"Indeed! If you can't write 'Mu' twice in a stroke, you shall owe me a small favor!" Mu Shenzhong clasped Mu Denggao's hand tightly and said, "after there were cars on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, former secretary Peng was very happy, and shouted me dinner, saying I was the foremost outstanding minister of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. I said, Mr. Peng, I don't dare to accept such flattery, the truly foremost ministers will always lie with the officers and soldiers and workers of the Kunlun, Wudaoliang, Budongxian and Tanggula mountains. I said in the report addressed to Secretary Peng, relying on the highway for support, the Tibet strategy won't work, you need a railway, and Secretary Peng was full of praise for this suggestion, specially reporting to the premier, and passing on some money to me. Before I returned to Gelmud, I bumped into the commander of the railway and political commissar Wang Zhen, who said when we resisted the U.S. and helped North Korea in the 1950s, the railway soldiers built an explosion-proof and resilient railway line, now, in an era of peace, we must built the railway to the Daba Mountains, the Tianshan Mountains, the Kunlun Mountains, and all the way to the Himalayas. Wang Zhen would not allow fertile water to fall on the fields of others. With such stakes at play Wang Zhen could not always be allowed to pull the top spot. Give me several people to come with me on a trip to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, to see if they can build a railway, so that I may report to the Premier and Secretary Peng."
"How many people do you need?"
"At least three!"
"Only three? Just give the order, and we'll give you however many you need."
"Haha, you're very generous!" Mu Shengzhong laughed, "we're just seeing if we can build a road, not to go wolf-hunting!"
"I've also dreamt about this day."
"Well, let's settle it, ask them to go home and pack, and tomorrow they can come with me to Xiangride."
"As you wish, general, they'll be where you need them at the arranged time early tomorrow morning." Mu, the dean, framed his answer straightforwardly.
On the second day, the time to start work in the morning arrived, and Mu Shengzhong stopped his jeep and waited in front of the building of First Survey and Design Institute and waited. Dean Mu brought the surveying engineers Cao Ruzhen, Liu Dengji, Wang Lijie and a driver, Xue Xingcai, and they left one after another. Seeing that General Mu was wearing a leather coat and leaning on front of the car, they anxiously said, "Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long, General Mu."
"When students wait for a teacher, this is how it's done!" Mu Shengzhong laughed a great laugh, "I was originally a solider, I'm a bit rough around the edges, so in dealing with you great scholars, there's only one word, honesty!"
Having only just met General Mu, they were immediately deeply attracted by the magnetism of his personality.
"This is Engineer Cao of our group." Dean Mu pointed to Cao Ruzhen, "he graduated in civil engineering at Central University, route selection is his specialty, he participated in the construction of the Xiangguiqian line in the Nationalist era, after China was liberated he came to the Design Institute of Northwest Railway Engineering Bureau, participating in the route selection for the Tianlan line, the Lanqing line and the Baolan line."
Mu Shengzhong stretched out a hand enthusiastically: "Well done! Thirty years of initiatives, just what was needed at the time. I welcome you to go with me to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, as for what you'd be doing, well, on the days that you are up a mountain, you can tell me whether or not we can build a railway, and I'll let former head Peng and the premier know."
The three of them smiled knowingly. Mu Shengzhong went and helped them to get their luggage and equipment onto the gas jeep. The motor rumbled, and China's first line selection group for the railway into Tibet set foot on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with General Mu Shengzhong, in the early spring of 1956.
The gas jeep travelled along the Yellow River valley, speeding away from Lanzhou City, and Cao Ruzhen, who was sitting in the back seat suddenly turned around, because the group had acquired more gas jeeps, and he asked General Mu, how they had gotten so many cars.
Mu Shengzhong said proudly, "The premier's special approval!"
"From the Premier!" Cao Ruzhen asked, surprised.
"Of course!" Mu Shengzhong said, smiling and proud of himself. "In December last year, when traffic began using the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, the chairman was very happy, and former head Peng was heard to say, learning that on that evening, both the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and the Sichuan-Tibet Highway took traffic for the first time, he drank some liquor, and the members of staff did not understand, asking what the happy occasion was, and the chairman dried his cup in one gulp, and said that he was happy. Last year, after ranks had been awarded, I came to Commander Peng and received the command to survey the construction path for the road, and former head Peng reported to the Premier, and the Premier said, this time, we're not letting Mu Shengzhong travel the Qinghai-Tibet road in a rubber-tired cart, we'll give him two cars. So that's why we're in cars, not carts, this time."
Cao Ruzhen said respectfully, "But General Mu, the lives of line selection engineers are ones of travel, we just rely on our feet."
"Haha! I'm happy to hear that." Mu Shengzhong laughed, "well, I'll just be your head of logistics, I'll send you wherever you want to be sent to."
"General, will you be with us for the whole of the line selection period?" asked Cao Ruzhen.
"That's a good question. But we're all stuck together in the car now, for better or worse."
"Thank you." Cao Ruzhen was respectful.
