On the other side, May will be in the office.
"What's going on? Do they want to use this project to compare with our Los Angeles-San Francisco project?"
Houston looked at the live broadcast in front of him in astonishment, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.
Opposite him, the assistant nodded slightly and replied in a calm voice:
"That's what it looks like at the moment - but I can't figure out why they would do it."
"Judging from the current situation, we have an advantage in every aspect. Such a comparison will only make their disadvantages even greater."
"It can even be said that this is a suicide propaganda strategy."
"They are unlikely to achieve results and will only do the work for us that is supposed to be done by us."
"To be honest, without their program, we originally planned to report on the progress of their Beijing-Guangzhou Railway construction in parallel."
After hearing the assistant's words, Houston frowned and fell silent.
What are these Chinese people planning to do?
As the aide said, the Los Angeles-San Francisco high-speed rail project is one of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States in the past decade, and the amount of money and technology invested in it is only a handful in the entire world.
The federal government even hesitated to overdraw its budget for the next 10 years and postponed the New York subway renovation project just to ensure the progress of the project.
Under this circumstance, all resource allocations of the Los Angeles-San Francisco project can be said to be top-notch.
How do you say that?
If you put enough seasonings in your dish, even if the ingredient is a leather shoe, it will be delicious.
This is the case with this high-speed rail project.
With the support of many resources, success will not be surprising, but failure will be incredible.
Therefore, when faced with this situation, their best choice should be to avoid its edge.
How could it be possible that instead of retreating, they could rush forward in a daze?
Could it be possible that they have other trump cards?
Thinking of this, Houston asked:
"Have the other party's project status been investigated clearly? Have they received other assistance?"
"I mean, have they received further support from Siemens, Kawasaki Heavy Industries or Alstom?"
"No."
The assistant shook his head and replied.
"According to current intelligence, China's cooperation with Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Alstom and Bombardier are within the scope of the contract."
"These three companies will not directly send personnel to participate in the construction of the project, but will only provide technical assistance."
"In this case, their engineering efficiency is largely predictable -- based on previous project progress."
"Three months. Yes, if full mobilization is taken into account, they should be able to complete the project, but they will definitely not be able to complete it better than us."
"That's weird."
Houston couldn't help but scratch his head.
What exactly is this fuss about?
After thinking for a moment, he sighed heavily.
If you don’t understand, then don’t think about it.
"Notify our publicity department to broadcast their program live."
"The weight. Try to make it equivalent to the weight of the Los Angeles high-speed rail project."
"Since they want to be our backdrop, we have no reason to refuse. Let's make their backdrop more conspicuous."
"I understand, I'll do it right away."
With that said, the assistant left the office.
But Houston, who was still in the office, couldn't help but feel uneasy.
At the same time, the Los Angeles high-speed rail project construction site.
Evans was just an ordinary construction worker, and his participation in this high-speed rail project was purely coincidental. But what he didn't expect was that as soon as he arrived at the construction site, he would become the focus of the entire project.
There is no other reason, just because his image is really extraordinary.
Underneath the neat work clothes are well-developed muscles, a tough face, and a head of slightly curly golden hair, as if an ancient Greek sculpture had descended into the world.
Especially when he swung the hammer and hit the rails on the ground, the sense of power that erupted almost made the reporters present feel stars in their eyes.
——
This is true for both men and women.
Because this is the typical individual representation of "American power".
Who can resist such an image?
Even the most rational person can't help but look at him a few more times after seeing him, right?
Therefore, after the live broadcast started, the on-site director immediately made adjustments to the original live broadcast plan and shifted the focus originally intended to be on the engineering project to him.
Interviews and filming have already been arranged, and even the script has been written by a dedicated person.
Now, Evans' real job is to get up on time and go to the construction site every day, and then spend an hour memorizing the day's script, and "act out" the live plot according to the director's requirements.
——
This is exactly what he is doing at the moment.
Evans swung the hammer and struck the rails beneath him fiercely. The live camera slowly approached, first giving a panoramic view of the construction site, and then locked on the muscles of his arm.
Then, the camera moved down, giving a close-up of the rails where sparks were flying.
The picture can be said to be perfect.
After all the elements were photographed, the camera finally scanned his face.
And at this moment, the rising sun behind him just cast a golden light on the side of his face.
The reporter who had been waiting for a long time quickly handed over the microphone and asked:
"Evans, how was work today?"
Evans held the hammer with one hand, raised his left hand to wipe his sweat, and then replied:
"Very nice, Miss Ruth."
"You know, our work always goes well."
"The technology is very advanced, and there are some equipment and tools that I have never seen before - you know, I am an experienced worker, but everything here is still beyond my imagination."
"Can you tell me more specifically?"
Reporter Ruth asked according to the script she had prepared.
"certainly."
"Look, behind me, that's a shield machine being transferred."
"It's a big guy. It will be sent to the hill one kilometer away and dig a tunnel in the mountain."
"In 10 days, he can dig a 200-meter-long tunnel in just 10 days."
"This is simply unimaginable. You know, in my father's generation, it would take almost a lifetime to build such a tunnel."
"Amazing! What about you? Do you feel disappointed because of this?"
Ruth continued to ask.
"Lost? Of course not."
Evans' face was full of surprise.
Of course, such surprise is just an act.
"I don't need to feel down about it, in fact, I'm proud of it."
"You also noticed that my job did not disappear because of it. On the contrary, it made my job more valuable."
"I just have to focus on my own business, like, smash this rail."
"In the past two hours, my friends and I have completed 60 meters of track laying, averaging 30 meters per hour, which is amazing."
"It's really unbelievable. How much longer are you going to work here?"
