Chapter 1343
Success: The transport plane shocks the world; Jia Zhangshi is sentenced.
The morning sunlight streamed into the room.
Li Aiguo slowly opened his eyes on a large, soft, luxurious European-style bed.
Looking around, the room is filled with intricate and exquisite reliefs and fine furniture, seemingly still retaining a touch of the old-fashioned British Empire.
It's no wonder it's so luxurious; this place was originally the governor's mansion.
Since the establishment of Nanyu City, this extremely high-standard mansion was naturally transformed into a VIP building.
"Aiguo, this place is really beautiful." Li Aiguo had just finished dressing and stood up when Zhou Dali pushed open the door and walked in.
"I never imagined that such a remote place would have such heavenly living conditions!"
Guess what? When I looked up at the room I had just slept in, I saw that the ceiling was inlaid with a ring of gemstones!
This is even more incredibly wealthy than I had imagined!
Li Aiguo laughed and said, "Only those princes and nobles are wealthy."
“That’s true. If this place were in the past, even ordinary people would probably get into trouble if they got close.” Although Zhou Dali didn’t know the specifics of the situation here, he had heard a lot about it.
"Alright, stop reminiscing." Li Aiguo patted him on the shoulder.
"Let's go and have breakfast. We still have a lot of work to do today. We need to do a thorough inspection of 'Dongfang No. 1' and carefully check all the flight data from yesterday."
Although the Governor's Palace also provides a hearty breakfast, it consists of traditional Indian food with a strong, pungent curry flavor.
The group couldn't get used to the food, so they asked the kitchen to cook some millet porridge, which they ate with pickled vegetables to make do.
After a satisfying meal, we arrived at the airport, where the flight crew's mechanics had already begun their work.
The maintenance of large aircraft is extremely important, as many accidents are caused by inadequate maintenance.
Based on the experience of later generations, Li Aiguo developed a complete set of maintenance procedures, which were put into practice this time. If anything was not suitable, adjustments could be made in a timely manner.
This is quite important, after all, the conditions in later generations are different from those in this era, and if we were to completely copy them, the results would be predictable.
Fortunately, the Dongfang No. 1 was of excellent quality, and only a few minor problems were found during maintenance.
According to the plan, they will stay here for two days and then transport a batch of local supplies back to Beijing.
Taking advantage of the break during the aircraft maintenance, Li Aiguo didn't rest. He turned around and went to the Nanyu Garrison Hospital, knocking directly on the door of Dean Chen's office.
"Comrade Aiguo, welcome, welcome." Dean Chen was particularly pleased to see Li Aiguo. After taking cephalosporin, those comrades were almost completely recovered and only needed to rest for a while.
"Dean Chen, you're too kind. The fact that our colleagues are recovering is thanks to the efforts of you medical staff."
Li Aiguo exchanged a few pleasantries with a smile, then changed the subject.
Dean Chen was a veteran military doctor, possessing the decisive and efficient qualities unique to soldiers. Li Aiguo, without beating around the bush, directly stated his purpose.
"Dean, the main reason I've come is to ask you about the common diseases in our southern region."
"Common diseases? There are too many. Cholera, dysentery, malaria, dengue fever... We have almost everything that exists in the tropics."
To be honest, although our troops have implemented the strictest hygiene management system, under these circumstances, it's impossible to completely avoid it.
As he spoke, Dean Chen turned and walked to his desk, opened a drawer, took out a thick notebook, and handed it to Li Aiguo.
Li Aiguo opened the document and found it contained all the medical records the team had kept since entering Nanyu City.
Not only was the illness described in great detail, but it also included the military doctors' analysis and speculation on the cause of the disease.
"To be honest, Comrade Patriot," Dean Chen sighed, his face filled with worry.
"It's alright now, but if we really encounter a large-scale cholera outbreak, the conventional medicines we have on hand will be very difficult to deal with, and we could even say that we're in dire need of them."
Li Aiguo closed the notebook and nodded: "Dean, may I take this notebook with me?"
"take away?"
"You want to take it back for research? Great! That's wonderful!" Dean Chen rubbed his hands together excitedly.
