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

The next morning, the military train switched to a freight branch line in the suburbs of Beijing.

The rain that fell last night hadn't stopped yet; rainwater streamed down the train windows, and the station buildings and traffic lights in the distance were shrouded in a grayish-white mist.

Before entering the station, Comrade Song checked the evidence one last time, folded the collation paper copy into the evidence bag, and personally affixed the third seal.

Then, the wheels rolled over the last set of switches, and several black jeeps on the outside of the platform came into view from the rain. Their special license plates were half covered by mud, and only armed guards stood beside the vehicles.

There were no banners or welcoming crowds on the platform.

Even the freight dispatchers were kept outside the cordon and could only check the dispatch orders through the rain.

After the train came to a complete stop, Comrade Song first had the railway security personnel block off both ends of the passageway before opening carriage number nine.

Following the list, Fang Xudong and Lao Sun handed over the six shockproof boxes one by one to the escort team.

The constant humidity box was taken over by another team, and the lock, sealing wax, and lead seals added along the way were all photographed on the spot.

If any discrepancy is found in any of the markings, the entire batch of evidence will be immediately suspended from transport.

Old Sun jumped off the train with his toolbox in his arms, his shoes sinking into the water on the platform.

Just as I was about to call Jiang Ming to see how Yuanlei-1 was being hoisted, a black umbrella had already stopped in front of the car door.

The middle-aged man holding the umbrella was wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, with only the words "Institute of Mechanics" visible on his chest. He opened the car door and first handed Comrade Song the acceptance document stamped with a red seal.

"Comrade Jiang Ming, I am Director Qian's secretary. The vehicle has been arranged. Please take your documents and come directly with me."

After verifying the photo and the security mark, Comrade Song turned the document over to check the issuance date. After confirming that the documents matched, he still followed the jeep to check the undercarriage and trunk.

"Jiang encountered a close call during the journey, and the escort level has been changed to wartime standards. My people have to accompany the vehicle."

The secretary moved the umbrella slightly towards Jiang Ming, speaking concisely and efficiently.

"Okay, the car behind is yours, and the roads in front and behind will be under the control of the compound's guards."

Jiang Ming turned to look at Fang Xudong. The constant humidity box had already been loaded onto the sealed transport vehicle, while Lao Sun was holding onto the Yuanlei No. 1 shockproof frame, watching the suspension cables bear the load one by one.

"Mr. Fang, send the fragments to the 502 secure compartment first. The originals will be opened after the joint appraisal team signs off on them. The Aksai transmission film will be registered separately."

Fang Xudong raised his hand to press down the brim of his hat, which was wet with rain, and tucked the handover book inside his coat.

"You go see Mr. Qian. I'll keep an eye on things here. Anyone who wants to skip a step should have him come to me for a signature first."

Old Sun gestured to Jiang Ming through the rain curtain with his toolbox. The tape on the back of his hand had been replaced, but the edges were still stained with machine oil.

"Chief Engineer Wu is still waiting for you at the factory. Come back as soon as you've finished your business; he's probably piling up work on your desk again."

The black jeep drove off the freight platform, its wipers swishing back and forth on the windshield. After passing several familiar intersections, the vehicle turned into the west of the city and then drove along a narrow road lined with locust trees into the depths of the high walls.

Jiang Ming recalled that the publicly available map of Beijing only marked scattered farmland and old warehouses in that area, but in front of him appeared double-layered sentry posts, barricades, and communication lines buried in the corner of the wall.

The first gate checks the vehicle, the second gate checks the personnel, and before the third iron gate opens, everyone in the vehicle must reiterate their unit, position, and temporary password.

The jeep pulled into a gray brick courtyard. The secretary got out of the car and led Jiang Ming through two enclosed corridors. Along the way, the office doorplates were all replaced with numbers instead of names.

Comrade Song was assigned to the outer guard room, and his pistol was re-registered. Jiang Ming handed over his canvas bag, keeping only the letter from von Kármán, Qian Xuesen's notepad, and the draft of the technical reply he wrote on the way.

A registration table was set up at the entrance of the conference room. After the staff verified the seal of the International Exchange Office, they put the overseas letters into transparent document sleeves and allowed Jiang Ming to bring them in.

The door opened from the inside, and Qian Xuesen stood at the end of the long table, the cuffs of his dark gray Zhongshan suit rolled up. Several ballistic diagrams and organizational preparation forms were already spread out on the table.

As Jiang Ming stepped into the conference room, the fatigue accumulated from continuous battles on the front lines finally showed its mark in front of his teacher. The injured side of his shoulder tilted slightly downward, and the collar of his military overcoat was still covered with dust from the mine.

Qian Xuesen first looked at his palm, then pushed a cup of hot tea from the table toward him.

"Did you receive the letter?"

"Received. I finished writing the reply framework in the car. Both questions will be handled as independent derivations. Only the publicly available and explanatory data from the front lines will be retained."

Jiang Ming placed the draft next to Qian Xuesen. Several thick pages of graph paper listed the boundary layer scale relationship, the variable cross-section disturbance path, and the engineering conditions.

Qian Xuesen turned to the second page, moved his finger along one of the integral paths, and then put the manuscript under his notebook.

"Leave it here for now. I called you here today to discuss something else."

Seven or eight people sat on either side of the long table. Several of them wore research institution badges and had stacks of Russian documents beside them. Director Zhang sat at the back, wearing an old military uniform over a dark overcoat.

