Courtyard Houses: Starting with Li Yunlong's Comrades-in-Arms

On the other side, Liu Yuheng was hunched over his desk reviewing a report on the allocation of precision machine tools for a certain factory. His red and blue pencils were marking the edges of the pages, occasionally underlining key figures. The enamel mug on the desk was half-filled with cold tea, the tea leaves sunk to the bottom, long since faded.

When the phone rang, he was on the second page of the report, his pencil hovering over the phrase "quarterly production capacity." He put down his pen, reached for the receiver, and before he could speak, Wu Cheng's voice came through the phone.

"Old Liu, it's me."

Liu Yuheng leaned back in his chair and switched the receiver to his other ear: "Old Wu, what's wrong? Is there any news from the Northwest?"

Wu Cheng paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, as if considering his words, before speaking: "The theoretical calculations have reached a critical point, with only a few hurdles remaining. On the one hand, the amount of calculation is enormous, and hand-cranked calculators and abacuses simply cannot handle it; on the other hand, we need more experts to join us."

"I discussed it with a few senior gentlemen, and we feel that the current manpower at the base is not enough. We need to transfer another batch of people from outside. Lao Liu, could you help coordinate and see if we can bring in another group of experts?"

After listening, Liu Yuheng put the pencil back on the pencil holder and tapped his finger on the table: "Okay, I'll handle this. I'll personally go and coordinate with the Academy of Sciences and the universities one by one. You make a list of the personnel needed and their directions, and send it to me. I'll take the list and go get the people."

Wu Cheng immediately agreed: "Okay, okay, I'll sort it out in the next couple of days and have someone send it to you."

After he finished speaking, there was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. Liu Yuheng didn't hang up immediately; from Wu Cheng's pause, he sensed that there was more to say.

"Old Wu, is there anything else?"

Wu Cheng hesitated for a moment on the other end of the phone before speaking, his tone a few decibels lower than before: "Old Liu, there's something else bad. You need to be prepared."

Liu Yuheng's brows furrowed immediately, and his fingers tightened slightly around the receiver: "What's wrong? What happened?"

Wu Cheng paused for a moment before speaking: "Professor Cheng fainted yesterday."

Liu Yuheng sat bolt upright, his voice rising a half-octave: "What? What happened? Old Wu, what did you promise me? Those people are all treasures! You patted your chest and told me you'd take good care of them, and now they've fainted, and you're telling me this?"

Wu Cheng, on the other end of the phone, quickly replied, "Old Liu, don't worry, let me finish. The doctor has already examined him and said it was due to malnutrition and low blood sugar, which is why he fainted. He's awake now and resting in bed; he's fine."

Liu Yuheng's brows furrowed even more. He gripped the receiver, gritted his teeth, and spoke with a fiery tone: "Malnutrition, low blood sugar. Old Wu, I remember clearly, that batch of grain transported from the southwest should have arrived long ago. Damn it, could someone be disobeying orders and daring to intercept this life-saving grain? Old Wu, you explain yourself clearly. If anyone dares to touch this grain, I'll kill them."

Wu Cheng quickly answered the phone, his tone a mixture of urgency and amusement: "Look at you, so impatient. Old Liu, when are you going to change this temper? The grain has arrived, no one's intercepting it, I swear on my life. But..."

He paused, his tone tinged with emotion and感慨: "After the grain arrived, everyone knew there wasn't that much, and it was only after you, Lao Liu, begged and pleaded that we got it. So, these scientists and workers wrote a joint letter and sent it to headquarters. The letter said to eat sparingly and to share some of the grain with the soldiers in the engineering corps. They said the soldiers did heavy physical labor, carrying cement, digging earth, and moving equipment, and they couldn't survive a day without enough to eat. They, on the other hand, were sitting and calculating data and drawing blueprints, so they could manage without a little extra food."

