The train driver in the courtyard

Trench Digger:
Manufacturing Difficulty: ★★★

Practicality: ☆★★★★
Overall score: ★★★★★

The so-called comprehensive score is a score given by Li Aiguo based on the manufacturing difficulty, cost, function and other conditions of a device.

The higher the score, the higher the return on investment in developing the device.

Take the tunnel boring machine for example. Although its practicality is ★★★★★, its manufacturing difficulty is also as terrifying as ★★★★★★, so the final overall score is only ☆★★★★.

Now that he has met a five-star boss, Li Aiguo must get close to him quickly.

Seeing that the leader was interested in the trench digger, Li Aiguo gave a brief introduction to the situation.

The chief was a man of great experience, and he immediately asked, "When I was a consultant to the Russians, I saw a strange machine. At that time, the Russians called it Project 409U and did not allow our people to get close to it. Is this trench digger of yours also something similar?"

In 1956, the Dmitrovsky Excavator Plant developed a special rotary trench digger mounted on an AT-T tractor for testing by the Soviet Army Engineers. It was called "Project 409U" at the time, and its official name after being equipped to the troops was the BTM-3 trench digger.

"The structure and principle, the performance is much stronger." Li Aiguo took a look at the information in the system.

In fact, the trench excavator given in the system is an upgraded version of the BTM-3 trench excavator.

"Let's do it!" The chief immediately made the decision: "At that time, we wanted to get closer, but the Russians were worried about leaks, so they sent us out.

At that time, I was very angry and thought that one day I would be able to build my own trench digger, and now the opportunity has finally come."

This chief has a really hot temper. What? That's fine.

The chief suppressed his excitement and asked, "What do you need to build a trench digger?"

This is exactly what Li Aiguo was waiting for.

The manufacturing technology of trench excavators has matured in this era, but the country still lacks related industrial supporting facilities.

"Commander, I plan to use a tank track chassis."

Hearing this, the commander frowned slightly: "Tank? Which kind?"

Li Aiguo spat out a number: "Type 59."

A trench digger is essentially an engineering vehicle.

It is extremely difficult to build a completely new vehicle, especially the construction of the power chassis, which cannot be completed without two to three years of effort.

So Li Aiguo adopted a similar approach to the manufacturing of tunnel boring machines - taking what is useful.

The Type 59 tank is a medium tank, 6.04 meters in length, with torsion bar independent suspension, five pairs of double-rim rubber-mounted steel road wheels, and hydraulic shock absorbers, features that exactly meet the requirements.

The only trouble is that the Type 59 medium tank has only just been successfully developed and currently has insufficient production capacity.

It is not easy to call a chassis.

The chief agreed immediately: "Staff Officer Xiao, contact the 617th Factory immediately and ask them to find a way to get a Type 59 chassis."

"Yes!" Staff Officer Xiao wrote down the chief's words in his notebook.

The leader then asked: "Patriotic comrade, what else do you need?"

Li Aiguo was not polite: "The development of trench excavators is quite difficult, and it just so happens that there is a ready-made team here that can be used."

It is not easy to form a complete research and development team.

In order to build a shield machine, the maintenance workshop of Qianmen Locomotive Depot brought together technicians from the Railway Technology Research Institute, technicians from the Engineering Bureau and veterans from the maintenance workshop.

Li Aiguo meant to use this team to continue his research on trench excavators.

The chief turned his head and looked at Director Chen: "Old Chen, Director Liu, our Jinling Military Region has entrusted the task to you. We hope that you can fully cooperate with the work of our patriotic comrades."

Director Chen and Liu Guozhang didn't expect that Li Aiguo could move the leader with just a few words. Now that they saw that the leader had given them a task, they quickly expressed that they would do their best.

The chief talked to Li Aiguo for a few more words and confirmed some details. At this time, Staff Officer Xiao reminded him, "Chief, we still have to have a meeting."

"Comrade Aiguo, I hope to meet you in Jinling as soon as possible!" The leader shook hands with Li Aiguo cordially.

"Don't worry, I'm still waiting to learn Kung Fu from you." Li Aiguo sent the leader to the gate of Xiaoxishan construction site.

Before I reached the door, I heard a commotion coming from outside.

"What's going on? We came here to visit the construction site on behalf of a team of six, and you guys are stopping us?"

