When I arrived in Korla, the temperature was minus 15 degrees. The yellow sand is long, and the north wind is mournful, blowing on the face like a bone scraping pain. Fortunately, the military airport had been prepared in advance, and as soon as the plane got off the plane, Bingwen and everyone were arranged to sit in a warm minibus. Only Yue Peng seemed to be very uneasy, and asked the person in charge of the base to ask about the wind speed and weather in detail: "How strong is the wind?" Can the presidential plane take off and land? ”

"The marshal can rest assured that there has been no snow for more than ten days, the air is dry, and the surface of the body will not freeze, so it can ensure safe take-off and landing."

The conversation between the two made Bingwen even more confused, why did the president come? Hurriedly pushed Chu Nan beside him: "Chief of Staff, the president is also coming?" ”

"Well, the president, the prime minister, and Yu Lei are all coming."

"The Prime Minister is coming too?" Before getting on the plane, Bingwen thought it was a project inspection, but he didn't expect that even Gu Weijun would come. It's very strange, what is it that attracts them?

"You'll know when you get there." Chu Nan pretended to smile mysteriously.

Ten minutes later, the presidential plane landed smoothly at the airport. "Let's go, there's still six or seven hours to go." After Yang Qiu took Gu Weijun and a few others into the car, the three minibuses drove towards the depths of the desert under the protection of several hounds wheeled armored vehicles. A moment later, three Air Force hussar helicopters appeared in the sky, hovering slowly. The sharp-eyed Bingwen could even see the soldiers of the Hunter Special Brigade with loaded guns in the cabin.

"President, where the hell are we going?"

"Why, Yue Peng didn't tell you?" Yang Qiu glanced at Yue Peng and Chu Nan, who were smiling evilly, and said happily: "Okay, if you don't say it, I won't say it, let's see who can't hold it back first, haha." ”

There was a burst of laughter in the carriage, and Bingwen was also amused. He simply didn't ask: "Well, I won't ask anymore, it's only a matter of a few hours anyway." ”

The desert is not flat, and everyone is a little tired from the bumps along the way. "Bingwen, are you all ready?" Gu Weijun's main energy during this period was to use war to reform the country, so he didn't know much about naval preparations. Bingwen gave a briefing on the preparations and said, "It's all ready, and the fleet will set off tomorrow morning, and it's expected that the air attack on Truk will be the first three days later." It will then continue westward to Wake Island and then advance to the Marshall Islands. We expect: It would take three to four months at most to end the fighting in the south, establish a Southwest Pacific barrier, and establish a Northeast Pacific outpost with Wake Island and Marshall as the core. As for the Ryukyu side, the plan is for mid-March, but depending on the specific sea conditions at that time, it will definitely land in early April at the latest to cooperate with the army's counterattack in Korea. On the Andaman side, the rainy season ends in May. So have to wait. ”

"Hehe, your hands are so long this time, Roosevelt is angry. The ambassadors of the United States and Britain have also come to me several times, but they almost scolded my mother. ”

Chu Nan smiled beside him: "It's useless to be angry. The U.S. Pacific Fleet has been paralyzed. What's more, Britain and the United States will land in North Africa at the latest in early March, so he can only temporarily abandon the Asian strategy, at most enter Australia first. However, both the Solomon Islands and Rabaul needed a very strong naval force to take down. The United States has only just mobilized, and in our experience, it will not be until at least the end of '42 to realize its productive potential. So our main tasks this year are Japan, the South Seas and Persia. The northwest side will be dominated by defensive counter-attacks. Judging from the current situation, whether it is us or Britain and the United States, I am afraid that this year will be the saddest. ”

Gu Weijun nodded, the northwest is not something that can be covered by a defensive counterattack. Stalin held back for a winter, and he must find a way to take revenge, it must be a war of attrition for a year. However, he also knows that the war will not end in a short period of time, and even if it maintains an all-round superiority over Japan, it is necessary to gradually and gradually peel off the hard shell from the periphery, and it is also necessary to take into account the secret war against the United States and seize the future strategy. Fortunately, the death of Wake Island has finally been resolved, and the United States will not be able to enter the Southwest Pacific and Northeast Asia for at least half a year, which will give itself the opportunity to attack Japan with all its strength and completely eat up the entire Japanese heritage.

"What about Europe?" Gu Weijun continued to ask.

