Chapter 10

PS: Thank you, Tianhai Xiangyun, for your generous reward of 1888 coins.

During the new book period, I'm seeking recommendations and collections.

Seeing Liu Yijiu's inquiring gaze, Yang Shan helplessly said, "Master Zhao is coming to check if we can use this for the experiment..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yijiu couldn't help but feel a bit nervous.

If this old man discovered that their purpose wasn't to conduct material analysis, he would likely be dealt with by the base management committee and the revolutionary committee before he could even damage these precious imported materials.

"Liu Yijiu, you really are something! You didn't even come to see Uncle Zhao after being discharged from the hospital! We've been busy and didn't have time to visit you, so don't be angry. If Old Wang knew you were fine, he would be very happy. You, getting out of bed before you're fully recovered and running to the workshop..." The old man started a series of affectionate scoldings and greetings before Liu Yijiu could even open his mouth.

Yang Shan was stunned, and Liu Yijiu was taken aback.

"Many things, always urgent, the world turns, time presses, ten thousand years is too long, only strive for the present. Our country must be independent and strong, and we must not rely on the Soviet Union. So..." After the day's events, Liu Yijiu was too exhausted to focus, and he didn't remember much about the old man who greeted him.

To avoid being grilled by the old man, he had to spout a string of meaningless words.

"Alright, I just came to see you. No need to beat around the bush. Seeing you're fine is enough. I'll tell the old guys you're better. I have to go back to the warehouse, you guys do your work..." The old man's face darkened when he heard Liu Yijiu's evasive words, and he said unhappily.

In his heart, he cursed: Damn it!

"Brother, what's your relationship with this old man? Looks like you have quite a background!" Seeing the old man leave, Yang Shan patted his chest and let out a heavy breath, then asked Liu Yijiu with a curious look.

"Alright, we've wasted too much time. Let's get the silencer done first." Liu Yijiu himself wanted to know what his relationship with the old man was!

Anyway, he had a good reason. He had just arrived at the base and was in a serious car accident, which caused a concussion. Forgetting some things and some people was inevitable!

"Why are all the machines in our base imported?" In the workshop named Jiajia Yi, the machines were clearly smaller, but there were more of them. Liu Yijiu knew that most of the mechanical processing equipment needed for metal cutting was available in this workshop.

"This is to restart production in the most critical moments in these mountains. These machines are not stored to make guns and cannons, but to make the machines that make guns and cannons. If the precision is not good, how many of the guns and cannons produced would be qualified?" Yang Shan took Liu Yijiu's question very seriously.

This was the best opportunity to build a closer relationship.

"So, this is a reserve factory for industrial mother machines? Isn't this a strategic technology reserve base?" Liu Yijiu was a bit puzzled.

"Who knows? We haven't seen anything about producing missiles. As for the atomic bomb, it's said to be in Chongqing. This place mainly stores various industrial equipment and material technology. Of course, no one knows if this is true. The original head of the base was killed a few years ago... It's said that the base stores a 5-megaton atomic bomb and a DF-5 intercontinental missile..."

Hearing the word "meat," Yang Shan almost instinctively swallowed a mouthful of saliva. His family was from the countryside, and they had to tighten their belts to gather the money and tuition for him. The food and meat coupons provided by the school, he saved and sent back home. He rarely saw meat even when the supply was normal, let alone now.

"To eat meat, I'll risk it!" Yang Shan gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, heading towards the special materials warehouse with the spirit of the proletariat.

Taking the special materials from the warehouse, which were rare in the country at the time—aviation aluminum imported from the Soviet Union—would have very serious consequences if discovered, but Yang Shan clearly couldn't care less at this moment.

Regardless of whether Liu Yijiu could study the materials, as long as they could make the silencer and prove its effectiveness, that was enough.

Besides, Liu Yijiu had guaranteed that he would take full responsibility if anything went wrong. They didn't know what had happened at the hospital entrance recently, but Wu Yue, who occasionally interacted with them, had told them that Liu Yijiu was familiar with some technical experts in the base and had a good relationship with the new deputy director of the revolutionary committee. This was the fundamental reason why Yang Shan dared to take the risk.

Liu Yijiu said this was for an experiment, and the higher-ups valued him. It was very likely that they would not only avoid punishment but also receive praise.

