The train driver in the courtyard

The tunneling machine is about the size of an extended heavy truck, with a row of wheels underneath, which does look quite intimidating.

Especially with that strange-looking cutting mechanism in front of it, it's even more baffling.

"Patriotic brother, did you bring a tank?"

"Your tank gun barrel is solid and toothed? You're so ignorant!"

Amidst the discussion.

The tunneling machine came to a stop in front of the crowd with a creak, the cab door opened, and Li Aiguo jumped down steadily.

A cold face suddenly approached.

Deputy Director Zhang of the Air Defense Office frowned, pointing his finger at the ground: "You're Li Aiguo, the leader of the excavation team? You've been dragging your feet and delaying the construction of the air-raid shelter. Can you take responsibility for that?!"

He didn't care what this lump of iron was; he just wanted to label it as "defying superiors," and he was sure this young man would be in deep trouble.

Li Aiguo didn't recognize him and turned to look at Director Wang of the Subdistrict Office beside him.

"This is a leader from the epidemic prevention and control office. Aiguo, what's this machine for?" Director Wang felt that something was wrong. Li Aiguo wouldn't abandon his proper work to drive a car.

“Director Wang, digging air-raid shelters manually is too dangerous. There was even a collapse a while ago, so I thought about building a tunneling machine specifically for digging tunnels.”

Li Aiguo's voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.

"A digging machine?" Director Wang's eyes widened in surprise.

Not only him, but also the residents of the neighborhood and the members of the excavation team who were watching were all dumbfounded.

"Digging tunnels with machines? I've never heard of that!"

"With all those rocks and clods of earth, how can you possibly dig through this lump of iron?"

"This kid is definitely bragging, Leader Zhang, don't believe his nonsense!" Yi Zhonghai, who had already figured out how to deal with Li Aiguo, couldn't hold back any longer when he heard this and ran out from the crowd.

Deputy Director Zhang then realized what was going on and sneered twice: "Young comrade, you may look decent, but your mind is not! As the team leader, instead of organizing manpower to dig according to the superior's instructions, you brought out a broken machine to fool people. Using a machine to dig an air-raid shelter? I think your erroneous thinking needs to be thoroughly investigated!"

“Yes, yes, yes, hold a big meeting to dig into the roots of his thinking.” Yi Zhonghai also perked up at this point.

The onlookers immediately cast worried glances at Li Aiguo. The leaders of the epidemic prevention and control office were clearly menacing this time; something big was about to happen.

Director Wang hadn't expected Deputy Director Zhang to take things so seriously, so he quickly stepped forward: "Sir, how about... we let Aiguo give it a try? What if it really works?"

"Try it? That's a complete waste of time!" Deputy Director Zhang waved his hand. "From now on, Li Aiguo is relieved of his position as group leader, and Yi Zhonghai will take over!"

"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!" Yi Zhonghai immediately shouted, puffing out his chest.

At this point, everyone understood.

"It turns out that Yi Zhonghai was behind this."

"Yes, that old man always said he wanted to unite the residents, but now he's gone to complain instead."

"What's all the fuss about? This is an order from the leadership. I'm the leader of the excavation team, and I'm doing this to complete the task assigned by my superiors!" With Deputy Director Zhang backing him up, Yi Zhonghai immediately stood up for himself.

He pointed at Zhang Gangzhu and said, "Zhang Gangzhu, go and tell everyone to start work right away. You all need to work overtime and make sure to dig the entrance before dark."

Zhang Gangzhu stood motionless, arms crossed. He only recognized Li Aiguo; who did Yi Zhonghai even bother with?
Yi Zhonghai's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, and he looked at the Third Uncle: "Old Yan, you're the one in charge, set a good example!"

The old man looked miserable: "Old Yi, what use is my old body all by myself?"

Yi Zhonghai turned to call out to Liu Haizhong, but Liu Haizhong had already taken two steps back and hidden in the crowd. His attitude was self-evident.

The group members all crossed their arms, looking completely indifferent.

"You're blatantly making a mistake!" Yi Zhonghai was furious and looked around, but no one moved.

Xu Damao interjected sarcastically, "Yi Zhonghai, you're so capable, why don't you dig it yourself? Don't you know how dangerous digging a tunnel is? As long as you go in first, we'll definitely follow."

"I'm the leader, I can't just sit here and give orders," Yi Zhonghai said, his face turning red as he continued to argue.

