At that moment, Lu Bingwen stopped in his tracks.
He didn't immediately look through the algorithm codes in his hand but turned around and walked back to Zhou Huaichang.
The old man adjusted the reading glasses on his nose. His thin fingers, deformed from years of holding a drawing pen, were covered in thick calluses.
He looked up at Zhou Huaichang, the excitement on his face gradually fading, replaced by a heavy expression.
"Vice Minister Zhou, before the verification, there are a few things I need to clarify with you."
Zhou Huaichang noted his solemn demeanor and nodded slightly, "Professor Lu, please go ahead."
"You might not be in our field, so you may not realize the dire situation we're facing," Lu Bingwen raised his hand as if pointing beyond the walls to the impenetrable blockade of the Western world.
"The Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, or CoCom, has placed 5-axis linkage CNC machine tools at the top of the strategic embargo list. All NATO member countries are strictly prohibited from exporting complete 5-axis machines, core blueprints, algorithm codes, process documents, or even related core academic papers to Dragon Nation."
A bitter smile appeared on his lips, "Two years ago, our institute tried to purchase a second-hand 3-axis milling machine, decommissioned for ten years by Germany, through an intermediary in Hong Kong. They conducted layer upon layer of scrutiny, investigating us for half a year, and in the end, it still fell through. To this day, we can't even get a proper design blueprint for a 5-axis machine tool in the entire Dragon Nation!"
Zhou Huaichang's brow furrowed tightly. He was aware of CoCom's blockade but hadn't realized it was this severe.
Lu Bingwen's voice grew heavier, filled with a lifetime of frustration from being choked by others, "On a theoretical level, only a handful of units like Shuimu, Beijing University of Technology, and Institute 625 of the Ministry of Aviation have gathered the nation's top talent. After nearly a decade, we've only touched the basic theoretical edges of 5-axis linkage.
The core real-time interpolation algorithm and complex surface tool compensation algorithm can't even run smoothly in the lab, let alone be used in mass production in factories. We don't even have a shadow of a mature industrial-grade implementation plan."
"As for the hardware, it's even worse," he sighed, pointing to Chief Engineer Li Congnian not far away, "The best equipment we can mass-produce domestically is a 3-axis CNC milling machine. The core components of the 5-axis, like the high-speed electric spindle, dual-swivel milling head, high-precision linear scale, and servo drive system, are one hundred percent reliant on imports, and we can only buy the low-precision scraps they've discarded.
The core technology, they won't even let us peek through the door!"
"The most critical issue is the process," Lu Bingwen's voice began to tremble slightly, "Chief Engineer Li from the Ministry of Aviation is here, and he knows best. For the turbine blades of aero engines, we currently rely on profiling machines to roughly mill them, then have master craftsmen with decades of experience manually file them. If forty out of a hundred blanks pass inspection, we're already burning incense in gratitude. The scrap rate remains above sixty percent! Our machining precision is two orders of magnitude behind the top levels of the United States and Germany!"
"The engines we produce can't achieve the necessary thrust, and their lifespan is only a tenth of American-made products! Our pilots flying such planes are gambling with their lives every time they take to the skies!"
He pointed to Chief Engineer Li Maolin on the other side, "And for shipbuilding, Chief Engineer Li knows that the large skewed propellers of nuclear submarines must be processed with multi-axis linkage to ensure precision. We can't manage it and have to rely on ordinary machine tools for processing, then manually reshape them. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
The resulting propellers are so noisy underwater that NATO's sonar can detect them from hundreds of nautical miles away. Our nuclear submarines going to sea are like banging a gong to announce our arrival, unable to ensure even basic stealth!"
Zhou Huaichang's heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, aching with a dull pain.
He knew there was a gap in military equipment, but he hadn't realized the root of the gap was so stark and shocking.
"In terms of industry, it's even more hopeless," Lu Bingwen shook his head, his face full of helplessness, "Currently, the CNC rate in the national machine tool industry is less than one percent, and high-end CNC machine tools are entirely dependent on imported second-hand equipment.
We can't even produce a proper high-end CNC system ourselves. The entire manufacturing industry is still stuck in the era of ordinary machine tools, at least thirty years behind Western industrial powers!
Thirty years, Vice Minister Zhou!
Even if our generation dedicates our entire lives, we may not be able to catch up with this thirty-year gap!"
His eyes glistened slightly as he looked at Zhou Huaichang, "Moreover, what time is it now? The military is undergoing a massive downsizing, shifting the national defense strategy from total war preparedness to modernizing elite forces. The biggest hurdle in upgrading military equipment is this high-end processing capability!
And the top-secret 863 Program that your General Staff Department is aware of is about to be launched. High-end CNC, aerospace are core planning areas, and we currently... don't even have a technical starting point, not even a reference to follow. It's a dead end!"
At this point, Lu Bingwen suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhou Huaichang's arm.
The old man's hand was cold but trembling violently, his reading glasses slipping to the tip of his nose, but he didn't bother to adjust them. His eyes shone with extreme excitement and burning anticipation.
"Vice Minister Zhou, if this information is genuine, complete, and can be directly implemented for manufacturing, then what you've done is a monumental achievement for the present and a lasting benefit for future generations!
On a smaller scale, we could at least avoid twenty to thirty years of detours. On a larger scale, our entire nation's military industry, the entire manufacturing sector, could leap over this thirty-year gap!"
His voice choked slightly, gripping Zhou Huaichang's arm tightly, "This is... this is an achievement worthy of a monument!"
As soon as he said this, Zhou Huaichang's face turned red instantly.
His lips moved, his throat felt like it was blocked with a lump of burning cotton, wanting to say something but swallowing it back forcefully.
How could he dare to accept such immense praise?
If verified as true, this information that could rewrite the nation's fate wasn't brought back by their intelligence system at the risk of their lives, nor was it their achievement.
It was a mysterious person, whose name and identity were unknown, dancing on the edge of a knife in Hong Kong, snatching it from under the nose of the CIA, and silently sending it back to the homeland.
This tremendous merit, they were unworthy of receiving.
But he couldn't say it.
The confidentiality level of this matter was even higher than that of the 5-axis technology information!
Zhou Huaichang could only cough heavily to cover his embarrassment, reaching out to pat Lu Bingwen's arm, his voice slightly unnatural, "Professor Lu, let's save these words until after the verification of the information. For now, I urge all the experts to proceed with utmost rigor in completing the verification work. The nation and the people await your results!"
Lu Bingwen nodded heavily, released his grip on Zhou Huaichang's arm, turned around, and quickly returned to his group.
The conference room instantly fell silent.
No more commotion or discussion, only the rustling of paper and the faint sound of slide rules on scratch paper.
Occasionally, there was an involuntary gasp, quickly suppressed.
Zhou Huaichang stood in the corner of the conference room, watching this scene, his hands clenched into fists.
His gaze looked into the distance, toward the south, toward Hong Kong.
Toward the place where that mysterious person he had never met was at this moment.
No matter who you are, for what you've done,
The nation will not forget, the people will not forget!