The train driver in the courtyard

At the end of July 1960, the capital city noticed a large number of Jiefang brand military trucks suddenly appearing on the streets.

The license plates of these vehicles begin with the character "亥". They were loaded with construction waste and sped along the road, raising clouds of dust.

"Wow, where is this license plate from? Why have I never heard of it?" Several young people squatted on the ground and shared a cigarette.

A young man took it, took two deep puffs, and said very knowledgeably: "Have you heard of military vehicles?"

"Military vehicles don't have this kind of license plate, right?" another young man wondered.

The young man who was questioned said with some contempt: "This is a special truck license plate for railway soldiers."

At this time, at the apple orchard construction site in Beijing, Li Aiguo and Zhang Tieling, commander of the 3rd Regiment of the 12th Division of the Railway Corps, were squatting on the ground, chatting while watching the Liberation trucks transporting the waste soil.

"Aiguo, you are a train driver, you don't know anything about trucks." Regimental Commander Zhang Tieling stood up and shouted to a railway soldier, then stood back and said with a smile: "The license plates of our troops are particular. Except for Junwei, which uses the [A] license plate, other military branches and military regions use the characters from the [Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches]. "

Li Aiguo understood: "The Navy used [Wei], the Air Force used [Wu], and you Railway Corps used [Hai]. I used to work in Fuzhou, and Li Yunlong used [You]."

Zhang Tieling had also heard that Li Aiguo and Li Yunlong had a good relationship, so he became more friendly. "The main purpose of this arrangement is to maintain confidentiality. By disrupting the order of the license plates of the various military services and military regions, we can prevent outsiders from easily identifying the movement patterns of the troops, thereby better concealing and deploying the troops' actions."

Li Yunlong is now killing a lot of people in India, and his fame in the country is rising rapidly, making comrades like Zhang Tieling who cannot go to the battlefield very envious.

At this time, a technician from the Beijing Engineering Bureau came over to report the situation.

"Reporting to the deputy commander, the excavation work in the apple orchard is expected to be completed in ten days."

"We must ensure both quality and quantity, and guarantee safety. We cannot trade speed for time." Li Aiguo stood up and signed his name on the progress chart.

At this time, the camera pulls up and the apple orchard is now a huge construction site.

In the distance, a tunnel boring machine was rumbling underground, and military vehicles with "Hai" license plates were transporting the excavated soil to a nearby park for storage.

Thousands of construction workers wearing work clothes and safety helmets are busy working. They are support workers from all over the country.

On the periphery, teams of railway troops were on guard, and figures in grey Zhongshan suits could be seen from time to time.

The construction site operates a three-shift system, with lights on 24 hours a day.

To think that just a few days ago, this place was still a barren land would be incredible to anyone.

This story begins a few days ago.

After the ceremony at Yuquan Road, the first phase of the Beijing Metro project, code-named "07", officially began excavation in Pingguoyuan.

Li Aiguo, as the deputy commander-in-chief, Liu Guozhang and comrades from the engineering construction team all moved here to work.

Since we made the design drawings ourselves and checked the data with computers, everything went smoothly since the construction began.

Only then did Li Aiguo have time to chat with Zhang Tieling.

Just as I was leisurely, Engineer Zhang from the construction team came over in a hurry.

"Comrade Deputy Commander, there's an accident at Point 3. Is the groundwater flooding?!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense.

An engineer asked: "Lao Zhang, didn't you use the well point dewatering method and then lay the waterproof membrane?"

After deciding to use deep burial, the Engineering Bureau and the Railway Technology Research Institute prepared a response strategy in advance based on the geological conditions of the capital.

"I tried it, but it didn't work. The groundwater was too strong." Mr. Zhang shook his legs. The sticky wet trouser legs were enough to show the amount of water.

"Let's go, gather the technicians, and go check out the scene."

As the deputy commander-in-chief, Li Aiguo is mainly responsible for solving engineering problems. Now that the job has come, it is natural for him to take on the responsibility.

At this time, due to the flooding of groundwater, the project has been suspended and the shield machine is slowly retreating to avoid accidents.

Li Aiguo asked the shield machine team to take this opportunity to work overtime for maintenance, and then he took the mining lamp and walked to the flooding point with one step deep and one step shallow.

The mining lamp pierced through the swirling mist in the darkness. Li Aiguo's rubber boots stepped into the puddles, and the icy groundwater instantly flooded over his ankles.

