The train driver in the courtyard

In the early morning, the soft golden light shone on the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, adding a touch of brilliance to the two oddly shaped buildings.

The entrance to the studio is now packed with people.

Director Zhang and a group of technicians were all stunned as they watched a group of people in gray Zhongshan suits inspect the hydraulic press, with an old man who looked like a high-ranking leader standing next to them.

Director Zhang tugged at Section Chief Xing's arm and asked in a low voice, "Why are people from the First Ministry of Machine Building here?"

That's right, the person in charge of the inspection at this time was not the Ministry of Railways, but Vice Minister Chen of the First Ministry of Machine Building, who was in charge of heavy industry.

"Well, this is quite a coincidence."

When the people in front of him were mentioned, Section Chief Xing clicked his tongue.

He originally planned to invite the department to inspect the hydraulic press.

As a result, the chief engineer of Jincheng Forging and Press Machine Tool Factory learned that the hydraulic press had been successfully developed, and he and Vice Minister Chen went to the ministry.

Jincheng Forging and Press Machine Tool Factory is the only factory in China capable of producing 300-ton hydraulic presses, and the ministry has also purchased several of them.

I can't refuse now, so I have no choice but to agree.

Section Chief Xing always felt that Leader Teng was showing off a bit, but he didn't dare to say it out loud.

Li Aiguo was also very excited at this moment.

Because the chief engineer who led the project was the first to design a domestically produced hydraulic press, he can be considered the patriarch of hydraulic presses.

The leaders of the First Ministry of Machine Building looked at Li Aiguo with increasing satisfaction.

As the head of a domestic heavy industry company, do you know that the more industrial-related the equipment is, the harder it is to buy?

Especially in recent years, our relationship with our elder brother has not been as good as it used to be, making it even more difficult to buy better equipment.

Heavy-duty hydraulic presses are used in a wide range of fields, from civilian equipment to military equipment, and from material processing to parts forging.

The First Ministry of Machine Building also wanted to manufacture it itself, but its industrial foundation was too weak, and several projects failed to meet expectations.

"If there's nothing wrong with this hydraulic press, it'll be like removing a huge rock from our path. You guys need to be careful."

Chief Engineer Zhang led the technicians to first understand the structure of the hydraulic press, and then reported: "There are no major problems in terms of structure, but further testing is still needed."

Leader Chen looked at Li Aiguo: "Comrade Aiguo, let us see what you've got?"

"This is a project within the ministry, so let Section Chief Xing handle it." Li Aiguo doesn't care about this honor now.

Section Chief Xing has put in a tremendous amount of effort for the hydraulic press project, mobilizing almost all the resources of the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. He even personally traveled hundreds of miles to find a single screw, making him a true hero.

Section Chief Xing was surprised that Li Aiguo would decline. After a moment of surprise, he nodded gratefully to Li Aiguo.

Opportunities to appear in front of leaders from other departments are few and far between.

"Director Zhang, I now order—to conduct the pre-power-on checks!"

Each time the heavy-duty hydraulic press is started, it undergoes a rigorous inspection. Technicians check each component one by one to ensure there are no problems.

The hydraulic press is forging load-bearing components for a steam engine this time.

The dark components were placed on the forging table.

"Start!" With Section Chief Xing's command, the massive hydraulic column of the hydraulic press emitted a deep roar.

The sluice descended slowly and steadily, carrying a chilling sense of oppression.

On the forging platform, the load-bearing components of the steam engine gradually deform under the action of hydraulic pressure.

Chief Engineer Zhang and the technicians kept their eyes glued to every movement of the hydraulic press, their notebooks rapidly recording various data.

"The pressure gauge is stable at 280 MPa!"

"Keep the temperature at 1250 degrees Celsius!"

"Slow down!"

"Hold the pressure for 30 seconds!" Li Aiguo took over the command from Section Chief Xing. The pressure gauge pointer stopped steadily at 300 MPa, and the components on the forging table were emitting a dark red light.

Chief Engineer Zhang nodded frequently while holding his notebook. He explained that when forging alloys with a hydraulic press, slow pressure is used to allow the material to flow fully and fill the mold cavity.

However, how slow to go, when to go slow, and how to control the amount of deformation are all very important and can only be mastered by experienced operators.

It's quite remarkable that Li Aiguo didn't make any mistakes.

"Relieve the pressure!"

The moment the hydraulic system began to depressurize, the entire hydraulic press emitted a long, drawn-out hiss.

