Chapter 37: Emergency Deployment, Reinforcements to the Third Front
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In the makeshift shed beside the scrap heap, the crusher rumbled, the screens vibrated, and workers wearing thick masks and coarse cloth gloves fed damp, clumped sulfur into the crusher.
“Section Chief He, your homespun method really works!” The veteran foreman raised a thumb dusted with sulfur powder. “Once you rub this grease on your hands, the dust won’t stick. One rub and it falls right off. Saves a lot of trouble!”
He Yuzhu nodded. Looking at the sulfur powder and mold-release paste sorted into separate piles and waiting to be loaded, he finally felt the taut string inside him loosen a little.
The toughest hurdle had been cleared. The paper mill had also given preliminary approval to the mixed alkali blocks. Only the final pricing and transport arrangements remained.
He Yuzhu was just about to remind the foreman to work safely when the factory loudspeaker suddenly crackled with a burst of harsh electrical static. A moment later, the announcer’s hurried voice rang out:
“Emergency notice! Emergency notice! Comrade He Yuzhu of the Purchasing Section, report immediately to the General Dispatch Room at the factory headquarters! Repeating: Comrade He Yuzhu of the Purchasing Section, report immediately to the General Dispatch Room at the factory headquarters!”
The announcement echoed across the spacious freight yard. Every worker stopped what he was doing and stared at He Yuzhu in surprise.
The General Dispatch Room at the factory headquarters? That was the core department responsible for production scheduling and emergency directives for the entire plant—and even for higher levels of administration. What could they possibly want with Section Chief He?
He Yuzhu felt a chill in his heart as well. There was an unusual urgency in the tone of the announcement.
He immediately removed his mask and gloves and told the foreman, “Keep working according to plan. I’ll be back soon!”
Then he turned and strode toward the factory headquarters.
---
Telephone bells rang one after another in the General Dispatch Room, where the atmosphere was heavy. Several areas on the enormous production schedule map covering the wall had been marked with conspicuous red symbols.
“Comrade He Yuzhu has arrived!” someone called from the doorway.
The director of the dispatch room was a grizzled old soldier named Director Lei. At that moment, he was snarling into the telephone:
“…I don’t care about the landslide! The equipment! The equipment must arrive on schedule! You know perfectly well how much we lose if the production line stops for even one day! …Fine! My people are already on the road!”
He slammed down the receiver and turned his bloodshot eyes toward He Yuzhu.
“He Yuzhu?”
“Present!”
Director Lei snatched up a document envelope stamped with a red “Most Urgent” seal and slapped it against He Yuzhu’s chest.
“Third Front, Southwest: Red Ridge Machinery Plant! A precision gear production line they’ve just imported has had a critical bearing washed away by a flash flood during transport!”
“It’s a precision component imported from Germany! We can’t manufacture a replacement domestically in the short term! The entire production line is on the verge of shutting down!”
His words came as rapidly as gunfire.
“Your mission: immediately organize a capable team and escort, by the fastest possible route, a batch of replacement bearings produced by our machine-repair workshop to Red Ridge Plant!”
“The route map, permits, and handover documents are all inside! The transport has already been arranged: one modified military jeep and one Liberation truck with a canvas cover!”
“The drivers are former army mechanics with excellent skills! You’ll be the team leader and have full responsibility for the escort and handover. Any questions?!”
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“Mission guaranteed!”
He Yuzhu did not hesitate for a moment. He straightened his back, his voice firm and decisive.
The Third Front factories were a strategic lifeline of the nation. If the production line stopped, it would delay the work of the national defense industry.
“Good!” A trace of approval flashed in Director Lei’s eyes, but his expression immediately turned solemn again. “Time is critical! You must deliver it within seventy-two hours! You may encounter all kinds of emergencies on the road—landslides, difficult terrain, perhaps even worse. In short, overcome every obstacle! As long as the bearings are there, the production line is there. Understood?!”
“Understood!”
He Yuzhu tightened his grip on the document envelope, feeling the weight of the responsibility inside it.
“The vehicles and drivers are waiting at the factory gate! You have half an hour to prepare your personal belongings and choose your team members. Leave immediately!”
---
He Yuzhu burst out of the dispatch room and hurried straight to the Purchasing Section.
“Ma Hua! Little Wang! Drop everything you’re doing!” He rushed into the office, speaking at breakneck speed. “Emergency mission for Red Ridge Plant in the Third Front! We’re escorting replacement bearings. They must arrive within seventy-two hours! You two are coming with me! Go collect your protective gear now—heavy cotton coats, raincoats, canteens, and dry rations! Move!”
