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

The dugout where the lecture was held was dimly lit, with only a small 15-watt light bulb, a kerosene lamp on the podium, and a gas lamp in the corner.

Even so, it still wasn't enough in the dugout where dozens of people were crammed together.

So the instructor of the first division gritted his teeth and got four more oil bowl lamps, which were made by pouring some rapeseed oil and soybean oil into them, then using strips of cloth to make wicks and soaking them in the oil.

The flame of this lamp was only the size of a soybean, but it was enough to light up the dugout and illuminate the eager faces of each student.

When they heard that the missiles were to be launched towards Jingdong, everyone rubbed their hands together in anticipation, as if they could be mobilized without hesitation at the first command.

Even He Chengxun, who only had two cents, couldn't help but raise his hand to speak.

"Taking Jingdong is a big deal, but the journey is a bit long. We'd have to go all the way from here to Fengtian and back, right? I think it would be better to move the launch site to the coast; it's closer there!"

Zhou Yunxiao said seriously, "If we're just targeting JD.com, our Dongfeng No. 2 is actually enough."

He quickly drew two more sketches on the blackboard, marking several locations.

"In fact, as early as the beginning of the establishment of the Fifth Academy, Director Chen and President Qian had discussed the strategic objectives of missiles. We used the Dongfeng-1 as a learning missile to accumulate experience."

"Next, number 2 will target JD.com as a hypothetical strategic target, number 3 will target the Philippines and Annam, which have occupied reefs and islands, and number 4 will target Guam, which is always trying to blackmail us. As for the potential targets of number 5..."

Zhou Yunxiao kept everyone in suspense, drawing a large semi-circle on the blackboard, as if crossing an ocean to the other side, "Here!"

"good!"

"Hurry up and build Unit 5, let them see what we're made of!"

"We welcome friends with fine wine, but if wolves come, we'll greet them with fierce weapons!"

The students chatted excitedly, but soon they consciously restored classroom discipline and listened attentively.

Zhou Yunxiao said, "Don't overthink it. This is just a hypothetical strategic target. We develop missiles purely for self-defense; we have no malicious intent whatsoever. Furthermore, missiles are the foundation for our rocket development—that's the real grand undertaking we're pursuing! Only after developing missiles can we develop rockets!"

Shen Ruiyu eagerly raised her hand, "Teacher, is it like the Katyusha rocket?"

Zhou Yunxiao shook his head. "Completely different. The rocket I'm talking about is an upgraded version of a missile; its official name should be a launch vehicle. It's much larger than a Katyusha!"

Someone asked, "How big is it?"

Zhou Yunxiao said mysteriously, "When I was studying in Sultanate, I saw a report about a type of launch vehicle. It was about 100 meters tall and 10 meters wide. That's big enough, isn't it?"

Everyone was startled, then gestured to each other, trying to guess what ten meters meant.

Shen Ruiyu exclaimed in surprise, "That rocket is even more spacious than this classroom!"

He Chengxun remarked, "The tallest building in our base, the Surinamese expert building, is only a little over ten meters high. This kind of rocket would require ten expert buildings stacked together to reach that height. Is this a super missile?"

"Calling it a super missile wouldn't be a problem."

Zhou Yunxiao nodded, "These rockets have takeoff thrust of thousands or even tens of thousands of tons, and can transport hundreds of tons of supplies into space at a time."

"Why send it up into the sky? Won't it fall back down?"

Zhou Yunxiao explained, "Of course, we build houses and people live in the sky. As for why the houses don't fall, well... you'll understand when I tell you about Newton's three laws of motion."

"Goodness gracious! Living in the sky means being neighbors with the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother of the West! Can rockets fly that high?"

"That's what makes rockets unique."

Zhou Yunxiao snapped his fingers and patiently explained to everyone, "You all know about the Red Chess No. 1 from the Third Division, right? That thing can shoot down a U-2 reconnaissance plane, flying at an altitude of 20,000 meters. Isn't that amazing?"

He Chengxun said, "Of course, we also know that the U-2 was shot down under the command of Teacher Zhou, and he was even awarded a second-class merit!"

"Ahem, let's not talk about the meritorious deeds. Anyway, the range of a carrier rocket is far greater than that of this kind of missile. A while ago, Shanghai launched a T-7M sounding rocket, which you can think of as a 'child's version' of a rocket. Guess how high it reached?"

