Chapter 116: An Unusual Flavor
“Additionally, we still need to think about one problem: what if White Horse is discovered after giving us such an important thing?
Should we rescue him?” Dean Qian raised the question that everyone had thought of but no one dared to mention.
Right now, China does have people in America, but very few.
Energy is extremely limited.
“I told the cave people to talk to White Horse; if he gets to the cave, there’s a passage for him to escape.
Regarding this problem, I think we need to make two preparations.
On one hand, just the cave is not enough; we also need to plan the subsequent escape route for him after leaving the cave.
If White Horse can successfully return to China, with his identity and ability, his role will definitely be comparable to Dean Qian’s.
On the other hand, if he is discovered, we also need to figure out how to rescue him.
The first point is easy to solve; the second point is the biggest difficulty.
The other party’s identity is too sensitive; it’s estimated that Soviet Union help might be needed at that time.
But as long as we can rescue the other party, any price is worth it.”
In fact, none of them thought that “Raspberry Pi” exists neither in America nor in Soviet Union.
It belongs to China’s unique golden finger at present.
The cave refers to Yanjing Palace.
The first day of 1962.
At the door of an office in the academic committee’s first division, experts in China’s semiconductor, computer, circuitry, and other fields all reported here, lining up outside into a long dragon.
Everyone was a bit confused.
Wang Shouwu and Wang Shoujue are blood brothers from the same mother; both are pioneers of China’s semiconductor. The former graduated with a PhD from Purdue University and returned to China in 1950, while the latter graduated from Tongji University and then joined the applied physics research institute. After the Chinese Academy of Sciences Semiconductor Research Institute was established in 1960, he transferred to the Semiconductor Research Institute.
The two come from the Mo Li Wang family in Gusu Dongshan, and in the future, they will have the reputation of producing six academicians from one family.
“Do you know what’s going on?” Wang Shoujue asked his brother in a low voice.
Because of returning from America, Wang Shouwu could access more firsthand information.
Including when formulating the “1956-1967 Science and Technology Development Vision Plan,” the content about semiconductors fully referenced Wang Shouwu’s opinion.
Otherwise, China would not invest resources in transistor research and development at this current time point.
You know, vacuum tubes have technical support provided by Soviet Union, while transistors are much more difficult and completely starting from zero.
Just as they were chatting, Wu Xijiu entered the office ahead of them.
After Wu Xijiu entered the office, his eyes widened immediately because the three people sitting inside, besides Dean Qian, the other two were all big shots.
He could see the former from time to time as he was in charge of the academic committee’s work, but the latter he had only seen once.
Wu Xijiu sensed an unusual flavor.
“Comrade Xijiu, to make a long story short, a dedicated person will arrange for you to transfer inland at 3 p.m. this afternoon.
Subsequently, you need to change your work location because from today on, your work content will require absolute secrecy.
For a very long time, you cannot disclose it to the outside; your wife will also go there to work with you.”
“Comrade Xijiu, very sorry, but this is not for discussion; this is an order.
If you have any questions, ask anytime; what I can tell you, I will tell you now; what I cannot tell you, you will naturally understand slowly after you go.”
Wu Xijiu clenched his fist, feeling a bit nervous; this sudden situation caught him off guard.
In the past, work arrangements would at least solicit their opinions, and they had never left Yanjing.
But now everything has become unknown.
“Director, may I ask where I will be working?”
“Sorry, secrecy.”
“May I ask how long it will be?”
“Sorry, secrecy.”
Wu Xijiu, who at 22 years old in this era graduated with a master’s degree in electronics from MIT, is absolutely a smart person.
He knew that what he wanted to know was definitely classified.
He pursed his lips and nodded: “Thank you, Director; I have no questions.”
Finally, it was Dean Qian’s turn to speak:
“Xijiu, I know today is the first day of 1962, and I don’t want to interrupt your time with your family at this point.
But it is indeed a national need; not only you, I will also go with you to the third front to start new work.
I believe all the grievances in your heart now will vanish into thin air the day you see the work content.”
The three cooperated tacitly: the first one talked about the arrangement, the second one let the other party know the importance through Q&A, and the third one did some psychological massage with his own personal experience.
Wu Xijiu’s decision to return to China was largely inspired by Dean Qian.
So he nodded: “Okay, I obey the arrangement.”
When he went out, Wang Shouwu gestured to him and wanted to ask in a low voice what exactly was going on: “Xijiu, what’s the situation inside?”
Wu Xijiu shook his head: “You’ll know when you go in.”
