A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

A steel rolling mill, a small, confidential workshop.

The incandescent lights on the ceiling were now fully lit, illuminating the small space as if it were daytime.

Master Qin laid the cylinder he had just finished aside, and Ma Weihong immediately took a ruler and a thickness gauge and carefully measured it.

Yang Youning nudged Li Changfu: "Old Li, are there different levels among the 8th grade workers?"

"Yi Zhonghai only managed to produce three in an entire afternoon, and all of them were substandard. But Old Qin stepped in and produced two in just two hours!"

Li Changfu ignored him and kept a close eye on Ma Weihong's actions.

"Meets the requirements!"

Hearing this, Li Changfu finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, stop gossiping behind my back. I've seen the ones Yi Zhonghai made; apart from the slightly rough inner surface, they're all pretty good. Especially the threads, they're exceptionally well done."

Ma Zhendong then followed up and began the inspection using gauge blocks and gauges.

Li Changfu immediately shut up and kept a close eye on the measurement process.

"Meets the blueprint standards!"

"Good good!"

Finally, it was Li Changfu's turn. He took a rather strange instrument out of the large black box and placed it steadily on the marble slab.

As the probe was carefully inserted into the inner wall of the cylinder, the dial pointer inside the large black box moved slowly along with it.

Seeing that Li Changfu ignored him, Yang Youning ran over to ask Jiang Xia.

"Hey, when they sent a car to pick you up, you brought an injured person with you?"

Jiang Xia was speechless. He casually pulled out a "ABC" and shoved it into the hand: "Go play somewhere else. If you're really bored, go get some late-night snacks for the masters!"

In the end, Wang Kui suppressed a laugh and pulled Yang Youning out.

Jiang Xia knew that the factory director was nervous. Some people tend to talk a lot when they're nervous.

"Jiang Xia! The value!"

Jiang Xia turned his gaze back to the pointer and accurately reported the value.

2.0mm

3.0mm

1.2mm

A sudden fluctuation in the value made everyone's hearts jump, but fortunately, as the probe moved, the pointer returned to a stable fluctuation.

1.8mm

"RA value (surface roughness) meets the standard!"

"Clap clap clap!" A round of applause rang out from all around. Master Qin plopped down on the stool amidst the applause, panting heavily.

Jiang Xia quickly handed him a cup of sugar water with both hands.

Seeing that Master Qin's complexion had improved considerably after finishing his cup of sweet soup, Jiang Xia then spoke seriously:

"All parts of the diesel engine have passed testing and meet the relevant standards!"

"Now, we request that actual assembly commence!"

Li Changfu nodded: "Agreed!"

“However, Jiangxia.” Li Changfu was clearly nervous as well. He clenched his fists and hesitated for a long while before speaking:

"The factory in the Imperial Garden used to be like this too; all the parts met the measurement standards, but after installation, it just wouldn't run. This time..."

Upon hearing the word "agree," Jiang Xia began to take action.

Hearing Li Changfu's words, he looked up and chuckled.

"Master, do you really want me to tell you?"

"You brat, speak up! Everyone here is on our side, what are you afraid of!"

"Master, the calibration template you used back then was a second-hand machine provided by the Russians, right?"

"Of course, the big brother provided all the blueprints except for the engine. He said that once the factory is built, they will ship the goods to us at the lowest price."

They even said our industrial level is too low to make that thing. Instead of focusing our energy on that, we should be working on something else!

Li Changfu got carried away and simply plopped down next to Jiang Xia.

"Don't let your grandfather's stinginess fool you, he's quite shrewd when it comes to this. Buy everything from you? That won't do! Since you won't give it to me, we'll just do it secretly."

“But every time Big Brother sends out a shipment, there are people accompanying the truck. There are lists for loading and unloading, and the stamp on each engine is written on them!”

"How do we do it? We just kept thinking and thinking..."

"Your Grandpa Ren came up with a wicked plan!"

On one occasion, when receiving goods, instead of sending a car, they sent several donkey carts.

Halfway there, they found a few people who could drink and got the older brother very drunk.

One of the older men was quite vigilant and insisted on taking the night route, saying that he couldn't reach the unloading point on time if he didn't.

Ha! That fulfills our wishes. Hide the engine and push the donkey cart down the cliff.

That's how we got the engine that could be disassembled!

While busy installing rotating parts such as crankshafts, connecting rods, and pistons, Jiang Xia gave the old man a thumbs up.

"Hey, that's not all! Your Grandpa Ren went to Big Brother's place again and shed tears, saying that he lost a good brother and asked them to sponsor a few more trucks to make it easier to transport goods."

"The escorting guys were also quite frightened, fearing they'd be the ones falling off the cliff next time. So, they got a few more trucks for free! As for the hidden engine, since it was secondhand, the other side didn't investigate further."

"We also had donkey meat sandwiches!" Li Changfu smacked his lips, as if savoring the memory: "So delicious!"

"Hahahaha~"

The people in the small workshop laughed as they listened to the amusing stories Li Changfu told.

Jiang Xia looked at Li Changfu's aged face and remained silent.

To outsiders, Li Changfu may appear happy at this moment, but Jiang Xia could see a hint of bitterness and resentment deep in his eyes.

"Alright, we've gone off on a tangent. Jiang Xia, tell me the reason!"

"Well, there are a whole bunch of reasons, of course. Manufacturing precision, assembly process, material properties—each one is a hurdle. Add to that the Russians' national characteristic of being strong enough to throw bricks, and you think you can just copy a second-hand machine? You're really too naive!"

"By the way, speaking of assembly processes, come and take a look. When assembling an engine, it has to be done from the inside out..."

Jiang Xia called everyone present over to see how it was done. Li Changfu didn't urge him to continue, and quietly waited to the side, holding a large tea mug.

After busying himself for a while, he continued:

"However, aside from these, Master, have you considered wear and tear and gaps?"

"Nonsense, do you think your predecessors were stupid? Did you think people who work with mechanics wouldn't understand this? Wang Chaogui was an expert in this field; he even drew the asymptote of the gear!"

"Did you conduct metallographic tests on their gears?"

Li Changfu was stunned. He kept muttering, "Metallic image? Metallic image?"

"Different materials have different wear rates. I heard from Minister Ren that when the engine was being prototyped, there were a few key components that couldn't be made, so they directly borrowed parts from the original engine, right?"

Jiang Xia picked up two gears and compared them.

"Master, what would happen if a wooden gear and a tofu gear meshed together?"

"Needless to say, it'll definitely shatter! Just like fireworks, brilliant for a fleeting moment, then turning into smoke and dust, drifting away in the wind~~"

Li Tiejun seemed to have been triggered by Jiangxia, and he immediately started spouting a nonsensical, off-key poem.

"What a poem, what a poem!"

"Thank you for the compliment!"