Lop Nur, located in the southeast of Xinjiang Province of the Republic, is located in the eastern part of the Tarim Basin, which is the lowest point of the Tarim Basin. In ancient sayings, Lop Nur means a lake into which many waters flow. In ancient times, it was called Size, Yanze, Puchanghai and so on. Before 330 A.D., there were many lakes, and on the northwest side of this huge basin was the famous Loulan City, which was once the throat of the famous "Silk Road".

"There is a girl named Xiaofang in the village, who is good-looking and beautiful......"

The twilight of Lop Nur is getting thicker, it is already nine o'clock in the evening, and the mainland is different, the night here is very late, the temperature in the evening is as high as 40 degrees, the red sunset, shining in front of Lop Nur is covered with a layer of golden armor, mysterious and attractive.

The sentry in the twilight heard a very low and faint singing, which was actually just a soft hum.

This is a sentry post backed by Lop Nur Lake, and in the stone house, two soldiers are on duty in turn, one is called Wen Chang'an, and the other is Yao Zili. On the ground, there was also a military dog lying on his stomach.

In the evening, the comrades-in-arms who changed the guard had not yet arrived, Yao Zili replaced Wen Chang'an, and continued to be in the sentry house, holding a telescope to monitor the vast desert in the distance.

Of course, there was also a military dog, also lying there with a long sigh of breath while sticking out his tongue, while looking vigilantly at the empty world in the distance.

This is a vast world, but it is not a world where life is extinct, behind it is still a huge Lop Nur, and in front, you can also see tall and straight poplar trees rippling slightly in the wind.

Wen Changan soothed his somewhat stiff body, squatted next to the military dog mountain, and hummed a song he learned in the mainland, I don't know who the lyrics and composers are, but this song has been sung far away.

"Is she okay from afar?"

Unconsciously, Wen Changan reached out and took out a small plastic bag into the inner pocket of his military uniform, and opened it carefully, which contained many folded letters and a two-inch small photo.

In the photo, a girl holding a book, standing by an artificial lake on campus, facing the camera a little shyly, revealing the most natural innocence in her shyness, the girl is not particularly beautiful, but very attractive.

"It's beautiful!"

Although Wen Changan also joined the army after graduating from junior high school, it is difficult to describe the feeling in his heart with the adjectives he knows, and only three words 'really beautiful' can express the feeling in his heart.

"Chang'an, look at your daughter-in-law again?"

Yao Zili held the binoculars and looked into the distance vigilantly, seriously searching for any suspicious targets, and said to Wen Changan next to him without looking back, he knew that once this kid sang a love song, he would definitely be in heat over the photo of his daughter-in-law. It's no wonder that in this deserted Lop Nur, if there is a sow in the base, it will be a rare female surname, not to mention the shy love of childhood sweethearts.

According to the regulations of the army, in such a place where you can see several kilometers at a glance and it is impossible for even a bird to smuggle without a trace, the soldiers on duty in groups of two do not need to fully comply with the duty regulations, but are more humane. After all, staying here for years is a lonely experience.

"Think, how can you not want to, three years in the army, sow race sable cicada, who said this? Oh, by the way, military writer Pan Yigu. Wen Changan touched the head of the mountain next to him, the girl in the photo is a childhood sweetheart who grew up and loves each other. It's just that after graduating from junior high school, his grades have never risen, and he chose to enter the army, while Wang Keke continued to study, this year is already a freshman, studying mechanical manufacturing at Hunan Institute of Technology, a very alternative quiet girl. "She said that when she graduated from college, she didn't want me to buy her a gold and silver ring, and brought her back a medal, and she would marry me."

"Well, you've said that a hundred times. At present, the biggest problem is, in such a place where birds don't, where can you make meritorious service if you want to? And, according to the rules, in three years, we may be able to go to the small base city hundreds of miles away, and of course, we may still be here in three years. ”

Yao Zili comforted, he was telling the truth, he and Wen Chang'an were both secret internal guards in the army, responsible for guarding important targets and bases, and what they were guarding now was, in terms of alert level, the highest SS-level base he knew.

