The train driver in the courtyard

Inside the office of the Railway Research Institute.

Liu Guozhang looked at Li Aiguo with anticipation.

But when he heard the words "DC pulse rail circuit", the anticipation on his face disappeared immediately.

"Patriotic, the DC pulse rail circuit approach won't work."

Liu Guozhang touched the cigarette box, which was already shriveled. Li Aiguo took out a cigarette from his pocket, handed it to him, and helped him light it.

He took a puff of cigarette and his frown relaxed.

Liu Guozhang said slowly: "In 1952, shortly after the establishment of the Railway Research Institute, we began to study DC pulse track circuits.

At that time, researchers in the institute believed that this was the future of railway signals.

Due to the lack of funds, many researchers handed over their own salaries as research funding.

After four or five years of research, DC pulse track circuit technology has made considerable progress, and the institute has also built an experimental line on the Shenyang-Shanhai Line.

The results of the driving test were very disappointing.

The circuit's anti-interference ability is too poor. The electrical signal is intermittent on normal days. If there is a thunderstorm, the entire circuit will be paralyzed.

More importantly, the development of locomotive signals that match this standard using electric impulse information is too difficult and has made no progress.

So the technology has been left idle in the institute.”

Upon learning the result, Li Aiguo was not depressed but excited instead.

The reason why he wanted to use a DC pulse rail circuit was because the Railway Research Institute had already conducted preliminary research and had some technical reserves and technical talents.

He only needs to spend 200 points to solve the problem of automatic railway signals with a minimal effort.

Li Aiguo smoked a cigarette and said, "Teacher, DC pulses are much more resistant to interference than DC rails.

The experiment failed due to AC intrusion, adjacent line interference and high-voltage line grounding interference.

I guess you guys were still using single-line transmission mode during your experiments, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Liu Guozhang, who was smoking, suddenly raised his head.

Li Aiguo summarized the problems encountered in the experiment in just a few words, just like an experimental summary.

"Aiguo, do you have any new ideas about DC pulse rails?" Liu Guozhang also became interested at this time.

Li Aiguo said: "I do have a little idea. Signals transmitted by rails are different from those transmitted by wires, and it is easy to lose signals.

So we can use polarity frequency pulse to solve this problem.

This pulse combination with two different polarities and two different frequencies has strong anti-interference capabilities when used to transmit information in track circuits.

We can also use redundant technology of hot machine standby, and focus on solving the problems of track circuit adjustment, diversion and broken track status.

"

Inside the office.

The white paper bulbs emitted a soft light, and the air was filled with a faint smell of tobacco.

Liu Guozhang sat at the desk, staring intently at Li Aiguo sitting opposite him.

He was attracted by the solution described by Li Aiguo and couldn't help but lean forward slightly, afraid of missing any technical details.

Whenever Li Aiguo talked about the key points, he would nod unconsciously with a thoughtful look on his face.

Sudden.

Li Aiguo sniffed: "It's on fire?"

The air was filled with the stench of burning textiles.

Liu Guozhang looked down and found that a hole had been burned in his Zhongshan suit by a cigarette butt.

It turned out that he was so engrossed in what he was listening to that he even forgot to smoke and also forgot that the cigarette was still there.

"If your master's wife sees this, she will punish me again."

Liu Guozhang put out his cigarette, looked at Li Aiguo and said, "Aiguo, please continue."

"That's all. Those were just my guesses. If you want to know more, you need to conduct experiments."

Liu Guozhang also knew that research required more than just paper and pen, and also required a lot of experiments.

At this time, Liu Guozhang was in hesitation.

DC pulse rail circuits have been clearly identified as a "failed technology" within the research institute and even within the Ministry of Railways.

The leaders who originally proposed researching this technology were even criticized.

It would be too difficult to restart the research project at this time.

However, Liu Guozhang also knew that if the DC pulse rail circuit technology was as perfect as Li Aiguo described, it would change the automatic signal transmission method of domestic and even international railways.

If it were someone else, Liu Guozhang would have given up by now.

However, none of the projects undertaken by Li Aiguo have failed.

