In Nerchinsk Prefecture, Heilongjiang Province, at the construction site of the eastern section of the Hamo Railway, efforts are being made to repair the railway's subgrade.

Workers are taking advantage of the fact that the frozen soil has not yet thawed and the area has not turned into a swamp. They are digging holes into the ground and pouring concrete foundation piles.

The Hamo Railway standard designed by the imperial court was planned according to the century-old usage standard.

Anyone with insight can understand that it is extremely difficult to rebuild such a huge infrastructure project.

The more likely option for the successor is to tinker with the original project and make it barely usable.

Laying the foundation now will save you a lot of trouble in the future.

Anxious shouts came from the construction site: "Zhang Yinuo, the drill bit is stuck again, come and repair the machine."

Zhang Yinuo carried the toolbox on his back and ran quickly to the drilling rig.

He took a brief look at the situation and said helplessly: "The drill bit fell off again. This is an old problem with Daliniu brand drilling rigs.

The drill bit must be fished out before drilling can continue.

Otherwise, this pile will have to be abandoned."

Ji Qianjin, the project manager, said helplessly: "This is the pile specified above. Unless we encounter hard rock formations, we can pass the blame to the survey team, otherwise this pile must be driven."

Besides, the construction schedule was too tight and there was no time to re-drill the pilings.

Today is the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. We all continue to work on the construction site. There is no holiday for this important holiday.

We all know that Dali Niu is not a good brand, but we can only use machines, so we have no control over what machines we purchase.

If there is nothing wrong with the machine, you, the maintenance technician, will be unemployed."

When Zhang Yinuo heard what the supervisor said, he spread his hands and said: "In this case, we can only hire a water ghost to fish out the drill bit."

Ji Qianjin, the project manager, said with heartache: "This is the only way we can go now. If we go faster, the mud in the pile holes will freeze, which will be troublesome."

Supervisor Ji Qianjin made up his mind and immediately called his men to go outside the construction site to find water ghosts with salvage capabilities.

Zhang Yinuo continued to repair the machine. He wanted to replace the drill bit with a new one.

When he was repairing the machine, he felt very unhappy.

A company with a technical rubbish like Dali Niu can easily survive by relying on connections.

The Wuyang Company he works for produces drilling rigs with better technology, but due to the double blow of triangular debt and poor sales, the factory has been closed and is waiting for bankruptcy.

As a mechanical engineer responsible for designing machines, his monthly salary is as high as three hundred taels of silver coins, and he is unemployed at home.

Through a friend's relationship, Zhang Yinuo found a job as a Hamo Railway Engineering Machinery Maintenance Engineer with a monthly salary of twenty-five taels of silver coins.

His monthly salary is not even one-tenth of what it was before, but after all, he has skills and his situation is already better than many people who are unemployed and receiving welfare benefits.

Many workers in Wuyang Company were unable to find a job with a monthly salary of ten taels of silver coins after losing their jobs.

A large number of companies have gone bankrupt, and the companies that have not gone bankrupt have poor economic performance.

These companies are not hiring, but are laying off workers.

Ordinary families can still receive relief food and barely survive.

People who encounter difficulties at home can only take risks and find high-paying jobs.

Zhang Yinuo knew that there are many dangerous sections of the Hamo Railway. To build these places, machines cannot be used and workers need to have certain skills. There is no way to hire cheap people from overseas territories.

You can only pay high prices to hire workers who are short of money.

The monthly salary is as high as one hundred and fifty taels of silver coins, but the mortality rate on these roads can reach more than 2%.

Zhang Yinuo looked at the water ghost who was sweating profusely and put on his diving suit and oxygen mask.

These water ghosts are mainly unemployed workers, or unemployed workers whose families are facing more serious difficulties.

Salvaging items in the mud is inherently a highly technical job.

They were able to get 500 taels of silver coins if they fished the drill bit up. If the man couldn't come up, they got 5000 taels of silver coins as compensation.

A human life is worth five thousand taels, which is already a very high price.

If someone is killed in a factory, the compensation is usually 300 to 500 taels of silver coins.

