Chapter 146: The Ministry of Science and Technology

“…The Yuanen had a full understanding of the importance of the optical industry. As early as the First Five-Year Plan period, under the care of the Executive Committee, led by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and with the cooperation of the Ministry of Mechanical Industry, the Ministry of Metallurgy, and the Ministry of Light Industry, the transmigrators built their own optical industry from scratch…”

—From “A History of Contemporary Industry: The Optical Industry Volume”

Of course, readers would skip over such pompous platitudes. The first generation of transmigrators all understood the difference between history and official history. The descendants of the transmigrators either learned the true story from their parents or didn’t care at all. Only those historical researchers who were granted the highest level of access to the original records in the Vientiane Grand Library knew the true face of history.

In fact, the beginning of the empire’s optical industry was nothing more than a few pairs of reading glasses.

In the Bairen Industrial Zone, black smoke and white steam billowed day and night, and the panting and vibrating of machinery never ceased throughout the year. There was no night here; the flames of the boilers, electric lights, and gas lamps drove away the darkness. Gas-engine-driven railcars pulled flatbed cars at high speed along the tracks, occasionally letting out the screech of brakes.

In a relatively quiet corner of the industrial zone was the machine shop directly under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The so-called Ministry of Science and Technology was a “cutting-edge department” under the General Directorate of Manufacturing.

The term “cutting-edge,” on paper, meant that the department was responsible for industrial products that were currently difficult to mass-produce. The transmigrators, whether limited by the supply of raw materials, the performance of self-produced materials, or their processing capabilities, could only treat them as “pre-research.” To be precise, it was to explore production techniques and processes under the limited industrial conditions of Lin’gao.

The list of “pre-research” items for the Ministry of Science and Technology included various meters, precision tools and instruments, optical instruments, communication equipment, power and lighting equipment, timers, and so on.

The Ministry of Science and Technology was headed by Zhong Lishi—his official title was the People’s Commissar for Science and Technology. He was a doctor, and although he was not the only doctor in the Yuanen Senate, he always liked to remind everyone that he was a doctor. Over time, everyone jokingly called him Dr. Zhong.

Dr. Zhong’s main focus at the Ministry of Science and Technology was on clocks and batteries. He had a deep research background, especially in batteries. The sending and receiving systems of the wired telegraphs in Lin’gao, Hong Kong, Sanya, and other places used the Daniell cell he had developed, also known as the “Zhong’s No. 1” battery.

After the successful production of the “Zhong’s No. 1” battery, Dr. Zhong’s main task became timers and radios.

These two projects were among the most urgently needed precision instruments for Lin’gao’s industrial, military, and civilian systems. Navigation required accurate marine chronometers for positioning and navigation, and there was also a great demand for precise timing in industrial production. As for radios, their importance was self-evident. Currently, the Yuanen’s dispatched personnel and overseas stations could only rely on radios brought from another time to maintain contact with the “Center.” He devoted all his time and energy to this, and also occupied several science and engineering Yuanen from the Ministry of Science and Technology, to the extent that the several large clocks he had promised for the clock towers were never delivered, leaving the clock towers empty and serving as watchtowers.

The Ministry of Science and Technology was already short-staffed. With personnel and resources tilted towards radios and timers, the optics project was left neglected.

The Ministry of Science and Technology’s exclusive workshop area was near the end of the Bairen Industrial Zone. Outside the high walls was a fifty-meter-wide “warning zone” marked by bamboo fences and ditches. Natives were not allowed to enter this area at will. To make full use of the space, the Agriculture Committee had turned this plot of land into fields for growing castor beans, soybeans, jute, and other cash crops. These cash crops were mostly supplied directly to industrial enterprises. Castor oil, soybean oil, and jute were all important materials for industrial production.

“Master, have some water.” In the workshop, a young man in a blue work uniform respectfully brought a wooden tray to a thin, dark man who was measuring a part with a vernier caliper. On the tray were a glass bottle of light salt water and a bottle of iced kvass. The man, addressed as “Master,” grunted, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and drank the salt water in big gulps, finishing more than half the cup in one go. He caught his breath and drank the rest. He then picked up the kvass but didn’t drink it, just held it in his hand to feel the coolness.