"The Soviets are gathering forces, and a strong counteroffensive is expected at the end of April. Germany has also formed the North African Corps, and Rommel held a military parade in Tripoli two weeks ago. Judging by the current situation, the Germans did not know that the British and Americans were going to land, so they focused on the Egyptian side and did not penetrate deep into Tunisia and Algeria. Hitler also recently mobilized troops to Yugoslavia, presumably to the Balkans! Because Italy was basically crippled in Northeast Africa, the Greek side was not making good progress, and the Greek army counterattacked into Albania, and Mussolini is said to have asked him for help. ”

The convoy was not going fast, and on this occasion, everyone exchanged their predictions for the war. It wasn't until four o'clock in the afternoon that Bingwen noticed a low "hill" in front of him. When I got closer, I found that it was a man-made structure that resembled a breakwater, about four meters high and dozens of kilometers long. As the convoy drove all the way, it saw several sets of sentry posts and martial law points, which showed that the defense was very tight. Immediately after passing through the gap in the breakwater, everyone saw dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, including brand new Type 36, repaired T34 and British tanks captured in India, and also saw two Type 41 tanks that had not yet started production, slowly moving into the depths of the desert. In addition to all kinds of tanks and vehicles, what surprised Bingwen the most was that there were a lot of animals and plants in the things carried by the soldiers.

"President, Prime Minister. You are welcome to come and visit. After getting off the bus, Bingwen saw Leng Jie, Yu Dawei and Guan Yushan and many other well-known experts in China and even the world, including a young couple. The man wore glasses, but his gaze at Yang Qiu always gave people a strange feeling. Although he knew that the people who could come here must have been strictly selected, he still subconsciously took a few steps closer to Yang Qiu.

This is the son-in-law of Principal Baili, Qian Xuesen, who only returned from the United States at the end of last year and is currently working as a designer in the Tenglong project. This talented woman, Wu Chien-shiung, was also brought back at the end of last year and is now the deputy chief engineer of the Nuwa project. "From the beginning of the project, the nuclear bomb program was named Pangu, which means to open up the world. The follow-up hydrogen bomb project is Nuwa, the rocket project is Longteng, and so on. The fact that a woman can be the deputy chief engineer of the hydrogen bomb program shows how remarkable she is. Yang Qiu is more aware of Wu's abilities, and in the famous Manhattan Project, it was she who modified a mistake in the chain reaction equation that almost aborted the plan.

"This is Dr. Wu's husband, called." Yu Dawei introduced the expert group one by one. But when he walked in front of the man, he suddenly remembered the grievances between Yang Qiu and the Yuan family, and he didn't know how to say it for a while. Yang Qiu was generous and took the initiative to stretch out his hand: "I know, you are Mr. Yuan Jialiu." If you have time to go home, thank you grandfather on my behalf, thank him for overthrowing feudalism and creating a republic, and thank him for having a good grandson like you who is willing to return to China, stay in this desert in the cold, and put the motherland in his chest. ”

After Yang Qiu finished speaking. Bingwen and everyone knew that the man was Yuan Shikai's grandson, no wonder he looked so strange just now. Everyone present knew the grievances and grievances between the Yuan family and Yang Qiu, and the Yuan family always thought that Yang Qiu was angry with Yuan Shikai, so after quitting politics and developing in the business world, he still privately demanded that no children should join the National Socialist Party, and also provided a large amount of political donations to the Kuomintang Party. However, even if he didn't admit it, Yuan Jialiu knew in his heart that the gap between Yuan Shikai and Yang Qiu was too big. His youth, vision, grasp of the times, and his emphasis on science and technology. Even far beyond the likes of Churchill and Roosevelt, who were able to take the turmoil and turmoil of the concession into the country that is now independent and industrialized in just 30 years. What a great achievement it is to be able to participate in this world war and defeat the Soviet Union and Japan in successive battles!

In the words of Leng Jie, who returned from France that year, the state has Yang Qiu. A blessing to the nation!

So hearing his words, Yuan Jialiu's heart suddenly became calm: "Thank you for the president's teachings." Jia Xiao never dared to forget that he was a Chinese! ”

The two hands are clasped tightly. It also represents the complete dissipation of decades of grievances.

Since it was already an unfavorable test in the evening, Yu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of the 3010 project, and Leng Jie, the chief designer of the Pangu project, acted as guides to give a detailed introduction to the process and prospects of the development of the nuclear bomb. Through the telescope, Yang Qiu also saw a test explosion tower 30 kilometers away and up to 100 meters. Experimental nuclear bombs have already been placed on them, covered with a thick tarpaulin. Originally, Yang Qiu planned to go to the front to take a look, but Leng Jie and the others were worried that the radiation there would exceed the standard, so they stopped him. Finally, when they heard that the yield of the nuclear bomb detonated this time was 30,000 tons of TNT explosives, Air Force Commanders Yu Lei and Bingwen were stunned: "Are you sure that bomb can burst out with the power of 30,000 tons of explosives?" I don't think it's big. A few people were surprised to test their fingers to the spire.

