Chapter 1057 Feeling the Glory of the Empire (Third update, please subscribe)
Atomic City.
Although this is a confidential city, when the New Year is approaching, the streets are still filled with red lanterns, and everyone looks cheerful.
People always have to celebrate the New Year. Soon, when the Spring Festival comes, scientists in this city will fly back to various places to reunite with their families.
Although the holidays are approaching, a group of researchers are still discussing in the office. The drawings in front of them are the structural drawings of the hydrogen bomb.
Scientists from the UK and Southeast Asia are having final discussions on it.
According to relevant agreements, in order to speed up the development of hydrogen bombs, Nanyang and the United Kingdom jointly launched the "Fighting Plan". As a result, British scientific researchers came to Nanyang in the name of "academic exchanges". He teaches at a university and participates in the "Fighting Project" at the same time.
In fact, for Nanyang, the one who benefited most from the arrival of these British scientists was not the "Fighting Plan" itself, but the educational community of Nanyang. After all, these scientists are the first-class scholars in the UK. The arrival of these scholars has promoted the teaching level of physics, chemistry and other fields in Nanyang to a certain extent.
With the joint efforts of scientists from both countries, the configuration of the hydrogen bomb was explored bit by bit. In this process, the reconnaissance aircraft of the Nanyang Air Force played a key role. Every time the United States conducted a nuclear test in Bikini , the Nanyang Air Force will send reconnaissance aircraft to collect air samples and then hand them over to scientific researchers.
Through this method, air samples from multiple hydrogen bomb tests in the United States were obtained, and the secret of the Taylor-Ulam configuration compression principle was discovered from their radioactive fallout. Although information about the degree of compression can be obtained from the radioactive fallout, it does not tell them how to perform compression, but this is not a problem for scientists. With the efforts of scientists from the two countries, the development of hydrogen bombs was soon realized. technological breakthrough.
And Liang Zhenhua, who just entered the Atomic City two years ago, a Ph.D. in physics who graduated from Yong'an University, discovered the secret of the American hydrogen bomb based on air samples from the U.S. hydrogen bomb test in November 1952 - uranium 238 was added to the charge.
99.28% of natural uranium ore is uranium-238, and uranium-235 is only 0.71%. To obtain weapons-grade uranium-235, it must be enriched and extracted, and large amounts of uranium-238 are often discarded.
Based on the information obtained from air sampling, Liang Zhenhua proposed a design that uses natural uranium as the shell and uses uranium 235, uranium 238 and lithium deuteride 6 at the same time. The high temperature and high pressure generated by the explosion of uranium 235 can trigger the fusion reaction of lithium deuteride, and the neutrons released by the fusion reaction can trigger the fission reaction of uranium 238, forming a chain reaction of fission-fusion-fission, thereby increasing the power of the hydrogen bomb.
This designed hydrogen bomb is also called a "three-phase bomb." In November 1952, the United States tested it for the first time. Scientists from Nanyang discovered the secret through air samples.
It seemed relatively easy to crack the secret, but in the end it took two and a half years to complete its design with the joint efforts of scientists from the two countries.
"...10 million tons!"
Took a strong drag on the cigarette, and when he was about to finish it, Liang Zhenhua put the cigarette butt out in the ashtray and said.
"Its yield should be around 10 million tons, 10 times that of the enhanced atomic bomb..."
After thinking about it, he added.
“Although the weight exceeds 10 tons, it is an acceptable weight.”
"There is no problem with the weight, the problem is..."
As the second person in charge of the Nanyang nuclear program, Yuan Jialiu said while looking at the technical staff of the two countries in front of him.
"Whether it can succeed or not, that is the question. This plan is jointly promoted by the two countries. If it fails..."
Looking at the British scientists aside, Yuan Jialiu emphasized:
“It is very likely to cause unnecessary trouble in London.”
This is the biggest problem in multinational cooperation. Even when "Miss Ping" was the first, he didn't feel nervous, but cooperation between two countries may have problems of this kind.
