Siheyuan works as a nanny for Shazhu

The next day, newspapers outside began to carry extensive publicity, with the headline "Red Star Steel Rolling Mill presents a tribute to the ninth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China by independently developing and producing the first lathe in the country" listed in large black letters on the front page.

Jiang Feng was fortunate to be included in the list, listed behind Comrade Zhang Jiacheng: "Comrade Zhang Jiacheng led the technical department comrades." Just these few words made Engineers Li, Liu and Huang very happy. We are one of the "technical department comrades". This newspaper should be kept as a family heirloom.

Then Director Yang took Zhang Jiacheng to the Ministry of Metallurgy for a meeting. Jiang Feng didn't know what the meeting was about, but after they came back, both of them were smiling. The factory broadcast a notice that all personnel in the technical department would be promoted one level, and Zhang Jiacheng finally passed the threshold and is now a level nine engineer.

Now Engineer Li from the Technical Department is at level 11. Xiao Liu and Xiao Huang, considering that they will soon be converted to regular employees, were directly promoted to level 12. Jiang Feng is also at level 12. When the notice came out, most people in the factory were happy for the Technical Department. They made the first independently produced machine in the country. The whole steel rolling mill was proud of it. This honor belonged to the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill.

Some people were also feeling jealous. Jiang Feng had established a firm foothold in the factory, and those people were unwilling to accept this. However, there was nothing they could do now. They would not interact with you in the yard at all. The technical department of the factory was not a place where Yi Zhonghai could interfere, not to mention that he was only a level five fitter, even if he was level eight he would not be able to do so.

Yi Zhonghai had completely given up the idea. The cafeteria had been in the spotlight for a month because of the last incident, and he hadn't been able to seek justice for it. He had just been punished and everyone was calling for his death. His attempts in the hospital had also failed. Now there were two deputy directors and Jiang Feng had been promoted again, so he couldn't afford to offend him.

The electrician group is not having a good time now either. The better Jiang Feng's grades are, the more the electrician group can't hold their heads up in the factory. Although Jiang Feng won't go to the technical department without Feng Qinghai's squeeze, he can also work as a translator in the electrician group. At least people in the factory won't have any opinions about the electrician group because Jiang Feng brings honor to the factory.

As soon as they got to work in the morning, Director Yang called. Zhang Jiacheng and Jiang Feng went to the conference room, where the director and deputy director were sitting. They looked serious and the atmosphere was heavy. When the two arrived and Secretary Li closed the door, Director Yang said, "Let's start the meeting now. I'll say a few words first. If you have any questions or opinions, we'll talk later."

Director Yang looked around and continued, "I believe you all know that there is a new policy from above. This year's steel production cannot meet the requirements. It is still far from it. The factory's task now is to make steel. This year's steel production must double that of last year. Recently, our factory has been promoting the research and development of machinery. For now, we will stop. Director Zhang and Engineer Jiang, I called you here today to see if the technical department has any good ideas for our factory's steelmaking equipment."

The steelmaking equipment at that time was not large in tonnage, and the so-called steelmaking was actually ironmaking. The ladle in the foundry was the molten iron. After the molten iron was cooled, it needed to be forged before it could be used as steel.

In Jiang Feng's understanding, steelmaking is to directly produce molten steel, which can be used as soon as it comes out. Moreover, in later generations, each furnace often produces hundreds of tons. Jiang Feng is also confused about how it is operated specifically. Jiang Feng has been in a foundry workshop, which has several blast furnaces. What comes out is molten iron, which needs to be processed again before it can be used as steel.

Zhang Jiacheng and Jiang Feng looked at each other, and Zhang Jiacheng said, "Director Yang, there is nothing we can do at the moment. We have visited several blast furnaces in the factory, and we can provide some suggestions if there are any problems with the equipment. If we want to increase production, I think we can only build large blast furnaces. The output of one furnace will be higher than the current output of the factory."

Director Yang nodded. Starting over was an option, but there was not enough time. There were only three or four months left. It would take at least one or two months to build a large blast furnace. Director Yang looked at Jiang Feng again. Now Director Yang treated Jiang Feng like a treasure. It had been just over a year since he entered the factory, but now Director Yang could hold his head high and speak with confidence in the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. He was pedantic, but not stupid. He knew exactly who had brought about these changes in the factory.

Jiang Feng could only reply: "Director Yang, I am not familiar with the blast furnace in the factory. I just took a few glances from outside. I really can't offer any suggestions. Even Engineer Zhang can't do it, let alone me."

Deputy Director Wang interjected, "It doesn't matter if you're not familiar with it. Wait a minute, I'll have someone send you the blast furnace information. The comrades in the technical department can take a look. Maybe there are some good ideas. Even if it's just a small change, as long as it can increase production, it will greatly increase production across the country."

