The train driver in the courtyard

Chapter 553: National Day Railway Ministry Invitation Dispute
Time passed day by day.

Tomorrow is a day of national celebration.

Outside Qianmen, people were beating drums and gongs on Meishi Street, and bright flags were hung on both sides of the street.

The red flag looks particularly dazzling against the blue sky.

From time to time, a group of young people holding flags can be seen passing by on the street.

Riding his bicycle back from the locomotive depot, Li Aiguo seemed to be swimming in a sea of ​​joy.

The courtyard was also filled with a festive atmosphere, and the blue brick floor was swept cleanly.

Large slogans such as "Work hard to complete the patriotic donation plan" and "Resolutely respond to the great call to increase production, increase income, practice strict economy, tighten spending, and over-fulfill the national plan" were painted on the walls.

The children put on new clothes that they would only wear during the Spring Festival, and the adults also dressed up brightly and beautifully.

When I got home, Chen Xueru was cooking.

Li Aiguo raised his wrist to check the time. It was not yet five o'clock in the afternoon.

"Wife, why are you here so early today?"

"Tomorrow is National Day. There will be celebrations on the streets. We officers have to gather at three in the morning."

Chen Xueru has been going out early and coming back late recently. She looks a little tired, but her big eyes are sparkling with excitement.

"I originally planned to take you to the stands to watch the celebration tomorrow." Li Aiguo felt a little regretful.

As an invited "guest", he can bring his wife to watch the ceremony.

Being able to watch the ceremony from the stands is a very rare opportunity, and Chen Xueru also felt it was a pity.

She pursed her lips and hesitated for a moment, then shook her head firmly.

"There is still important work to do in the subdistrict office. If I ask for leave, it will definitely have an impact."

Yes, Miss Chen’s ideological awareness is so high.

As they were chatting, He Yushui rushed in hurriedly.

She was holding a small red flag in her hand, wearing a small tan uniform, and her little face was filled with excitement.

"Brother Aiguo, sister-in-law, our school is holding a party tonight, and I'm going to perform on stage."

After saying that, He Yushui ran out before the two of them could react.

Wow, it looks like this girl is here to show off!

National Day these days is not just a few days' holiday, but a grand festival for all the people.

Master Lu said: "Ritual is an ancient, repetitive set of behaviors and symbolic performance activities prescribed by cultural traditions.

As a kind of ceremony, the National Day military parade plays a great role in demonstrating comprehensive national strength, gathering symbolic power, enhancing the national image, and building national identity. "

early morning.

Sitting in the car and looking at the celebration outside the window, Li Aiguo finally understood the true meaning of this sentence.

This morning, Li Aiguo originally planned to send He Yushui and Aunt Liu to the square first, and then go to the stage area himself.

Who would have thought that as soon as I got up, I was asked to come out of my house by two comrades in gray Zhongshan suits.

It seems that the next thing to be carried out should be the security inspection procedure of this year.

The car sped along the street, weaving through the celebrating crowd, all the way to the square, and after turning several corners, it stopped.

Several men in gray Zhongshan suits gave Li Aiguo a "security check" and then handed him a piece of cloth.

"Please wear your pass on your chest."

With his pass pinned on his chest, Li Aiguo, guided by the man in the Zhongshan suit, came to the stands on the west side of the square.

There were already quite a few guests sitting in the stands, including representatives from all walks of life, some of whom Li Aiguo had seen their names in the newspapers.

There were many foreigners sitting on the left side of the stands. They followed the local customs and changed into dark blue Mao suits.

At this time, Old Sando and Bald Philip were already sitting there.

Seeing Li Aiguo coming over, Lao Shanduo stood up and gave Li Aiguo a warm hug.

"Dear Li, it's nice to see you again."

"Comrade Lao Shanduo, are you happy staying in the capital?"

The two chatted and sat down.

At this time, guests in gray Zhongshan suits came to the stands one after another.

