Chapter Sixteen: Hurrying Along

  PS: Recently, some book friends said that the development of this book is too slow and the plot progresses too slowly. Here, I give you a guarantee that the progress of the later chapters will speed up. I also hope that you can actively speak out in the comment section, as long as it's not unreasonable abuse, all are welcome. Special thanks to those who voted, rewarded, and commented, brothers!

  The morning sunlight accompanied by the chirping of birds welcomes a new day, the earth that has been sleeping for a night gradually wakes up from its dream. Whether it's cold winter, scorching summer, early spring or deep autumn, every morning is surrounded by a faint mist that is the lingering sleep...

  A new day has arrived, and the workers who rested overnight are emerging one by one from their tents. Although it's still a bit chilly in the cold spring weather, the temperature is not too low. The cooks on the construction site have already steamed buns, boiled eggs, cut pickled vegetables, and set up distribution points, waiting for the workers to finish washing up and line up to receive breakfast. As the saying goes, "A year's plan starts with spring, a day's plan starts at dawn." Without sufficient food and nutrition, workers won't have the energy to work for long.

  From the end of 1926 to March 4, 1928, for more than a year, the entire Hunan and Hubei provinces were the largest gathering place for migrant workers. Nearly 500,000 workers from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces flooded into various construction sites. Whether it was the construction of industrial zones in industrial cities or the dense transportation highway network covering the entire province, migrant workers from all over the country and local people from the two lakes region worked together to build their home for more than a year with great enthusiasm.

  The second and fourth groups of China Railway Construction Corporation are dedicated to serving the Hunan region. The construction of railways from Guiyang to Changsha, Guilin to Changsha, and Shaoyang to Beihai is crucial for the development of western and southern Hunan, as well as eastern Guangxi. Naturally, the two major groups have been working hard to speed up progress, with nearly 400,000 people working together on the three major railway projects. This bustling scene cannot be compared to ordinary road construction or highway building sites.

  "Master, don't put too much chili peppers in the lunch today. You Hunan people can eat spicy food, but we Yunnanese can't handle it." A construction worker holding a large ceramic bowl said with a smile after receiving three big steamed buns, a bowl of porridge and an egg from the local chef. The Hunan people were very hospitable, which could be seen from their dishes, that spicy flavor was so strong that many people had diarrhea last night.

  "It's nothing, just reduce the spiciness a bit! I only started working yesterday and it was my first time cooking dinner for you all. I thought you kids could handle spicy food, but after messing around for half a day, I found out none of you can eat it."

  After the Spring Festival, before the start of work, many workers had already arrived one after another, some even brought their fellow villagers, and everyone came out to work together to make money. So every time it was time for work, there were a lot of workers. The construction side had no choice but to expand recruitment, and these workers who came from afar were recruited. Of course, the scale of food supply also had to be increased, so some people who could cook large pots of rice were recruited from the local area and among the workers to serve as chefs. Although Uncle and Auntie were not good at physical labor, they could still do cooking, stir-frying, and steaming buns, which is why there was that conversation earlier.

  The sun had not risen high when the construction sites along the railway line were already bustling with activity. The workers, having eaten and drunk their fill, shouldered their pickaxes, took up their shovels, and pushed their carts, chatting and laughing as they went about last year's Spring Festival holiday. Those hardworking laborers had all earned money the previous year, so naturally they had spent a lively and joyful New Year's back in their hometowns, with stories of their eating, drinking, and merriment worth bragging about.

  "Hmm...hmm..."

  Those who made a lot of money last year are naturally the ones driving the rumbling engineering vehicles at this time. They are high-paying technical workers on construction sites, and their workload is naturally higher than anyone else's. It is because of their existence that small hills and gullies have been transformed, and large mountains do not need them, as there will be specialized tunnel construction teams to deal with it. Today, the task of this construction team is to eliminate a hill in front of them. The construction plan is to excavate gradually from both sides, and then rest after passing through. A large number of workers armed with simple tools are not on the scene at this time, their task is to complete the construction of roadbeds, drainage ditches and other works on both sides of the railway.

