The train driver in the courtyard

"You guessed it right. Today, I'm here to cause trouble."

The farmer has been fighting on the special front for a long time and has always been old-fashioned, but in front of this old friend, he is like a naughty boy.

Minister Chen kept retorting, and the two of them kept arguing with each other, neither of them giving in.

Li Aiguo followed behind and saw this. He and the secretary looked at each other and they understood each other: We can't afford to offend you, we really can't afford to offend you.

After entering the office, the secretary brought tea and left quickly.

Minister Chen leaned back in his chair and continued to rant: "Old Li, take out your precious egg. If it's a flashlight that only works during the day like last time, I'll post it in the compound for everyone to see."

The farmer took out the materials for the proximity fuse and replied with a smile: "I'm afraid that after you read it, you will hide it under your quilt and won't want to take it out."

After that, he handed over the materials and explained: "Our comrades at the weather station have worked tirelessly to develop a new device that can greatly improve the accuracy of explosions and save the number of shells."

"Old Li, the older you get, the better you become at bragging. How come I didn't notice that when I was young..."

Minister Chen said this, but he took the report with a smile, flipping through it and saying, "Back then, I was fooled by you and brought..."

Before he finished speaking, his expression changed slightly.

Although he could not understand the professional data on the materials, the final conclusion was clear: this is a fuze that senses the existence, distance and direction of the target and takes effect based on the characteristics of the target or the environment.

Minister Chen looked up from the materials and said, "Is there really such a thing? Lao Li, tell me about it quickly."

The farmer glanced at Li Aiguo and said, "Let me ask Deputy Director Li Aiguo of the Material Department of our weather station to explain it. He invented this thing, so he can explain it more clearly."

Li Aiguo did not shirk responsibility and cleared his throat: "Commander, under the guidance of the leadership, our meteorological station has developed this proximity fuze, which uses radio waves to obtain target information and then control the firing.

It is expected that the killing radius of the artillery shells can be increased by 100 meters, and at least 70% of ammunition can be saved in actual combat. "

Minister Chen looked up, his face full of shock: "How much ammunition was saved? Tell me again."

Li Aiguo is very confident: "It can save at least 70%."

Minister Chen knew that in this situation, Li Aiguo would not joke about such important data, but he still couldn't help but look at the farmer: "Old Li, is this true?"

The farmer also restrained his old naughty attitude at this time and nodded seriously: "Yes, Lao Chen, I followed the project personally and saw the whole process of testing, and..."

At this point, the farmer couldn't help but keep the question in suspense.

"Anything else?" Minister Chen didn't care about comparing whose shoulders were higher at this time.

"Also, the production of proximity fuses does not require too much technology. Comrade Li Aiguo has already determined a plan for large-scale production."

Minister Chen suddenly felt that the materials in his hands weighed thousands of pounds.

"If this thing is really as you say, then..."

At this point, he seemed to remember something and shook the phone: "Xiao Liu, go to the venue immediately and invite Lao Zhou from Institute 208 to come over."

After hanging up the phone, Minister Chen couldn't help but look through the materials carefully again.

At this time, Chief Engineer Zhou from the 208 Institute was sitting in a spacious conference room, listening to reports from comrades from other institutes.

The full name of the 208th Institute of Ordnance Industry, also known as the Ordnance Equipment Institute, is a specialized institute that was only officially established this year, but it shoulders the important task of developing and improving ammunition for the whole country.

At this meeting, Chief Engineer Zhou wanted to report on the progress of the imitation work of the howitzer of the new Type 56 anti-aircraft gun.

Because there were no complete drawings of the imitation object and domestic ammunition technology was weak, the results were less than ideal, especially in terms of accuracy, which was lacking a lot.

Of course, Chief Engineer Zhou also had the idea of ​​crying poor and seeing if he could transfer some researchers from other military factories and military research institutes.

But before it was his turn to give a report, Minister Chen suddenly left.