Engineer Zhang's hand trembled as he held up the blueprint. "Deputy Commander Li, look at the water seepage. It's rising by at least five centimeters per hour. The well dewatering equipment just drained it out, and it's filled up again in the blink of an eye."

"Bring the geological exploration report." Li Aiguo's voice suddenly rose.

The head of the exploration team responsible for geological survey handed over the report.

“This is an aquifer-rich layer, and there are some problems with geological exploration.”

Li Aiguo did not mean to blame the exploration team. After all, who could see clearly what was underground?

The head of the exploration team led several team members to re-explore the site and confirmed Li Aiguo's statement: "Deputy Commander Li, the water content in this area is far beyond our calculations. The well point dewatering method is unlikely to work."

The faces of the technicians and engineers on the scene suddenly darkened.

This is only the first stage and we have already encountered obstacles. How can we complete the project with guaranteed quality and quantity?

At this time, there was a burst of trivial noise coming from outside. Commander-in-chief Liu Guozhang and several leaders rushed over after hearing the news.

After figuring out the whole story, the coordinator raised his hand and said, "Lao Liu, it's just a little water. Get a few more pumps to drain it out. Even if there is some residual seepage, it won't affect our construction."

Li Aiguo interrupted him: "We can indeed start construction and pass the inspection smoothly. In the future, water will continue to seep in. Once the subway project is completed, it will be easy for water to flood the Jinshan Mountain. At that time, not only will the materials be lost, but the safety of passengers may also be endangered."

**'s face turned grim and he was suddenly speechless.

"Stop construction first! Notify the headquarters to hold a meeting!" Liu Guozhang said, "The projects we build must be responsible to the country and the people, and must stand the test of history."

The reason why Liu Guozhang took such a high profile was to show the attitude of the five-member group.

Sure enough, the leaders’ expressions became serious after hearing this.

Twenty minutes later, the first emergency meeting of the subway command was held.

Liu Guozhang briefly introduced the situation and looked at the technicians and engineers.

"This is the situation right now. Our superiors and the people of the country are watching us. Let's discuss this together."

After the words were spoken, there was silence.

It’s not that these technicians have no way.

Rather, the underground tunnel has a complex geological environment, which makes construction inconvenient, and conventional waterproofing methods are completely useless.

"How about we use the human wave tactic?" Zhang Tieling, the head of the Railway Corps, raised his hand and said, "We use the common method we use to dig tunnels. We first drain the water, then clean it all up, and then build a five-layer waterproof base. This will ensure that there will be no problems for hundreds of years."

"How many people will it take? How long will it take?"

"About 3,000 people. How long will it take?" Zhang Tieling was silent for a moment, then gave a number: "At least two months."

“It’s too long!” a leader immediately objected.

"There can't be only one water seepage point. If there is such a solution, our subway project will be completely delayed."

"yes."

The old method was too time-consuming and there was no other solution, so the venue was in chaos for a while.

Li Aiguo listened quietly, sitting in a chair and recalling the subway he had taken in his previous life.

Suddenly, he thought of a subway project that was very similar to this one.

That place is located on the seaside, and the underground water seepage is particularly serious, making it impossible to dig a subway tunnel.

The waterproof construction plan for the project at that time was extremely ingeniously designed and solved the problem perfectly.

The methods used in this plan can be used here.

This subway waterproofing plan uses the well point dewatering system that is commonly used in later generations.

It is to lower the groundwater level by setting up precipitation wells and pressure relief wells, and achieve water balance in coordination with recharge wells.

This belongs to the "dredging" part of waterproofing, and there is nothing wrong with it in terms of thinking.

However, one key point is overlooked: if the groundwater flow is too large, there will be no place to dredge it.

That plan also faced a similar dilemma, so engineers did the opposite and adopted a "blocking" approach.

Specifically, it is to use grouting sealing and barrier technology to artificially create a waterproof barrier in the tunnel, and to seal the leakage points after the initial support through backfill grouting.

At the same time, a pressure balancing pipe or recharge system is set up to balance the water pressure difference inside and outside the tunnel and avoid the influx of groundwater.

This solves the groundwater problem at its root.

However, blocking is much more difficult than dredging, and the requirements for construction technology and project quality are very high.

Li Aiguo glanced at the 1600 points he still had, raised his hand and expressed his idea.