The scene immediately erupted in laughter.

Deputy Director Zhang had assumed that the excavation work could begin immediately after he only sent a team leader, but he was furious when he saw the situation.

He turned around, pointed at his team members, and said, "What are you doing? Disobeying orders? Fine, I'll call the police station right now to arrest you all!"

The scene fell silent again.

Just then, a deep voice came from afar: "Deputy Director Zhang, who gave you the authority to arrest people at will?"

Deputy Director Zhang was taken aback, turned his head to look, and his expression immediately changed.

The person who arrived was Director Zhou from the Air Defense Office, followed by several staff members and people from the Subdistrict Office. It was clear that Director Wang had secretly informed them.

"Director, these people are going too far, deliberately defying the instructions from higher-ups."

"Furthermore, Xiao Wang from the subdistrict office, as a leader, instead of trying to correct this unhealthy trend, is protecting them. I suggest she be dismissed immediately."

"Li Aiguo, the former leader of the excavation team, was even more ideologically deficient. Not only did he fail to organize people to dig air-raid shelters, but he also used a broken machine that didn't even have a locomotive, claiming that it could dig air-raid shelters. This was a deliberate attempt to deceive the organization."

When Deputy Director Zhang saw Director Zhou approaching, he realized the situation was dire and immediately began to falsely accuse him.

"Shut up!" Director Zhou's face turned ashen.

"Old Zhang, you're an old comrade, don't you know that the instructions from above include the rule of paying attention to safety and putting safety first?"

The geological environment here is complex, and there was a collapse recently.

What do you mean by coming here to urge construction to start?

"I was just trying to meet the deadline..." Deputy Director Zhang tried to argue.

Director Zhou interrupted him directly: "I think you're just looking for quick success and treating the lives of your comrades like a joke!"

"Fine! Fine! I'd like to see how you're going to complete this task!" Deputy Director Zhang said angrily, stamping his feet.

He had already made up his mind.

If the task of digging the air-raid shelter falls through, not only will Li Aiguo be in deep trouble, but even Director Zhou, who is protecting him, will be brought down.

Director Zhou ignored him and turned to Li Aiguo: "Comrade Aiguo, can your machine really dig air-raid shelters?"

"Sir, the principle of this thing is similar to that of a tunnel boring machine." Li Aiguo gave a brief introduction to the principle of the tunnel boring machine.

"A tunnel boring machine? Great, great." Director Zhou circled the tunneling machine. He already knew about Li Aiguo's situation; he had produced so many good things and had even received praise from his superiors.

"Patriotism? Then give it a try?"

"I was planning to do that, but Deputy Director Zhang stopped me. He thinks our workers can't produce anything good." Li Aiguo took the opportunity to sow discord.

Director Zhou's gaze swept over Deputy Director Zhang, the meaning in his eyes was self-evident, making the latter stiffen his neck and want to say something, but in the end he could only turn his face red and turn away without saying a word.

No rush. Once this broken machine is dismantled, that will be the perfect time for him to launch an attack.

"Then I'll get started." Li Aiguo turned his head and looked into the distance. At this moment, Chief Engineer Liu and Zong Xianfeng also drove over in their truck.

Upon seeing Chief Engineer Liu's grey Zhongshan suit and the group of aviation experts, everyone's expression changed.

Director Wang from the neighborhood office stepped forward and asked in a low voice, "Aiguo, who are these comrades?"

"Zong Xianfeng is a colleague from our Qianmen Locomotive Depot. These are experts from a research institute. They helped build this tunneling machine, and it's currently being tested, so they came over."

Li Aiguo's failure to name the research institute further suggests that these experts are highly influential.

Deputy Director Zhang's expression changed again, and he secretly glanced at Yi Zhonghai with an inquiring look.

Yi Zhonghai was also completely bewildered. He had no idea about the commotion at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop and could only shake his head helplessly.

"When this tunneling machine is working, it requires a complete team to work together."

Zong Xianfeng and his team began preparing for the tunneling work, while Li Aiguo gathered Zhang Gangzhu, Xu Damao, Liu Haizhong and other team members together.

The soil and rock debris drilled down by the tunneling machine's cutting head will be transported across the middle of the machine by a scraper conveyor to a transfer conveyor, and then transported to the rear.

At this point, a team to transport the excavated soil is needed to handle the cleanup.

"Team leader, I'll lead a team to clean up." Liu Haizhong was strong and volunteered.

