The train driver in the courtyard

Nowadays, there are not so many rules when superior leaders come to inspect. They will not hold up signs to show their respect, nor will they splash water on the streets or pave the roads with yellow earth.

However, facing the senior leader who directly supervised the locomotive depot, Qianmen Locomotive Depot still took positive action.

The chipped paint table in the conference room was wiped clean.

The high-quality cigarettes in the enamel jar were replaced with large quantities of cigarettes from the supply and marketing cooperative, and the cigarettes for hospitality were changed from Daqianmen to Xiangyanghua.

Director Xing was also a capable man, and he even called two staff members from the Education Office to accompany him.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.

No, it’s Li Aiguo who is missing.

Ever since Minister Teng came to the maintenance section, Section Chief Xing immediately sent a clerk to look for Li Aiguo.

As luck would have it, it was already time to get off work, and someone saw Li Aiguo riding a bicycle home.

Seeing that Minister Teng's face was getting darker and darker, Director Xing felt for the first time that Li Aiguo was unprofessional.

After you hold the traffic meeting, can't you chat with your colleagues? Now let the minister wait
What to do? Chase him?
Three or four security officers from the locomotive depot chased after him along the street on bicycles.

But they didn't expect that Li Aiguo and Yan Jiecheng could ride their bikes so fast.

Yan Jiecheng said as he rode his bike: "As for patriotism, we are just small fry and have no right to show our faces.

If you encounter a high-ranking leader inspecting you, you should hide if you can. As long as you don’t do anything, you won’t make mistakes!"

"Okay, Jie Cheng, now you are like an old sow wearing a bra - one set after another." Li Aiguo grabbed the handlebars and said with a smile.

"That's right. If you don't have some scheming in an office, you would have been bullied to death a long time ago."

The two men were speeding in front, and the security officer of the maintenance section was chasing behind.

They chased them all the way to the gate of the courtyard before they were able to stop the two men.

Secretary Zhang wiped the sweat from his forehead while panting.

"Driver Li, hurry up, the minister wants you."

"Hiccup!" Yan Jiecheng, who was imparting his experience to Li Aiguo, was so frightened that he couldn't close his mouth.

It was not until Li Aiguo followed the security officers away on bicycles that he came to his senses.

It turns out that he is the only one who is a minion
Yan Jiecheng's face suddenly turned red with embarrassment when he thought of the experiences he had just imparted.

Li Aiguo doesn't need his "office survival skills" at all!

As usual, there were many old ladies and young wives sitting at the gate.

Jia Zhang stood beside the big tree, holding on to it, looking forward to Jia Dongxu's return.

Seeing that Li Aiguo was being taken away by several security officers, she slapped her thigh and said, "That's good. Li Aiguo made a mistake and was arrested by the people in the locomotive section. My son will definitely be able to come back soon."

Yan Jiecheng passed by her, rolled his eyes and said, "What are you thinking about? The minister wants to see Brother Aiguo, and someone from the section specially sent someone to invite him."

"minister?"

Most of the residents in the compound are workers, and the highest-ranking leader they have ever met is the district head.

Now when they heard the name of the minister, everyone looked at him in surprise.

An old lady asked curiously, "Xie Cheng, what kind of official is your minister?"

"That's incredible!" Yan Jiecheng stopped and looked up and said, "The Minister of Railways.

Now I am in charge of millions of people, and everyone on the railway is under my control."

"This man is even more capable than the deputy director of the steel mill that the deaf old lady knows." Jia Zhang's face turned ugly.
There was a burst of laughter from the crowd.

Everyone thought that there was something wrong with Jia Zhang's brain.

Can the two be compared?!

But everyone had a question: why would such a big shot want to meet Li Aiguo?
along the way.

Li Aiguo was also wondering about this question.

After much thought, I felt that the only possibility could only be a DC pulse rail circuit.

Li Aiguo followed the security officer back to the locomotive section and learned that Minister Teng had gone to the studio, so he rode his bicycle to the studio.

At this time, there were many people standing outside the studio, and Director Xing Duan was guarding the gate of the courtyard.

Seeing Li Aiguo coming over, he hurriedly asked someone to take the bicycle from Li Aiguo, pulled his arm and said, "Minister Teng seems to be worried, Aiguo, you should be careful later."