Back then, he and Wen Changan were selected for this secret unit, but they were superior in terms of military quality and political beliefs.

However, soldiers who make it their duty to obey an order will not ask why they should obey it. In their opinion, since the order is for them to guard this SS-class base: Lop Nur Base 12. That should be executed unconditionally.

Not only that, but to be able to shoulder such an important mission, they feel that it is a sacred duty. Yao Zili's words are just a joke, who said it, soldiers all want to make meritorious contributions, just like those heroes.

It's just that, as years have passed, as they get to know this base more and more, there are more and more questions, and without violating discipline, the soldiers will also talk about this mysterious No. 12 base in private, especially in this most boring situation, under the blazing night of a full six hours of duty, without looking for a topic, people will not be able to stand it.

Because, many times, in the world of the sentry, only two people, a dog, and a poplar tree in the distance can move, and other than that, there is a dead silence in the sky and on the ground, even if there is a great lake behind it.

Wen Changan shook his head, about Base 12, although it is the highest SS-level secrecy externally, internally, as long as it does not violate discipline, there are still some discussions in private.

"I always feel that the base is not simple, you think about it, so far to run to Lop Nur to build a base, surrounded by a big desert, it must be a secret military base." However, Wen Changan himself did not believe this, in addition to the guards of their regiment, there were more scientists and staff stationed in this base, and the later they came, the more people came.

At the beginning of the base there was nothing, the guards and two engineer battalions were the first to arrive, the sappers built a base mainly composed of stone houses, and then some of the base leaders and guards lived in this kind of stone houses, these stone houses are simple in structure, and the effect of preventing overheating during the day is very good, although it is also very hot in the house, but it is much better than staying outside.

Later, the base changed day by day, first the base was electrified, and the benefits of the extension of the railway were diesel generators, diesel, enough drinking water, food, and medicine. At the same time, the engineering team also began construction, building an observation post here today and an observation post there tomorrow, and soon built a huge base into a rudimentary form.

Under the witness of Wen Changan and other guards, a real small base station was built at the base, in which all kinds of instruments they had never heard of were placed, and there were even things like televisions in the room. And the arrival of more experts and scholars in white robes made them more aware that this No. 12 base, which seemed to have nothing, actually hid a huge secret.

However, because this is an SS-level top-secret base, including the guards have issued the highest gag order, the base allows the people of the base to maintain communication with relatives and friends, but each letter has to be analyzed and considered by at least five professional intelligence analysts of the Special Intelligence Department, and then the special postal department of the army will personally deliver the mail to the other party to confirm that there is no problem.

"There may be new assignments in the near future. I heard that some fraternal units can also make meritorious contributions after completing the defense work of the stage surname, but I don't know what kind of medal we can issue to us after completing the defense task here. The highest level of the Huaxia Medal is definitely not good, and what about the next one, the Order of the Republic? KPA medals? Yao Zili couldn't help but guess. Even if it is to issue a lowest-ranking KPA medal of the fifth class. ”

He had heard that there were defense troops, and the highest honor he had ever received was one rank higher than the Order of the People's Army, the Order of the Republic of the Third Class, which was already a great dream of the soldiers in the era of the Republic when the war had not yet broken out. The most realistic thing is to take a People's Army medal home and glorify the ancestors.

Moreover, according to the regulations of the Republic, officers and soldiers who have received medals for meritorious service have an additional allowance for life. The soldiers are very selfless and dedicated, but they still yearn for this kind of honor and wealth that they have exchanged for their hard work.

"Maybe, something has to change." Wen Changan also hoped that as a special security force, it was actually very boring, but while they were eager to know the secret, they also knew that the secret would never allow them to know, unless they were ordered by their superiors to witness this secret.

"The changing of the guard is coming, let's go."

Yao Zili put down the binoculars and said to Wen Chang'an, who was lying on the cotton clothes, the temperature here is scary at night, the cotton clothes and bedding are prepared for the comrades on the night shift, here is a necessary way to the base, two guards, a military dog, and a stone house, a telephone, is everything here.

