The train driver in the courtyard

Inside the Academy of Sciences.

Mr. Guo looked at the newspaper and slammed the table: "This is totally disorganized and undisciplined!"

The documents on the table were shaken so much that they trembled a few times.

In the domestic scientific research environment at that time.

According to established routine practices, scientific research results of this level must first be submitted to the Academy of Sciences for approval before they are announced to the public. This is the rule and the process.

But now, the Red Star Computing Institute has directly skipped this key link.

What made Mr. Guo even more angry was that in those overwhelming reports, the Ministry of Railways, the Railway Technical Institute and the Four Institutes were all mentioned.

But the entire Academy of Sciences was left out.

But at this moment, no matter how dissatisfied the Academy of Sciences was, it really had no way to deal with the Red Star Computing Institute.

After all, the Red Star Computing Institute did not use the channels of the Academy of Sciences for everything from personnel deployment to logistical material supply, but was completely independent.

Mr. Guo suppressed his anger, picked up the enamel mug with the words "Serve the People" printed on it, took a big gulp of tea, and tried to calm himself down.

He calmed down and asked, "Does the Red Star Computing Institute have any explanation for the purpose of the 4004 processor?"

The contact officer whispered, "Dean, Li Aiguo is planning to do something."

"Stars, stars? What are stars, stars? Is he going to the sky?" Mr. Guo was confused by this nonsensical answer and his eyes widened.

When the clerk placed the reply in front of Mr. Guo, this elegant gentleman almost burst out laughing.

The reply was written in neat handwriting: [Dear President Guo, under the leadership of the organization, our Red Star Computing Institute has achieved gratifying results. The 4004 processor is still in its initial stage. Its first function is to make *****. Best regards!]

"This **** is *****, not real stars." The clerk hastened to explain with a bit of grievance on his face.

"At that time, I called the Red Star Computing Institute to inquire about this matter, and the deputy director said that it was confidential."

The more the assistant explained, the more confused Mr. Guo became.

Hey, he is the president of the Academy of Sciences, and the confidentiality level is very high.

Can't you beat the auditors?
Who are you looking down on by playing the star-studded trick in front of him? !
"Please help me hang up the phone at the Red Star Computing Institute." Mr. Guo frowned.

After the call was connected, the assistant informed him of his identity.

Mr. Guo then took the phone and cleared his throat: "Hello, hello, I'm calling today, mainly for two things.

The first is to personally congratulate your Red Star Computing Institute.

Under the leadership of the organization and with the support of the Academy of Sciences, you have achieved great results.

This is a personal victory for you, and even more so for researchers across the country."

After a long and rambling speech, Mr. Guo finally got to the point and asked, "What is the purpose of your 4004 processor?"

As he listened to the other party's answer, Mr. Guo's face became more and more ugly, turning from red to blue.

Finally, with a "click", he hung up the phone in a rare angry manner.

The assistant couldn't help but be curious: "Dean, what are these stars?"

".The Red Star Computing Institute said I have no authority to know and to just treat it as a star." Dean Guo had never been so angry in his life.

As the dean of the academy of science, it was an insult to him that he was unable to know the content of a project.

"Dean, we can ask the Ministry of Railways!"

The assistant's words reminded him, and he picked up the phone, shook it for a while, and connected to the Ministry of Railways.

A cold voice came from the other end of the phone: "Sorry, according to regulations, we cannot tell you where the first batch of 4004 processors are going."

After hanging up the phone, Mr. Guo muttered quietly: "This is not right. We are the Academy of Sciences. According to regulations, the institute needs to do so."

Halfway through his words, Mr. Guo seemed to suddenly think of something.

His eyes suddenly widened: "Could it be that the Red Star Computing Institute is carrying out a confidential mission?"

"This, this is impossible, even if the 4004 processor is very efficient.

It's just a computer processor. How can it be involved in any classified mission?"

