Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

The night was already deep, but the office building in a certain compound was still brightly lit.

"Leader Pan, I'm very sorry, Leader Han doesn't have time to see you," the secretary said to Leader Pan apologetically.

"If Leader Han doesn't have time, what about Leader Fang?" Leader Pan was full of anger, intending to report Qin Yang to the leadership, but none of the leaders had time to see him!

"Leader Fang is still in a meeting, and it's estimated that it will be past ten o'clock when the meeting ends," the secretary said.

"Okay, then I'll wait," Leader Pan said.

"After Leader Fang finishes the meeting, he may also want to have discussions with certain people, and it will be very, very late. You should go back. It's too late, and Leader Fang is also very tired," the secretary continued. You can afford to wait, but our Leader Fang can't.

Humph, this is not giving me a chance to report my work! Leader Pan's face was very unsightly, but he couldn't say anything: "Alright, then I'll go back first and come again tomorrow."

He stood up and walked out of the room, into the corridor outside, and saw someone hurrying over, and was immediately delighted: "Engineer Zhang, long time no see!"

Zhang Wanhe, an engineer from Institute 201, stopped and looked at Leader Pan carefully for a few moments before recognizing him: "Old Pan? Why have you come to our system?"

"Ah, recently our foreign affairs department received an invitation to help foreigners connect and cooperate with your military industrial system. Wasn't I here to report on my work? Who would have thought that the leaders are all so busy, maybe another day."

"Engineer Qin? I've heard he's very capable! How did he offend you?"

"He's quite eloquent and bold enough. By the way, he's been working on some advanced armor-piercing projectile lately and has managed to fool the British."

"Armor-piercing projectile? What armor-piercing projectile? Isn't Factory 960 developing light heavy machine guns?"

Seeing Zhang Wanhe's puzzled expression, Leader Pan suddenly had an idea: "You don't know? Your Institute 201 specializes in developing armored vehicles and supporting weapons. I thought he was doing research under your guidance."

"I don't know. I'm responsible for armor-piercing projectiles, and I don't know about this project either."

"That Qin Yang is really ambitious, not satisfied with development in the field of light weapons, and even wants to steal the job of your Institute 201!" Leader Pan said, "They're gun makers, yet they've come to meddle in artillery making, they don't understand any rules. They keep shouting about the market economy and that competition leads to progress, but in reality, they want to squeeze out all the other brother units so they can be the boss."

"Humph." Zhang Wanhe was provoked: "They don't have the ability! Tomorrow, I'll go to Factory 960 to take a look! They're gun makers, what kind of armor-piercing projectile can they make? It's fine to have a Great Leap Forward in our own country, but they even want to show off in front of foreigners!"

"That's right, I'm also afraid that he will cause a negative international impact for us!" Leader Pan finally got his wish.

Robert and the others did not leave, staying at the Factory 960 guest house overnight. Early the next morning, they came to find Qin Yang.

"Qin, for the next pressing, do we need special rubber sleeves? We have already prepared them," Robert said.

"Indeed, those are needed, thank you," Qin Yang said gratefully, "Let's go, I'll take you to our factory's cafeteria for breakfast!"

After eating breakfast with the group of foreigners and Old Zhu, Qin Yang leisurely arrived at Workshop Five, next to Workshop Four.

"Actually, this process isn't very difficult, it's similar to making ceramic tiles," Qin Yang said with a smile, directing several workers to put the well-mixed powder into rubber sleeves, seal them, and then place them under the isostatic press.

"Ceramic tiles? Indeed, it's all grinding into powder, mixing, then pressing into shape, and then firing, but the temperature is different. Qin, what temperature do you fire these armor-piercing projectile cores at?"

"The temperature depends on experience," Qin Yang said with a smile.

Depends on experience?

When they arrived in front of the high-frequency induction furnace, everyone understood: this furnace was too rudimentary, there was no thermocouple at all, so the temperature couldn't be accurately indicated!

The power was turned on, Qin Yang took a pair of iron tongs, clamped a pressed armor-piercing penetrator, and put it in.

The penetrator turned red within seconds, smoke started to come out, then the inside also started to turn red, and finally even turned reddish-white.

How high was the temperature? No one knew, but looking at the state of the red, it must have exceeded fifteen hundred degrees!

With liquid phase sintering technology, even a slight difference in temperature will result in a defective product! So, even if they stared carefully at the smelting process, it wouldn't make any difference!

"Okay, that's about right!" Qin Yang casually pulled out the penetrator and put it aside to cool, then went to clamp the second one.

When Qin Yang asked for raw materials, he naturally asked for a lot. The raw materials he asked for were enough to make five penetrators. Besides showing them to the British, he could also keep a few to show off.

"Is that it? Do we need forging and rolling?" Robert asked.

"Of course, but it also depends on the timing. If you forge directly at high temperatures, it will only have the opposite effect. Is this where your process went wrong?"

Robert's men quickly recorded it. That's right, they did have problems when forging! They originally thought that forging at high temperatures would make the matrix structure stronger, but they didn't expect that they were wrong, and they had to forge after cooling down!

Qin Yang put the second penetrator into the high-frequency induction furnace. After the second one was heated, he looked at the first one: "Okay, that's about right!"

The forging hydraulic press was started, and Qin Yang put the penetrator into it, repeatedly hammering it. After the first one was hammered almost enough, he went to hammer the second one.

The entire process was all manual and relied on experience! Robert and the others were wide-eyed. Although they got their wish and saw the operating process, it was no different from not seeing it!

"Qin, how do you judge the timing?" Robert couldn't help but ask.

"Well, it depends on experience. Don't look at how young I am, I've studied the craftsmanship of ancient sword-making masters for several years. Speaking of our Eastern culture, it has a long history..."

"Engineer Qin, Engineer Qin, someone is here, saying it's Zhang Wanhe from Institute 201, wanting to see you."

"Zhang Wanhe?" Qin Yang was stunned.

"Yes, Old Zhang also researches armor-piercing projectiles, Engineer Qin, he..." Old Zhu wanted to say something from the side, but Qin Yang shook his head: "I'm busy today, tell him to come another day."

"Engineer Qin, should I go and say hello?" Old Zhu asked Qin Yang.

"No need, Old Zhu, this material is rare, you must watch our processing process carefully."

Old Zhu nodded.

Qin Yang muttered, "Fellow tradesmen are rivals!"