In the early morning of November 13, the walkie-talkie next to Tang Muyao, general manager of Hong Kong Huafu Foreign Bank, rang "toot too".

Tang Muyao was startled and immediately sat up, and when he looked up, it was still dark outside the window. He muttered in his heart, it's not dawn yet, is there something wrong with the machinery factory, or is there something wrong with the Nanhua Press? He picked up the walkie-talkie.

Li Dorn reported that as soon as more than half of today's newspaper was printed, several Huafu printing presses began to malfunction one after another, and then all of them did not rotate.

Well, the morning newspaper didn't get out on time. Tang Muyao whimpered in his heart, and he hurriedly asked what was going on and what method was taken.

Li Duoen said unhurriedly: "The specific reason needs to be investigated, and the level of the old Hans on the night shift is limited, so I sent someone to find Xu Xiaobing and Li Siyu." ”

Xu Xiaobing and Li Siyu are the managers and engineers of the Nanhua Press, respectively. Both are professionals in the printing industry.

Xu Xiaobing, 32 years old, is from Xichang, Sichuan. He majored in applied electronics, and has been working in the printing industry since graduation, and is very proficient in the work, maintenance and maintenance of printing machinery.

Li Siyu is a handsome guy with sharp edges and big eyes, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning, and is also engaged in the printing press industry. He looked a little thin, but he was very sturdy, and he was a pseudo-military fan.

Hearing Li Duoen's soft words, Tang Muyao relaxed a lot, and he calmed down, "Today's newspaper must be printed, if this machine is not repaired, we will use a new printing press to print." There are still a few new machines in the warehouse of the machinery repair factory, so I will call now and ask Chen Tianxiong and Chen Deng to deliver them to you. ”

The company had purchased two second-hand steamships from the East India Company, and the machine shop was in the process of making the final equipment updates to the two ships. Chen Tianxiong and Chen Deng lived in the factory last night, working overtime to hoist the propellers to ensure that the two steam ships could leave the factory in time to transport cast iron pipes and other materials to Keelung.

Tang Muyao is taking precautions, and Li Duoen agrees, "This is good, just in case." ”

It wasn't long before the sound of horses' hooves could be heard on the gravel Queen's Road in Victoria. A horse-drawn carriage with two lanterns hanging from the front of the carriage sped through the pre-dawn mist from the direction of the Lower Ring. The carriage in which Chen Tianxiong and Chen Deng were riding turned into Bonham Street in Sheung Wan and stopped in front of the Huafu South China Press.

Seeing Chen Tianxiong and Chen Deng jumping out of the carriage, Li Duoen went out to greet them. Chen Tianxiong grabbed Li Duoen's hand, "Let's come over first, the two printing presses are still loading in the factory." ”

Chen Tianxiong was born in a naval family, and his first wish was to work in the navy, but the organization department considered that Chen Tianxiong was already 40 years old, and was worried that he would not be able to stand the body at sea, so he asked him to go to Hong Kong to take charge of political and security work.

Chen Tianxiong was originally a criminal technician, a bachelor of law, and he wanted to have more children and more blessings when he participated in the crossing. He is 1.8 meters tall, weighs 90kg, can speak and write English, French and German, likes machining, masters simple fitter skills, shè hitting, driving, swimming is his strength.

"What's going on, why aren't the machines spinning?" Chen Deng's face was depressed, "This shouldn't be, we are a copycat British machine, and there should be no problems with design and manufacturing!" ”

Li Dorn did not comment on Chen Deng's words, and only said, "Li Siyu and Xu Xiaobing have been tinkering in the printing workshop for more than 20 minutes, and they should know the specific reasons." As he spoke, he took Chen Tianxiong and Chen Deng into the printing hall.

In the front yard of the South China Press, a group of teenagers lined up neatly and waited at the newspaper distribution office of the Press. They were all wearing blue cotton undershirts with the words "South China Press" printed on them, yellow cotton shorts, and large canvas bags on their shoulders.

The teenagers were bought by foreign firms from traffickers in Guangzhou, and after a short period of training, they were used as newsboys and apprentices in the printing house. Every day, the company organizes the crossing staff to use their free time to teach them some scientific and cultural knowledge, hoping that they can grow up as soon as possible.