He had certainly heard of the reputation of the steel mill's pharmaceutical institute, although he knew all too well the immense difficulty of developing effective drugs for tropical infectious diseases.
But as long as Li Aiguo is willing to take the lead, there is always a glimmer of hope!
Dean Chen was extremely proactive in cooperating with Li Aiguo.
He immediately ordered his guards to summon several of the most experienced veteran military doctors in the hospital and organized a small symposium on "Prevention and Control of Tropical Infectious Diseases" in their office.
Li Aiguo listened to the doctors' speeches and nodded frequently.
In fact, in this era, our team has accumulated a lot of experience in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. In addition, the team has a very good discipline, so there are not many problems in prevention.
The difficulty also lies in the medication.
It seems that if we want to clear this level, we need to get the medicine out as soon as possible.
While Li Aiguo was in the south, pondering how to develop new drugs...
Thousands of kilometers away in the capital, in an interrogation room, the atmosphere was somewhat comical.
"Boss, I'm really innocent! I didn't mean to bomb the plane."
"You'd better have the guts!" The interrogator slammed his hand on the table and shouted sternly.
"The issue now is not whether you bombed the plane or not, but why you ignored the martial law order issued by your superiors and forcibly broke through the blocked roads? Do you know what kind of behavior that is?"
“I…” Madam Jia’s eyes darted around, and she was about to bring up the same act she had used in the courtyard, pretending to be crazy and claiming she couldn’t read.
Before she could even begin to wail, the interrogator's cold gaze made her swallow her words.
This trick might work a little on Director Wang of the neighborhood office, but it's practically suicide in front of the interrogators.
"I...I was wrong. I didn't know it was martial law. I apologize, I deeply apologize..." Madam Jia immediately wilted.
Seeing Jia Zhangshi's situation and considering that she genuinely had no intention of bombing the plane, the meteorological station handed her over to the local public security bureau after several interrogations.
The local officials were also scratching their heads.
As for Jia Zhangshi's matter, it wasn't a big deal, but she didn't cause any substantial damage.
On a small scale, her actions disrupted the martial law zone, causing extremely negative consequences.
In the end, they didn't escalate the matter further and decided to detain him for six months in accordance with regulations.
When Jia Zhangshi learned that she would be spending a full six months in jail, she completely broke down and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I'm so innocent! I don't want to live anymore!"
"What are you shouting for! Jia Zhangshi, I'm warning you, giving you a six-month sentence is already a lenient punishment from the organization!" the guard sternly rebuked.
"You need to know that by forcibly entering the martial law zone, you are suspected of serious misconduct!"
If we were to really take this seriously, you'd be sent to the far northwest by now!
Upon hearing the words "Great Northwest," Jia Zhangshi was like a balloon that had been punctured by a needle, not daring to utter a single word.
On the way to the prison, Jia Zhangshi was on the verge of tears, cursing the man's ancestors for eighteen generations in her heart.
"Yi Zhonghai, you old bastard, you've really screwed me over."
Five days later.
"Dongfang No. 1" successfully completed all test missions and landed at the airport in the western suburbs of Beijing.
As soon as Li Aiguo returned to the courtyard house, he learned from Xu Damao about Jia Zhangshi's glorious deeds of being sentenced to six months in prison.
"If you ask who's happiest this time, it's definitely that old codger Yi Zhonghai. These past few days, his mouth has been grinning from ear to ear."
Xu Damao is currently experiencing conflicting emotions.
On the one hand, he was happy to see that unreasonable old hag Jia Zhangshi locked up and eating in jail.
On the other hand, he felt very unhappy about the thought that Yi Zhonghai had gotten rid of this burden.
Li Aiguo listened, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and shook his head, saying, "Brother Da Mao, this is all handled according to the law and regulations. Let's just take it as a joke."
“That’s right, this has nothing to do with us. It’s just dogs fighting each other.” Xu Damao quickly put Yi Zhonghai out of his mind, leaned closer, and asked.
"Patriotism? I've heard it all over the factory: the large transport plane we built has successfully completed its test flight! That's great news, it'll probably be on the news soon, right?"
