The senior executives of 077 Machinery Military Factory followed closely behind Lin Chenran as they arrived before the special steel plate being tested.
The moment they approached, a scorching wave of heat washed over them, making their skin prickle with heat.
Even so, their faces remained filled with excitement and anticipation.
Because they knew that this heat wave had been caused by the explosion from the collision between the special steel material and the Type 59 Tank's armor-piercing shell, which meant their research results were about to be verified.
Judging by the current test results, this special steel material had already succeeded!
Its appearance would bring a tremendous breakthrough to 077 Machinery Military Factory and give it a pair of "wings" to soar.
"Old Song, look. The Type 59 Tank's armor-piercing shell seems a little lacking."
The corners of Lin Chenran's mouth lifted slightly as he pointed with a faint smile at the steel needle embedded in the special steel plate.
Everyone followed his gaze and saw that the steel needle had sunk deeply into the special steel plate, unable to penetrate it.
As an outdated tank, the Type 59 Tank's main weapon—a 100mm smoothbore gun—was indeed somewhat underpowered in modern warfare.
If they could switch to a more advanced tank, such as the Bear's T-72 or Eagle Country's M1 Tank, they might be able to better test the special steel material's true performance.
The Second Generation Main Battle Tanks made with special steel material in the future would compete fiercely with the Main Battle Tanks of those two countries.
Song Xiyun immediately gave a wry smile upon hearing this. "Factory Director, while I agree with your idea, we simply don't have a Bear T-72 Tank or an Eagle Country M1 Tank!"
The 125mm smoothbore guns serving as the main weapons of these two tanks could be said to be the most powerful in the world. If they used them to test the special steel material produced by their own factory, the data obtained would be the most authentic and reliable.
However, although Song Xiyun understood this, he had no such equipment available to use.
At that moment, Lin Chenran suddenly remembered something. Lowering his voice, he said to Song Xiyun, "Old Song, I remember that a few years ago, our country imported a T-72 Tank from another country. It seemed to have been sent to 617 Machinery Military Factory."
Song Xiyun was startled when he heard this and quickly asked, "Are you thinking of using that T-72 Tank to test our factory's special steel material?"
Lin Chenran nodded, indicating that he did indeed have that idea.
But Song Xiyun frowned and said worriedly, "I'm afraid 617 Machinery Military Factory won't agree to that. And there's another issue: that T-72 Tank was imported years ago. Whether it can still start normally is still unknown."
Under normal circumstances, 617 Machinery Military Factory should have dismantled that T-72 Tank long ago and conducted in-depth research and analysis on it.
So, finding a T-72 Tank that could still operate normally would not be easy.
"We can give it a try. We can contact Old Zhu when the time comes. He probably won't reject our proposal."
"After all, the birth of this special steel material can allow our country's military industry to take off."
Lin Chenran felt that it was worth trying.
The military's senior leadership: I have no objections!
What Lin Chenran and the others were most worried about now was whether that imported T-72 Tank could be reassembled.
Could it fire armor-piercing shells?
The senior executives of 077 Machinery Military Factory returned from the testing ground in high spirits and swiftly threw themselves into even busier work.
Meanwhile, Lin Chenran and Song Xiyun returned to the office together.
The moment he entered the office, Lin Chenran eagerly picked up the telephone on the desk. He wanted to contact Flame Nation's military and inform them that their special steel material had been successfully developed.
Thus, right in front of Song Xiyun, Lin Chenran decisively dialed the number of Old Wei, the head of the military's equipment department.
"Beep, beep, beep..."
The phone rang continuously, but no one answered.
After quite a while, a voice finally came from the other end.
"Hello? Who is this?"
The person who answered was Old Wei, the head of the military's equipment department. His voice sounded strong and assured.
Upon hearing Old Wei's response, Lin Chenran hurriedly said,
"Hello, Old Wei. This is Lin Chenran. Is now a convenient time for you to take a call?"
Old Wei replied,
"Oh, it's you, kid Lin! What is it? Make it quick."
"I have an important meeting to chair shortly."
"You have three minutes."
Lin Chenran immediately reported, "Old Wei, our 077 Machinery Military Factory has successfully developed special steel material!"
"And we just conducted a test on it."
He deliberately did not tell Old Wei the test results, mischievously leaving him in suspense.
"Then tell me! What kind of test did you do? What were the results?"
Old Wei asked anxiously, his voice full of anticipation.
The corners of Lin Chenran's mouth rose slightly, and he answered with a smile,
"We had a Type 59 Tank fire armor-piercing shells from two hundred meters... one hundred meters... and twenty meters!"
After saying that, Lin Chenran stopped talking and quietly waited for Old Wei's reaction.
On the other end of the line, Old Wei furrowed his brow as anger surged within him.
He felt that this kid Lin Chenran was far too mischievous, daring to tease him like this.
He took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the urge to curse, and said sternly,
"Kid Lin, don't make me curse at you when I'm happy!"
"Understand?"
Seeing this, Song Xiyun could not help covering his mouth with his hand, afraid that he would laugh out loud.
Although he tried his best to hide and restrain himself, his barely suppressed amusement still showed from time to time.
I'm a professional. Unless I really can't hold it in, I won't laugh.
It couldn't be helped. It was just too funny!
"No, no, no! Old Wei, I was wrong!"
Lin Chenran immediately apologized upon hearing that.
"Go on!"
"What were the test results?"
Although Lin Chenran had teased him a little, what Old Wei cared about more was the performance of the special steel material made by 077 Machinery Military Factory.
"Old Wei! Brace yourself!"
Lin Chenran then slowly explained, "The Type 59 Tank fired one armor-piercing shell each from two hundred meters... one hundred meters... and twenty meters."
"The result was that only the armor-piercing shell fired from twenty meters managed to 'stick' in the 80mm steel plate, but it still did not penetrate it!"
"At all other distances, the armor-piercing shells merely exploded and caused no damage whatsoever to the 80mm steel plate."
Lin Chenran proudly announced this good news to Old Wei.
"Really?"
"Kid Lin, you're not lying to me?"
Although Old Wei believed Lin Chenran's words, this matter was too important, so he needed to make sure.
"Truer than pearls!!!"
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