Siheyuan (traditional courtyard house): Starting with the Korean War, returning home to take charge

Spring goes and autumn comes, and another year has passed just like that.

He mentally reviewed the year's achievements: the tank prototype chassis was completed, the power system underwent three on-vehicle tests, with two successful tests and one oil leak; twelve sets of gasoline engine blueprints were sold, generating over 300,000 yuan in technology transfer fees, and he received a commendation from the Ministry of Machinery Industry; the special operations team had been trained, and Zhao Tiezhu had become a squad leader, leading his men around the laboratory, where even flies couldn't get in.

And those gloves.

He touched the corner, then turned and went inside.

The phone call came in the afternoon.

He Yuzhu answered the phone, and it was Commander Chen's voice on the other end, which sounded deeper than usual.

"Xiao He, I have a new task."

He Yuzhu held the microphone.

"Please speak."

Commander Chen remained silent for two seconds.

"Semiconductor lithography machine. Ever heard of it?"

He Yuzhu was stunned for a moment.

"I've heard of it. They're doing it abroad, but we haven't even started yet."

Commander Chen hummed in agreement.

"Yes. But we need to get started now. Computers will be the main focus in the future. Without lithography machines, everything else is just empty talk."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

Commander Chen continued.

"This task is assigned to you. Report what you need. I need a solution within a year."

The phone hangs up.

He Yuzhu stood there, looking out the window. Lithography machine—those terms from the system flashed through his mind: 90 nanometers, immersion, extreme ultraviolet. Those things were too far removed from reality. He brought up the system interface and flipped to the technology section.

[90nm Lithography Machine Principle Package (1957 Compatible Version)]

[Includes: Light source system, objective lens design, stage principle, alignment technology, and photomask process]

[Redeemable Points: 1,000,000]

He looked at the line of text and clicked.

[Redeem successful. Points consumed: 1,000,000]

Current total points: 50,580,000 - 8,000,000 = 42,580,000 points

The room was full of people when the meeting started.

Several people from the electronics group sat in the front row, including Ma Yuejin—he had recently become interested in electronics, saying that mechanics and electronics would be inseparable in the future. He Yuzhu placed the document on the table, looking at the faces below.

"New mission. Semiconductor lithography machine."

There was silence for a few seconds.

A young man wearing glasses raised his hand. His name is Lin Jianguo, a graduate of the Physics Department of Peking University. He has been in the lab for a year. He doesn't talk much, but he's quick-witted.

"Dean, what is a lithography machine?"

He Yuzhu thought for a moment.

"It's used to make chips. It etches circuits onto silicon wafers."

Lin Jianguo was stunned for a moment.

"A chip?"

A girl with braids chimed in. Her name was Sun Xiaomei, and she studied semiconductors; she was supposedly the most talented student in her class.

"Dean, chip manufacturing is still in its infancy even overseas. We haven't even figured out transistors yet, and we're jumping straight into lithography machines?"

People below started whispering.

Ma Yuejin spoke.

"Xiao Sun is right. We only started trial production of transistors this year, and the yield rate is less than 20%. The lithography machine is a hundred times more complex than that."

He Yuzhu looked at them.

"Does anyone else have any ideas?"

Lin Jianguo raised his hand again.

"Dean, it's not that I'm afraid of difficulties. I just want to ask, has this been developed overseas?"

He Yuzhu shook his head.

"No. The paper just came out; the physical prototype is still in the lab."

Lin Jianguo was stunned for a moment.

"Then what makes us think we can pull it off?"

He Yuzhu stood up, walked to the front of the blackboard, and tapped the blackboard with his finger.

"I'm asking you, does high-speed steel already exist abroad?"

"Got it."

"When we developed this, did it already exist abroad?"

Lin Jianguo fell silent.

"Are there 1,500-horsepower diesel engines available overseas?"

"Got it."

"What happened when we finally got it done?"

Lin Jianguo lowered his head.

He Yuzhu looked at the people below.

"Do you think that just because other countries don't have something, we can't have it? And if other countries are just starting out, do we have to wait for them to catch up?"

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"Let me tell you, nobody has a lithography machine right now. Whoever makes it first will be the first. Why can't it be us?"

"You say you haven't figured out transistors. Yes, you haven't. But by the time you figure them out, others will have already been doing it for ten years. You're just following in their footsteps."

"But lithography machines are different. Nobody has ever run this route before."

"Do you want to chase after them and eat dirt, or do you want to run ahead and make them eat dirt?"

The room was so quiet that you could hear the wind rustling through the leaves outside the window.

Ma Yuejin stood up and looked at the young people.

"I worked with the dean for three years. Three years ago, he told me he wanted to develop high-speed steel, and I said it was impossible. Two years ago, he said he wanted to develop diesel engines, and I said it was too difficult. Last year, he started working on gasoline engines, and I still think it's risky."

He paused for a moment.

"But I'm telling you, these things are all out there now."

He looked at Lin Jianguo.

"Xiao Lin, you're smarter than me, and you know more about technology than me. I'll just ask you one question: Do you trust the dean?"

Lin Jianguo raised his head, looked at Ma Yuejin, and then at He Yuzhu.

He raised his hand.

Sun Xiaomei raised her hand.

One by one, more than a dozen people in the room raised their hands.

He Yuzhu nodded.

"Alright. From now on, the electronics group is established, with Lin Jianguo as the group leader. Here are the documents; take a look first. Ask questions if you don't understand anything, and figure out what you can't get by asking. I want to see the blueprints in one year."

He pushed the stack of documents over.

Lin Jianguo took it, turned to the first page, read a few lines, and looked up.

"Dean, this thing... is too detailed. There are some parameters that our equipment simply can't measure."

He Yuzhu looked at him.

"If you can't measure it, find a way to measure it. If you don't have the equipment, build the equipment. The lithography machine was originally created from scratch."

Lin Jianguo nodded.

"Understood."

After the meeting, He Yuzhu sat alone in his office.

It was dark outside, and the stars were out. He leaned back in his chair, thinking about Lin Jianguo's words: "Even overseas, it's only just begun."

He recalled those terms from the system—90 nanometers, immersion, extreme ultraviolet. Those things were too far removed from the present.

But then he remembered something else.

In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, we had nothing. Now, eight years later, we have high-speed steel, diesel engines, and gasoline engines.

Eight years.

How many eight-year periods does it take to make a lithography machine?

he does not know.

But he knew that someone had to start.

The next morning, Lin Jianguo came to find him.

"Dean, look at this."

He placed a newspaper on the table. It was yesterday's paper; on page three, there was a small, inconspicuous article. The headline read: "IBM Announces New Generation Computer Using Advanced Transistor Technology."

He Yuzhu glanced at it and put it down.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Jianguo looked at him.

"Dean, they're already working on computers. We haven't even figured out transistors yet."

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

Lin Jianguo was silent for a moment, then picked up the stack of lithography machine documents and walked out. He paused at the door.

"Dean, I thought about what you said yesterday for half the night."

He turned around.

"You're right. It's not a good idea to chase after someone and eat dirt."

He turned and left.

As He Yuzhu watched his retreating figure, he recalled the first time Ma Yuejin saw the high-speed steel data.

The same expression.

The difference is that back then they chased, now they run.