"I'm ready to stand up!" A handsome young man with long hair and fluttering stood straight in front of the team, "You were all begging, skinny and skinny, and it was the foreign bank that took you in, took care of you, let you eat, drink, and sleep, and let you read and write, so that you could learn to be organized and disciplined, but what about you?" I've only been away for a minute, and you're getting messy, is that like talk? ”

Lin Yusu was very unhappy, he didn't expect to cross over and be assigned to Hong Kong to manage the newsboy. He consciously practiced qigong and had strong logical analysis, and always hoped to be assigned to the army, Jingcha, or Jinyiwei, but he didn't think that he would become a child. Lin Yusu is only sixteen years old this year, a native of Nantong, Jiangsu, and a middle school student.

Seeing Li Duoen and them coming, the teenagers, under the command of Lin Yusu, bowed and saluted together, and shouted in unison, "Mr. Li is early, Mr. Chen is early, Mr. Chen is early~!" "The childish Mandarin voice has a Cantonese accent in it.

At this moment, Di Liuyin hurriedly ran over from the printing workshop behind. When he got closer, he panted and said, "The printing press has been repaired, it has just been repaired." ”

Di Liuyin is Li Duoen's assistant, 23 years old this year, from Dalian. Before he crossed, he was a college student in the Department of Economics of a Sino-foreign joint venture university, an Internet writer, and proficient in English and French. He is a bi-sexual (Bs, bi-sexual), and he wants to build a country that tolerates "heretics" such as gAy and Bs.

Chen Tianxiong, Li Duoen and others were all overjoyed. Li Dorn completely forgot Di Liuyin's Bs identity, and put his arms around his shoulders, "It's really repaired?!" ”

"Yes, I just came from the printing workshop, Xu Xiangli and Engineer Li have already repaired the machine, and the old German man Hans is preparing to organize printing." Di Liuyin gently broke free of Li Dorn's hand, and said with considerable certainty, "Listen, the printing press is already running. ”

Everyone paid close attention, only to hear the direction of the backyard, in the sound of the "rumbling" of the steam engine, mixed with the sound of "long and long".

Yes, this is the sound of the printing press, the Huafu printing press has been repaired! Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Look at it!" Chen Deng and Li Duoen went straight to the printing workshop.

"Di Liuyin, you report the situation to Tang Muyao first, and then take a carriage to inform the repair factory of the situation here."

Seeing Di Liuyin flash into the office, Chen Tianxiong was not in a hurry to go to the printing workshop, he greeted the children with a smile, and asked them with concern if they slept soundly, were they sleepy?

The children replied in unison, "We slept well, not sleepy at all!" ”

"It's good not to be sleepy, and when you finish delivering the newspaper, you'll continue to attend class."

The teenagers straightened their chests like adults, "No problem, promise not to doze off!" ”

Ok, good, good! Chen Tianxiong smiled and nodded. He pulled Lin Yusu aside, "Comrade Lin Yusu, you have to control your emotions. ”

Chen Tianxiong said slowly, "One piece and one relaxation, the way of civil and martial arts." They are still children, and they have only been with us for more than a month, so the management should be both rigid and soft. ”

Lin Yusu lowered his head, "Political commissar, I think it's better to let me do the army, or do Jingcha, manage them, I'm not good at it." ”

"If you're not doing it, who is doing it?" Chen Tianxiong was very serious, "You are a cadre, a soldier trained through the military and political training class, and the organization believes in your ability. ”

Looking at Lin Yusu's very aggrieved appearance, Chen Tianxiong couldn't help but think that Lin Yusu was only two or three years older than those newsboys, and he was a little soft-hearted, "Think about it, you are only 16 years old now, and it is the time to grow your body, how can the organization department not let you become a soldier." Besides, Taiwan hasn't arrived yet, and I, a genuine jingcha, also play soy sauce in Hong Kong, where are you going to do jingcha? ”

"Jingcha, the army, don't think about it now." Chen Tianxiong patted him on the shoulder, "Study hard, work hard, Taiwan will definitely open a military and political university next year, whether you want to do Jingcha or want to join the army, there is an opportunity." ”

Lin Yusu raised his head violently, "Really? ”

"Of course, our military academies and inspection schools are first and foremost to train our own people."

