The end of 1928 also meant the beginning of a new year, and New Year's Day in 1929 was full of new hope for most people in the world, freedom, peace, and wealth were still pursued, but the war that affected the whole of East Asia and the surrounding region was not over.

Although the vast majority of the more than 60 million Japanese citizens are still loyal to the emperor whom they have always respected, more and more people are already pessimistic about the outcome of the war; due to the blockade by the German-led coalition forces, the total import and export volume of the Japanese archipelago has dropped by 99 percent compared with the outbreak of the war, the output of iron and steel has dropped to one-quarter of that at the beginning of the war, and the output of the shipbuilding industry and the military industry has also dropped sharply. The entire Japan has only enough fuel reserves to last two months under normal conditions, civilian automobiles and aviation have long since stopped, bicycles and a small number of trams have become the only means of transportation for city dwellers, and most people can only rely on two legs to get to their destinations, the halt of heavy industry has caused hundreds of thousands of workers to lose their jobs, and in the context of the fishing industry, agriculture and coal are the only vibrant industries that remain, but people's basic livelihood has not been guaranteed, due to the lack of medicines, Various diseases are ravaging Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, and Hokkaido.

January 21, 1929, was a date of great historical significance, as a weapon was put into combat for the first time, and mankind entered a new era, one comparable to the Age of Discovery.

At 10 a.m., a massive four-engine passenger plane landed smoothly on the main runway of a German military airfield on the eastern outskirts of Bushima, and as its propeller blades stopped rotating, two squadrons of advanced fighters were still on alert in the sky.

At this time, there was only one person in Germany who could enjoy such treatment: the third monarch of the German Empire, Gianluge Wilhelm III, who had been in power for 14 years, and the main architect of this historical moment.

Accompanying Chentian on this strange land was Juliana Louis Emma Marie Wilhelmina, the new Empress of the German Empire and the only daughter of the Queen of the Netherlands, the most prominent woman in the world of this era, and several important figures who had recently arrived from the German mainland, including the 80-year-old Count Tirpitz, the founder of the German Navy. The best commander of the German Army, Ollie, Field Marshal Kahn, the first Minister of the Luftwaffe, Leopold von Zeckert, and several other meritorious figures of the German Army and Navy, and several of Germany's best rocket technologists have arrived in advance, under the guidance of whom the final assembly and commissioning of the A17 will be completed.

It was not far from the airport to the rocket launch site, and when the convoy approached the so-called military camp named after Thor, the god of thunder, the scenery here was truly stunningly beautiful - the launch site was located on a cliff adjacent to the sea, about 60 meters above the sea level, from which you could overlook a large area of pure natural blue sea. At the foot of the cliff is a long stretch of sand, which is like a golden collar on a military uniform, which appropriately dots the dark land. Two or three nautical miles away, a brown reef appears to be a habitat for seabirds, with a few white birds flying or landing there.

The convoy carrying the distinguished guests traveled along the dirt road next to the railroad tracks, which led to the port of Busan and the "Saul Barracks" at the other end, where every few meters stood a heavily armed and well-groomed German soldier, and every kilometer or so there was a cordon of tall barbed wire and watchtowers, in fact, since it was chosen as the launch site.

Residents within a 10-kilometre radius were relocated. An elite infantry division and a Guards infantry regiment make up the vigilance, and every train carrying equipment and supplies is subjected to the strictest checks before entering the barracks to ensure that no one infiltrates this absolute military stronghold.

Such a tight vigilance is for today's launch.

Through the car window, Chen Tian saw those gray pencil-shaped objects from a distance, they were fixed one by one with a specific iron frame pointed upward, like a group of archers had been wound arrows, and like deadly spikes in a trap, Chen Tian knew the exact number of them - 12 were ready to be fired, and another 108 were stored in a secure underground warehouse, and if necessary, they could all be shot at targets 300 kilometers away in one day, The warheads they carry are as powerful as the aerial bombs of a Dornier 3 ultra-long-range bomber group - but from a distance, they are far more powerful than the numbers themselves.

