Professor Wang left the conference room quickly, or rather, he almost rushed out, paying no further attention to the situation inside. The other people in the room, after their initial shock, generally wore smiles. After all, they no longer had to make such a difficult decision, nor worry about the burden of historical responsibility resting on their shoulders.
Only Professor Yang, looking at the scene before him with some confusion, finally asked his young wife, "Why has everyone's attitude changed so drastically? Do they really believe that the world's richest man is willing to build a high-energy particle collider?"
Clearly, Professor Yang still treated this matter as a scam.
"Darling, you don't quite understand some of the unspoken rules in China!" Professor Yang's young wife said softly. "Other things can be discussed, they could all be lies. Even if the project approval comes from the Ministry of Science and Technology, it will still be fake if it's fake."
"But if this project is included in the list of major national projects for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, then it absolutely cannot be fake. Because since the founding of the People's Republic, not a single major project included in a Five-Year Plan has ever failed to be completed."
"That's why these people are so excited, because the high-energy particle collider project is a done deal."
"No, that's impossible, I don't believe it!" As the saying goes, the older one gets, the more stubborn and persistent one becomes. Take Professor Yang for example. Based on the worldview he had built up from his 90 years of life experience, he firmly believed that this matter must be fake, and that Huang He would absolutely not build a high-energy particle collider.
"A businessman will never do something without profit," Professor Yang insisted. "With his previous reputation and achievements, it's easy for this world's richest man to deceive the leaders. As long as he refuses to invest and keeps delaying, it won't matter what the Twelfth Five-Year Plan says!"
"Yes!" His young wife didn't say much more. They had been married for over 8 years, and she understood her 90-year-old husband's personality very well. Arguing was useless. After all, with his academic standing, no one could argue against him.
For instance, if he were to announce that carbon was actually a metallic element, a large number of people might immediately side with him and firmly believe that carbon was also a metal.
In any case, time would tell.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Professor Wang rushed back to the conference room of the Institute of High Energy Physics. All the middle and senior management of the Institute were gathered there, collectively waiting for the return of their director.
"Hello Director Wang, I am Yang Yunhe, the person in charge of the 'Yuanshen' project. I sincerely hope to receive your help and guidance today!" Yang Yunhe tightly grasped Professor Wang's hand and said with great excitement.
"You are Yang Yunhe, the one who researched the anti-gravity engine? I finally get to meet you, you are indeed as young as the legends say!" Upon seeing Yang Yunhe, Professor Wang was also quite moved and excited.
After all, the anti-gravity engine was simply astonishing, and the gravitational field it contained, which could shield mass, was even more remarkable.
To put it bluntly, among Professor Wang's entire career of scientific achievements, there was nothing comparable to this accomplishment. Therefore, even though Yang Yunhe was 30 years his junior, Professor Wang did not act superior in front of this young man.
After all, on his way back, his subordinates had already explained the situation to him in detail.
It turned out that a week ago, Yang Yunhe had completed all preliminary investigation work and then submitted a project research report written by the Jiangnan Group to the Ministry of Science and Technology, applying to build a high-energy particle collider independently.
Normally, a company's actions would not require review by the Ministry of Science and Technology, but everyone knew that a high-energy particle collider was far too important, being a crucial national asset. The relevant authorities had to be involved.
The Ministry of Science and Technology was initially very surprised and even thought Huang He was joking. But the next day, Huang He personally came to the capital and stayed there for a full week.
What happened during this week was naturally unknown to others. In any case, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved the project with the fastest possible speed and also temporarily added it to the list of key projects for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan.
It should be known that every Five-Year Plan was formulated before its commencement, and the possibility of temporary additions was almost non-existent. Yet, Huang He managed to achieve this, which was enough to be shocking.
However, by including this project in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, it gave the Institute of High Energy Physics an opportunity to participate.
After all, if they didn't participate, it would be purely a corporate endeavor. Unless Jiangnan Group actively requested guidance, the Institute of High Energy Physics would have no reason to intervene.
But after being included in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, the Institute of High Energy Physics could legitimately join the project.
