Traveling Back to the 1960s: The Entire Internet Teaches Me How to Build Missiles

Zhou Yunxiao glanced around and said with a smile, "We have some new faces in Class 1 of the night school today. Let me introduce myself first..."

He grabbed half a piece of chalk from the chalk box, turned around, and wrote his name on the blackboard stroke by stroke in a graceful and elegant manner.

"My name is Zhou Yunxiao. You can call me Xiao Zhou, or Engineer Zhou, or if you prefer, Brother Comrade. Whatever you like. Starting today, I will explain the weapon parameters and launch procedures of the Dongfeng-2 missile to you... to ensure that when it comes to future field tests, you can quickly master its use like old friends..."

At this moment, Liangmao San eagerly raised his hand.

Zhou Yunxiao laughed and said, "Just stand up and say what you have to say. My class doesn't involve those formalities."

Two Mao San stood up. "Reporting to Teacher Zhou, before we started night school, our superiors instructed us that here, teachers are like kings, and what they say is law. We are to follow orders in everything we do, and we must do what Bingbing said again?"

Those around them chimed in, "That's called being polite! It teaches us roughnecks to be more courteous when we speak, so we don't scare the teacher away! Hahaha..."

"Shut up! No laughing! You need to be serious in class, you know? What did I just teach you? City students always listen attentively in class..."

Unexpectedly, Liangmao San was quite prestigious; with just one glare, everyone immediately fell silent like quails.

Seeing this, Zhou Yunxiao replied, "So that's why you suddenly became interested in this 'standing and sitting' etiquette. So you learned it from the city? What's your name?"

"Reporting to the teacher, my name is He Chengxun! Formerly the head of the Confidential Office of the 20th Army Corps, currently a staff officer in the Launch Regiment of the Surface-to-Surface Missile Test Department of Unit 0029! I've been ordered to report to Teacher Zhou to learn advanced knowledge! If you don't mind, I can be a squad leader in the future and help you discipline these disobedient students!"

Zhou Yunxiao laughed nonstop, "Then you're a veteran among veterans! A squad leader with a mere two cents' worth of honors—you probably can't find another one like that anywhere in the world, right?"

"That's fine, I don't care about your rank, just take it as your agreement."

With that, He Chengxun rolled up his sleeves and said to the students with an air of authority, "Listen up, everyone! Anyone who dares to slack off will be dealt with!"

Zhou Yunxiao waved his hand and said, "Staff Officer He, there's no need to be so reserved. In terms of rank and years of service, you are all veterans. I'm quite happy that you're willing to sit down and listen to a new recruit like me give a lecture."

"That's different," He Chengxun said with a clear understanding. "Ye Ling said that when it comes to marching, fighting, and killing enemies on the battlefield, there isn't a single coward in our 20th Army Corps. They are all excellent. But when it comes to academics, compared to Teacher Zhou, we are all new recruits who have just joined the army. We come to night school to learn culture, and no one can be given special treatment."

He glared at the other comrades and said, "I don't care about the others, but all of you who were originally from the 20th Army Corps, bring out that indomitable spirit and learn it to the death! Don't embarrass your old unit!"

Many of the students present had bright eyes and straightened their backs, staring intently at the teacher on the podium.

Zhou Yunxiao nodded and waved for He Chengxun to sit down.

Seeing these new faces, each one eager to learn and tireless in their pursuit of knowledge, his fatigue from a day's work suddenly vanished as if he had been injected with adrenaline.

If you're tired, what about those people who are busy with combat training, building positions, reclaiming wasteland, and constructing reservoirs during the day? They're doing heavy physical labor. Aren't they tired too?

Zhou Yunxiao composed himself slightly and began to speak.

"As everyone knows, the Dongfeng-2 is just around the corner for its field test. This is our first completely independently developed surface-to-surface missile. Whether it can be successfully launched depends entirely on your cooperation, so this period will be a bit tough, and you will have to learn a lot."

"Missiles are not a simple subject; they involve fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, chemical engineering, control theory, mechanics of materials, mechanical engineering... and of course, even more complex mathematical operations such as calculus..."

"These things are quite difficult to learn... So let me test you first, I'll give you a question..."