The moment Ma Hua and Little Wang heard “Third Front,” “seventy-two hours,” and “emergency mission,” they understood the gravity of the situation. Without a word, they abandoned what they were doing and rushed out after He Yuzhu.
As they passed the Technical Section, He Yuzhu suddenly halted and dashed inside.
“Engineer Chen! Red Ridge Plant urgently needs replacement bearings for its precision gear production line! For the batch our factory has reproduced, do we have a concise technical sheet listing the critical specifications and installation precautions? The simpler, the better. We’ll read it on the road!”
Technician Chen was bent over his desk, drawing a diagram. The moment he heard “Red Ridge Plant” and “replacement bearings,” he sprang to his feet.
“We do! Wait!”
He quickly rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a sheet of drawings. On the back, he scrawled several lines in a rapid hand.
“Here! The core specifications and three fatal installation prohibitions! You must not get them wrong!”
“Thanks!”
He Yuzhu snatched the drawing, stuffed it into the document envelope, and turned to run.
“Yuzhu!” Technician Chen chased him to the doorway and called out, “The southwest is mountainous and treacherous, and the weather changes without warning! Be careful!”
He Yuzhu did not stop. He merely raised a hand to show that he had heard.
---
At the factory gate, a grass-green military jeep and a Liberation truck covered with thick canvas were already running, their engines growling low.
Two sharp-featured drivers in military uniforms stood beside the vehicles, their expressions stern.
He Yuzhu arrived with Ma Hua and Little Wang, the three of them panting, bulky packs strapped to their backs.
“He Yuzhu?”
The jeep driver stepped forward, his voice steady.
“That’s me!”
“Zhao Tiezhu, jeep driver. This is the truck driver, Wang Meng. Everything has been loaded and sealed. We can leave at any time.”
Zhao Tiezhu pointed toward the truck bed.
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“Good!”
Without wasting words, He Yuzhu opened the jeep door.
“Get in. We’re leaving!”
The jeep led the way, with the truck close behind. They raised a cloud of dust as they drove away from the steel mill, merged into the traffic, and sped southwest toward the outskirts of the city.
In the back seat of the jeep, He Yuzhu quickly flipped through the documents in the envelope by the wavering light from the dashboard.
The route map showed that they would have to cross the outer ranges of the Taihang Mountains, enter the Loess Plateau, and then cross a branch of the Qinling Mountains before reaching Red Ridge Plant, deep among the mountains.
Most of the journey consisted of winding mountain roads, and the conditions were extremely complicated.
He Yuzhu unfolded the sheet Technician Chen had given him. By the dim light, he silently memorized the bearings’ core specifications and the three installation prohibitions heavily circled in red:
“No hammering! No sudden temperature changes! No grease contamination!”
Every word weighed as heavily as a mountain. He carefully folded the sheet and tucked it into the safest place in the inner pocket of his clothing.
[Ding! Suitable location detected: National Highway outside the capital. Sign in now?]
“Sign in.”
[Sign-in successful! Reward obtained: Elementary Wilderness First Aid and Survival Skills. Knowledge has been transmitted.]
Practical knowledge flooded into his mind: how to stop bleeding and bandage wounds, stabilize fractures, find water, identify edible wild greens, and cope with severe weather.
He Yuzhu paused for a moment, then felt his heart settle.
This skill had come at exactly the right time.
He raised his head and looked out the window. The city lights raced backward, while ahead lay boundless darkness and the shadowy outlines of unknown mountains.
“Master Zhao, Master Wang,” He Yuzhu said solemnly to the two drivers in front, “this journey won’t be easy. I’ll be counting on both of you.”
Zhao Tiezhu kept his steady gaze fixed on the road ahead. His voice was not loud, but it carried the hard edge of a soldier.
“Section Chief He, don’t worry! Back when we served as army mechanics, we drove the Burma Road. This road will be no problem!”
Wang Meng’s deep, muffled voice came through the radio from the truck.
“No problem! I guarantee we’ll deliver both the cargo and the people in one piece!”
He Yuzhu said nothing more. He leaned back in his seat, closed his eyes, and conserved his strength. Beside him, Ma Hua and Little Wang looked tense, yet there was also a trace of exhilaration in their expressions—the fierce excitement of a mission that had to succeed.
The jeep pierced the darkness. Its engine sounded especially clear on the silent national highway as it carried bearings of immense importance—and an even heavier responsibility—straight into the perilous mountains of the southwest.
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