Zekang's arrival made Tan Renhao more aware that the important cargo in that fleet that was absolutely in the fundamental interests of the empire may be an important person. Thinking of Pan Zekang's department again, Tan Renhao didn't dare to think about it even more.

During the meal, Tan Renhao did not immediately ask about the topic, but first asked how Pan Zekang came to the First Task Force. Pan Zekang received the order to go to the First Fleet on the morning of the 17th Imperial Time, that is, in the middle of the night of the 16th London time, and then he took a transport plane and left the secret research institute where he was located, and after arriving in Lanzhou, he got on a large transport plane and left the Empire. After more than a day of flights, on the night of the 19th, Pan Zekang arrived at the Gibraltar Fortress, where he received a second order, knew his mission, and then set off on a long-range maritime patrol plane arranged for him by Lei Shaoqing, and when he caught up with the First Fleet, it was already noon on the 20th.

"What important things are in that fleet?" After Pan Zekang's expression improved a little and he adapted to the environment on the battleship, Tan Renhao asked.

"It's very important, I only know one thing, the specific situation will not be known until I board the transport ship." Pan Zekang put down the chopsticks in his hand, he originally wanted a snack, but in the end he held back.

"Can't reveal it to me?"

"Of course not, General Tan, I have nothing to keep secret from you here." Pan Zekang thought for a moment. Probably thinking about where to start, Tan Renhao didn't bother him. After a while, Pan Zekang raised his head and said, "General Tan, how much do you know about our 'Pangu Project'?" ”

Tan Renhao was secretly surprised, and it was really the same as he guessed. At the beginning, it was he who recommended Pan Zekang to participate in the "Pangu Project" as a naval technical officer, and in the past few years. Pan Zekang has been working on the program. Although Tan Renhao has never been in contact with Pan Zekang, all the personnel who participated in the "Pangu Project" have cut off contact with the outside world, and even contact with immediate family members needs to be checked by the internal security department. However, Tan Renhao still has some understanding of the ultimate purpose of the "Pangu Project". From the information that Pan Zekang revealed to Tan Renhao at the beginning, he knew that if the "Pangu Plan" finally succeeded, then the course of the war would be completely changed. And the post-war world will be different. Obviously, this is a secret weapon development program, but what kind of weapon it is, Tan Renhao only knows that it is related to the "theory of relativity" proposed by Einstein and the related theories proposed by several outstanding physicists of the empire, but he does not know what this new weapon really looks like.

"Since the joint participation of the navy and army, the process of the 'Pangu Project' has been much faster. In addition, we have obtained some useful information from Japan, which has studied its theories more deeply than we have before the defeat of the war. It's just that I haven't been able to conduct laboratory research. Also, the intelligence services managed to get their hands on Germany. Progress of the same study in the United States. At the end of last year, we had already broken through the last hurdle in theoretical research. Officially entering the laboratory design stage, if everything is in order, we will be able to conduct the first experiment at the end of this year. ”

"What experiment?" Tan Renhao picked up the teacup.

"Of course, it is the explosion experiment, which is the most critical step, and whether all our theoretical research is correct depends on whether the experiment can be successful." Pan Zekang picked up the cigarette, "and the related work is being carried out intensively." If our atomic bomb experiment succeeds, it will change the course of the war. Or even change the whole world. ”

Tan Renhao did not interrupt Pan Zekang's words, and it was with these words that the scientists who advocated the development of the "atomic bomb" finally persuaded the prime minister and finally allowed the "Pangu Plan" to be implemented. Of course, Tan Renhao didn't know that in the past few years, the empire had invested billions of yuan in secret funds for the "Pangu Project", which was almost equivalent to the imperial navy's military expenditure for a year!