At a time when there were still a few kilometers from the launch site. The convoy turned a corner and turned in the other direction - despite the technical maturity of the A17 rockets, the power of these large creatures filled with liquid fuel and TNT explosives was quite terrifying if they were preempted, and in order to ensure the safety of the VIPs who came to watch the launch, the viewing platform was arranged in a specially built fortified fortress 6 kilometers from the launch site. Of course, once the final commissioning is over, all the crew, along with specialists, guards and technicians, will be evacuated from the launch site.

When the convoy reached its final destination and all the vehicles were turned off, Chen Tian felt the original atmosphere here, which was so quiet that there was only the faint sound of the wind, the sound of the waves, and the chirping of seabirds, if not for the war. Putting aside those terrifying advanced weapons, Chentian believes that this will be a good place for a vacation, but the best time to come here is definitely not this cold winter.

Escorted by the attendants, Chen Tian took Juliana out of the car, and there were not many people who came to greet him, and most of them were technical experts dressed in clean white and big patches.

"Your Majesty! It's an honor to see you again! The leader is none other than Hermann Obert, Germany's youngest and most famous rocket expert, who is not only the technical leader of the A17 program, but also the commander-in-chief of the A17 actual combat launch.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my esteemed doctor!" Chen Tian shook hands with Aubert with great interest, "How is it?" You're all set! ”

It can be said that the success or failure of the actual combat test is related to the investment of resources by the government and the military in rocket research, and the progress of the research determines when mankind will be able to realize the long-standing dream of spaceflight.

"Yes, Your Majesty! All the preparations are complete, just waiting for your order! ”

"Excellent! What about the target region? Chentian said as he walked towards the entrance to the fortified fortress, which was mostly buried underground, where two rows of Guards soldiers armed with MP24 submachine guns were waiting straight.

"The wind speed is less than 3 and the visibility is excellent!" Without hesitation, Aubert replied that at this moment, three modified Dornier 3 ultra-long-range bombers were flying over the target area as field observers, and their fuel would provide them with more than 20 hours of air time, and there was also a fleet of reserve aircraft on standby on the German Navy aircraft carrier "Alexander" about 80 nautical miles away from the target area.

Because it is specially built for VIPs to watch the rocket launch, the passage in the fortress in front of you is not as narrow as an ordinary defensive fortress, and the elevator is not a simple iron frame and iron mesh structure, the walls here are all white as the main color, and the position at the height of the person's shoulder is painted with eye-catching red logos, even the explosion-proof wall lamp wrapped in explosion-proof net has been decorated to a certain extent, and there are even plastic vases and flowers placed on the wooden flower stand at the corner, because the passage is covered with a thick red carpet, Walking on it doesn't make the kind of cold footsteps you're used to in bunkers.

The main observation room is located on the basement floor, only on one side of the launch site there are 5 rectangular observation ports, each observation port has a thick bulletproof explosion-proof glass, and the surrounding walls are covered with a layer of tapestry and plastic plates, as far as Chen Tian knows, these devices can ensure the safety of the observers as much as possible, even if the 12 rockets explode together, the people in this bunker will only be affected by a slight shock wave.

Of course, these are only the worst-case scenarios, judging from a series of rocket tests conducted on the soil before, the probability of accidents in the whole process is less than 20 percent, of which the violent explosion on the ground only accounts for one-tenth of the total number of accidents, that is to say, even according to the accident rate at the time of the test, the probability of these rockets exploding before leaving the ground is only about 2 percent, not to mention that according to the estimates of Aubert and the expert group, these rockets that have completed the test are three to four times safer than those test subjects.

The marshals and generals who were invited to watch the rocket launch all stood still on the side of the launch site in the main observation room, and Chen Tian raised his hand and looked at his watch, which was 15 minutes to 11 o'clock.

"So, how about 11 o'clock?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! I'll arrange it! Aubert then left with his deputy, in fact, they didn't go far, the main control room was behind this main observation room, there was a thick wall between the two halls, through the explosion-proof glass window on the wall, you could see the main control room located deeper underground, there were about sixty or seventy technicians dressed in white big slander, all kinds of instruments could be seen everywhere, wires, telephone lines were as dense as spider webs.

"At 11 a.m. on January 21, 1929, it will be an important moment in history, and we should be proud to be able to witness all this!" Chen Tian turned his head and said to Juliana, who was wearing a light blue velvet hat. (Full Text)