As he spoke, his tone held a mix of emotion and heartache: "That letter was co-signed, covered with dozens of handprints. After Lao Sun and I read it, neither of us could disagree. But this division made the base's food supply even tighter. Professor Cheng is getting old and already eats little; the frugality has caused him health problems. Yesterday, he spent the entire day in the computing room without lunch, and when he stood up in the afternoon, he felt dizzy."

Liu Yuheng held the receiver, remaining silent for a long time. He leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the map on the opposite wall, as if something was stuck in his throat.

Those scientists, those workers, those soldiers—each and every one of them was a living, breathing human being. On that Gobi Desert, they gave away every last grain of food they could, working on construction and calculating data on empty stomachs. Professor Cheng fainted; behind him, how many others, though not fainting, were also stubbornly holding on?

He remained silent for several seconds before speaking, his tone lower than before: "Old Wu, listen to me. Concentrate on using that batch of grain first, to ensure the health of the base personnel, especially the scientists; we can't allow any more fainting spells. I'll figure out a way to handle the grain."

Wu Cheng responded on the other end of the phone, his tone serious: "Don't worry, I'll arrange it. But Lao Liu, don't push yourself too hard. I'll be visiting some old comrades in the Northwest Military Region these next couple of days to see if we can borrow some grain temporarily to tide us over. We'll borrow as much as we can; it's better than just waiting around."

Liu Yuheng nodded: "Okay, lend it to them if you can, and I'll think of other ways. In short, we can't let those people work on the front lines on an empty stomach. If they go hungry for a day, they'll miss a set of data, a drawing, and the progress will be delayed by a day. Everyone can see that clearly."

Wu Cheng replied, "I understand," and the two exchanged a few more words about the situation on the other side before hanging up.

Liu Yuheng put the receiver back on the phone, leaned back in his chair, and let out a long sigh. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a drag. The smoke diffused into a thin layer of grayish-blue in the afternoon light. He leaned back, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, his mind racing.

Grain. Grain again.

On Kong Jie's side, the grain reserves in the Northeast have already been squeezed out once; any further squeezing would be crippling. On Li Yunlong's side, they've emptied their reserves accumulated over two years, and those reserves are almost gone. As for the Northwest Military Region, Wu Cheng suggested borrowing, but the Northwest Military Region itself isn't exactly well-off, so the amount they can lend is likely limited.

He had made several trips to the Academy of Sciences recently to discuss the calculation of time, and they had already provided him with considerable assistance. It wouldn't be appropriate to ask for more food. As for the Second Ministry of Machine Building, its subordinate military factories were also tightening their belts. He had already squeezed through the rations of each factory once, and if he continued to do so, the factory workers would also go hungry.

He took a deep drag on his cigarette, flicked the ash into the ashtray, and racked his brains, but still couldn't come up with a solution.

He suddenly remembered something. In the original history, this crisis was overcome thanks to Political Commissar Nie's fundraising efforts among the army. Political Commissar Nie stepped forward and, in the name of the Science and Technology Commission, issued a call to the entire army, urging officers and soldiers to tighten their belts and use the saved grain to support the construction of the Northwest Base.

At that time, the whole country was in a tight spot, but when the comrades in the army heard that it was a key national project, they painstakingly saved every last grain from their own rations and managed to gather a large amount of food to relieve the urgent need of the Northwest base.

But that's something only Political Commissar Nie could accomplish. Political Commissar Nie is a veteran revolutionary with deep seniority and extensive connections in the army. When he speaks, all military regions and branches of the armed forces have to give him face. But what about Liu Yuheng? He's just a minister in the Second Ministry of Machine Building. In terms of seniority and connections, he's several levels below Political Commissar Nie.

If he were to solicit donations from the military, regardless of whether they would even give him the time of day, the mere fact that the Minister of the Second Ministry of Machine Building was "asking the military for food" would be enough to cause him serious trouble. What would he say if the higher-ups questioned him? The Second Ministry of Machine Building was in charge of military industry, not food; he had overstepped his bounds.

This path is blocked.