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

"Demolition Team!"

Lin Yang raised the tin megaphone, and his voice roared in the strong wind.

"Forget about the permafrost! Drill a hole! Put in the explosives! Blow it open!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Deafening explosions echoed across the wasteland. The hard permafrost was torn apart by the high explosives, and large chunks of frozen soil were blasted into the sky.

"One group rushes up! Clear away the loose soil! The second group prepares to pour the concrete!"

Twenty thousand construction workers, dressed in tattered cotton-padded clothes, surged into the foundation pit like a tidal wave. Lacking machinery, they relied on sheer numbers. When shovels broke, they dug with their bare hands; their skin and flesh stuck to the cold, frozen soil, tearing them apart revealed a bloody mess.

But no one backed down.

The loudspeaker was blaring "The Battle Song of the Chinese People's Volunteers," and everyone was gritting their teeth and enduring it.

Lin Yang jumped down from the earthen slope, grabbed a shovel, and rushed into the deepest part of the foundation pit, where he and the workers frantically shoveled soil out.

With the commander-in-chief taking the lead, the workers' morale was instantly ignited to its peak.

"Minister! We can't dig anymore! Water's coming up from below, and it'll freeze as soon as it comes out, making the foundation unstable!" A technician covered in mud ran over and shouted.

Lin Yang threw down the shovel and strode to the water outlet.

The icy groundwater is gushing out and begins to freeze the moment it comes into contact with the air.

"Go and bring all the tin buckets around here! Boil water! Melt the ice!"

Lin Yang's eyes were bloodshot. He grabbed the technician by the collar: "Go tell the logistics department to collect all the quilts, straw mats, and even the workers' old cotton-padded coats! Spread them on the poured concrete! Light stoves around it and keep them warm day and night!"

"Even if I have to cut down every single tree in Fularji for firewood, I'll still warm up the foundation of this 10,000-ton hydraulic press!"

This completely unreasonable and unconventional approach to industrial development shattered the understanding of Soviet experts.

But miracles are created through sheer force.

1955 spring.

When the ice and snow melted, a huge, solid hydraulic press foundation, perfectly conforming to the highest Soviet technical standards, appeared on the land of Fularji.

The main factory building rose from the ground.

Then came the most difficult challenge.

The core components of the 10,000-ton hydraulic press—the massive alloy steel columns and crossbeams—require ultra-high-strength special steel. This type of steel has never been smelted domestically before.

Lin Yang made a phone call directly to the desk of Lin Fan, the director of Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill.

"Brother! I've had the blueprints sent to you. Six months. I don't care what methods you use, no matter how many furnaces of steel you scrap. Get that special steel out of me! Fularji needs rice to cook!"

Inside the Red Star Steel Rolling Mill in Beijing.

After receiving the call, Lin Fan didn't sleep for three days and three nights.

He personally led the factory's top-level workers and technicians, living and working right next to the blast furnace.

The formula was tested again and again, and the furnace temperature was adjusted time and time again. The flames spewing from the chimneys of the Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill illuminated half of the sky above Beijing.

Four months later.

A military freight train bearing the "Express" license plate departed from Beijing, enjoying a smooth journey with all green lights, heading straight for Fularji.

The moment the train doors opened at Fularji Railway Station.

Lin Fan, dressed in work clothes stained with black and gray, jumped off the train. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, but he was as excited as a child.

"Yoko! The steel has been forged! It meets all the standards!"

Lin Fan pointed at the several huge special steel ingots on the train car that emitted a dark metallic luster and roared in a hoarse voice.

Lin Yang stepped forward, hugged his older brother tightly, and patted his back hard.

"Excellent! Hongxing Steel Rolling Mill has done a great job!"

With special steel and the core equipment blueprints obtained from the Soviet Union, the rest was just assembling and forging day and night.

Early summer of 1956.

It took more than two years.

After paying a price that is unimaginable to ordinary people, involving sweat, blood, and even lives.

China’s first heavy machinery plant has been officially completed!

That massive, steel behemoth-like hydraulic press, weighing tens of thousands of tons, stood majestically within the enormous factory. It was like a cornerstone of the nation's industrial system, definitively declaring that the era when China was unable to manufacture heavy equipment was gone forever!

When the hydraulic press was first tested, the huge hydraulic column slowly descended, easily pressing a red-hot steel ingot into a thin sheet.

A thunderous cheer erupted throughout the factory.

Countless veteran engineers and workers knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.

Lin Yang stood on the high control panel, looking at this national treasure, and let out a long breath.

Two years of wind, frost, rain, and snow; two years of sleepless nights.

He fulfilled his promise to General Peng, and he shattered the toughest obstacle.

"Chen Feng." Lin Yang turned his head and looked at his secretary, who had also lost a lot of weight.

"exist!"

"Pack your things. Send a telegram to the ministry. Mission accomplished."

A relaxed smile finally appeared on Lin Yang's lips.

"Let's go home."

……

Yuquanshan Military Region Compound in Beijing.

Summer sunlight filters through the gaps in the plane trees, casting dappled shadows on the asphalt road.

The gate to Building No. 6 (甲字六号) was half-closed.

A two-year-old boy with a chubby face was wearing open-crotch pants and stumbling around chasing a butterfly on the lawn in the yard.

He waved a small wooden stick in his hand and made cheerful "ee-ya" sounds.

Tian Yu sat in a wicker chair in the courtyard, knitting a small sweater with knitting needles in her hand. Her gaze never left the child, and her eyes were full of tenderness.

In the past two years, Lin Yang has been in charge of construction in Northeast China, and has only been home a handful of times.

Tian Yu was raising her child alone. Although she had the security guards and logistical support of the military compound, her longing and concern for the child never diminished.

She reads the newspaper reports about the construction in Fularji every day, searching for her husband's shadow between the lines.

"Jianguo, slow down, don't fall," Tian Yu said softly, putting down her yarn.

Xiao Jianguo ignored his mother and chased after the butterfly until he reached the large iron gate of the yard.

Just then, a pair of large feet wearing black leather shoes stopped outside the iron gate.

Xiao Jianguo paused for a moment, then tilted his head back and looked curiously at the tall man standing outside the door.

The man was wearing a faded dark gray Zhongshan suit, his hair was cut very short, his cheeks were thin, and his skin had a bronze color from being exposed to the wind and sun.

But his eyes were deep and bright, carrying a warmth that made people feel incredibly at ease.

The man crouched down and looked at the chubby little guy through the crack in the iron gate, his eyes instantly reddening.

"Nation-building?"

The man's voice was somewhat hoarse, with a slight tremor.

Xiao Jianguo blinked his big eyes, biting his finger, seemingly a little scared of the stranger who had suddenly appeared, and took two steps back.

Hearing the sound, Tian Yu, who was sitting in the rattan chair, suddenly raised her head.

When she saw the figure standing outside the door, the sweater and knitting needles in her hands fell to the ground with a "clatter".

She covered her mouth, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Yoko..."