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

Wu Hanzhang squeezed in from behind, carrying a teacup, his eyes fixed on the black needle jumping erratically on the dial, his brows furrowed in a deep knot.

"Xiao Jiang, this injection isn't working properly."

He placed the teacup on the tin table, his voice tinged with impatience.

"If the air is leaking from inside the tube, then the shaking will be irregular."

"But look at it now, the needle is wobbling at both ends, and the timing is even more precise than the security guards' shift change."

Xiao Zhao held the pen tightly, his glasses covered in sweat, and he didn't even dare to wipe them clean.

"Mr. Jiang, could it be that the 1.1% rare earth element in the formula didn't even last through the four-hour decay period?"

"Is the cathode coating starting to peel off under high temperatures?"

Jiang Ming ignored his guess and directly pulled out the top-secret numbered ledger.

The paper was covered with densely packed parameters, recorded every fifteen minutes.

Jiang Ming scrolled down the timeline, his finger stopping at the 10:15 PM column.

"Check the factory's production schedule."

He pushed the ledger back to Xiao Zhao's chest and pointed to the line of data.

"Check between 10:15 and 10:30 to see if any high-power motors or electric furnaces are starting up in the adjacent No. 2 workshop or the foundry workshop."

Xiao Zhao was stunned.

Da Liu reacted quickly, turning around and running towards the workshop entrance to check the dispatch blackboard in the guard room.

Wu Hanzhang stared at Jiang Ming, his old eyes darting around, and suddenly he slapped his thigh.

"You mean, it's not that our pipes are faulty, but that the factory's electrical grid is acting up?"

Jiang Ming nodded and pulled over a low wooden stool to sit down.

"The power supply for this testing instrument is a crude remnant from the old Russians."

"When testing ordinary vacuum tubes, the power supply fluctuates by a few volts or ten volts, and the difference is not noticeable at all."

"But the cathode currently mounted on the platform is a military-grade rare earth cathode, with an emission current measured in microamps."

"If even a tiny bit of ripple gets into the power grid, it will be amplified into deadly noise by the time it reaches the microammeter."

Just then, Da Liu came running back, panting.

"Jiang, the three large motors in the foundry workshop will start up at exactly 10:15."

"They said they were rushing to finish a batch of molds overnight, and when the motor started, all the light bulbs on our side dimmed for a moment."

Xiao Zhao let out a long breath, his legs went weak, and he collapsed into the chair.

"That scared me to death."

"I thought this second tube was going to be scrapped."

Jiang Ming glanced coldly at the still-beating microammeter.

"The tubes themselves aren't damaged, but the test data is invalid."

"Even if you copied a hundred pages of this fake data with grid-like ripples, it would still be useless as a tablecloth if sent to the Northwest."

Wu Hanzhang picked up the teacup, causing a few drops of water to spill out.

"What should we do then?"

"We can't just shut down the entire factory to serve this one testing instrument, can we?"

Jiang Ming stood up, walked to the tin blackboard, picked up the chalk, and drew a simple circuit diagram.

"To forge iron, one must be strong oneself."

"Since we can't control the external power grid, let's make a mask for the testing station to filter out all the noise."

Jiang Ming drew several circles on the blackboard.

"We need to set up a temporary voltage stabilization and filtering device."

"Use capacitors and chokes to smooth out those dog-chewed ripples in the voltage."

"Then add a Zener diode to keep the input voltage of the test bench on a single target."

Old Sun squatted beside the fitter's bench, thinking that once the pipe was fired today, he could finally smoke a cigarette in peace.

Upon hearing this, he slammed his pipe against the sole of his shoe twice, then stood up cursing.

"You little rascal, you really don't treat this old man like a human being."

"Tell me, which nook and cranny do you want me to rummage through this time?"

Jiang Ming threw the chalk into the box and patted the white dust off his hands.

"Master Sun, this time I'll have to trouble you to wind the transformer by hand."

"The number of coil turns must be exactly right; if it's even one turn off, the filtering effect will be halved."

Old Sun snorted and tucked his pipe back into his waistband.

"Wire winding is a piece of cake."

"As long as you report the data accurately, I can figure it out for you even with my eyes closed."

He turned and walked to the tool cabinet to rummage through the enameled wires buried at the bottom.

Wu Hanzhang looked at the sketch on the blackboard, his brows still furrowed.

"Old Sun can wind transformers, but he might not have large-capacity capacitors and high-voltage chokes readily available in the warehouse."

Jiang Ming glanced at the hanging clock.

The clock has struck past midnight.

"Engineer Wu, please take Da Liu to the logistics warehouse."

"No matter what year the capacitors are from, as long as the casings haven't exploded, bring them all over here."

Without saying a word, Wu Hanzhang grabbed a flashlight and headed outside.

"Big Liu, grab the sack and come with me."

The people in the workshop were busy with their respective tasks.

Taking advantage of this break, Jiang Ming returned to his single dormitory alone.