Trust has inertia.

Liu Guozhang pondered for a moment and said, "Aiguo, you write a plan and I will find a way to do the work!"

"Teacher, don't worry."

Li Aiguo also understood Liu Guozhang's dilemma.

DC pulse rail circuit technology is a basic technology related to the overall situation of the railway, and cannot be compared with a locomotive or a valve.

Both research institutes and ministries will be particularly cautious.

After Li Aiguo returned to the locomotive depot, he spent two days on the task.

Based on the two technologies exchanged with points, a complete plan was written and submitted to the institute.

Liu Guozhang looked more tired than the previous two days. There were deep wrinkles on his dark and yellow face, the corners of his eyes were extremely droopy, his eyes were bloodshot, and his mouth was covered with blisters.

He smoked one cigarette after another, and the ashtray on the desk was full of cigarette butts.

When Liu Guozhang saw Li Aiguo come in, he rubbed his cheeks and cheered up.

Li Aiguo asked: "Teacher, how is the institute?"

"I still have some prestige in the institute. Director Liu and several deputy directors are waiting for this plan."

After Liu Guozhang received the plan, he left in a hurry without much discussion.

Li Aiguo also knew that he had done what he could.

Now it is a game between the top leaders, and he can only wait for news.

after get off work.

Li Aiguo bought two kilograms of brown sugar and purchased a bag of Chenghuangmiao five-spice beans at a reasonable price from the logistics department of the locomotive section and hung them on the handlebars of the car.

I staggered to the staff dormitory of Changxindian Locomotive Factory.

Yang Xingzhai was introduced as a special talent and was also the workshop director, so the factory allocated him a single dormitory.

The area is more than ten square meters, with a kitchen separated out in the corner. The area inside the house is not large to begin with, so Yang Xingzhai also placed several large boxes against the wall, which contained various spare parts and books.

There were several wine bottles scattered all over the ground, leaving almost no room to step.

"I am patriotic. I live alone now, so I am a bit dirty. Please don't mind."

Yang Xingzhai brought a small box to use as a chair and a large box to use as a table.

These boxes are all old ammunition boxes. After being pulled down from the battlefield, they were distributed to the employees as welfare of the factory.

Sit on it with your buttocks, and don't move at all.

You know what, it’s quite strong.

"Old Yang, I was on a business trip a while ago. Otherwise, we should have gotten together during the Chinese New Year. I'll make it up to you today."

Li Aiguo put the net bag on the table.

Yang Xingzhai is not the kind of person who has strong material desires and does not care about gifts.

But when he saw the City God Temple five-spice beans in the net bag, his expression suddenly changed.

"Patriotic, was this bought from the Magic City?"

"Yes, it just so happened that a friend of mine went there to deliver goods a few days ago, so I asked him to bring back a package."

“Thank you for your trouble.”

The Chenghuang Temple five-spice beans are a specialty of Shanghai and are not worth much in themselves.

But the fact that it was bought from thousands of miles away is enough to illustrate the friendship.

"When I first started working in the factory, my salary was very low. Every time I got paid, I would buy some spiced beans and half a bottle of liquor to satisfy my cravings. I was just a small worker at that time. Although life was difficult, I didn't have so many worries."

Yang Xingzhai stood up, took out two bottles of Lao Fenjiu from the box, opened them, and poured two glasses.

"Brother Patriot, I, Old Yang, offer you this glass of wine."

Li Aiguo took it and drank it all, then pinched a Chenghuang Temple five-spice bean and stuffed it into his mouth.

The skin is thin and the meat is flossy, the salt frost is evenly distributed, it is soft and glutinous when chewed, and has a fragrant and sweet taste.

"It's really good stuff."

After a few drinks, the atmosphere in the room suddenly became lively.

Talking about the train accident a while ago, Yang Xingzhai lowered his head and stared at the ground with empty eyes.

“I made a big mistake in being patriotic.

When we were improving the automatic road sign machine, I reminded our leaders that the machine was prone to malfunction and the internal gear transmission needed to be adjusted.

But at that time, there was no time left because of the National Day tribute.

