afterglow

Chapter 411 Chapter [-] Doomsday Weapon—Golden Crow Plan; Target, Baku

Historically, the Manhattan Project had a high level of secrecy. Even Harry Truman, as Vice President, only learned of the existence of such a huge plan after he took over as president, and that it had already produced results.

As the theoretical demonstration came to fruition, the emperor, prime minister, governor and a few other people immediately realized the criticality of the matter.

So one morning in late June, several key players gathered for an unusually confidential meeting.

There is no rare air conditioner here, only a whirring electric fan.

The three big names present were Qian Yuankai, Zhao Zhansheng, and Yuan Xiantong—two physicists and a mathematician.

"In other words, there are two ways to go at the moment, either simple and easy but inefficient and wasteful, or conversely, difficult but efficient?" Gao Qingkui asked.

"That's right, let's call this method the 'collision method'." Qian Yuankai explained simply and clearly, "The theoretical calculation requires a high-purity uranium block with a radius of nine centimeters, which is 58 kilograms. As far as the design is concerned, there is no It’s difficult, just gather these raw materials.”

"How easy is it to obtain raw materials?"

"It is extremely difficult, Your Excellency. Uranium-[-] and uranium-[-] are only slightly different at the microscopic level. There are ways to separate them, but it is extremely expensive."

There is no point in explaining the details and principles to the leaders. Qian Yuankai was able to persuade the Ministry of Industry to help ask for funds, which is enough to prove that his wisdom is not limited to science.

Wu Weihuan also asked: "What about another way? Don't have to spend so much effort to obtain raw materials?"

"Yes, the plutonium required for the 'detonation method' is easier to prepare, but it cannot be detonated in a simple way like uranium."

"Why is this?"

"We found that the plutonium raw material contains a small amount of plutonium [-] impurity. Although it does not affect the entire raw material, it will spontaneously release high-energy neutrons, causing many negative effects and may even cause self-explosion."

The two sides were talking to each other, and the topic was progressing quickly.

Zhou Changfeng was also present. He had gotten to this point in just a few years. Although he had the innate advantage of being a time traveler, it would be a lie to say that he didn't even have the slightest bit of pride.

He remembered that the Manhattan Project cost 20 billion US dollars before and after, but 90% of the cost was spent on the mining, refining, and concentration of raw materials, while paper research and processing of finished raw materials into weapons did not cost much.

99% of uranium ores mined in nature are U-238, and less than 1% is U-235. It is very difficult to separate the two isotopes and can only be separated by gas diffusion and gas centrifugation.

However, if a special heavy water reactor is built, the abundant U-238 can be transformed into the required Pu-239 through a series of complex physical reactions under the bombardment of neutrons.

U-238多了一个中子便会成为U-239；接着，U-239可以衰变成Np-239；最后再发生一次衰变就变成了所需的Pu-239。

After careful consideration, Gao Qingkui muttered: "Your Majesty, I think the explosion pressure method is better. The difficulty is only in the design, and the raw materials are easy to obtain, so it is better in the long run."

"How can we do it without leaving any backup plan? If the design is wrong and fails to succeed, so much time will be wasted. It will be too late to regret it." This time it is not that he deliberately played the opposite, but Wu Weihuan thought that the prime minister's idea was too optimistic.

"The collision method requires a large amount of raw materials, and the purification is extremely troublesome. It not only costs a lot of money, but also consumes a lot of electricity. Mr. Wei, if you are not a family, you don't know how difficult it is to run the Ming Dynasty. Money cannot be printed."

Compared to the Governor and the Prime Minister, Zhu Lingjing had systematically studied physics, and after learning that the principle of nuclear fission could be applied to weapons, she took the time to study this knowledge.

She said in a very positive tone: "There is no sense in choosing this matter. If you save today, you will have to make up for it tomorrow. If you go two ways in parallel, you don't have to consider the cost."

At this time, Yuan Xiantong suddenly spoke. This gentle, middle-aged mathematician spoke with an obvious Sichuan and Chongqing accent.

"Your Majesty, as far as the principle of the detonation pressure method is concerned, the mathematical model used to design it includes partial differential equations, which can be recursively obtained to obtain an approximate solution. If we do not pursue in-depth optimization and only take successful detonation as the minimum requirement, I am fully confident ."

His words are very tempting - anyway, the plutonium required for the detonation method (implosion type) can be produced artificially and is relatively easy to obtain. Even if the first time is not satisfactory, the second time can be prepared quickly.