  The ones in the front are not rumbling engineering vehicles, but a group of special workers. They wear red hats and yellow vests, operating handheld small drilling machines to drill many holes in the places that need to be dug out, especially on rocky surfaces where they drill very deep and large. Since it's a single small-scale blasting, the blasters soon finish their preparation, and all people and vehicles wait within the safe range for the arrival of the explosion sound.

  "Ready, blast!" With a loud rumble and a tremor, the flying sand and stones subsided, and the crawler bulldozer charged forward to the front line. After taking position, it roared towards the soil and rocks, its large bucket quickly scooping up a full load of soil and rocks. After one retreat, it slowly drove up to the ten-wheeled dump truck that was waiting in position and dumped the soil and rocks from the shovel into the truck's cargo compartment.

  In the face of human mechanized construction, fragile mountains and rocks appear especially weak. In front of excavators, bulldozers and other engineering vehicles, small hills, ditches, and rivers seem extremely vulnerable. Only in the face of large rivers and deep valleys will construction be slightly hindered. But clever people will use tunnels and bridges to conquer them, and no one can stop the construction of the railway artery.

  "You know? I have many fellow townspeople working at the Third Construction Company of China Road and Bridge. Their branch company completed their tasks ahead of schedule last year and received a reward from the headquarters. You know what that means? It means all employees in their branch company got a bonus, my goodness, 100 yuan!"

  The vehicle repair shop of the construction section is now the most leisurely place on the entire construction site. The large army of construction workers are busy with their work, and the cooks are also busy preparing lunch. Only they have time to chat idly here because there are no vehicles breaking down or anyone urgently needing oil delivery. A few technicians can only chat idly here but cannot smoke.

  "Right, otherwise let's go find our manager to discuss, we're not incapable of operating those things. My brother and I studied the same technical skills, but he gets to operate a tank-like tractor, while I'm stuck here repairing these things. The construction progress is slow, where can we get a bonus?"

  "Little Wang, you've got it wrong! We're building a major railway artery, which is a monumental and glorious task. Think about it, who can build railways, highways, and expressways the fastest? Who has the greatest impact on economic development? Who requires more technology? Those cement roads and asphalt roads that cover the entire autonomous region can't compare to what we're doing! And don't even get me started on those highways that charge a pretty penny every time you drive on them!"

  "This is it! Last Spring Festival, one of my relatives got married and invited a large group of friends and family to go to the wedding together. We rented a medium-sized bus and a sedan from a car rental company and drove from Beihai to Yulin to pick up the bride. This highway is toll-free, with separate lanes for each direction, and the road conditions are good, so we were able to drive fast..."

  "And, oh, I saw a lot of good things on the way!" As he said this, the oil-stained worker pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and took a deep sniff before putting it back. "You guys can't guess what I saw? The super-long trailers and container transport trucks on the highway aren't anything special. Let me tell you, that day our wedding procession saw a long line of military vehicles, and on those green trailers, you won't guess what they were towing?"

  "What's going on? Why are you being so mysterious? If you have something to say, spit it out! If you've got gas, let it rip!" One of the workers had already lit a cigarette and was waiting for the outcome. If he wasn't waiting to hear what happened next, he probably would have gone outside to smoke by now. Anyway, this wasn't their busy time at the moment.

  The smiling man stood up, patted his butt, and walked into the repair shed. He pointed to a pile of tracks in the corner and said loudly: "I saw those big trucks towing cars with tracks, short bodies and round heads. Yes, there was also a long pipe, but many places were covered, so we couldn't see what that special tractor looked like. But I'm guessing it's probably the kind driven by Little Wang's brother - they're called tanks!"

  "Tank?" A worker, wiping the oil stain on his overalls with a small iron shovel, said: "I'm saying that thing is like the excavator we repaired, how big is that long pipe? Is it a cannon or what..."

  "I didn't see that clearly, at the time that batch of cars was speeding by with yellow hazard lights on, probably over 60 km/h, but our wedding car was overtaking and passing by on the fast lane at a speed of over 100 km/h, if there weren't so many of them, I really wouldn't have seen what it was..."

