afterglow

Chapter 417: The ups and downs of the Golden Crow Plan; the potential of being flanked by two sides
A reactor that uses light water (HO) as a neutron moderator is called a light water reactor; a reactor that uses heavy water (DO) is called a heavy water reactor.

In addition to the two, those that use graphite as a neutron moderator are called graphite stacks.

Ordinary water HO is light water, while heavy water is different at the molecular level. As the name implies, heavy water is heavier than ordinary water.

Hydrogen has three isotopes in nature, namely protium, deuterium, and tritium.Light water molecules contain two hydrogen atoms, while heavy water molecules have two deuterium atoms instead.

Therefore, these two kinds of water are essentially different. The difference in molecular weight makes heavy water 11% heavier than light water. Although heavy water is non-toxic, it cannot be used by animals and plants and cannot nourish all things.

The reason why the joint team of Imperial Gezhi University and Sunchon Institute of Technology has encountered setbacks is that it does not have sufficient knowledge about neutron moderators and chain reactions, but it is urged to produce results as soon as possible, so it is inevitably quite hasty. .

Generally speaking, light water reactors are more convenient because they use common water as the neutron moderator. However, the U-235 abundance required to maintain a stable chain reaction is 3% to 5%. Below this concentration, it is difficult to stabilize. maintain.

Zhou Changfeng felt that the mentality of the Ming Dynasty's upper echelons eager for quick success was not good at all, and it was not contrary to seize the time and be down-to-earth.

What's more, the nuclear program started very quickly in [-], and there was plenty of time, so we could take it relatively easy.

"Scholar Zhao, it's definitely not possible to rush the work in such a hurry. Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the basic experiments must be solid." He mused: "I will give you truthful feedback after returning to Beijing. Don't worry about being rushed."

Zhao Zhansheng, with a look of regret on his face, said with emotion: "Hey, thank you very much, thank you very much. It's really...lucky to have a sensible person like you, Zhou Daizhao, now. It's not what it used to be."

Zhao Zhansheng really misses the Ming Dynasty from the 20s to the [-]s. Although many aspects were not as good as now at that time, everything was in a prosperous state. There were more technocrats than today, and things were done in an orderly manner with almost no interference. .

Later, the two discussed a series of matters regarding the Golden Crow Project.

Zhou Changfeng suggested directly using graphite as a neutron moderator and directly building a graphite reactor in one step.

"Yes, graphite is also an excellent decelerator, but preliminary calculations show that if it is to be used to build piles, the purity must be very high." Zhao Zhansheng looked at the setting sun over the mountains in the distance to the west, "Heavy water is also very scarce. .”

The impurity content of graphite used to manufacture reactors should not be higher than [-] parts per million. Historically, it is said that the Germans were forced to use heavy water as a neutron moderator because they were unable to obtain high-purity graphite.

Heavy water is a new thing that was only discovered six years ago. Only Norway in the world has built a heavy water chemical plant called Vimork, which uses the abundant power of the hydropower station on Mount Barren.

However, the annual output of the Vimork plant is only 1300 kilograms - only one-tenth of what is needed to build a usable heavy water reactor.

Therefore, in history, the British's special operations raid on the Wimock factory was actually unnecessary. The Germans simply did not save enough heavy water.

"I was overconfident when I held the meeting. This raw material is really rare." The worried Zhao Zhansheng was a little discouraged.

Zhou Changfeng can understand the worry of this physicist, because in his eyes, this is an insurmountable mountain. It seems that he knows the true face of Mount Lu, but when he gets closer, he realizes that the road up the mountain is as difficult as climbing to the sky!

"This is not something you should worry about." Zhou Changfeng patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You seem to be underestimating the significance of this thing. This can bring the emperor, the court, and the military together to discuss in secret. thing."

"What I'm afraid of is that the efforts of the whole country will be in vain."

"Isn't it right? If you had had this mentality before, Xuexue Zhao would not have achieved what he has achieved today."

"That's not the same thing." Zhao Zhansheng said with a bitter smile: "In the past, I wasn't afraid of setbacks and didn't care about failure because it was at most a personal matter or a small number of people's affairs. But it's different now. It often costs tens of millions or 10,000+ million... I think Zhou Taizhao also understands that he has a heavy burden on his heart."