The more Mr. Guo thought about it, the more confused he became. His head was like a tangled mess and he couldn't make sense of it.

the other side.

Inside the Red Star Computing Institute.

After Deputy Director Peng Yunyou hung up the phone call from the Academy of Sciences, he looked at Li Aiguo curiously: "Aiguo, if you don't explain it clearly to the Academy of Sciences.

I'm afraid given Dean Guo's personality, he won't let this go."

A breeze blew in from the window, making his windbreaker rustle. Li Aiguo stood facing the wind and turned his head to look up at the sky: "I, Li Aiguo, have done everything in my life. Why should I explain to others?"

"What are you looking at?" Deputy Director Peng Yunyou looked upwards in the direction Li Aiguo was looking, shaking his head left and right, but couldn't see anything.

Li Aiguo: "If I, Li Aiguo, had not been born, the world would have been in darkness forever."

"."

Of course, Peng Yunyou's thoughts were frozen for at least a minute.

For some reason, she felt that the founder of the Red Star Computing Institute was a little off.

In fact, Li Aiguo was not really unwilling to explain.

Instead, the first batch of five 4004 processors do have special uses, and no details can be disclosed to the public for the time being.

"Notify the researchers in the laboratory right now and give them a day off today."

Upon hearing the order, Deputy Director Peng Yunyou didn't think much about it.

After all, those researchers have been working continuously for more than a month.

I've been spending every day in the lab and my body has been exhausted. It's time to take a good rest.

Just as Peng Yunyou was about to turn around and leave, Li Aiguo asked again, "Did Director Zhao Jiuzhang send any news?"

"Director Zhao said that it would take some time to collect domestic climate data."

When talking about this matter, Peng Yunyou is still full of doubts.

Two days ago, Director Zhao from the Institute of Earth Sciences hurried to the Red Star Computing Institute.

He and Li Aiguo had a secret conversation in the office for a whole day.

Then Director Zhao left in a hurry again.

From then on, Li Aiguo arranged for researchers in the Red Star Computing Institute to start learning meteorological knowledge, saying that this was to prepare for the important work that was about to come.

This made Peng Yunyou confused.

How did computer science and meteorological research, two seemingly unrelated fields, suddenly come together?

Li Aiguo has always been cautious and secretive in doing things.

Peng Yunyou understood the discipline and had no intention of probing too much. He just shook his head and turned away.

After receiving the notice of a one-day holiday, the researchers at the Red Star Computing Institute's laboratory shouted excitedly and then left the laboratory.

Time quietly came to nine o'clock in the morning.

A GAZ truck covered with a green tarpaulin came to the gate of the Red Star Computing Institute with its engine roaring.

The security officer of the Institute of Computing Technology came forward from a distance, stood tall, and gave a standard military salute: "Comrade, which unit are you from?"

"Hello, we are transporting supplies. The department has temporarily allocated 1,000 kilograms of flour." The driver was a middle-aged man wearing a gray Zhongshan suit. As he spoke, he took out a document from the department from his pocket.

Zhang Zecheng took the document and looked through it carefully, but found nothing unusual.

"Please wait a moment. I will go and inform Deputy Director Peng."

After handing the document back, Zhang Zecheng specifically instructed the security officer next to him to keep a close eye on it.

For some reason, he always felt that this middle-aged man exuded an indescribable mysterious aura, which made him vaguely uneasy.

When Zhang Zecheng was speaking, he did not notice that the middle-aged man's ears actually trembled slightly twice.

With several fully armed teammates watching closely from the side, Zhang Zecheng was not too worried about anything going wrong.

He returned to the gate room with peace of mind, and dialed the black hand-cranked phone, ready to notify Deputy Director Peng.

But now Deputy Director Peng has gone off work and is taking a break just like the other researchers, so naturally he can't get through to him on the phone.

The security officer called Li Aiguo's office again.

Fortunately, the call was answered quickly this time.