  "Come quickly, something's happened!" The maintenance staff were chatting and laughing when someone suddenly rushed in, grabbed Little Wang and said: "Hurry up, a worker has severe stomach pain, the clinic says it's acute appendicitis. You have a car here, hurry up and take him to the hospital!"

  "Oh, okay!" The repair shop staff hastily went to quickly inspect the Jeep that the branch general manager had sent for maintenance, and also filled up the gasoline and coolant. Master Wang soon started the car and drove out, carrying the messenger rushing to pick someone up.

  The worker who fell ill was at a place where the drainage ditch was being repaired, surrounded by a group of workers and the medical emergency personnel from the branch company. The severe pain had turned the worker's face pale, and the two emergency responders were used to seeing only minor injuries or colds on the construction site. This acute appendicitis was beyond their capabilities, so they quickly administered a painkiller injection to the patient, which slightly reduced his groaning. Since appendicitis is often a mixed infection, the emergency responders hastily gave him another injection of antibiotics and set up an IV drip. Just then, Master Wang from the maintenance department arrived at the scene in his car.

  "Come on, let's hurry up and send him to the hospital!"

  The jeep carrying the sick worker and a paramedic set off, from the construction site to the nearest hospital was quite a distance, especially with many heavy vehicles coming and going on this road, many places on the transportation highway for railway construction were bumpy and uneven, the jeep sped quickly along the dusty construction road.

  The jeep had just driven onto the cement road from Lianyuan to Shaoyang, and hadn't gone far when it encountered a large convoy of military vehicles. Seeing this batch of military vehicles, Wang Shifu felt at ease, quickly slowing down, honking the horn, and changing the headlights. The military vehicle team soon noticed the jeep's unusual behavior and stopped quickly.

  "Hey, fellow countryman, do you need any help?" After the military convoy stopped, two soldiers with red armbands quickly ran over to ask Driver Wang. They were duty soldiers in the marching team. Before the driver could respond, the paramedic in the back seat had already rolled down the window, and the two soldiers immediately saw the pale patient inside the car who was receiving an IV drip.

  One of the soldiers immediately pulled his leg and ran back to report the situation to his superiors. Another soldier instructed Wang Shifu to park the car by the side of the road. Soon, several medical personnel with red cross armbands and carrying emergency boxes rushed over from the military vehicle team. A lieutenant and two soldiers carrying a stretcher also hurried over.

  "What's his specific condition, doctor?"

  "The patient has acute appendicitis, had an injection of painkiller and antibiotic, now the situation is slightly relieved, but he has already shown symptoms of fever and poor spirit, we are sending him to a better-equipped hospital. It's really great to meet you..."

  The lieutenant nodded and signaled the medical soldier to quickly lift the patient out of the jeep and put him on a stretcher. The marching troops were from the 10th Division, 2nd Group Army, and they were headed from Yongzhou to Changde via Shaoyang. After transferring the patient to the emergency rescue vehicle, the military doctor quickly examined him and found that he had acute appendicitis, which was not serious and did not require immediate surgery. The doctor quickly administered intravenous electrolytes to the patient, who was resting in bed, and also gave him a shot of streptomycin in combination with penicillin, which had been injected earlier. This was because the patient had not developed an anaerobic bacterial infection, so there was no need to use metronidazole or other antibiotics.

  Apart from the ambulance that was treating and rescuing people, a Hummer carrying several soldiers followed behind, while Wang Shifu and the paramedic stood by watching as the military doctor treated the ill worker in an orderly manner, as if it were nothing serious.

  "This military doctor is really something else, we're all anxious like ants on a hot pot, but they seem to think the patient just has a cold." Looking at the ambulance, Master Wang said quietly to the emergency worker beside him: "I was really scared earlier, I thought it would be a big deal! But in the end, they just gave some injections and fed some medicine, which doesn't look like an emergency surgery at all!"

  "I'm not the one who's anxious, all the way down that patient was in so much pain, yelling and screaming, it got me all flustered. Since graduation, I've never encountered a situation like this, for a moment I..."