The trainees offered their opinions in a flurry, with some guessing 500 meters, others 2,000 meters, and still others 5,000 meters, which drew teasing from the others.

Zhou Yunxiao smiled and wrote a string of numbers on the blackboard in bold strokes—10000 meters.

The trainees eagerly stood on tiptoe to examine the string of zeros, some even rubbing their eyes in disbelief, wondering if they had misread it.

"My God, 10,000 meters!"

"Is this a rocket? It can fly so high!"

"I thought the Red Chess One was amazing enough, but it's almost being overtaken by the T-7M. By the way, can rockets shoot down reconnaissance planes...?"

Zhou Yunxiao said, "This is just a basic... a children's version of a rocket. The rockets we really want to build won't fly this low. They need to be able to fly 100,000 meters, 1 million meters, or even 10 million meters to deserve the name 'launch vehicle'!"

"Only something ten million meters high deserves to be called a rocket? That's taller than the Jade Emperor's Southern Heavenly Gate!"

"Can we really build it?"

"This is outrageous..."

Zhou Yunxiao nodded: "If you want to build something in the sky, the rocket has to fly that high. America and Sultanate have already built them and even launched artificial satellites. Does anyone know about Sputnik?"

Everyone shook their heads in unison, completely bewildered.

"This is the world's first 'man-made house,' currently floating above our heads, designed by Professor K of Sultanate. And now, they're starting to send these houses to the moon, to Mars, and even planning 'manned spaceflight'!"

What is manned spaceflight?

Zhou Yunxiao came up with the simplest and most straightforward explanation: "It's like a person sitting inside a missile warhead and flying into the sky!"

The trainees were startled when they heard this.

Many people witnessed the launch of Dongfeng-1 and knew the power of the missile, wondering if this thing could carry people.

Isn't this like sitting on a barrel of explosives and flying into the sky?

Zhou Yunxiao said, "Manned spaceflight is a major research topic that the United States and Suriname are studying. So far, they have successfully launched puppies and chicks into space, and I believe that we are not far from real manned spaceflight."

We've only just figured out how to launch a 10-kilometer sounding rocket, and we don't even know what the von Kármán line looks like, so there's a long way to go. But as long as everyone works together as one, what others can do, we can do too!

He Chengxun asked expectantly, "Professor Zhou, are you saying that our Dongguo will be able to conduct manned spaceflight in the future? And build houses in the sky?"

"Of course! We can not only conduct manned spaceflight, but we will also have CNSA, our own space agency, our own manned spacecraft, we will have everything!"

Zhou Yunxiao nodded firmly to everyone.

The evening school classes run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., a full two hours.

But for the soldiers living in dugouts, time flew by.

No matter what Teacher Zhou talked about, everyone found it interesting and took notes diligently.

As Zhou Yunxiao lectured on the platform, he wrote with great enthusiasm and scribbling. Sometimes, when he looked back at the students who were listening attentively, seeing their focused and devout expressions, he couldn't help but think of a scene from an oil painting.

These battle-hardened and meritorious heroes are just like believers in a church who listen attentively to the pastor reciting the Gospel of Matthew.

Before we knew it, the handbell of the night school rang.

Zhou Yunxiao also spoke eloquently for a full two hours, still seemingly wanting to continue.

He seems to have an inexhaustible supply of knowledge, always able to cite classical texts and simplify complex concepts to explain new knowledge to his students.

The entire lesson can be delivered without referring to a lesson plan or pausing; the teacher can teach directly without notes.

After class, the students, exhausted, packed their bags one by one, said goodbye to Teacher Zhou, and crawled out of the dugout.

Zhou Yunxiao waved with a smile, and only after everyone had left did he blow out the kerosene lamp, gas lamp, and oil bowl lamp, then pulled the lamp cord and left.

The cold wind howled at night, and a fierce hurricane quietly swept across the Badain Jaran Desert, chilling people to the bone.

Zhou Yunxiao stomped his foot and ran towards the checkpoint to catch a car back to his dormitory.

In the vast No. 1 compound, most of the lights in the houses were off, leaving only a silent darkness and stillness.

He was halfway there when he suddenly spotted a familiar figure, so he tiptoed over to it.

After walking only a few steps, the crunching sound of their shoes sinking into the snow alerted the other side, who immediately picked up and loaded their Type 56 semi-automatic rifle!