On the crisp autumn season, on the large lawn outside the Château Clumber-Heisen, Nikolai, Weiss, and Professor Xiao Yang stood side by side, silently staring at the graceful hovering silver flying machine in the sky. It is the first testing machine made by the Lorraine Agricultural and Forestry Machinery Factory using the agricultural aircraft production line to use a large number of aluminum alloy materials, which are in the stage of small batch manufacturing, and the cost is much lower than that of laboratory materials, but still much more expensive than ordinary steel.

Previously, the materials used to make aircraft skeletons were nothing more than wood and steel pipes. During the war and even after the war, in order to improve the performance of aircraft, engineers continued to develop more powerful engines on the one hand, and on the other hand, they were also looking for various new materials. With the aluminum alloy material with stable performance and meets the requirements, more aircraft that previously existed only on paper are feasible to be put into production. One of the simplest examples, the use of four engines of heavy long-range bombers, although the Federal Army has produced several prototypes, but the strength of the wooden skeleton is not capable of long-range flight, if replaced with steel tubes, although the structural strength has increased, but the weight has also increased, squeezing the payload, so that the four-engine heavy bomber has never been able to meet the requirements of practical use.

In this comfortable season, Prof. Yang came to Lorraine for the third time with the Als Polytechnic University internship research team, and this was probably the last time she led the team, not because something should not have happened between her and Weiss, or because she was tired of teaching this way, but because she decided to accept the invitation of the Free University of Lorraine to become the head professor of the School of Geography and Geology. Professor Yang agreed to be a visiting professor at the university, and he would spend four to six weeks a year giving lectures here. For the life of Professor Yang's family, this may be the best arrangement at the moment.

"It is like a thunderbird in ancient mythology, which is described in the hymn of the Northland: it comes from above the heavenly dome, and descends on the world with dazzling light, lightning and thunder, the earth shakes the mountains, the sinful soul instantly disappears, and the world returns to the pure land......"

Although Professor Xiao Yang just came to see the excitement, he said such a poem with an ancient atmosphere. Weiss thought for a moment. The Thunderbird that the ancients said was not an alien meteorite or a spaceship? This is probably the true source of the Star Source Stone! However, the star-source stones are distributed deep underground in the form of mineral deposits, which means that even though they are part of the starship, they have been shattered and returned to their most primitive state after thousands of years of geological changes.

This is an idea that has already been mentioned in academic circles, not a whim. If this assumption is true, it means that the reserves of star source stones on the planet Orlens have nothing to do with the structure of the planet, but come from foreign materials, and the overall quantity must be a finite number, in comparison, coal, copper, iron, bauxite and oil ore (oil shale), which are minerals related to the structure of the planet, the overall reserves are astronomical. To put it simply, using all the star source stone resources on the planet Orens, it may be possible to form a fleet of 1,000 warships, and normal materials such as steel, coal, and oil can make hundreds of thousands or even millions of aircraft, only need enough pilots, and this huge number of planes is enough to swallow those flying ships that use star source stones to provide floating power.

"They are the apostles of the divine realm, who have come to this world to punish sin. They are the spirits of the sky, condensing the most wonderful aura in this world. In peacetime, they roam freely in the skies, and when the enemy appears, they are our most powerful shields to defend our homeland. "Nikolai's little poem comes at hand.

"I didn't expect our Miss Lebor to be a very good poet!" Professor Yang had a warm smile on his face, as pleasant as the autumn breeze, at least that's what Weiss thought. As the Free University of Lorraine gradually grows from a pile of plans and drawings to a real building, a road, and a square, the gap between them is disappearing.

Nikolai didn't respond, and the atmosphere was a little awkward, at least that's what Weiss thought. Although she doesn't reject her, she doesn't reject her either, the two of them can talk when they are alone, and sometimes they seem to have a good conversation, but when the three of them are together, whether it's at the dinner table or for a walk, it always makes people feel that something is not right, but they can't say why.

