Courtyard House: A Major Power's Heavy Industry, Hand-Crafted Nuclear Fusion

1965, spring.

Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

This is a plateau with an average altitude of 3200 meters. As far as the eye can see, apart from the rolling Qilian Mountains, there are only endless barren grasslands.

Wind, a local specialty.

One wind blows all year round, from spring to winter.

At this moment, a long line of fifty Jiefang brand trucks was struggling to crawl along the newly thawed frozen road. The mud and snow water kicked up by the wheels covered the green trucks like mud monkeys.

The train carriage was packed with young people wrapped in sheepskin coats. Most of them were recent graduates from prestigious universities in Beijing and Shanghai, carrying dreams of building their country. They had traveled for three days and three nights on a stuffy freight train, and then for two days and two nights on a bumpy truck, to arrive at this place that couldn't be found on any map.

Severe altitude sickness afflicts everyone.

My head was throbbing, my chest was tight and I was short of breath, and my lips were turning purple. Even if I just sat still, my heart was pounding like a drum.

Here, take a breath of oxygen.

In the passenger seat of the first command vehicle, Ye Xinyi handed a portable oxygen bag to Su Zheng's mouth.

"I'm fine." Su Zheng pushed the oxygen bag aside. "Leave it for the comrades behind us. A few young men are suffering from severe altitude sickness."

"Don't be reckless." Ye Xinyi shoved the oxygen mouthpiece into his mouth without a word, her eyes filled with heartache, yet also with a stubbornness unique to her. "Your mind belongs to the country, but your body belongs to me. I won't allow anything to happen to you."

Su Zheng looked at his wife's face, which was slightly red from the high-altitude wind, and felt a warmth in his heart. He obediently took two breaths.

"arrive."

Su Zheng looked ahead through the dusty car window.

Once you cross the mountain pass ahead, you'll reach the Golden and Silver Beach.

……

Half an hour later.

The convoy crossed the mountain pass, and the view suddenly opened up.

A vast grassland basin came into view. Jin Yin Tan, the legendary place where the king of songs wrote his timeless love song, should have been a paradise where cattle and sheep roamed and wildflowers bloomed.

But now, this is a huge construction site.

Or rather, it was a vast wasteland.

There were no buildings or factories, only countless tents and dugouts, densely packed on the grass, like a cluster of gray mushrooms.

This is the nuclear weapons research and development base codenamed "221".

It is also the country's first nuclear weapons research and development base.

"Get off! Everyone get off!"

With a whistle, the young people helped each other jump off the truck.

The cold wind, mixed with snowflakes, instantly pierced through their cotton-padded clothes.

"It's cold...it's so cold..."

Everyone hunched their shoulders, stamped their feet, and looked at the desolate scene before them, feeling a sense of disappointment welling up inside them.

They heard in the capital that a "major project" was coming and imagined bright, state-of-the-art laboratories. But the reality was—even getting a sip of hot water was a struggle.

"gather!"

General Zhang's booming voice rang out in the wind.

He was wearing an old military overcoat, and his face was tanned and peeling from the high-altitude ultraviolet rays, making him look more like an old farmer than a general.

"Comrades! Welcome to Golden Beach!"

General Zhang stood on a mound of earth, pointing to the ground beneath his feet.

"I know what you're thinking. You feel miserable here, you feel this place is dilapidated, you feel cheated."

"But I'm telling you, this land was 'borrowed' from the local herders."

General Zhang's voice lowered.

"To make room for us, thousands of herding families moved away without complaint, driving their cattle and sheep and carrying their tents. They left us the best pastures and the homes where their ancestors had lived for generations."

Why?

"Because they know we're here to build 'pride bombs'!"

The crowd quieted down.

Those young people who were initially complaining gradually straightened their backs.

"Dean Su, please say a few words." General Zhang looked at Su Zheng beside him.

Su Zheng nodded and walked up.

His current position is the director of the 001 Comprehensive Research Institute, and the highest-ranking technical leader there.

Su Zheng looked down at the hundreds of young and innocent faces below.

He saw confusion in their eyes, but he also saw fire.

Comrades.

Su Zheng spoke.

"Just six months ago, we created our first mushroom cloud in Lop Nur."

"The whole world is watching us. Some are scared, some are shocked, but most are waiting to see us fail."

Su Zheng held up one finger.

"Those people across the ocean said that we have atomic bombs, but no hydrogen bombs. That's 'having bombs but no guns'."

"The big brother in the north said that it will take us at least ten years to go from the atomic bomb to the hydrogen bomb."