  Master Wang had already stopped paying attention to the paramedic's words, his eyes fixed on the Hummer in front of the ambulance. A fully armed soldier was fiddling with a heavy machine gun, several soldiers were scattered around holding guns and standing guard, although there didn't seem to be any danger here. The soldier on the military vehicle, wearing camouflage uniform that blended in with the vehicle's paint job, except for the black machine gun that caught Master Wang's eye, he was convinced that driving a Hummer must feel better than driving a Jeep, so he left the paramedic behind and went over to chat with the soldiers.

  "Big brother soldier, do you smoke?"

  Master Wang pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, although they weren't the best brand, but it was still a kind intention. He smiled and handed one to each of the four visible soldiers, then ran to the Hummer's driver's cabin, also handing one to the driver. However, the soldiers took the cigarettes but didn't light them up, instead sticking them behind their helmets with a knowing smile at Master Wang.

  "Your car and my Jeep, one must be in the sky and the other on the ground, right?" Master Wang pointed to a dusty and muddy Jeep on the opposite side of the road, while the ambulance and Hummer on this side were still somewhat muddy but looked much better than that Jeep.

  "Why don't you come in and give it a try?"

  Master Wang was delighted, he had never been in the army before, let alone touch a gun. Now he could take a look inside a military vehicle, which naturally made him happy. Under the gaze of the soldiers, he lit a cigarette and opened the door to sit on the hard leather seat, looking around at the interior of the car. There was no interior decoration or comfortable seating, even the door handles were made of metal, giving Master Wang a direct impression that this car was just a metal shell.

  "How's that? Still think this car is much better than your Jeep?" The soldier operating the machine gun squatted down, smiling and said: "Our car can't be compared to your private cars, just look at this seat, is it even cushioned for people's buttocks? It's just covered with a layer of skin, only slightly better than steel plate."

  "It's also, I feel that the best place for this car is definitely its off-road performance, and our car can't compare to yours in this regard. However, when it comes to ride comfort, this car is not as good as our old Jeep." After saying that, Master Wang pointed to the top of his head.

  "What? You want to touch the heavy machine gun?"

  Master Wang smiled and nodded, saying: "Brother, this doesn't violate your rules, does it? I've grown up to be so big, but I really haven't touched a gun before, especially the guns of our People's Liberation Army!"

  "Go ahead and touch it, don't be so hesitant!" The driver in the front seat of the Hummer turned around, pointing to the large machine gun on his head, "This thing is nothing special, we've been handling it for years. You can touch it without making a mistake, but you have to hurry up, I think the old fellow in the ambulance won't be able to get off the car for long, those savage and very capable military doctors will soon finish checking him out and prescribing medicine, let alone acute appendicitis, even if your hands and feet are broken and bleeding, they'll still treat you like a guinea pig..."

  "Can you say two less sentences?"

  "After being a soldier for so many years, it's not easy to meet an interesting fellow countryman, can't you say a few more words?" After finishing speaking, the driver indicated that Wang could replace the gunner, and after passing through the top window, under the protection of many armored steel plates, he played with the heavy machine gun on top, anyway, there were no bullets loaded in the gun.

  Master Wang was grinning from ear to ear as he manipulated the heavy machine gun. If the Hummer were to speed up, standing against the wind with a gun in hand would be an incredible feeling. Imagining the off-road vehicle racing wildly on the highway while he controlled the heavy machine gun, continuously sweeping targets... He felt exhilarated for nearly three minutes before reluctantly leaving the Hummer.

  Under the examination of the military doctor, the patient's condition was confirmed. The ambulance needed to transfer the patient to a larger hospital in Shaoyang for treatment. Therefore, Wang Shifu and the paramedics who brought him had to go together to transfer the patient to a better-equipped hospital. After that, the ambulance and the Hummer military vehicle could leave, and they had to hurry up to catch up with the main force.

  Three vehicles sped one after another towards Shaoyang, with the Hummer leading the way, the ambulance in the middle, and Wang's Jeep bringing up the rear. With the wailing siren of the ambulance accompanying them, the three vehicles sped along with their emergency lights flashing.