The leader said that improvements could be made later.
If I had held on a little longer, maybe the accident wouldn’t have happened.”

Yang Xingzhai hugged his knees tightly with both hands, his shoulders began to tremble, and tears welled up in his eyes but never fell.

As a gift to National Day, it’s no wonder that the automatic road visa opportunity has been promoted so quickly.

Li Aiguo patted him on the shoulder and said, "Old Yang, I also know about the incident.

There is no evidence that the fault was caused by the gear transmission.

You don’t have to put the blame on yourself.”

“How can I not be clear about what I am studying?

The automatic road sign machine uses a purely mechanical structure, which is prone to failure. "

"What if we replace the way-signaling machine with the railway automatic signal control?"

“It’s easier said than done. For more than a year, I have been studying electrical knowledge at university just to achieve this goal.

But it’s so difficult, almost impossible to achieve.”

Li Aiguo asked: "If I am going to develop an automatic signal now, would you be willing to help?"

Yang Xingzhai suddenly raised his head and stared at Li Aiguo.

Seeing that Li Aiguo didn't seem to be joking, his breathing quickened and he nodded heavily: "Driver Li, even if I, Yang Xingzhai, have to bet over 100 pounds, I will fight you to the end."

"Okay! Lao Yang, I knew you were a man who could do great things, but..." Li Aiguo looked at the wine bottle on the table.

Without any hesitation, Yang Xingzhai stood up, picked up the bottle of wine and poured it out the door.

Li Aiguo: "."

Fenjiu costs 1.5 yuan a bottle. He felt a little regretful. He should have had a few drinks instead of talking about these things.

Afterwards, Li Aiguo explained his project plan.

Yang Xingzhai's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Aiguo, I think it's very feasible, but the two of us definitely can't do it, we need help."

"Of course two people are not enough. I have submitted the plan to the Railway Research Institute, but it still needs approval from the ministry." Li Aiguo said.

Yang Xingzhai became even more excited when he heard that the project was affiliated with the research institute.

“This is a big project!”

“This is a big project!”

"How can you just change it?"

"We have discussed with the Russian Ministry of Railways the introduction of DC track circuit technology."

"The Ministry of Foreign Trade squeezed out 500,000 rubles of foreign exchange from its teeth so that we could import technology. How can we just change it?"

In the large conference room of the Ministry of Railways.

The main leaders and chief engineers in the department immediately started discussing after listening to Liu Guozhang's report.

Faced with the aggressive deputy ministers, Liu Guozhang could only sit in his chair and remain silent.

Deputy Minister Chen knocked on the table and said, "Deputy Director Liu, I understand the idea of ​​your Institute of Technology.

But when we do things, we cannot ignore the risks.

If your technology fails, who will take the responsibility?"

"I can!" Liu Guozhang stood up. "You..." Deputy Minister Chen did not expect Liu Guozhang to be so stubborn.

Another deputy minister said: "We should consider the overall situation. The technical delegation from the Russians will arrive in Beijing in a few days.

If we change our minds now, will it cause dissatisfaction from Big Brother?"

"The Russians' technology itself still has problems. Why can't we change it?"

"Yes, Eastern Europe used the Russian signal technology, but the accident rate did not decrease significantly."

"Don't you care about the impact of the rectification?"

For a while, there was constant discussion in the meeting room, and the leaders had different opinions.

Minister Teng of the Ministry of Railways did not express any opinion and was quietly reading the plan written by Li Aiguo.

It took me nearly thirty minutes to read a plan.

The deputy ministers and chief engineers also felt something was wrong and they all sat down again.

"Minister Teng, do you have any comments?" asked Deputy Minister Chen.

Minister Teng put down the plan and said: "Railway signaling is related to the safety of the railway. The choice of the plan is related to the future of our railway.

We need to think carefully about this. Okay, let's end today's meeting here."

The dispute between the two technologies was not just an internal matter of the Ministry of Railways, it soon attracted attention from the outside world.

The ministerial compounds, the military compound, and even a mysterious place are all paying more or less attention to this matter.

After all, these days, there is no such thing as pure technology.

