The train driver in the courtyard

Zhou Xinke sent Professor Ostrovsky to Tuanjiehu Hospital.

Professor Ostrovsky is a foreign expert and is highly valued by the hospital.

The hospital sent a team of experts to help Professor Ostrovsky with his physical examination.

The results of the examination were unexpected. Ostrovsky was as strong as a bull and all his physical indicators were normal.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have been politely asked to leave the hospital by now.

However, at Zhou Xinke's request, the hospital arranged a single room for Ostrovsky.

It was already evening.

In the ward, Zhou Xinke sat in front of the bed and looked at Ostrovsky with a worried look on his face: "Teacher, I really didn't expect this to happen. You are wholeheartedly considering our development, but that Li Aiguo doesn't understand. He is really too much."

Ostrovsky leaned on the bed, pretending to be weak, and patted Zhou Xinke on the shoulder: "Zhou, the teacher is not angry. It is common for people like us who insist on great undertakings to be misunderstood.

What I am worried about is the safety of the Beijing subway. The shield machine obviously has problems. If the higher-ups are persuaded to use deep burial, the subway project will become a mess, and you and I will become sinners of the ** class. "

These words were like a heavy hammer hitting Zhou Xinke's heart.

He didn't expect that even though Professor Ostrovsky was sick, he was still worried about the subway project.

Compared with the teacher, Director Chen and Li Aiguo and their gang are simply traitors.

"Teacher, don't worry. Even if I risk my life, I will not allow those people to mess around!" Zhou Xinke nodded heavily to show his attitude.

What he didn't notice was that a sinister smile appeared on Professor Ostrovsky's lips.

As the chief engineer, Zhou Xinke was very clear that with the success of the shield machine, the deep burial faction had gained an absolute advantage.

To reverse the situation, only extraordinary measures can be taken.

Zhou Xinke got together with several leaders from the Construction Bureau and jointly wrote a letter.

The content of the letter mainly includes two aspects.

First, Li Aiguo ignored his relationship with Big Brother.

At the construction site of Xiaoxishan Tunnel, Zhou Xinke confronted the experts of Big Brother on the spot, which damaged the relationship with Big Brother's family. Zhou Xinke asked his superiors to severely punish Li Aiguo.

Second, the Engineering Bureau tampered with the tunnel experiments, and the experts were very sure that there was something wrong with the shield machine and it was not capable of excavating the Beijing subway.

Zhou Xinke requested his superiors to consider Big Brother's opinions, dig the subway tunnel according to his plan, and submit the letter to relevant departments through special channels.

At the same time, Professor Ostrovsky also took action in the hospital.

More than a dozen supporting experts and seven or eight leaders who supported the shallow burial faction all expressed their views to their superiors.

The debate, which was originally confined to a small circle, quickly expanded and caused a sensation in the capital.

In the eyes of many people, this is no longer simply a technical dispute between shallow burial and deep burial, but a major event concerning the future development direction.

Some people even call it a modern version of the "Great Ceremony Debate".

As more and more people got involved in the argument, the situation became increasingly heated, and everyone's eyes were focused on a solemn place.

"Teacher, don't worry. According to the news from our comrades, the superiors have received the letter. Although they haven't investigated Li Aiguo immediately, they will probably do so soon."

Early in the morning, Zhou Xinke came to the office and, as usual, first called Professor Ostrovsky who was still in hospital.

Professor Ostrovsky's spirited voice came from the phone: "Zhou, you performed very well. You are a real warrior."

"Teacher, you are the best teacher."

After chatting for a while, Zhou Xinke asked Professor Ostrovsky when he would be discharged from the hospital, and he would go to greet him as soon as possible.

"Wait a little longer. It's easy to send me to the hospital, but it's not that easy to get me out. Some people must come to greet me in person."

Zhou Xinke understood who the "some people" the teacher was referring to, and his heart was filled with admiration for the teacher.

"Teacher, this is a strategy of retreating in order to advance. It's very smart, really very smart." After hanging up the phone, Zhou Xinke couldn't help but admire him twice.

At this time, someone knocked on the office door twice. Before Zhou Xinke could respond, the office door was pushed open from the outside.

Zhou Xinke was a little angry at first, but when he saw that the person coming was Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang, his expression suddenly changed.

"Lao Zhang, what's the matter so early?"

'Snapped'

A newspaper fell on the table, and Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang looked shocked: "Old Zhou, take a look at this article."

"What happened? Is it worth making such a fuss?" Zhou Xinke picked up the newspaper, which was a Renren Daily.

This is not surprising. Leaders of their level regard reading Renren Daily as a necessary homework every day.

On the front page of the newspaper, he saw an editorial article: "Iron bones cast heavy tools and craftsmanship composes a brilliant chapter - a record of train driver Li Aiguo and the birth of domestic shield machines"

When Zhou Xinke saw this title, he was shocked and almost fell off his chair.