"Similarly, the United States and Germany have been conducting research on this." Pan Zekang took a few puffs of cigarette and his expression recovered a lot. "The progress of German research is not very fast, first, Germany lacks sufficient funds, second, Germany has not made breakthroughs in several key technologies, and most importantly, the German heavy water plant in Norway was blown up by the British, and the heavy water production capacity has not been fully restored until now, so the Germans' development progress is much slower than ours."

"Wait, what is 'heavy water'?" Tan Renhao frowned slightly, he didn't learn chemistry very well.

"Heavy water is water made up of heavy hydrogen atoms, that is, atoms combined with oxygen atoms." Pan Zekang was a little dissatisfied with Tan Renhao's sudden interruption. "On the contrary, it is the Americans who pose the greatest threat to us. It is said that as early as 24 shortly after the United States entered the war, the President of the United States approved the 'Manhattan Project'. ”

"What is the Manhattan Project?" Tan Renhao interrupted Pan Zekang's words again.

"It is similar to our 'Pangu Project', a plan with the ultimate goal of developing an atomic bomb." Pan Zekang briefly explained, and then continued, "The progress of the 'Manhattan Project' in the United States is quite fast, and I heard that the Americans have invested billions of dollars in the project, and their investment is even greater than ours. In addition, the President of the United States has given the program the highest privileges, even giving priority to the military in obtaining the resources it needs, and tens of thousands of scientists and researchers are involved in the program alone. If the information we get is accurate, then the United States will not be much slower than us in the development of the atomic bomb, and it is even possible to build the atomic bomb before us! ”

Tan Renhao was secretly shocked, but he did not have a clear understanding of the true power of the "atomic bomb", so he did not realize the seriousness of the problem.

"If the Americans had built the atomic bomb ahead of time, we would not have won the war, and we might even be defeated......

"Is it that serious?" Tan Renhao is a little unconvinced now, can a bomb change the huge balance of strength between the two sides?

"When talking about generals, I am definitely not exaggerating. Let's put it this way, one atomic bomb is enough to take out the First Fleet, believe it or not? ”

Tan Renhao immediately shook his head, even the largest bomb in the world could kill one battleship at most, and it was impossible to blow up the entire fleet at once.

"If you have the chance, you can learn more about the 'Pangu Project'. You should have the relevant authorization, right? "Authorization is not

, the main thing is that I haven't been back to the naval command for a long time, and I don't have any time for these things. ”

"Then the next time you go back to the Navy Command, you must remember to find out." Pan Zekang's expression became serious, "I definitely don't brag, if the United States builds an atomic bomb before us, then the whole situation of the war is very likely to be reversed." Therefore, we must build an atomic bomb before the Americans, and in addition to speeding up the pace of development ourselves, we must also prevent the Americans from successfully developing the atomic bomb. ”

Tan Renhao frowned slightly. "In other words, our operation this time is to prevent the Americans from developing an atomic bomb?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I learned about the true purpose of this mission after I arrived at the Gibraltar Fortress." Pan Zekang hesitated slightly, "In that fleet, there is a merchant ship carrying hundreds of tons of heavy water, in addition, there is a group of British scientists who are going to the United States, and the results of British research on the atomic bomb. ”

"Wait, 'heavy water' is important for the development of the atomic bomb?" Tan Renhao felt a little foggy, after all, he was not engaged in technology.

"Not very critical, but absolutely necessary. Let's put it this way, without heavy water, there would be no way to refine the highly concentrated radioactive materials necessary to make an atomic bomb. "Pan Zekang brought paper and a pen, and simply drew a structural diagram of a heavy water reactor on it." There are two main materials that make the atomic bomb so powerful. One is 235, one is 239. Both of these raw materials need to be purified, of which 235 are found in the self:... Less, 239 is produced through reactors. In other words, we must use atomic reactors to produce the raw materials needed for the atomic bomb, and to control atomic reactors, we must use heavy water as a moderator. These are all theoretical, and maybe you can't understand them. To put it simply, if there is no heavy water, we will not be able to produce the raw materials for the atomic bomb from the reactor, and it will be impossible to make the atomic bomb, so you understand? ”

Tan Renhao nodded humbly, in terms of these technical issues. He can only be a student of Pan Zekang.