"Let Lao Chen come out. It's ok if I'm the only one here today. Professor Ostrovsky is here too. He's the business advisor. You guys should get out of the way."

An arrogant voice was heard, followed by Captain Zhang's neither humble nor arrogant voice.

"I'm so sorry, leaders. According to regulations, no one except those on the list can enter the construction site."

"This is nonsense! It's just nonsense! If you anger Big Brother, can you bear the responsibility?"

Li Aiguo took a few quick steps.

I saw several cars parked in front of the checkpoint, and a dozen leaders in Zhongshan suits standing beside them. Captain Zhang was explaining something to two of them.

One of them was a middle-aged man, wearing a high-end Zhongshan suit, with a pen pinned to his chest, his hair combed to a shiny luster, and Soviet-style big-toed leather boots on his feet.

He is the one who is entangled with Captain Zhang.

The other one is an old Russian.

At this moment, he was standing beside with his hands behind his back in a windbreaker, looking condescending. Although he did not speak, the pressure from him could not be ignored.

"Oh no! Why is Zhou Xinke from the Construction Bureau here? He has brought Professor Ostrovsky with him." Director Chen saw the two men, whispered to Li Aiguo about their identities, and then quickly walked over.

"Chief Engineer Zhou, Professor Ostrovsky, why are you here?" Director Chen smiled and explained, "An experiment is being carried out at the construction site. The risk factor is relatively high. Outsiders are temporarily prohibited from entering. I hope you can understand."

Zhou Xinke lit a cigarette, held it between his hands, and frowned: "Old Chen, I heard that you guys have developed a new device. When it was shipped here the day before yesterday, it caused quite a stir. How come no one notified our engineering bureau?"

The meaning of this statement is very clear - since your equipment is used to dig subways, he, as the leader of the engineering bureau, is qualified to observe.

Director Chen smiled awkwardly: "There is indeed a new device, but it is still being debugged, so it is not convenient. If you are really interested, you can report to the higher-ups, and I will definitely accompany you on a tour in person."

Zhou Xinke didn't expect that Director Chen would not give him any face at all, and his face suddenly became gloomy.

"Director Chen, please note that it is not me who wants to visit the equipment, but Professor Ostrovsky."

Professor Ostrovsky knew Chinese, and he adjusted his collar cooperatively, puffed out his chest and said, "Chen, I am very dissatisfied with your work style. If the new equipment is related to the subway excavation work, I, as the business supervisor, have the authority to find out what is going on."

If Zhou Xinke was the only one there, Director Chen wouldn't be afraid.

But now Professor Ostrovsky has also come forward, and the status of both parties is unequal, and Director Chen is in a dilemma for a moment.

Liu Guozhang was a leader on the railway and had little to do with the project, so it was not convenient for him to make a comment.

The scene fell into silence for a moment.

The people at the Xiaoxishan construction site knew that the other party was bullying them, but they had no choice but to clench their fists tightly.

The people following behind Professor Ostrovsky all had a gloating look on their faces.

Li Aiguo, who was standing behind the crowd, suddenly looked at the chief and said, "Chief, our project has already started, and the relevant confidentiality work should also be done properly."

The chief had long been displeased with these guys and had wanted to intervene.

But he is a member of the team, and once he gets involved in local affairs, he will easily be criticized.

Hearing this, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Comrade Patriot, if you hadn't reminded me, I would have almost forgotten it." The commander waved at Staff Officer Xiao and gave an order: "Staff Officer Xiao, I now appoint you as the military representative of the project, responsible for the coordination and confidentiality of the project."

"Yes!" Staff Officer Xiao saluted.

After doing all this, the leader gave Li Aiguo a strange look: Boy, you owe me another favor, remember it!
Li Aiguo nodded happily: "Thank you very much! I'll treat you to Moutai in the future."

The more favors of this kind we, Li Aiguo, owe each other, the better.

"All of you get out of my way!" At this time, Zhou Xinke suppressed Director Chen's momentum and was ready to lead his men to force their way in.

Li Aiguo walked over with square steps.

He glanced at Zhou Xinke calmly and waved his hand: "Officer Xiao, please clear out all these irrelevant people."

"Yes!"

Staff Officer Xiao rushed over with several soldiers, aiming the black muzzles of their guns at Zhou Xinke and Professor Ostrovsky.

