The Courtyard House: The Little Red Devil Returning from the Peninsula

The two machine tools sat in the yard for three days, and no one dared to touch them.

One spindle had a crack. The crack was hidden beneath the shoulder of the shaft, invisible unless it was turned over. Zhao Tieshan lay on the ground, shining a kerosene lamp on it for a long time, before finally discerning a hair-thin crack in the oil stains on the shoulder. The other spindle's drive belt was missing, and the gearbox was stuffed with mud mixed with iron filings. Zhao Tieshan used a wire to scoop out the mud and chipped half a broken tooth from under the gearbox. He held the broken tooth in his palm, examining it twice before sighing.

"If you have readily available shaft materials and someone to match the gears, it can be operational in two months. If not," he measured the diameter of the main shaft with his fingers, his fingers covered in calluses and burn scars, the measurement almost identical to that of calipers, "you might have to make the blanks yourself for half a year, and it might not be stable."

Five people were injured on the first day of the furnace test.

Two people suffered burns: one from splattered molten iron burning the back of their hand, and the other from the radiant heat of the furnace wall scorching their forearm. Two people sustained cuts: a bucket hoop broke while moving a crucible, and a sheet metal cut their calf. One person fell while running to collect materials, tripping over iron slag on the ground and hitting their knee on a stone.

Zhao Weiguo ordered the furnace to be shut down.

Someone came to urge them, saying that they were still short a few dozen gun barrels per month and asked if they could start the furnace first. Zhao Weiguo said no.

"Five people are injured. Empty workstations will not be filled immediately." He wrote the names of the five injured workers on the first page of the new factory regulations, not the last. From now on, these five names will be read aloud before starting the furnace. Not just to be heard, but to be thought about. Think it through before lighting the furnace; if you can't think it through, stand and think it through until you do.

That afternoon, the data unlocked by the system arrived. Twelve wooden crates contained data on gun and cannon steel. This included the range of carbon, chromium, nickel, manganese, and molybdenum content, desulfurization and deoxidation processes, furnace temperature profiles, forging parameters, normalizing, quenching, and tempering regimes, and low-magnification testing standards for tensile, impact, and hardness. Two smaller crates contained gauge blocks and lathe tool samples.

There were no finished machine tools. No factory buildings. No energy. No raw materials. All that was on paper was knowledge, not tangible things.

Zhao Tieshan flipped through the documents, his expression grim. He used his fingernail to draw lines under the words "nickel," "molybdenum," and "stabilized coke"—three key raw materials for which there was no source.

"We only check the quality of a few batches of steel each month." He crossed out the phrase "the first gun barrel to be produced by the end of the month" from the old plan and wrote the new schedule: 30% increase on the old line, phased expansion over a year, small-scale verification of gun steel, and no deadlines for finished gun barrels. "After the gun barrel, there's forging, heat treatment, flaw detection, machining, and test firing. We go through each step one by one; if it doesn't pass, we stop. Whoever is pushing for it should go check the names of those five wounded soldiers."

The monk came to ask about the rumors of "making cannons." He peeked in at the door and was seen by Zhao Tieshan.

"What kind of cannon are you building?" Zhao Tieshan asked without looking up. "Six processes: smelting, casting, machine bed, spindle and transmission, cutting tools and gauges, heat treatment and inspection. None of them were completed. The Independent Regiment is repairing machine tools, not building cannons."

The monk shrank back. "That's what everyone outside is saying..."

"Go ask them what they're saying outside." Zhao Tieshan slammed the broken tooth on the table. "Why don't you try making a cannon with this half?"

The monk left. After that, no one came to ask about building cannons again.

The industrial sites were rearranged. The old stone kiln factory was used for machinery repair and small-scale processing. Sand casting was done in Xigou. Small furnaces were used for testing near the coal mine. Machine tool bases and assembly sheds were built in another gully. The four sites were spread out, so that an accident at one site wouldn't affect the other three. Raw materials were stored in four piles: captured materials, scrap materials, small-batch materials from the mining area, and materials secretly purchased. Materials of unknown composition were only allowed to be used for repairing farm tools and making ordinary parts; they were forbidden from handling gun and cannon steel. Blueprints were kept in separate sets, and not just anyone could see them.