"We've double-counted it many times in five groups, and we've also used computer compounding, so it's probably just a lot more." Leng Jie is obviously very confident.

30,000 tons of TNT, with the most powerful explosives at present, the Air Force also needs to dispatch 2,300 H-7s to drop them at one time, or let the Shandong-class battleships shoot 24,580 shells made of pure explosives! Now, just one piece is all it takes. That's a real thrill! Even Gu Weijun nodded excitedly, and Yu Lei grabbed Yu Dawei's hand and asked for the specific weight.

"The one that was tested weighed 11 tons."

11 tons? Some of them are out of line, and the bombers can't be brought up without improvement. "Commander Yu rest assured, as long as he can give us another year, he will definitely be able to come up with about five tons of weapon-grade finished products." Leng Jie said.

"Five tons, hehe, good! My new bomber will take about a year, just in combination. Yu Lei's eyes narrowed with a smile. There is no way, the maximum payload of the navy's carrier-based aircraft is only 1,200 kilograms, and it is even more impossible for the army to charge with a nuclear bomb.

When Yu Lei imagined the world throwing nuclear bombs, Yu Dawei was secretly amused: "Commanders, don't be too optimistic. At present, it is not possible to solve mass production, because weapons-grade uranium requires a high level of purity, and the purification process is very complicated. Plutonium can be used to make a nuclear bomb, but the Nuwa program has already started, and we need to reserve some of it. According to my estimates, only six or seven reactors will be built at most, unless a few more reactors are built. ”

Six or seven is not bad, Yu Lei took Leng Jie's hand, and he couldn't wait to pull back the nuclear bomb on the test explosion tower first. Yang Qiu smiled slightly, and after listening to the explanation, he took everyone to visit the soldiers stationed there. Unlike the scientific and technological personnel who can go out on vacation from time to time, the soldiers stationed here have not left for two whole years. In this place, where there is no railroad for secrecy, the Gobi is turned into an experimental base little by little with both hands. In some ways, they deserve more respect than technologists.

The arrival of the president and the marshal made the whole base lively, and Yang Qiu also took the trouble to shake hands and talk with each soldier, and also ate and lived with the soldiers, enjoying the taste of a simple military camp in the Gobi Desert.

The next morning, at 11 a.m. on February 27, when the scorching sun was in the sky, Leng Jie led everyone into a semi-buried observation bunker up to 10 meters thick. A pair of sunglasses were issued to each person. Although the blast point was still thirty kilometers away, everyone outside had to retreat behind the sandbank, put on all sunglasses, and turn their backs to prevent their eyes from being burned by the light of the explosion. "Have the security measures been checked?" Before putting on his sunglasses, Yang Qiu asked about the secrecy measures. Yu Dawei assured: "The president can rest assured that all the empties within a radius of 300 kilometers have been withdrawn, and this equivalent will not be discovered by the outside world." But if Nuwa tries to explode, I'm afraid she won't be able to hide it. ”

Yang Qiu frowned, and suddenly realized that he had overlooked a problem. In the absence of satellites. In the days when there was no radiation monitoring, the Taklamakan Desert experiment with nuclear bombs with a yield of tens of thousands or 120,000 would not have attracted the attention of the outside world at all. But what about those hydrogen bombs that cost millions at every turn? Before he could think about it, the commander holding the phone and pinching the stopwatch had already counted down loudly.

The most exciting moment is here!

"Nineteen eight seventy-one, detonate!"

With a command, a cloud of dazzling light exploded from the territory of ink! Even though the thick, almost completely black sunglasses make it impossible to see, they still can't block this extremely bright ball of light! After a few moments, the light began to turn red and darken. Then I saw the sand surging under the light cluster, and the shock wave carried thousands of tons of yellow sand, rolling up a shock wave as high as 100 meters, like the most violent evil wave. It also rolled and spread like a galloping horse. Then, the scenery around you slowly shrinks, making you feel as if you have arrived in a dwarf world. Only the gray mushroom-shaped cloud in the distance rises on the Gobi. Getting higher and higher! Bigger and bigger! Like a dragon trapped for 10,000 years, soaring into the sky! The tops of the clouds swelled outwards rapidly, crashing, and mingling with the white clouds.

