Courtyard House: From Deputy Division Commander to Civilian, Progressing All the Way

Lin Yang's words were like a shot of adrenaline, directly hitting the veins of every Chinese cadre present!

Everyone listened with great enthusiasm, their eyes shining.

Upon hearing the translation, Ivanov was so shocked that his mouth dropped open, and he shook his head repeatedly: "Insane... You are madmen who defy the laws of science..."

"Science is created by humans!"

Lin Yang's eyes were sharp as he pointed to the bustling construction site outside the window.

"On the Korean battlefield, the Americans also said that our logistical supply lines were scientifically unsustainable. But what happened? We carried the shells on our shoulders and with mules, and still managed to get them to Shangganling!"

Lin Yang placed his hands on the table and issued his first military order at Ansteel.

"From this moment forward, the Ansteel Expansion Headquarters will be under military-style management!"

"These three major projects are essentially three major battles!"

"Disrupt the existing organization of all construction teams! Reorganize them into assault divisions, assault regiments, and elite battalions!"

"I'm going to bring the tactics of large-scale troop infiltration operations to this construction site! Day or night, wind or snow. Twenty-four hours a day, three shifts, non-stop! The machines can't stop even when the people stop! The welding can't stop!"

"Anyone who dares to slack off at this crucial time and delay the project will be court-martialed!"

……

As Lin Yang's military order was issued.

The entire Ansteel construction site was completely transformed into a massive, boiling war machine.

December, the cold winter arrives.

The temperature in Anshan plummeted to minus thirty-five degrees Celsius.

Water droplets freeze into ice, breath turns into frost.

The fierce winds whipped up heavy snow, turning the entire construction site into a white hell.

But at the sites of the three major projects, a completely different and awe-inspiring scene unfolded.

Tens of thousands of construction workers, wearing heavy cotton-padded coats and with hemp ropes tied around their waists, climbed the scaffolding dozens of meters high with great difficulty, like a group of tireless ants.

On the frame of the seamless steel pipe factory building.

The wind force here reached an astonishing level eight.

The steel becomes extremely brittle at the extreme cold, and its surface is covered with frost. If the workers' hands are not careful and touch the steel pipes, their skin will immediately stick to them, and if they are torn off, a large, bloody piece of skin will be left.

"Quickly! First Battalion, retreat! Second Battalion, take over!"

In the wind and snow, Lin Yang, wearing a cotton overcoat stained with oil and ash, a safety helmet, and holding a tin megaphone, stood on a high earthen slope, shouting commands.

He perfectly applied the "wave-like charge" tactic he used in the Battle of Chosin Reservoir to high-altitude welding.

At temperatures as low as -35 degrees Celsius, welders simply cannot work for extended periods; their hands will freeze and cause problems with the weld.

Lin Yang directly ordered that every twenty people form a strike team. Each person would only weld for fifteen minutes. Once the time was up, they would be immediately replaced and taken to the temporary insulated shed below to drink hot ginger soup and warm themselves by the fire, before the next batch of people would take their place.

In this way, by using sheer numbers, they managed to keep the welding sparks burning for 24 hours straight in the wind and snow!

The situation was even more dire at the construction site of blast furnace No. 7.

To ensure the quality of the foundation concrete pouring, Lin Yang had dozens of large iron pots set up next to the construction site, boiling water day and night.

The workers, shirtless and braving the heavy snow, poured boiling water into the cement and mixed it. As soon as the steaming concrete was poured, workers immediately covered it with thick straw mats, and dozens of large stoves were lit nearby to bake it day and night.

Chief Engineer Shen Zhiyuan watched this scene, tears streaming down his face.

He saw the young workers using their own bodies to hold down the straw mats to prevent them from being blown away by the strong wind. Their eyebrows were covered with icicles, but their eyes shone with an alarming light.

"These are Chinese workers...this is our backbone of steel..." Shen Zhiyuan murmured to himself.

Soviet experts, including Ivanov, were utterly shocked by this desperate display of effort.

They used to leave work on time every day and go back to the experts' building to drink vodka, but now, seeing even Lin Yang, the commander-in-chief and a dignified general, personally carrying cement bags and running around the construction site, they could no longer sit still.

Ivanov took off his heavy bearskin coat, put on a safety helmet, and voluntarily walked into the snowstorm to personally guide the workers in installing and debugging the equipment.

On this construction site, there are no barriers of nationality, and no distinctions of rank.

Everyone had only one belief: to chew this tough nut to pieces and swallow it down!

……

Time marched on with difficulty amidst the wind and snow.

In late December 1953, the main building of the seamless steel pipe plant was closed ahead of schedule amidst a blizzard!

In January 1954, the core rolling mill of the large steel rolling plant was installed and commissioned!

The most difficult part was the No. 7 blast furnace.

Those special high-temperature resistant valves that could not be delivered due to Western embargoes became the last obstacle blocking our path.

Lin Yang kept his word.

He directly used his connections within the military to bring back the wreckage of several destroyed US M26 heavy tanks from the front lines.

Shen Zhiyuan led hundreds of veteran blacksmiths and skilled workers recruited from all over the country to melt and forge the tank's armor plates in the simple sheds on the construction site, using the most primitive and rudimentary methods.

Without precision machine tools, they used sledgehammers to hammer away, one blow at a time!

Without a temperature measuring instrument, the experienced workers rely on their naked eyes to judge the heat!

They fought for seven days and seven nights straight.

The moment Shen Zhiyuan and others carried out the four special valves, which gleamed with a metallic sheen and whose precision perfectly met the requirements of the Soviet blueprints, they were taken out of the workshop.

Tens of thousands of workers erupted in thunderous cheers!

After Ivanov took the calipers and personally measured the valve's precision, his blue eyes were filled with disbelief.

He turned his head, looked at Lin Yang, whose face was covered in soot and whose eyes were bloodshot, and bowed deeply.

"General Lin, I take back what I said earlier. You not only created a miracle, you yourselves are a miracle!"

……

Early spring, 1954.

The ice and snow in Northeast China have not completely melted.

But the sky above Ansteel was already enveloped in a scorching atmosphere.

Today is a great day as the three major projects are fully completed and officially put into operation!

In front of blast furnace No. 7.

The enormous steel behemoth soared into the clouds, like a majestic monument.

Lin Yang, wearing his faded old military overcoat, stood quietly on a high platform a dozen meters away from the iron outlet.

Standing beside him were Shen Zhiyuan, Chen Feng, and countless workers and technicians with expectant faces.

"ignition!"

With Lin Yang's command.

The operator in the control room pressed the red start button.

"Boom—Rumble!"

A deep, loud rumble came from inside the blast furnace, which was tens of meters high, as if the heart of the earth was beating violently.

Followed by.

The gate at the iron outlet was slowly opened.

A stream of dazzling, golden molten iron, radiating terrifying heat, surged out of the trough like a raging fire dragon!

The dazzling light instantly illuminated the entire factory area and the face of every Chinese person present.

Molten iron surged and churned in the channel, splashing countless dazzling sparks. The wave of heat that hit him made Lin Yang feel as if he had returned to that smoke-filled battlefield.

This time, however, he forged not bullets, but steel that would support the unyielding backbone of the nation!