A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

Chapter 771 Yoho, come out, my patrol dragon!

"Comrade! This side is fine now. Help me move the things from that big box over here!"

Upon hearing Jiangxia's call, the three middle-aged men in the lead turned around and revealed bright smiles.

"Yes! Coming right away..."

As they spoke, the three men, together with the soldiers behind them, carefully began to move the box, which was about the size of a desk.

Old Wang, who was practically cracking from all the scolding, gave the clueless kid a thumbs up: "Brother, you're really something, getting a major general to do your chores..."

The box was placed securely on the workbench. The reinforced latches were opened, and the cover was lifted. The soldiers worked together to slowly lift out a stunning "masterpiece" from the thick shock-absorbing padding.

It was a huge, light gray metal chassis, almost the size of a desk. The front panel was covered with neatly arranged toggle switches, and in the center was a conspicuous light red functional module, next to several standard round multi-pin connectors.

The side of the chassis has dense ventilation holes, through which you can vaguely see that, apart from a few plug-in boards that clearly have integrated circuit features, the interior still uses a large number of discrete transistors, resistors and capacitors. All the components are connected together by hand-soldered, rather "robust" wires, and the overall structure gives off a peculiar hybrid feel.

It possesses advanced concepts that transcend the times, yet also carries the solid and rugged characteristics of this era, characterized by its "homemade" approach.

"This...this is the new thing you were talking about? It looks a bit like Big Yellow's clone, but it's definitely much smaller." Engineer Chen, who had been busy working alongside Jiang Xia, pushed up his glasses, bent down to examine the not-so-big thing carefully, and his tone was full of incredulous amazement.

Jiang Xia reached out and stroked the cold, rough surface of the computer case, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"To be precise, this is a dedicated high-speed signal processor based on hybrid micro-integration and discrete component technology."

The boy nodded first, his tone carrying a sense of "barely passing": "Sigh... Dr. Lan Ying and the comrades of Institute 109 really did their best and risked their lives... In such a short time, they were able to forcibly combine several new integrated circuits with our existing mature transistor technology to create such a working 'big guy,' which is already a miracle."

But then, his tone turned into a distinctly Versailles-style critical one: "However, look at its size and weight... it's still too bulky."

Ideally, its core computing components should be integrated onto a small board... but now, to ensure compatibility with existing systems and maintain power, it has to be bundled with a whole bunch of transistors and cables...

Sigh, it's kind of... an attempt to highly specialize and cram all the core computing functions onto a single large motherboard.

As Jiang Xia spoke, he shook his head helplessly, as if lamenting a work that could have been more perfect. The ahoge (cowlick) on his head also swayed.

Listening to Jiang Xia's somewhat Versailles-esque explanation, Chen's abdominal pain inexplicably subsided. Free from the pain, Chen suddenly had a strong urge to pluck out a certain stray hair...

"Luckily, I didn't listen to your advice and modify a Jiefang truck," Jiang Xia patted the thick steel plate of the armored vehicle next to him. "With the size and appetite of this 'big guy,' apart from this 'iron mule,' no ordinary vehicle could really tow it."

Engineer Chen turned around, looking at the array antenna mounted on the top of the armored vehicle, not wanting to see the swaying ahoge (cowlick) again...

With no one to support him, Jiang Xia stopped showing off and immediately directed everyone to begin the intense assembly and debugging work.

First, the heavy "mixed signal processor" was hoisted into the armored vehicle and firmly secured with a specially designed shock-absorbing base. At the same time, another team began assembling a multi-probe gradient measurement array antenna on a rotating base on the roof of the vehicle.

They installed the probes, each about the size of a bowl, according to the precisely calculated grid positions on the Jiangxia blueprints, and laid out the shielded cables.

However, when it came to installing those "specially designed high-density integrated circuit" modules, which were packaged in metal boxes and had pins that gleamed with gold, the researchers from Institute 706 noticeably slowed down, becoming unusually cautious and even hesitant.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xia noticed their hesitation and asked with a frown.

