Chapter 10 Chapter nine

On October 27, 1966, when the Western world led by the United States was still busy sending high-altitude spy planes to collect samples of China's air explosions, Xinhua News Agency released another shocking news——The People's Republic of China Government Press Release: China is on its own territory , the missile nuclear weapon test was successfully carried out, the missile flew normally, the nuclear warhead hit the target accurately at its predetermined distance, and achieved a nuclear explosion... Another loud bang that shook the world!Listen to what the arrogant Americans can say this time.How difficult it is!After 24 hours of silence, the Americans began to pretend to be Ah Q, saying that China's missile nuclear test "was carried out within the foreseeable time".Hey, that's an extremely uncomfortable "magnanimity"! On June 17, 1967, a white cylinder appeared over the Lop Nur test site—it was thrown out by a high-speed aircraft in the blue sky, like a floating depth charge in the blue ocean.It tugged on the parachute vigorously, shaking, flying, searching, gliding... getting farther and farther away, leaving only a small white dot, a white dot that can only be caught by feeling but not by vision .Suddenly - white light!White light, omnipresent white light, white light that shines through the sky!At the moment when people squinted their eyes slightly due to the strong shock, gold appeared in the white light, just like a newborn and more magnificent sun pushing another sun aside, the one with eternal significance in nature The sun was squeezed into a small, dull projectile.A blinding dizziness.In the daze is a brilliant sea of ​​light.Nuclear fire, beyond the sun at this moment.Those who worship the sun are aware of the burning of human power at this moment.Everything runs as planned.A straw hat-shaped white cloud gradually appeared above the fireball, and the cloud whirled leisurely, turning into a white mushroom cloud.On the top of the mushroom cloud, which is 10 kilometers high and 10 kilometers wide, is a black dome... For a long time, people heard two shocking bangs in their ears.A loud noise from the front is the burst of a huge fireball, and another loud noise that is more shocking is the echo from the endless Tianshan Mountains behind... (Excerpted from Peng Jichao's "The Great Sound of the East")

At 23:30 that day, I, who was only 11 years old, and hundreds of millions of Chinese people got up in the middle of the night and heard such an "important news" - an important news that Mao Zedong personally circled: "We solemnly declare to the people of the whole country and the people of the world that , Chairman Mao's wise prophecy and great call have come true, after five nuclear tests in two years and eight months, today, June 17, 1967, China's first hydrogen bomb was dropped on China's The explosion over the western region was successful!" The hydrogen bomb is several times more powerful than the atomic bomb, and it is a nuclear weapon with huge lethality.China's hydrogen bomb has an equivalent of 3 million tons.

"God, what does Mao Zedong want to do? Does he have 100 Oppenheimers in his hands?" The White House was terrified.In their view, if China did not have 100 Oppenheimers, it would not have completed the arduous, complicated, tortuous and long "nuclear journey" that took the United States and the Soviet Union more than ten years to complete in such a short period of time. It was all over in just two years!horrible!Terrible Chinese!horrible!Terrible "Chinese Oppenheimers"!In fact, the Western world should be aware that China has thousands of years of history and is a country of the "Four Great Inventions."

"China Oppenheimer" is such a group of extraordinary creators. As one of the main leaders and organizers of nuclear weapons, after Wang Ganchang and his colleagues who fought side by side completed the first atomic bomb test in 1964, Mao Zedong and the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party took them back to Beijing in order to commend these outstanding meritorious figures. In January 1965, the third National People's Congress was grandly held after the loud bang in Lop Nur. The Chinese leaders who had just experienced three years of natural disasters and were squeezed by the "left" and right deviations for several years and us The people suddenly became elated!At a meeting to elect members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a name that had never appeared in Chinese politics—Wang Jing was unanimously elected by the deputies as a member of the Standing Committee of the new National People's Congress.

When Wang Ganchang saw his name on the National People's Congress Gazette, others couldn't understand the excitement that surged in his heart, because he never thought that he would join the ranks of national political figures as an intellectual, and he appeared under a pseudonym. Since he entered the "Grey House" or later came to the Lop Nur Base on the Qinghai Plateau, although Wang Ganchang no longer used the three characters "Wang Ganchang" to record his life and work, but the pseudonym "Wang Jing" is actually not called by many people. he.No matter from the prime minister of the country to the marshal of the Republic, or colleagues who stay together all day, and even those "child soldiers", they all call him "Old Wang", "Mr. Wang", and "Old Wang". the most familiar call.

