The train driver in the courtyard

"1+1!"

Excited, loud voices echoed in the conference room.

"."

Who are you looking down on?

Li Aiguo turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a middle-aged man wearing black-framed glasses raising his hand high.

Director Deng coughed awkwardly and explained, "This is Professor Huang Jin, who is in charge of the equation of state and mechanics group. He mainly studies nuclear weapon numerical simulation and fluid mechanics. He is quite proficient in technology, but... um... he has a lively and eccentric personality."

Professor Huang Jin! Li Aiguo took a deep breath. This guy is a big shot who has made great contributions to the theoretical research of Big Mushroom.

However, in the original timeline, Professor Huang Jin was transferred to the Ninth Bureau in 60, and thus came to work at the Ninth Institute of Factory 221.

Now it seems that my appearance has indeed caused a butterfly effect, and the development of the giant mushroom has been greatly accelerated.

"In mathematics, one plus one represents the addition of two units, which is the basis of all arithmetic operations. A tall building is built from the ground up, so I think we should start with 1+1." Li Aiguo waved at Professor Huang Jin: "Professor Huang, you can use the calculator, right?"

"Really?"

Before Professor Huang Jin finished his words, he jumped onto the podium at a speed that was unmatched by any researcher.

"The exciting moment has finally arrived!"

He pressed. Pressed
Professor Huang Jin's hand froze in mid-air. After a moment's silence, he looked at Li Aiguo and said, "Comrade Commissioner, how do you use this thing? Why is there no control panel for programming?"

Li Aiguo: "."

He pointed at the "suspected" keyboard and said, "Professor Huang, the scientific name of this device is called a keyboard, and it can be used to input calculation formulas."

Huang Jin looked at the simple keyboard with an incredible look on his face.

You should know that when using the 103 machine, each time you enter a calculation formula, it requires complex programming and debugging.

And a calculator only requires you to input numbers directly. This is incredible.

After receiving Li Aiguo's accurate answer, Professor Huang Jin raised his head and looked at Director Deng expectantly: "Director, let's leave the calculator behind."

Director Deng coughed twice and said, "Professor Huang Jin, you are now the deputy director of the Theoretical Department of the Ninth Bureau, and your teacher is Mr. Su."

The meaning is very clear. Please pay attention to your image and don't lose face for the Ninth Bureau in front of local comrades.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot." Professor Huang Jin straightened his collar, flicked off the dust on his clothes, shook off his non-existent bangs, and raised his head: "Isn't it just a small keyboard? Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning!"

Li Aiguo: "."

Professor Huang Jin: “.”

Li Aiguo: "."

Professor Huang Jin: “.”

After two seconds of silence, Li Aiguo said hesitantly: "Professor Huang Jin, don't you know how to press the keyboard?"

"I" Professor Huang Jin raised his head and nodded heavily: "I really don't know!"

Li Aiguo took a deep breath and pointed at the keyboard and introduced: "Look, there are numbers and calculation symbols on it. You don't have to think about programming ideas. Just press the order of the formula and then press the word "result" to get the result."

"Ha, I was just testing you." Professor Huang Jin laughed.

Director Deng slapped his forehead suddenly.

Comrade Commissioner, why did you pick out the funny guy in the ninth inning when there were so many other options to choose from?

Of course, this clown is not a derogatory term.

The conditions in Factory 221 are difficult now, and everyone depends on Professor Huang Jin for food.

"Professor Huang, hurry up, everyone is waiting." Director Deng felt that the style of the painting was going astray and reminded again.

"Director, don't worry, this is high-tech"

Professor Huang Jin said as he stretched out his finger and pressed "1". "Hey, this keyboard is elastic? It feels quite interesting. What kind of high-tech is this?"

Li Aiguo said faintly: "Spring."

"." Professor Huang Jin smiled awkwardly, "I'm just kidding, don't mind it."

As he spoke, Professor Huang Jin pressed the subsequent numbers one after another, then took a deep breath, his expression becoming particularly solemn: "Everyone, pay attention, the exciting moment is about to come. At this moment, I am filled with emotion and thought of it."

