The train station looks very desolate, except for some sand willow and poplar trees planted artificially near the platform, there is no other green at all, and even the soldiers guarding the platform are wearing desert camouflage uniforms, which match the iron houses on the platform.

Except for the people who work here, this railway station usually does not see any people coming and going, a train without any signs enters the station, and the railway station guards unload the loaded goods, and then slowly leave the station, day after day, year after year, even the ordinary soldiers guarding the railway station, it is difficult to know what kind of goods those trains are carrying, and what goods are being carried, many soldiers even after retirement do not know where they have served in the past few years, I don't know what the identities of the men and women who occasionally appear near the platform don't look like soldiers.

This is the top-secret military research base codenamed "Firmament", and the railway that extends to the railway station is the "Gobi Line 6" that cannot be found on civilian maps at all, and this is the terminus of "Gobi Line 6".

In fact, this railway station is still a section of the road from the two main core areas of the "sky" base, after the train pulls the goods to the railway station, unloads them on the platform, and then the railway locomotive powered by the internal combustion engine transports the goods to different areas of the base through two different railway branch lines, the defense in the railway station is only a first-line defense, and in the core area of those bases, the vigilance measures are more strict. It is almost three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry, and the guards in the outer warning area have no right to enter the core area, and in normal times, the guards in the core area will not go around the outer security area.

But today, the situation is slightly different, starting at nine o'clock in the morning, some guards have been transferred from the core warning area to strengthen the defense of the railway station, and the commanding heights of the railway station are arranged with some snipers wearing camouflage uniforms, this posture has opened the eyes of the guards of the railway station, but no one dares to inquire, but according to the orders of the officers, the vigilance measures have also been strengthened.

At half past nine o'clock in the morning, the mystery was finally revealed, a train without any signs slowly drove from the "Gobi Line 6" into the railway station, and stopped on the only platform, the first to get off was the presidential guards in black uniforms, they quickly took over part of the defense of the railway station, and controlled the commanding heights, and set up more feasible blocking positions in those places, after that, some adjutants got off the train, muttered a moment to the officer leading the team on the platform, and then, from the train stepped down a big man, none other than others, it is the great president of the Republic of China, Zhao Bei.

The soldiers on the platform may not know Lan Tianwei and Jiang Fangzhen, but it is impossible for them not to know Zhao Bei, even in the years when Li Yuanhong was in power, Zhao Bei's portrait still occupies a prominent position in various government departments, especially in the army, Zhao Bei's busts can be seen everywhere, as the founder of the National Defense Force, Zhao Bei's reputation in the army is not something that anyone can consume, nor can anyone replace it, this is recognized by all soldiers, and they are also full of respect for the founder of the National Defense Force.

Now, the sudden visit of the founding leader of the National Defense Force to the desert Gobi has caused some officers and soldiers at the railway station to feel like they are dreaming, and of course, they soon realize that the president is really standing on this railway station.

"All of them! Attention! Salute! ”

The welcome ceremony was simple, a military band composed of cooks played sonorous military music, the guards of the railway station saluted with guns, and Mr. President, dressed in a marshal's uniform, held a small military parade on the platform, and then, a locomotive powered by an internal combustion engine slowly drove into the railway station, next to the unloading train stopped, and after Mr. President led his entourage to board the locomotive, the locomotive quickly left the railway station and drove along the railway branch line on the left to a core base area.

It took less than ten minutes for the internal combustion engine-powered locomotive to arrive at its destination, and here, the ceremony to welcome the president was quite grand, the military band was neatly dressed, and in addition to the soldiers, there were many male and female scientists and technicians in white coats, who apparently received the notice of the president's visit at work, and then hurried to greet Mr. President, so that it was too late to change into civilian clothes.

"Everyone has worked hard, for the strength and prosperity of the country, you have worked in this isolated desert Gobi, endured the harsh working environment and living environment, contributed your wisdom and youth, squandered sweat and blood, and built a solid foundation for national defense modernization with your hard work and loyalty.

Zhao Bei's speech was not long, but it was impressive enough, and the current meteorological conditions did not allow him to stay too much on the platform, and soon, the wind blew from the northwest, and the Gobi was sandy, and under the strong advice of the entourage and the officials in charge, Zhao Beicai led these scientists and technicians into a sturdy and spacious fully enclosed huge shed, and it was here, under the bright light, he saw the two rockets that were about to be used for rocket launch experiments.

"Thundering" is the official name determined by Zhao Bei for the missile model of this rocket, but now, before the success of the rocket experiment, the development code of this rocket is still "Bow and Arrow No. 1".

In fact, the "Bow and Arrow No. 1" should already be called a "short-range tactical missile", because this rocket is not the kind of uncontrolled rocket made by rocket enthusiasts, this rocket is equipped with an autopilot, which is a set of systems that do not need external information sources to track the position of the rocket itself, using this autopilot, the rocket can basically point where to hit.

But after all, this is the first live-fire experiment of such a rocket, and for the sake of safety, no warhead is installed on the rocket, but only a counterweight and a fume-generating agent are installed on the warhead to simulate a missile warhead.

According to the original plan of the engineers and technicians, this experiment should only be a rocket launch experiment, and there is no need to set up a special shooting range to measure the accuracy of the rocket fall, but under the direct intervention of Zhao Bei, this rocket experiment finally turned into a simulated missile launch experiment, which not only set up a special shooting range, but also calculated the possible landing site of the missile.

The experiment was a brave adventure and a test of technology.

"Now that the weather is bad, will the experiment go smoothly?"