"Chief Consultant, a truck came to our institute, and according to the driver..." Zhang Zecheng explained the situation in detail.

Soon, he got a clear reply from Li Aiguo: "Let them in."

"Comrade Zhang Zecheng, we have just developed the 4004 processor, so it is inevitable that there will be people with malicious intent trying to spy on us. You must be vigilant.

I have already notified the logistics department. You have worked hard recently. When you get off work, go to the logistics department to get an old hen."

"Yes!"

"Yes!" Zhang Zecheng felt excited when he heard Li Aiguo call out his name accurately.

There are dozens of people in the security department, and he is just a small team leader. He didn't expect that the leader could remember him.

When Zhang Zecheng heard that he could get an old hen, he was so excited that his eyes turned red.

A leader who cares about his subordinates is a good leader!

He secretly swore to protect the Red Star Computing Institute. Anyone who dared to covet the 4004 processor would have to step over his dead body.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Zecheng waved his hands vigorously at his teammates: "Check, let them go! Let's eat chicken tonight!"

Several teammates, holding rifles, opened the tarpaulin of the carriage and saw bags of flour inside. Only then did they relax.

"Thank you!" The middle-aged man put out his cigarette, opened the car door and got in.

They opened the door, and the GAZ truck roared again, whizzing into the Red Star Computing Institute.

The truck sped all the way and stopped directly in front of the laboratory door.

Li Aiguo had been waiting for a long time. He went up to the middle-aged man and shook his hand: "Team Leader Mao, we meet again."

"The security officer at your institute is really vigilant. If I hadn't made thorough preparations in advance, I would have fallen flat on my face today!"

As Lao Mao spoke, he patted the tarpaulin with his hand. As soon as he finished speaking, seven or eight workers in work uniforms filed out from the mezzanine of the carriage.

"The researchers will not be at work for another 22 hours, which means all tasks must be completed within 22 hours." Li Aiguo did not bother to talk too much. He opened the door of the laboratory and let Lao Mao and the workers into the laboratory.

As soon as I entered the laboratory, I saw five 4004 processors neatly placed on the table.

Li Aiguo picked up a piece and said loudly to the workers, "Don't ask why or what this is.

Now you must modify these five 4004 processors according to my requirements. "

As he spoke, Li Aiguo took out a blueprint and explained carefully: "You should do this first, then that, then this again, and then that again. That's it. Yeah, it's very simple."

The workers and masters nodded as they listened, thinking that the young man's explanation was easy to understand and they could understand it right away and do the job well right away.

The workers quickly picked up the soldering guns and carefully packaged the 4004 pins of the 24 processor in a dual-in-line ceramic tube shell.

Afterwards, the modified 4004 processor was firmly installed on each circuit integrated board.

Outside the large glass window of the laboratory, Lao Mao watched the workers busy at work and was just about to take out a cigarette to satisfy his craving.

But after looking at the spotless laboratory, he put the cigarette back reluctantly.

The old cat squinted his eyes and looked for a long time. He couldn't help but said, "Patriotic, logically speaking, I shouldn't ask too much."

Li Aiguo crossed his arms over his chest and responded simply: "Don't ask if you shouldn't."

"But I really can't help it!" The old cat rubbed his eyebrows, looking conflicted.

Li Aiguo: "."

Why are you putting it here? Why are you putting it here?
finally.

Lao Mao finally asked the question that had been pent up in his heart: "Why don't you let the researchers in the laboratory do this job? Why do you have to ask me to transfer people from the weather station?"

The follow-up plan still needed Lao Mao's help to complete. Li Aiguo did not intend to hide it from him, so he asked back: "Do you know what these masters are making now?"

"I don't know." The old cat shook his head honestly.

Li Aiguo: "You don't know. If I explain it to you and you still don't understand, then there is no need to explain it."

"." The old cat was silent for a moment, then changed his words and said, "I know!"

