Chapter 154 Three-pronged attack: Countdown to breaking through the 28-day blockade

Lin Xi took a deep breath and gripped the slightly trembling microphone tightly.

Right now, what was needed wasn't sentimentality, but military orders.

He was the commander; he had to mobilize this iron army that had just assembled.

"Good!"

Lin Xi shouted, instantly entering a wartime state.

His speech was extremely fast yet organized and clear:

"High-performance water-based cutting fluid will be led by Spring City Second Machinery!"

Lin Xi pointed toward a corner.

"You are the leaders in forging and pressing; you understand metal cooling and deformation best!"

"Jiang Jun!"

"Present!" Below the stage, Jiang Jun straightened his back.

"Lead a team, take Engineer Wu, the chemical expert from our laboratory, and go to the Changguang Institute for a joint assault."

"In the Changguang Institute's optical coating technology, their control over liquid surface tension is world-class."

"Apply that principle to cutting fluid to solve the wettability issue!"

"I want this cutting fluid to be as pervasive as mercury!"

The entire hall was shaken.

Optical technology plus mechanical forging and pressing?

This kind of cross-disciplinary combination was unheard of.

But upon careful consideration, it was absolutely brilliant!

"Coating materials will be led by Modu Machine Tool Factory!"

Lin Xi turned his gaze toward the Modu faction.

"Your grinding technology is unrivaled in the world; you understand the temperament of cutting tools best."

"Hanjiang Machine Tool Factory will provide support!"

"You make lead screws; you know how to control hardness."

"Also, contact the Dongdu Bearing Plant and ask them to send heat treatment experts over."

Lin Xi paused, his eyes sharp.

"Zhao Qiang, take Klaus and go with them."

"Utilize Modu's complete chemical support to get multi-arc ion plating done for me!"

"Lubricating grease will be led by Fengtian Second Machinery Plant!"

"You build heavy machine tools; your spindle loads are the largest, and you have the most lubrication experience."

"Mountain City Machine Tool will assist!"

"You are the leaders in gear processing and are familiar with general spindle lubrication requirements, which is exactly what we need right now!"

"I will be with your group."

"We will test out the anti-wear agent formula!"

“People from other factories, choose a team to join based on your specialties within two hours!"

Commands were issued like a barrage of cannon fire.

The Eighteen Arhats, who were originally fighting their own battles like a tray of loose sand,

were at this moment being used by Lin Xi with a logic of 'industrial chain integration' that transcended the era.

They were instantly integrated into a precision war machine.

There was no buck-passing, no questioning.

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

The roar made the glass of the auditorium buzz and vibrate.

The main doors swung open, and the wild wind of the Northwest Gobi, mixed with grit, poured in.

It stung as it hit their faces, but it couldn't cool the boiling blood in everyone's hearts.

Lin Xi stood at the edge of the rostrum, looking at this group of backbones of China's industry who were about to rush to various battlefields.

His voice wasn't loud, yet it exploded in everyone's heart.

"Comrades."

"This is a war!"

"An industrial war without gunpowder, yet one that concerns the destiny of our nation!"

Lin Xi suddenly waved his hand, pointing toward the West:

"Since they want to choke us to death, since they want the backbone we just straightened to bend again,"

"then we will bite a gap out of their encirclement"

"and carve out a path of blood!"

"Depart!"

The crowd surged out like a tide.

They rushed toward trucks, toward the airport, toward those smokestacks belching black smoke and laboratories lit up through the night.

Zhang Zhengguo stood behind Lin Xi, watching this scene, speechless for a long time.

After a long while, he tremblingly pulled a cigarette from his pocket, only to find he couldn't get the match to light no matter what.

"Lin Xi..."

Zhang Zhengguo looked at that young silhouette, his gaze complicated to the extreme:

"You kid, you aren't just building machine tools."

"You've brought back the soul of China's machine tool industry."

...

Fengtian Second Machinery Plant, Meeting Room No. 3.

This place was originally a high-specification venue used for receiving foreign guests.

It was covered in red carpet, and a painting of pines and cranes for longevity hung on the wall.

A massive blackboard stood across the center of the meeting room.

On it, soul-stirring large characters were written in red chalk:

[Countdown: 28 Days]

Lin Xi stood before the blackboard, holding half a piece of chalk in his hand.

He hadn't slept, and his eyes were bloodshot, but his pupils were terrifyingly bright.

This wasn't just a crisis for Red Star Technology; it had pushed the entire Chinese machine tool industry to the edge of a cliff.

The three major consumables under Western embargo—

cutting fluid, coating materials, and lubricating grease.

Once the inventory was exhausted, those precision CNC machine tools that had just begun to improve would turn into a pile of scrap iron.

"This is a direct order."

Lin Xi's voice was raspy.

"In twenty-eight days, I want to see domestic replacements come out!"

He turned around and looked at the temporary communication station set up behind him.

Dedicated phone lines to each group converged there.

This was a war without gunpowder.

The headquarters was in Shenyang, but the battlefield spanned the entire country.

...

[Countdown: 22 Days]

Modu Machine Tool Factory, Precision Cutting Tool Laboratory.

"Sizzle—"

After a piercing sound came a burnt smell.

"Collapsed again..."

An old technician took off his goggles.

His calloused hands trembled as he picked up the carbide blade that had just come out of the furnace.

Under the microscope, the golden coating that had just been plated was peeling off in patches.

He didn't lose his temper or throw things.

He simply placed the scrapped sample gently into the waste tray.

"The adhesion is no good; it won't stick at all."

The technical team leader brought from Hanjiang Machine Tool Factory furrowed his brows, the notebook in his hand nearly crushed.

"This is our first time doing the PVD process."

"We're completely feeling our way through the temperature curves."

"Imported tools can cut for six hours on Red Star machine tools, but ours..."

"The tool has to be changed in thirty minutes."

In the corner, Klaus, wearing a military overcoat he'd scavenged from somewhere, was pacing back and forth irritably.

The exquisite stainless steel flask in his hand had long been empty.

"Dammit." Klaus scratched his messy hair, speaking in a Shaanxi accent mixed with German.

"When I was in Switzerland, I heard Old Werner bragging."

"He said something about doing... ion bombardment cleaning on the substrate?"

"No, that's a step before coating."

"It's that temperature..."

"Agh, that's their family's secret recipe, I can't remember it!"

The laboratory fell into a dead silence.

The technicians from Modu looked at each other.

Everyone knew the direction, but it was like being separated by a layer of window paper—if they couldn't poke through it, they just couldn't poke through it.