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

Jiang Ming pulled the last page of the manuscript from the table, stacked it on top of the first eleven pages, patted the edges together with his palm, and then turned and pushed open the door to the inner room.

In the outer room, Fang Xudong was holding a vernier caliper, checking the data against the drawings.

Wu Hanzhang sat by the window, flipping through the equipment list issued by the ministry.

Jiang Ming placed the manuscript paper in the middle of the long table and tapped the paper twice with his fingers.

"Engineer Wu, Engineer Fang, look at this."

Wu Hanzhang looked up, his gaze falling on the stack of manuscripts filled with Russian writing. He paused for a moment, then closed the equipment list and picked up the first page.

Fang Xudong put down the calipers and walked over, standing behind Wu Hanzhang and looking down.

At the top of the first page is a neat Russian title, followed by the definitions of the fundamental equations of thermodynamics and boundary conditions.

The dark blue ink fell onto the rough manuscript paper, and the writing was very clear.

Wu Hanzhang turned to the second page and frowned.

"Jiang Ming, did you write this?"

"I've been writing since noon, and I just finished."

Fang Xudong had already gone around to the other side, taken the third and fourth pages from Wu Hanzhang's hand, and spread them out on the table to read side by side.

The round-framed glasses were almost touching the paper.

The third page contains the expansion and derivation of a set of partial differential equations.

Starting from the carbon activity on the surface of the graphite crucible, a solubility model of sulfur in molten copper is gradually introduced, and the corresponding thermodynamic equilibrium constant is marked for each transformation.

The fourth page features a correction curve.

The horizontal axis represents the deoxidation holding time, and the vertical axis represents the bismuth grain boundary segregation concentration in the finished product.

The two curves are in stark contrast, one labeled "Ivanov's original values" and the other labeled "corrected values".

Fang Xudong finished turning the fourth page and stopped his finger at the intersection of the correction curve.

"Your constant for the sulfur-oxygen-hydrogen three-phase eutectic point is 4.2 percent lower than the value used by Ivanov?"

"right."

Jiang Ming walked to the table and pointed to the set of equations in the middle of the fifth page.

"Ivanov was citing old data from 1948, which did not take into account the second-order correction of sulfur solubility by the carbon activity on the graphite crucible surface."

Fang Xudong looked up at him.

"How do you know he used data from 1948?"

"His rejection letter mentioned the formula for calculating thermal brittleness, and the value of the last integral constant only matches the experiment from 1948."

"As for after 1951, some people within the Soviet Union had already made corrections to the thermogravimetric analysis, but they were not published publicly."

Fang Xudong stared at him for a few seconds, opened his mouth as if to speak, but finally shifted his gaze back to the manuscript.

He did not press Jiang Ming on why he knew the unpublished data from within the Soviet Union.

Wu Hanzhang had already turned to page seven.

That's the revised recommended process parameters.

The deoxidation time of the graphite crucible is extended by twelve minutes, and a trace amount of high-purity nitrogen is introduced for backflushing at the end of the refining process to drive the dissolved sulfur into the slag phase.

"Is there any capability in China to perform this nitrogen backflushing?" Wu Hanzhang asked.

"The Shenyang Copper Processing Plant has a vacuum induction furnace built with Soviet assistance. The gas supply system was originally designed to allow the passage of nitrogen, but they have never used this function."

Jiang Ming tapped the flowchart on page eight with his fingertip.

"I have marked the operating steps here, and the air pressure parameters and the timing of the air inlet are clearly written down."

Fang Xudong turned to page ten.

That was a set of yield prediction calculations, and the final conclusion was circled in red.

After the process is modified, the yield of oxygen-free copper is expected to increase from 60% to over 85%, and the concentration of bismuth grain boundary segregation will be reduced by an order of magnitude.

He put down page ten, took off his glasses to wipe them, put them back on, and turned back to page one.

"Jiang Gong."

Jiang Ming looked at him.

Fang Xudong stacked the manuscript paper neatly, running his fingers back and forth along the edge of the paper as if he were carefully considering his words.

"If I were to go through these twelve pages of your work from the beginning, it would take me at least two weeks."