When the crane lifted the forging away, several well-prepared technicians immediately performed a pit cooling treatment on the forging to prevent the formation of white spots.

As the heat dissipated, everyone gasped: the originally dark components had turned into a mirror-like silver-gray, and the chamfers at the edges were so precise that they looked as if they had been measured with a ruler.

Chief Engineer Zhang rushed over, picked up the instrument, and measured the forging: "The tolerance is within 0.1 mm! It meets the standard. Immediately conduct ultrasonic testing."

This was originally the work of the maintenance workshop, but Director Zhang received a signal from Section Chief Xing and handed the equipment over to the technicians of the First Machinery Department.

A moment later, a technician excitedly shouted, "The forging surface error is only 0.2mm, the mechanical properties meet the standards, and the impact energy test is qualified!"

boom!
Although the train drivers and workers watching didn't understand what these things were, they could tell that the hydraulic press had been successfully developed!

"Sir, this 2,000-ton hydraulic press meets all standards in terms of slide stroke, hydraulic system pressure, repeatability, and parallelism accuracy. The nominal pressure reaches 2,000 tons."

Chief Engineer Zhang compiled the data from the technicians, performed calculations for a while, and then reported to Leader Chen.

"Two thousand tons!" Leader Chen's expression suddenly became excited.

With this thing, we can build airplanes, cannons, and submarines. Most importantly, we can build it ourselves.

"Comrade Aiguo, can this hydraulic press be mass-produced?" Leader Chen asked, patting Li Aiguo on the shoulder.

Upon hearing this, Li Aiguo looked up at the two rooms and said, "All the parts are made by ourselves. Mass production is not a problem, but assembly is a big problem."

"Assemble?" Leader Chen didn't understand.

Chief Engineer Zhang walked over and said with a smile, "Leader, if I'm not mistaken, given the current industrial conditions, Comrade Aiguo wouldn't be able to manufacture such a large component. It's probably assembled from multiple smaller parts."

This is what it means for laymen to watch the spectacle while experts to appreciate the details.

In the absence of large machine tools, Li Aiguo adopted a "tiny but inefficient" approach, combining small equipment to process ultra-large parts.

In this way, although the production problem is solved, the requirements for assembly become very high.

"I see." After a moment of contemplation, Director Chen said, "If we had a group of qualified assemblers, wouldn't that solve the problem?"

Li Aiguo found it strange that even if there was a shortage of hydraulic presses in China, they should have waited until the hydraulic presses had been running for a while and there were no problems before starting to talk about large-scale production.

Leader Chen looked a little anxious.

Section Chief Xing leaned closer and said, "Sir, please rest assured, our locomotive depot is absolutely capable of mass-producing hydraulic presses."

Just kidding, building this hydraulic press really drained our coffers, we need to recoup our losses quickly.

As he spoke, Section Chief Xing quickly gave Li Aiguo a meaningful look.

"As long as the raw materials are fine and we have a group of excellent technicians, I believe we can achieve mass production," Li Aiguo replied.

"Okay, it's settled then."

After Director Chen left, Section Chief Xing, Li Aiguo, and a group of railway workers remained standing there, stunned.

What do you mean by "it's settled"?

Are you going to make a decision or not?

"Forget about them." Section Chief Xing affectionately pulled Li Aiguo's arm: "Come on, yesterday a train running on the Shenyang-Yangcheng line hit and killed two cows, so we'll have stewed beef today."

"That's great." Li Aiguo felt that there had been more train accidents lately, which made him feel happy.

The canteen had received the notice long ago and started preparing in the morning. By noon, all the staff in the section were enjoying a delicious stewed beef.

It's nominally a beef stew, but it's actually just potato stew with potatoes, containing only some beef broth.

Even so, they ate with great relish, and finally broke open the steamed buns to dab the soup off the lunchboxes.

Li Aiguo was very happy. Leader Chen had returned to the ministry and entered the senior leader's office to report on the situation.

After hearing this, the senior leader was somewhat stunned: "So, the Qianmen Locomotive Depot really built a 2,000-ton hydraulic press?"

"This is an inspection report personally written by Chief Engineer Zhang."

Seeing the senior leader begin to read the report, Leader Chen sighed and said, "To be honest, I feel quite bad. We spent so much effort on the hydraulic press, but we couldn't develop it. Now, the people on the railway have made it."

After reading the report, the senior leader looked up and said, "Old Chen, you can't have this kind of thinking. The whole country is a big game, we can't be prejudiced, and we can't be envious."

