Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

Gao Jianguo thought to himself that no matter what Liu Haizhong's motives were for tailing him, he probably wouldn't be able to cause any trouble for a while.

Even if it takes a long time, it doesn't matter. If he dares to come near again after his leg has healed, Gao Jianguo wouldn't mind breaking his remaining leg as well. With Liu Haizhong's skills, it would be difficult for Gao Jianguo to notice without him noticing.

Gao Jianguo didn't even bother to dig deeper into the reasons; he could count the number of trivial matters Liu Haizhong had on his fingers.

When faced with this kind of trouble, having a solution is enough; there's no need to overthink it.

Back home, Gao Jianguo continued fiddling with his pile of keyboards and television. The skills he had accumulated as a junk collector in his previous life were quite addictive to him.

On Wednesday, Gao Jianguo, Liang Jianguo, Fang Xiufang, and Liu Weiguo moved their belongings into the small office.

The team was now established. Gao Jianguo gave a few brief instructions, but the work process was pretty much the same as before. He didn't give any long speeches or make any grand promises; he simply assigned the tasks.

The atmosphere in the office remained the same; everyone was still busy with their own things—some were writing, others were in the lab.

Around noon, Liang Jianguo and Fang Xiufang returned from the laboratory with smiles on their faces. Liang Jianguo was holding several silver-white metal pipes in his hand, each with a flange attached to the back, and a round junction box connected to the flange. Fang Xiufang was carrying a large stack of documents.

"Team Leader Gao, Team Leader Gao, the thermocouple tests are all done smoothly, and even the first batch of small-scale trial runs are completed." Liang Jianguo's voice was filled with excitement. He had finally made it through the tough times. Although the speed was already quite fast, seeing the return air furnace and the high-temperature material being completed one after another, he still felt that he was a step behind.

Gao Jianguo put down his pen, pulling himself back from that absent-minded state where his pen was constantly moving: "So, what was the result?"

Liang Jianguo adjusted his glasses: "The indicators are all within expectations, and the production process is running smoothly. When we went down to test it, the feedback from the workshop workers was quite good, especially the less experienced ones. They all said that having this thing in hand made them feel much more at ease. The old methods were good, but they always felt a bit unreliable."

Fang Xiufang added from the side, "After comparing them all, we think we should just go with the N-type. We've successfully copied the K-type, but when compared to the N-type, there's not much point in making another K-type. However, we can keep it as a technical reserve."

Gao Jianguo took the report and flipped through it. Then he went to Wu De's office to call him over. The two of them went to Chief Engineer Chen's office, one carrying the sample and the other carrying the report.

Seeing the two men's posture, Old Chen knew exactly what was going on. He walked around from behind his desk, took the report himself, and asked as he flipped through it, "Is it completely under control?"

Gao Jianguo nodded: "Yes, everything's done smoothly. They've even figured out the mass production process. They pre-install the electrode pairs using alloy protective tubes, fill them with magnesium oxide beads as an insulating layer, and then directly draw them into shape. This way, the finished product is armored. This approach aligns with our factory's existing capabilities, and the production efficiency and pass rate are both acceptable."

Old Chen nodded and nodded as he looked at the records: "Okay, okay, the records are quite complete, and the experiments are very detailed. From what you're saying, you're planning to go straight to the n-type and just keep the k-type in reserve?"

Gao Jianguo nodded again: "Yes, compared to the N-type, the K-type is slightly inferior in overall performance, but the cost of making the two is not much different, so we thought of going directly for the N-type."

Old Chen thought this idea made sense: "Hmm, that makes sense. So, leave the stuff here with me, and I'll report it to the factory and the department first, then we'll see how to proceed."

Gao Jianguo and Deputy Section Chief Wu De placed their things on Chief Engineer Chen's desk and left without a care in the world.

Without delay, Old Chen grabbed his things and went to find Director Yang.

Factory Director Yang has been living a comfortable life lately. The 3z-591 has given him a lot more confidence both inside and outside the system. Seeing Old Chen come in carrying a stack of things, Factory Director Yang's face lit up with a smile: "Old Chen, what good stuff have you guys come up with this time?"

Old Chen chuckled: "It really is good stuff."

He spread out the materials and explained them to Director Yang as he went. Director Yang knew there was such a project as thermocouples, but he didn't quite understand the specifics.

After Old Chen finished explaining and compared it with the report, Factory Director Yang understood everything: "You mean, Gao Jianguo and his team developed a thermocouple that can accurately measure high temperatures, up to 1300 degrees Celsius? And it's also quite resistant to oxidation in a gaseous atmosphere? Not only did they imitate it, but they also solved problems that even imported equipment couldn't?"

The last one refers to the old problem of k-type thermoelectric potential.

Old Chen nodded: "Yes!"

Factory Director Yang slammed his hand on the table: "Good! Excellent!"

Having served as the director of the steel rolling mill for so many years, he knows better than anyone how useful this thing can be, and it's not just the steel rolling mill, but other factories as well.

He was so happy that he paced back and forth in his office several times with his hands behind his back, then said to Chief Engineer Chen, "Here's what we'll do. You write a summary report right away, explaining the situation thoroughly. We'll send someone to deliver the report to the ministry today. No matter how hard we try to spread good news like this, the higher-ups won't have any objections, haha."

Chief Engineer Chen laughed along, took the task, and went back to his office to get busy.

At 3 p.m., Secretary Zheng knocked on the door of the leadership office of the 17th Ministry of Machinery Industry and entered, holding a document in his hand.

The leader glanced at Secretary Zheng's hand and asked, "Xiao Zheng, what's the matter?"

Secretary Zheng handed over the document: "Sir, I just received a document from the Third Steel Rolling Mill, and I thought I should let you take a look at it immediately."

The leader immediately perked up: "Oh? What have they done this time?"

He took the document and started flipping through it.

Upon seeing this, the leader couldn't help but exclaim, "Great! What kind of magic potion have these people at the No. 3 Rolling Mill been drinking lately? Good stuff is popping out one after another!"

Turning to the list of personnel, he paused, startled: "Gao Jianguo? It's him again?"

"Oh, I remember now, this must be the main project he mentioned, the one for the 3Z-591 material, right? Interesting."

After thoroughly studying the entire document, the leader remembered that among the supplies requested from the desert, this was one of them, and they specifically requested the high-temperature armor type.

This type n is clearly a new product developed by the Third Rolling Mill itself. Its overall performance surpasses that of the type k, and it can directly replace the previous generation.

At that critical juncture, other domestic organizations were also developing thermocouples, but most of them were simply imitations of the K-type, and the electrode materials still had to be imported. The K-type armored thermocouple, which was entirely developed domestically and met the requirements of the desert region, would not have been developed until around 1965 without Gao Jianguo's crucial role.

Thinking about what was happening on the other side of the desert, the leader couldn't sit still. He turned to Secretary Zheng and instructed, "Xiao Zheng, get ready. Select a few relevant technical experts, and we'll go to the No. 3 Steel Rolling Mill. I can't rest easy without seeing this for myself."