Courtyard House: I Rely on Time-Space Trade to Build a Nation

March 23, 1949, Beiping (Beijing).

When Zhao Ping'an was urgently summoned into the sea, he was unaware of what had happened.

Until Leader Zhou pushed a newly translated telegram in front of him.

"The great leader issued a public statement this afternoon." Leader Zhou's voice was calm, but Zhao Ping'an could hear the weight behind it. "He said there is conclusive evidence that Big Brother successfully tested an atomic device not long ago."

Zhao Ping'an looked down at the telegram.

There were only the two of them in the meeting room.

Leader Zhou didn't beat around the bush and asked directly:

"Comrade Ping An, what do you think of this news?"

Zhao Pingan put down the telegram.

"Please have the leadership write more letters, inviting more scholars back," he said.

"Within three years, we will also be able to have our own mushroom eggs."

Leader Zhou looked at him.

There was no surprise, no doubt, they just stared at him.

"Okay," said Director Zhou. "What kind of support do you need?"

Zhao Ping'an had thought about it countless times after bringing Qian Lao back, so he blurted it out.

"First, a suitable experimental site. It needs to be large, desolate, and preferably in the northwest."

"Second, a large number of personnel are needed. Both military personnel and scientific researchers are required, and they need to be able to be stationed there for a long time and keep quiet."

"Third—" he paused, "we need a commander to unify this force. He needs to be of high rank, have great prestige, and be able to keep the troops in check."

Leader Zhou nodded and quickly jotted down a few lines in his notebook. Then he looked up:

"What else?"

"Nothing else," Zhao Pingan said.

But then he suddenly remembered something. A very small thing.

"Boss, there's something I need to report to you first."

"explain."

"I conducted some agricultural and livestock breeding experiments next to the experimental fields in the industrial zone. These mainly involved vegetable greenhouses and scientific pig farming. The scale was not large, but the output was acceptable."

"It's enough to supply the canteens in the industrial park; recently, we've even had a little extra."

Leader Zhou looked at him, waiting for him to continue, since he was now more familiar with the industrial zone than Zhao Ping'an was.

"I'd like to promote it in Beiping and at the Mushroom Egg Experimental Factory as well," Zhao Ping'an said. "The goal is simple—to let everyone eat better."

He chuckled. "You know, that's my only hobby."

Leader Zhou did not smile. He looked at Zhao Ping'an with a deep gaze.

"Comrade Ping An, there's something more to this than meets the eye."

Zhao Pingan did not deny it.

He had seen many videos in his past life discussing why the Generalissimo's headquarters ultimately appointed Commander Peng to take charge.

One particularly unusual video left a lasting impression on Zhao Ping'an.

Firstly, there's Commander Peng's ability; secondly, Commander Peng's physical condition is far better than the other candidates.

These commanders had fought in the north and south for decades, barely hanging on by a thread. After the country was founded and the war was over, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, and then all sorts of health problems started to appear.

Some cases can be cured, while others are too precious to be cured.

Therefore, Zhao Ping'an felt that at least they should be fed better now. There should be meat, vegetables, and sufficient nutrition.

First, proceed gradually, and then slowly introduce some "therapeutic technologies" from 2026, such as protein injections to enhance the effects.

"I support anything that improves the overall standard of living and doesn't detach itself from the needs of the people," said Leader Zhou.

He wrote another line in his notebook.

"I'll handle this. You can come up with a plan first."

After emerging from the sea, Zhao Ping'an did not return to the guesthouse.

I directly redeemed a complete set of Mushroom Egg's data, which is considered core data in the system and requires technology points to redeem.

This is a complete set of engineering technical documents for the mushroom-shaped egg project. It covers everything from theory to design, from materials to processing, and from testing to assembly.

Zhao Ping'an spent all of his technical quota, a full 10 tons of blueprints and documents!

This is the culmination of forty years of nuclear physics research and the result of the hard work of thousands of top scientists and hundreds of thousands of engineers and technicians.

Three days later, Zhao Ping'an knocked on Qian Lao's door.

Professor Qian was writing the establishment plan for the Fifth Research Institute.

He paused for a moment when he saw Zhao Ping'an followed by two soldiers carrying a heavy wooden box.

"This is……"

"I need your help." Zhao Ping'an told the soldiers to put the wooden box on the ground and send them away.

He opened the box.

Inside were stacks of bound documents. The covers had no titles, only numbers.

Mr. Qian picked up the top book and opened it.

Page 1: Calculation of the critical mass for the chain reaction of neutron-induced uranium-235 fission.

He turned to the second page: Design principles of detonation lenses for implosion nuclear devices.

Page 3: Table of thermal and hydraulic parameters of the plutonium-239 production reactor.

Page 4: ...

Mr. Qian slowly closed the file and put it back in the box.

He looked at Zhao Ping'an without saying a word for a long time.

"Where did this catalog come from? Is there any specific information?" he asked softly.

"The materials came from my own channels, and the entire collection weighs 10 tons. I can only bring you a partial catalog first," Zhao Ping'an said.

Mr. Qian remained silent.

"I need your help," Zhao Ping'an continued.

"There are too many things to understand, let alone sort out by myself."

We need to categorize them: which are basic theories, which are engineering implementations, which require equipment, which equipment is currently available domestically, which is not, and which needs to be manufactured on-site—”

He paused for a moment, then said, "You're a scientist. You're better at this than I am."

Old Qian looked down at the wooden box. Inside the box was a complete catalog of the essence of forty years of human history in nuclear weapons.

"How long do you plan to use it?" he asked.

"Three years," Zhao Pingan said. "Within three years, we need to have our own mushroom eggs."

Mr. Qian did not say "impossible." He simply nodded.

"Okay. Let's start with the basic theory."

For the next few days, Zhao Ping'an and Old Qian hardly left that office.

Qian Xuesen was responsible for reading, understanding, and classifying the data. He was a top-notch theoretical physicist; those complex formula derivations were like reading his mother tongue to him.

Zhao Ping'an was in charge of another task: for every piece of equipment that Qian Lao listed, he would write it down and then "find" it through various channels.

"Uranium centrifuges? I'll figure something out."

"A gas diffusion membrane? I'll figure something out."

"Large forging press? It's already being built domestically. I'll urge them to speed up the progress."

"A high-precision optical measuring instrument? There's a new one in Shenyang, I'm getting one."

Every time Zhao Ping'an agreed, Qian Lao would stop writing and look up.

He never asked how these devices were "found," just as Zhao Ping'an never asked how he understood those high-energy physics papers.

But on the fourth day, Mr. Qian finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"This one," he said, pointing to the uranium isotope electromagnetic separator that had just arrived.

"It was a top-secret model from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States in 1944, and it was dismantled after the war. I only saw the remaining design sketches at Caltech."

He looked at Zhao Ping'an and asked, "Where did you get this from? And it's clearly more advanced than that lab's."

Zhao Ping'an did not answer.

Mr. Qian did not press the matter further.

"Never mind." He lowered his head and continued writing. "I can't be bothered with you."

On the evening of the eighth day, Leader Zhou arrived.