"Hee hee, I'm Wang Jing, and Wang Jing is me." This childlike scientific fighter, holding the press release of the National People's Congress in his hand, babbled.When he got home, he took the newspaper and said to his children in a funny way: "This 'Wang Jing' is me!" The Seventh National People's Congress.In the past 20 years, Wang Ganchang has always been at the forefront of China's nuclear weapon testing and nuclear energy science work, leading the secret work of China's nuclear testing. We often refer to famous scientists such as Wang Ganchang as "the pioneers of the two bombs", which refer to the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb.

Out of the consideration of the current situation and the situation, after the first big explosion in Lop Nur, Zhongnanhai immediately decided to make a hydrogen bomb strategic decision.When Wang Ganchang attended the National People's Congress, he and the nuclear experts who fought side by side in the front line of nuclear weapon testing received another order from Chairman Mao Zedong: "There must be atomic bombs, and there must be hydrogen bombs." As early as when the atomic bomb was being developed, the top decision-maker It has already set its sights on the hydrogen bomb that "others have what we should have".And this "egg" is much more powerful than that "egg", and its related technologies were only mastered by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom at that time.The ever-victorious French President, General Charles de Gaulle, had vowed to become the "fourth" of the hydrogen bomb.At this time, top Chinese nuclear physicists such as Wang Ganchang and Qian Sanqiang knew nothing about hydrogen bomb technology.

After Mao Zedong’s order was issued, Liu Jie, Minister of the Second Ministry of Machinery, summoned his subordinates to quickly write a report that “a hydrogen bomb can be detonated within 3 to 5 years” and sent it to the Prime Minister’s desk. Zhou Enlai immediately told Liu Jie: “It takes 3 years to detonate a hydrogen bomb. , It’s too slow, hurry up!” It can be seen that the Chinese leaders are too eager to develop nuclear weapons. We should say with great respect today: "Thank you Qian Sanqiang." Because it was this far-sighted Chinese nuclear weapon development strategist who quietly began to deploy another "nuclear weapon" while Wang Ganchang and the others were working hard on the development of the atomic bomb. Strategy”—the basic theoretical research of hydrogen bomb technology.

The declassified historical data tell us that the hydrogen bomb is a nuclear weapon that uses the energy of the atomic bomb to ignite the self-sustained fusion reaction of hydrogen nuclei such as deuterium and tritium, and release huge energy in an instant. The power of an atomic bomb may be several hundred to tens of thousands of tons of TNT equivalent, but The equivalent of a hydrogen bomb is as large as tens of millions of tons of TNT.But not all nuclear weapons can be mastered by many scientists in a short period of time.The Americans took inspiration from the atomic bomb test and began to explore the hydrogen bomb. It took 10 years for their first hydrogen bomb to detonate, and it took the Soviet Union longer.The Chinese Prime Minister is very dissatisfied with his subordinate's plan to explode the hydrogen bomb in "three years". It is conceivable that Chinese scientists will face a more intense and difficult secret journey! "Xiao Huang, one day we are going to conduct a hydrogen bomb test, so the organization decided to make a major adjustment to the professional research content of your research group and conduct theoretical research on light nuclear. This is a very difficult task, so please keep it secret. !” One day, Qian Sanqiang called Huang Zuqia, who was in his 30s, to his office and exhorted him.It was Qian Sanqiang's move that made the first atomic bomb explode, buying precious time for Chinese scientists to start the formal development of the hydrogen bomb.

Later, Comrade Yu Min, a young physicist known as "China's domestically produced nuclear weapons No. 1", also joined Huang Zuqia's research on light nuclear theory, and thus made a rapid breakthrough in China's scientific theory in this area. One day, Qian Sanqiang brought a group of light nuclear theory researchers including Yu Min and Huang Zuqia to the Institute of Nuclear Weapons, and said to Wang Ganchang, the vice president who presided over the work: "Mr. Now it's up to everyone!" Wang Ganchang looked at Yu Min, Huang Zuqia and other young people with joy.After research, Yu Min was sent to the theoretical department of the Nuclear Research Institute, and the theoretical department at this time was really strong: the director Deng Jiaxian, the deputy director Zhou Guangzhao... such a group of talented and quick-thinking young scientists fully presided over the production and technical work. Wang Ganchang seems to have sent thousands of troops.

