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

The next morning.

West Chang'an Avenue, the Ministry of Heavy Industry building.

Although the heavy snow was still falling outside, the compound of the Ministry of Heavy Industry had already been swept clean.

When Lin Yang's Jeep with the special license plate drove into the compound, the atmosphere in the entire office building instantly became solemn and tense.

Lin Yang, dressed in a sharp dark gray Zhongshan suit, walked into the administration building with steady and powerful steps.

"Hello, Vice Minister Lin!"

"Minister, you're back!"

All the cadres and staff he encountered along the way stopped and greeted him with the utmost respect.

The eyes of everyone who looked at him were filled with undisguised fervor and awe.

The acquisition of all the core technologies for 156 projects brought Lin Yang's prestige within the Ministry of Heavy Industry to an unprecedented peak. Everyone was privately discussing how this young vice minister was not only a victorious general on the battlefield, but also a formidable figure at the diplomatic and negotiating table.

Lin Yang nodded slightly and went straight to the minister's office on the fourth floor.

"Knock knock."

Lin Yang knocked twice on the door and then pushed it open to enter.

Wang Heshou, Minister of Heavy Industry, is an old revolutionary who made outstanding contributions during the revolutionary era and now controls the lifeline of the country's industry. He is standing behind his desk.

Upon seeing Lin Yang enter, Wang Heshou's weathered face instantly broke into an extremely bright smile.

He strode over, grabbed Lin Yang's hands tightly, and shook them vigorously.

"Good job, kid! You did a fantastic job!"

Wang Heshou's voice was very loud due to his excitement, and it buzzed in the office.

"Last night, Mr. Zhou called me personally. He raved about you on the phone! He said that your trip to Moscow was like snatching a complete heavy industrial framework back for our country from between the Soviets' teeth!"

Wang Heshou pulled Lin Yang to sit down on the sofa and personally poured him a cup of hot tea.

"A 10,000-ton hydraulic press, a large rolling mill, and the smelting formulas for those special alloys. Our domestic experts have been eyeing these things for years! The Soviets kept them tightly under wraps. You went there and not only brought them all back, but they were all the latest blueprints!"

Lin Yang accepted the teacup with both hands, his expression remaining calm and composed, as if even if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

"Minister, we've brought back the blueprints, but that's only the first step. If these Russian blueprints can't be turned into machines in our workshop, they're just a pile of waste paper."

Lin Yang pointed out the most critical issue at present.

"The Soviet blueprints used their GOST standard. Our current industrial base doesn't even have a unified standard for screws. Assimilating these blueprints would be ten times more difficult than negotiating in Moscow."

Upon hearing this, Wang Heshou's smile gradually faded, replaced by a deep solemnity.

He sighed and sat back down on the sofa.

"You have a sharp eye, you spotted our weakness right away."

Wang Heshou picked up a document from the table and handed it to Lin Yang.

"This is an assessment report that several experts from the ministry worked through the night last night. The blueprints for those trains weigh tens of tons. They are all in Russian technical terms. There are many people in our country who understand Russian, but talents who understand both Russian and heavy machinery manufacturing are extremely rare."

"If we follow the usual translation schedule, it would take at least three years just to translate all 156 project drawings into Chinese!"

"Three years?" Lin Yang's brows furrowed sharply, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Three years from now, it'll be too late! The international situation is constantly changing; we can't afford to wait three years!"

Wang Heshou nodded: "Therefore, at nine o'clock this morning, the ministry convened an enlarged meeting of the Party Group. All relevant vice ministers and bureau chiefs, as well as comrades from the First and Second Ministries of Machine Building, will be present. There is only one topic: how to crack this tough nut in the shortest possible time!"

Wang Heshou stared at Lin Yang, his eyes filled with expectation.

"Yangzi, you're responsible for leading the way in chewing and swallowing the meat you brought back. There's bound to be some wrangling at today's meeting. Don't hold back, show that same ferocity you have on the battlefield! As long as it's beneficial to the country, I'll back you up!"

"Understood." Lin Yang accepted the order in a deep voice.

……

It was exactly 9:00 AM.

Conference Room 1 of the Ministry of Heavy Industry.

This is a large conference room that can accommodate hundreds of people. The huge oval conference table is filled with heads of various departments.

In addition to several vice ministers and bureau chiefs of the Ministry of Heavy Industry, Minister Huang Jing of the First Ministry of Machine Building and Minister Zhao Erlu of the Second Ministry of Machine Building also personally led their delegations to attend the meeting.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was extremely oppressive, and the air was thick with the smell of tobacco.

Each person had a preliminary briefing on the Soviet blueprints in front of them, and everyone's brows were furrowed in worry.

Wang Heshou sat in the main seat, and Lin Yang sat in the first seat to his left.

"Comrades, everyone is aware of the situation."

Wang Heshou tapped on the table, breaking the silence.

"Comrade Lin Yang led the delegation to a great victory in Moscow. The ammunition has now been transported back to China and is piled up in our secret warehouse. However, we don't have any gunners who know how to use this ammunition!"

"There's a severe shortage of translation talent, and domestic industrial standards are out of sync with Soviet standards. Everyone, what do you all think? How should we proceed from here?"

The meeting room was quiet for a moment, and then a vice minister in charge of coal and raw material allocation spoke first.

"Minister Wang, comrades. I think we should proceed cautiously and steadily regarding the translation of the blueprints."

This deputy minister is a veteran, and speaks in a measured and steady manner.

"The blueprints for those heavy equipment are precise down to a fraction of a millimeter. If the translation is wrong, the machines built will be scrap metal, causing huge losses to national assets. I suggest that we focus our efforts on translating the blueprints for coal mining and primary smelting first. As for cutting-edge equipment like the 10,000-ton hydraulic press, let's put it aside for now and study it slowly once our technical workers have improved their skills."

As soon as he finished speaking, Minister Huang Jing of the First Ministry of Machine Building immediately frowned.

"Old Liu, I disagree with what you're saying. What's a 10,000-ton hydraulic press used for? It's a national treasure for forging the main shafts of large generators and forging shipbuilding steel plates! If you don't provide this framework, how can our First Ministry of Machine Building manufacture large machines? Are we just going to rely on workers hammering them down?"

"Minister Huang, don't just talk like that!" another deputy director in charge of non-ferrous metals retorted. "Making hydraulic presses requires special alloys! It requires massive amounts of electricity and high-quality steel! Our current raw materials are barely enough to guarantee regular production, where would we find the resources to invest in that bottomless pit!"

"But we can't throw the baby out with the bathwater! If we get the blueprints and don't build it, we'll be committing a sin against history!"