Zhou Xinke had actually noticed the presence of people from the team here a long time ago, but he didn't pay attention to it.

Now seeing that the situation had changed, he quickly stood in front of Professor Ostrovsky.

"You, are you crazy? This is Professor Ostrovsky."

"Believe it or not, as long as this matter is reported, you will have to take off your clothes."

Seeing Zhou Xinke's attitude of bootlicking a dog, Li Aiguo shook his head with a wry smile - some people can never stand up again after kneeling for too long.

These people are not just those who are loyal to the Russians.

There are also those who are willing to be dogs for Xiaomei's family.

Do you think that if you act like a dog, people will let you go?
will not!

Didn’t you see that in order to squeeze money out of us, the commander-in-chief of the Xiaomei family suddenly increased the commission by 34%? !
This is no different from a robber robbing money.

If you rely on the mountain, the mountain will fall; if you rely on the wall, the wall will collapse. Only when you are strong yourself can you succeed.

This is also the real reason why Li Aiguo took the risk to do these things.

Li Aiguo stepped forward and said with a smile: "This is Chief Engineer Zhou. I forgot to tell you that we have just received a commission from the Jinling Military Region to develop a batch of military equipment. There are important military secrets in the construction site, and outsiders are strictly prohibited from entering."

"Military secrets? You are..." Zhou Xinke felt a little strange when he saw that Li Aiguo was wearing an ordinary worker's uniform.

"This is Comrade Li Aiguo, a train driver from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot." Director Chen explained Li Aiguo's identity.

"The Qianmen Locomotive Depot said that the machine was invented by you?"

Zhou Xinke's eyes changed when he looked at Li Aiguo.

"Comrade Aiguo, you have made a great contribution to our project by designing a large machine. Our Construction Bureau is in need of outstanding talents like you. I will also ask my superiors for credit for you."

After throwing out a handful of sweet dates, Zhou Xinke's face gradually became serious: "But, if you deliberately deceive your superiors, you will be held responsible. You should think twice before you act."

His meaning was very clear - if you know what's good for you, just get out of the way now. The Engineering Bureau can give it to you, and so can our Construction Bureau.

If you don't know what's good for you and get crushed to death like an ant, you can't blame him for not warning you in advance.

When Li Aiguo heard this, he just smiled faintly, then pointed at Staff Officer Xiao and introduced him, "Leader, this is Staff Officer Xiao, the military representative sent by the Jinling Military Region."

When Zhou Xinke saw Staff Officer Xiao, his head started buzzing.

Is this true?

He dared to act arrogantly in front of Captain Zhang, but did not dare to make trouble in front of the soldiers. He could only turn to Professor Ostrovsky for help.

"Teacher, look at this"

Professor Ostrovsky did not expect that Li Aiguo would suddenly transform into a military expert.

If it were in the past, he would have turned around and left by now.

But this is a tunnel boring machine.

Currently, the "Military Mole" led by engineer O. Trebelev is in full swing, and the technical details of various shield machines are urgently needed to improve the design of the "Military Mole". Now that the little brother took out the shield machine without saying a word, Professor Ostrovsky immediately became interested, which led to this trip to the Xiaoxishan construction site.

In order to fulfill Lebelev's request, Professor Ostrovsky decided to give it a try based on his own status.

"Comrade, I am one of the six members of the subway team"

"What subway six?"

A voice came from the side, and the leader walked over slowly.

There were a lot of people gathered at the door just now. Everyone only saw soldiers in the crowd but did not see that the leader was also present.

Seeing the chief appear, the expressions of those leaders who were gloating just now changed drastically, and they couldn't help but take a step back.

"Chief, why are you here?" Zhou Xinke's face changed drastically.

The chief may not be the one with the highest status, but he is definitely the one with the hottest temper.

The chief frowned and said, "Didn't Comrade Aiguo tell you just now that this is a military project? I'm here to visit. Any questions?"

"No, no." Zhou Xinke's forehead was covered with sweat and his voice was trembling.

The chief continued, "But you, forcing your way into the restricted military area, I think you have ulterior motives."

As soon as these words came out, Zhou Xinke's calves went weak and he almost fell to the ground.

"Chief, this is a misunderstanding, absolutely a misunderstanding. We are here to help the Engineering Bureau because we are considering the excavation of the subway."