"Who knows?"
Evans shrugged and continued:
"As long as I'm needed here, I'll keep doing it."
"In other words, as long as America needs me, I will continue to do it."
"May God bless us!"
As Ruth finished her last line, the camera immediately cut away, and this successful live broadcast came to an end.
Everyone present high-fived each other in celebration, and Evans could finally put down the hammer and return to the cool room to rest.
This live broadcast was quickly reprinted on domestic websites, and netizens' reactions were exactly what the United States expected.
"The quality of American workers is indeed much better than ours. Look at their big muscles. Do we who work on the construction site have such muscles?"
"No way, income levels are different. We all eat carbohydrates, while they eat all kinds of meat and protein. Can they develop the same way?"
"Indeed. It's not only a matter of physical fitness, but also a strong sense of personal cognition. Although he does not have a high degree of education, he is very decent in both conversation and performance."
"It can be seen that the other party is indeed much better than us in basic education."
"Who are our migrant workers? Forget it, let's not talk about this topic."
"Is there anything we can't talk about? Today the official also released the live video of the first episode. Go watch it for yourselves. The difference is not a little bit different."
"Really? Then I have to whip the corpse quickly."
As comments continued to refresh, in China, the popularity of the video of the first phase of the Beijing-Shijiazhuang High-Speed Railway also began to rise rapidly. And the moment the video was seen, the public opinion on the Internet almost immediately began to slide towards an irreversible abyss.
The gap is really too big
Compared with the United States, clean and tidy construction sites do not exist.
Judging from the shots taken at the scene, there are messy construction materials and excavated soil piles everywhere along the construction section. The rustic blue isolation board separates the construction site from the farmland not far away because it has rained. , there was still muddy water flowing on the ground, and even the host's trouser legs were covered with mud.
The shield machine that was supposed to be the main event did not appear at all, and was replaced by a work tool that was so simple that it could almost be said to be crude.
Hammer, shovel, twine.
All this combined makes one suspect that these people are not building a high-speed railway, but a steam train line from the 1920s.
The filming methods used by the official media are even more disturbing.
They also chose a protagonist to follow and film, but the image of that protagonist was far inferior to that of the American Evans. Instead, he was a thin, dark-skinned ordinary worker wearing a dirty safety helmet.
According to the video footage, the worker’s name is Wang Tiezhu.
——
Even the name is tacky to the extreme.
In the picture, his day at the construction site can almost be said to be extremely busy.
When the camera focused on him, he was struggling with his fellow workers to lift the unqualified prefabricated panels to the edge of the roadbed.
The veins on his neck popped out, and his outlineless arms looked even thinner against the thick prefabricated concrete slabs.
"Master, master, what are you doing?"
the reporter asked.
"Lay the tracks!"
Wang Tiezhu replied simply.
Immediately afterwards, as a trumpet sounded, the prefabricated panels were thrown heavily to the ground to the edge of the roadbed.
"We know this is laying railroad tracks, can you tell us more about it?"
Wang Tiezhu took off the sweat-stained towel from his neck and wiped his face, then took a breath and said:
"According to construction standards, the laying accuracy of ballastless track must reach a standard of plus or minus 1 millimeter, or one thousand five hundredth."
"This is just a simple installation, and we will continue to make adjustments."
"Well, little girl, your people stand back and block the working surface."
In the picture, the reporter took a step back in a panic, with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.
But she soon adjusted and continued to ask:
"Master, what instruments do you use to measure accuracy? How do you ensure accurate measurements?"
"There are many high-precision spirit levels, profile measuring instruments, and rail bottom slope measuring instruments. But we don't measure them, the worker behind them does."
"Old Liu! Come here for a moment, let the reporter interview you!"
Wang Tiezhu's tone was a bit harsh, and before the reporter could react, he hurried away again.
The live broadcast screen soon cut to another reporter. The person he was interviewing was the chief engineer of this project.
However, at this moment, the audience watching the show seemed to have little interest.
"The gap is too big. The gap in the quality of workers is too big."
"We are still saying that we will complete the work within three months? Do we still want to compete with the Americans? What a joke!"
“If you don’t have a shield machine, you must at least have an excavator, right?”
"There is an excavator, but the scene is not cut through. To be honest, the construction site is too chaotic, just like a war."
"Upstairs, let's talk about it. A normal construction site is like this. Although it looks messy, everything has a fixed position. This is what an efficient construction site looks like."
"Hahaha, are you still comforting yourself here? Highly efficient? Can you still be efficient like this?"
"Stop talking nonsense, is it so difficult to admit that others are strong?"
Posts and comments were constantly being refreshed on the forum. Although there was no online live broadcast and no barrage at this time, no one who was paying attention to this matter would miss these comments.
The voices of doubt grew louder and louder, but at this moment, the live broadcast screen switched back to Wang Tiezhu.
Just over half an hour had passed, and he was already even dirtier.
At this time, the reporter finally asked the key question.
"Master, if you do this, how much can you do today?"
"What? How much?"
Wang Tiezhu asked puzzledly:
"That's right, if you work like this, how many meters of rails can you lay in a day?"
"Oh, it's about 500 meters. When more large-scale machinery comes in later, the gantry crane and track laying machine are ready, it can be raised to 1,000 meters."
"Of course, this is just the preliminary laying, and there will be more follow-up."
"You wait first."
The reporter interrupted Wang Tiezhu and asked in a surprised tone:
"How many meters did you just say?"
"1000 meters. Average 125 meters per hour."
Wang Tiezhu straightened up slightly. His waist was a little stooped, and his posture was not tall at all.
He just asked doubtfully:
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
(End of chapter)