The skilled workers had to retake the exams. The vacancies for fifty skilled workers hadn't been filled. Zhao Gang divided the work into three volumes to verify their backgrounds and skills: the first volume listed where they learned their skills, the second what jobs they had done, and the third whether they could provide tangible evidence. Without concrete examples, no matter how eloquent their claims, they wouldn't be considered.

An experienced craftsman claimed he could machine artillery shell casings, and Zhao Gang asked him to do it on the spot. The craftsman's hand trembled as he picked up the cutting tool, and the resulting threads were crooked and uneven. Zhao Gang didn't say anything, but wrote one word in the three-volume book: "Waiting." The craftsman left, his face flushed.

Zhao Gang reported the expansion costs. The first phase includes 40 tons of steel and 200 bags of cement. At least 50 skilled workers and 300 ordinary workers are needed. The warehouse contains over 20 tons of steel seized during the siege and reinforcement operations, but less than half is of unknown origin and the types are incomplete; samples must be taken for testing first. The old line expansion will be limited to a maximum of 30% in the short term. The new line will start at least one year old. Artillery production is planned for a year from now.

"It's not certain that it can be built even after a year," Zhao Tieshan added, "but it definitely can't be built within a year."

On the third day of the trial run, the furnace was reignited. The new factory regulations marked a three-meter radius safety zone with lime lines next to the furnace. Two people simultaneously used long-handled crucible clamps. At the command to stop the furnace and evacuate, everyone ran outside. Zhao Tieshan stood outside the lime line, holding a pocket watch. He wasn't looking at the furnace, but at the people.

The first batch of small furnace samples didn't look good. The billet surface had slag inclusions, the cross-section had porosity, and the dimensions were off. Zhao Tieshan didn't rush to blame the furnace. He checked the fixture with a reference gauge block and found that the dimensional deviations weren't entirely the furnace's fault; part of it was due to fixture error.

"The poor quality of the steel is the furnace's fault. The incorrect dimensions are the fixture's fault. The two problems shouldn't be confused." He locked the gauge block and the lathe tool sample in the reference room, with two locks. One for Zhao Tieshan, and one for Chen An. Chen An was the furnace recorder and the only person Zhao Tieshan trusted to handle the gauge block.

Whether the procurement line can actually purchase the most scarce nickel, molybdenum, and stabilized coke is another matter, but someone has to be looking for them. If nickel and molybdenum cannot be found, a lower alloy scheme is used as an example. The resulting steel billets are labeled "pending inspection," without being marked as qualified or scrapped.

In the evening, a liaison officer rode to the regimental headquarters. He handed over a note addressed to "Regimental Commander Zhao." He was a plainclothes officer sent by Chu Yunfei of the 358th Regiment.

The post was very polite: it discussed the situation in Jinzhong, the boundaries of the mining area, and cooperation matters, and suggested meeting in a border town. It ended with a question about whether it would be possible to visit the arsenal along the way.

After reading the post, Zhao Weiguo scratched a mark with his fingernail on the words "visiting the arsenal".

"See you." He replied with a single word. Then he added, "Not on my way. Let him guess."

The furnaces in the arsenal had just been extinguished, and the molten iron was still warm. Zhao Tieshan's cursing voice came through two walls in the workshop. Zhao Weiguo stood in the yard, looking at the two machine tools that weren't even running yet.

From repair to construction, the road is long. But the first step has been taken: the furnace has been lit, the sample has been produced, and the problem has been identified. The next furnace will be tested with modified fixtures. If a hundred furnace tests don't work, try two hundred. Gun steel isn't forged in a day, just like 30,000 people aren't assembled in a day.

Chu Yunfei arranged to meet at Jiaojie Town. Zhao Weiguo folded the invitation and put it in his pocket, then told the monk about his plans for tomorrow's trip.

He didn't bring a gun. Instead, he brought four ledger summaries compiled by Zhao Gang, showing Chu Yunfei only the pages he needed to see.