First resolve whether it is good or not, and then resolve whether it is good or bad!
Who knew that this secret meeting, which lasted for more than two hours, would determine an important node in human history.

After weighing the pros and cons, those at the top of the Ming Dynasty finally agreed on the next strategy - to follow the research and development route of explosive pressure method, with the priority and confidentiality level being the highest ever.

At the last moment, Zhou Changfeng, who had been watching silently, suddenly reminded him.

"Your Majesty, should we give this plan a code name?"

Everyone was about to leave, but they all stopped when they heard this.

For this kind of thing, wouldn't it be better to just give it a random number?The more abstract it is, the harder it is to notice the difference.

"Oh, "The three-legged crow is the sun." Then let's use the golden crow to refer to it. "

"Yes."

Zhu Lingjing just said it casually, but Zhou Changfeng suddenly got inspiration and added for her: "In order to confuse the audience, why not go further? Jinwu... special crop research and development."

"That's not bad." Gao Qingkui stroked his beard and said with a smile.

After the secret meeting ended, it was almost lunch time, and everyone dispersed.

Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but laugh at the thought of some magical conversations that might occur in the future.

Question: Sir, what do you do?

Answer: He who cultivates the soil cultivates the sun.

The corners of his mouth raised slightly involuntarily, and he was about to go home and have a delicious meal to enjoy Xia Xiaoshi's increasingly improved cooking skills, but he was suddenly stopped.

"Zhou Kexing."

"Eh? Your Majesty?"

Zhou Changfeng, who was confused, turned around and saw the emperor walking this way.

When she got closer, Zhu Lingjing, who was smiling, sneered: "In such a hurry? Are you rushing back to see your precious daughter?"

"Well...part of the reason is, but mainly because I want to try my wife's craftsmanship."

"Oh, speaking of which, why doesn't your daughter have a name?"

Ah, this has just been a major event in the history of China and even mankind. Why did this woman suddenly get involved with Jian Jian?
Zhou Changfeng pondered: "This...it's a long story. Weren't we in a hurry to go out for the war? We didn't think about naming it, so we put it off and put it off. We might as well wait until we are one year old before naming it." "You don't care about this matter. Shangxin, you seem to be a family-oriented father, but in fact you don’t pay much attention to family matters." Zhu Lingjing stretched out her index finger and shook it, smiling slightly, "How about I give you a name, which will save us, General Zhou, the trouble of thinking of a name? ”

Hey, this woman must have good intentions.

"This..." Zhou Changfeng was embarrassed, he cupped his hands and said hesitantly: "Your Majesty, I still have some time, get up as soon as you get back, get up as soon as you get back."

"Really? To be fair, when it comes to naming alone, you may not be as good at naming Zhou Kexing as I am."

"You can name your children based on your parents' wishes..."

Zhu Lingjing felt very happy every time she saw Mr. Zhou's deflated appearance. She had never thought about why before, but now the reason is probably because teasing a guy with such a bright personality like Mr. Zhou is particularly interesting.

"That's all, I won't make fun of you, go ahead and finish the unfinished incident in Russia in time for this afternoon."

"Yes."

To be honest, Zhou Changfeng has become accustomed to this kind of daily life. In the past, Zhu Lingjing would always say some unpleasant things, but now it is much better, but it has turned into teasing from time to time.

This job is not easy to do.

After returning home, while staring at his daughter, he complained to his wife about what happened before.

Unexpectedly, the latter curled his lips and said: "I think what your Majesty said is very true. Zhou Kexing, you are totally focused on official matters, and you have been dragging your feet until now to name Jian Jian."

Zhou Changfeng was silent for a while, and suddenly sighed helplessly: "Xiao Shi, I feel that what the emperor said really makes sense. If you think about it, the names I gave before were indeed not very good..."

"Hmph, then you still thought my name was ordinary, so why don't you just listen to His Majesty and let her choose one, and see if you dare to dislike it!"

"Ahem, it turns out that Xiaoshi, you are still more educated than your husband in this regard."

Later, the dishes were served and the two sat opposite each other.

In fact, the reason for the differences is the differences in culture and times. Today, girls' names are often Zening, Suyi, Guoqin, Fengshu, etc., and even Weiying, Zhaoming, Zhimin, etc.

Compared with the names of girls in later generations, the words are even more out of place.Zhou Changfeng naturally found it strange. He subjectively disliked these neutral names.

Seeing that he was still thinking about naming at the dinner table, Xia Xiaoshi said casually: "Aren't Ning Yu, Huailin, and Shujun all good?"

