Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

As the bulldozer shoveled the first scoop of soil across the Gobi Desert, Lin Feng stood on the makeshift command platform, the walkie-talkie in his hand emitting a static sound.

Before him lay three hundred hectares of wasteland, stretching to the horizon, with nothing but scattered camel thorns and tumbleweeds. But in his eyes, two enormous, modern factories had already sprung up here—a fighter jet intelligent production line on the left and an aircraft carrier intelligent production line on the right.

"President Lin, the geological exploration report is out." An engineer wearing a hard hat ran up. "The underground rock structure is stable and meets the requirements for heavy-duty factory construction."

"Okay." Lin Feng took the report and quickly glanced at it. "Construct according to Class A foundation standards, and increase the pile depth by three meters. The Gobi Desert is windy, so raise the wind resistance level of the factory building to the highest level."

"clear!"

The engineer turned and ran away, loudly assigning tasks into the walkie-talkie.

Over the next month, this wasteland witnessed a miracle of "China Speed".

On the first day, fifty bulldozers entered the site simultaneously, and the site leveling was completed within three days.

On the fifth day, the pile driver began operation, working day and night. The dull thud echoed across the Gobi Desert, like the heartbeat of a giant.

On the tenth day, the first batch of steel structures arrived from Anshan. The huge H-beams gleamed coldly in the sunlight, like the skeleton of a giant beast.

On the fifteenth day, the factory building frame began to be hoisted. A 300-ton crawler crane precisely placed the steel beams in the designated positions, and welders worked at a height of tens of meters, with welding sparks falling like raindrops.

Lin Feng practically lived on the construction site.

He gets up at four in the morning every day and doesn't return to the temporary prefabricated house until midnight. He never lets go of his walkie-talkie, directing more than a dozen construction teams to work together. Blueprints cover the long table in the temporary command post, densely marked with revision comments.

"Mr. Lin, over here." The automation expert pointed to the production line layout diagram, "The working radii of the robotic arms overlap, which will cause interference."

Lin Feng glanced at it, picked up a red pen and made the following changes: "Move this conveyor belt two meters to the left, change the robotic arm to the seventh generation model, and increase the working radius by 15%."

"But the seventh-generation robotic arm is not available in China..."

"I ordered twenty units from overseas, they'll arrive in port next week," Lin Feng said without looking up. "They'll be going through special channels, exempt from inspection."

The expert paused for a moment, then didn't ask any further questions.

A week later, the expert teams mobilized from all over the country were in place.

The conference room was packed with people—from white-haired academicians to energetic professors, and even fresh-faced doctoral graduates. All eyes were on Lin Feng.

"Everyone," Lin Feng walked to the projection screen, "over the next week, I will give a full explanation of the theoretical basis of these two intelligent production lines."

He pressed the remote control, and a complex system diagram appeared on the screen.

"This is not a simple automation transformation, but a new generation of intelligent manufacturing system based on industrial internet, digital twins, and artificial intelligence."

For the next seven days, Lin Feng lectured for eight hours each day.

From the overall architecture of the production line to the selection of each sensor; from the mathematical model of the control algorithm to the expert system for fault diagnosis, he explained everything in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Even the most complex concepts became clear and easy to understand in his words.

But problems kept emerging.

In the third week, the materials team encountered difficulties.

"Mr. Lin, the bearing steel for high-precision linear guides is not up to the standard in China." The materials expert's face was grim. "The fatigue life is only half of the design requirement. The import channels... are blocked."

Lin Feng looked at the test report and remained silent for a few minutes.

"We'll build it ourselves," he said.

"But the smelting process for this special steel..."

"I have a plan." Lin Feng pulled up a document. "We will use a dual process of vacuum induction heating and electroslag remelting, controlling the titanium-aluminum ratio between 0.8 and 1.2, and the nitrogen content below 30 ppm. The heat treatment will use a three-stage quenching process, with an additional deep cryogenic treatment in between."

The materials expert stared at the parameters, his eyes wide: "This process... we've never tried it before."

"Then let's give it a try." Lin Feng's tone left no room for argument. "I've already contacted the equipment; Northern Heavy Industries can cooperate. Trial production will begin in three days."

Three days later, the first batch of experimental steel ingots was produced.

The test results shocked everyone—the fatigue life exceeded the design requirements by 20%.

"This...how is this possible?" The materials expert's hands trembled as he looked at the report.

Lin Feng didn't explain. He couldn't possibly say that this was the optimal formula obtained after tens of thousands of trials and errors in the system simulation space.

In the fifth week, the control system malfunctioned.

"Mr. Lin, the multi-robot collaboration algorithm is experiencing deadlocks during simulation." The software engineer pointed to the error logs on the screen. "When five robotic arms need to access the same workstation simultaneously, the scheduling system freezes."

Lin Feng sat down in front of the computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

He wasn't writing code; he was deriving a mathematical model. Twenty minutes later, he came up with a completely new scheduling algorithm.