He locked the wooden door, didn't even light the kerosene lamp, and sat cross-legged on the hard bed.

Deep in his mind, the bronze-covered "Record of Connections" opened.

The metallic glow illuminated the space of consciousness.

He must use all three of his chances to communicate with spirits today on this voltage stabilizing and filtering device.

Without stable testing instruments, even the best vacuum tube cannot prove itself.

He first contacted the aloof female pioneer who was dedicated to the study of precision instruments and vacuum systems engineering.

"Senior, how do I isolate the periodic dip interference from the external power grid by building a filter circuit using old capacitors and handmade chokes?"

The voice of the female pioneer remains supreme.

"You think simply adding more capacitors will smooth out the ripple?"

"The leakage current of those old capacitors is older than your factory manager's age."

"A two-stage inductor-capacitor filter network must be used, with a choke coil connected in series in the middle."

"Separate and intercept low-frequency noise and high-frequency spikes."

Jiang Ming gripped his pencil and sketched a two-stage filter diagram on a kraft paper.

During his second psychic encounter, he sought out his fellow students in the Materials Interface Physics School.

"Senior, how do you solve the problem of thermal drift when a Zener diode operates at full load for extended periods?"

The young fellow student spoke incredibly fast, without even breaking a sweat.

"Don't expect a single Zener diode to withstand twelve hours of thermal cycling."

"Use the three voltage regulator tubes in series to distribute the heat dissipation."

"Wrap the tube in tin foil, then apply a layer of thermal grease, and attach it to the copper heat sink."

Jiang Ming noted the series cooling and thermal grease in the key points column.

On his last chance, he connected with the hot-tempered early pioneer of vacuum tubes and radar.

"Senior, will adding a filter to the test bench introduce new phase shift errors, causing distortion in the microammeter readings?"

The fiery pioneers are known for their barbed tongues.

"You've finally hit the nail on the head."

"The inherent reactance of the filter circuit will inevitably consume some of the actual high-frequency transmission data."

"A milliohm-level non-inductive resistor is connected in parallel in the test circuit for sampling."

"Don't use your crappy multimeter to measure it directly."

"After calibrating with the bridge, perform differential measurements."

"If you can't even figure out this much compensation, you might as well smash the pipe and go back to your hometown to farm."

After exhausting his three psychic summoning quotas, his sea of ​​consciousness plunged into darkness.

Jiang Ming opened his bloodshot eyes and incorporated all the guidance from the three pioneers into the circuit diagram.

Without an independent measurement system, there is no framework for the modern electronics industry.

This is a hurdle he must overcome.

Jiang Ming grabbed his coat and notebook and strode back to Workshop No. 1.

The incandescent lights in the workshop were still hissing.

Old Sun sat in front of the fitter's bench, holding a homemade winding frame in his hand.

The bright yellow enameled wire danced in his hands, tightly binding the iron core layer by layer, so densely that not even a needle could be inserted.

The metal door was pushed open.

Wu Hanzhang and Da Liu carried in a dusty sack.

The sack was thrown to the ground with a dull thud.

Wu Hanzhang threw the flashlight on the table, dusted off his hands, and looked grim.

"Xiao Jiang, that fat warehouse manager at the factory has turned his underwear inside out."

"The entire warehouse is now just half a sack of the wreckage left from when the Soviet troops retreated."

Da Liu squatted down, untied the burlap sack, and poured the contents onto the cement floor.

A bunch of dark, cylindrical capacitors rolled out.

Some pins were covered in green rust, and some casings were still stained with old machine oil.

Xiao Zhao leaned over and kicked it with his foot, his face full of disgust.

"Mr. Wu, what kind of antiques are these?"

"The capacitor casing is bulging. Forget about filtering, it will probably explode as soon as it's powered on."

Wu Hanzhang glared at him.

"It's good enough that it's here; do you think this is a department store?"

Jiang Ming walked up to the pile of junk, squatted down, and picked up the largest electrolytic capacitor.

He walked around under the incandescent light, looking at the faded Russian labels.

"The withstand voltage is sufficient, but the leakage rate is definitely beyond the standard."

Jiang Ming threw the capacitor back into the pile, stood up, and looked at Wu Hanzhang.

"Mr. Wu, these capacitors definitely can't be installed directly on the machine."

"The electrolyte inside is probably almost completely dried up."

Wu Hanzhang rubbed his hands together, pacing anxiously.

"What should we do then?"

"The Northwest is still waiting for the pipes to save its life."

"If the testing platform is unstable, we're basically blind."

Jiang Ming walked to the control cabinet and took out a pen from his shirt pocket.

"Trying anything as a last resort."

"Da Liu, go and bring over the old oven that the factory clinic is discarding."

"Xiao Zhao, go get the multimeter and megohmmeter."

Jiang Ming turned around and looked at the old, musty-smelling components scattered all over the ground.

"We'll use traditional methods to revitalize these old artifacts."

"As long as I can pick out three that are barely usable, I can cobble together this filtering device."