Zhang Yinuo watched the water ghost prepare. He was lifted to the bottom of the pile by a crane with a rope and dived into the mud to retrieve the drill bit.

The pressure of mud is greater than that of water, and if something goes wrong, it will not come up.

The pile hole is likely to collapse, and you will definitely die if this happens.

These water ghosts are just exchanging their lives for money.

The water ghost was lucky that the drill rig fell not too deep and he successfully hooked the hook on the drill rig.

The water ghosts and drilling rigs are all brought up, and construction on the construction site can continue.

After the drilling rig drills to the standard depth and pumps out the mud inside the rod, the steel cage can be lowered and concrete can be poured.

Zhang Yinuo watched the construction of the railway benchmark from the side. Judging from his knowledge, this project can definitely meet the design requirements.

No one dares to falsify such a major project that the court is concerned about.

Not only did the Metropolitan Procuratorate send people to conduct overt and covert inspections, there were also Xuanwu Guard spies keeping an eye on it.

There are many people who think they have deep backgrounds or think they are hiding well, but they have all been picked out and dealt with.

Zhang Yinuo feels very happy when he listens to these construction site gossips every day.

He stayed up until it was completely dark, and during the following working hours, there was no problem with the machine, so he could continue reading on the side.

Zhang Yinuo also teaches himself mechanical design at the construction site every day.

He believes that the day when the economic crisis will pass sooner or later, he will still be an engineer with a monthly salary of 300 taels of silver coins, not a maintenance worker with a monthly salary of 25 taels of silver coins.

While he was eating in the construction site cafeteria, he suddenly heard a strange voice.

"Gong Zhang, your telegram."

When Zhang Yinuo saw the salesman from the telecommunications company, he quickly thanked him and accepted the telegram.

The emergence of telegraphs and telephones made information exchange smoother.

Especially during the period when telegraphy was very popular, telegraph offices were established in various places.

As the economic crisis emerged, the imperial court also abolished redundant yamen and converted them into government-run companies.

Telegraph and telephone communications-related businesses were the Imperial Telecommunications Company established based on the Telegraph Bureau.

Zhang Yinuo focused on the letter, which was a telegram from his wife.

The imperial court issued many new policies, and Wuyang Company obtained a loan from the Commercial Bank of China and survived again.

The boss of Wuyang Company called his home and asked if he could return to work, and his salary would remain the same.

During this period of unemployment, I also enjoyed the half-salary treatment provided by the company.

Zhang Yinuo was ecstatic when he got the news.

This is the best Lantern Festival gift he got.

The half-salary treatment at Wuyang Company is much better than what he gets here.

As a worker, of course he wants a position with higher wages.

Not to mention this job, once the Hamo Railway ends, he will be unemployed.

Returning to work at Wuyang Company allows him to hone his skills.

The empire has weathered the economic crisis, the business environment has improved, Wuyang Company has gone bankrupt, and he has been able to use his technology to switch jobs to other companies.

Zhang Yinuo went to the project manager Ji Qianjin, who hesitated for a moment and submitted his resignation.

Ji Qianjin laughed and said: "This is a normal choice. Mr. Zhang's monthly salary is higher than mine.

When I came to work here before, it was condescension in a helpless situation.

Now that the economic environment has improved, Mr. Zhang will definitely not stay at the construction site any longer.

The temperature here in Nerchinsk is too cold and cannot be compared with that in the south.

There is no need to worry about Mr. Zhang’s salary, these are all transferred uniformly by the Imperial Bank.”

Zhang Yinuo bid farewell to the construction site and boarded the train heading south.

When he went north, he had mixed feelings in his heart. He was still thinking about whether his life would become like this.

Now going south, he is full of confidence that the empire will be the same as he is now and will be better in the future.

…

Hua Xia University’s on-campus job fair unexpectedly took place after the Lantern Festival.

The on-campus job fair was supposed to be held in the fall, but due to the official economic crisis at that time, a large number of private companies went bankrupt.

The business of government-owned companies has also been affected by the economic crisis, and they have no idea of ​​​​expanding the company.

The emergence of this situation directly caused Huaxia University's autumn on-campus job fair to be empty.

Only a few companies choose to recruit at Hua Xia University.
To be continued...