Snapped!
Director Deng couldn't help it, so he was the first to stretch out his finger and press the "Result" button.

"This is mine." Professor Huang Jin felt that his highlight moment was snatched away and felt a little depressed.

But almost in an instant, his expression changed and he stared blankly at the wooden board.

I saw the neon lights on the wooden board light up at the same time, flashing to form a "2".

"Display! This neon board actually serves as a display!" Professor Huang Jin couldn't help but exclaimed.

At this time, Professor Zhou, who had been standing by without saying anything, could not help but say loudly: "Using a computer, er, a calculator, to control the lights to display the calculation results, this, this is really a genius idea!"

As one of the few computer experts in the Ninth Institute, he knew very well that even the most advanced vacuum tube computer in the world could only output program results through punched cards.

After each calculation, specialized technicians are needed to study the arrangement of small holes on the punched cards to obtain the calculation results.

But this neon display panel is like a transparent window, allowing people to intuitively see the results of the high and low voltage fluctuations inside the calculator.

More importantly, there was no need to decipher punch cards.

This means that anyone who cannot operate a calculator can perform calculations as long as they are familiar with the keyboard.

"This is a great treasure!" Professor Zhou's eyes lit up at this time. But he soon came to his senses.

“1+1算不得什么.咱们应该再计算一些复杂的算式，比如.187261872乘以617239除以321等于”

Before he finished speaking, Li Aiguo had already pressed the button, and a line of numbers flashed on the neon board: "36007861928.685"

The decimal point is a flashing light blue neon light.

The red and blue colors intertwined together, making the faces of all the professors and experts on the scene look particularly strange.

Professor Zhou looked at Huang Jin: "How is it?"

Huang Jin was mumbling to himself, and Li Aiguo couldn't understand what he was saying even when he listened carefully; it sounded like the buzzing of a bee.

Five seconds later, he nodded: "Correct!"

"Calculate three digits after the decimal point." Professor Zhou couldn't help but gasp again.

He looked at Li Aiguo and said, "Comrade Commissioner, I apologize to you for what happened just now. I made an empiricist mistake."

"You're welcome." Li Aiguo was startled.

Professor Zhou: "It is very necessary. We who do scientific research must seek truth from facts. One is one, two is two. Right is right, wrong is wrong!"

Li Aiguo knew the temperament of these seniors and said with a smile: "Don't you want to know how the calculator solves equations?"

After hearing this, Professor Zhou no longer cared about making mistakes and nodded quickly.

The professors and experts also became interested.

You know, even if the 103 machine wants to solve an equation, it has to program the calculation procedure in advance, but this calculator can solve the equation with just a few clicks.

"It's very simple. I have installed the relevant calculation program in the register of the calculator. I can use numerical methods such as iteration method, Newton method, quasi-Newton method, etc."

These professors and experts are all mathematics experts, and Li Aiguo just needed to explain it briefly and they understood it.

"If we load programs such as Gaussian elimination and matrix decomposition, can we solve the system of equations?"

"That's true, but the performance of the current processor is limited, and the storage capacity of the registers is insufficient. We can only solve a system of linear equations with two variables."

"Now I need a professor to come up with a system of equations."

Li Aiguo decided to increase the difficulty. As he spoke, he stretched out his finger to select one from the professors and experts.

"Comrade Commissioner, I, I, we are old friends." Professor Huang Jin raised his hands high and jumped back and forth on the spot.

Li Aiguo's fingers slid across his body and landed on a professor next to him: "Comrade, come here."

Professor Huang Jin: “.”

Li Aiguo was also unwilling to spoil Professor Huang Jin's mood.

But if we let him continue like this, the readers will scold the author for his poor handwriting.

The professor who was selected was a serious person who did things in a conventional way. He quickly input a simple linear equation with two variables into the keyboard.

“x+y=5, 2x-y=1”

The moment I pressed the button to solve the equation, the neon light flashed and I got the answer: "X=2, Y=3"

嘶

Hiss
Hiss hiss.
There was a sound of gasps at the scene.

Although these professors and scholars already knew that this calculator was a magical gadget.

But it was still a bit shocking to see with my own eyes that the cold machine could solve a system of equations just like the human brain.