After a while, the silver plane descended from the sky and taxied steadily to the hangar, which looked like a barn. The aircraft production line is located more than 20 miles away in the free Lorraine Canal industrial zone, where there is also a simple runway for aircraft to take off and land, and the later testing and improvement work is placed at the grass airport next to the Chlumberg-Heisen Castle, which not only has security and confidentiality considerations, but also facilitates Nikolai, who lives in the Chlumbo-Haisen Castle, to debug the aircraft. After several test flights by test pilots. She can fly the plane around a few times when no one is looking, and use her professional perception to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the aircraft's performance.

After the plane came to a standstill, the pilot came to the three of them unhurriedly, with a simple smile on his face: "The trembling problem has been completely solved, very smoothly and very smoothly." If we could, I think tomorrow we would be able to do a high-angle dive test to verify this stability. ”

This is an understatement to him, but Weiss is a little frightened, you must know that in the flight experiment, the most risky is this high-speed dive, but the most reflective of the performance of the aircraft is this kind of high-angle dive and similar high-speed maneuvering. If it is an agricultural aircraft, it will never get to the point where it needs to maneuver at high speeds, but if you want to prepare for military aircraft, you can't avoid this step in any case.

Nikolai was well aware of this, of course, but she seemed to be more decisive and determined in this regard than Weiss, and she nodded at the pilot: "If the weather is good tomorrow, we will carry out that experiment." Today, everyone is working hard to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of the aircraft to ensure that there are no accidents due to mechanical failures. ”

"Okay, no problem!" The pilot replied with a sense of relief, showing no fear of unknown danger.

This is probably the fearlessness of the proud sons of the sky!

After talking to the pilots, they did not go to the hangar to look at the test aircraft, which had just completed its fiftieth flight, but walked towards the castle with their backs to the setting sun. Professor Yang naturally took Weiss's arm, and Nikolai was on the other side, also very close to him.

"The performance of the new material is very good, and the CEO suggested that we start mass production as soon as possible, at the price we originally negotiated," said Nikolai. As for the output, he would like to get a more accurate figure - how much can the annual production of this new metal material reach under full production? ”

"According to our original plan, we had an annual production of 400,000 to 500,000 pounds, or 200 to 300 'tates,' and this is only the first phase, and the second phase of the plant is under construction, and the output can be doubled when it is completed," Weiss said. However, this is only the theoretical maximum output value, and it depends on the mining of minerals, if everything goes well. It should be no problem to produce a steady production of 500 'tate' per year. ”

If 1,000 pounds of new alloys are used for each aircraft, 500 "Tatters" can supply about 2,000 light fighters, or convert them into a corresponding number of attack aircraft or bombers. This makes sense in terms of current business utilization.

In the era of great industry, steel mills with an annual output of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of "tatters" abounded. Whether in terms of capital and manpower invested or in terms of the scale of production, the output of 500 "Tate" is really difficult to reach the large factory industry, even if it produces very new aluminum and aluminum alloys. The reason why there is no blind scale expansion is that this emerging technology material is still in the exploration stage, and the existing commercial technology is not equal to the cost-effective technology. At least according to Weiss's perception of the future, aluminum should be a widely used material. In the case that bauxite resources are not so scarce, with the development of technology, its cost and output efficiency should still have a lot of room for improvement, so he is not in a hurry to invest in the establishment of more new material factory production lines.