After much thought, Zhou Changfeng simply picked the one that sounded most satisfactory to him. He twirled his chopsticks and stared at his wife in front of him, "Then... Huailin."

"Yes, Lin, the jade is beautiful." Xia Xiaoshi said with satisfaction: "Sir, tomorrow we will send someone to the county government office to complete the filing."

Ever since, a few months have passed since her birth, and Jian Jian got her own name.

Although Zhou Changfeng felt that it was a bit hasty, after thinking about it, he felt that he might not be able to come up with anything good if he thought about it later, so he was relieved.

"If I continue to be busy for a few more days, I will probably have less things to do in the future, but it will only be less of my own work."

"Why do you have to be free from now on?"

"Because major events have been decided, now all countries have to slow down and adjust their strategies. It is unlikely that there will be a new large-scale battle for the time being." Zhou Changfeng said while picking up vegetables: "But there will still be chaos in the north for a while. "

"I don't know who will win after the Russians compete with each other." Xia Xiaoshi murmured softly.

"The Germans will not let go of that abundant place. Aren't the volunteer troops already in the newspapers? This is just the beginning."

"Oh, sir, is this just a prelude? That means that foreign troops will continue to intervene in the future. Since the Germans are now powerful, they will definitely fall to their side in the end."

"You got the answer right, there will be a reward." Zhou Changfeng smiled and picked up the plump and tender meat on the belly of the braised sea bass, "Open your mouth."

After this period of information feedback and analysis, the Red Eagle Legion's purpose of traveling all the way into Russia has become clear.

As of now, they have eliminated other armed forces near St. Petersburg and are targeting St. Petersburg.About [-] troops (red) are cooperating with them.

On the long front from Smolensk to Orel, the duel between the ▇▇▇ troops (red) and the Nationalist Republican Army (blue) has not yet decided.

What's amazing is that the two sides actually turned the duel into a replica of trench warfare in the European War, digging trenches and defending, position against position, trench against trench.

The Metropolitan Governor believed that this was mainly due to the fact that Tsarist Russia's automobile industry was not doing well to begin with, and the civil strife completely disrupted the vehicle manufacturing industry that needed a complete system to support it, so the production of regular tanks plummeted.

At the beginning, the two sides carried out several beautiful deep assaults. A tank brigade of the National Republican Army even drove more than 300 kilometers over two days and one night.

However, the vast land and poor transportation overwhelmed the tank forces on both sides. The breaches were quickly filled by endless masses of infantry, while the tanks were abandoned one after another due to damage and malfunction.

In this way, as the breakthrough force was greatly reduced, both sides were reluctant to throw the remaining tanks into the battle. The battle line became more stable, and the combat mode gradually changed to digging trenches to defend and position duel.

The Germans did not want to act as an awl to break the deadlock. They believed that the standoff would be broken in a few months because of the imbalance of power.

Berlin has approved military assistance to the ▇▇▇ troops (red). In addition to radios, artillery, machine guns, ammunition and other equipment, there are also 240 tanks and some substitute parts.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have a batch of gearboxes used by Vickers. In addition, the Skoda six-cylinder gasoline engine is roughly adapted to the T-26. Through these substitutes, it is expected that dozens of T-Ts with good main bodies but lacking some equipment can be produced. -26Assembly completed.

According to the instructions, the Red Eagles need to capture St. Petersburg as soon as possible.If possible, an attempt should be made to capture the Tsar himself.

After suffocating the most conservative and reactionary imperial Russian aristocratic group on Russian soil, the Red Eagle Legion will cross thousands of kilometers via railway and move to the Caucasus region.

By then, the 4th Mountain Division will also come from China to join the Red Eagle Corps to support them in seizing the strategically important Baku Oilfield.

Although the modernization of petroleum technology began in 1877, Baku already had oil wells with industrial production value in 1873.

Since the oil resources on the west coast of the Caspian Sea are buried very shallowly, signs of oil can be found even by digging more than ten meters in some places, making extraction difficult.Even before the European War, Baku was already the most productive oil field in the world at that time - there were more than 200 oil refineries active in the suburbs, and the entire city revolved around oil.

The situation at that time was that the dark substances floating in the sea, permeating the air, and covering the ground were all produced by oil mining and refining, so Baku was also called the Black City.

Nowadays, the annual output of the Baku oil field is as high as 2800 million tons, and the Germans are bound to hold this source of power in their hands.

(End of this chapter)