There was thunderous applause at the scene.

Only Professor Zhou, who was in charge of the calculations, touched his chin with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Comrade Commissioner, this calculator is indeed magical, but how is the accuracy and error solved? As you know, theoretical research on mushrooms requires very high precision."

What is a real boss? This is it!
As soon as I came into contact with the scientific calculation function of the calculator, I immediately became aware of the key problems involved.

But our Li Aiguo has already patched it in advance.

"In order to maximize the accuracy, I increased the number of digits in the calculator. Currently, this calculator can be accurate to 26 decimal places."

As soon as these words came out, Professor Zhou's expression suddenly changed.

You have to know that even if they calculated with a pen on a piece of scratch paper, they could only calculate to eight decimal places at most, and the rest were rounded off.

Accurate to 26 decimal places is beyond imagination.

"Is this the true power of the calculator? It seems that the calculations simulating the movement of matter from detonation to impact with the target can be completed in advance."

No one realized that the strange-looking calculator in front of them had gradually changed from a novel gadget to the treasure of the Ninth Bureau in their hearts.

Outside the window, the wind from the Gobi Desert blew sand against the glass.

Li Aiguo looked at the slogan on the wall "We will get it done even if it takes 10,000 years", and the corners of his mouth raised slightly.

He knew that this spark stolen from the future would soon ignite the entire northwestern plateau.

The stability and accuracy of the calculator were of great importance, so Li Aiguo assembled the remaining four calculators on the spot.

Subsequently, under the direction of Director Deng, Professor Zhou and Professor Huang Jin conducted detailed tests on the five calculators.

The entire test lasted a whole day, with more than 10,000 calculation questions and 100% accuracy. Moreover, compared with hand-cranked calculators, the calculation speed was increased by at least 50 times.

"It seems that we have really found a treasure this time. If the abacus is compared to millet plus a rifle, then this calculator is undoubtedly a powerful cannon."

After confirming the final test results, Professor Deng held Li Aiguo's hand tightly and said sincerely, "Comrade Commissioner, thank you so much for bringing us such a strong scientific research support."

Li Aiguo said: "I should be the one thanking you. It is because of your hard work here that we can grow big mushrooms."

It was almost evening at this time, and Director Deng submitted his proposal to use the calculator for theoretical calculations of mushroom growing to the Preparatory Office of Factory 221 overnight.

The Preparatory Office of Factory 221 (also known as the Preparatory Office of the Machinery Factory) was the actual highest leadership body of Factory 221 during those years, and its status was equivalent to that of the Ninth Bureau.

The preparatory office is headed by Mr. Xu.

Several deputy directors, including Zhao Jitian, Chen Fangming and Liu Zhenhai, were mainly responsible for the daily work of the Preparatory Office of Factory 221.

After receiving Director Deng's application, several deputy directors did not pay much attention to it.

After all, they had received a call from Comrade Sanqiang, and on the phone, Comrade Sanqiang praised the calculator as if it were a flower.

Deputy Director Zhao Jitian had some doubts. At the internal meeting, he tapped the table with his fingers and said, "Everyone, it is said that the inside of this calculator is dark and cannot be touched or seen. If there is really a calculation error, we will not know it, and it will delay important matters."

The other deputy directors looked at each other, and they could see a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes.

Deputy Director Zhao Jitian is mainly responsible for material preparation and coordination work. He is one of the few leaders in the preparatory office who does not understand technical theory very well.

He was originally a translator and made many outstanding contributions in the process of introducing nuclear weapons technology from the Soviet Union.

He was in charge of the specific matters of site selection for Factory 221.

At the same time, he also undertook the important task of communicating and coordinating with Soviet aid experts.

From the initial group of 12 experts, to the three-person expert group that developed nuclear weapons, to the more than Soviet experts and Boris Ledenev, the chief adviser of the Ninth Bureau, all communication and coordination work was handled by him.

Originally, Zhao Jitian was the first deputy director of the preparatory office.

But more than half a year ago, for some unknown reason, a secret order was suddenly issued from above, ordering us to abandon the idea of ​​relying on Russian experts to develop the giant mushroom and to take an independent approach.