"Thank you, Chief Duan."

Li Aiguo took a deep breath and walked into the studio.

Minister Teng was seen walking around the studio with his hands behind his back. He looked at the books on the bookshelf and the various tools on the workbench and nodded frequently.

"As expected, there is no shortcut to success. Aiguo, as a train driver, you are so motivated and worthy of learning for all of us in the railway department."

"Minister, hobbies are the best teachers. I love tinkering with these weird and wonderful things the most."

Li Aiguo poured a cup of tea and brought it over.

Minister Teng took the tea and sat on the chair.

"Driver Li, I think you already know why I'm here. There is a big debate in the ministry about the two plans for railway automatic signaling. The Russian plan in particular has won the support of most deputy ministers and even leaders of other departments.

Do you think I will choose your plan?"

"Yes!" Li Aiguo said in a deep voice.

Minister Teng raised his eyebrows: "You are so confident? Why?"

Li Aiguo said: "Because you are unwilling to be controlled by others."

After these words were spoken, Minister Teng, who had remained calm until then, showed a strange look on his face.

"Go on."

"The Russians are most used to attaching other conditions when transferring technology. I believe this time is no exception, right?"

Li Aiguo did not intend to blame the Russians.

There are no free big white steamed buns in the world.

Not only the Russians, but also the Americans, John Bull and other countries, will attach conditions when transferring technology.

Minister Teng did not answer, which was tantamount to his agreement.

Li Aiguo went on to say: "You have been a soldier all your life, leading the troops through hail of bullets and shells to drive away the enemy, just to make sure that our family will no longer be controlled by others!
Now, of course, we cannot accept the Russians’ conditions.”

Minister Teng was silent for a moment and said: "You are a person with a long-term vision, but some comrades now cannot see this.

How about this, there will be a meeting in the department tomorrow, you should be there on time."

Minister Teng only stayed in the studio for less than twenty minutes, but he attracted a lot of attention.

Everyone in the maintenance depot was interested in the conversation between the two.

"Aiguo, what did the minister say?" Zhou Ke rushed into the studio immediately.

"The Minister said that Comrade Zhou Ke is very active in his work and plans to transfer him to the Fifth Ministry."

"Really?"

"What do you think?"

Zhou Ke: "."

At this time, Xing Duanchang walked in, looked at Zhou Ke and said coldly: "Zhou Ke, you go back first."

After Zhou Ke left, Li Aiguo briefly explained the reason why Minister Teng came to the locomotive depot this time.

"Patriotic, just go ahead and do your job with confidence. Our maintenance section will always be your strong backing." Section Chief Xing nodded heavily.

This is also the main reason why Li Aiguo did not leave the locomotive depot and go to the Railway Technology Research Institute.

He is just a worker. Even if he made any mistakes, it is Ren Min’s internal conflict. At worst, he can come back to drive the train!

If it was a technician, it would be a big problem.
In this day and age, we should still be cautious.

When Chen Xueru heard that Li Aiguo was going to attend a meeting in the department, she started working early the next morning.

“Brother Aiguo, this is a big occasion, you have to dress appropriately.

When we got married, didn't you make a woolen Mao suit for me? Where did you put it?"

Li Aiguo leaned against the head of the bed and said, "You don't need the Zhongshan suit anymore. Bring me a set of clean oil-covered clothes."

“That dress is too plain.”

“We are workers!”

"Yes."

Chen Xueru had been working in the neighborhood office for so long, and her ideological awareness was higher than that of ordinary people. She instantly realized that she had just made a mistake.

After putting on his oil-wrapped clothes, eating seven eggs, two white flour buns, and a bowl of cornmeal porridge, Li Aiguo pushed his bicycle out of the compound.

At this time, in the large conference room of the Ministry of Railways.

When Vice Minister Chen and Vice Minister Wang arrived at the meeting place, they immediately felt something was wrong.

There are too many people attending the meeting today.

In addition to the leaders of the ministries, there were also several technicians from the Railway Research Institute and some worker representatives.

"Old Chen, what does Minister Teng mean by this? Does he really want to adopt the plan of the Beijing Institute?"

Vice Minister Wang couldn't help but feel a little worried.

He was responsible for introducing the Russian proposal, so if anything went wrong, he would be in some trouble.