You should know that editorial articles are different from general press releases, and they often represent the above meanings.

Zhou Xinke suppressed his panic and continued reading.

The content of the article is very simple.

The development process of the shield machine is described in detail.

"Li Aiguo led the technicians to face the dilemma of zero foundation and zero experience, using Red Star computers to calculate gear parameters and using oil lamps to draw more than a thousand sketches.

In order to test the strength of the blade, he stayed in the workshop for 72 hours straight, and conducted repeated tests using his homemade forging process."

"On April 1960, , the first -meter-diameter 'Zhengqi' shield machine successfully penetrated the Xiaoxishan Tunnel. When the machine roared, the Russian experts exclaimed: The Chinese have created an industrial miracle!"

The most crucial part is the editorial that follows.

"The emergence of the shield machine has enabled us to make a great leap from foreign pickaxes and shovels to underground dragons."

"This is our resounding answer to the 'bottleneck' technology!"

"Comrade Li Aiguo's oath resounded throughout the Xiaoxishan construction site: We will build whatever is needed! This is the duty of the workers and the mission of the organization members!"

Reading this editorial, Zhou Xinke's head was buzzing.

"Why, why is it that way?"

The words were still floating in the air when two comrades in grey Zhongshan suits pushed the door open and walked in.

Zhou Xinke didn't have time to react.

One of them walked up to him quickly and handcuffed his hands behind his back, while the other pulled an arrest warrant out of his pocket and quickly waved it in front of him.

"Zhou Xinke, you are under arrest."

Zhou Xinke was in a desperate situation, but he suddenly came to his senses.

"I am just doing my job, you are retaliating! You are making a mistake by doing this!"

At this time, a leader in a uniform with four pockets walked in steadily from outside, speaking in a low but clear voice: "Who leaked the Beijing subway budget three years ago?
Also, why is the price of the large batch of engineering equipment purchased by the Construction Bureau from the Russians higher than that imported through Hong Kong? Zhou Xinke, don't think that what you do is not noticed by anyone. "

Zhou Xinke didn't expect that such a secret matter would be discovered by someone.

Zhou Xinke was shocked. He never thought that these extremely secret matters would be known to others.

"I..." He took a deep breath and argued with his neck stiff, "Big Brother has helped us so much, we should trust them. What's wrong with revealing the subway budget?
As for the price of the equipment, it is a great help that Big Brother is willing to sell it to us. So what does it matter if we spend a little more money?
Anyway, everyone is working for a great cause, and those grain and foreign exchange can be put to greater use if they go to the Russians.

I am doing this for a great cause, I am not wrong!"

After these words were spoken, the leader with four pockets was stunned.

He gave away his own things to others and thought that the other person was very good. How could this person be so despicable!
Zhou Xinke didn't think he had done anything wrong, and he was still stubborn and wanted to teach his four-pocket leader a lesson.

The leader of the four pockets asked back: "Since Big Brother is so kind, why can't they forgive our debts for the sake of the greater cause?"

Zhou Xinke was speechless for a moment, and could only stammer: "Big Brother also has his own considerations, we have to understand"

"Okay, take it away."

The leader with four pockets no longer had the interest to talk to him and waved his hands impatiently.

In his opinion, Zhou Xinke was already deeply obsessed with something, and it would be futile to continue talking to him.

The news of Zhou Xinke being taken away was not announced directly, but it soon became known to everyone.

In the Tuanjiehu Hospital, Professor Ostrovsky was waiting for the other side to surrender, but after receiving the news, he felt that the situation was not good.

He called the hospital leader and coughed twice: "I feel much better now. Please help me to go through the hospitalization procedures immediately."

The hospital leaders had not yet completed the hospitalization procedures when several men in gray Zhongshan suits came into the ward and handed a document to Professor Ostrovsky.

"Professor Ostrovsky, considering that your body is no longer suitable for work, for the sake of your health, we have communicated with you and will send you back for treatment. On behalf of the relevant departments, I thank you for your efforts."

Professor Ostrovsky had anticipated the failure this time, but he did not expect it to be such a disastrous defeat.

"You, you will regret it!"

That afternoon, Professor Ostrovsky was escorted to the international train in a gray Zhongshan suit.

Watching the train depart, Captain Zhang sighed, "It's really hard to let him go like this."

"A little lack of patience will ruin a big plan. There are overall considerations at the top. We can't do anything irrational just because of our personal emotions." Li Aiguo lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Captain Zhang is also aware of the current situation. After all, although the relationship between the eldest brother and the younger brother has deteriorated, on the surface, they are still a family.

It's okay for each of us to do some small things, but once the relationship is broken, it will only benefit the real enemy.