Li Aiguo saw many characters that could be seen in books in later generations.

But he was very clear that his every move was being watched.

So I could only chat with Lao Shan about the railway while looking towards the square.

On the tower, there is a huge portrait
Red, yellow, a festive picture, the square instantly turned into a sea of ​​flowers.

The ceremony officially began with a burst of salutes.

"Dear guests, everyone"

Tens of thousands of people looked up at the city wall.

This year's National Day has the largest number of foreign guests invited, with foreign guests, envoys and foreign affairs officials from more than 50 countries participating.

Among them, János of Hungarian Iron Army even climbed up to the city wall and stood beside it.

On the viewing stand, Li Aiguo saw representatives from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

In addition, there are guests from Myanmar.

After the speech, the first thing to appear on the square was a cultural performance from various provinces and regions.

There will also be acrobatic performances
Li Aiguo saw a performance with people on motorcycles.
Wow, did San Ge learn the motorcycle acrobatics that he is so proud of from us?
But this is a motorcycle acrobatics show, and the military parade hasn't started yet.

Maybe Ah San misunderstood.

Acrobats performed as they moved through the square.

Whoosh!
There was a rumbling sound in the sky.

Several J-5 fighter jets flew over the crowd.

This should be the first appearance of the domestically-produced J-5 jet fighter.

After the J-5 jet fighter flew over, several Il-28 jet bombers appeared in the sky.

Next came representatives from all walks of life, including government officials, red scarves, college and high school students, suburban farmers, factory workers, and literary and art workers.

It is an extremely noble honor to be selected to participate in the rehearsal of the parade.

They held high large slogans such as "Emancipate the mind and promote technological innovation", "Let a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend", "Integrate intellectuals with the masses of workers and peasants", and "Resolutely support the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle of the people of Asia, Africa and Latin America".

In the parade, on each float, in addition to portraits, actors posed in various shapes, charts expressing that steel had surpassed Britain and the United States, and there was a model of a steam locomotive.

There are also domestically produced Fengshou brand tractors, as well as American ten-wheel trucks and medium jeeps.

Because the stands are high and far away, looking at people is like looking at ants.

Li Aiguo stared at the parade, but did not see the team from Nantongluo Lane.

Maybe it's over.
After the parade, the military parade officially began.

Tank troops, navy and army columns drove past one after another.

Lao Shanduo was amazed and said, "It is hard to believe that you have accomplished all this in just eight years.

In comparison, we were doing very well, but now we are ruined by those people with ulterior motives."

Li Aiguo understood that Laoshan was referring to what happened last year.

"Laoshanduo, your place has settled down now, I believe the development will get better and better in the future."

"I hope so."

While we were chatting here, a figure suddenly appeared in the distance.

"Look here."

Click!

A flash of light flashed.

I saw a foreign reporter holding a camera and taking a photo of Li Aiguo and Lao Shanduo.

"Very Good!"

The reporter spoke with a distinct American accent and must be from the Mei Lian News Agency.

"The meaning of the photo just now is very good. Thank you for allowing me to take such a good photo."

The reporter came over, took out two business cards and handed them to Li Aiguo and Lao Shanduo respectively.

"I'm Jack from the Sisters' Association, and this photo of yours may end up on the front page of our newspaper.

If possible, I would like to discover the story behind it.

You know, people over there are always very interested in people from your closed countries.

If possible, I would like to treat you to dinner at the Friendship Hotel in the evening, how about it?
Don't worry, stories like this are often well-paid and won't violate your rules."

The generous reward and no violation of regulations are really tempting.

Li Aiguo pinched the gold-embossed business card.

"Dear Jack, this is our life, not a story. If you want to find something new, you can interview your native people.
They will definitely tell you some very strange and bizarre things.

For example, how many pounds could be exchanged for an indigenous person's scalp.