Including Wang Shouwu, Wu Xijiu, Huang Kun, Xie Xide, and other Chinese scientists who have any expertise in semiconductor, circuitry, computer, etc., were all summoned to China’s inland, the southwest frontier’s Panzhihua.
What awaits them is an unknown fate.
Such arrangements are made level by level; they are personally instructed by Dean Qian and others, while other staff are notified by responsible comrades in the institute, but with relatively more preparation time.
It was almost like taking the whole family, with couples and children flying straight from Yanjing to Panzhihua on New Year’s Day.
Although China’s third front construction has not yet started, there is already a so-called small third front in prototyping.
Including some suitable locations already selected by the geology department.
Without delaying a moment, they flew to Wujiaba Airport in Kunming that afternoon, then took a car to Panzhihua.
It was already 8 p.m. when they arrived in Panzhihua.
The base originally for Panzhihua Steel was taken first for their use.
The entire base was brightly lit, visibly surrounded airtight.
It could almost be said there was a sentry post every three steps.
If a U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane flew over now, it could spot the abnormality here at a glance.
Fortunately, this is Panzhihua; with the current U-2 reconnaissance plane’s range, it can’t fly this far.
Experts from various fields had to gather here after dropping their luggage; the entire rhythm was unusually tense.
It was as if something was urging them from behind.
Before entering this industrial factory building, Wu Xijiu looked back at the surroundings, and the strange feeling in his heart became more obvious.
Because this place was very vast and very bright.
As a physicist, he was very sensitive to light.
Currently, China’s self-produced light bulbs are limited to incandescent lamps, and production is concentrated in state-owned factories in Yanjing, Shanghai, and Yangcheng; the production equipment is either directly aided by Soviet Union or imitated by themselves.
Light bulbs made by China themselves do not exceed 1000 lumens in brightness.
And now the light bulbs over the entire base far exceed this brightness; it’s obviously using halogen lamps.
Currently, China’s halogen lamps are either imported from Soviet Union or from East Germany’s East Germany or Czechoslovakia; East Germany’s Narva company and Hungary’s Tungsram company can produce high-quality incandescent lamps and some special light bulbs.
Wu Xijiu roughly estimated that if they were halogen lamps, at least China’s entire three years’ import volume would be used here.
Just the light bulbs alone showed the unusualness here.
From the sudden arrangement, to the unusual base, to the equipment used here, it seemed everything was telling him how extraordinary this place was.
After Wu Xijiu and other more than ten scientists entered the factory building, this strange feeling grew stronger.
Because the entire factory building was filled with a pile of equipment, including generators, batteries, voltage regulators, converters, teletypewriters, oscilloscopes, multimeters, and a bunch of other equipment.
The strangeness came from two points: first, all these equipment were placed next to Dean Qian; although there was a lot of equipment, in this huge factory building, they still seemed exceptionally small.
This feeling was like expecting to see a Godzilla monster but only seeing Hello Kitty.
Additionally, these equipment were connected to a green board about the size of a card; that board was clearly a circuit board.
Similarly, big equipment and small board connected together.
This feeling was even stranger.
Dean Qian had been waiting inside for a long time, and there were also two soldiers standing next to him.
After hearing the footsteps, he turned around: “Everyone, I can now reveal more information to you.
I believe this trip will not be in vain for everyone.
The equipment in front of you is one of the world’s most advanced transistor computers that we obtained recently.
It has super strong computing power.
After our preliminary verification, its computing power is fifteen thousand times that of the 107 computer we successfully developed not long ago.”
After Dean Qian finished speaking, he ignored their uproar.
He continued: “To compare the computing power difference between Raspberry Pi and the 107 computer.
I constructed a standard problem in fluid mechanics: the calculation of lid-driven cavity flow, which involves two-dimensional simulation of incompressible fluid.
Then set a 100×100 grid and calculate the time required to reach steady state.
How long the 107 computer needs, I believe everyone has a rough estimate; at least three days or even longer.
While Raspberry Pi only needs five minutes to get the result; in terms of computing power, its precision also far exceeds China’s current technical level.
For many problems that the 107 cannot handle, such as multiphase flow problems in rocket engine combustion chambers, Raspberry Pi can also perform preliminary simulations.”
The experts who were already discussing made even louder noises.
Everyone present is at least a master’s degree holder, and not lacking those who returned with a PhD from America.
Even if they cannot understand, they can grasp the gap between the two from the comparison of three days and five minutes.
“This is impossible”
The one who least believed this point was Xia Peisu; the 107 computer was developed under her leadership.
She hosted the research and development of this vacuum tube-based computer at Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Computing Technology Research Institute, which also marks the independent start of China’s computer industry.