As he spoke, Zhou Yunxiao picked up the chalk and wrote down a very simple math problem—a linear equation in one variable.

3X + 7 = 22, find X.

Zhou Yunxiao looked at the students expectantly, "Who knows the solution? Raise your hand!"

The trainees below looked at each other, then a dozen or so hands were raised, while a small group of people lowered their heads, blushing with embarrassment.

Zhou Yunxiao shook his head.

These students attending night school were carefully selected and evaluated by their respective units as "elite soldiers" who were specially sent for further training.

I never imagined that even solving a linear equation in one variable would be so difficult; imagine how hard it would be to solve calculus equations...

Zhou Yunxiao unconsciously made the same head-scratching motion as Yuan Lao.

He Chengxun stood up again and said, "Teacher Zhou, please don't think we're stupid! As long as you're willing to teach, we'll study like crazy! I refuse to believe that soldiers who can be awarded combat hero status on the battlefield can't learn math! We're not bad soldiers!"

"Uh...but..."

Zhou Yunxiao opened his mouth, wanting to say that mathematics is different.

When people are pushed to their limits, they can do anything, except for mathematics.

He didn't dampen their enthusiasm, and comforted them, saying, "It's okay, I don't expect you to be experts. But you must master some basic principles of missiles, including troubleshooting methods."

At this moment, another trainee stood up and asked loudly, "Comrade, I heard that besides Dongfeng-2, there are many other experimental projects next year. Is that true?"

Zhou Yunxiao smiled and said, "I'm not entirely sure how many there are. But since our big brother withdrew, the base has 'intercepted' a lot of valuable information. With this information, the Fifth Research Institute of the Ministry of Defense has made great strides in the development of various missile models."

The so-called valuable materials were actually some modern missile theories that I had transferred from the live broadcast room during my previous work translating Russian.

Zhou Yunxiao said with satisfaction: "In addition to surface-to-surface, air-to-air, surface-to-air, and ship-to-shore missiles... it is said that a sixth division will be established to develop anti-tank missiles! It can be said that projects are being launched everywhere and in a rush. In terms of surface-to-surface missiles alone, in addition to the Dongfeng-2, there are three other models being developed at the same time."

"Didn't you see we've even expanded our launch squadron into a launch regiment? This is to build up strength for the upcoming tests. You can imagine the other divisions are also working incredibly hard, so there should be quite a few test projects next year."

The trainee grinned from ear to ear: "Seeing our missiles getting more and more numerous and thriving makes me happier than if I got married!"

He Chengxun pretended to be serious and said, "Raise your hand and call out 'teacher' before asking a question, don't you know that? That's what city students do; it's a way of respecting teachers!"

The trainee then belatedly raised his hand and said, "Thank you for your explanation, Teacher Zhou. My name is Shen Ruiyu, and I'm from the First Squadron of the Second Battalion of the Launch Regiment..."

Zhou Yunxiao nodded, and after he sat down, he drew a simple missile sketch on the blackboard.

The trainees' eyes lit up instantly. Before the teacher could introduce them, they guessed that this was Dongfeng No. 2 who was about to enter!

"This is the Dongfeng-2. You can close your eyes and imagine it; it's about 21 meters tall and 1.65 meters wide, equivalent to a seven-story building. It's a medium-range ballistic missile, with a range twice that of the Dongfeng-1, starting at 1200 kilometers and reaching a maximum of 1500 kilometers!"

The student named Shen Ruiyu squinted with anticipation, then raised his hand, "How far is 1500 kilometers?"

He Chengxun said, "That's a really, really far place!"

Zhou Yunxiao turned around, picked up a piece of chalk, and drew a circle around the missile. "From here to Urumqi in the northwest, Fengtian in the northeast, Nanjing in the southeast, and Chengdu, all are within the coverage area."

The trainees were in an uproar, then burst into applause, praising the performance highly.

Zhou Yunxiao laughed and said, "Don't be surprised, this is the power of science. As long as you master science, you can also create such powerful cutting-edge weapons, so studying hard is very important."

At this moment, Shen Ruiyu eagerly raised his hand and asked, "So when will we be able to build a missile that can hit Beijing?"