"ten years?"

Su Zheng sneered.

"We can't wait ten years."

"We can't even wait three years."

He suddenly waved his hand, pointing to the vast, empty wasteland in the distance.

"Right here."

"Right here on this golden and silver beach."

"We will build our own hydrogen bomb in two years and eight months!"

"We want those two superpowers to know that we can not only create the sun, but also stars a thousand times brighter than it!"

"I know it's tough here. We drink saline water, eat undercooked rice, and live in dugouts."

"But the cause we're about to undertake is earth-shattering!"

"Today, we are driving in our first pile here."

"Tomorrow, the backbone of our nation will rise here!"

After Su Zheng finished speaking, he took a large iron hammer handed to him by a soldier next to him.

He walked to the foundation of the planned factory building. There stood a wooden stake tied with red silk.

"Hey!"

Su Zheng shouted and swung his iron hammer.

"Thump!"

The wooden stakes were driven deep into the frozen soil.

That muffled thud, like a war drum, struck the hearts of everyone.

"Dry!"

"Let's fight them!"

"Two years and eight months! Even if it means peeling off a layer of skin, I'll get through it!"

The young people's passion was ignited. They forgot about altitude sickness and the cold, waving their fists and letting out deafening roars.

……

into the night.

The wind howled and the temperature plummeted to minus twenty degrees Celsius.

Inside Su Zheng's tent, a dim kerosene lamp was lit.

This place served as both his dormitory and his temporary dean's office.

A table made up of several ammunition boxes was covered with blueprints and documents.

Ye Xinyi sat opposite him, holding an abacus and rapidly turning the keys. Her movements were so fast they were like afterimages; it was a human brain calculation more agile than "Red Star One".

"The results are in."

Ye Xinyi stopped what she was doing and pushed a sheet of paper filled with data in front of Su Zheng.

"If we follow Mike's model, we would need at least 600 tons of liquid deuterium. That's simply not feasible from an engineering standpoint."

"And this too."

She pointed to another statistic, "If we imitate the 'sandwich' configuration of the Big Brother in the North, the yield limit is locked at 50 kilotons. This can't be called a real hydrogen bomb at all; it can only be considered an enhanced version of an atomic bomb."

Su Zheng looked at the data and nodded.

"Wife, your calculations are still so sharp."

"Stop being sarcastic." Ye Xinyi rolled her eyes at him, twirling the pencil in her hand rapidly. "The problem now is that the road is blocked. The principles of the TU configuration are tightly controlled by the company across the ocean and to the north. We have to find our own way."

Su Zheng stood up and paced around the cramped tent.

"The road is right under your feet."

Su walked to the world map hanging on the tent wall and his gaze fell on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (Bikini Atoll).

"The principle of the hydrogen bomb is essentially the focusing and compression of energy."

"The atomic bomb is the 'trigger,' while the hydrogen bomb is the 'detonator.'"

"How do you transfer the enormous energy generated when the trigger is pulled to the firing pin before it explodes and ignites it?"

"The shockwave is too slow," Ye Xinyi interjected. "By the time the shockwave reaches the target, the outer shell will have already been blown away."

"Yes, the shockwave is too slow."

Su Zheng turned around and looked at Ye Xinyi. "Xinyi, what's the fastest thing in this universe?"

"Light."

Ye Xinyi blurted it out.

"To be precise, it's electromagnetic waves. It's X-rays."

A light gleamed in Su Zheng's eyes.

"What if...we could use X-rays?"

Ye Xinyi's eyes lit up instantly. Her brain started working furiously, and she sketched several drafts on the paper.

"You mean...a radiation implosion?"

"Using the speed of X-rays, how can we 'deliver' energy before the shockwave?"

"Yes!" Su Zheng looked at her admiringly, "You understand me, you admire me."

Ye Xinyi ignored his praise and fell into deeper thought.

"But... X-rays diverge. How do you focus them?"

"reflection."

Su Zheng picked up the enamel mug on the table and gestured, "If the outer shell is a specific curved surface, and the inner wall is coated with a special reflective layer..."

"oval!"

Ye Xinyi suddenly raised her head and said in unison with Su Zheng.

Their eyes met in mid-air, as if sparks were flying.

It's a resonance deep within the soul. No further explanation is needed; a glance, a gesture, and the other person's intention is understood.

"If it's an elliptical structure... the atomic bomb would be placed at the first focus, and thermonuclear materials at the second focus..."

Ye Xinyi grabbed the abacus and started typing away.

A few minutes later.

"Theoretically feasible!"

