Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1341 To Drill or Not to Drill (4k)

"hiss……"

Since Gao Zhendong had gone this far, the leaders of the Anti-Drug Committee couldn't help but tremble with fear.

"Tell me about it..."

Gao Zhendong thought for a moment, did some calculations in his head, and then said, "I estimate, just an estimate, that the construction period will be no less than 15 years and the cost will be between 7 million and 10 billion yuan."

This almost gave the leader a fright; it was more than initially estimated.

Unlike the later online average of a million-dollar annual salary, where people casually mention "small goals," this was an estimate of 700-1 billion in the mid-1960s. Moreover, due to economic policies, the actual change in the purchasing power of the currency was not significant within 15 years.

Without Gao Zhendong's help, this year's fiscal revenue would have been less than 400 billion yuan, meaning that this thing would have cost 2% of the annual fiscal revenue.

Now, thanks to Gao Zhendong's meddling, the fiscal revenue figures are much more optimistic than in the past, but this figure can still give the leaders of the National Defense Commission a big shock.

Even so, and with the investment spread over many years, the total amount is still staggering, much larger than initially expected.

The leader was still thinking to himself, "Luckily, the investment is spread over fifteen years..." No, no, he suddenly realized that he hadn't initially planned for it to take fifteen years!
Compared to the money Gao Zhendong mentioned, the timeframe he mentioned is even more unsettling.

Fifteen years is a long time; even if it's not too late, it's certainly not enough to make a quick fix. And in fifteen years, anything can happen.

However, one thing that reassured him somewhat was that this was Gao Zhendong's opinion. In any case, Gao Zhendong had not personally done the relevant work, and perhaps his experience and estimations were not as accurate as those of other comrades who had done the relevant work.

"Is it really as serious as you say? What's your basis for that?" the leader asked.

This really stumped Gao Zhendong. He based his argument on historical facts, but he had absolutely no concrete evidence to support it. And there wasn't enough time for him to analyze it thoroughly, especially since analysis wouldn't be easy anyway.

However, a simple algorithm suddenly flashed through his mind, which could at least explain some of the issues.

"Boss, let's put aside everything else and just assume 5 people..." This calculation isn't accurate, because the number isn't always 5, but it at least illustrates the point.

"The food allowance for each person is 1.2 yuan per day. This is all heavy physical labor, so it can't be any lower, right? Moreover, there are a large number of technical personnel and intellectuals among them, and their rations are also relatively high. So, 1.2 yuan shouldn't be an exaggeration. For 50,000 people, the food allowance is 60,000 yuan per day, 22 million yuan per year, and about 330 million yuan over fifteen years. If we're frugal, we should still be able to reach 300 million yuan, right?"

The algorithm was crude but effective, and the leader was immediately stunned. Just the food expenses alone amounted to such a large sum of money, not to mention salaries, subsidies, transportation, travel and other expenses. If all of these were included, just the personnel alone would amount to more than 4 million yuan over 15 years.

"But the population isn't always 5, is it?"

Gao Zhendong nodded: "You're right, but that's just for people. There are also costs for materials, machinery, equipment, and so on. It must be quite a lot, right?" These days, there is one advantage to building projects: demolition costs are relatively low. After all, the compensation is relatively low, and this project is not in a densely populated area, so it doesn't require the relocation of too many people.

Even so, after considering the costs of materials, machinery, equipment, fuel, and so on, the leaders realized that they couldn't really save much money.

However, he quickly realized a problem: "Zhendong, everything you've said is based on a construction period of more than fifteen years. What if the construction period isn't that long?"

Gao Zhendong knew that there were indeed many reasons why the construction period was so long, but as a special project, some reasons should not have such a big impact on the project. Therefore, the construction period he knew in his previous life, even if shortened, would not be shortened by much, if the core plan of the matter remained unchanged.

"Boss, even if the construction period is shortened, apart from personnel costs, other expenses will not be reduced much, and some things may even become more expensive!"

Gao Zhendong didn't mention inflation, since inflation is unlikely to happen these days. Instead, he gave a different reason.