"I don't need to say anything else, everyone is as clear as I am. What Premier Zhou said about 'taking the hydrogen bomb in three years' is a death order. Although we have created the atomic bomb, none of us understand the hydrogen bomb. I have never touched some of the basic principles, Comrades Sanqiang have never touched it, Comrade Qian Xuesen has never touched it, and neither have you, but we must use what others have worked out in seven, eight, or ten years What is the difficulty? The difficulty lies in the first step to figure out its basic principles. I don’t know if I am right? Please think about this issue together. As the saying goes, three cobblers are worth one Zhuge Liang. Interesting, we can have several Zhuge Liang here!" At a meeting, Wang Ganchang pointed to Deng Jiaxian, Zhou Guangzhao, Yu Min and others from the theory department. "Mr. Wang is right. Hydrogen bombs are much more complicated than atomic bombs. After the Soviets withdrew, we still had Mr. Wang and Dean Sanqiang. In terms of theory and practice, even our young comrades know a lot of basic principles of atoms. But hydrogen bombs are different, and everyone is a layman. Now the development time given by the above is so tight, but I don’t think so. It’s nothing to be afraid of. We can break through if we conquer the level of principle.” “Doctor Doll” Deng Jiaxian usually has a poetic temperament and is easily excited.His words were like a shot of stimulant to the young scientists in the theory department. "Director Deng and Mr. Wang are right. The first step is to study the principles. I think as long as the direction is right, we should be able to break through." Yu Min said confidently. "Jia Xian and Brother Yu Min are experts in this area. With their theoretical foundation, and the cooperation of us, it shouldn't be a problem." Zhou Guangzhao said. "Yes. We dare to assure the central government that we will successfully detonate our own hydrogen bomb within the scheduled time." Like every previous meeting, Wang Ganchang felt that the group of young people under him was too promising. "Okay, we will report to the central government in order to invest in the principle research as soon as possible. At the same time, the experiments will be carried out quickly and simultaneously. Once there is a breakthrough, the two will be combined into one, and the time will be seized." Wang Ganchang said. "I heard that Charles de Gaulle of France is going to be the 'fourth hydrogen bomb'. I think we must not be the 'fifth', and strive to compare with de Gaulle!" Deng Jiaxian's words aroused joy and encouragement. Wang Ganchang always glanced in the direction of the theory department before going to sleep, and every time he saw bright lights... "It's too late, everyone should pay attention to your health." He couldn't bear it several times and went into the room to mobilize The young scientists went to bed early, but they were "driven" out every time: "Dean Wang, you are almost 60 years old, and you still stay in the Gobi Desert all year round, eating sand bubbles and sleeping in tent beds at night. We work overtime A night worker, isn’t it influenced by your old age? When you won’t be seen on the Gobi Desert, we dare to be lazy!” With these good guys, China still has to worry about going to heaven and earth?Wang Ganchang is often moved by these clever and lovely young men.But science is not a "children's play" after all, not to mention nuclear science, which is a new science. According to the actual situation at that time, Chinese strategists adopted the "leading three-way method" under the direct command and organization of Premier Zhou Enlai. "Strategic steps in synthetic warfare. At that time, Wang Ganchang and the others had two considerations: one was thermonuclear fusion. For example, the hydrogen bomb test device in the United States used a large fixed body. If thermonuclear fusion was carried out, the hydrogen bomb test would be completed. This is familiar to Wang Ganchang. Laser inertial confinement fusion was successfully explored when the atomic bomb was developed, which itself contains a breakthrough in this area; another opinion is to directly develop a hydrogen bomb that can be loaded with a missile head.Later, Premier Zhou Enlai comprehensively proposed the idea that the hydrogen bomb test should be miniaturized like the atomic bomb. Therefore, Wang Ganchang, Zhu Guangya (then vice president), Deng Jiaxian, Zhou Guangzhao, Yu Min and others unified the development direction, that is, they did not seek The strategic decision of seeking "explosion" when it is large. The first difficulty encountered at that time was that the nuclear data about the thermonuclear fusion of the hydrogen bomb explosion could not be grasped, because theoretical exploration without nuclear data was tantamount to finding a needle in a haystack.For this reason, the female physicist He Zehui led more than 30 scientific and technical personnel, based on the research on light nuclear reactions conducted by another student of Wang Ganchang, Professor Ding Dazhao, and worked hard for half a year, and successfully obtained the corresponding nuclear data.In September of the same year, a small team led by Yu Min fought day and night at the Shanghai Computer Institute for 100 days, and discovered the key principles of the self-sustained combustion of thermonuclear materials in hydrogen bombs, which opened up a bright road for the entire hydrogen bomb test. "Brother Yu Min, thank you so much! You have found a door for our entire hydrogen bomb test that can lead to the end of victory, hahaha, I am so happy! I am so happy!" Deng Jiaxian made a special trip to fly