Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Zhao Gang, Shen Zhiyuan, and the others followed Lin Yang without hesitation. He Yuzhu gave Arkady a cold glance and stood protectively beside Lin Yang.

This desperate move completely stunned Arkady.

He completely panicked!

Khrushchev's task was to keep the Chinese delegation in check and reach an aid agreement in exchange for China's absolute support for the Soviet Union's status as the big brother in the international communist camp.

If the Chinese delegation were to leave in such a huff, the Soviet Union's international prestige would suffer a tremendous blow! This political responsibility was far beyond what a mere vice-minister could bear!

"General Lin! General Lin, please wait!"

Arkady, covered in sweat and looking like a clumsy bear, quickly caught up and grabbed Lin Yang's arm.

"Let's talk this out! We can discuss the technical parameters at the negotiating table! As for the 10,000-ton hydraulic press... I can consult with the Minister! Please don't act impulsively!"

Lin Yang stopped and turned his head to look at Arkady, whose face was full of panic.

He knew he had won this psychological battle.

For the next whole month.

Inside the negotiation rooms of the Moscow Kremlin, fierce battles unfold every day, though without the smoke of gunpowder.

Lin Yang, along with Zhao Gang, Shen Zhiyuan, and Qiao Jian, were like four sharp knives, fighting for every inch of ground at the negotiating table!

The Soviets wanted to cut costs on the production capacity of metallurgical equipment.

Shen Zhiyuan immediately took out the sketches he carried with him and used extremely professional data to refute the Soviet experts on the spot, leaving them speechless.

The Soviets wanted to keep their formula for aerospace aluminum a secret.

Lin Yang slammed his fist on the table, exerting maximum pressure by threatening the overall diplomatic situation between the two countries, forcing the Soviet representative to back down.

At this crucial moment, Zhao Gang played the role of the "good cop," using extremely skillful diplomatic language to find a way out for both sides and ensure that the negotiations would not completely break down.

This intense tug-of-war left the Soviet negotiators feeling utterly miserable. They even privately complained that the young Chinese general was more ruthless and cunning at the negotiating table than on the battlefield.

However, reverence arises precisely from such brutal confrontations.

Soviets worshipped the strong.

Lin Yang's iron-fisted approach, refusing to budge an inch for the sake of national interests...

His invincible and powerful will ultimately won over Khrushchev and the Soviet leadership.

A month later.

The "Final Agreement between China and the Soviet Union on Technical Assistance for 156 Key Projects," a document thousands of pages thick, was officially signed in Moscow!

No defective products, no obsolete technology!

Blueprints for a 10,000-ton hydraulic press, core technologies for the MiG-19 jet engine, chassis technology for the T-54 main battle tank, and the complete design of a 300,000-ton large open-hearth steelmaking furnace…

All the core technologies of top-tier heavy industry that the new China urgently needed and coveted were torn off the Soviet Union's teeth by Lin Yang!

This was the greatest and most glorious strategic seizure in the history of New China's industry!

……

Deep winter, 1954.

Moscow train station.

Heavy snow fell, and a thick layer of snow accumulated on the platform.

A special train bearing the Chinese national emblem is undergoing final preparations for departure.

Dozens of fully armed guards are loading heavy metal crates onto the train. Those crates contain not just blueprints and documents, but the very industrial backbone of the new China for decades to come!

On the platform, the Soviet side held a grand farewell ceremony.

Deputy Minister Arkady stood before Lin Yang, his eyes no longer filled with the arrogance of their first meeting, but only with deep respect and admiration.

"Minister Lin, you are a formidable opponent and a respectable friend. These 156 projects will surely create miracles in your hands," Arkady said sincerely, extending his hand.

Lin Yang grasped his hand and smiled slightly: "Thank you for the help from our Soviet comrades. May the friendship between China and the Soviet Union last forever."

"Ugh—!"

The whistle sounded, urging the delegation to board the train.

Lin Yang turned around and, with Zhao Gang, Shen Zhiyuan, He Yuzhu, and others, strode onto the train.

The car door closed.

The train slowly started moving through the wind and snow, its wheels grinding against the rails with a heavy, rhythmic rumble.

Lin Yang stood by the car window, watching Moscow gradually disappear into the distance, and took a deep breath of the cold air.

"Old Zhao."

Lin Yang turned his head and looked at Zhao Gang beside him, his deep eyes shining with an incredibly bright light.

"We've got the blueprints, we've got the technology."

"Next, it's time for us to return home and, on this impoverished land, forge an industrial superpower!"

Zhao Gang pushed up his glasses, nodded emphatically, his eyes filled with fervor: "Yangzi, our generation, even if it costs us our lives, we must uphold this backbone of steel!"

The train traveled eastward, crossing the vast expanse of Siberia, day and night.

Seven days later.

Qianmen Railway Station in Beijing.

The sky was overcast, with fine snowflakes drifting down.

The platform was crowded with people.

The Minister of Heavy Industry, the Minister of the First Ministry of Machine Building, and other high-ranking leaders

He personally came to the platform to welcome the delegation that had returned with a full load of achievements.

"Click, click, click..."

International train K3, covered in ice, snow, and frost, came to a steady stop at the edge of the platform.

The car door opened.

Lin Yang, dressed in a crisp woolen overcoat, stood as steady as a mountain as he stepped off the train.

His gaze swept over the welcoming crowd on the platform.

Looking towards the gray sky over Beijing in the distance,

There, towering steel blast furnaces seemed to have been erected.

The cold wind blew the hem of his coat, and Lin Yang's footsteps on the snow on the platform made a firm, crisp sound.

Click.

The jeep moved steadily through the heavy snow falling in Beijing.

The car wheels crunched over the thick snow with a dull, grating sound. Outside the window, the streetlights cast a dim, yellowish glow, illuminating the ancient yet newly revitalized city with an air of tranquility.

Lin Yang sat in the back seat and rolled down the car window a crack.

The cold night wind blew into the carriage through the gaps, dispelling the smell of coal smoke he had picked up on the train and the fatigue from the long journey.

He spent seven days and seven nights on this train journey across Siberia, from Moscow to Beijing.

For those seven days, he barely slept a wink. His mind was filled with the top-secret blueprints in the tin boxes, and how to turn those blueprints into real steel behemoths in the shortest amount of time.

"Sir, we've arrived at the compound."

The guard, Xiao Li, who was driving, gave a soft reminder, turned the steering wheel, and the jeep drove into the imposing iron gate of the Yuquanshan Military Region compound.

The car stopped outside the gate of Building No. 6, Jiazi.