"Don't worry, Lao Wang, I've heard that the Foreign Affairs Department, the First Ministry of Machine Building, and the Foreign Trade Department have all informed Minister Teng.

There is no way that Lao Teng will change his mind. Today's meeting is probably just a formality."

Vice Minister Chen's confidence is well-founded.

In those days, due to limited conditions, China rarely developed key technologies on its own, and most of them were introduced from the Russians.

This time is no exception.

When Li Aiguo entered the conference room, he instantly attracted a lot of people's attention.

Liu Guozhang was also confused about the content of the meeting, but when he saw him, he instantly understood.

"We should win this time."

Engineer Dong lowered his voice and said, "Director, I just observed that most of the leaders are against it. Can Driver Li convince them?"

"You, just wait and see, my student is an extraordinary one." Liu Guozhang leaned back in his chair comfortably.

Seeing that most people had arrived, Minister Teng knocked on the table and announced the start of the meeting.

"Today, despite my busy schedule, I have invited you all to attend this meeting to discuss the selection of railway automatic signaling technology.

We currently have two options. One is to introduce technology from the Russians, and the other is to conduct independent research and development based on the plan of the Railway Research Institute.

Okay, let's discuss this."

Since most of the leaders attending the meeting knew the relevant content, Minister Teng did not explain in detail.

The voice just fell.

The "introduction faction" headed by Vice Minister Chen and Vice Minister Zhang raised their hands to speak.

They were numerous and occupied the correct high ground, and soon dominated the entire meeting.

Deputy Minister Chen saw that the time was almost right, so he stood up and said, "Minister, I suggest that we follow the original plan and introduce the Russians' plan."

"I agree!"

"Agree!"

"Agree!"

More than a dozen leaders raised their hands to second the motion.

Engineer Dong's face turned pale. "Director, do you think Driver Li can still convince them now?"

"Wait, then."

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Aiguo raised his hand.

"Minister, Li Aiguo, a train driver from the Qianmen Locomotive Depot, requests to speak."

Li Aiguo's oil-covered uniform had already attracted the attention of the leaders, and now all the leaders turned their eyes to him.

"Comrade Li Aiguo is a train driver and the developer of DC pulse rail circuit technology. He is qualified to express his opinion, so I allow it."

Li Aiguo stood up and said: "Introducing the Russian technology can indeed quickly improve our railway technology level.

But if the relationship between the two companies deteriorates and the Russians stop providing technical support, what should we do? "

As soon as these words came out, the conference room fell silent, and everyone looked at Li Aiguo in surprise. Could such words be said in such an occasion?
"Snapped"

Deputy Minister Chen slammed the table and said, "Comrade Li Aiguo, we have a brotherly relationship with Big Brother, and our two families are as close as one family.

What you just said has already destroyed the relationship between the two families!"

Deputy Minister Wang also stood up and looked at Minister Teng and said, "Minister, in my opinion, Li Aiguo is now slandering our friendship with Big Brother. Please arrest him immediately!"

[This scene has a real prototype and is not made up]

Those who "introduced talents" also stood up to support the two deputy ministers.

Liu Guozhang and his colleagues from the institute stood up to defend Li Aiguo.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became tense, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

After arguing for a long time, everyone finally quieted down and looked at Minister Xing Teng.

Minister Teng pointed at Li Aiguo and asked, "Deputy Minister Chen, did you see what he is wearing?"

"Oil-packed uniforms, train uniforms."

"You are also an old revolutionary who came from the railway troops. Have you forgotten that in 1948, your superiors proposed a slogan to commemorate May 1st Labor Day?

The 24 draft articles were announced in front of people from all parties, groups, ethnic groups and all walks of life.

Article 5: The working class is the leader of the revolution and the working class is the master.

Li Aiguo is a train driver and a front-line worker!

It is they who support our entire railway system with their sweat and blood.

Now is a technical meeting. As a worker, Li Aiguo is just discussing the matter at hand, but you are calling for war and killing.

Have you forgotten your original intention? "

Minister Teng's words were so powerful that the leaders in the conference room suddenly woke up.

The person standing opposite them was not an intellectual or a leader, but a worker.

The higher-ups receive hundreds of workers every year, and even the night soil collectors have climbed up to the city walls.

