I started with a ship full of max-level veterans, and I'm just a complete noob.

The large conference room on the second floor of the Third Electronics Factory's administration building was temporarily converted into a defense venue. Long tables were arranged in a U-shape, with a blackboard and a lectern placed directly opposite the entrance.

When Jiang Ming arrived, the three experts were already seated. On the table was a row of original Soviet-era process manuals with blue hard covers printed with Russian gold lettering, and the spines of some of the books were worn out from repeated readings.

The leader, Zhou Changlin, was in his early fifties, with a gray crew cut and the stylist's background from his time at Leningrad Polytechnic University written all over his face. He spoke with a bit of Russian accent and started by pointing to the documents on the table.

"Comrade Jiang Ming, let's get straight to the point. The inquiry letter lists three points: the first is about the rare earth doping ratio, the second is about the standard benchmarking of the electrophoretic deposition process, and the third is about the compliance of the cathode material source."

Zhou Changlin opened the notebook in front of him, the pen cap resting between his fingers.

"Let's go through them one by one, starting with adulteration."

To his right sat two high-temperature coating experts from the Institute of Aeronautical Materials, one fat and one thin. The fat one was surnamed Ma, and the thin one was surnamed Liu. Both were around forty years old, wearing Zhongshan suits that were buttoned up neatly, and each had a copy of a process report in front of them.

Xu Chongwen did not sit in the expert section; he sat in the audience seat against the wall, his briefcase resting on his lap, a lukewarm smile playing on his lips.

Wu Hanzhang and Director Zhang sat side by side on the side of the respondent. In front of Wu Hanzhang was the original 23-page process report and the kraft paper envelope containing Qian Xuesen's reply, but he did not open them.

Jiang Ming stood in front of the blackboard without sitting down.

He was still wearing the same blue work clothes he had brought from Workshop No. 1, with yellowish stains from rosin solder on the cuffs, and the collar was frayed. Three scabs on the back of his right hand gleamed light brown under the fluorescent light.

Zhou Changlin looked up at him, his gaze lingered on the work clothes for a moment, then returned to the notebook.

"Your report states on page seven that the cathode coating uses 1.1 percent cerium oxide doping. I'd like to hear how that number was derived."

Ma then flipped open the Soviet manual in his hand, pressing his index finger on a certain page.

"The 1952 revised process specifications of the Leningrad Electron Tube Factory set the upper limit for rare earth oxide doping at 0.2 percent. If this ratio is exceeded, rare earth will undergo a eutectic reaction with the barium strontium matrix at high temperatures, forming a low work function trap on the cathode surface, causing runaway thermionic emission, and potentially leading to anode breakdown under high-power conditions."

Ma Gong closed the manual and pushed it across the table so Jiang Ming could see the cover.

"This is not just one person's opinion; it is a standard accumulated over decades by the entire Soviet vacuum tube industry system, and it is universally used in the socialist camp worldwide."

Thin Liu nodded in agreement, his voice slightly high-pitched.

"We're not saying innovation is bad, but defense research emphasizes traceability. Your 1.1 percent is more than five times the Soviet Union's limit. We looked through the sources of the theories cited in the report and couldn't find the corresponding Soviet document numbers."

In the audience, Xu Chongwen spoke at the right moment, speaking slowly and carefully, each word carefully chosen.

"What the experts say makes sense. Comrade Jiang Ming studied mechanical engineering in the United States, not vacuum electronics. His enthusiasm for working on cathode materials is understandable, but enthusiasm cannot be used as an argument for defense projects."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the kraft paper envelope beside Wu Hanzhang.

"Of course, if Comrade Jiang Ming has authoritative endorsement, we are willing to listen."

This statement brought Qian Xuesen's letter to the forefront, while also implying that Jiang Ming could only rely on others for support and had nothing to offer himself.

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds, then the muffled sound of water hammer from the heating pipes echoed in the corner.

Factory Director Zhang gripped the enamel mug in his right hand, the muscles on the back of his hand tense, and remained silent.

Wu Hanzhang glanced at Jiang Ming, his hand already on the corner of the envelope, ready to pull it out.

Jiang Ming raised his hand and shook it slightly at Wu Hanzhang.

He didn't take the letter. Instead, he turned around, picked up a piece of white chalk from the chalk tray at the bottom of the blackboard, flipped his wrist, and placed the tip of the chalk in the upper left corner of the blackboard. He first wrote three letters and a series of subscripts.

σ_interface.

Next is the second line, the differential expression for the normal stress distribution of the coating film during the cooling process; then the third line, the coupling function of the metal lattice slip rate and temperature in the high-temperature region; then the fourth, fifth, and sixth lines, the path integral of the interface mismatch strain under the temperature gradient.

The chalk made crisp, clean sounds as it scratched across the blackboard. Without pausing or erasing, the six lines of formula were written. At the end of the last line, a box was redrawn in chalk, outlining a critical temperature value and the corresponding doping concentration range.