Director Yang glanced at Deputy Director Wang, and his admiring eyes reflected the meaning of "good assist". Jiang Feng could only agree: "Then let's take a look first, but it would be better to send us some advantages and disadvantages of the blast furnace. There should be someone in the factory who understands these, so we don't have to grope around again. I think if we want to increase production, then we should magnify the advantages and reduce the disadvantages, and naturally the performance of the equipment will be improved."

The director and deputy director both nodded. Young people have flexible minds. However, the workers in the workshop had already figured out these things, but they just didn't have a solution. Let's see if we can let the technical department know. Maybe they can come up with some good suggestions.

It was Director Yang who proposed that the Technical Department attend the meeting today, and he also wanted to give it a try, so he let them see first. After saying this, Director Yang asked Zhang Jiacheng and others to go back first. The rest was the factory management's business, and there was no need for the Technical Department to hold a meeting.

The two returned to the R&D workshop office and sat there looking at each other. After a while, someone came to deliver some information. There was not much information, only about 20 to 30 centimeters thick. There was also a special notebook inside. Jiang Feng reached out and picked it up. It was full of handwritten content: what problems arose during the refining process, how they were solved, and what could not be solved, some problems that caused the failure of iron smelting, where the temperature could not be raised, and so on.

When Jiang Feng saw this, he handed the notebook to Zhang Jiacheng and said to him, "Mr. Zhang, do you know who wrote this record? Is this person still in the factory?"

Zhang Jiacheng flipped it open and took a look, then thought for a while: "It should have been written by a master in the foundry workshop, but I don't know if he is still in the factory. I heard that he has been a steelmaking master for decades. I'll ask the factory director."

"Let's ask if he's still in the factory. If we can find him, we don't have to grope around bit by bit. He made notes and should have thought of many solutions. At least he can help us rule out some wrong solutions."

Zhang Jiacheng called Director Yang as soon as he returned to the office, but he also said that they had to wait and needed the workshop and the personnel department to check to see if the person had retired. Zhang Jiacheng also said that it would be best to find the person and ask him to come over to help even if he had retired. Director Yang agreed.

After about an hour, the phone rang. It was Director Yang calling. The person had been found, but he had retired. However, there were two apprentices in the factory, and they had already taken someone to hire him. He arrived in the afternoon and went directly to the R&D workshop.

Now Zhang Jiacheng has moved the technical department to the R&D workshop, saving the hassle of running back and forth to and from work. Zhang Jiacheng told Jiang Feng the news, and he nodded. They would talk about it after someone arrived. Then the two of them picked up the information in their hands and started reading it.

During the afternoon work, an old man entered the R&D workshop, followed by two middle-aged men. Zhang Jiacheng also went out to greet him, and Jiang Feng followed behind him. When he entered the office, Jiang Feng looked at him carefully. He had half white hair, a weather-beaten face full of wrinkles, and many tiny scars on his hands. However, he was in good spirits and had a firm look in his eyes.

Zhang Jiacheng spoke up: "Master Wang, I asked you to come here today because I have something to ask you. Did you take these notes?"

He handed over the notebook, and Master Wang took it, flipped through it, nodded, and said, "I have been recording these notes for more than 20 years. I have been smelting iron for a lifetime, so I have to leave something for the factory."

"The factory has a task now. We want to improve the steelmaking process. The information was sent to us today. We have read the records. Some of the problems and solutions in it have given us great inspiration. We would like to invite you to come and talk about some of the problems in it."

"No problem. I didn't expect that I could still make some use of my remaining energy at my old age. If I can really make improvements, it will be a contribution to China. You two should listen carefully. Maybe some of these ideas will inspire you." The latter sentence was said to two middle-aged men, who were Master Wang's apprentices and currently also worked in the steel rolling mill.

After hearing this, Zhang Jiacheng was not polite anymore. He took out paper and pen, and several people sat around the table and started asking questions one by one about the questions in the notes. It must be said that Master Wang is worthy of being a veteran who has been working for more than 20 years. He not only recorded some common faults in steelmaking, but also had some ideas on how to solve these faults. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, he was about to retire and the situation was turbulent. At that time, as long as molten iron could be produced, it would be fine, but there was no one to improve the process.

In the afternoon, only one-third of the notebook was turned over, but Jiang Feng had already written two notebooks, all of which were some ideas proposed by Master Wang. When it was time to get off work, Zhang Jiacheng saw that Master Wang was no longer energetic, so he stood up and said, "Master Wang, that's all for today. Thank you for your hard work. I'll have someone pick you up tomorrow morning. Some of your ideas are of great help to improving the blast furnace. Thank you."

Master Wang cheered up and said, "I am indeed old, and I still have a lot of ideas. I can't remember them clearly now. I will go back tonight and think about them. I hope they can be useful."

The two people on the side quickly helped the master up. Zhang Jiacheng and Jiang Feng sent the three people out. Director Yang outside had already arranged for the security department to ride a bicycle to send Master Wang home.