"The British have also been developing the atomic bomb, and they destroyed the heavy water plant in Norway in order to prevent the Germans from developing the atomic bomb. Before Britain's defeat, we had information that Britain had reached an agreement with the United States the year before last to give up the independent development of the atomic bomb and to fully assist the United States in the development of the atomic bomb, including the production of heavy water for the United States. By the time of the defeat, Britain had exported about 200 heavy water to the United States. At the time when the British government declared defeat. About 400 heavy water was stored in British ports and was not shipped back to the United States. ”

"So. The last ships to leave Britain were loaded with these heavy waters? ”

"It should be like this, the United States has already bought these heavy waters with military supplies. So the British government did not prevent American ships from leaving port. Pan Zekang sighed, "Otherwise, there would be no need to send the First Fleet to intercept this convoy." ”

"According to you, heavy water is a very valuable commodity?"

"Absolutely, in terms of value, it is ten times more valuable than gold, and if it is of military and political significance, it is more than a hundred times more expensive than gold." Pan Zekang took out another cigarette. "Judging by the intelligence we have obtained. What the United States lacks most in the Manhattan Project now is heavy water, and perhaps these several hundred tons of heavy water will determine whether the United States can successfully develop an atomic bomb before us. So. I think that the U.S. Navy will definitely come to meet the fleet, and even if the entire Atlantic Fleet is sacrificed, as long as this heavy water can be successfully transported back home, and the United States develops the atomic bomb before we do, and puts it into actual combat, then it will be worth it. ”

Tan Renhao's expression became serious, if it was really as Pan Zekang said, the value of that batch of heavy water was related to the victory or defeat of the war, the US Navy would definitely come out.

"In addition, the Americans will certainly not let this heavy water fall into our hands, and the merchant ship loaded with heavy water must have set up a time bomb, and the crew will detonate the bomb as soon as we board the merchant ship. So, if we want to get this heavy water, we have to get the merchant ship under control before the crew detonates the bombs! ”

"I know that, and it looks like we're going to have to revise our plan of action." Tan Renhao touched his forehead. "Also, do the Germans know where this fleet is carrying?"

"I don't know about this, our intelligence services can have this information, I'm afraid that the German intelligence services have already had the same information, even more than we know."

"Well, we have to take into account the submarines of the Germans." Tan Renhao sighed, "If the atomic bomb had such great military and political significance, the Germans would not have stood idly by, and if they couldn't get it, they would have to stop it from falling into our hands, right?" ”

Pan Zekang nodded with a serious face, this is for sure.

"In that case, the problem is very complicated." Tan Renhao stood up, "Xiao Pan, you're here to help us this time, right?" ”

"Yes, my job is to assist you as a technical advisor." Pan Zekang also stood up, he didn't say everything, his other task was to determine whether the merchant ship was carrying heavy water, and if the merchant ship was finally captured, he would have to return to the empire with the merchant ship.

"Well, then, you go and rest first, it will probably take us two or three days before we can catch up with the fleet, and in the meantime you can make contact with the officers of the fleet and write down what we need to pay attention to." Tan Renhao walked to Pan Zekang's side, "How to act, this is up to me to decide, after the action is successful, it is up to you to decide." ”

"No problem, then I'll go take a shower first, and then write down all the things that should be paid attention to."

After sending Pan Zekang away, Tan Renhao pondered alone. Now he understood all the things he didn't understand before, and he knew why the First Fleet was sent to carry out this interception mission. This should not be an operation deployed by the Navy Command, but an operation arranged by the Prime Minister himself, and for the sake of safety, the Navy Command will order the First Fleet to carry out this task, and perhaps, the Navy Command will also send the Third Fleet to cooperate, if so, then the operation will be slightly easier.