Li Aiguo nodded, then looked at Zhang Gangzhu: "Gangzhu, when the tunneling machine is working, someone needs to take care of it in front. Find a few clever young people to be in charge of the front."

"Don't worry, team leader."

Li Aiguo explained the work to the group, and then called over Uncle San. Uncle San's job these past few days was to supervise the roof slab, which is an important measure to prevent collapse.

"Third Uncle, you take men, along with poles and planks, and listen to my orders. Be ready to lift the planks at any time."

"Understood!" The third uncle nodded excitedly.

After everything was arranged and the members of the three groups were in place, Li Aiguo got into the cab of the tunneling machine and started it.

The cut-off head began to rotate rapidly and slowly made contact with the earthen slope of the air-raid shelter.

With a series of clicking sounds, the hydraulic column on the cutting head applies pressure to the cutting head in front.

From below the tunneling machine, the transport system began operating, exposing soil and debris, which was then transported to the rear.

"Holy crap, they can actually dig holes."

"That speed doesn't look slow."

"Hurry up, cleaning team members, follow me!" Liu Haizhong was stunned for a moment, but after he came to his senses, he took the lead and rushed over with several team members to place the baskets under the conveyor belt.

No shovel is needed; the dirt falls from the conveyor belt into the basket.

The speed was a bit too fast, and there weren't enough baskets. Fortunately, this was for testing purposes, so we only needed to pile the soil on the side.

Director Zhou of the epidemic prevention and control office was also very nervous when he saw the huge tunneling machine start operating at a fast speed and when he looked at the soil and debris below.

If this thing really succeeds, it will solve a major problem.

"Old Zhang, do you see that? This is the tunneling machine that Comrade Li Aiguo developed. One machine is equivalent to hundreds of workers, right?"

Director Zhou looked at Deputy Director Zhang and said.

Deputy Director Zhang's face turned red as he forced a rebuttal: "Whether it will work or not is still uncertain! Machines may look good, but they might break down the next second."

"Zhang De! What kind of attitude is this?"

Director Zhou's face immediately darkened. "Are you hoping the machine will malfunction, hoping the task won't be completed?"

Just now, we were just on different sides, but our goal was the same: to dig out the air-raid shelter as soon as possible. This statement has gone too far.

Deputy Director Zhang realized he had misspoke and quickly said, "Director, that's not what I meant. I was worried about something going wrong. You know, air-raid shelters are very easy to collapse."

Before he could finish speaking, the tunneling machine suddenly stopped.

Everyone turned to look.

"What did I tell you? Something's wrong... hiccup." Deputy Director Zhang said halfway through his sentence, but after realizing the situation, the rest of his voice choked in his throat.

A section of the air-raid shelter's roof was swaying slightly. Just as it was about to collapse, the tunnel boring machine's cutting head stepped in just in time, firmly compacting the loose rock and soil.

Everyone was stunned.

This machine can even provide support; it's amazing!

"My goodness! With this thing, we won't have to worry about the dangers of digging air-raid shelters anymore."

"Uncle, hurry up and move it forward." Li Aiguo manipulated the tunneling machine to move forward a little.

The old man then came to his senses and quickly led several team members over to use wooden planks and jacks to prop up the top. Further reinforcement will be needed on top later.

The machine ran continuously for an hour and advanced about 20 meters, which is much faster than a tunnel boring machine.

Then Li Aiguo asked Zong Xianfeng to lead a team to inspect and tighten the loose parts, and to record the findings for future improvements.

At the same time, you should write down in the notebook what time the inspection was done, who the maintenance personnel were, and their names.

Chief Engineer Liu, along with a group of experts, also began inspecting the tunneling machine and recording various data.

This was just a test; the real purpose was to gather data and then make improvements.

Seeing Li Aiguo jump out of the driver's seat, Director Zhou from the epidemic prevention and control office excitedly reached out his hand: "Comrade Aiguo, the machine you built is excellent, truly wonderful."

"This is not my achievement alone; Chief Engineer Liu and the others also helped a lot."

"Is this machine a success?" This was the question that Director Zhou was most concerned about.

"We need to continue testing. The machine might encounter other problems that need to be addressed." Li Aiguo chatted with Director Zhou while the repairs were already completed.

Then a second test was conducted, this time at a faster speed.

This can be seen from the speed at which the cutting head operates; Liu Haizhong and his team members were all so exhausted that they couldn't even straighten their backs.