Li Aiguo was delighted when he heard this: "You already know everything, so there's no need for me to explain."

Old Cat: “.”

He felt that this young man was drifting, drifting!
Li Aiguo patted Lao Mao on the shoulder when he saw this and said, "The principles of computers are too complicated. You won't understand them even if I explain them to you. Just think of this thing as a super abacus."

"Abacus? A super one? How is it super?" The old cat became interested.

"Let's put it this way. Just press a number and the data will be calculated. Even the most complex numbers can be calculated in less than a second. In fact, the calculation speed depends on the user's hand speed, and this is far from the limit of this calculator."

That’s right, what our Li Aiguo made this time is the calculator that will be commonly used by elementary school students in later generations.

In later generations, calculators used the 8253 chip, which is a programmable counter and has a different structure from the 4004 processor.

Fortunately, the 4004 processor has a speed of 6 times per second. As long as certain changes are made to the pins and the machine code of the kernel is changed, it can perform the functions of a computer chip.

"Calculation. Are you planning to send the calculator to the Gobi Desert?" Old Cat finally understood Li Aiguo's real purpose.

At present, the work of growing mushrooms in the Gobi Desert has officially started.

Lao Mao had worked there for a while and knew very well that the most difficult thing about growing mushrooms was the huge amount of calculations required.

Although the 103 vacuum tube computer had been shipped there, it was cumbersome to operate, so researchers still preferred to use the abacus for calculations.

If this so-called calculator could really be like what Li Aiguo said, and could get the result just by pressing a number, then it would definitely become a calculation artifact!
"But you haven't answered my question yet. Why don't you use people from the laboratory?" Old Cat asked, suppressing his excitement.

Li Aiguo sighed: "Those researchers are too naive."

"Innocence?" Old Cat couldn't understand why this word used to describe children was used to describe those high-level intellectuals.

"They always feel that science and technology should be promoted to the whole world in order to benefit mankind."

Li Aiguo exhaled, wiped the glass, and continued, "Especially since the Red Star Computing Institute is not a military research institute, calculators can only be considered civilian technology."

As soon as these words were spoken, the old cat understood instantly.

He has handled many cases of research institute leaks in the past.

It was discovered that many leaks were not caused by spies or bribed by the enemy.

Instead, the researchers were eager to demonstrate their technical prowess and achieve greater academic success, so they leaked the secrets intentionally or unintentionally.

Once researchers learn about computer technology, they will definitely try every means to promote it in the country and even around the world.

This cannot be blamed on their low ideological awareness. The reason they can persist on the difficult road of scientific research is that they have a heart to change the world.

But Li Aiguo's heart is not that big.

It can only accommodate the space of Dongda University and can only take care of my relatives, friends, colleagues and comrades.

In fact, Li Aiguo is not the only one who adopts this approach.

Similar operations are also carried out in the laboratories of Lao Maozi and Xiao Mei.

Those new technologies will always be kept secret for quite a long time until they have no military value and strategic significance, and only then will they be promoted to the civilian field.

After Lao Mao figured out the whole thing, he gave his evaluation from the perspective of confidentiality: "People are the most unreliable things in the world. As long as they are human, there is a risk of leaking secrets.

The best way to keep a secret is to make the content that needs to be kept secret non-existent. From this perspective, your work this time was flawless.

The only trouble is that you have to go to a lot of trouble to cover it up."

"It's all worth it."

"Once this calculator comes out, it will definitely greatly improve the efficiency of scientific research in the military industry."

Li Aiguo went on to say, "According to my estimation, it will take at least seven or eight years for the same technology to appear abroad. In other words, we can be seven or eight years ahead of them in computing power!"

The old cat clapped his hands and said, "The more people know, the greater the risk of leaks!"

"That's right." Li Aiguo said with a smile, "No one would ever have thought that I, as the founder of the Red Star Computing Institute, would actually steal from the company."