After handing over the sentry, when Wen Changan and Yao Zili walked out of the sentry, the sky had gradually darkened.

"Tomorrow, it will be a new day."

This is a phrase often said by every soldier on duty in the deserted Lop Nur.

"Assemble! Urgent gathering! ”

Early the next morning, the assembly post sounded in the guard barracks of Base 12, and the soldiers, who had long been accustomed to it, rushed out of the barracks at a rapid pace, and the formation was completed.

"All of them are here, take a break, stand upright!" At the No. 12 base, Song Guanzu, the head of the guard regiment, personally lectured the soldiers of the whole regiment: "From today onwards, your mission will enter a new period. The alert level of the base was immediately raised to a combat state of the first level. Otherwise, the first battalion is called a regular alert operation, the second battalion cooperates with the work of the base, and the third battalion is responsible for a new work ......"

The new job is very simple, that is, to cooperate with the engineer troops, enter a desert zone 200 kilometers away from the base, and cooperate with the B engineers to complete the task.

Yao Zili and Wen Changan are the people of the third battalion of the guards, and the two of them can't help but secretly rejoice when they hear this, although they are both base jobs, it is still very good to be able to change the guard occasionally, you know, this is the first time they have a 'new job' in the nearly four years since they came here.

When the officers and men of the 3rd Battalion arrived in a truck through the desert road to the center of the desert belt, 200 kilometers away, there was already a lot of waiting for them.

"How is this posture like you are going to build a house here?"

When an entire battalion of soldiers jumped out of the truck, they found that there was a lot of stuff nearby. There are cut stones, bricks, bags of cement, jugs filled with tons of water, and even more bizarrely, there are pigs, cows, sheep, dogs, chickens, ducks and other animals.

In addition, there were dilapidated cannons and machine guns placed farther away, and to the surprise of the soldiers, there was an oldest Tiger tank in the open space in the distance, and 500 meters away was a heavily armed fighter and a bomber with auxiliary fuel tanks attached.

No one knows when these things were brought in by the sapper troops, but they are actually there, and it is strange that this place has become a garbage collection station.

"Starting today, you will cooperate with the engineering troops to build this experimental base, and during this time, you will sleep in tents until I declare the mission complete, and then you will not be able to return to the base. Understood, no!! ”

"Yes!"

The battalion commander gave the order with a blank face, and the soldiers shouted in unison, receiving orders.

The next three months followed, and the strange things that made Yao Zili and Wen Changan feel strange still didn't find an answer.

"It's weird."

With a rare rest in the evening, Yao Zili and Wen Changan sat on the hills, tired all day, and finally able to rest.

"yes, that's curious." As a secrecy force, the most painful thing is to wait for the secret to be solved on its own. Many times, they are the ones who are only a meter away from the top secret, but more often than not, they do not know until they die what exactly they are guarding in their military careers.

During a break, a particularly bold soldier asked the battalion commander what it was, the battalion commander was stunned, looked at the tired soldier whose hands were peeled, patted him on the shoulder, handed him a cigarette, and said: "Young man, I don't know what to do here, but when I left the base, the regiment commander said that his superiors told him that as long as they are people from the base, they will one day understand the secrets of the base, and they, like us, will be proud and proud of their desert career over the years." In the words of the head of the regiment, we may be ordinary, but often we are doing extraordinary things. ”

The soldiers, like the battalion commander, have not returned home for four years, and the battalion commander, like the regiment commander, has not returned home for four years, and even the visits to relatives of their sons and daughters specially approved by their superiors are carried out at a military base hundreds of miles away, and the degree of secrecy is so high that even the battalion commander and the regiment commander, the two old qualifications of the secret troops, cannot figure out anything.

Three months have passed, and this so-called experimental base has begun to take shape.

As more and more things were brought in by large trucks, there were roads, a stretch of railway, and a railway station in addition to a town-sized housing complex.