"Traffic jam?" Several leaders frowned.

The story of Dayu's flood control has long been widely circulated. Even a three-year-old child knows that "draining" is worse than "blocking".

However, because Li Aiguo was the deputy commander-in-chief, the few people did not raise any objections.

Liu Guozhang nodded: "Aiguo, please continue."

Li Aiguo explained his idea again and emphasized: "It is better to drain than to block. This is based on the premise that we cannot block. What if we can block?!"

This statement attracted the attention of a group of technicians.

"The deputy commander's method is fine in principle."

"Yes, we should adapt to local conditions and not just study blindly."

Liu Guozhang's worried look disappeared immediately, and he patted Li Aiguo on the shoulder: "Aiguo, I'll leave this matter to you. Come up with a construction plan as soon as possible."

"Yes!" Li Aiguo nodded heavily.

After work, Li Aiguo originally planned to return to the office and work overtime to turn the technology extracted from the system into an executable construction plan.

But he was driven out by Liu Guozhang.

"Be patriotic. Our subway project cannot be completed overnight. If you want to do a better job, you have to take care of your body."

Well, the immediate boss is my teacher, so the treatment is different.

Li Aiguo hasn't been home for several days since the celebration began. Tomorrow is the weekend, so it's a good opportunity for him to come up with a plan at home.

After work, Zhou Ke was patrolling the construction site with a few railway police officers. When he saw him coming, he smiled and said hello: "Aiguo, do you want me to drive you back?"

"No, I'm just riding a bike for exercise."

Li Aiguo replied, then rode away on his bicycle.

Cycling has become a high-end sport in later generations, and bicycles cost tens of millions or even hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Auxiliary entertainment projects such as bicycle girls have also emerged.

What? That's a borderline case?
I advise you to mind your own business.

By August, the weather was already very hot. Li Aiguo carried a shovel and went to the maintenance workshop of the locomotive depot, got two table fans and then returned to the courtyard.

At this time, the residents of the courtyard were enjoying the cool air with palm-leaf fans in front of the courtyard gate.

When they saw Li Aiguo coming back, they all greeted him.

"Aiguo, what the hell are you carrying?" Yan Jiecheng jumped up from his chair and reached out to grab the shovel.

"Snapped!"

The hand was slapped away.

Li Aiguo waved his hand: "Don't break it, it's a cultural relic."

"It shouldn't be like that. It looks like a new shovel, except that the handle is plated with silver." Yan Jiecheng scratched his head, looking puzzled. That's right, this shovel was exactly the one that the old commander had used.

After the celebration, Li Aiguo originally planned to return the shovel.

As a result, the comrades in the preparatory office were also in trouble.

According to regulations, this shovel is a souvenir for the old coach and they cannot take it back.

Secretary Wang from the preparatory office contacted the old commander.

The old coach replied: "Consider it a greeting gift for the kids."

Just like that, Li Aiguo got the most important cultural relic in the history of subway construction.

Of course, this thing will still be sent to a museum in the future, and I, Li Aiguo, am just keeping it temporarily.

"Are there any other good things? I heard that there are souvenirs for every celebration."

At this time, Xu Damao, Liu Guangtian, Yan Jiefang and several others also surrounded them.

The most active one among them, the fat body squeezed out from the crowd, and his eyes as big as green beans blinked.

The start of construction of the Beijing Metro is a big deal. Even if you just take a look at it, it will be something to brag about in the future.

If they hadn't mentioned it, Li Aiguo would have really forgotten about it.

He took out a round badge and an enamel pot from the canvas bag.

Both of them have words commemorating the start of construction of the Beijing Metro.

The eyes of the crowd lit up as they watched, especially the round badge, of which there were probably only one or two hundred in the entire country.

Jia Dongxu squeezed through the crowd and said, "Aiguo, I'll trade the Great Wall with you, how about that?"

The so-called Great Wall is a Great Wall souvenir, which is considered a rare item in this era.

Li Aiguo laughed and said, "Do you think I'm a fool?"

"Not really."

"Then why ask such a stupid question?"

"."

Jia Dongxu was so embarrassed that his face turned red and his neck became thick.

If you don’t want to change it, then don’t change it. It’s just a badge, what’s the big deal?

When Yi Zhonghai becomes an advanced worker, he will also be able to get a badge.

This year's worker promotion examination will begin in a few months.