This enjoyment had only begun about ten days ago. After much effort from Dr. Zhong, the Planning Office finally approved the installation of a small gas-powered cold storage unit at the Ministry of Science and Technology. Many of the more precise equipment and instruments in the ministry required operation at a suitable temperature, making the use of large amounts of ice for physical cooling essential. Fetching ice from the food factory’s large icehouse every day was time-consuming and laborious, not to mention the loss during transport. With this icehouse, not only were the production needs met, but they also got this little bit of enjoyment.

“Junjie, don’t be so busy. Come and rest for a while. Your health is important in this hot weather,” the thin, dark man said, looking at the young man’s work clothes, which were already dark with sweat.

The young man had already taken away the tray and was fanning his master.

“I’m not tired, Master. You rest.”

“Everyone, take a break.” The master picked up the newly finished workpiece and squinted at the sunlight coming through the skylight, examining it carefully.

“Good workmanship. In a few more years, your skills as a fitter will be good enough to work independently.”

“It’s all thanks to the chiefs’ good teaching,” the apprentice said respectfully. “My father’s skills are much better than mine. If it weren’t for his bad eyesight, he would definitely do better than me.”

“It’s a pity.” The master fell silent for a moment. He knew the apprentice’s father. He was only in his early forties, but due to long-term malnutrition and heavy labor in the past, his eyes were already presbyopic.

“It’s all thanks to the chiefs. Otherwise, my whole family would have starved to death long ago,” the apprentice said with even more reverence.

The master waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about that.”

He knew that his apprentice’s family were fugitive artisan households from Shandong. A family of six had drifted all the way to Guangdong and become refugees, with only the father and two boys remaining. If it weren’t for the Guangzhou station taking them in, the three of them, who were already on the brink of death, would not have survived to this day. The older boy had entered the factory to become his apprentice, the younger one had gone to school, and the old man, despite his excellent skills, had poor eyesight and could only do some light work in the light industry department’s factory.

After work that day, the master walked ahead with his hands behind his back, while the young apprentice followed behind, carrying a bag, a clean lunchbox, and a water bottle.

“Old Lin! Old Lin!” someone shouted from behind. “Lin Hanlong!”

Lin Hanlong turned around. It was his colleague from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Wu Ziqin.

Wu Ziqin was a member of the “Wankers’ Party.” Like Mei Lin, Ji Xin, and Cui Yunhong, he was one of the very few adult male Yuanen who had not yet bought a female servant. In Lin’gao, the vast majority of adult Yuanen, including the female ones, had bought female servants, so their uniqueness was particularly striking. Although their reasons for not buying female servants were varied—some had no “sexual interest” in women, some had temporarily lost interest, some had different aesthetic tastes, and some would “rather take care of it themselves than settle,” waiting for better female servants to become available before buying.

Xiao Bailang, drunk at the Farmhouse Cafe one time, had dubbed them the “Wankers’ Party,” and the name had stuck.

In the old world, Wu Ziqin was a recent master’s graduate in electrical engineering from a 985 university, specializing in power cables. He had interned at cable factories, transformer factories, and substations, and was familiar with the cable production process, but his practical experience was limited, not even half a bucket of water. He was just muddling along in the Ministry of Science and Technology, working on “power equipment development.” He was also a key player on the Yuanen Senate Office’s football team, playing as a left-back.

Lin Hanlong saw him carrying a net bag full of dirty clothes, reeking of sweat. He remembered that Wu Ziqin had been coaching the Ministry of Science and Technology’s football team that day. Under Chen Sigen’s strong advocacy, sports like football, rugby, and baseball were beginning to be promoted from schools to various industrial, agricultural, and administrative departments.

“Have you seen the BBS? The navy guys are clamoring for a fire control system on their ships,” he said excitedly. “They even want to build a mechanical fire control computer! How exciting.”

