Courtyard Houses: The Great Masters of a Nation Hidden Within

The meeting on the second day went quite smoothly. After all, the product had been completed and received high praise from the higher-ups. Every factory leader who attended the meeting had their contribution noted down, and no one showed any displeasure.

Factory Director Yang set the general direction first, Chief Engineer Chen listed out what had been done one by one, Deputy Factory Director Li added a few words, and the remaining factory leaders simply raised their hands and passed.

In the afternoon, the loudspeakers at the Third Steel Rolling Mill started broadcasting again.

"Good news, good news!"

The wording was a level higher than the previous one about the return air furnace, but the overall structure was similar—how the leaders showed concern, how the factory supported them, how the technical department worked hard, how the cooperating staff contributed, and finally, a great achievement was made that could be used in production to solve a long-standing problem, and so on.

Finally, the list of award recipients is read out. This kind of moment of glory is something that ordinary employees only experience once or twice in their lives. The factory will definitely publicize it with great fanfare, both to make the award recipients look good and to let others see it, thus inspiring them to work harder.

Chief Engineer Chen wasn't mentioned. As a factory leader, he couldn't get much reward here, and there was no way to get promoted. The benefits would have to wait for the 17th Ministry of Machine Building to consider; the Third Rolling Mill couldn't decide on its own.

But none of the remaining people were left behind.

"After deliberation by the factory, the following reward has been given to the members of the thermocouple project team."

"Comrade Gao Jianguo has been promoted to Level 8 Engineer, an exceptional promotion."

This also brought the secret adjustment of 3z-591 to the forefront.

"Comrade Wu Jianguo's salary and benefits will be increased by one level."

Deputy Section Chief Wu will receive a salary but not a position, since he already holds the rank of deputy section chief. However, this experience will definitely be a valuable asset in the future. If the thermocouple wins any awards, no one can ignore his involvement.

"Comrade Liang Jianguo has been rated as a Level 8 Engineer."

This was a direct upgrade; when Lao Liang heard it, his feet almost left the ground.

"Comrades Fang Xiufang and Liu Weiguo have been promoted one level in their professional titles."

The treatment given by 3z-591, this time the level was set in the name of thermocouple, but to the outside world all say that the credit is from the thermocouple side.

"Comrade Yi Zhonghai, you are hereby awarded a bicycle ticket and 50 yuan in cash."

If there's really no way to go any higher, then let's do something more practical: a train ticket plus almost half a month's wages.

Those who come here to gain experience only get a raise, but their rank remains the same.

However, given the abilities of Deputy Factory Director Li and Yi Zhonghai, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to push their own people up the ranks with a little effort.

"In addition to the aforementioned awards, the above-mentioned individuals will receive preferential consideration and recognition in all factory-wide evaluations this year."

This means the door is open for you. Winter is coming and the end of the year is not far away. Go and do whatever you can.

The entire project team was overjoyed, and the other employees were incredibly envious.

"Gao Jianguo? That deputy captain of our militia? I didn't expect him to be so good at both fighting and running a legitimate business."

"He's only been at the factory for a few days? And he's already an 8th-level engineer? The youngest 8th-level engineer in the factory, right? Could there be something fishy going on?"

"What could be fishy? People who publicize this so openly can definitely withstand scrutiny."

"An 8th-level engineer, earning only 115 yuan a month, that's enough to drink a bowl of soy milk and then throw it away."

"Excuse me, could you please introduce me to someone?"

"Stop eyeing Gao Jianguo; I don't think you're good enough for him. Look at the others in his group; they all got raises. Maybe you can even get one."

"Sigh, when someone came looking for Gao Jianguo, why didn't I think to go and lead the way first?"

Any employee with similar qualifications would be envious. The person is the same, the skill is the same, but that person just happened to rise to the top.

The whole factory was talking about Gao Jianguo and his group, clicking their tongues incessantly.

Gao Jianguo himself didn't have time to listen at the moment, as an unexpected guest was sitting in his office—the chief engineer of LYP-6, Chief Engineer Wang.

When Chief Engineer Wang entered, Gao Jianguo was stunned. Wasn't this guy already familiar with the situation of 3Z-591 and just waiting for the factory to put it into production and send it to him? Why did he come here? These days, chief engineers are always on a tight schedule.

Gao Jianguo stood up and greeted him, "President Wang, what brings you here?"

Chief Engineer Wang replied, half-jokingly and half-complainingly, "Zhendong, why didn't you just give me all the good stuff you had? I almost had to go back to the institute in the Northeast, and now I have to make another trip to your factory. You've made quite a stir this time; I've been talking about you on the loudspeaker the whole way here."

Chief Engineer Wang learned that the Third Rolling Mill still had this thing when he was looking through the notification materials of the Seventeenth Ministry of Machine Building at the Fifteenth Ministry of Machine Building. Since he was still in Beijing, he simply came over himself.

Gao Jianguo was a little surprised: "Huh? You're going to use thermocouples too?"

Chief Engineer Wang nodded: "Monitoring the combustion state in the combustion chamber and the temperature of the combustion gases in various parts of the engine—these are all useful. Your model has a high temperature limit, which perfectly covers the temperature we were planning to increase. The one we were using before couldn't handle it anymore. We were still thinking of a solution, but as soon as I saw the situation report at the Fifteenth Machinery Plant today, I rushed over."

Gao Jianguo thought about it and realized that it made perfect sense.

"Mr. Wang, to be honest with you, we only have about twenty prototypes of this product on hand, and we haven't even started mass production yet."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Wang started to act unreasonably: "I don't care, I've made this trip, you can't expect me to go back empty-handed, can you? Get me a few dozen to tide me over."

That's like Sun Wukong running to Laozi for "a thousand nine-turn golden pills" to save people, shouting out a huge number and expecting you to pay it back.

Gao Jianguo thought about it for a moment. His matter was indeed urgent, and the production of thermocouples could be increased quickly, so helping out would be a good thing. He suggested to General Manager Wang, "General Manager Wang, since you're already here, I'll definitely find a way to help you. Here's what I'll do: I'll reserve ten for you. That'll do for now. You can send a letter to our factory requesting these thermocouples. That way, I can explain it to my superiors. Don't worry, I'll keep the goods under control; no one can take them."

Upon hearing that the matter had been settled, General Manager Wang immediately sat down at Gao Jianguo's desk, grabbed paper and pen, and began drafting a letter. His approach was to act swiftly and decisively, to avoid any unforeseen problems arising overnight.

As he wrote, he was still thinking about 3Z-591: "Zhendong, how's the mass production of that high-temperature alloy going? We're desperate for food."

Gao Jianguo casually replied, "It'll be soon. The ministry and the factory are keeping a close eye on it, and the work is progressing quite quickly. We even set up a support group specifically for this."

At this point, Gao Jianguo suddenly recalled a few fragmented phrases he had read on a military enthusiast forum in his past life, and casually said to President Wang, "President Wang, actually, to raise the turbine inlet temperature, we don't necessarily have to obsess over materials."

Mr. Wang was startled, his pen stopping in his hand: "Zhendong, what did you say?"