"More expensive?"

“Yes, the shorter the timeframe, the more expensive some equipment, technologies, and materials that rely on technological advancements will be, because they are not yet mature. Therefore, it will require a greater investment to acquire them. Moreover, after they are put into use, it will require even greater investment to improve and refine them,” Gao Zhendong said.

After thinking for a long time, the leader finally spoke: "Suppose, and I mean suppose, since you don't approve of this plan, then in your opinion, how should this plan be modified to be more scientific?"

It's impossible not to build it. To be honest, this matter is somewhat related to Gao Zhendong. After Gao Zhendong proposed a new technology for mining and refining deep U ore in the grassland, and after the comrades conducted preliminary research and exploration, the development prospects of U ore in the grassland became more and more optimistic. However, this brought a small side effect - there might be too much U238!
Putting everything else aside, the necessity of this graphite cold water thermal neutron reactor is greater than Gao Zhendong knew in his previous life, just to digest this windfall.

Gao Zhendong was unaware that this matter was somewhat related to him. In his mind, if the project could be completed and put into operation as soon as possible, then things would be a different story.

—Legend has it that the Pu-239 is far superior to the U-235 when it comes to making hydrogen bomb triggers!
Gao Zhendong doesn't know if it's true or not, but in his opinion, the joke about the number of fusion bombs—20 forever—may have been unfounded in the early days, but it may not have been without reason.

Since you've asked me, I might as well pour out my thoughts; maybe it will be of some use.

He thought for a moment and then said, "In my personal opinion, the biggest change is not to build it inside the mountain! To build it on the ground!"

Gao Zhendong's words were just as unconventional as his previous statements, leaving the leader speechless on the spot.

"On the ground? How can safety be guaranteed then?"

This was the biggest problem. Many projects during the Third Front construction went to great lengths to fit into the mountains of Shuangqing, Qianshan, Sichuan, and Yunnan, largely for this reason. The biggest advantage of storing them in caves was that they were less vulnerable to aerial bombardment. Even if the enemy collapsed the cave entrance, the comrades could live inside for a long time. Gao Zhendong himself knew that the underground granary at Wulongkou contained enough grain to feed three thousand people for six months!
Speaking of this, having suffered heavy losses in firepower and air strikes, we were desperately pursuing these things. Even if we couldn't catch up in the short term, we had to at least preserve ourselves under the enemy's air superiority. At this point, drilling became a good option.

In fact, the older generation who conducted research and demonstration in this area had a long-term and accurate vision. In sufficiently deep mountains, conventional weapons are not very effective unless they are nuclear weapons.

Let alone in the 1960s, even in the 21st century, the GBU-57, which the Americans have been praising to the skies, has only so-so actual combat effectiveness against underground targets.

If conventional warheads were truly to penetrate the earth, hypersonic weapons, possessing both speed and accuracy, would be necessary. However, even the most advanced hypersonic weapon manufacturer, after conducting earth-penetrating tests with hypersonic warheads, hasn't pursued significant development in this area, highlighting the limitations of earth-penetrating warheads.

However, on the other hand, while this is true for conventional equipment, things may be different for a special field like the nuclear industry, given our scale.

Gao Zhendong did not rush to make a guarantee, but instead gave the leader a careful analysis.

"Sir, here's the situation. Let's start with the first point: with our current air defense and air combat capabilities, what do you think is the likelihood that even if this mound were built on the ground, as long as it's deep enough, the enemy would be able to break in from the air and bomb it?"

Gao Zhendong didn't even mention the fact that they rushed in from the ground. Back then, the Japanese used all their strength, and in this area of ​​the Southwest F4, they only managed to get close to the edge of Shuisi County in Guizhou Province. And that was even with the extremely incompetent bunch of idiots under the micro-management master.

In the current situation, if anyone can rush directly to the Southwest F4 from the ground with lightning speed, then it doesn't matter whether this pile is blown up or not; the enemy might as well keep it for themselves.