Ye Xinyi's voice trembled slightly with excitement, "The energy focusing density... has increased by 1000 times! Enough to ignite fusion!"

"but……"

She frowned again. "The specific structural parameters, the opacity of the material, the equations of radiation hydrodynamics... these are too complicated. If I were to calculate them myself, it would take forever."

"This requires a genius."

Su Zheng smiled.

He remembered the man in the Theory Department who was struggling with the "sandwich cookie" design.

Lao Yu.

That unparalleled genius who was later hailed as the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb".

"Call Lao Yu over."

Su Zheng said to Ye Xinyi, "It's time to light the fire we gave him."

……

Ten minutes later.

Old Yu lifted the curtain and walked in. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well for several days.

"Dean Su, Xinyi, why are you looking for me so late?"

"Old Yu, sit down."

Su Zheng pushed the sketch that Ye Xinyi had just drawn in front of him.

"Stop with that 'sandwich cookie' thing. It's a dead end."

"Take a look at this."

Old Yu adjusted his glasses and leaned over for a look.

Just one glance.

His body froze.

That ellipse, that focus, that arrow labeled "X-ray"...

In his brilliant mind, the sketch instantly transformed into a three-dimensional, dynamic physical model.

Energy is flowing.

The light is being reflected.

Death is in focus.

"This...this..."

Old Yu's hands began to tremble, his lips quivered, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

"Who came up with this idea?"

He suddenly raised his head, looking at Su Zheng and Ye Xinyi with a fanatical gaze, like a believer who had seen God.

"This is the beauty of physics! This is... this is the simplicity of the ultimate truth!"

Su Zheng and Ye Xinyi exchanged a glance and smiled.

"Old Yu, this is just a line of thought," Su Zheng said. "You'll have to derive the specific equations yourself. You're a top expert in theoretical physics; only you can do this."

"I'll do it! I'll do it!"

Old Yu grabbed the piece of paper, treasuring it and pressing it to his chest. "With this...with this...I promise you! Even if I have to calculate it by hand, I will figure out how to make the hydrogen bomb!"

"No need to calculate by hand."

Ye Xinyi pointed to a pile of data next to her, "'Red Star II' is already on its way. Until then, I'll be your human computer. Whatever data you need, I'll calculate it for you."

Old Yu looked at Ye Xinyi, then at Su Zheng, and bowed deeply.

"Thanks."

"Thank you... for showing the way for the country."

……

The next morning.

When the first rays of sunlight shone on the Golden and Silver Beach, the entire base was already in an uproar.

Old Yu convened the theory team overnight and announced the new configuration concept, which was described as "top secret." Although many people still expressed doubts, this undoubtedly tore a hole in the darkness.

"Dean Su."

General Zhang walked to Su Zheng's side, looking at the foundations already under construction in the distance, and asked, "That old Yu, is he really capable?"

"OK."

Su Zheng said with certainty, "He alone is worth ten divisions."

He turned to look at Ye Xinyi beside him. Ye Xinyi was adjusting his collar, her movements gentle and natural.

"And then there's Xinyi," Su Zheng added. "She alone is worth ten other divisions."

General Zhang laughed heartily, "Alright! Since you two both agree, then I'll take good care of this household."

He pointed to the soldiers around him who were pulling up barbed wire.

"From today onwards, this is the Special Economic Zone."

"Not even a bird can fly in."

"But..." General Zhang's tone shifted, and he said with some concern, "The winds in the capital aren't quite right lately. I heard that some schools have already suspended classes, and some... movements seem to be brewing."

Su Zheng's eyes narrowed.

storm.

The storm that will sweep across the country is finally coming.

In that particular era, no land was absolutely safe. Even this remote Golden and Silver Beach could be affected.

"Old Zhang."

Su Zheng turned his head and looked at this general with a distinguished military record.

"If one day, someone wearing a red armband tries to storm into our laboratory and arrest our scientists..."

"What would you do?"

General Zhang was taken aback for a moment.

Then, a murderous look appeared on his face.

He patted the pistol at his waist.

"My gun only recognizes the orders of the Central Military Commission, not any armbands."

"Anyone who dares to touch my scientists, I'll send them to meet the King of Hell."

Su Zheng smiled.

This is enough.

"it is good."

Su Zheng held Ye Xinyi's hand and looked up at the distant sky.

Dark clouds are gathering; a snowstorm is imminent.

But on this golden and silver beach, an ark has already set sail.

It will carry the last embers of this ancient nation, traversing the storms of those ten years, and sailing towards the stars and the sea.