"I know, I just feel frustrated. I did make a mistake on this issue." Leader Chen was a long-time subordinate of the higher-ups, and he spoke very casually.

"Hmm, mass production?" the senior leader changed the subject.

"Comrade Li Aiguo said that as long as there are no problems with the materials, and with the addition of a group of excellent technicians, mass production is entirely possible."

"That's good. Call the Second Institute right now and tell them that we've found a hydraulic press for them to manufacture cannon barrels."

The top leader originally wanted to say "we'll build it," but hesitated for a moment and changed his mind.

"Yes."

Leader Chen nodded.

The Second Research Institute has been urging them for almost half a year, and now the First Ministry of Machine Building can finally submit its report card. Although the person who did the problem was from the Ministry of Railways, at least it's solved.

The senior leader watched Chen's retreating figure, rubbed his temples, and said, "Li Aiguo from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot. Why is such a talented person working on the railway?"

****
After a satisfying meal, the workers in the preparation workshop, led by Director Zhang, began manufacturing auto parts.

Li Aiguo watched for a while, and seeing that there were no problems, he handed the work over to his apprentice.

Now that he's the master, he can slack off whenever he can.

Director Zhang and Chen Baiya were both very excited. They knew that Li Aiguo was mentoring them in order to help them improve.

Seeing that it was getting late, Li Aiguo first took a shower in the bathroom, chatted with a group of experienced drivers for a few minutes, and then went into the greenhouse to pick a few tender corns, a handful of green beans, and a handful of small green vegetables.

As evening approached, Li Aiguo drove his jeep slowly toward the courtyard house.

Looking at the passionate slogans on both sides of the street, Li Aiguo also calmed his thoughts.

Now that we have a hydraulic press, we can manufacture parts. The next step is to complete the modification work on the parts design as soon as possible.

This task was originally assigned to Director Zhang, but he was really not a car expert, and the design he came up with was not satisfactory.

"A wild car expert." A thought flashed through Li Aiguo's mind.

But it was too late now; they'd have to wait until tomorrow. "Hey, hey, hey, Aiguo." Just as the jeep turned the corner, Li Aiguo saw someone; it looked like Uncle San.

"Third Uncle?" Li Aiguo wondered why Third Uncle was off work at this time.

The old man looked at the Jeep parked next to him, then at Li Aiguo and asked in surprise, "Aiguo, you're off work so early too?"

"Uncle, you're up so early too? Didn't you ride a bicycle?"

"The school was closed today for a large meeting. Now that the meeting is over, I'm back." The old man looked somewhat dejected.

That makes sense, considering he came from a small business background, which isn't exactly a glorious one.

As for not riding a bicycle, I'm afraid the old man did it on purpose.

The most prominent characteristic of those who survived the chaotic years before liberation is their extreme caution.

"It's good that you're alright, Uncle. Come on in, I'm going home too." Li Aiguo opened the car door.

"Wow, Aiguo, your Jeep is really nice." It was the third uncle's first time riding in a Jeep, and he touched and examined it.

Li Aiguo laughed: "Uncle, your bicycle rental fee is two cents, so it's not unreasonable to ask you for two dollars for this bike."

The old man was silent for a moment, then suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs, "Stop the car, I want to get off."

The old man sat in the jeep, rolled down the window, and waved to acquaintances from time to time.

“If we keep doing this, we’ll really have to pay rent,” Li Aiguo said with a laugh.

The old man quickly rolled up the car window.

Soon, the jeep stopped at the entrance of the courtyard house. The old man got out of the car and said generously, "Aiguo, my family has tea. Come on, let's have some tea before you go."

"No need, Uncle, I'm afraid I'll get diarrhea if I drink it," Li Aiguo said with a smile.

Third Uncle: "."

Yi Zhonghai and Jia Dongxu were both suspended from their jobs and didn't go to work. They squatted at the door chatting with the residents. Seeing the old man and Li Aiguo talking and laughing, they felt quite uncomfortable.

Now Li Aiguo already owns a car and has also won over Liu Haizhong and Yan Bugui.
However, Yi Zhonghai dared not make any moves at this time, after all, he had just suffered a loss recently, and Li Aiguo was a vindictive and petty person.

Li Aiguo greeted the residents and then prepared to go back.

At that moment, the roar of an engine came from afar once again.

A dark green jeep was seen driving towards them from a distance, but that wasn't the key factor attracting the residents. The key factor was that the vehicle had military license plates.

The jeep screeched to a halt in front of Li Aiguo.

