Chapter 187 Atomic bombs and bombers, both must be grasped
“Chairman, Shanhe Industrial Group is currently developing in an orderly manner in accordance with the goals you set.”
“As of today, the group’s subordinates There are 12 subsidiaries in total, including 7 in the Shan series and 5 in the He series. The total number of employees in the group is 788. "
"The core subsidiary of the Shan series, Taishan Industrial Company, has been officially put into operation."
< br>“The company has signed a contract with the Qing government and has obtained the development qualifications for a total of 7 high-quality mines in 3 provinces in China.”
"Including iron ore, copper ore, uranium ore and other strategically designated minerals of the company."
"The comprehensive production capacity is expected to reach 3,000 tons."
Li Qiwei was quite satisfied after hearing this.
You know, the famous Hanyang Iron Works cost 5 million taels and took 6 years to build. It has nearly 3,000 employees and a three-year production capacity of only 140,000 tons.
Furthermore, the quality of the steel produced was not high, resulting in poor sales and serious losses. Production was stopped last year.
In comparison, Taishan Industrial Company's results are very good.
And this is just an attempt. Once his territory is determined, he will immediately expand the scale and build crazy infrastructure.
Among them, uranium mines were what Li Qiwei was most concerned about, involving his atomic bomb plan.
In addition to uranium, uranium ore also contains other elements such as radium. The proportion of uranium is the grade of uranium. The higher the grade, the better the quality of the ore.
After uranium ore is mined, it also needs to undergo mineral separation to obtain the purest uranium.
Pure uranium at this time has three isotopes, of which the abundance of U-235 is fixed at about 0.7%.
To make an atomic bomb, the abundance of U-235 must reach more than 90%.
Therefore, the separated pure uranium must go through a centrifuge to increase the abundance of U-235. This step is uranium enrichment.
Centrifuges cannot be built yet because they require a lot of power.
Hengshan Industrial Company, which is responsible for producing electricity, has just started its business and cannot provide such a huge amount of electricity.
But mineral processing, as the first step, is also very important, so Li Qiwei asked: "How is the current progress of ore separation technology?"
Hu Xizhong replied: "According to the method you provided, Chairman, it can be purified up to 70%.”
“The domestic uranium mine is very different from the Congo mine in Belgium, and the grade is very low.”
Li Qiwei said: “But after all, it belongs to others, and we must always do it. Prepare for the worst.”
“This kind of strategic thing must be self-sufficient.”
"Yes."
"You continue."
After seeing the chairman's general digestion, Hu Xizhong continued to report: "The core subsidiary of the He series, Changjiang Industrial Company, is still in the research and development stage."
Speaking of this, General Manager Hu made a rare complaint to Li Qiwei, "Chairman, the research and development of this aircraft is really difficult."
"You asked me to pay close attention to the achievements of the Wright Brothers in the United States. , they have invented the airplane.”
"But we really can't find talents who understand aircraft in China. I haven't even gathered the R&D personnel yet."
"Chairman, I need your help."
Li Qiwei endured I couldn't help but laugh, thinking to myself, if you don't come to me again, I'll doubt whether you are perfunctory with me.
It is normal to feel difficult.
As a top-secret project, the aircraft to be developed by Yangtze River Industrial Company is not an airplane in the ordinary sense.
If you just want to imitate the Wright brothers' airplane, there is no need to keep it secret.
There are many aircraft companies in Europe and the United States now. In the early days, this thing was not taken seriously by the governments of various countries.
It wasn’t until after the war that everyone discovered that, holy shit, airplanes were so awesome that they completely changed the theory of war.
Li Qiwei certainly did not develop the aircraft to participate in the war. He wanted to implement nuclear deterrence.
It’s useless to have atomic bombs. You have to be able to drop atomic bombs on the enemy’s territory.
In later generations, there are three methods, which are the so-called triad nuclear strike capabilities.
They are land-based ballistic missiles, sea-based ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers.
The land-based carrier is a high-speed chariot, and the sea-based carrier is a nuclear submarine.
But both methods require ballistic missiles, ultra-high-tech weapons.
In terms of technical difficulty, this is much more difficult than building an atomic bomb, especially intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are exclusive to big countries.
In later generations, many countries have atomic bombs, but only a handful have intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Li Qiwei would not dare to think about it for decades.
So, he could only choose the last way, which was also the most primitive way, to hang bombs on the plane.
Early aircraft had poor load-carrying capacity because they were not needed for military purposes.
Just hang two machine guns on it. The air combat is very simple and unpretentious, just move the guns from the ground to the sky.