There's nothing wrong with train drivers expressing their opinions at a technical conference.

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly eased.

Engineer Dong covered his chest and said, "No wonder Driver Li is wearing a tarnished suit today."

He was a little envious of Li Aiguo's status.

Deputy Minister Chen also came to his senses and said slowly, "Driver Li, we don't know whether the situation you are considering will happen.

But there is no doubt that introducing technology will save time and money.”

Finally the topic was brought back to technology. Li Aiguo also broke out in a cold sweat.

He was of course aware that his remarks just now might have violated regulations, but for the development of domestic railway technology, it was reasonable to take some risks.

Li Aiguo said: "That's right, directly introducing technology can indeed save money and effort.

However, the disadvantages are equally great.

Deputy Minister Chen, as a leader in charge of technology, you should know that the development of technology cannot be achieved overnight, and the same is true for railway automatic signaling technology.

If we give up developing our own technology, we will not be able to accumulate experience and cultivate talents. Once the technology is updated, we will need to continue to purchase it. "

Deputy Minister Chen frowned: "As far as I know, the technology used in Eastern Europe was introduced from the Russians. Why don't they have such concerns?"

Li Aiguo said: "We are too big to tolerate being ignored by anyone.

5.4 million people and 960 million square kilometers of land.

Once we threaten others, they can use technology to strangle us.

They have already seized the first-mover advantage by relying on years of technological accumulation. If we want to catch up, we will inevitably pay a thousand times more.

Therefore, independently developing the railway automatic signaling technology, which is related to the lifeblood of the railway, is our only choice.”

In later generations, it was not until the 1980s that China realized the importance of self-developed railway signals. The ministry increased its investment, but it had already missed the turning point.

Because the domestic railway automatic signal technology is far behind the times, it can only introduce the railway signal technology of General Railway Signal Co., Ltd. (GRS).

In later generations, we have the technology to build high-speed railways.

However, in terms of railway signaling and transponder technology, we still need to rely on American and European companies such as CASCO.

Of course, these companies have already adopted the common joint venture model of exchanging market for technology.

This is something later.

Li Aiguo is now at a critical juncture of the times and naturally cannot tolerate such a thing happening.

Li Aiguo went on to say: "It has been said many times that we must be independent and self-reliant.

This sentence is very well said. Only by relying on ourselves can we be independent!
If we need to rely on others for railway signals, we can’t even talk about independence.”

Firm tone!

Really impressive!

Look solemn!

Li Aiguo, wearing a tank top, stood in a conference room filled with people wearing Zhongshan suits.

His voice was clear and powerful, and his words revealed confidence and determination as he waved his hands.

Both leaders and technicians in the conference room nodded frequently, and some leaders tapped the table with their fingers, and the rhythm seemed to be synchronized with Li Aiguo's speaking speed. This silent interaction was both support and expectation.

People these days generally have the courage to change the world, and no one has the idea of ​​dividing up the family property and making a profit from it, and this is certainly not the case with the people from the Daliushu family.

The reason they were arguing was also for the development of domestic railways.

“So, no matter how hard or difficult it is, we must develop our own technology and take the path of independence!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Vice Minister Chen was the first to raise his hand and applaud.

There was intense applause in the venue and the temperature in the room seemed to be rising.

Seeing this situation, Vice Minister Zhang could only sigh.

He is now a little worried about how to explain it to the Russians.

Ever since Li Aiguo called out the words "independence and self-reliance", the outcome of the dispute over the technical route has been decided.

Minister Teng announced on the spot that the Beijing Railway Research Institute would be responsible for the development of DC pulse rail circuit technology.

In addition, the content of Li Aiguo’s speech at today’s conference was also released on the internal reference website.

late at night.

In a mysterious study, an old man took out today's internal reference.

This type of internal reference has no cover design, is three or four pages at most, and is printed in 16-page format.

Such a booklet would not attract attention in any newsstand, but reading it was the old man's daily homework.

My eyes instantly fell on the title.

"Independence and self-reliance, developing our own railway signals"

The old man seemed to be in high spirits. He put on his glasses and started reading the newspaper.

Although the debate about the Russians was omitted from the internal reference, Li Aiguo's statement "Without self-reliance, there can be no independence" was still included.

After a full ten minutes, the old man looked at the assistant behind him.