"It's hard to say." Li Aiguo thought about his return to Beijing yesterday. The higher-ups had indeed sent a photographer with a camera, but he wasn't sure exactly when it would be broadcast.
As a result, not long after he finished speaking...
That evening, Li Aiguo was soaking his feet when the announcer's clear and articulate voice came from the television.
"Dear viewers, we now have an important news report to broadcast!"
"On March 12, 1965, my country's first domestically developed large military transport aircraft, the 'Dongfang No. 3,' successfully completed its maiden flight! This marked a historic new milestone for my country in the field of large aircraft manufacturing!"
In the footage, the massive "Dongfang No. 1" accelerates on the runway, takes off, and soars into the sky.
The announcer's voice became even more impassioned: "This aircraft is a long-range strategic transport aircraft developed and manufactured by our country's scientific and technological workers through their own efforts."
Its maximum cargo capacity is up to 80 tons, and its maximum range is 12,000 kilometers!
The successful development of the "Dongfang No. 1" greatly enhanced my country's strategic airlift capability, provided stronger protection for national defense security, and is another immortal milestone in the history of my country's aviation industry...
Chen Xueru sat on a small stool to the side, her beautiful eyes sparkling as she stared at the television screen.
Although official news reports did not mention who the chief designer of the aircraft was due to confidentiality requirements.
But she knew perfectly well that the imposing transport plane on TV was definitely something her rough-around-the-edges husband had done!
Looking at the inspiring scene on the screen, Chen Xueru felt a sweet warmth in her heart, filled with immense pride.
"By the way, I brought back some local specialties from Nanyu City. Send some to the tailor shop tomorrow."
This trip back from the South Corner was a very fruitful one, as we transported a large quantity of local minerals as well as various local specialties as gifts.
"Mmm." Chen Xueru nodded like a chick pecking at rice.
She rolled up her sleeves and put her soft, boneless hands into the basin, gently massaging Li Aiguo's feet.
Feeling the comfortable pressure on his feet, Li Aiguo squinted his eyes contentedly.
This life is so peaceful and comfortable.
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the courtyard began to bustle with activity.
Li Aiguo had just gotten out of bed and hadn't even had time to get dressed yet.
Then I heard my second uncle's voice coming from the front yard outside the window.
The content was still related to the successful development of the transport aircraft. The residents in the compound all understood that it was built by the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.
Although it wasn't explicitly mentioned on the broadcast, everyone saw a large object, resembling a transport plane, being carried out of the workshop.
In addition, Yan Jiecheng saw it with his own eyes; the appearance of this thing wasn't really a secret, the key was the internal technology.
Listening to the discussions outside the window, Li Aiguo shook his head and smiled. After dressing and washing up, he rode his motorcycle out and headed straight for the Qianmen Locomotive Depot workshop.
When Li Aiguo arrived at the studio, Huang Dali and the flight team had not yet left and were helping with optimizations.
The Vostok 1 has now successfully completed its maiden flight and will need to be finalized in the future.
Before that can be achieved, there is still a lot of work to be done to make improvements.
Seeing that there was nothing unusual, Li Aiguo left his office and went to Section Chief Xing's office.
When Section Chief Xing looked up and saw Li Aiguo, he immediately stood up with a beaming smile. "Oh my, our great hero has arrived! Please, have a seat!"
Li Aiguo didn't stand on ceremony. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and casually took out a silver bracelet from his pocket, placing it on the desk.
"Section Chief, I brought back a little trinket for your wife while I was on my business trip to Nanyu City."
Section Chief Xing picked up the silver bracelet and examined it closely, somewhat surprised: "Oh, this is a silver bracelet? The carving and patterns are different from those around here."
“That’s right, it’s a traditional craft from India, it’s exotic, so it’s definitely different,” Li Aiguo explained with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Section Chief Xing waved his hand repeatedly: "This is too valuable, you should take it back."
“Section Chief, this kind of thing is very cheap over there. Don’t worry, I bought it with my own salary.” Li Aiguo was not lying. Silver bracelets like this are a common type of jewelry in the area.