At this moment, even those who don't know how to do it know it. This strange and beautiful mushroom-like cloud brought destruction and damage in a range of hundreds of square kilometers! The detailed report afterwards proved this even more: The exact yield of the nuclear explosion that day was 33,000 tons, all the sand particles within a radius of 800 meters of the explosion point turned into green crystals, the experimental wall built with 600 mm battleship armor steel within one kilometer showed traces of melting under high temperature and high heat, the tanks within two kilometers were overturned and burned by the shock wave, all the cement buildings within three kilometers collapsed, and ordinary houses within five kilometers were basically destroyed.

"It worked! We did it! It worked! ”

I don't know who took the lead and shouted first, and then everyone involved in the project raised their arms and cried with joy. The soldiers behind the sand bank even climbed and dragged to the top of the dam, looking at the mushroom clouds and roaring in the sky, and hugging their right.

At that moment, more than ten years of hard work finally paid off! At that moment, the Chinese nation stood on top of the world! Even Yang Qiu clenched his fists excitedly. Quietly looking at the mushroom cloud, watching the aftermath drive the sea buckthorn in front of the bunker to shake continuously, and only sighed softly after a long time.

Everyone didn't pay attention, but Bingwen pointed his ears and asked softly: "President, you?" ”

"It's late."

"Late?"

"It's late." Next to him, Yue Peng also sighed softly.

Yang Qiu glanced at him, didn't say anything, smiled and asked for a cigarette, watching the smoke and mushroom clouds slowly fade together. The dumb riddle between the two made Bingwen Erzhang scratch his head, because among so many people, only Yue Peng knew what he was feeling. In fact, as early as before the second Afghan war, the two secretly asked Leng Jie when they would be able to nuclearize and possess a nuclear bomb. Before the Cairo Declaration, it was confirmed again that the answer was that there was progress but the exact time was not known.

A lot of things are unpredictable, especially technology. From talent training, to materials, principles, design, experiments, stereotypes, etc., every step can go wrong and lead to starting over. It not only plagues China, which is just starting out, but also affects the country's decision-making. Just as he knew that jets could rule the skies, he had to continue to work on piston engines, which cost a lot of money but didn't take long. The final result is indeed the case, in the case of fine drawings, it was still before the war because of the acquisition of British material technology, slightly ahead, and recently because of the war slowly expanding the advantage, so the probability of betting on when the technology will break through is too small, because there are so many family funds. After all, China is not the United States, and it does not have the ability to gather nuclear physics experts from all over the world, and gather the resources, talents, and strength of most of the European and American worlds.

If we had known two years earlier that we would be able to succeed today, I am afraid that the national strategy would have been a different situation. So how will the president be chosen? Yue Peng looked at Yang Qiu, who was standing quietly in front of the glass observation window, and thought secretly. It wasn't until Leng Jie, Yu Dawei and others came over that they withdrew their gaze and quickly put on a happy expression. "President." Leng Jie's expression was a little cramped, and it seemed that it was difficult to choose: "Can we make two requests?" ”

"Hehe, what's wrong with that. Go ahead. ”

Leng Jie looked at Yu Dawei, and then at the expectant eyes of Yuan Jialiu and others behind him, took a breath, and said, "President, we hope not to rush so much, and let us try a few more times." After finishing speaking, he was afraid that Yang Qiu would misunderstand, so he hurriedly added: "Of course, you can rest assured that we will definitely be able to come up with a weapon model in a year at most." ”

Yue Peng, Gu Weijun and the others were a little puzzled. What kind of request is this? Although Chu Nan and Bingwen and other officers really wanted to put the nuclear bomb into the battlefield immediately, it didn't matter if they waited another year or two. Only Yang Qiu secretly guessed their thoughts, and after thinking about it, he nodded and said, "Okay, but you have to give me a guarantee, don't blow up all the materials." Also, at the beginning of 43, at least a few finished products for our Marshal Yue, he wanted to use in the town's house. Pointing at Yue Peng. He deliberately kept a straight face.

"Huh." Everyone was amused, but only Leng Jie and the researchers were more excited than the success of the experiment just now.

Others don't understand their minds, but Yang Qiu understands them very well. That is, using the current currency value. The nuclear test just now has burned at least 100 million people! And that's not even counting the hidden spending, so it's no surprise that the Manhattan Project ended up burning up to $2 billion. Of course, this is also related to the urgency of the United States. But even if China slows down, it will take a firm foothold. Methods such as extending the development time and apportioning the expenses have actually cost more than 1 billion yuan.

Therefore, the nuclear explosion test is actually burning money.

But this money had to be burned again!