For example, they warmly welcomed the Mayflower, but it attracted a group of demons, who gave them blankets wrapped in smallpox virus. "

As soon as these words were spoken, the confidence and smile on Jack's face froze, becoming as ridiculous as it could be.

"Sorry to bother you." He said, turned around and left angrily.

Lao Shanduo breathed a sigh of relief, touched Li Aiguo's arm and said, "Driver Li, I was really worried that you would agree to it just now.

You may not understand that these people were behind the changes that happened to us.”

How could Li Aiguo not understand this?

Making trouble in other people's homes and then taking the opportunity to plunder is an old way for these people to make money.

It's just that it cannot be stated clearly due to the review.

"The only one who can help us is ourselves."

"Yes, yes, dear Li, what you said makes a lot of sense."

Lao Shan nodded heavily.

"Questions about the transaction of D1 internal combustion engines"

Lao Shan said half of what he wanted to say, hesitated for a moment, and finally shut his mouth.

Although he had a good relationship with Li Aiguo, he also particularly liked this oriental train driver.

However, the technical data and equipment of the D1 internal combustion engine can bring many benefits to the Ministry of Railways.

He cannot ignore the interests of the Ministry of Railways because of personal feelings.

To Lao Shanduo's surprise, Li Aiguo did not ask any further questions.

It was as if she didn't hear his words, just staring at the teams of mighty warriors in the square.

They wore captured American helmets and Japanese and American weapons, as well as imitations of the former Soviet Union's Type 50 submachine guns and rotary machine guns, as if they could smell the smoke brought back from the anti-bandit front lines and the battlefields in the north.

There was cheering at the scene.

Amid the cheers, all Chinese people were excited and their eyes were moistened.

After the celebration, Lao Shanduo and Bald Philip took a jeep back to the Friendship Hotel.

He said that before leaving the capital, he would visit Li Aiguo's home.

Li Aiguo agreed immediately and said that he would treat Lao Shan to more Linggui Zhanshi wine. "It's a deal!"

"A word is settled!"

The two men shook hands firmly, and Li Aiguo watched the jeep disappear in the distance.

Then I signed my name in the autograph book and went to the gift counter to pick up a souvenir.

The souvenir is made of pure copper and looks like a section of the Great Wall, with the words "National Day Military Parade in Memory of 1957" engraved on the bottom.

This thing is beautifully crafted and has great commemorative value. It should be able to be regarded as a family heirloom.

Li Aiguo packed the souvenirs into a canvas bag, left the gift place, walked out the door, pushed his bicycle and prepared to leave.

"Aiguo, you made it easy for me to find you!" Engineer Dong squeezed through the crowd with two comrades from the Railway Research Institute.

"What happened?"

Seeing how panicked they were, Li Aiguo was shocked.

In a situation like today, any small problem will be magnified infinitely.

“You misunderstood, still about the sale of patriotic model internal combustion engines to Hungary.

Now the ministry is undecided, and the minister would like to invite you over to ask for your opinion."

Following Engineer Dong into the jeep, on the way to the Friendship Hotel, Li Aiguo also figured out the whole story.

This time, the Hungarian People's Railway Ministry plans to purchase 200 Patriotic internal combustion engines.

It's just that their current economic situation is not good and they can't buy all of it with rubles.

So it was proposed that a full set of ND1 diesel locomotive technology, five ND1 diesel engines, and other technologies and equipment could be purchased with rubles.

This condition was fully supported by the Harbin Railway Science Research Institute.

Professor Cui Mingde won over a large number of experts and urged the ministry to agree to the proposal of the Hungarian People's Railways Ministry.

However, the Beijing Railway Research Institute believes that diesel locomotive technology is not suitable for us at the moment.

Therefore, some leading experts, represented by Liu Guozhang, expressed clear opposition.

The department held three meetings to coordinate this matter.

Because the differences between the two sides were so great, they have never been able to reach a consensus.

Now the Hungarian President has attended the National Day ceremony and will leave the capital and return to Hungary in three days.