"There are some things that you can't live without even if you're hungry. When the knife is placed on your neck, it's too late." Zhou Changfeng looked up at the sky, put his hands on his hips and said, "At least Ming Dynasty hasn't reached the point where he can't afford to eat, right?"

Both of them fell silent, and the scene fell into silence for a long time, leaving only the shouts of people busy in the distance behind them.

After a while, Zhao Zhansheng turned his head and asked: "Zhou Daizhao, I have always been curious. If you lead the army and make a mistake, you will lose your troops and your soldiers' lives will melt like snowflakes. Don't you have a psychological burden?"

Zhou Changfeng on the side couldn't help laughing, "It varies from person to person. Those who are ruthless won't have this burden, but most generals will still have it more or less. Me, I always believe that I can do the best. If it were someone else, it would only be worse, so... I won’t bear much of a burden.”

"That's right." Zhao Zhansheng said thoughtfully, "You should be confident in your life. People who are not confident cannot achieve great things."

Relief came as a relief, and Zhou Changfeng realized that Ming Dynasty's nuclear program should not only follow the path of implosion plutonium bombs.

Zhu Lingjing's idea at the time was probably the most appropriate. No matter what, we should not make fun of the fate of the country.

Although the principle of gun-type uranium bombs is simple, it is too troublesome to enrich low-abundance uranium ore, and the amount of work is beyond imagination.

Exploration of uranium deposits is already underway in an organized manner, but the few uranium deposits that have been discovered are all sandstone or quartzite types of average grade.

If you want to reduce the amount of work, you must choose some natural uranium ore with good grade and high abundance.

Zhou Changfeng was annoyed that he didn't know anything about this before crossing - he knew that there were good-grade uranium mines in the north and south of the Yangtze River, but he didn't know which province they were in.

I'm afraid we have to look abroad to see where there are natural uranium deposits with high abundance, and try to get a batch back before the major powers pay attention to them at the official level.

"Scholar Zhao, it's already dinner time, let's..."

Just when Zhou was planning to invite Zhao Zhansheng to have dinner with him, a communications officer hurried over.

He cupped his hands and reported: "We are waiting for the imperial edict. There is new military information. Half an hour ago, at [-]:[-] noon Berlin time, a million German troops in France restarted their offensive!"

It was a matter of time, so Zhou Changfeng was not surprised at all, "What about other news? How is the reaction of the Renault government?"

"There is no definite news yet, but the embassy seems to have said that those dignitaries have already prepared planes."

The Ming Dynasty had not yet recognized the French Democratic Commune, so the embassy in France still followed the remnants of the Third Republic to Bordeaux.

Although they suffered a lot of combat and non-combat attrition during the advance, if they insisted on a forced attack, the German army would probably have ended the lingering Third Republic more than a month ago.

In addition to the need for military reinforcements, political considerations were also an important factor in the suspension of the German offensive.

Ernst hoped to use the Reynaud government in southwestern France to gain a clear view of national attitudes and, incidentally, to assess the wishes of the French, especially the Commune de France.

Now, with the military and political needs fulfilled, the offensive will naturally resume.

If the previous France was compared to a flashy brick house that was easily breached by the Germans, then the remnants of the Third Republic now huddled in the southwest are just the ruins of this brick house.

The German 13th Motorized Infantry Division, which was the spearhead of the attack, captured nearly 8 men of the French 29th Infantry Division at a small cost of 67 killed and [-] wounded.And this is just a tip of the entire front. The remnants of the Third Republic collapsed as quickly as dominoes being toppled.

Except for a few diehards, most French generals still want to find a better way out for themselves.

But things are different now. In the past, when the armies of European powers fought, generals who led their men to fight bravely and tenaciously were respected and treated with courtesy even if they were captured.

But now the German army regards this behavior as evil and stubborn resistance. The longer it persists and the more casualties it has, the more sin it will inflict.

Once a captured senior French general is classified as a "Reaktionr" by the German army, he will probably have to undergo lengthy ideological reform in prison.

The Germans' approach was pretty good, but the French Democratic Commune Army, who were also French, was really harsh.

Paris demanded the "merciless elimination" of the stubborn reactionaries. Any hostilities and acts of resistance were "betrayal and murder of the French people."

In order to forcefully maintain the low morale of the troops, the French military police have become increasingly harsh in law enforcement in the past two months. Deserters and complainers are often executed without formal trials. French soldiers hate them.