The news of Professor Ostrovsky's sudden departure quickly spread throughout the capital, attracting attention from all sides.

Although both the Russians and Beijing stated that Professor Ostrovsky took the initiative to go back for treatment due to health reasons.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see the strangeness behind it.

For a time, the dispute over deep burial and shallow burial ended with the arrest of Zhou Xinke and the departure of the Russians.

Three days later, the Beijing Metro project approval meeting was held in Haizili.

The meeting unanimously approved the use of deep burial as the construction method for the Beijing Metro, with the depth reaching more than fifty meters.

He also proposed the slogan of building the Beijing subway into an underground Great Wall.

The planning scheme for phased construction of "one ring and two lines" has been determined:

The first ring is a subway ring line built along the inner city wall.

One of the two lines is to build a subway from Dongjiao Thermal Power Plant to the west and connect with the ring line subway at Jingcheng Station. At Fuxingmen Station on the ring line, a subway is built westward through Gongzhufen and Shijingshan and extended to the mountainous area.

The main reason for setting the starting point in the eastern suburbs is to use the subway as a means of transporting troops during wartime.

Looking at modern history, it is not difficult to see that the enemy chose the east as a breakthrough point in both of its invasions of the capital.

The other line is to build a subway from Xizhimen Station on the ring line to the northwest through the Summer Palace and Qinglong Bridge and extend it to the mountainous area.

At the same time, the meeting also elected a new five-member subway team.

In addition to the team leader and the two big guys from Junwei, the big guy representing the railway troops and Liu Guozhang who represented the railway successfully entered the five-member team.

The first phase of the project was constructed by the Underground Railway Engineering Bureau, the 12th Railway Corps Division, the Construction Bureau, the Capital Engineering Bureau and other units.

"The Beijing Metro is of great importance. We must design and construct it carefully!"

Finally, the higher-level leaders personally set the tone for the project.

After the meeting, Liu Guozhang followed a group of leaders out of the meeting room.

Several familiar leaders congratulated Liu Guozhang.

"Brother Guozhang, congratulations."

"I really didn't expect that Lao Liu would be able to reach the top this time."

This is true.

Liu Guozhang's entry into the five-member group as the director of the Beijing Railway Technology Research Institute surprised many people.

The leaders who knew the inside story quickly linked the incident to the tunnel boring machine.

"Hey, it's because I have a good student."

"Hey, that's not right. Brother Guozhang has been working diligently over the years, and the superiors have seen it all."

Those leaders were worried that Liu Guozhang would be embarrassed, so they quickly explained with a smile.

Liu Guozhang didn't care.

After all, having a good student is also part of strength.

If you have the ability, you can accept such a student.

Of course, when they parted, Liu Guozhang also said something very rare: "Aiguo, this child, still has a lot of room for improvement."

Leaders: “.”

****
Since the completion of the Xiaoxishan Tunnel project, Li Aiguo has returned to the locomotive depot to work on the trench excavator.

After learning that Liu Guozhang was promoted to a five-member group, he, as a student, naturally wanted to congratulate his teacher.

In the evening, Li Aiguo brought Chen Xueru and two children to Liu's house.

"Teacher, these are two bottles of wine I saved. Please enjoy them slowly."

Giving gifts is a science. Only when the gifts touch the heart of the other person can you achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Liu Guozhang was about to get busy, and he needed something like this to refresh himself the most, so of course he happily accepted it.

At this time, the master's wife had prepared dinner and brought it up.

The two of them usually have light meals, but today because Li Aiguo and his wife came, they specially fried a plate of stir-fried meat and made the egg custard that the children love.

After dinner, the master's wife took Chen Xueru and the two children to the yard to chat.

The master's wife especially liked Xiao Hongsheng and Xiao Minghui, and they had a lively chat.

"Aiguo, let's go to the study and talk."

Liu Guozhang took Li Aiguo to the study room, closed the door, handed him a cigarette, and then said with a smile: "This time, I, the teacher, have taken advantage of you, the student."

"Teacher, you may have misunderstood what it means."

"Why, do you have any different opinions?" Liu Guozhang lit a cigarette and asked curiously.

Li Aiguo smoked a cigarette and analyzed: "Teacher, two of the five-member team leaders are the key to success, one is the leader of the railway troops, and the remaining two are the key to success.

Among them, Mr. Chen is one of the best engineering experts in the country and a representative of professional skills.

We are currently lacking a leader who understands the technology and has connections with the railways, and that leader is you."

"Hey, I didn't expect that you've made progress after not seeing you for a while." Liu Guozhang thought about it carefully and found that it was true.

The seemingly random arrangement above is actually full of profound meaning.

"But there are many people on the railway who are skilled in technology. The fact that I was chosen must have something to do with you."

Li Aiguo could only laugh.