A young researcher looked up: "Professor Jiang... this... this thing is too precious! Didn't you say that such a small piece contains more than a thousand transistors? That's worth more than the entire institute's annual budget... The pins are so thin and dense, we... we're a little hesitant to handle it, afraid of damaging it..."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xia chuckled. He stepped forward and held out his hand: "Give it to me."

The researcher handed a metal box to Jiang Xia with a sigh of relief. Jiang Xia took it, not even glancing at the densely packed pins, but simply running his finger along a small, inconspicuous dent on the edge of the metal casing.

“Watch closely,” Jiang Xia picked up the chip and aligned it with a socket on the circuit board that also had a small raised mark. “Align this indentation with the raised mark on the socket, and you’ll be on the right track.”

As soon as he finished speaking, amidst the gasps and horrified gazes of all the researchers around him, Jiang Xia roughly aligned the chip pins with the socket holes, and then without hesitation, slammed his fist into the chip's metal casing!

"Click!" A crisp yet chilling sound of a latch engaging rang out.

"Jiang Gong!!"

"That won't do!!"

A suppressed gasp rippled through the crowd. Everyone's heart was in their throats, but due to Jiang Xia's authority and his previous "fierce reputation," no one dared to actually step forward to stop him; they were all just pale-faced.

Jiang Xia, however, acted as if nothing had happened. He clapped his hands, looked at the chip that was now fully in place, and calmly said, "What's the panic? This socket is specially made. It has a guide groove around its outer edge. As long as the direction is right, just press it down with a little force, and it will automatically align with the pins and lock in place. It's much more reliable than you guys trying to align it with tweezers for ages! This thing is designed for quick installation and replacement; it's not that delicate!"

Hehehe, look at this! Our little guy, in order to get rid of the hassle of soldering, has even managed to create a DIP socket. Although his original intention was to use it to install LED digital tubes…

DIP connectors are something everyone is familiar with, right? They were everywhere on desktop computer motherboards in the 1990s. Although they're less common now, they're still a staple in many appliance repair shops.

The guy with the dazed hair specially created this socket, partly to get rid of the embarrassment of being criticized for his "trendy" craftsmanship, and partly to take into account the assembly difficulties when chips are used on a large scale.

After all, there is no vacuum reflow soldering or flip-chip placement machine now. If someone were to solder the pins one by one, it would be impossible not to make mistakes.

But now things are much better. A single DIP connector not only solves installation problems, but it's also useful for debugging. Even in repairs, it's incredibly quick and easy…

However, such a rough treatment of "high-tech products" still made the researchers' hearts race.

Chen, who had been quietly recording the assembly process, pushed up his glasses and neatly wrote in his notebook: "Integrated circuit module installation steps: Confirm the positioning mark, align with the DIP socket, and apply vertical pressure until the clips are locked."

After writing it down, he added a small note in red pen below the line: "Inexperienced personnel are strictly prohibited from imitating Comrade Jiang Xia's 'pressing' strength and style! Special tools must be used to assist in applying force!"

He was genuinely worried that one day when Jiang Xia wasn't around, other researchers would follow suit and smash the chip to pieces.

All the chips were quickly installed. Jiang Xia checked all the connections and interfaces again, and after confirming that everything was correct, he took a deep breath and turned on the main power switch.

The deep, powerful roar of the generator instantly filled the carriage. The indicator lights on the "Mixed Signal Processor" panel lit up one by one, and the cooling fan began to run smoothly, emitting a reassuring hum.

On the control panel, the pale red status indicator module flashed a few times before emitting a stable soft light and displaying a line of numbers. On the connected oscilloscope screen, a complex baseline began to fluctuate.

"System self-test passed! Power supply to all modules is normal! Primary initialization complete!" Jiang Xia stared at the screen with a smile on his face.

"Prepare for joint testing! 'Earth Patrol Dragon,' it's time to wake up!"