This time, Yi Zhonghai learned from his mistakes, made a decisive change, and changed his previous strategy of going to the upper levels.

He decided to start from the grassroots level, like Li Aiguo, first become an advanced worker, get extra points for rectification, and then be promoted to a ninth-level worker in one fell swoop.

Li Aiguo didn't care about these and rode his bike back home.

Chen Xueru was a little surprised to see Li Aiguo coming back with a shovel on his back.

When she heard the origin of the shovel, she suddenly became nervous.

"What if something this valuable is stolen?"

Li Aiguo took the tea from her and asked with a smile, "Who is so blind as to dare to steal this?"

"That's right." After Chen Xueru came to her senses, she used a red ribbon to make a big red flower and hung it on the shovel, and then hung the shovel on the wall of the main room.

You know what, it quite matches Li Aiguo's current temperament as an engineer.

After dinner, Chen Xueru took care of the two children. Li Aiguo had nothing to do, so he found paper and pen and sat at the table to get busy.

He wrote the specific construction methods of grouting sealing and barrier technology for the subway.

The construction method is not the difficulty; the most important thing is how to achieve it under the current technical level.

After two full hours, Li Aiguo finally designed a preliminary construction plan.

Afterwards, this design will be taken to the conference, and in addition to being reviewed, technicians will also be required to complete the details.

****
After Li Aiguo left, Liu Haizhong, Yan Jiecheng, Jia Dongxu and others discussed how many ordinary badges that badge could be exchanged for.

Some say five, some say ten.

Liu Haizhong has been striving for progress recently, not only in his work but also in his thinking.

Seeing that he couldn’t get such a good badge, the old man lost his mood to chat and went home sighing.

At this time, the brothers Liu Guangtian and Liu Guangfu were eavesdropping on the radio. When they saw Liu Haizhong coming back, they ran away.

"If these two little bastards were half as good as Guangqi, I could have lived a good life for two days." Liu Haizhong had just pulled out his belt when the two men had disappeared. He was so angry that he could only sit on the chair and scream.

Speaking of Liu Guangqi, the second aunt came over and whispered, "It's not a good idea for Guangqi to stay in Baoding. If he continues like this, he will really become a live-in son-in-law. We should quickly find a way to transfer Guangqi back."

At the beginning, Liu Guangqi couldn't find a job in Beijing, but he happened to have a girlfriend in Baoding, so he used the connections of his girlfriend's family to get assigned to a factory in Baoding.

At the beginning, Liu Haizhong was happy to see it happen.

After all, Liu Guangqi didn't need him to organize the wedding, and with the woman's care, his future would be better.

However, in the past two years, Liu Guangqi has come back less and less frequently. In the last letter he called, he cried about how difficult life was over there.

The woman has even decided that his child will take her surname.

Only then did Liu Haizhong realize that he had picked up sesame seeds but lost a grandson.

"All the factories in Beijing are full now. Primary school graduates in the city can't find jobs anymore. It's not easy to transfer people across regions." Liu Haizhong picked up the glass of wine and drank it all. "A while ago, I sent two bottles of Moutai to Director Chen, but it didn't work out, did it?"

The second aunt glanced at him and whispered, "How about we go and ask for patriotism?"

"Didn't Yan Jiecheng get into the locomotive section through his patriotic connections? Xu Damao has been sending red dates to patriots and showing movies to reserve seats recently. I heard he's also making progress."

"Didn't you get praised for working on a project with Li Aiguo last time?"

Liu Haizhong was a little hesitant at first, but after hearing this, he rubbed his stomach, was silent for a while, and said to the second aunt: "Well, I'll go and try it first."

"Okay." When the second aunt heard that he was willing to come forward, she turned around and prepared some dried vegetables and handed them to Liu Haizhong.

****
Just as Li Aiguo was about to stretch his wrist, Liu Haizhong came.

Liu Haizhong did the same. The door was open, but he didn't come in directly. Instead, he knocked on the door.

He was so polite that Li Aiguo felt a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, it's so late and you're still busy."

"Uncle, please sit down quickly." Li Aiguo stood up and let him sit on the chair.

"Look, your second aunt went back to her hometown yesterday and brought some dried vegetables with her. I thought you might like them, so I sent them to you."

After Liu Haizhong handed the dried vegetables to Chen Xueru, he leaned forward and only sat halfway, with a look of restraint written all over his round, fat face.