The two chatted for a while, Liu Guozhang put out his cigarette and took out a letter of appointment from the drawer.

"Now that all the Russian experts have left, we can only do it on our own. You have to help the teacher."

Li Aiguo took the appointment letter and saw that the position was deputy commander-in-chief of Beijing Metro Line 1 Command. He couldn't help but feel excited.

It is the dream of every railway worker to be able to participate in such a large project.

"Teacher, don't worry, I will do my best."

What makes Li Aiguo even more excited is that his main job as deputy commander-in-chief is to provide technical support and he is directly under the jurisdiction of Liu Guozhang.

The job mainly involves coordinating the shield machine, helping to plan the route, etc., which does not take up too much time.

In this way, the development of trench excavators will not be delayed.

According to the above regulations, the design drawings need to be produced within one month, and Liu Guozhang is responsible for the drawing work.

In those days, subway design drawings were mainly designed and calculated manually with a duck-billed pen. The pressure was extremely high and the designers had to work overtime almost every day.

However, being able to become a subway designer is a particularly honorable thing for people working in engineering.

Take Cheng Li, a fifth-level engineer in the Engineering Bureau, for example. He graduated from the Civil Engineering Department of Northwestern Polytechnical University (then known as Northwestern Polytechnical College) five years ago, and then joined the Engineering Bureau as a tunnel designer.

After being selected as a subway engineer, Cheng Li felt that he was finally realizing his dream and was very excited.

However, reality soon taught him a lesson.

The requirements for the subway are much higher than those for the tunnel, and the drawings are more complicated. Even if Cheng Li works day and night, he cannot keep up with the work progress.

Being busy with work every day, it is natural to neglect the family.

Even though his new wife understood and supported him, his parents always urged him to have children.

"Cheng Li, if you continue like this, when will I be able to get pregnant?" The wife sent Cheng Li out of the tube building, still nagging about this matter.

“I’ll try to get off work early today.”

Facing his resentful wife, Cheng Li said something that even he himself did not believe.

"Forget it. Work is important, you must work hard." Fortunately, his wife was understanding and did not argue with him.

Cheng Li sighed deeply, rode his bicycle to the design department at the headquarters.

As soon as he entered the office, Cheng Li saw several comrades in Zhongshan suits tinkering with an iron box.

Seeing that those people were unfamiliar, Cheng Li did not alarm them, but immediately reported to the comrades in the security department.

"I found out there are outsiders in the design department. They might be stealing the blueprints!"

When the security department heard this, they immediately dispatched a dozen security officers to follow Cheng Li to the office.

When he saw the leader clearly, Captain Zhang of the Security Department walked over quickly and saluted him: "Deputy Commander Li, you are busy."

Deputy Commander-in-Chief Cheng Li looked at the unnaturally young guy and was stunned for a moment before he remembered his identity.

"So you are the new deputy commander. I am so sorry."

"Comrade Cheng Li, right? Come, let me introduce you to something good."

Li Aiguo shook hands with Cheng Li warmly, invited him to the iron box, and introduced it to him: "This is a Red Star computer. We have installed a simple calculation program in it, which can perform complex calculations."

"Come, let me explain to you how to use this thing."

Cheng Li was stunned as he watched Li Aiguo skillfully typing on the keyboard and numbers appearing on the screen.

Just one tap on this thing can make him work longer than he does in half a day. It's amazing.

"This Red Star computer will be given to your design department for use. Try to produce the blueprints within a month!"

Seeing that Cheng Li was already able to use the computer skillfully, Li Aiguo patted him on the shoulder and said.

"Deputy Commander Li, don't worry, with this thing, we can definitely complete the mission."

Just kidding, with such high-tech gadgets, they can save at least half of their time.

Liu Guozhang felt a sigh in his heart when he saw that the extremely difficult task was solved so easily.

“This student is really good!”

With the help of computers, Cheng Li's team completed five days' work in just one day.

Seeing that it was time to get off work, and considering that he had completed the task ahead of schedule, Cheng Li got off work on time, which was rare, and rode his bike back home.

At this time, his wife had just returned home and was eating some steamed buns in the morning.

Seeing Cheng Li coming back, she looked incredulous: "Why are you back? I, I'll cook for you right away."

"Let's do our work first and cook later." Cheng Li grabbed his wife's arm and ran into the inner room.

"Not serious!" His wife's face turned slightly red. She shook off his hand, ran over to close the door, and then followed him into the house excitedly.

We, Li Aiguo, have also done our part to maintain family harmony among our employees.

The preparatory work for the Beijing subway was going smoothly, and Li Aiguo also had time to work on the trench excavator.

Early this morning, as soon as he arrived at the Beijing Locomotive Depot, Staff Officer Xiao told Li Aiguo a good news.

"The First Machine Factory has decided to help us produce the car body and tracks."

(End of this chapter)