“Fire control? They haven’t even produced a telescope yet. It’s really ‘Army rustic, Navy fancy.’ We can’t keep up with their pace of a thousand li a day.”

“Speaking of which, you studied optics, right? This stuff is your specialty.”

Lin Hanlong smiled wryly. “What haven’t I done in Dongguan? Mobile phones, computers, digital cameras… I’ve made knockoffs of everything. Ordinary optical instruments aren’t that difficult, but the problem is we don’t even have optical glass. What can we do? With those few already quite competent bureaucrats, it’s a miracle they even remembered this after the First Five-Year Plan.”

This was no exaggeration. Since graduating from a second-rate university, Lin Hanlong had been working in small electronics factories in the Pearl River Delta, holding titles like “engineer,” “senior engineer,” and “technical manager.” His main job was to make knockoff mobile phones, computers, this and that, in various knockoff electronics factories in the Pearl River Delta. From laptops to digital cameras, there was almost no consumer electronic product he hadn’t worked on. He had also had some contact with optical instruments and electronic equipment.

“We can’t be out of optical glass, can we? I remember Yuanen can get glasses…”

During the transmigration, considering that many Yuanen were nearsighted, although some had undergone vision correction surgery before D-Day, many had doubts about the surgery and were unwilling to go through with it. Therefore, when compiling the list of materials and equipment to bring, they had specifically included a full set of optometry and lens grinding equipment, as well as a large number of resin and glass optical lenses, to ensure that they could provide various glasses for the Yuanen for decades. Yuanen with vision problems often brought enough spare glasses to last a lifetime themselves.

“How much can there be? These optical equipment and materials were prepared for five hundred people. Now they have to serve hundreds of thousands. How can it be enough?”

Lin Hanlong shook his head and said goodbye to Wu Ziqin. After returning to his dormitory, he broke his usual routine of eating, showering, playing cards, and watching movies. Instead, he ate a quick meal and took out his long-dusty professional manuals to read. His maid dared not disturb him, only refilling his tea and water from time to time.

During the lunch break the next day, Lin Hanlong found a piece of glass—Lin’gao-made flat glass was no longer a rarity. The workshop warehouse had it. Lin Hanlong carefully selected from almost all the glass plates in the Ministry of Science and Technology’s inventory, choosing the clearest and most colorless one.

He scored it with an iron ruler, flipped it over on a wooden board with the score line aligned with the edge, and with a light tap, a long strip of glass broke off. He repeated this a few times, and the long strip became eight one-inch-square glass pieces.

In the afternoon, Lin Hanlong took his apprentice to the general warehouse for industrial materials. All modern materials were strictly controlled by the Planning Office. Without the signatures of several heads, no one could take out a single screw or a wrench. But the transmigrators were much more casual about things that could be produced in this time.

Ordinary materials in the warehouse below a certain limit could be directly requisitioned by a Yuanen from the industrial sector with a signed requisition form. As an engineer at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Lin Hanlong was a frequent visitor to the materials warehouse. He nodded to the warehouse manager, and a middle-aged naturalized citizen warehouse keeper immediately ran over.

There were no easy jobs in Lin’gao. Besides managing the warehouse, the warehouse keeper also had to act as a porter. In their spare time, they would do some manual work that didn’t require equipment. All of this was included in their work quota. The former sweatshop HRs in the Planning Office would often check the labor efficiency and workload of various jobs to ensure that no one was idle.

Lin Hanlong’s apprentice, without waiting for instructions, went to push a “Zidian Kai” and followed Lin Hanlong and the warehouse keeper into the warehouse.

The general warehouse for industrial materials used to be just a shed, but it had recently been rebuilt into a standard warehouse with red brick and a forged iron truss structure. The roof tiles even had an insulating layer. It was scorching hot outside, but walking into the tall, deep warehouse, one immediately felt a coolness, and the sweat subsided.

The materials warehouse was divided into several sub-warehouses according to the type of materials stored. Wooden and iron shelves were densely arranged, filled with all kinds of materials. These were all collected, produced, and processed in this time.