"Li Aiguo, this name seems familiar. Where have you heard it before?"

The assistant has a good memory.

"A while ago [Mr.] mentioned this. His original words were that there was an outstanding worker on the railway named Li Aiguo."

"Ah, Sir, he really has a keen eye for talent."

The old man nodded, picked up the pen and wrote a line of comments on the internal reference.

“I agree with the decision of the Ministry of Railways.”

After thinking for a while, the old man circled the sentence "Without self-reliance, there can be no independence" with a red pen.

The assistant's eyes moved slightly, and he carefully put away the internal reference.

Internal reference does not require approval, but once approved, it deserves attention.

This red circle represents an opinion, a suggestion, and even an order.

Time passed bit by bit.

Early morning three days later.

Li Aiguo woke up from his sleep, washed his face, ate breakfast in a hurry, and prepared to go to the Railway Technology Research Institute.

The Ministry of Railways is very efficient.

After the conference, the first batch of funds was approved for the Railway Technology Research Institute to develop DC pulse rail circuit technology.

Because the importance and scale of this project far exceeded previous ones, the Railway Technology Research Institute established a research team with Liu Guozhang as the project leader, Li Aiguo and Dong Gong as deputy leaders.

The team members are researchers from the institute and surrounding universities.

The DC pulse rail circuit project has a very tight timeline and needs to be completed before the end of this year, with the goal of completing installation and testing on the first demonstration line on Baoji Railway.

So Li Aiguo is also very busy at work.

I pushed my bike to the central courtyard and saw Liu Haizhong reading today's newspaper with several residents of the compound.

Xu Damao, Yan Jiecheng and seven or eight other young people also gathered around.

Li Aiguo nodded at them and was about to leave.

Xu Damao suddenly stopped him and said, "Aiguo, is this person mentioned in the newspaper you?"

"What newspaper?" Li Aiguo stopped.

Xu Damao wanted to take the newspaper from Liu Haizhong, but Liu Haizhong pushed him away: "I bought this newspaper with my own money. What if you tear it up?"

Liu Haizhong personally handed the newspaper to Li Aiguo.

"Look, today Renren Daily published an article on its front page titled 'Without self-reliance, there can be no independence.'"

In the article, it is called upon all walks of life to carry forward the spirit of self-reliance, to be brave in shouldering responsibilities, and to shoulder the heavy task of building the motherland.

The slogan was first proposed by a train driver, but no name was given.

Jia Zhang came over stealthily, curled her lips and said, "There are so many train drivers, how do you know it's Li Aiguo! This is Renren Daily, and it has such a big slogan, is he worthy of it?!"

Xu Damao tapped the newspaper with his finger: "Slogans of this level should not be named."

Liu Haizhong also felt that it couldn't be Li Aiguo.

Are you kidding? How can an ordinary person come up with a slogan and publish it in Renren Newspaper?

Even Yan Jiecheng, who had always stood on Li Aiguo's side, agreed with Liu Haizhong's opinion this time.

Li Aiguo smiled and didn't say much.

With this slogan, perhaps more people will become more sober in future domestic debates on technology, industry and trade, and trade, industry and technology.

At this time, the postman who had just left came back on his bicycle.

"Alas, I am old and my memory is not good. Aiguo, here is a remittance slip for you. It seems to be the manuscript fee of Renren Daily."

Jia Zhang's smug look suddenly disappeared, and she looked at the remittance slip in disbelief.

The expression on Liu Haizhong's face turned a little surprised.

Li Aiguo took the remittance slip and took a look at it. It showed sixteen yuan in royalties.

Well, the fee is one dollar per word, even punctuation marks are included. Renren Daily is quite particular.

Li Aiguo casually put the remittance slip into his pocket, then rode away on his bicycle.

After his back was out of the door, Yan Jiecheng suddenly snatched the newspaper from Liu Haizhong's hand, pointed at the words on the newspaper and said hurriedly: "Oh, the royalties.

The train drivers have come up with a slogan which was published in the daily newspaper today.

This this."

He could say no more.

This is so amazing that it’s incredible just thinking about it.

Liu Haizhong looked at the slogan in the newspaper and muttered quietly: "It would be great if I could come up with this slogan. At least I could become the workshop director."

(End of this chapter)