If he hadn't considered these factors, Yang Shan would never have been so resolute about eating meat.

The risk he was taking was much less than the risk of going hungry. If the guards outside discovered someone wandering around the base with a gun, they might even shoot to kill! But he was unwilling to take such a risk.

"Xiao Yang, so early to the warehouse?" When Yang Shan knocked on the door of the guard room at the warehouse entrance, the on-duty Old Zhao asked in surprise.

"Old Zhao, Liu Yijiu needs some aviation aluminum for research experiments. He's preparing in the machining workshop and hopes to get some aviation aluminum from the warehouse to process and verify the correctness of his design..." Yang Shan immediately shifted the responsibility to Liu Yijiu.

"Isn't he injured? And how do you know him?" Old Zhao asked even more surprised when he heard Liu Yijiu's name.

"Comrade Liu Yijiu was discharged from the hospital eight days ago and is in our dormitory, assigned to Factory 9327. He has been working on this design these days. We advised him to rest, but he warned us that ten thousand years is too long, only strive for the present. We don't fight unprepared battles, we strive for every moment, study hard, and turn others' experiences into our own to better serve the country and the people..." Yang Shan straightened his back and answered solemnly when he heard Old Zhao's words.

It was as if Liu Yijiu had really said this, and they had really listened to it.

Old Zhao didn't say anything when he heard this. He waved his hand, signaling Yang Shan not to go through the formalities. The specific language at the beginning of the speech was unimportant to them; they were only interested in research and development.

He was also one of the many experts in the base, but Yang Shan didn't know the situation. Old Zhao knew Liu Yijiu, who had confronted Su Mingyi's people at the hospital entrance.

In this base, there were over a hundred people like Old Zhao, who only cared about their research and considered everything else nonsense.

The director of the base revolutionary committee was helpless against these old men.

"There's not much aviation aluminum left. It's all from the 9102 base next door. What kind of experiment is he doing? Tensile test? Cutting test? Does he need sheet metal or bar stock?" Old Zhao asked while leading Yang Shan inside.

"He's doing a cutting test. He will analyze the waste chips later to develop our own aviation aluminum production formula and process... 25mm diameter bar stock will do..." Yang Shan would never admit that Liu Yijiu was just using this as an excuse, and their real goal was to make a silencer to hunt in the Daba Mountains and eat meat.

"Hmm! This kid is just like his father, never afraid of difficulties. His father has a successor..." Old Zhao muttered softly, though his voice was low, Yang Shan, who was following behind, heard it clearly.

This was the first time he had heard anything about Liu Yijiu's family background.

What Wu Yue said about Liu Yijiu having a strong background was absolutely true! This could be confirmed from the old man's words.

After Yang Shan left, Liu Yijiu directly slipped into the machining workshop. This workshop was numbered 9327, the department that managed them and also managed dozens of top technical workers in the base.

Entering the workshop, Liu Yijiu didn't feel unfamiliar.

Although he had never entered this workshop before, it felt like he had grown up in it. However, these memories were a bit blurry.

There was no one on duty at the entrance of the machining workshop, but the lights were on. These workshops were probably designed to be bright inside but invisible from the outside.

"Wow, an antique Romanian vertical heavy lathe!" As soon as he entered the spacious workshop, a row of neatly installed heavy equipment caught his eye. Liu Yijiu was stunned by the large vertical lathe near the entrance, which was a giant for its time.

In front of these massive machines, people felt so small. Especially the six to seven-meter-high vertical lathe. The basic parameters of these machines could be seen directly on the nameplate. Under the bright lights in the workshop, he saw that the first double-column vertical lathe he saw was a SC33 vertical lathe produced in Romania in 1958.

With a chuck diameter of 2800mm, a processing diameter of 3300mm, a load capacity of 30 tons, and a weight of 65 tons, this kind of equipment was still in use in some factories in Liu Yijiu's original era.

The Russians made these things robust.

At that time, Romania was also part of the Soviet Union, and to the Chinese, they were also Russians.

"Czechoslovakian W250H floor-type boring and milling machine! Swiss DIXI75 coordinate boring machine! Russian 1532T vertical lathe! West German Waldrich 40-10S3030 gantry guide grinding machine..." As he moved deeper into the workshop, he found that all the machines inside were imported, with production dates ranging from 1958 to last year, 1975!