Lin Yusu saluted and left happily.

Watching Lin Yusu disband the team and let the newsboys rest in place, Chen Tianxiong shook his head and followed Chen Deng and them towards the printing workshop.

In the Nanhua Printing House, there is a chimney erected on the roof of a large house, and the chimney is billowing smoke at this time. Inside the house, driven by steam power, four Huafu printing presses were running at full power, and newspapers were constantly spitting out from the exit.

This is the printing workshop of the Nanhua Press, and the four Huafu printing machines print the English "Xiangjiang RI Bao" and the Chinese "Nanhua RI Bao".

"Calm down, don't panic, be quick with your hands and feet!"

As soon as they walked into the printing workshop, Li Duoen and Chen Deng saw old Hans standing next to the printing press, English mixed with half-baked Cantonese, urging Cāo to be the printer of the machine, to be careful and meticulous to make the machine, and not to be busy making mistakes because of the delay of hours!

Li Siyu was resting on the chair, he saw Li Duoen and Chen Deng coming, and quickly stood up and said with a smile: "Manager Li, Director Chen, it's okay, these machines have been repaired." ”

"What went wrong?"

Seeing Li Siyu and Xu Xiaobing's tired faces, Chen Deng was a little embarrassed, the machine he came out of his cottage broke down after less than 100 days of operation, but fortunately, Li Siyu and Xu Xiaobing repaired the machine in time and did not delay the printing of the newspaper.

"It's the problem with the parts in XCMG's hands." Li Siyu pointed to Xu Xiaobing on the side, "We searched for a long time, and finally found out the reason, just replace the parts." ”

Xu Xiaobing was holding a broken small part in his hand, still studying it carefully, and he didn't raise his head, "In my opinion, it should be a problem with the material, and the quality of the steel used in our cottage is not up to par." ”

Chen Deng shrugged, "Then there is only a regular replacement of parts, and there is no other way, unless the steel mill in Taiwan can be put into operation as soon as possible and make good steel." ”

At this time, Chen Tianxiong also walked in from outside, he saw Chen Deng's movements, and smiled, "Chen Deng, you haven't been in Hong Kong for a long time, but the habits and movements of this foreign devil are very similar." However, even if the steel plant is put into operation, it is difficult to increase the production capacity all at once. We are still based on the purchase of strip steel from Europe and the United States. ”

At present, the annual output of British steel is only 500,000 tons, and the production process is not good, and the steel of this time and space is not much different from the strip steel of later generations.

Chen Deng scoffed at Chen Tianxiong's words, "Shrugging shoulders is not the patent of foreign devils, in this time and space, I don't know if there is still room for them to live in a hundred years!" ”

"Dear Dawn, our Mr. Xiangli and Mr. Engineer are very good, they fixed the machine in time, and this morning's newspaper will not be delayed for too long." When old Hans saw Lidorn, he spoke German with joy.

"How long will it take to get it printed?"

Old Hans looked back at the printing press running at full speed, "At this rate, the printing of the newspaper will be finished in more than ten minutes." ”

Li Dorn took out his pocket watch from his pocket and looked at it, "Okay, it's only half an hour slower than going to Ri." ”

He smiled and said to Chen Tianxiong, "There is Mr. Hans here, and the Prussians are rigorous in their work, so there is nothing to say." ”

Hey, this yellow-skinned and black-eyed gentleman also understands German. Hearing Li Dorn speak German to Chen Tianxiong, Old Hans looked at the two of them in surprise.

"This is a director of our Hong Kong Huafu Foreign Company." Seeing Old Hans's expression, Lidorn smiled and introduced them to each other.

"Nice to meet you." Chen Tianxiong shook the hand of old Hans, and he greeted Hans in German.

Soon, 4,000 copies of the "Hong Kong RI Daily" and 2,000 copies of the "South China RI Daily" were all printed. Freshly baked newspapers, scented with ink, were stacked on top of each other on small carts, and a few apprentices trotted out of the workshop with carts full of newspapers.