Moreover, from the perspective of application, this new type of material must have a stage of adaptation and improvement from its emergence to maturity. If tens of thousands of "tate" new materials are produced in one go, perhaps, after being used for a few months or even a year or two, it is found that there are serious defects in one of its properties, and mass production will inevitably cause a large amount of waste. You know, the material supply agreement of the Star Group is a backstop, no matter how many tons Weiss produces, the other party will buy all of them in the form of a cost increase ratio, but as Nikolai said, the Star Group is not a role like Grumman's eagerness, but a prudent and prudent one, and they have set out an important clause in the agreement: once the new metal material is proved to be non-compliant or has major defects, the Star Group has the right to require the Lorraine new metal material factory to stop supplying in the following month. In other words, they can buy up to the materials produced in the current month, and the next month the trading will be suspended. This may seem like a common protective clause, but if Weiss is the one who has expanded the factory too much at once, and the technical bottlenecks have hit, then it is easy to break the capital chain. Therefore, it is beneficial for both parties to maintain a moderate scale of production, constantly update equipment and expand the scale on the basis of continuous maturity of technology.

"The COO hopes that your stable production value can be increased to 2,000 'tatters' per year as soon as possible, so that we can supply all kinds of materials required for our production and experiments, and we are ready to apply it to the engine field with good data in the material testing stage of the new aluminum alloy material. We do a lot of testing in this area. If the engine made of new materials can reasonably reduce the weight, the performance of the fighter will be greatly improved. Nikolai said this in the tone of a communicator.

"Aluminum alloy materials are not unsuitable for engines, but the durability and explosion resistance may be inferior to our existing steel, which may not be too fundamental to other industries, but I am afraid that more research and demonstration are needed in aircraft." Weiss followed his memory and made a hint.

"The study of the engine, we have been involved, from the point of view of efficiency, I suggest that you do not have to invest too much in this area, after all, the engine of the aircraft Star Group is the best. Wait for them to finish their research. It is more secure and cost-effective to buy an engine or technology from them than to conduct your own research. In addition......" Nikolai suddenly lowered his voice, "during this time, it is necessary for us to strengthen the security and confidentiality of the factory and the design office, and some things have happened on the side of the Star Group - the research institute has been infiltrated by suspicious elements, and there are confidential materials stolen, which have not been disclosed to the public, because it may have a very bad impact, but it has been reported among the internal high-level officials." ”

"It must be Norman!" Weiss said firmly, "They are not dead, they are always spying on us, intending to make a comeback. ”

Nikolai, who was a member of the Norman invasion during the war, hated the Normans as well, but she was calm at the moment: "From the clues we've found, it's likely that our insiders did it, but it definitely has something to do with the Normans, such as the temptation of money and status, which is their usual trick." ”

Day and night, it is difficult to prevent thieves. Weiss shook his head helplessly: "It's not a way for us to be beaten passively like this. Even if all the enemy's lurkers in the Federation are dug up, they will still be able to continue infiltrating in various ways. Unless we can take strong countermeasures and let them learn what we do, just like we do on the battlefield. ”

"It's not that they haven't considered what you said, in fact, whether before the war, during the war or after the war, we are all working hard to carry out intelligence work, but the results are not obvious, maybe in terms of intelligence warfare, Normans are born with more advantages than us."

Speaking of this, Nikolai turned his head to look at Weiss: "I have received an invitation before, and they want me to come with them to the Norman Empire, which is an official visiting delegation. In fact, we wanted to look deeper and understand the current state of the Norman Empire. Because I had been to the Norman Empire, they thought I was a good guide. But, you know, my overly worried old father was so strongly opposed to this kind of thing that I couldn't make it even though I wanted so badly to go. I remember that you have also been to the Norman Empire and speak Norman well, do you want to think about it? ”

After saying that, Nikolai added: "There will be no risks in this operation, after all, it is of an official nature." If you go to be the chief executive of Lorraine, they are unlikely to have anything to do with you. Of course, you can also not go, it will not affect you in any way. Think about it, and if you have the answer, you can tell me and I'll arrange it for you. ”

Weiss nodded thoughtfully, not giving an answer on the spot. In the past, one person fed the whole family and did not go hungry, but now it is necessary to take care of the affairs of the Lorraine State government, as well as Professor Xiao Yang's ideas and the future of Little Candy and Little Kemp. This kind of thing really needs to be carefully considered.