Seeing that the wind and sand outside were getting more and more violent, Zhao Bei couldn't help but worry, so he asked a competent official, and the answer he got was yes.

"This season, there is a lot of wind and sand on the Gobi Desert here, but it usually doesn't last long, and by the afternoon at the latest, the wind and sand may stop, and then the rocket will be towed to the launch site, and then it will be put on fire, and then it can be launched, and all the experiments can be completed before dark."

"How many static experiments have you done? What is the maximum thrust of a rocket engine? Does the autopilot on a rocket guarantee accuracy? According to your calculations, what is the circular probability error of rocket accuracy? Have you been contacted at the shooting range? How's the preparation work going at the station? Have radars and radio trackers been rigorously tested? ”

Zhao Bei asked a few more questions, and also got a satisfactory answer, everyone was very excited, followed the president around the rocket in the shed, this secret inspection, Zhao Bei brought not many entourage, this is also out of the need for confidentiality, but Lan Tianwei and Jiang Fangzhen are high-level figures in the military, and they have long known the development task of "Bow and Arrow No. 1", so the questions they ask are also quite professional, and they often need to be answered by the person in charge of the specific project.

At present, the rocket uses a liquid fuel engine, the fuel is alcohol and liquid oxygen, and the fuel is injected into the fuel tank before launch, as for the guidance of the rocket, it is according to the automatic driving instrument, and the key is the gyroscope, all the parts of the rocket are domestic, some are manufactured by the base, and some are ordered from private enterprises, which forms a preliminary rocket industry chain, and in order to train professionals, The base also has an aerodynamics research school, and the selected students are all outstanding students from famous universities across the country, and they have also participated in the development of the "Bow and Arrow No. 1".

In the past, the rocket development work of the base was led by the American Goddard, he made quite a key work for the rocket development project, the centrifugal pump used by liquid oxygen lubrication and steam turbine drive was invented by Goddard, and later Goddard's contract expired, out of the need for confidentiality, Zhao Bei did not extend the contract, after that, the rocket development work of the base was led by the Chinese, at the beginning it was just a group of Goddard students in charge, everyone was mainly engaged in basic theoretical research work, and carried out experiments on small rockets, After accumulating experience, the technical team was expanded with international students, and then it began to move forward rapidly, gradually developing from a small rocket of 100 kilograms to a 500-kilogram rocket, then a one-ton rocket, a five-ton rocket, and finally successfully developed the "Bow and Arrow No. 1" rocket weighing 19 tons.

In this development process, many supporting projects have been carried out, from the Doppler orbital radio tracker to the integrated measurement accelerator, from the original tube computer to the high-precision gyroscope, all the technical research projects related to rocket control and flight have been abundantly funded and supported, in fact, in 1933, the one-ton rocket was launched, and from 1934 Zhao Bei returned to the center, the pace of development has been further accelerated, it can be said that it has been running all the way.

Of course, at present, the "Bow and Arrow No. 1" rocket cannot be regarded as a successful development, and only when today's rocket launch experiment is successfully completed and the rocket accurately falls in the selected landing area, can this type of rocket be regarded as truly completing all the research and development work, and all that remains is to improve it into a professional tactical ballistic missile that is easier to transport and launch.

At the same time as the development of the rocket body, some supporting research and development projects were also launched at the same time, so the rocket now shown to Zhao Bei is mounted on a professional transport vehicle, as long as the trailer is hung, it can be directly towed to the launch site, and on the launch site, the corresponding erection equipment and launch platform are also ready, and the rocket can quickly complete the preparations before launch.

This is only a part of the rocket development work, and in the subsequent missile development work, Zhao Bei has clearly demanded that the base must complete the task of transporting, erecting, and launching "all in one go", that is to say, the base is required to develop a new missile delivery platform, which is a heavy transport vehicle, which can not only erect missiles, but also act as a missile launch platform, directly launch the missile, and accurately hit the target, moreover, the corresponding missile warhead must also be matched, ground-penetrating bombs, cluster bombs, chemical bombs, Special missiles, many missile warheads must ensure the flexibility of the missile's combat mission.

This is a great project that has broken the ground, and all those involved in this project are very excited and proud, they are well aware of the importance of the work they are doing, and there has never been such a sharp weapon in the history of human warfare that can strike the enemy from hundreds of kilometers away, although its accuracy may be questioned, but its blow to the enemy's morale and popular will is completely conceivable.

It is precisely for this reason that when the developers and the president discussed in depth the prospects for the development of this new type of strategic weapon, they almost unanimously agreed that this weapon may represent a new form of future warfare, and the president was even more optimistic that if this weapon could be equipped with a more powerful warhead, then the world's strategic pattern would be fundamentally changed.

In fact, even the scientists and technicians on the scene could not imagine what this "more powerful warhead" was, but a few of them did know that a secret weapon was being developed at another core base 15 kilometers away from the rocket development base, but they did not know what kind of weapon it was.

This weapon is, of course, an atomic bomb, a missile plus an atomic bomb, this is the "strategic weapon" that Zhao Bei dreams of, considering that the rocket launch experiment has been postponed now, then, of course, Zhao Bei has to use this rare free time to see the progress of his other high-tech weapons team, so, after staying at the rocket base for half an hour, Zhao Bei immediately boarded the internal combustion engine-powered locomotive and led Lan Tianwei, Jiang Fangzhen and others to the atomic energy base, which was codenamed "Cangqiong B", and the rocket base was codenamed "Cangqiong A". ”。

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