"Try this," he said. "It's a distributed scheduling system based on an auction mechanism, where each robotic arm is an intelligent agent that bids for the right to use a workstation. The algorithm's convergence time is in the milliseconds."

The software engineer ran the simulation with some skepticism.

The result was perfect—the deadlock problem was solved, and efficiency was improved by 30%.

Similar questions arise almost every day.

From precision calibration for laser cutting to trajectory optimization for painting robots; from cycle balancing on assembly lines to visual algorithms for quality inspection... Lin Feng can provide the optimal solution for every step.

Three months later, the intelligent production line for fighter jets was completed first.

Inside the enormous factory, the production line stretches for hundreds of meters like a silver dragon. From the raw material inlet to the finished product outlet, everything is automated—robotic arms swing, conveyor belts turn, and AGVs shuttle back and forth, all in perfect order.

"Initiate the first test run." Lin Feng stood in the central control room. "Input the complete set of data for the J-20."

Technicians type on their keyboards, and massive amounts of data flow into the system.

The production line has started up.

The robotic arm picks up the first titanium alloy sheet and sends it to the laser cutter. A blue laser beam sweeps across, precisely cutting the sheet into the shape of the wing skin. Then comes drilling, riveting, painting, assembly…

The entire process is unmanned.

Twenty-four hours later, at the end of the production line, the complete fuselage frame of a J-20 was revealed.

Although the avionics system and engine are still missing, the structural parts—wings, fuselage, vertical tail, and cockpit—are all completed and all meet the precision standards.

Cheers erupted in the control room.

"It's a success! It's really a success!"

"Twenty-four hours...that's five times more efficient than a traditional production line!"

Lin Feng didn't cheer; he just quietly watched the monitor screen, then turned and walked towards the adjacent factory.

There, the intelligent production line for aircraft carriers is still being debugged.

A month later, the aircraft carrier production line was also completed.

The test run was conducted on a scale model of a Type 055 destroyer—from steel plate cutting to section assembly, from pipeline laying to equipment installation, everything was completed automatically.

When the model appeared fully on the slipway, the time was seventy-two hours.

It shortens the construction cycle by 70% compared to traditional methods.

Everyone at the scene cried.

It wasn't sadness, but an almost cathartic excitement—they made history.

Lin Feng stood between two production lines, with the roar of the fighter jet factory to his left and the welding sparks from the aircraft carrier factory to his right. The air was filled with the smell of metal and machine oil—the smell of industry, the smell of power.

"President Lin," the chief engineer approached, his eyes red-rimmed, "Next..."

"The rest is up to you," Lin Feng interrupted him. "According to the technical manual I left behind, you can produce any model. The data for the Vermilion Bird has been encrypted and requires the highest level of access to retrieve it."

Where are you going?

Lin Feng looked towards the southwest.

That's the direction of the mountain city.

"Go home." He only said two words.

Three years.

From the start of the Kunpeng project to the successful test flight of the Zhuque, and then to the completion of these two production lines, he did not go home for three whole years.

On her phone, Shen Moran's messages went from once a day to once a week, and finally to once a month. The messages were all simple: "I'm fine." "Mom and Dad are fine." "The coffee shop has opened its tenth branch." "I finished all my business management courses today."

He rarely replies, not because he doesn't want to, but because he genuinely doesn't have the time.

But now, it's time to go back.

Three days later, Lin Feng boarded a plane back to Shancheng.

Zhao Weiguo drove him to the airport.

"Mr. Lin," Zhao Weiguo glanced at him in the rearview mirror, "how long... will you be staying this time?"

Lin Feng gazed at the fleeting Gobi Desert scenery outside the window and remained silent for a long time.

"I don't know," he finally said. "Maybe a month, maybe... less."

Zhao Weiguo didn't ask any more questions, but simply stepped hard on the gas pedal.

As the plane took off, Lin Feng took one last look at the Northwest Base outside the window.

On the vast Gobi Desert, the two newly built factory buildings gleamed in the sunlight like two silver patches.

Three hours later, the plane landed in the mountain town.

Stepping out of the terminal, the familiar humid and hot air hit me.

Lin Feng did not notify anyone, and Zhao Weiguo drove to his doorstep.

He took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong-

Footsteps came from inside the door, approaching from afar.

Then, the door opened.

Shen Moran stood at the door.

Three years had passed, and she had lost some weight, but her eyes remained bright. The moment she saw Lin Feng, she froze, her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but no sound came out.

Then, tears silently streamed down my face.

"I'm back," Lin Feng said.

Shen Moran threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly, as if afraid he would disappear if she let go.

"This time..." her voice choked, "How long can I stay?"

Lin Feng stroked her hair, looked at his parents who came out of the house after hearing the noise, and saw their red eyes.

"I don't know," he said softly, "but this time... I'll try to stay a little longer."