After hearing this, Lao Mao saluted Li Aiguo with a serious face and said, "Comrade driver, thank you for the grievances you have endured for the country, and thank you for everything you have done for the country!"

He knew very well how much honor this calculator would bring to Li Aiguo if it appeared in the world.

But now Li Aiguo has given up these honors that are within his reach just to buy the country a few years of priority development.

Such comrades are the good comrades who are truly dedicated to the country!

Of course, this kind of "embezzlement" is only a temporary measure.

Currently, under the overall coordination of Nongfu, the meteorological station is planning to build a second photolithography room.

Once the new lithography room is built, a steady stream of modified 4004 processors will be produced, and each calculator will become a booster for industrial and economic development.

Since all the technicians in the new lithography room are from the military industry, the confidentiality is far greater than that of the Red Star Computing Institute.

This is all a story for later.

The masters that Lao Mao brought this time are all carefully selected industry experts.

With their superb skills and high efficiency, they completed the assembly of the calculator in less than twelve hours.

All the assembled calculators were carefully moved onto the truck.

Before leaving, Lao Mao stood tall, saluted solemnly to Li Aiguo, and said firmly: "Aiguo, see you on the train!"

"See you on the train!" Li Aiguo knew that the train that Lao Mao was talking about was the special train heading to the Gobi Desert.

After all, as the developer of the calculator, it is my job to provide technical support for the product.

Therefore, the farmer personally proposed to the relevant departments that Li Aiguo personally escort the calculators to the Gobi Desert.

After the old cat left, Li Aiguo returned to the laboratory.

He took out a few boards from the raw materials, increased the current, waited for the processor to emit a burning smell, then took out a hammer and smashed them into pieces and threw them into the waste bin.

He picked up a pen and wrote in the experiment log: "Today's experiment failed. All five 4004 processors were scrapped. I feel very bad."

******
The next day, Professor Xia Zhongsu and his researchers walked into the laboratory in high spirits after a full day of rest.

"Professor, all the 4004 processors are gone. Oh my God, the five processors we just developed are all gone." A researcher opened the confidential cabinet and saw that it was empty.

"Into the thief teasing!"

"It's over, it's really over this time, let's all wait to be caught."

Professor Xia Zhongsu told the researchers not to worry, then immediately picked up the phone and called Li Aiguo's office.

"Aiguo, there's something wrong here, please come over."

A moment later, Li Aiguo came into the laboratory with his hands behind his back.

Upon learning that a secret room theft had occurred in the laboratory, he smiled and said, "You misunderstood. I conducted an experiment yesterday, but the current was too high, causing all the processors to burn out. Well, I have recorded this in the experiment log."

Hearing this, Professor Xia Zhongsu opened the experimental log and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Nothing was stolen. I told you so. We are so well guarded. Who could have stolen anything?"

"It's just patriotism. Five 4004 processors, all scrapped? What kind of experiment are you doing?"

Facing Professor Xia Zhongsu's doubts, Li Aiguo put his hands behind his back and acted like a leader: "Professor Xia, this is not something you should be concerned about."

Professor Xia Zhongsu immediately realized that he had overstepped his boundaries.

The 4004 processor is currently a domestic secret. Even if Li Aiguo conducts any experiments, there is no need to inform him.

Li Aiguo continued, “At present, I have informed Deputy Director Peng Yunyou to continue to mobilize materials from all over the country.

In the next ten days or so, your job will be to continue producing 4004 processors according to the planned schedule.

When I come back, I will continue with the next step of research. "

"Are you going on a business trip?"

As soon as Professor Xia Zhongsu opened his mouth, he realized that he had said something wrong and quickly covered his mouth.

He was silent for a moment, sighed helplessly, and said, "Aiguo, I really should have a good talk with Director Peng."

Li Aiguo feels very reassured knowing that the institute has Peng Yunyou, an experienced political worker, in charge.

(End of this chapter)