"Then I'll accept it; it does look quite nice." Section Chief Xing also thought it had considerable sentimental value.
After placing the bracelet, Section Chief Xing looked at Li Aiguo and said, "The test flight by the Transportation Bureau went quite smoothly this time, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Now it's time to see how the mass production and finalization are going?"
Li Aiguo pondered for a moment and answered truthfully: "At present, everything is under control. The aerodynamic layout and core power system of the aircraft are performing normally. No major design changes are needed, only minor adjustments."
"How long do you expect it to take to reach mass production?" Section Chief Xing is eager to start mass production now; we desperately need this stuff.
Li Aiguo certainly wanted to immediately ramp up production and mass-produce troops.
Even if these strategic transport aircraft are not used for airborne troop transport missions, they are still valuable for allocating supplies or even conducting emergency air rescue operations in disaster areas.
"It will take at least six months. The test flight data needs to be submitted to the Aviation Industry Bureau for review, and various meetings need to be held for the finalization. This is already considered to be going smoothly. If there are any problems, it will take longer."
Li Aiguo has always maintained a cautious attitude towards aircraft manufacturing.
Things that fly in the sky are not the same as things that run on the ground.
If it is hastily mass-produced and put into service, and a malfunction occurs at high altitude, it will be a tragedy of crashing the aircraft and losing lives.
Section Chief Xing understood the situation and asked, "What are your plans next?"
“Section Chief, don’t you think it would be a shame to disband our transport aircraft research team, which is already quite mature?” Li Aiguo said with a smile.
Section Chief Xing nodded. This team included well-known domestic aviation experts, Russian experts, and now a test flight team has joined. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was a national effort.
"Do you want to build passenger planes?" Section Chief Xing's eyes widened suddenly, recalling what Li Aiguo had mentioned earlier.
Li Aiguo nodded, then shook his head: "We are indeed currently working on preliminary blueprint planning. Large civilian passenger aircraft are definitely a major area we must tackle..."
Another direction, naturally, is strategic bombers.
If transport planes are auxiliary, then strategic bombers are the attackers. If heavy bombers are developed, it is not impossible to achieve the goal of "washing the earth with fire" in the future.
However, this highly confidential information is not yet convenient to disclose directly to Section Chief Xing.
"Ahem, since you have an idea, let's go with it. Our section will fully support you. However, I still favor large passenger planes." Section Chief Xing was very interested in the means of transporting passengers.
"clear."
"Do you think we can take passenger planes when we go to the south in the future?" Section Chief Xing had been thinking about flying, as he had never flown before.
Is this thing more comfortable than taking a train?
“Of course,” Li Aiguo nodded without hesitation.
The main issue now is technology. As long as we can manufacture it, relying on the resources accumulated domestically, it should be able to be rolled out on a large scale in no time.
Things like aircraft factories are a given.
"That's good, that's good. I'll write the application report first and submit it. But these next few days, take advantage of the time before the data comes out and get some rest." Section Chief Xing looked at Li Aiguo with genuine concern.
"Understood, Section Chief." Li Aiguo nodded and turned back to continue organizing the data.
In addition, they also had to work on building electric locomotives.
I'm so busy, so incredibly busy.
Fortunately, the data processing work can be handled by Zong Xianfeng and Anna. With the chief engineers in charge, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Li Aiguo's main job was designing electric locomotives.
Adhering to the principle of doing the best, Li Aiguo presented the VVVF AC electric train.
It's important to know that nowadays, whether in developed Western countries or the Big Brother, the railways are exclusively equipped with DC variable resistance trains.
That old technology mainly relied on series and parallel resistors and switching motor wiring to adjust the speed.
This outdated speed control method not only wastes a lot of electricity, but also results in low motor torque and extremely weak climbing ability.
It struggles greatly when encountering heavy-load train formations or steep gradients.
The VVVF AC electric drive system that Li Aiguo is preparing to develop uses variable frequency continuously variable transmission!
Not only does the motor have amazing torque and powerful bursts of force.
Moreover, even with multiple train sets and fully loaded carriages, it can still start and accelerate!