there after hearing the news At Yu Min, when he saw Yu Min and hugged his good partner, he was as excited as a big child. "Hey, Jiaxian, we are all elderly people. If you look like this, we will all be scared!" Later, when Deng Jiaxian reported to Premier Zhou Enlai about the success of the research on the principle of the hydrogen bomb, he was too excited and nervous. His face was pale, and even his hands were shaking, which made Premier Zhou rush to rescue him. "Can I not be excited? After passing the data and principle, it means that we can make great strides towards the direction of the experiment! I can get drunk for the victory in the near future!" Afterwards, Deng Jiaxian Wang Ganchang argued in front of him. Wang Ganchang especially appreciates his right-hand man. He is not good at talking, but Deng Jiaxian is a passionate scientist, so he likes Deng Jiaxian from the bottom of his heart. "Yu Min and the others have brought us a gratifying breakthrough in our entire research work. This is a good start. You and Comrade Guangzhao should hurry up and start from another way, and carry out calculations and demonstrations on the results we have achieved, so that we can fundamentally overcome the heat wave. The principle of nuclear fusion." Wang Ganchang is worthy of being a great scientist who stands tall and sees far. He asked Deng Jiaxian to do this, so that China can surpass the old ways of Western countries in the field of thermonuclear fusion theory research, so as to pave the way for China's future nuclear weapons. Research work gets rid of many passive situations. Deng Jiaxian lived up to expectations, and soon found another way, and formed the famous "Deng-Yu theoretical plan" with Yu Min's research results. "Directly carry out multi-stage thermonuclear tests." With the approval of Premier Zhou Enlai, Wang Ganchang and the others started a new round of hydrogen bomb tests. The principle of the hydrogen bomb is much more complicated than that of the atomic bomb. Although Deng Jiaxian and Yu Min have completed the research on the principle of thermonuclear fusion, the process from the principle to the experiment to the successful nuclear explosion is extremely difficult and long.Wang Ganchang is a master of experiments, but the hydrogen bomb test made him think hard.First of all, the nuclear device itself is enough for him to use his brains. "If the problems can be solved with cold tests without nuclear reactions, all of them should be solved with cold tests, so as to increase the success rate of thermal tests and reduce the number of thermal tests as much as possible." This is the question he thinks about day and night.Wang Ganchang learned from Premier Zhou Enlai many times that the government and the people of the whole country are tightening their belts in order to conduct nuclear weapons tests.Wang Ganchang understood that using one more nuclear reactor device in the experiment would deprive tens or even hundreds of thousands of people of their rations, so he thought more than others. Anyone who engages in nuclear tests knows that the effect of 10 cold tests may be worth only one hot test.For this reason, Wang Ganchang led everyone to pay several times or even dozens of times more hardships than before.It was in the repeated cold experiments that Wang Ganchang and the others quickly solved many key technologies in the detonation design.When the technology obtained in the experiment was "returned" to Deng Jiaxian's theoretical research, the entire hydrogen bomb research work entered a substantive development process. The hydrogen bomb test is too complicated. From the development of thermonuclear material components to product design, explosion experiments, and then to physical testing, Wang Ganchang has to worry about every link for a while.He left early and returned late, traveled thousands of miles to the base, and asked questions from a trivial calculation problem to an indomitable steel device. The comrades who fought side by side with Wang Ganchang in Lop Nur told me that "Old Wang" doesn't care about anything except work and technology.They also wore green military uniforms, lived in tents, and slept on wooden beds.Although the central government has instructed that his treatment should be the same as that of base commanders, no one who has met Wang Ganchang will believe that he has such a high "treatment". Wang Ganchang treats every production and technical matter with the attitude of a dedicated scientist, and in the huge system engineering of the hydrogen bomb test, he takes on the important task of leading thousands of troops to overcome various difficulties and obstacles .However, something that Wang Ganchang did not and could not have imagined happened. "Report to Dean Wang: The whole city of Beijing is in chaos, there are big-character posters everywhere, and our 'gray building' is surrounded by water." "Director Zhou Guangzhao's home has been ransacked..." Someone secretly told Wang Ganchang the news. "Who dares to surround our 'gray building'? It is a top-secret place that Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou have said! Why did you confiscate Guangzhao's house? He didn't do anything bad! I'm going to Beijing to testify for him !” Wang Ganchang was an old intellectual who never knew the mysteries of politics, and he couldn’t imagine what was going on with what others told him. "It is said that Guangzhao is a 'reactionary bourgeois academic authority', so what are we? How can a 'reactionary bourgeois academic authority' build an atomic bomb for the country! Nonsense. I want to ask Marshal Nie for clarification!" Wang Ganchang has never been like this been angry.