In addition to the animals in cages, the furniture, bed sheets, quilt covers, and even cupboards are completely complete. And in the town, there are even water pipes from the mains.

On the east and west sides of the town, there is also a cluster of wooden buildings.

Outside the town, there are some things that have been placed according to the guidance of the experts of the engineering team, in addition to the cars that can be seen everywhere in the town, there are also some outside the town, and further away are artillery, tanks, planes, machine guns, and even a scrapped torpedo boat.

"Look, a few more cars are coming." Yao Zili pointed to the distance, and sure enough, there were a few cars that had just crossed the Gobi and drove up.

"What did you pull this time? Is it really going to be a place to live? ”

The convoy finally stopped outside the newly established town, and the soldiers who received the order hurriedly assisted the engineering units in unloading the trucks.

However, when the packages were opened after the convoy left, everyone was stunned, how could it be a life-size dummy?

With doubts, early the next morning, the soldiers and sappers began to put these dummies into every house, and when they saw that there were dummies in each house as if they were normal people, everyone's curiosity became even more serious.

Looking at the dummies sitting at their desks reading books, riding bicycles outside the house, or watching TV in the house, the soldiers, although they don't believe in ghosts, still feel a little numb in their scalps, and all this unknown is terrifying.

However, the duty of a soldier tells them that what should not be known is not known, and what should be known, it will be known. All that needs to be done is to execute the order.

Half a month later, the Lop Nur No. 12 base ushered in a special shuttle bus.

"Stand upright, salute!!"

When Zhang Shusheng walked down from the special train, everyone was stunned. After being stunned for a moment, everyone shouted long live in their hearts, but at the same time, they stood up and saluted, and saluted the most unexpected visitor to the base in the past four years with their most upright military salute.

Who would have thought that the No. 12 SS base in Lop Nur, which he has been sticking to, would usher in Zhang Shusheng, the supreme chairman of the Republic, the leader of the Baath Party, the highest power in China, and the supreme spiritual leader of the Chinese.

The soldiers went crazy, and at this moment, years of perseverance had paid off, whether it was two years or three years here, or five years further afield, everyone thought it was worth it.

A base, a base worthy of the chairman himself running from thousands of kilometers away, is already worth it.

Even if there are no medals and no merits, it is enough to guard this special base and meet the supreme chairman.

This shows that this is an SS-class base that has a bearing on the great future of the republic.

"Comrades, hard work. I'm here to see the base, and I'm here to see you!! ”

Zhang Shusheng said such a sentence affectionately in the face of the welcoming base staff and guards, yes, what could comfort them more than this sentence?

They have been here for two years for the shortest and five years for the longest, and as one of the most classified projects in the Republic, Base 12 of Lop Nur has always been in and out, at least temporarily. Even if they leave, they will have to live in the base city hundreds of miles away, where there is a small town, and their children and families will be given free houses and jobs if they want to come. But these soldiers and staff, at least for a short time, will not be able to leave this large circle of Base 12.

Everything must be kept in absolute secrecy.

"Chairman, welcome to Lop Nur!"

In a base laboratory in the middle of the base, a group of scientific research workers have come out, and one of them is the top leader of China's nuclear weapons research project: the Sun Project, Professor Xiong Heming. Behind him, he was followed by Einstein, Oppenheimer, and a group of representatives of new scientists trained by the Republic: rookie scientist Qian Sanqiang and others.

These scientists arrived a few months ago.

"Everyone has worked hard, let's go, let me go and see your results!"

Zhang Shusheng bowed slightly, this time he came to Lop Nur to witness the rise of the Chinese nation again, and he has endured humiliation for so many years, why? Isn't it to exchange time for scientific and technological progress, and to digest the high technology we have, so as to escort the survival and development of the Chinese nation?

The advent of this day will be the greatest affirmation of his work over the years, and China's scientific and technological progress will also take this event as a watershed.

Because, Lop Nur will prove to the world that it belongs to China's solar power.

(To be continued)