Most importantly, this AC motor eliminates the commutator and brushes of a DC motor, resulting in an extremely simple structure and virtually no mechanical wear.
It has a very low failure rate and a long service life.
In later generations, the high-speed rail we developed actually used the underlying technology of VVVF AC drive.
The only difference is that high-speed rail uses tens of thousands of volts of high-voltage, high-power electricity, while subway VVVF uses 1500V power supply.
The development of VVVF technology now can be seen as laying some technological foundation for the arrival of the high-speed rail era in the future.
"Let's get the VVVF subway system working first." With that thought, Li Aiguo picked up his pen.
By this time, news of the successful test flight of Vostok 1 had already spread internationally.
Breaking News! Ancient Eastern Country Successfully Develops 80-Ton Payload Strategic Transport Aircraft!
From Beijing to the South! The Red Dragon Demonstrates Terrifying Long-Range Deployment Capabilities!
The global aviation landscape has been disrupted! An industrial miracle of a Far Eastern superpower!
The front pages of major international media outlets were almost simultaneously dominated by this news!
The international community was in an uproar, and the desks of news agencies around the world were piled high with analytical reports on "Dongfang No. 1".
It's important to understand that for a long time, large military transport aircraft were exclusively owned by the two superpowers, the United States and the United States.
The Blackburn "Beverly," built by John Bull, had a load capacity of only 20 tons.
The French Breguet 763 "double-decker" passenger and cargo aircraft has a decent payload capacity.
But that thing has inherent flaws; it's completely unable to adapt to high-altitude environments, let alone be transported directly around the world.
It's astonishing that the East has suddenly deployed a large transport plane weighing eighty tons.
Xiao Mei's family's first reaction was: This is absolutely fake! This is a strategic deception!
The Pentagon immediately instructed those so-called authoritative aviation experts to take turns publishing lengthy articles in newspapers.
The authenticity of the data from "Dongfang No. 1" is questioned from various perspectives, including aerodynamics and materials science.
The eldest brother's reaction, however, was extremely strange and odd: silence.
TASS and Pravda collectively turned a deaf ear, as if this event had never happened in the world.
After all, the two companies had just completely fallen out, and now the other party had gone solo and developed a weapon that was even more powerful than their own. The older brother was really losing face and could only pretend not to see it.
However, some are happy while others are sad.
After confirming the news, the top officials of both the United States of Britain and France were pleased and excited.
The fact that the East has developed large transport aircraft shows that their technological level has taken another step forward.
This is someone we can collaborate with.
Furthermore, they are also in dire need of large transport aircraft, and purchasing them from the United States would incur excessively high premiums.
Now that there are new "affordable alternatives," they naturally have some ideas.
The Gallic family immediately sent a delegation to the capital.
John Bull's family extended a goodwill gesture through their Hextech joint venture.
The most frustrated person was probably the Indian.
He never gave up on Nanyu City, thinking of taking it back while Li Yunlong was off guard.
However, India has a geographical advantage, making it easier to transport supplies.
Li Yunlong was separated from the other side by a large mountain.
The emergence of Vostok 1 has changed everything.
"Big brother! Second brother! You have to stand up for me! Help me! We can't let them be so arrogant!"
During the family meeting, the Indian representative, like a wronged young wife, cried and begged for help from Xiao Mei's family and the eldest brother.
However, these two bigwigs turned their heads away in unison, not even bothering to glance at him.
It's not that I don't want to help him, but the two sides are still fighting, so how can I have time to care about the life or death of the Indian?
Moreover, you need to be strong yourself to succeed! If others want to help you, you have to be able to stand up to their strength!
The older brother has helped Indians before.
The results of it?
We were completely outmatched, and all the equipment we sent over ended up being used as transport cargo, resulting in heavy losses!
Li Aiguo learned about this information from Lao Mao at the weather station.
"I'll take the kids to the park this weekend." Old Cat has become a super dad now.
Li Aiguo readily agreed, humming a little tune as he returned home.
Before I could even sit down, Liu Guozhang arrived.
"Patriotism, how's the electric train project going?"
(End of this chapter)