But the atomic bomb is very heavy, and it has to be carried for such a long distance, so the requirements for the aircraft are very high.
So the bomber came into being. This kind of aircraft specifically designed to carry bombs was Li Qiwei's goal.
Although bombers had already appeared by around 1911, their load capacity was very small, only tens or hundreds of kilograms.
Far from being able to withstand an atomic bomb weighing several tons.
So the top-secret aircraft of Yangtze River Industrial Company refers to the large-load bomber. Of course, the drawing was produced by Li Qiwei. It is just a rough conceptual diagram, and the details inside need to be perfected through experiments.
Because the technology involved is too complex and needs to be kept secret, the progress is naturally slow.
"Manager Hu, don't worry, I know this project well, and I can understand your difficulties."
"Well, for now, you should focus on the research and development of supporting facilities for the aircraft. , first sort out the upstream and downstream.”
“In a few years, there will be the first batch of science and engineering graduates in the country, and I will also send a few people from Huangpu Institute of Technology.”
"At that time, we will carry out large-scale research and development."
"Remember, this company is not allowed to recruit any foreigners."
"All employees must undergo strict identity checks."
Li Qiwei must consider all worst-case scenarios.
Hu Xizhong nodded seriously, he knew the pros and cons.
Since the chairman has so carefully requested it, it must be strictly implemented.
At this time, Li Qiwei asked again, "Is there any problem with the current capital turnover of the group?"
Since returning to China, he has successively drawn blood from Sheng Jingran's Pioneer Investment Group. 250,000 pounds, equivalent to 1.65 million taels of silver, was used for domestic undertakings.
Among them, the construction and personnel support of Huangpu University of Technology alone cost 50,000 pounds.
He invested all the remaining 200,000 pounds into Shanhe Industrial Group.
But this was not enough, so when Li Tingzhao saw this, he directly sold some of the family's assets and liquidated them to support his son's grand plan.
Now Li Tingzhao no longer looks down on his own tea, spices, porcelain and other businesses.
Li Qiwei was very grateful for this. Although the other party was his father, the property was shared by the family, which showed his father's determination to support him.
Li Qiwei knows that now is the most critical stage.
The nature of Shanhe Industrial Group determines that it will not be profitable for the time being.
However, as long as it survives this difficult period, with the size of Shanhe Industrial Group, it will definitely become a super giant and make crazy money.
And he doesn’t want to suck the blood of Pioneer Investment Group anymore for the time being.
As an investment company, if it does not have huge funds in its account, it will simply not be able to compete with foreign giants.
Sheng Jingran also asked himself this question.
Of course Hu Xizhong also knows the importance of funds to the company, "Chairman, don't worry, I have always paid attention to the group's financial plan."
"There is no risk of a capital rupture at present."
"And I am confident that the company will be profitable within five years."
Li Qiwei shouted "Okay", Confident subordinates are the subordinates that leaders like.
“But you don’t need to be nervous. As long as you follow the steps, you will always succeed.”
“I have a little thing now and I need your help.”
"You withdraw some radium ore from Taishan Industrial Company, and then find someone to build such a thing."
"It must be completed within a month."
"Remember, let They must strictly follow the company's rules and regulations when handling radioactive materials."
At this time, no one knew about the dangers of radioactivity, but Li Qiwei took adequate protective measures.
The employees in his company are all precious and cannot be harmed at all.
As he spoke, Li Qiwei took out a simple drawing with the production process clearly written on it.
Hu Xizhong agreed and took the drawings.
After he opened it, he took a look and found that the thing was very simple, just a ball.
The diameter of the ball is about 10 cm and the material is glass.
But the strange thing is that the drawings require adding a large amount of radium ore during the glass firing process.
Although Hu Xizhong didn't understand this, he didn't ask any more questions.
As the second-in-command of Shanhe Group, he knows very well when to ask and when not to ask.
Li Qiwei looked helpless at the experienced Hu Xizhong.
As his status continues to improve, the attitudes of people around him towards him are also quietly changing.
Even He Yujie and others were not as relaxed as they were when facing themselves in the UK. Instead, they were a little more reserved.
This is inevitable and the only path for those in power.
In the future, his words, actions, and even micro-expressions will cause countless people to speculate.
Because the resources he represents are too abundant and can easily determine a person's future.
Some people enjoyed this feeling, but Li Qiwei was not interested.
So he took the initiative to smile at Hu Xizhong and said: "This is the big gift I am planning to give to Cixi. I wish her a lasting legacy."
Hu Xizhong:
Sure enough, it is right not to ask.
(End of this chapter)