Lin Hanlong knew where to find what he needed. He walked directly to a shelf, pointed, and stated a quantity. The apprentice immediately went to move the items to the cart, and the warehouse keeper filled out the form on a clipboard accordingly. In a short while, Lin Hanlong had gotten everything he needed. The three of them returned outside the warehouse. Lin Hanlong went into the office with the warehouse keeper. The keeper returned to his desk and began to copy the three-part issue slip. Someone else came over to serve Lin Hanlong tea. His apprentice waited outside with the cart. It didn’t take long for the issue slip to be copied. The keeper brought it to Lin Hanlong for his signature, then presented it to the manager for a stamp. Another person was responsible for checking that the items on the cart matched the quantity and type on the issue slip, and then, thump, thump, thump, three more stamps.

Back in the workshop, Lin Hanlong told his apprentice they would be working overtime today, then went to attend to his regular business. As a jack-of-all-trades, there were countless other things waiting for him at the Ministry of Science and Technology. He could only work on this new idea after getting off work in the evening.

The whistle for the end of the workday blew. Lin Hanlong found a suitable gas heating furnace and placed an iron pot on it. In the pot were the beeswax and rosin he had just requisitioned, mixed in proportion—this was the adhesive for the glass.

He turned on the gas fire and patiently waited for the mixture to melt and mix evenly. He then scooped out some with an iron ladle and poured it onto a glass plate, then pressed another glass plate on top. He did this until all the glass plates were glued together.

Lin Hanlong removed the iron pot, added an iron cover to the furnace head, and placed an iron plate on top. He heated the iron plate with a low fire. When the temperature was right, Lin Hanlong put on heat-resistant gloves, placed the glued glass on the iron plate to let the adhesive melt again, then put it on a screw press and carefully turned the handle to press the glass plates together tightly, then secured them with a clamp.

While waiting for the glass plates to solidify completely, he went outside for a smoke, enjoying the cool evening breeze of Lin’gao. After finishing his smoke, he had another cup of tea.

Finally, all the glass plates were tightly glued together, with all the edges aligned, forming a glass cube. After finishing this, he drew a cross on both ends of the cube’s long axis with an ink line to find the center, then drew a large and a small circle with an ink compass. He then dripped some melted adhesive and stuck two small cylindrical iron blocks on both ends of the glass, right on top of the smaller ink circles.

Lin Hanlong told his apprentice to clean up the furnace, then took the glass cube and walked over to the grinding wheel. Since it was after work, no one was using the grinding wheel. Both the grinding wheel and the machine were brought from the old world. Lin Hanlong suddenly remembered that Zhong Lishi had talked about developing grinding wheels—there were too many things to do now, so he would deal with that later.

He carefully clamped the glass and started the grinding wheel. First, he cut off the four edges of the cube, changing the cross-section from a square to an octagon. Then he continued to cut, and the octagon became a sixteen-sided polygon. He was very careful each time, advancing the blade slowly and keeping the coolant on. When he was almost at the large circle he had drawn earlier, Lin Hanlong started to rotate the workpiece, and soon he had ground out a decent-looking cylinder. He turned off the grinding wheel, took out the workpiece, and measured it for a long time. Satisfied, he packed everything up and told his apprentice to go home.

The next day, Lin Hanlong gave his apprentice a task: to smash a pile of requisitioned garnets into powder with a hammer, and then grind them as finely as possible with an iron ball and an iron mortar. The garnets had been discovered by the long-range exploration team during fieldwork. Knowing that this thing was useful in industry, they had brought back several dozen kilograms of samples.

Garnet has a relatively high hardness. The ancients used it as an abrasive to process jade, and it is also a gemstone itself. Gem-quality garnet is a mid-to-high-end gemstone. Industrial-grade garnet has many applications. Because of its hardness of 7, it is mainly used for grinding and cutting materials. The ones brought back by the long-range exploration team could only be considered industrial-grade garnet sand. It was impure, contained many impurities, and its color was not pure.