Especially when it comes to the Russians, the technological dispute has turned into a dispute over regulation.

Minister Teng received seven or eight calls as soon as he finished the meeting.

The people on the other end of the phone were all very influential people, and Minister Teng had to consider their opinions.

Minister Teng frowned and thought for a long time before hanging up the phone.

He looked at the assistant.

"Xiao Wang, please change my schedule for tomorrow."

"Yes"

The assistant took out a notebook and wrote the words "Qianmen Locomotive Depot" on it.

Li Aiguo certainly didn't know this.

After leaving Yang Xingzhai's house, he rode his bicycle towards the courtyard, humming a little tune.

Before I reached the gate of the courtyard, I saw Yan Jiecheng running out of the compound.

His face was filled with fear and panic, his eyes were wide open, as if he had seen something terrible.

His steps were staggering, and he was almost running with all his strength.

Every step he took was so hasty and unstable. He didn't even look ahead and crashed straight into the bicycle.

"Jie Cheng, what happened? Were you bitten by a dog?" Xu Damao walked over unsteadily from the side.

Well, this guy is really good at talking, say a few more words!

Li Aiguo reached out and pulled Yan Jiecheng up.

"Brother Aiguo, Brother Damao, hurry, hurry, my father has been poisoned!" Yan Jiecheng said in panic.

Li Aiguo no longer cared about his bicycle and followed Yan Jiecheng quickly into the yard.

As soon as I approached the door of the third uncle's house, I smelled a strong foul odor.

The taste is indescribable.

It feels like a mixture of shit, dead rat and fish!

Xu Damao also smelled it, covered his nose and said, "Did your father eat shit?"

Li Aiguo: "."

Yan Jiecheng: "."

Go inside.

I saw the third uncle lying on the ground with his eyes rolled up, and the third aunt was crying and wiping tears beside him.

"Hey, old man, Xueru has already told you that the canned food is expired, why didn't you listen?"

can?

Li Aiguo turned his head and saw the can of herring on the table. The can had been opened and was emitting a foul smell.

At this time, Liu Haizhong and several residents in the compound also arrived.

Da Mingbai covered his nose with his hands and gave a professional diagnosis.

“It turned out to be food poisoning!
Jie Cheng, food poisoning can be fatal, don't just stand there, send your dad to the commune hospital right away."

Just as Yan Jiecheng was about to take action, the third aunt raised her hand and said, "Second uncle, I heard that if you have eaten something bad, you can drink feces.

As long as I throw up what I ate, everything will be fine, right?"

Wow, in order to save some money on medicine, the three aunts really tried their best.

Xu Damao looked at Yan Jiecheng proudly and said, "Jiecheng, what did I say just now? Your father wants to eat shit?"

Yan Jiecheng: "."

Liu Haizhong knew that the third aunt was reluctant to spend money, and was also worried that the third uncle would faint again after waking up because of the medical expenses, so he followed the third aunt's advice.

He took a few residents with him, carrying the Yan family's big spoon, and prepared to go to the toilet to get that thing.

But he was stopped by Li Aiguo.

"No need, Uncle San was just fainted from the smoke. He will be fine when he wakes up."

"Patriotism, food poisoning is no joke." Liu Haizhong said.

“This is not food poisoning.”

Li Aiguo walked to the table, pointed at the can and said, "This thing is called canned herring. This is the taste. It's not spoiled."

Xu Damao nodded and said, "So it was the foreigners who ate shit."

Li Aiguo: "."

Yan Jiecheng: "."

Bangs: "."

Uncle Three: “.”

At this time, the third uncle also woke up from the noise.

The three aunts hurried forward, helped him up from the ground, and brushed the dust off his body.

"Old man, what's wrong with you?"

"It seems nothing happened. I was actually awake just now. Old lady, you did the right thing. Our family is in a hard situation. We can't go to the community hospital. Ren Zhong Huang is also a traditional Chinese medicine."

“That’s sun-dried.”

Li Aiguo said with a smile: "Uncle, what's the matter with this can?"

"Ahem, wasn't I collecting waste in the compound today?"