Liu Haizhong chatted for a while and then got to the point: "Aiguo, I heard that you are in charge of railway projects now. That requires a lot of workers, right?"

"It does take a lot of workers to build it." Li Aiguo looked up at Liu Haizhong and continued, "But most of those workers are railway soldiers, and there are also a small number of local workers, mainly from the surrounding areas of Beijing, including technical backbones of the construction team. Most of them have participated in the renovation of the moat and the construction of the city wall."

The expression on Liu Haizhong's face froze instantly. No matter from which aspect, Liu Guangqi did not meet the requirements.

He quickly pretended to be in a daze and said to Li Aiguo with a forced smile, "Look how confused I am. Building a subway is such a big thing, the higher-ups must be very cautious, how can they just hire people casually?"

Li Aiguo also saw what Liu Haizhong was thinking. After thinking about it, he decided to give him some advice.

If Liu Guangqi came back, the Liu family might not be in chaos anymore, and the compound would be quieter.

"In addition to these workers, the project department is currently recruiting a group of pneumatic hammer operators. I heard a report two days ago and it seems that the staff is not full yet."

Liu Haizhong's heart, which had just cooled down, warmed up again: "Pneumatic hammer machine operation?"

"I cannot reveal the specific details, but the general job content is to operate a pneumatic hammer and perform work inside the tunnel."

As he spoke, Li Aiguo's tone became more serious: "This job is both physical and technical, with high intensity and high risk. Uncle, you have to think it through."

Li Aiguo didn't mean to scare Liu Haizhong.

The nature of the work of the pneumatic hammer operators at that time was similar to that of the scaffolders who would build buildings in later generations.

The scaffolders are actually fiddling with steel pipes high in the air, while they have to fiddle with I-beams weighing hundreds of pounds at the top of the tunnel.

If a train driver like Li Aiguo, who is fearless, can say the word "danger", then it must be really dangerous.

Liu Haizhong smacked his lips, touched his nose, and said with a smile: "Then I need to communicate with Guangqi. Thank you for today, Aiguo."

Regardless of whether Liu Guangqi agrees or not, Liu Haizhong owes him this favor.

"If Liu Guangqi is willing to do so, you can ask him to sign up directly at the Municipal Engineering Bureau. The project is a war preparedness project."

In order to maintain maximum confidentiality, all local workers involved in the subway construction project are operating under the names of "Beijing Municipal Engineering Team" or "Urban Infrastructure Team". Specific projects are generalized as "underground municipal renovation" or "war preparedness projects", and the actual construction content is kept strictly confidential.

This is not a secret, but it is not easy for ordinary people to find this way.

Liu Haizhong was aware of the value of this news. He nodded repeatedly in thanks and left the Li family.

When I got home, my second aunt was still waiting for me.

Seeing him coming back, he quickly asked, "How is it, did Aiguo agree?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, old woman? For such a big project, is it up to Aiguo alone to decide? We need to observe organizational discipline." Liu Haizhong gave a brief introduction to the situation.

The second aunt became worried: "It's so dangerous, what if something goes wrong?"

"If you want to get something done, you have to make sacrifices. Let's let Liu Guangqi make the decision himself." Liu Haizhong also wanted to be proactive, but his ideological awareness was far from enough for him to make such a proactive decision.

The night is getting darker.

Li Aiguo studied the construction process again, yawned and stood up.

Just as I was about to go into bed, I saw that the light was still on in the next room.

When I pushed the door open, I saw Chen Xueru sitting under the dim light, pedaling the sewing machine.

She was extremely serious, moving her long legs up and down.

Li Aiguo walked over and hugged her from behind: "It's so late, why don't you rest?"

"Come on, your gloves are torn. I have to sew them up quickly."

According to the regulations of the subway logistics department, 2 pairs of canvas gloves and 1 pair of rubber shoes are issued, and those who have serious wear and tear need to repair them by themselves.

Chen Xueru struggled for a few times, but seeing that the rough man would not let go, she could only keep busy while letting the rough man do whatever he wanted.

After the gloves were mended, she was almost completely exhausted.

"Brother Aiguo, let's go back to the room. Hmm."

Before she could finish her words, her mouth was blocked and she was carried to the sewing machine table.

The strips of cloth were swept off the table and fell to the ground.

(End of this chapter)