"Don't explain, just leave now!" The leader waved his hand as if chasing away a group of wild dogs.

"Yes, yes, yes." Zhou Xinke quickly pulled Professor Ostrovsky's arm, and the two got in the car and drove away.

The remaining leaders were embarrassed for a moment.

They were originally there to support Zhou Xinke, but now the real culprit has run away, what should they do?
One of the leaders smiled and said, "Commander, I'm so sorry. We didn't realize this was a military restricted area."

"You can go too." The leader's eyes swept across their faces, and he waved his hand, asking them to go too.

After they turned around, the chief sighed and said, "The most important thing for a family is to work together and never do anything that betrays one's family."

Those leaders shuddered and nodded slightly. They seemed to be nodding to the leader, and also seemed to be nodding to themselves.

"These guys. I hope they can take my warning to heart."

The chief muttered quietly and nodded at Li Aiguo: "Comrade Aiguo, I have a meeting here and cannot stay for long. From now on, Staff Officer Xiao will assist you in your work."

"Don't worry, I will absolutely complete the task!" Li Aiguo saluted the leader solemnly.

The chief replied, got in his car and left.

The bright sunshine shines on the car, flashing a dazzling brilliance.

What is the National Shield?

That’s it!

Li Aiguo clenched his fists tightly, turned around and strode towards the construction site.

The not-so-small disturbance disappeared, and Li Aiguo returned to his work.

the other side.

Inside the Friendship Hotel.

Zhou Xinke poured a cup of tea for Professor Ostrovsky and handed it to him: "Teacher, the responsibility is all on me. I didn't expect Director Chen to invite the leader over."

Professor Ostrovsky took the tea and took a sip. "Zhou, the focus now is not on tunnel excavation. I have already determined that even if the Engineering Bureau builds a shield machine, it will not be able to complete the excavation of the Beijing subway."

"Then why do you insist on letting me enter the construction site?" Zhou Xinke was at a loss. In order to be able to enter the construction site this time, he asked many old friends to help him.

"That machine." Professor Ostrovsky tapped his fingers on the table. "I need detailed information about that machine. Do you understand?"

"This..." Zhou Xinke's expression changed slightly.

He felt that the teacher's focus was a bit problematic. The machine was developed by the Engineering Bureau. What did it have to do with the Russians?
Professor Ostrovsky saw his doubts and said calmly, "Zhou, you misunderstood. I am not coveting that machine. We already have a shield machine. I am worried that the Engineering Bureau will be too eager for quick success and that the machine will have an accident during operation."

As he spoke, he sighed: "Chen and the others misunderstood us. We are really doing this for your own good."

"Teacher, I wronged you." Zhou Xinke heard this and cursed himself in his heart for being unsteady in his thinking.

Big Brother is Big Brother, how can we doubt Big Brother!

"For those of us who work in the industry, it's common to be misunderstood."

Professor Ostrovsky patted Zhou Xinke on the shoulder and comforted him: "We just need to stick to our own path, and let future generations judge the rest."

Zhou Xinke nodded heavily: "Teacher, don't worry, even if the construction site is turned into a military restricted area by Director Chen and his team, we will definitely be able to enter the construction site when it comes to the acceptance stage in fifteen days. By then, I will make arrangements in advance."

"You just need to know these plans yourself, you don't need to tell me."

When Professor Ostrovsky saw Zhou Xinke was about to bring up the specific local plan, he stopped him and said, "After all, I am an outsider and it is not appropriate for me to know so much. Otherwise, someone will have objections."

"Teacher" Zhou Xinke was very moved.

Such a good big brother.

Why do those people have to go against Big Brother?

****
In the afternoon, seeing that the shield machine was running smoothly, Li Aiguo handed over the on-site management work to Engineer Dong, and then took Staff Officer Xiao's GAZ jeep back to the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

Director Xing was a little confused when he met Staff Officer Xiao.

The tunnel boring machine developed by Li Aiguo has not been completed yet, and now he has received a military project?
But he quickly reacted: "Please rest assured, Commander, our Qianmen Locomotive Depot will definitely cooperate with us fully!"

Just kidding, Qianmen Locomotive Depot has indeed come up with many good projects over the years.

However, this is the first time that we have undertaken a military project, which has a completely different meaning.

Section Chief Xing immediately convened a meeting and set the tone for the project: "This is a difficult and glorious project. We must complete it even if we don't eat or drink and tighten our belts!"