He hopes to reach an agreement with the country before that.

Bringing the cooperation agreement back will also help stabilize the domestic situation.

After figuring out the whole story, Li Aiguo frowned.

"This is all decided by the leadership, why are you looking for me?"

"It was you who invented the Patriotic Steam Engine. Now the two sides are arguing and the dispute has reached Minister Teng.

Minister Teng said, you guys who are just taking advantage of the situation, why don't you ask Li Aiguo?"

Li Aiguo: "."

It is true that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility.

In order to facilitate negotiations with the Hungarian People's Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Railways set up an office in the Friendship Hotel.

When Li Aiguo entered the conference room, Liu Guozhang and Professor Cui Mingde had been arguing for two hours.

Both sides' faces turned red, their eyes glared at each other, and a tense atmosphere filled the air.

Minister Teng, a leader who came from the railway corps, had been to the battlefield and never frowned in the face of hail of bullets.

But when I saw this group of technicians quarreling, my head was buzzing.

After all, these people are not enemies, so we can't shoot them all.

Even the reason they quarreled, whether selfish or not, was for the development of the railway industry.

Not only should he not get angry, he should also find ways to mediate and convey the attitude that technical discussions should allow for a hundred schools of thought to contend, so that those experts and technicians will not regard him as a leader.

This was originally an excuse to let everyone speak freely, but who would have thought that these guys were acting like they had obtained an imperial sword.

The more capable a person is, the worse his temper is. In order to stick to their own opinions, these technicians even dared to confront him.

Especially Professor Cui Mingde’s student Cao Zhenzhang, who is young but very eloquent.

They kept criticizing him for being a layman leading professionals and not respecting scientific laws.

But Minister Teng was very angry.

If this were on the battlefield, he would have already drawn his gun.

Minister Teng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Li Aiguo coming in, and stood up and waved.

"Driver Li is here. Please sit in the front seat."

"Assistant Wang, bring a chair to Driver Li."

This kind of treatment shocked Li Aiguo, and also made the experts and technicians present look up at Li Aiguo.

Liu Guozhang and the experts and technicians from the Beijing Railway Technical Research Institute all looked delighted.

Cui Mingde from the Harbin Railway Science Research Institute had a gloomy expression.

"Thank you, Minister." Li Aiguo sat in the chair with his chest straight.

Minister Teng said: "You should have understood the specific situation. What do you think about the export of the patriotic steam engine?"

Those experts and technicians all turned their eyes to Li Aiguo.

"I have no objection to exchanging technology, funds, food, or minerals. But it must not be used to exchange for ND1 diesel locomotive technology!"

Li Aiguo expressed his opinion directly.

Almost instantly, the conference room exploded.

Professor Cui Mingde's student Cao Zhenzhang suddenly stood up and slammed the table and said, "Li Aiguo, you are from the Railway Technology Institute. You are now giving priority to the development of steam engine technology, so of course you are against the development of internal combustion engines.

But the internal combustion engine will replace the steam engine, which is an inevitable trend. If we don’t prepare in advance, we will be left far behind by the world.”

Cao Zhenzhang almost caused Minister Teng to suffer a loss just now. Minister Teng turned his head to look at Li Aiguo, wanting to see how Li Aiguo would respond.

Li Aiguo said calmly: "I invented the Aiguo steam engine. Now that you want to exchange my product for technology, you should naturally refer to my opinion.

If you are not convinced, you can develop new technology and new locomotives and sell them to foreigners. Then you can exchange them for whatever you want.

Can't do it? Then shut up! "

Mighty, domineering, unreasonable, bandit-like.
Li Aiguo's words were out of tune with the atmosphere in the conference room.

Unexpectedly, Cao Zhenzhang, who had just been eloquent and debated with many people, could not utter a word at this moment.

In order to stand out at the meeting, Cao Zhenzhang put in a lot of effort and prepared a long set of speeches.