He had obviously arrived early. When he saw Jiang Ming enter, he simply pointed to the empty chair, indicating that he should wait for instructions.

Qian Xuesen pushed the red folder in the center of the desktop toward Jiang Ming. The cover was covered with bold black characters and the upper right corner was stamped with the highest level of secrecy seal. Inside, there was still a list of readers with different reading levels.

The first page of the document states the plan for the establishment of the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of National Defense, followed by a list of proposed institutions for overall design, aerodynamics, propulsion, structure, control and guidance, etc.

Jiang Ming turned to the guidance system page. Most of the originally planned technical backbone came from aviation, radar and automatic control units, while only a few places in the electronic components field were listed for coordination.

"The preparations for the Fifth Academy have entered a substantial stage. The first task is short-range surface-to-surface missiles. We can obtain some Soviet data and will also receive expert assistance. However, to truly implement them under domestic conditions, we still need to rely on our own team."

Qian Xuesen used a pen to mark the space between the guidance and ground control columns, leaving a clear ink dot at the tip of the pen.

"The guidance system involves gyroscopes, radio correction, onboard electronics and ground measurement networks. Each of these lines has its own responsible persons, and there are currently too few people who can put them into the same live-fire simulation."

The elderly expert sitting on the right flipped through a copy of the Aksai battle report. The pages recorded the process of restoring communication, cracking frequency hopping, suppressing waveguides, and disarming the underground detonation system.

Qian Xuesen turned the battle report to the crowd, his words still gentle, but his intentions were very clear.

"In this battle in Northwest China, Jiang Ming was transferred to the direction finding station, took over the troops' communications, modified the launching equipment, and also gave a verifiable judgment before the artillery was about to enter the minefield."

"I want him to participate in the preparation of the guidance system of the Fifth Academy, and be responsible for the preliminary demonstration of electronic guidance, ground measurement and control and anti-interference interface."

The sound of rubbing paper came from the right side of the conference table. A control expert who had returned from the Soviet Union raised his glasses and looked again at the factory badge on Jiang Ming's chest, which he had not yet had time to replace.

"Third Electronics Factory, Level 8 Technical Cadre?"

"Currently the technical lead of Lab 502."

Director Zhang added from the back row, then placed the special protection document that the ministry had just signed on the corner of the table, with the red zone personnel marker tucked inside the reading page.

Another expert glanced at Jiang Ming's age, then looked at his resume, his finger lingering on the graduation date, hesitating to turn to the next page.

They acknowledged the technical value of the Yuanlei-1 missile and the dual-balanced mixer, and also recognized the results of the Aksai mission. However, the Fifth Academy was responsible for a national-level missile project, and any interface could affect the entire system.

The major general sitting to Qian Xuesen's left closed the Russian documents. He was the chief staff officer of the preparatory group. In his early years, he was responsible for air defense and firepower coordination in the army. Now he was responsible for the military's requirements review of the guidance system.

"Director Qian, I'm being frank. Jiang Ming did a great job in the Gobi Desert. He deserves credit and should be promoted. I agree with that."

The major general pushed the Aksai battle report back onto the table, his palm landing on the preparatory documents for the Fifth Research Institute.

"It's one thing to build magnetrons for guerrilla warfare, but it's another to build a national-level missile guidance network. The former relies on on-the-spot adaptability, while the latter relies on tens of thousands of sets of data, procedures, and long-term testing."

"The guidance team needs people who understand the overall picture. Factory representatives can participate in component demonstrations and directly enter the core preparation. I think the leap is too big."

The experts did not respond, but the opinion record sheets on the table were opened one after another, clearly waiting for Qian Xuesen to provide further evidence.

Qian Xuesen picked up his teacup and looked at Jiang Ming.

What do you think?

After Jiang Ming finished reading the guidance section of the preparation documents, he picked up the Soviet-style trajectory calculation draft on the table and read through the firing parameters all the way to the gyroscope drift correction table.

The equations on the manuscript paper inherited the calculation framework of the R-2 missile. The lateral error adopted the fixed latitude condition, and the aerodynamic deviation of the missile body, the Earth's rotation term and the ground radio correction were treated separately.

This splitting method is suitable for reviewing existing Soviet test range data. However, when transplanted to different latitudes and meteorological zones in China, the errors between the interfaces will be repeatedly amplified.

Jiang Ming put the last page back on the desktop and turned his gaze to the whiteboard on the wall.

The lateral motion equations previously written by the preparatory group are still there. Fixed latitude conditions, gyro drift, and end correction are listed in three separate places, connected to each other only by a few arrows.

The major general followed his gaze, pushed a red pen to the center of the table, and then gestured for the staff to bring the stack of Suwen gyroscope test data to the whiteboard.

"If you see a problem, then speak up. First, use the data from the preparatory team to prove that the guidance system cannot be used to gain a position based on combat merits."

Jiang Ming picked up a red pen and stood up, his military overcoat causing the injury on his shoulder to twitch.

He left Aksai's battle achievements in the battle report, took the stack of test forms, and focused his gaze on the data column.

Qian Xuesen sat at the end of the long table, quietly waiting for him to give his judgment.

The only sound in the meeting room was the rustling of pages turning.

As Jiang Ming checked the data, he walked over to the set of equations that were not yet completed.