The test began at around 8 a.m. and lasted until nearly noon. The tunneling machine ran for more than three hours, stopping four times in total, without any major malfunctions.

Minor problems are inevitable, and Li Aiguo resolved them himself.

The tunnel boring machine advanced two meters, and the dangerous parts above were covered with wooden planks.

Furthermore, the air-raid shelters excavated by the machine were very standard, with the width and height exactly as measured by a ruler. The top and both sides of the air-raid shelters were compacted to facilitate subsequent construction.

"Okay, great!"

"With this machine, the excavation of this air-raid shelter should be completed in about a month and a half." Director Zhou of the epidemic prevention and control office said that this one-piece air-raid shelter was even better than the demonstration air-raid shelter built by the Railway Corps.

No one knew better than Director Zhou, who was in charge of excavating air-raid shelters, how rare this was, especially since there was no machinery available.

Not only is it dangerous, but the situation in the mountains is even more difficult.

Following the advice of those tunnel experts, they planned to use explosives to blast their way through, which was not only dangerous but also extremely noisy.

This machine for digging air-raid shelters will definitely attract high attention from above.

This should be a great thing. After the machine is tested, the data on excavation efficiency and safety will be summarized and reported. The higher-ups will attach great importance to it, and it may even be able to be replicated and promoted on a large scale.

Their epidemic prevention and control office will undoubtedly receive a collective credit; that's a foregone conclusion.

But when Director Wang thought about Deputy Director Zhang's unreasonable rant just now, he couldn't help but rub his temples, his head buzzing.

It's important to understand that Li Aiguo is a member of the railway system and is not under the jurisdiction of their epidemic prevention office. If they really anger him and he quits, all the subsequent coordination and technical support for the machine will be ruined.

Seeing this, Deputy Director Zhang became increasingly flustered and whispered, "Director, this machine has only been tested for a short time, and the subsequent situation is still uncertain. We can't jump to conclusions too soon..."

Director Zhou has been tolerating him for a while now.

If we had listened to Deputy Director Zhang today and asked Li Aiguo to take the equipment back, the losses would have been enormous.

"Comrade Zhang De, in my capacity as the director of the epidemic prevention and control office, I hereby relieve you of your post as deputy director. Once I return to the office, I will hold a general meeting to explain the situation to my colleagues."

As soon as these words came out.

Deputy Director Zhang was startled and quickly said, "Director, I was just trying to expedite the digging of the air-raid shelter. I may have misunderstood Comrade Li Aiguo, but I had absolutely no other intentions. It was just for work."

"For the sake of work, you can disregard the safety of your comrades? For the sake of work, you can ignore reasonable suggestions and even try to arbitrarily dismiss the director of the subdistrict office? I think you're just using this as an opportunity to suppress dissent and settle personal scores! I don't need to say more!"

"It's Yi Zhonghai! He's the one who told me that Li Aiguo was disobeying orders, so I came to investigate!" Deputy Director Zhang was so anxious that he lost his composure and hurriedly pushed Yi Zhonghai forward.

Yi Zhonghai had already hidden to the side and started pretending to be dead.

Hearing this, he was so frightened that he immediately ran over and waved his hands repeatedly: "No! Absolutely not! Leader, it was Deputy Director Zhang who felt that Li Aiguo was not following his orders and wanted to deal with Li Aiguo. I didn't say anything!"

Yi Zhonghai wasn't stupid. Regardless of whether the machine succeeded or not, it would definitely attract the attention of those above.

Anyway, no one else heard what he said to Deputy Director Zhang.

Deputy Director Zhang was so angry that his lips trembled, not expecting Yi Zhonghai to be so shameless.

"That's enough. Yi Zhonghai is a resident of Nantongluo Lane. Even if it needs to be dealt with, it should be handled by the comrades of the street office. What needs to be dealt with now is your problem."

After Director Zhou finished speaking, he turned to Li Aiguo and said, "Comrade Aiguo, you've been wronged this time. What are your opinions on the handling of Zhang De?"

Li Aiguo said calmly, "I personally have no objection. Just handle it according to the organization's regulations. I believe the director and the epidemic prevention and control office will handle it fairly and will not protect anyone."

These words, though seemingly polite, actually carried a warning.

If the handling is unfair, he doesn't mind reporting it to higher authorities.

If people who disregard safety and suppress hard-working individuals are allowed to remain in their positions, they will eventually harm even more people.