Just as Chief Engineer Zhou was wondering what was going on, the secretary quietly slipped into the meeting room and touched his arm.

"Chief Engineer Zhou, the commander wants you to come over."

Chief Engineer Zhou was a little confused. He was about to go on stage to give a report. What would happen if he left at this time?
Seeing that he was in a daze, the secretary emphasized, "The chief has something urgent to do."

After hearing this, Chief Engineer Zhou said hello to the comrade in charge of the meeting procedures and went to the office with the secretary.

As soon as Chief Engineer Zhou entered the office, he was stunned again. In the office which originally had a high level of confidentiality, there were actually two unfamiliar comrades.

Minister Chen had no intention of introducing him. When he saw him come in, he handed him the materials directly: "Old Zhou, didn't you cry poor to me a while ago? Your 208 Institute has the title of the only professional ammunition research institute in the country, but you don't even have self-developed ammunition?"

Chief Engineer Zhou was surprised: "You got the technical materials for the ammunition?"

Minister Chen laughed: "This is dozens of times better than ammunition technology!"

Chief Engineer Zhou was stunned. Dozens of times? You are kidding again.

Could it be that Minister Chen had already seen through the purpose of his visit and just picked up something to cover his mouth?

This is too simple an understanding of him. Although he comes from a military background, he is good at "crying and begging."

In later times, this is called "the crying child gets the candy."

Let me first see whether this candy is cornmeal or Cuban sugar.

Chief Engineer Zhou didn't care about that anymore and flipped through the materials.

When he saw the principle of the proximity fuse, he almost couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully.

The design of this thing is so exquisite!
However, don't get too excited just yet. Anyone working in the military industry knows that principles and designs are one thing, and the actual effects are another.

It is not easy to cram so many components into a small shell. How to deal with high temperature and vibration?

Trying hard to suppress his excitement, Chief Engineer Zhou continued to turn the pages. With every page he turned, his mouth opened wider.

In the end, he could hardly close his mouth.

This proximity fuse is not made of cornmeal or Cuban candy, but real White Rabbit milk candy!
Chief Engineer Zhou took a few deep breaths to calm down his excitement and looked at Minister Chen: "Chief, please give this task to our institute. We will do our best to develop it."

Minister Chen held a cigarette between his legs and pointed at Li Aiguo with a smile: "Old Zhou, this comrade has already made a sample. I invited you here today because I want your institute to carry out the next step of installation work and do a verification by the way."

Already made? This should be something to be happy about, but Minister Zhou felt inexplicably disappointed.

It is a great regret in my life that I was not able to participate in the development of such a powerful device.

However, being responsible for installing proximity fuses into artillery shells can be considered as contributing to national defense.

Chief Engineer Zhou nodded heavily: "Chief, don't worry, our 208th Institute will live up to your trust."

"Okay, let's go to your room 208 now." Minister Chen stood up.

Li Aiguo looked at the farmer and picked up the big box.

In that era, speed was of the essence. Once a good thing was discovered, people wanted to make it a reality immediately.

Several people walked to the door, and Minister Chen asked his secretary to arrange a vehicle.

When the secretary heard that Minister Chen was going to the 208th Institute, he said with some concern: "Chief, the conference is still going on, and leaders of dozens of military institutes across the country are attending the conference. According to the meeting procedures, you should go on stage to speak..."

Minister Chen waved his hand to interrupt him: "Regarding the speech, please inform Secretary Wang and ask him to do it for you."

"Yes..." The secretary took a deep look at the box in Li Aiguo's hand, and really couldn't figure out what it was that could make Minister Chen willing to miss such an important meeting.

A convoy consisting of a sedan and two GAZ jeeps drove towards Institute 208 in the CP area at lightning speed.

Although No. 208 was newly built, the houses are still old, with a cement road running through the middle.

After the convoy stopped on the cement road, Chief Engineer Zhou immediately rushed into the office and called the researchers in the institute.