The whole process took less than two minutes.

Zhou Changlin's pen cap slipped from his fingers, bounced on the table, but he didn't pick it up. His eyes were fixed on the lattice slip coefficient on the third line of the blackboard.

Ma Gong still had the Soviet manual open in his hand, but his eyes had already shifted to the blackboard, and his lips were slightly parted.

Jiang Ming put down the chalk, patted the white dust off his fingertips, and turned to face the U-shaped table.

"Professor Zhou just mentioned that the Soviet standard was 0.2 percent. I don't deny that number, but I'd like to ask about a premise first."

His voice was hoarse from staying up all night, and he spoke slowly, with just enough space between each word to be heard clearly.

"The theoretical basis for the 0.2 percent limit in the Leningrad Electron Tube Plant's 1952 regulations comes from an internal report from the Condensed Matter Physics Group of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1948. The report's conclusions are based on calculations of the eutectic temperature in the barium-strontium-calcium ternary oxide system."

Zhou Changlin replied, his voice half a tone lower than before.

"That's right, that report is the cornerstone of the system."

Jiang Ming pointed his index finger at the fourth line of the blackboard.

"But the calculations in that report were based on the premise that the coating was applied by hand with a thickness deviation of more than plus or minus five micrometers and a surface roughness Ra greater than 1.2 micrometers."

His finger moved to the area below the integral sign in the fifth line.

"Under this roughness, the uneven distribution of rare earth particles and local enrichment can indeed trigger a eutectic reaction at a rate of more than 0.2%. The Soviet conclusion is completely correct under their process conditions."

Ma Gong removed his hand from the book cover, his five fingers hovering in mid-air without falling.

Jiang Ming pulled his hand back and put it into his work clothes pocket.

"However, the electrophoretic deposition coating in Workshop No. 1 has a thickness deviation of ±0.28 micrometers over the entire area, a surface roughness Ra of less than 0.15 micrometers, and the uniformity of rare earth particle distribution throughout the coating is two orders of magnitude higher than that of manual scraping."

He looked at Engineer Liu.

"Mr. Liu works on high-temperature coatings. I'd like to ask, when the particle distribution uniformity increases by two orders of magnitude and local enrichment disappears, does the trigger concentration threshold for the eutectic reaction remain unchanged, increase, or decrease?"

Engineer Liu opened his mouth but did not answer immediately, his fingers unconsciously turning the corner of the report in front of him.

Zhou Changlin spoke up for him, his arrogance largely diminished, replaced by the caution typical of a technologist.

"In theory, as uniformity is improved, local hotspots are eliminated, and the trigger threshold will increase."

"Move it up by how much?" Jiang Ming didn't give him any time to think, pointing his index finger back at the number in the box on the blackboard.

"Based on the ratio of rare earth particle spacing to thermal diffusion length within the coating, when the uniformity reaches the electrophoretic deposition level, the eutectic trigger concentration shifts from 0.2% to between 1.6% and 1.9%."

His finger moved to the value marked separately next to the box.

"One percent is far below the new threshold lower limit, providing a safety margin of 0.5 percent."

Zhou Changlin stared at the integral formula on the blackboard, picked up the pen cap with his right hand and put it down again, repeating this twice, before finally speaking in a very calm voice.

"The formula derivation process needs verification. What is the source of your lattice slip coefficient value?"

Xu Chongwen leaned forward in the audience, his lips moving slightly, preparing to speak.

Jiang Ming didn't look at him, but only at Zhou Changlin.

"Professor Zhou, before I answer your question, I'd like to clarify something first."

He pulled the folded site requisition notice from his pocket, spread it on the lectern, and then took out Qian Xuesen's envelope, placing it next to the notice without opening it.

"This letter was sent by Comrade Qian Xuesen three days ago through a confidential channel. It contains a complete derivation of thermal stress compensation at the vacuum interface, including the physical source and boundary conditions of the lattice slip coefficient. You can verify it."

He pushed the envelope to the side of the table, gesturing for Wu Hanzhang to hand it to Zhou Changlin.

"But before you open this, I'd like to ask you a question."

Jiang Ming turned around and wrote a new equation on the blank space on the right side of the blackboard with chalk. It was a path integral that deduced the doping concentration limit from the perspective of coating uniformity.

After writing the last symbol, he put the chalk back in the slot and faced the expert group.

"Dear teachers, since we've come up with the theoretical basis, let's start by going back to the fundamental logic of solid-state physics and materials thermodynamics, and recalculate on this blackboard how the Soviet Union arrived at that 0.2 percent limit."

His gaze moved from Zhou Changlin to Ma Gong and Liu Gong's faces, and finally landed on Xu Chongwen's direction without lingering.

"After the calculations are done, the numbers on the blackboard will speak for us as to who is right and who is wrong."