After all, it is we who protect this land, not the Gauls. Not to mention others, even the White Bear at his peak couldn't do that.

The long-standing problem of air travel suddenly became apparent to the leadership after Gao Zhendong seriously raised it with them.

"This... seems like there's not much to worry about."

As he said this, he felt that the smile on Gao Zhendong's face was incredibly radiant. Indeed, everything that happened in the air was directly and inextricably linked to this smiling young man in front of him.

Radar, fighter jets, missiles, new auxiliary aircraft... some of these have already succeeded, some are climbing to new heights, and some are making steady progress with promising prospects. All of this gives us the confidence we have now.

—The enemy cannot penetrate our deep interior from the air!
"Even so, what about surface infiltration?" Another advantage of underground caves is that entrances and exits are strictly restricted in number and easy to manage, making it extremely difficult to carry out infiltration and sabotage.

Gao Zhendong said, “Leader, on the ground, as long as we choose a good terrain, design a good defense system, make a good defense plan, and implement the guard system, you know, this is not a big problem. We have soldiers, equipment, systems, and the vast ocean of people’s war.”

In reality, aside from a very few successful cases like the bombing of the heavy water plant by the British, national strategic assets have virtually never been successfully destroyed by espionage activities. Even the successful attack on the heavy water plant by the British was largely due to the fact that art students, who were not actually familiar with nuclear weapons, had little interest in them and did not consider the relevant resources as national strategic assets to be protected.

A clear counterexample is that the British suffered a lot of losses with V1 and V2, while their agents did little to sabotage the V1 and V2 projects.

Agent 7 on the big screen: capable of anything, from flying to diving, wielding a license to kill countless people.

In reality, Agent John did everything from checking newspapers to rummaging through trash, but he didn't do much wet work.

"Hmm... what if the enemy launches a direct attack using missiles?"

Gao Zhendong laughed and said, "Leader, once this project begins to take shape, I think even the enemy furthest from us will be wary of launching a direct ballistic missile strike against us, right?"

The leader was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "Hmm, more or less, more or less."

The construction of this project will take time. Even if it doesn't repeat the mistakes of the past and doesn't take fifteen years, it will still take a considerable amount of time. By then, our missiles will probably be able to fly directly to the heads of Americans.

As for John Bull and the French, they were not even in the scope of their consideration. The only enemy they really cared about for the time being was the US. Besides, taking over the US would be the same as taking over the other two.

From his smile, Gao Zhendong could tell that the equipment was progressing smoothly. In his delight, he added, "Moreover, this pile has a special feature: it's meant to be detonated during peacetime. When war actually breaks out, whether it's detonated or not becomes somewhat irrelevant. In fact, in that situation, the enemy would be even less likely to detonate it, for fear of causing misunderstandings. So, with these conditions in place, even if this pile is on the ground, it's safe. Unless the enemy is willing to bear our wrath!"

In peacetime, we have enough resources and energy to ensure the safety of this material. If war breaks out, it is very easy to stop the production process for safety reasons. After all, we will not care about the tiny amount of production during that short period of time.

The development of fusion weapons should begin as early as possible, just like taking an exam. It mainly relies on the accumulation of knowledge over time. The main working time for this project is the period of accumulation over time.

"Moreover, as long as the site is properly selected and the design is reasonable, whether it is above or below ground, even if it is attacked, it will not cause major pollution and impact on the surrounding area, and the aftereffects are relatively easy to control." Gao Zhendong added the last straw regarding security.

"Hmm... I've written it all down. Some of your words were very insightful and worth pondering," the leader said thoughtfully.

Gao Zhendong also knew that such things could not be accomplished overnight. He could not make any changes based on his own words alone, and even he, as the leader, could not make any decisions.

What Gao Zhendong needs to do is to explain the situation as clearly as possible so that everyone can think about and weigh things from more perspectives.

“Zhendong, we’ve just talked about the downsides on the ground and how to deal with them. Now you have to tell me, what are the benefits of taking these risks?”

(End of this chapter)