After a while, several middle-aged men in gray work clothes gathered in the office.

Chief Engineer Zhou walked up to Li Aiguo and said, "Comrade Aiguo, thank you for your help."

Li Aiguo understood that these were professional ammunition developers and assemblers, so he immediately opened the box, took out five proximity fuses and handed them over.

Several engineers took it, studied it carefully, and nodded: "This shape and size are just right for the warhead. We only need to make some changes to the inside of the warhead, and it will not affect the power of the shell.

Whether it is a 122mm howitzer or a 37mm howitzer, it can be loaded."

After research, the engineers gave their final opinion: "Give us half a day to ensure the modification is completed."

Chief Engineer Zhou nodded: "Thank you for your hard work."

After that, he added, "This thing may be related to the development direction of our future ammunition, so we must treat it with caution."

"Don't worry, Chief Engineer Zhou." Several engineers carefully held the proximity fuze and walked towards the ammunition processing laboratory.

Li Aiguo, the farmer and Minister Chen sat in the office and chatted leisurely.

At noon, several people had a working lunch in the cafeteria.

The so-called working meals are real working meals. Each person has a white flour steamed bun, a bowl of cornmeal porridge, and a side dish of spicy and sour cabbage.

After eating and drinking, an engineer came to report: "We have converted five artillery shells, three of which are 122mm howitzers and two are 37mm howitzers."

Chief Engineer Zhou picked up the phone and notified the training ground to get ready.

The training ground of Institute 208 is right next to the institute and is an open space of more than ten acres.

This was originally a wasteland, but the families of the institute's employees planted a lot of cabbage, celery and other green vegetables in the corners.

The farmer looked around and gave Chief Engineer Zhou a suggestion: “Every time we conduct an exercise, we have to send people to clear the area.

Last year, an injury accident occurred at the 756 Institute in Sichuan Province. Migrants from the city ran to the training ground to steal radishes and were bombarded by mortars. Fortunately, there was no direct hit and no one was killed.

The guy was so scared that he shouted: "Isn't it just a stolen carrot? Is it worth bombarding it?"

Chief Engineer Zhou suppressed his smile and nodded, passing on the farmer's opinion. A moment later, dozens of soldiers in uniform cleaned up the training ground inside and outside, and fortunately no outsiders were found.

"Second Captain, drag out the Type 54 and Type 55!" Seeing that the training ground was ready, Chief Engineer Zhou gave the order.

The soldiers of the artillery company dragged a cannon and an anti-aircraft gun out of the warehouse.

The cannon's target was a damaged tank, about eight hundred meters away.

In order to verify the performance of the proximity fuze, the second company commander asked the operator to deliberately deviate from the crosshairs by twenty meters when aiming.

"Ready, fire!"

Following an order, the sky above the training ground was filled with the sound of artillery fire.

boom!
Everyone witnessed an incredible scene.

The shell was fired from the muzzle and was obviously going to miss the target, but when it was closest to the target, it exploded violently.

The shock wave generated by the explosion overturned the already damaged tank to the ground.

The scene suddenly became quiet, with only the cold wind blowing up gusts of yellow earth.

Although I knew the characteristics of the proximity fuse beforehand, seeing it with my own eyes was another level of shock.

I don’t know how long it took.

"The shells have turned into missiles!" The operator could not help swallowing and said loudly, "Will all of us gunners become sharpshooters who never miss a shot?!"

Minister Chen had obviously seen big scenes before, so he remained calm at this moment.

"Old Zhou, go on."

"Yes!" Chief Engineer Zhou shouted, "Let's conduct the second live-fire test now, with a deviation distance of 100 meters!"

A distance of one hundred meters is almost equivalent to half of the training ground.

The operator didn't dare to think about it, and suppressed his anxiety as he loaded the shells. After some operation -

"preparation."

"fire!"

"call!"