He paused, then pushed the manuscript towards Wu Hanzhang.

"Engineer Wu, this report is plausible."

"I just skimmed through the derivation. The logical chain is complete, the constant values ​​are verifiable, and the correction direction conforms to the basic laws of thermodynamics."

"If Ivanov sees this, he will have no reason to refuse."

Wu Hanzhang flipped through the twelve pages of manuscript again from beginning to end, closed it, pressed it down with his palm, and looked up at Jiang Ming.

Are you sure this data can withstand scrutiny?

"I have noted the source of each constant in the footnotes."

"Ivanov can verify it himself and it will match up."

Wu Hanzhang stood up, put the manuscript paper into his briefcase, and fastened the buckle.

"I'll go to the ministry right now and have the Foreign Affairs Bureau send it directly to Shenyang via confidential telex."

He walked to the door, then turned back.

"Engineer Fang, you stay here and continue to push forward the anode processing plan for the magnetron."

"Once the materials arrive, we have to start work."

Fang Xudong nodded.

Wu Hanzhang pushed open the door and went out. His footsteps grew faster and faster in the corridor, eventually turning into a jog.

The room fell silent.

Fang Xudong stood by the table without moving, his gaze still fixed on the spot where he had just placed the manuscript paper.

There were a few faint ink marks on the table.

"Jiang Gong."

"Um."

Fang Xudong pushed up his glasses, his voice lower than before.

"Where did you get this interdisciplinary knowledge base from?"

Jiang Ming had anticipated this question, so he presented the answer he had prepared beforehand.

"Mr. Qian's lectures covered more than just fluid mechanics."

"He taught us an interdisciplinary seminar that specifically discussed the mathematical equivalence between different physical systems."

"Vacuum metallurgy and fluid thermodynamics share many common structures at the level of partial differential equations."

"By changing the boundary conditions, we can borrow from each other."

Fang Xudong looked at him, neither nodding immediately nor asking any further questions.

He simply grunted in response, turned around, and returned to his workbench to continue reviewing the waveguide port data.

Jiang Ming knew that this explanation could only hold up for a while.

Fang Xudong is not stupid.

But we can't worry about that right now; we need to get our hands on the oxygen-free copper first.

4 PM, Foreign Affairs Section Telex Room.

Wu Hanzhang stood beside the confidential telegraph machine, watching the operator translate the twelve pages of Russian manuscript line by line into Morse code, and then type them into the keyboard letter by letter.

The teletype machine clicked and clattered.

The paper tape emerged inch by inch from the outlet, covered with dense Russian letters and mathematical symbols.

Sweat beaded on the operator's forehead.

The Greek letter subscripts and the upper and lower limits of integration in those partial differential equations made him particularly nervous.

He would check each set of symbols twice against the manuscript paper.

Wu Hanzhang stood behind him, his hands in his pockets, staring intently at the paper strip.

The telex machine worked continuously for nearly forty minutes before sending all twelve pages of content.

The operator stood up from his seat, tore off the confirmation slip, and handed it to Wu Hanzhang.

"Mr. Wu, it's all shipped. They've already signed for it in Shenyang."

Wu Hanzhang took the confirmation slip, glanced at it, folded it, and put it in his shirt pocket.

He took out his cigarette case, lit one, and leaned against the window of the telegraph room, watching the sky darken outside.

Smoke rose from between his fingers, swirled a few times in the dim light, and then dissipated into the shadows of the ceiling.

How will Ivanov react after receiving the telegram in Shenyang?

Should they fly into a rage, or sit down and carefully recalculate?

Wu Hanzhang didn't know.

All he knew was that every line of formula on Jiang Ming's twelve pages of manuscript paper was written very steadily.

There wasn't a single hesitant correction mark; it was as if he had thought it through before putting pen to paper.

Halfway through my cigarette, it became completely dark outside the window.

Wu Hanzhang stubbed out his cigarette in the tin ashtray on the windowsill and gave the operator a brief instruction.

"I received a call back from Shenyang. No matter what time it is, notify me immediately."

After saying that, he turned and walked out of the telegraph room.

Only his footsteps echoed in the empty corridor.