Zhao Jitian's status plummeted.

Although the subsequent withdrawal of some experts by the Russians confirmed the above foresight.

Zhao Jitian still believes that he should not part ways with Big Brother's experts.

"Ahem." At this time, Deputy Director Chen coughed twice and said, "Director Zhao, when the Russians developed the giant mushroom, they also used computers. The principle of this calculator is the same as that of a computer. So, there is no need for us to throw the baby out with the bathwater."

"Okay, okay, Lao Chen, since you have all decided to use the calculator and the Ninth Bureau also wants to use it, then I will not interfere."

Zhao Jitian stood up angrily and strode out of the meeting room.

His attitude was very clear: if any problems arose when using the calculator, the responsibility would be borne by Deputy Director Chen and others and the Ninth Bureau.

Deputy Director Chen and several other deputy directors looked at each other and smiled, their smiles full of helplessness.

They knew clearly that Zhao Jitian was not targeting the calculator itself, but felt that Jiujiu was on guard against him and did not invite him to observe the calculator demonstration.

In fact, the ninth inning also had its share of hardships.

Before the calculator arrived at Factory 221, an extremely high-level order was issued from the weather station.

The directive included a list of people who were allowed direct access to the calculator.

Not only Zhao Jitian, but even Director Li is not on the list.

After a while, Deputy Director Chen picked up the phone and dialed the number of the Ninth Bureau: "Hello, Lao Deng, the Preparatory Office has approved your application... You really guessed it right, Lao Zhao is a little upset.

But don't worry, he is a trustworthy old comrade and will not affect the overall situation. The Preparatory Office looks forward to your early success."

After hanging up the phone, Deputy Director Chen rubbed his aching temple, looked at the deputy directors, and said, "The reception office will be responsible for receiving the specialist who is delivering the calculator. He is from Beijing.

Lao Liu, please inform the reception desk later and make sure they receive us seriously without any negligence."

"Yes!"

******
evening.

The sun sets in the west.

"Let's stop here today. We'll talk about the specific programming methods tomorrow."

After Li Aiguo explained the usage of the calculator to Professor Zhou and Professor Huang Jin again, he left the meeting room.

At this time, Lao Mao and his men were on guard outside.

Seeing Li Aiguo coming out with a tired look on his face, Lao Mao walked over and said, "Come on, I'll take you to a place to rest. After you rest for a while, we can have dinner."

"By the way, where are Yan Zi and Lao Hei now?" Li Aiguo asked with concern as he walked out.

“They are on a mission.”

After hearing Lao Mao's answer, Li Aiguo knew that it was inconvenient to ask further questions about matters related to this task.

After leaving the office building, Lao Mao took Li Aiguo around the construction site where construction was in full swing and headed towards a tent area.

Looking around, there are densely packed tents everywhere, with all kinds of clothes hanging outside the tents.

From time to time, you can see comrades in cadre uniforms busy shuttling back and forth in the tents.

"Aiguo, your tent is here." Lao Mao led Li Aiguo around a row of tents and walked towards the easternmost side.

Just after walking a few steps, a clear and pleasant voice suddenly came from the side: "Comrade train driver, you are here too."

Li Aiguo heard the voice and looked around, but saw no one.

When he lowered his head, he found that he was standing on a high ridge with rows of "Siberian dry-rammed earth" next to him.

This is a semi-underground building with a pit more than one meter deep dug underground.

The pit was surrounded by adobe bricks, and each of the bricks contained three beds, which could accommodate three people.

Although this living condition is far inferior to the basements of later generations, it is much better than living in a tent and being attacked by the cold wind.

At this time, a young girl with a ponytail was standing in front of the door of the adobe house, waving at him enthusiastically.

Those big black eyes curved into a crescent moon in the night sky.

"It's Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng, why are you here?" Li Aiguo was stunned for a moment before he recognized that this girl was the topology expert he met on the truck.

"Our comrade Xiao Meng is a candidate for scientific research. She has been selected by Professor Zhou of the Ninth Bureau. She will be transferred to the Ninth Bureau in a few days. Naturally, she has to live in this mansion where only scientific researchers can live."