“It will definitely succeed!”
Faced with Yuan Jialiu’s inquiry, Perls said that he was once the person in charge of the British “Alloy Tube Project” to develop the atomic bomb, and now the “Fighting Project” The British person in charge.
"I believe that the work we have been doing will definitely allow us to obtain corresponding rewards. Yuan, I think it is time to conduct experiments!" Yuan Jialiu nodded. He knew that Nanyang has been waiting for this coin. The hydrogen bomb, in fact, to a certain extent - they were late. During the "Hungarian Crisis", if Nanyang had tested the hydrogen bomb, it might have achieved better results.
But better late than never.
......
Because the "Fighting Plan" is a joint project between the two countries, in addition to the approval of Chang'an's official residence, the implementation of nuclear tests also requires the approval of Downing Street.
The atmosphere at No. 10 Downing Street in January 1957 was extremely relaxed. Facts have once again proved that winning a war is always an effective way to increase government support most of the time.
Although the dispatch of troops to Egypt once caused protests from the Labor Party and some people, in fact, more than 53% of the British people sided with Eden to support the war, and most Conservative constituencies had no Doubtfully supporting Eden, academics at Oxford University also signed a petition in support of the government out of fear of Nasserism and the expansion of Soviet influence.
Now, although the negotiations in Geneva are still ongoing, Eden, who already considers himself the winner, is proud. He has even declared to the public opinion circles many times that "the British Empire is moving towards a comprehensive recovery, both in terms of economy and international influence." "
To a certain extent, Ayden was right. The use of force against Egypt was not only a military success, but also a political success. It not only protects British property but also defends British dignity.
“Many workers are now turning to support us because of our tough diplomacy, and even the Labor Party has even asked its candidates not to show opposition to the Suez War.”
Referring to the upcoming war By-election, Aiden said quite proudly.
“However, this does not change their previous attitude against the war. In this by-election, we must expose the Labor Party’s snake-tailed behavior...”
As the leader of the Conservative Party, Eden is now more concerned about this year's regional by-elections. After all, this regional by-election will affect the election two years later. For the Conservative Party, the greatest achievement is that their tough stance on the Suez issue has ensured British interests.
“It is no longer 45 years ago. At that time, the most important thing for the British was bread, but what about now? When bread is no longer scarce, the British begin to have more Pursuit, this is the fundamental reason why we can win the election again!”
“However, many middle-class people who originally supported us stand with the Labor Party’s anti-war policy because of our military operations in Egypt. Side,”
As a staff member, Hagens reminded.
“The middle class is more important than those workers.”
At least for the Conservative Party, the middle class has always been its strongest support.
“That’s the past!”
Aiden waved his hand and said.
“In the past, the middle class was more willing to vote, and their support had a great influence on us, but now... Times have changed, my friends, whether we want it or not, we have to admit that now, workers and ordinary people are more important, because they are more numerous. The reason why the Labor Party defeated us after the war was because of them. Now, what we need is the support of these people. They prefer toughness to weakness, because for ordinary people For humans, what else is left besides the glory of the empire?"
Turn around and look at Hagens, Aiden said.
"As Engels said - even the poorest patriot in the East End of London can't help but puff up his chest when he thinks about Britain's wealth and industry. Maybe Labor will promise them bread, hospitals and welfare, but we can Giving them glory is a kind of heartfelt satisfaction! It is even more important than bread..."
As an imperialist, Aiden misses the old times very much, and Britain in that era To man, the glory of the empire is indeed more important than bread. At least to a certain extent, that was the case at that time.
But everything has changed now, but what Aiden needs to do now is to rekindle the glory of their empire.
"And the middle class will still choose to support us in the end, because... we are not generous to them and help the poor without a bottom line. As for the poor..."
Pick up the table A secret message, Aiden said with some pride:
"Soon, the flash from the Pacific will make all British people feel the glory of the empire again!"
(End of this chapter)