From the development of railway technology to the environmental protection of internal combustion engines (one of the important reasons why internal combustion engines were able to replace steam engines was that the black smoke emitted by steam engines when they were running was really unsightly), he knew them all by heart.

Cao Zhenzhang was ready to stand on the moral high ground and launch a heavy blow to Li Aiguo.

But
Li Aiguo won't talk about morality with you anymore.

Just consider reality.

No matter how many reasons Cao Zhenzhang has, he cannot deny one thing: without the patriotic steam locomotive developed by Li Aiguo, there would be no deal between them and the Hungarian People's Ministry of Railways.

Minister Teng looked at Li Aiguo with appreciation.

This debate is like a game of chess. As an excellent flag bearer, Cao Zhenzhang will always have the advantage no matter how you respond.

Who would have thought that Li Aiguo would rush over and kick the chessboard over.

This guy is quite interesting.

It's a pity to be just a small train driver.

When Professor Cui saw that his student was being punished, he realized that he had no choice but to leave, so he coughed twice.

“The opinions of the patriotic comrades are very reasonable, but diesel locomotive technology is too important.

All the technicians of Harbin Railway Science Institute are very eager to obtain the information of D1 internal combustion engine technology so as to develop our own internal combustion engine technology. "

In order to achieve the goal, they began to use the Harbin Railway Science Research Institute to put pressure on others.

But it really works.

Harbin Railway Science Research Institute is the earliest railway research institution in China. It has been researching railway technology and cultivating railway talents since before liberation.

Now a large number of technical personnel and leaders on the railway come from there.

If they really fall out, it will inevitably affect the overall situation.

If it were an ordinary leader, he would have considered the so-called overall situation.

However, Minister Teng did not do so. After realizing that this dispute would never have any conclusion, he decided to take tough measures.

Just then, the assistant came in hurriedly from outside and whispered in Minister Teng's ear.

Minister Teng raised his eyebrows. “How did you alarm [Sir]?”

【gentlemen】.
All the expert technicians in the conference room widened their eyes in shock.

Minister Teng also took a breath of cold air.

Those guests who are visiting our house now have not left yet. My husband is very busy at work and he still has to take care of such trivial matters.

In fact, after thinking carefully for a moment, Minister Teng understood.

The export of this patriotic locomotive is the first batch of large-scale industrial equipment and machinery exported from China, and has strong symbolic significance.

Furthermore, this transaction was facilitated by the Hungarian commander-in-chief, so it naturally had to be given special attention.

Minister Teng stood up and followed his assistant out of the meeting room.

Everyone in the meeting room fell silent.

Li Aiguo still looked calm.

After a while.

The assistant entered the meeting room and called out, “Driver Li, [Sir] wants to see you.”

As soon as these words were spoken, it was as if a bolt of thunder had struck everyone's ears, making their heads buzz.

Professor Cui and Cao Zhenzhang's expressions changed suddenly.

There are countless professors and scholars in this conference room, why does [Sir] want to meet a small train driver?

Li Aiguo was also shocked by the news. After taking a few deep breaths, he finally calmed down.

He stood up and followed his assistant out.

Liu Guozhang stood up and grabbed his arm: "Be patriotic, don't act like a bandit."

When did my train driver become a bandit?
Li Aiguo nodded and said, "Teacher, don't worry."

How could Liu Guozhang feel at ease, since that was [Mr.

He was both happy for Li Aiguo and worried about him.

What Liu Guozhang didn't know was that this was not the first time Li Aiguo had met [Mr.

At the Canton Fair half a year ago, Li Aiguo had been under the direct leadership of Mr. in order to find his lost sword.

*****
In a simple study room.

Li Aiguo heard the familiar Jiangsu and Zhejiang accent again.

[Mr.] put down his pen, stood up and offered him a seat.

"Comrade driver, I didn't expect that we would meet again only half a year after the Canton Fair."

(End of this chapter)