Besides, Li Aiguo isn't the kind of saint who's all that.

Director Zhou naturally understood the implication, nodded emphatically, and said in a deep voice, "Officer Liu, take Comrade Zhang De back and hand him over to the disciplinary department for investigation!"

"Yes!" Several officers stepped forward.

Zhang De was so frightened that his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

He looked at Li Aiguo: "Kid, you have a really vicious heart!"

Li Aiguo didn't even glance at Zhang De. After chatting with Director Zhou for a few minutes, he helped Zong Xianfeng with the repairs.

Director Wang of the subdistrict office finally came to his senses. He was about to be dismissed, but now the situation had been reversed.

Most importantly, Li Aiguo also created a marvelous tool for digging air-raid shelters.

Director Wang suppressed his excitement and instructed the street office staff to tell the canteen to cook more meat and oil.

After lunch, Li Aiguo continued the experiment, while Director Zhou of the Air Defense Office couldn't wait to go back and contacted the leaders of the Junwei Air Defense Committee.

This is the highest level of air defense unit in this day and age.

"What? The workers who dug the air-raid shelter in Nantongluo Lane have built a tunnel boring machine?" The air defense leader was also a little confused as he held the phone.

"That's right, that man's name is Li Aiguo, he's a train driver at the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. I saw it, and the machine works quite well."

"The name Li Aiguo sounds familiar. Oh, it's him. I understand. I'll report this to the higher-ups." The air defense leader hung up the phone after saying that.

Director Zhou frowned as he held the phone: "It seems the leader knows Li Aiguo."

His expression changed several times.

At this moment, a colleague from the disciplinary department walked in: "Director, Zhang De has been temporarily detained. What should we do next?"

"Investigate! Investigate immediately!" Director Zhou slammed his hand on the table as he put down the phone.

This must be dealt with seriously!

"Yes!"

In the afternoon, several leaders from the Air Defense Committee also arrived at the air raid shelter excavation site.

After asking a few questions, the group of leaders stood aside and looked at this enormous thing, all feeling a sense of awe.

People standing below appear extremely small, especially those hydraulic columns, which are as thick as a person's thigh.

At first, the members of the operations team and the cleanup team were a little reserved.

When the leaders stood by with their hands behind their backs and their eyes swept over them, the team members subconsciously slowed down their work.

Who has ever seen such a scene?

But gradually they realized that the leaders were just looking at the tunneling machine and were quite satisfied, so everyone relaxed.

As the leader of the cleanup team, Liu Haizhong even shook hands with the leaders, and he was so excited that he couldn't stop smiling.

"That's enough for today, we'll continue tomorrow. Everyone's tired." As evening approached, Li Aiguo saw that it was getting late and told everyone to go back and rest.

Everyone was busy all day, except for meals.

"Everyone, get some rest and take good care of yourselves," several leaders of the Air Defense Committee said.

"Well done, patriotic comrade. We'll come back tomorrow."

"Comrade Patriot, we must protect such a valuable item."

Li Aiguo was leading Zong Xianfeng in maintenance work when a leader made a suggestion.

Li Aiguo originally planned to have Zhang Gangzhu and the patrol team guard the area, but seeing so many people gathered outside, he changed his mind.

The patrol team is fine dealing with ordinary people, but they're not quite up to the task when they encounter tough opponents.

"Steel Pillar, could you please contact Captain Wang Zhenshan?"

"Yes!"

When Wang Zhenshan, the police officer in charge of the local police station, learned of the news, he was puzzled.

"Patriotism requires me to lead men with guns to guard the machines at night?"

"Yes, the leaders of the Air Defense Committee are also here," Zhang Gangzhu replied.

Wang Zhenshan immediately stood up: "I'll take some men right away."

He felt that the train driver must have come up with something extraordinary.

In the evening, Li Aiguo returned to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot and reported to Section Chief Xing.

"So, it's a success?" Section Chief Xing was overjoyed.

“We need to test it for a few more days,” Li Aiguo replied.

"Alright, alright, you can go back now. This month's allowance has arrived; remember to collect it from the supplies department."

After Li Aiguo left, Section Chief Xing sat back down in his chair and picked up the phone to contact Regiment Commander Zhang of the Railway Corps.

"Old Zhang, aren't we supposed to be digging air-raid shelters? Comrade Patriot has come up with something great."

(End of this chapter)