A girl in a red cotton jacket poked her head out from behind Zhou Xiaomeng.

Her bright red cotton jacket looked particularly dazzling on this gloomy land.

"Sister Liu, don't talk nonsense." Zhou Xiaomeng hurriedly stopped Liu Hong.

"This is Comrade Liu Hong. She graduated from the same school as me and is my senior."

After Zhou Xiaomeng introduced Liu Hong's identity to Li Aiguo, she smiled and asked, "Driver Li, which tent do you live in? When we are free, we can visit each other. I just got here and I don't know anyone."

"I'm not sure yet. I'll tell you next time we meet."

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Aiguo waved to Zhou Xiaomeng while speaking, and then followed the old cat and continued walking forward along the tent area.

After the people had gone far away, Zhou Xiaomeng was still standing on tiptoe to look up.

"Everyone has already left, stop looking. Look at you, you seem to be staring at them and can't get rid of them." Liu Hong touched Zhou Xiaomeng gently with her arm and joked.

Zhou Xiaomeng blushed on the spot: "Comrade Liu Hong, stop making fun of me. I came here to accomplish a great mission. After what happened to Chen Dong, I will not consider personal relationships in the future."

Zhou Xiaomeng might be able to deceive herself, but she could never hide it from the meticulous Liu Hong.

She thought for a moment and decided to remind her junior schoolmate.

"Everyone has come here for a great purpose, but we can't completely ignore personal feelings."

"Don't think I'm worldly-wise. Xiao Meng, you have to know that the Gobi Desert is different from the mainland, there are more men than women."

"A job like a train driver might be popular outside, but it's not so conspicuous in the Gobi Desert."

"Take you for example, you get a basic salary of 75 yuan when you first come in, plus 31% of the regional subsidy, business expenses, etc., a total of 126.75 yuan per month."

"And as far as I know, the train drivers in the confidential factory can only get a salary of more than 60 yuan a month."

"in addition……"

Liu Hong was just about to continue persuading them when a few people came towards them from a distance.

Her expression changed instantly, and a warm smile immediately appeared on her face: "Oh, it's Deputy Director Chen, what brings you here?"

"It's Liu Hong. Oh, Comrade Zhou Xiaomeng is here too." Chen Xuedong, deputy director of the reception department of Factory 221, looked at them and asked, "Have you seen Comrade Aiguo?"

"You are looking for the train driver. He just followed the cat team leader in the team towards the tent area." Zhou Xiaomeng stood on tiptoe and pointed into the distance.

"Hey, this cat team leader is really something. I have already prepared dormitories in the warm building. How could he lead the specialist to the tent area..."

When Chen Xuedong heard this, he anxiously chased in the direction Zhou Xiaomeng pointed.

Looking at Chen Dongxue's back, Liu Hong couldn't close her mouth.

"Hey, Xiao Meng, was the train driver just now a real driver?"

Zhou Xiaomeng frowned and said, "That should be the case. I talked to him a lot on the way. He is indeed an experienced driver."

"That shouldn't be the case. The warm building is where professors and experts from the Ninth Bureau live." Liu Hong was a little confused.

******
The night is getting darker.

Liu Hong and Zhou Xiaomeng had dinner and sat downstairs to chat with a few technicians from Shanghai.

Seeing Chen Dongxue coming back with two staff members, Liu Hong smiled and said hello: "Director Chen, didn't you go to ask the train driver to go to the warm building?"

Chen Dongxue frowned slightly and did not answer. A young staff member next to him could not help but said, "Oh, forget it. The train driver said that Director Li can live in a tent, so why can't he?"

"Xiao Zhou, be careful with your words!" Chen Dongxue was startled and quickly stopped the young clerk.

He smiled at Liu Hong and said, "Comrade Liu Hong, do you still remember the confidentiality rules on our grassland?" Then he turned around and left in a hurry.

Confidentiality Rules - "Never tell secrets that should not be told.

Never ask about secrets that you shouldn't know.

Never look at secrets that you shouldn't look at.

Do not include confidential matters in private communications.

"

Liu Hong stood there for a long time, becoming increasingly confused.

(End of this chapter)