According to the finally confirmed plan, Jiangnan Group would remain the primary party responsible for the entire project, and Yang Yunhe, this young man, would be the overall project leader.
The Institute of High Energy Physics, on the other hand, would join the project as a secondary responsible party to assist in the construction of the entire project. This was because Jiangnan Group was still too weak in the field of high-energy physics, and without the help of the entire Institute of High Energy Physics, they might not even be able to figure out the technical structure of the high-energy particle collider.
Therefore, after this plan was determined, Yang Yunhe immediately led the Jiangnan Group's team to the Institute of High Energy Physics to discuss how to jointly launch the collider project.
After some pleasantries, Professor Wang sat down in the main seat and said with a smile, "I apologize for keeping everyone waiting for so long. Let's get straight to the point and finalize the cooperation as quickly as possible!"
"That's only right!" Yang Yunhe quickly replied.
"Good, then, may I ask how Group Leader Yang intends to advance this plan, and in what areas do you require assistance from our Institute of High Energy Physics?" Professor Wang asked directly.
"Yes, first of all, regarding the site selection. Over the past month or so, I have surveyed three provinces, and finally concluded that Sanqing Mountain in Jiangxi Province is more suitable for the construction of a Superconducting Synchrotron Collider for Positron and Electron, in terms of both terrain and geological structure."
"Therefore, the entire plan will be divided into two parts. One part is infrastructure construction, where engineering teams will begin digging 50-100 meters deep within the selected area to build the circular pipeline."
"The other part is to immediately commence the theoretical design of the Superconducting Synchrotron Collider for Positron and Electron, which will be jointly completed by us and the Institute of High Energy Physics. Our group currently requires assistance from your institute in the following technical aspects..." Yang Yunhe quickly explained all the technical difficulties currently faced by the project.
Professor Wang nodded after listening, but then waved his hand and said, "It's not that complicated. You don't need to do any research; just use the design proposal from our Institute of High Energy Physics!"
Upon hearing this, all the representatives from the Jiangnan Group's side stiffened. Professor Wang, however, seemed completely oblivious to the change in their demeanor and continued excitedly, "To be frank, we at the Institute of High Energy Physics have been planning to replace and upgrade our existing Positron-Electron Collider for the past 10 years. We already have very complete theoretical designs and technical accumulation. I suggest your company can directly use our proposal without having to redesign a 'Superconducting Synchrotron Collider for Positron and Electron'."
"Oh, may I see this proposal?" Yang Yunhe, having recovered from his momentary stiffness, asked with a smile.
"Uh, I'm very sorry, but this involves some technical secrets, so we cannot disclose the detailed proposal. However, we do have a proposal brief that we can show you!" With that, Professor Wang had someone hand the brief to Yang Yunhe.
Yang Yunhe read it very seriously for a few minutes, then returned the brief to the other party and said with a smile, "This is indeed an excellent proposal, but isn't the energy level of this proposal a bit too low?"
"100 TeV, and you still think it's low! This figure is 5 times higher than that of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility!" Professor Wang said incredulously.
"It is indeed 5 times higher, but a 5-fold difference doesn't change anything. Because if we need to collide even smaller particles, we need at least 10 times the energy. A 5-fold increase, while seeming substantial, cannot change the current situation, nor can it bring about a qualitative leap!" Yang Yunhe said with a smile. "Therefore, we believe that the high-energy particle collider we build should have an energy of at least 1000 TeV or more!"
"Are you playing us?" Professor Wang suddenly became angry. "Are you trying to deliberately set an unachievable goal so that you can claim to be building a next-generation high-energy particle collider, while refusing to invest any funds for actual research, because the energy you require is simply impossible to achieve!"
"Professor Wang, please don't misunderstand. We genuinely want to build a new generation of high-energy particle collider. As for whether this equipment can be built."
"In fact, you don't need to worry about that. Since we dare to propose this idea, we must have a certain theoretical basis. These are several special materials reserved in our research center's technical library. Once you examine the properties of these materials, you will know that our proposal is not without foundation!" With that, Yang Yunhe handed the document in his hand to Professor Wang.