A middle-aged man in uniform opened the back door of the car, got out, took out some documents, and looked them at Li Aiguo.

"Are you Comrade Li Aiguo?"

"Who are you?" Li Aiguo was also seeing this scene for the first time.

"Please come with us now." The middle-aged man didn't bother to introduce himself. Before Li Aiguo could react, he waved his hand.

Two soldiers, one on each side, helped Li Aiguo into the jeep.

The middle-aged man sat in the passenger seat this time and said, "Drive."

The jeep roared away.

The whole process was quick; from the appearance of the jeep to the taking of Li Aiguo away, it took less than ten seconds.

By the time the residents realized what was happening, the jeep had already disappeared at the end of the street.

"What's going on?"

"Perhaps Li Aiguo has a new mission. I heard from Jie Cheng that Aiguo is quite remarkable now."

Jia Dongxu said sarcastically, "This isn't carrying out a mission, it's clearly someone kidnapping you. Good job, quick job, excellent job."

After speaking, he looked at Yi Zhonghai: "Master, what do you think?"

"Huh? I didn't hear that." Yi Zhonghai rubbed his ears, turned around, and swayed away.

At this time, he didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble, at least not in front of the residents.

Seeing that Yi Zhonghai had actually been scared away, Jia Dongxu curled his lip in disdain.

He increasingly looked down on Yi Zhonghai.

****
After being pushed into the jeep in a daze, Li Aiguo discovered that a young man wearing a soldier's uniform and glasses was sitting in the back seat.

With one hand on his waist, he stared warily at the young man: "Which unit are you from?"

The young man took off his hat, revealing a brow beaded with sweat, and the gesture of fanning his hat betrayed his anxiety: "Comrade Li Aiguo, you must have many questions, but let me go first. Let me introduce myself, my name is Zhou Mingming. First of all, since it's our first meeting, we should shake hands or something..."

Zhou Mingming waved his hand, signaling Li Aiguo to retract his outstretched right hand: "However, considering that any physical contact could cause harm, and I might get in trouble with my superiors, let's skip it. You see, on the bright side, at least we've saved ourselves some trouble..."

The word "harm" was quite jarring, and Li Aiguo was puzzled: "I've been arrested?"

"Arrested? Hey. How can you think like that? They gave you an arrest warrant?"

Before Li Aiguo could answer, Zhou Mingming leaned forward, turned his head and raised his chin at the middle-aged man who had just brought Li Aiguo up: "Commander Wang, you arrested him directly? You disregarded the regulations again? If you do this, I'll have to complain to the Second Detention Center and make sure you can't write to your partner this month."

Commander Wang snorted and turned his head away.

“Look, you haven’t been arrested.” Zhou Mingming took out a cigarette case, looked at Li Aiguo, then at the closed car window, and put the cigarette case back in his pocket: “But you can think you’ve been arrested, that’s fine too.”

Hearing Commander Wang grunt again, Zhou Mingming smiled dismissively: "What's wrong? Isn't it? Forcibly taking someone away, locking them up in the research institute, and making them work like crazy—isn't that an arrest? Isn't that exactly what's going on now?"

"What's going on?"

Li Aiguo finally understood that Zhou Mingming seemed to have some problems with his mind. He was particularly stubborn and somewhat unconventional, just like those people who had spent a long time in research institutes.

"Didn't I just tell you I was going to lock you in a dark room? Tsk, at least give me some reaction." Zhou Mingming actually sounded aggrieved: "I'm not scared at all, this is so boring."

"Alright, Professor Zhou, stop fooling around. If Dean Chen finds out, he'll be in for a beating."

Li Aiguo had thought he had figured things out; these people were probably from some military research institute. But now this unreliable guy turned out to be a professor, and a dean had even appeared out of nowhere, which confused him again.

"I'm just giving Lao Wei some face. Otherwise, because of the time he left me at Factory 312, I would have plucked all his beards." Despite his tough words, Zhou Mingming softened and muttered to himself, "I haven't had enough fun yet."

"Forget it, let's stick to the old rules."

Zhou Mingming sighed, took a document out of his bag, and handed it to Li Aiguo.

"Hello, my name is Zhou Mingming, a professor in the Second Department of Harbin Military Engineering Institute. From now on, everything you see is top secret. If you don't mind being locked in a dark room, you can tell your wife."

Does Harbin Institute of Technology have an artillery department?
Li Aiguo was taken aback at first, then realized that Harbin Military Engineering Institute and Harbin Institute of Technology were two completely different institutions.