Those deputy section chiefs and section leaders all nodded.

"When I retired from the Railway Corps, I thought I would never have the chance to interact with the troops again. Now the opportunity has finally come."

"Duanzhang, I would like to request to be transferred to the project team. Don't worry, I absolutely do not want a penny of subsidy."

"Me too."

Most of the people in the maintenance section are retired veterans. Now that they can contribute to the team again, they are all eager to try and sign up enthusiastically.

"Running a project department is like digging trenches. It is not about strength in numbers! The deployment of personnel is the responsibility of patriotic comrades. What we need to do is to provide good logistical support."

Thanks to the suppression of Director Xing, Li Aiguo's office was not crowded with these leaders.

As the chassis from Factory 617 had not yet been delivered, Li Aiguo was temporarily unable to provide the vehicle body drawings based on the system information, so he asked the technicians to draw the drawings of the excavator wheel excavator first.

The rotary excavator consists of 10-12 cast iron buckets with a capacity of 80L, which are connected to the power shaft through a chain drive system. It is considered the fist of the trench excavator.

There are six such fists in total.

"Wow, this time we've got another indescribable thing." A technician clicked his tongue twice after listening to Li Aiguo's explanation.

This is true. The trench digger itself is even more bizarre than the monster. It can be called Cthulhu in this day and age.

"We are now fighting Cthulhu." Li Aiguo smiled and shook his head.

Time passes day by day.

While paying attention to the excavation work at the Xiaoxishan construction site, Li Aiguo led the technical staff to draw blueprints. Every night when he returned home, he would have a wife and children to sit around and have a warm bed. His life was peaceful and fulfilling.

At this time, in the president's office of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) building on the other side of the ocean, the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Legendary president Thomas Watson Jr. looked at the iron box in front of him with a red five-pointed star painted on the shell, his face full of surprise.

"You just told me this was a computer?"

"Yes." The assistant looked unhappy, but had to nod.

"This computer can perform calculations at a speed of 6 times per second?"

"Yes."

"This computer also has a DOS system installed?"

"Yes."

Snapped!
Thomas Watson Jr.'s face gradually turned red as his assistant answered, and he slammed his fist on the table.

The force of this punch was the limit of what the table could withstand, not the limit of Thomas Watson Jr.'s anger.

The table collapsed.

The assistant looked at the fallen table and could understand Thomas Watson Jr.'s anger.

If it were him, he would probably even want to blow up the building.

This story begins with the arm wrestling between IBM and Wang Laboratories.

Wang Laboratories made a comeback with the help of new memory.

IBM's idea of ​​taking over Wang Laboratories in one fell swoop failed.

However, Thomas Watson Jr. was born to do great things and was not discouraged by this.

Instead, it continued to forge ahead on the road of transistor computers, attempting to use its overwhelming technological advantages to occupy the international computer market.

Relying on his advantages in military industry, he quickly obtained a cutting-edge computer technology from the military laboratory - 7090 transistor chip technology.

The 7090 transistor is a remarkable thing.

Different from IBM's early Harwell CADET, BM 608, RCA 501 and commercial Transac high-frequency transistor automatic mainframe computers.

This is a true transistor computer.

It uses punched cards, has 32K of memory, 5K for the system and 27K for the user, and user data is switched between memory and a magnetic drum, with a computing speed of 22900 times per second.

The most important thing is that IBM also spent a lot of money to develop SNOBOL, COBOL and macro assembler for it, giving it office attributes and performance far exceeding Wang An's vacuum tube computer.

Such a good thing, the price naturally can't be cheap.

IBM priced it at US$579.8 (equivalent to RMB million).

The computer industry is a winner-takes-all industry. As long as you are fast, you can charge a premium to attract customers.

After the performance parameters of the 7090 transistor computer were announced in newspapers, customers did not retreat because of its high price. Instead, they placed orders with IBM one after another.

Thomas Watson Jr. looked at the orders that came in and felt for a moment that he had reached the peak of his life.

As long as this batch of 7090 transistor computers can be sold successfully, he will not only be able to make up for his previous losses, but also defeat Wang Laboratories in one fell swoop and dominate the international computer market.

At this time, a new type of computer appeared on the North American market.

It has a nice name - Red Star Computer.

(End of this chapter)