Now these gendarmes, after being captured by the Democratic Commune Army, were quickly tried and convicted by front-line mobile military courts, and then gathered together and quickly executed with heavy machine guns.

In short, this caused the disorganized French army to completely lose its combat effectiveness. Now the generals have to think carefully before giving orders to hold on.

Many French generals have refused to sign any military orders because they must bear corresponding responsibilities once they sign.

The Renault government, which had already prepared an escape route, fled immediately without hesitation. The long convoy stretched for nearly a kilometer.

Although there were stops and starts on the way due to the obstruction of the guerrillas, they finally succeeded in reaching the Gulf of La Teste and took a warship to move to the North African colony of Morocco.

In less than three days, hundreds of thousands of French troops collapsed, with minimal casualties on both sides. This was not so much a battle as an actual marching exercise.

September 9: "The vicious invaders and rebels begin to attack!"

September 9: "Merpan has fallen! The enemy is advancing!"

September 9: "The Germans are crossing the Dordogne River."

September 9: "The glorious liberators and insurgents enter Bordeaux."

The war in France has settled, but on the vast Atlantic, the cat and mouse game is still going on...

"Comrades! The Renault government has fled to Morocco. To celebrate the fall of the incompetent and decadent Third Republic, those who have completed their shifts can receive wine and barbecue in the canteen!"

The battlecruiser Franz continued to cruise the North Atlantic route, and the result of single-handedly damaging the HX27 fleet was so brilliant that the War Council instructed the Ministry of Defense to award the Knight's Cross of the Order to all officers and soldiers of the Franz.

As the name suggests, this is a medal established by the German Society to commend collective honors.

In fact, the German Society tried to abandon the traditional Iron Cross in the early days. They established a five-pointed and pentagonal Medal of Honor. However, the response was mediocre and soldiers were not very interested in it. Therefore, after the 20s, it was restored and became more popular. traditional shape.

The Iron Cross issued by the German Society should actually be called the Bronze Cross, because it uses pure copper instead of cast iron, and the outer frame has a metallic dark red color.However, due to the high cost, the Ministry of National Defense is also considering changing it back to cast iron.

"Comrade Captain, the lookout post found a fleet appearing 17 kilometers away, direction 230, it is estimated to be a light ship."

Major General Hubert picked up the huge binoculars from the side and looked in that direction carefully.

The visual distance of the bridge was not as good as that of the lookout post on the mast, so Hubert could only see the tiny mast and chimney at first.

The German sailors thought they had encountered a big fish again this time, but to their surprise, this fleet did not include any merchant ships.

"Strange, no merchant ships were seen."

"Those destroyers are not the escort fleet's position."

"Did you see that? That's not the X flag, it's the American flag."

What the Franz encountered this time was the four destroyers of the 23rd Destroyer Division of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. They were ordered by the Navy Department to search for traces of the German Social Security Fleet along the North Atlantic route.

The two sides soon discovered each other. Considering that the United States was still neutral, Hubert just ordered to ignore them and avoid these menacing US destroyers.

However, the four destroyers refused to give in. Instead, they gradually increased their speed and came towards them.

The two sides began to communicate with signal lights, and the Franz's radio monitoring team suddenly reported that the destroyers were transmitting their current coordinates in clear codes.

"These hateful Americans!" the angry navigator cursed.

Major General Hubert then ordered: "Increase the speed to full speed; adjust the course to 195 and avoid them as soon as possible."

The slender Franz drew an arc on the rarely calm Atlantic Ocean and turned its head toward the southwest.

The Franz, which was previously hit by an aerial torpedo, could only reach a top speed of 29 knots, but the maximum speed of the four US destroyers could exceed 35 knots, which is not the same level at all.

Ever since, the two sides have become entangled in each other.

Because the U.S. patrol fleet lifted radio silence, the Germans could clearly hear the frequency band filled with the exchanges of the four destroyers.

The detachment flagship Sims (DD-411) ordered the other three ships to flank the Franz, and finally stuck it in the middle in a formation of two from the left and two from the back.

"This was a deliberate act of hostility, Captain!"

"The British must already know our location, and the Arena and Fury are likely to come over."

A staff officer calmly explained: "From the intercepted radio signals, it can be estimated that the Athletic God last appeared in the eastern section of the route, which may be only 550 kilometers away from us."

(End of this chapter)