Harbin Military Engineering Institute was established in 1953 and was later split into several institutions, including the National University of Defense Technology and Harbin Engineering University. It is considered the ancestor of military industrial colleges in China.

Harbin Military Engineering Institute has achieved many results.

Two years ago, the first 1.5-meter-opening single-loop wind tunnel was built, and the "inorganic bonded ceramic cutting tool" was successfully developed.
This is only what has been made public; many other achievements have been permanently shelved due to confidentiality reasons.

Li Aiguo only knew of the hovercraft No. 33 that he had seen at the Qingdao Black Fish Base; that thing was mainly used for amphibious landings.

In those days, Harbin Institute of Technology and Beijing Institute of Technology were the leading companies in the field of military industrial research in China.

"But... why does Harbin Military Engineering Institute want me? I'm just a train driver." Li Aiguo loosened his left hand slightly and handed the documents back.

"Train driver? You're the one who invented the Red Star RPG and the radio bomb, aren't you? If it weren't for you, Li Aiguo, I, Zhou Mingming, would be the number one person in the domestic military industry." Zhou Mingming sneered again.

So that's where the problem lies.

Commander Wang turned his head and said, "Comrade Aiguo, don't mind him, that's just his temper."

"Ahem. Dean Chen is still waiting for our news." Commander Wang then looked at Zhou Mingming.

Zhou Mingming sighed helplessly and continued, "You haven't heard of the Four Cannons and One Instrument Project, have you?"

"..." Li Aiguo couldn't help but smack his lips. Was this how you asked a question?
But he had never actually heard of it.

"This is?"

"Ahem, this is a technological revolution project that our Harbin Military Engineering Institute and the Second Research Institute of Guns and Artillery, specifically the 203rd Research Institute, came up with." Zhou Mingming said with a hint of pride.

Li Aiguo had figured out his temperament and cooperated well: "Professor Zhou, what is this 'four cannons and one instrument' project?"

“That’s impressive.” Zhou Mingming straightened his collar and said loudly, “It mainly involves the design and manufacture of 130mm self-propelled cannons, 152mm self-propelled cannons, twin 37mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 240mm self-propelled mortars, and centralized command systems.”

Li Aiguo's mouth gradually opened wider.

I don't know the specifics of the previous types of artillery, so I can't make a judgment for now, but the centralized command system sounds like cutting-edge technology.

Li Aiguo turned his head to look at the slogans for "going all out" hanging on both sides of the road outside the car window, and seemed to understand why the "Four Cannons and One Instrument" plan was proposed and why it was not recorded in later generations.

As Li Aiguo had guessed, the "Four Artillery and One Instrument" project was a key project proposed by Harbin Military Engineering Institute during a special period.

It was approved three years ago at an expanded meeting of the Conventional Weapons Specialty Group, and is jointly managed by the Second Research Institute and the Second Department of Harbin Military Engineering Institute.

Researchers from the Second Department of Harbin Institute of Technology went to more than 20 factories and research institutes to begin design and trial production.

The plan was too far ahead of its time, and so far there have been no tangible results.

The only feasible option was the 240mm mortar, which Zhou Mingming was in charge of.

There were no problems with the design, and several prototype guns were manufactured by Factory 321.

However, during the test firing, all the prototype guns suffered barrel explosions.

"What a pity, that was my masterpiece."

"No. Why would you manufacture 240mm mortars?" Li Aiguo interrupted Zhou Mingming.

Mortars are a type of artillery that can move quickly, be loaded from the barrel, and fire indirectly, but their caliber is much smaller than that of ordinary artillery.

像轻型迫击炮的口径是51-60mm、中型迫击炮是61-99mm、重型迫击炮的口径不会超过120mm。

Even the caliber of heavy cannons is only 155mm.

"This type of artillery has only one purpose: to attack fortified positions. We have calculated that a 240mm mortar fires a shell weighing 81.6 kg with a 40 kg propellant charge, which is equivalent to the propellant charge of nearly seven 150mm howitzer shells."

It was powerful enough to destroy the reinforced concrete fortifications built on the front lines, and could almost instantly destroy ordinary civil engineering works.

Why not use a cannon?

Zhou Mingming smiled and said, "The mortar can be disassembled, making it easy to transport on ships, which is very suitable for amphibious assault operations."

Li Aiguo's eyes widened suddenly.

Good heavens, this is indeed a groundbreaking plan.

(End of this chapter)