A shell flew out of the barrel and headed in a direction that was obviously off track.

At this time, a magical scene happened again.

boom!
The shell suddenly exploded when it was parallel to the target tank.

Although the shock wave from the explosion only caused the tank to shake twice due to the long distance, the shell casings embedded in the tank armor already explained the experimental results.

Unlike the last time when the whole place was silent, this time there were cheers all over the training ground.

"Originally, an ordinary howitzer, after adding a proximity fuse, is like having eyes. If we had this thing before liberation, the Japanese would have cried for their parents long ago.

I promise you here that as long as you give the proximity fuze to our 208th Institute for adaptation and production, I promise that I will never let you down. Damn it, I will use artillery shells to blow those bastards into slag. "

Chief Engineer Zhou, who is always gentle and polite, now actually burst into swearing. There is no way, the psychological impact of this shell is too great for him.

Because target drones were scarce in the country at the time, and after witnessing the power of the proximity fuze, it became even more impossible to use target drones for experiments.

Afterwards, Minister Chen, in the name of the Seventh Ministry of Machine Building, transported two huge balloons from the Air Force test site to experiment with anti-aircraft guns.

It turns out that proximity fuzes are even more effective on anti-aircraft artillery.

In the past, anti-aircraft howitzers would only explode when they hit a fighter plane, which was equivalent to a single attack.

A howitzer equipped with a proximity fuse can explode at a long distance, which is equivalent to a group attack.

Friends who have played the game know that when upgrading skills, they should prioritize upgrading group attack skills.

Looking at the two anti-aircraft guns, when the shells obviously missed the balloon floating in the wind, they still exploded, and the flying fragments killed the balloon.

Minister Chen couldn't help but applaud: "Okay, okay, from today on, let's put a pair of eyes on the shells! This is truly a national treasure."

The statement of "a national treasure" was immediately approved by all the leaders and researchers present.

The accuracy of artillery shells has increased by 70 percent, which, to some extent, means that we can produce 70 percent more artillery shells out of thin air.

If this isn't a national treasure, then what is?!
When the leader fails, everyone follows.

When the applause died down, Minister Chen expressed his concern: "Patriotic comrades, the proximity fuse is now a national treasure. We cannot show it to others easily. We must keep it confidential."

Speaking of confidentiality, this is the specialty of our Li Aiguo: "Please rest assured, Chief, from the very beginning, under the arrangement of Comrade Nongfu, we have paid close attention to confidentiality."

The farmer nodded: "Even I only know the relevant principles, and only patriotic comrades know the specific drawings."

Minister Chen nodded with satisfaction: "I was negligent. There is no problem keeping confidential the things your weather station has produced. However..."

He paused for a moment, looked at Li Aiguo and said, "But we will start mass production next, and we will need cooperation from all parties. How will the confidentiality regulations be implemented?"

The farmer didn't wait for Li Aiguo to answer, and took over the conversation: "Old Chen, this is what I think. We should still adopt the OEM production model of our confidentiality station. Comrade Li Aiguo will be in charge of the specific drawings, and the OEM will be handed over to factories in various places."

"OEM?" Minister Chen thought the term was a bit novel.

The farmer explained the "OEM" model: "This is a method created by patriotic comrades. Each OEM factory is only responsible for a part of the parts. This can not only improve the professionalism of the OEM factory, but also keep it confidential to the greatest extent."

There was one thing he didn't say: the proximity fuse was designed and developed by the meteorological station, so the meteorological station should also have a share of the profits.

The farmer doesn't care about this credit, but he is now the director of the weather station and he cannot help but consider the staff in the weather station.

Minister Chen also understood the farmer's thoughts. Their Seventh Ministry of Machine Building had gained such a great achievement for nothing and was already getting a huge advantage.

He pondered for a moment and felt that this method was feasible: "Then it is decided. For the subsequent large-scale production work, Li Aiguo will be responsible for the drawings, and the 208th Institute will coordinate the production. We must produce the most proximity fuses in the shortest possible time."