The third uncle now came to his senses and explained the whole story.

The third uncle has a bicycle and often collects waste from residents' homes and sells it to illegal waste disposal sites outside.

Today, Chen Xueru was tidying up the house and saw the can of herrings on the window.

Remembering that Li Aiguo had told her that this thing was not edible, she asked the third uncle to open it, throw away the herring inside, and sell the box to a black scrap yard.

The third uncle was very knowledgeable and gave Chen Xueru two cents and returned home with the canned food.

After opening.

Although the uncle smelled a foul odor, he did not see any hair on the herring.

Thinking that this thing was a foreign product and should not be wasted, he pinched his nose and swallowed a herring.

Who would have thought that canned herrings not only smell bad, but taste even worse.

The taste is like a bunch of Houttuynia cordata mixed with stinky ditch mud, fermented together and then squeezed into juice.

The most important thing is that the third uncle actually started to cry.

Even so, the third uncle was reluctant to spit it out and swallowed the whole herring before he passed out.

After listening to the whole process, Li Aiguo couldn't help but admire the bravery of the third uncle.

"It's really okay to be patriotic? Don't I have to fill my stomach with shit?" Xu Damao was still a little unwilling.

Li Aiguo said: "This canned herring is a specialty of the Black Sea. In order to prevent the herring from rotting, they first let the herring ferment and rot before making it into canned food. Even though it smells bad, it is very nutritious and is considered a high-end nutritional product over there."

The third uncle finally felt relieved. After all, drinking shit is not a pleasant thing.

After realizing it was not food poisoning, the residents left one after another. It's a joke, Uncle San's house is now like a cesspool.

The third aunt suggested that the third uncle throw away the can.

"Why? This is a high-end nutritional supplement!" The third uncle wanted to protect the can, but he felt like vomiting as soon as he got close to it.

Yan Jiecheng realized that it was impossible to get the third uncle to give up canned herrings.

"Brother Aiguo, how do foreigners eat canned herrings?"

"Some are eaten raw, and some are spread on toast as a condiment, just like the stinky tofu we have here."

The third uncle's eyes lit up: "Yes, with such a big box of stinky tofu, our family can save a lot of pickles."

Li Aiguo: "."

Yan Jiecheng: "."

As it turned out, the third uncle had underestimated the power of canned herrings.

the next day.

The third uncle ate a black steamed bun with the canned herring, and then came to the school to give a lecture.

As soon as she opened her mouth, the students looked at the three aunts in horror.

"Teacher, you ate shit."

Uncle Three: “.”

In the end, Uncle Three was defeated by canned herrings.

I had to seal the canned herrings and hide them under my bed, waiting until the holidays to enjoy the delicious food.

When he drove back the next day, Li Aiguo learned about this from Yan Jiecheng and gave him a suggestion.

"Herring tends to swell after fermentation, and if the seal level is not enough, it is likely to explode."

Thinking of the smell of shit in the house, Yan Jiecheng's face changed.

He decided to wait until he got off work, sneak into the third uncle's house and throw away the biological bomb.

The two chatted idly and walked towards the gate.

Sudden.

A melodious music sounded from the loud speaker.

Li Aiguo and Yan Jiecheng's faces instantly became tense.

The song "Dear Guests from Afar, Please Stay" is rarely played in the Qianmen Locomotive Depot.

Every broadcast means that the superiors have come to inspect.

really.

Li Aiguo saw several black cars driving in from the gate and stopping in front of the office building.

When Minister Teng got out of the car, Director Xing and several other leaders were already waiting there.

"We welcome leaders to come and inspect our work."

Minister Teng pointed to the loud speaker and said with a smile: "Great, you also have a communications corps."

"This couldn't be hidden from the minister's eyes," Director Xing smiled frankly.

Inspection by superiors is a big deal, and every locomotive depot has a response strategy.

Minister Teng did not care and asked directly: "Where is Li Aiguo from your Qianmen Locomotive Depot?"

Upon hearing this, Director Xing Duan's eyes widened suddenly.

What big thing did this kid do that even disturbed the minister?

(End of this chapter)