha, with a printer and the text editing program in "Big Yellow Clone", compiling this kind of report is a breeze!

As for why Hong Dage was so eager to get the Tu-16.

Perhaps it's because jet aircraft are the only way to quickly escape from a grumpy "young lady".

Anyway, China now has legitimate Tu-16s. Genuine, original equipment, not those damn assembly-lined parts from Factory 122…

(Yes, when the Tu-16 blueprints were imported, two prototypes were also purchased. However, the Russian experts ran away after only half of the prototypes were assembled, and the last half was pieced together by us through trial and error based on the blueprints. As for its performance... it can fly ︿(￣︶￣)︿)

Hmm? You mean the bomb-deploying system is missing?

Well, according to relevant personnel, the RF-101's dedicated bomb delivery system is even better! The reverse engineering is almost complete! Even an empty shell won't hinder the modification!

Everyone was satisfied with the deal. The upper echelons of the alliance had already planned to discontinue the Tu-16, a model they considered outdated, perhaps because they were busy developing a Mach 2 fighter jet. The Tu-16's speed of 992 km/h was, in their view, a piece of junk that would get beaten up. Even the minister in Lubyanka had no objections to the deal and genuinely praised Khalil, which resulted in a slight promotion for Khalil.

The General Logistics Department of China was also very happy. Our logistics department is just to help our comrades fill in the gaps and make up for any deficiencies. It's good that we have it!

The Air Force was all smiles, because no matter which department it was, the Tu-16 was ultimately under their control, and as long as the benefits were in their hands, they were fine! However, along with the smiles, there was also a touch of sadness.

Those two dismantled prototypes were obtained after the entire army worked tirelessly, exchanging them for dog-skin coats. Who would have thought that a few small black boxes could be exchanged for five complete machines?

Times have changed, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be...

Overall, everyone was all smiles, except for the navy officer who was preparing to use the Be-6 for coastal patrols and was crying...

Looking at the pitiful navy, Hong Da felt a little guilty and finally approved a project for them.

That was the patrol boat project developed by Factory 331 based on Jiangxia's engine blueprints. They're all patrol boats, right? Same thing, same thing.

Although ships are not as fast as airplanes, if your navy can reduce the cost, you can build more!

Even Hong Dage felt guilty about his explanation.

Unexpectedly, the naval leader grabbed the project proposal and ran away, causing Hong Dage to once again question his own decision.

The project was approved and the funding was provided, but the naval leader, instead of contacting the comrades at Factory 331, took the project proposal with him and went somewhere else.

……

"Ah ah ah ah..."

Jiang Xia stretched and slowly walked out of the kitchen, still smelling of cooking oil, followed by Lao Wang and Liu Hongjun, who were all smiles.

"That's about right. Make the pancakes using the recipe we just experimented with; it should be pretty much correct. Master Chef Nan Yi's seasoning packets are truly top-notch..."

"However, the heating pack needs a major overhaul. The current 'Happy Sheep' pack is still a bit lacking."

"You mean temperature?" Old Wang and Hongjun, looking like obedient students, took out their pencil stubs again.

"Hmm, 'Pleasant Goat' is still too cold. It's fine for warming up, but it's not very reliable for heating food..."

江夏歪着脑袋想了想，接过大老王的笔记本，在上面写下两个方程式。4Fe+3O2→2Fe2O3

4Al+3O2→2Al2O3

Old Wang pointed to the letter AL, "Is that aluminum? The rest looks similar to Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, doesn't it?"

"That's why aluminum is so important. With this added, the reaction temperature can reach at least 100 degrees Celsius, enough to cook hot pot... However, the reaction time is a bit short; you'd be lucky to get it to take twenty minutes."

“Especially your comrades’ side,” Jiang Xia thought for a moment and then crossed out the last two items written in his notebook: iron powder, aluminum powder, coke powder, activated carbon, salt, and water.

"Your comrades can skip the last two items. Anyway, the islands and reefs lack everything except seawater."

Old Wang thought about it and thought, "Hmm, that makes sense." But aluminum production is pitifully low these days. However, he knows people in the logistics department, and for the sake of his comrades struggling on the island, he decided to bother Liu, the former military police chief.

"Jiang Xia!"

"Hmm? Secretary Liu. Hey, you have a keen nose! How did you know I made something new? Make a nice sound! Otherwise, I won't let you have it!"

Seeing Secretary Liu rushing over, Old Wang took a step forward to get a closer look before turning aside to reveal the little tuft of hair on his back and starting to tease him.

Secretary Liu impatiently pushed Old Wang aside, saying, "Brother! Urgent call! Get back to your office!"

"Another urgent telegram? From where?"

Secretary Liu poked the sky with her finger, "Go, go! It's good news! Something that will brighten your whole day!"

Jiang Xia didn't dare to delay. He took out a crispy fried pancake, ate it, and ran to the office.

Okay, at most, it must be a big shot from the outer section, a big bearded guy, or an old man who likes to play with air fryers. But looking at Secretary Liu's nervous look, could it be an old man who writes inscriptions for me?

Wow? I know so many people already? That's amazing!

Hey, why think so much? You'll find out soon enough.

I vaguely remember forgetting something, something related to deep-frying, but I can't recall it right now...