In the eyes of the military. Nuclear explosion experiments mean trump cards and great destruction, but in the eyes of these scientific and technological workers, every experiment represents a big step forward for the country in nuclear physics, quantum science, electromagnetism and other disciplines! Yang Qiu is very clear about this, the republics of the parallel world are unable to carry out a large number of nuclear explosion tests because of the poverty of the country, while the European, American and Soviet Union have accumulated countless important first-hand data because of a large number of experiments, and finally took a leading position in the fields of military nuclear reactors, high-energy physics and civilian use. After completing dozens or hundreds of tests, they immediately put on a face to ban atmospheric nuclear tests, in order to suppress those who came after them and prevent the Republic from having the opportunity to use the experiments to complete the integration of civilian use and the deepening of military use. Eventually, because of the gap in computer simulation technology, the republic, which could no longer conduct atmospheric experiments, slowly fell behind in many areas.

Leng Jie: In fact, they just want to take advantage of the opportunity of unlimited supply of military spending during the war period to conduct as many nuclear explosion tests as possible to accumulate data and experience, and promote the country's scientific and technological strength to make great strides! It's just that they are worried that the military is in too much of a hurry, for fear that after a test, they will immediately turn all the few materials into nuclear bombs and put them into war. Then they will have to wait a few more years or even longer for the opportunity to continue the next nuclear explosion experiment, which will inevitably greatly slow down the progress of nuclear physics technology.

Fortunately, Yang Qiu is not in a hurry now, compared with promoting the overall progress of nuclear physics in the country, tens of thousands of tons of small things are nothing more than a few more bombings by thousands of planes. Maybe after a few more tests, we will be able to break through the military-safe nuclear reactor and realize nuclear powerization as soon as the war is over. And his real ambition is to obtain the hydrogen bomb, the symbol of nuclear power. You know, 30,000 tons of equivalent in the current environment where radiation is not understood, and hundreds of thousands of tons of ammunition are consumed in each campaign, may not scare many people, but will give competitors time to mobilize national forces to conquer nuclear technology.

Of course, he was not a pedantic and benevolent person, so he proposed to make a few spare pieces before the rest of the material could continue to be experimented. How could everyone know that he had so much thought, Leng Jie and others thought that he would give priority to science and technology at the expense of national strength, so they admired him more and more.

"What about the second one?" Yang Qiu continued to ask.

"We want to meet Master Yu Min."

"Yu Min?" This name confused everyone, and Yue Peng scratched his head even more, he had followed Yang Qiu for more than 30 years and had never heard of this name.

When Wu Chien-shiung saw everyone's expressions, he thought that Yang Qiu would not agree, so he hurriedly stepped forward and added: "President, we have studied the configuration plan proposed by Master Yu, and it is really, very successful!" So we hope to ask him to be the chief designer of the Nuwa project and lead us. You don't know, according to our preliminary experiments, as long as we can conduct a few more nuclear explosion tests, at most three years, we can guarantee a million-ton hydrogen bomb experiment! ”

It's no wonder that even Wu Chien-shiung wants to see Yu Min, you know, nuclear bombs are not unusual, the real top secret is the configuration! In the parallel world, so many countries seek nuclear bombs and spend countless costs, why can't they become real nuclear powers? India, Pakistan and North Korea have all nuclear explosions several times, why can't they break through the hydrogen bomb? Just because of this configuration! At present, it is known that only the T-U configuration and the Yu Min configuration of the United States can control nuclear fusion and weaponize, and the latter is even more miniaturized. So some people joke that there are no more than fifty people in the world who have seen all the drawings of these two configurations, and even if they go shopping on the road in their lives, they will be closely monitored.

Although it is a joke, it can also be seen that the hydrogen bomb configuration is super secret!

If it weren't for the configuration drawings of the data machine, unless Yu Min fell from the sky, only God knew whether China would be able to continue to maintain its leading position in the world on the hydrogen bomb. Of course, Yu Min couldn't hand it over, and Yang Qiu didn't know how to explain it, so after thinking about it in the end, he had to continue to lie: "Master Yu is the greatest nuclear physics scientist I have ever met, but he has already left us." ”

"Leave?"

"What then? It is not enough to have a design configuration, but he has to argue that only he is most familiar with this structure. ”

"Either we'll simulate it according to this configuration, and we'll start all over again after the experiment."

Hearing that Yu Min had "passed away", everyone was a little anxious, and Yang Qiu had no choice but to put on a straight face when he saw this: "Everyone, this desert is not suitable for million-ton experiments, so you don't need experiments, as long as you make it in strict accordance with Master Yu Min's materials and drawings, the follow-up test country will find a place for you." ”

"But."

"Trust me, I'm not going to joke with the state!" ……)