Chief Engineer Zhou of 208 is a little worried: "At present, the factories in China are very busy, and I am afraid that they can't spare much production capacity."

Minister Chen saw that Chief Engineer Zhou was acting like an intellectual again, so he said, "The production capacity is insufficient, but we can squeeze it out. Old Zhou, you can't just follow dogma at work, you have to make adjustments based on the actual situation."

After that, his voice gradually grew louder: "No matter what, everyone should work together to install eyes on the shells!"

"Put eyes on the shells!"

The training ground erupted in cheers again.

As the sun sets, the light it radiates reflects the color of faith on everyone's face.

Because of the great news, Institute 208 generously decided to set aside half a month's quota to hold a celebratory dinner.

After three rounds of drinks, everyone was in high spirits. After all, they were about to change the combat mode of domestic artillery.

Chief Engineer Zhou focused his attention on Li Aiguo.

As an old military engineer, he is a professional expert in artillery shells and artillery. The revolutionary proximity fuze is Li Aiguo's masterpiece, and he has a very good impression of Li Aiguo.

At present, most of the domestic artillery is copied from the Russians. Although it is powerful, it also has some drawbacks.

When talking about the future development direction of artillery, Li Aiguo couldn't help but asked Chief Engineer Zhou with a smile: "Chief Engineer Zhou, have you ever thought about rapid deployment of the system?"

Before Chief Engineer Zhou could respond, a young researcher laughed and said, "Advisor Li, you are still an amateur. The artillery is dozens of tons and requires a professional towing vehicle. How can it be deployed quickly?"

Before he could finish his words, Chief Engineer Zhou scolded him: "Don't embarrass yourself if you don't understand."

Chief Engineer Zhou turned to look at Li Aiguo: "Aiguo, what's going on with this rapid deployment?"

Li Aiguo shook his head: "I just have a little idea. Please don't be offended if I show off my skills in front of you today."

"Look at what you said." Mr. Zhou pretended to listen attentively.

Based on his experience in fighting the Indians and the monkeys, Li Aiguo pretended not to understand and said, "At present, our domestic artillery is almost the same in terms of quantity and firepower, but what is lacking is mobility. If we build a professional off-road tractor like the Russians, the cost will be too high.

In particular, off-road tractors are restricted by the terrain and are not suitable for use in mountainous areas.

If a new recoilless mountain gun could be developed, this gun would use modular barrels and components and could be quickly disassembled and assembled.

The recoil-free design allows the gun to maintain stable firing even on unstable terrain.

"

Chief Engineer Zhou's eyes lit up when he heard this. He turned his head and looked at the young researcher next to him: "See? You are the only one who has the right to criticize others for being unprofessional? This rapid deployment will allow our team to have fast and mobile artillery fire in the mountainous areas."

The young researcher scratched his head and smiled.

Minister Chen was originally chatting with the farmer about the past. After hearing this, he looked over here with his wine glass in hand and nodded in surprise: "Aiguo, your idea is very good. Our Seventh Ministry of Machine Building is also considering developing artillery specifically for mountainous areas. This is really a coincidence."

How could it not be a coincidence?

Your Seventh Ministry of Machine Building is preparing to deal with India.

There are mountains at the doorstep of Asan's home.

Li Aiguo smiled and scratched his head: "This is just a little idea of ​​mine, don't take it seriously."

"Your idea is quite good. It solves the problem of insufficient firepower in mountainous areas." Minister Chen looked at Chief Engineer Zhou and said, "Old Zhou, write this down. Then you 208th Institute will come up with a plan and submit it to the Ministry. We will discuss it carefully."

"Yes." Chief Engineer Zhou took out a notebook and wrote neatly on it with a pen.

At this time, another chief engineer of the 208th asked: "Aiguo, what other ideas do you have for the future development of artillery?"

(End of this chapter)