Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1087: Competition in the New Frontier (rd update, please subscribe)

"Your Excellency sent a telegram of congratulations to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Malaya on the establishment of the Republic of Malaya. Your Excellency stated in the telegram..."

Listening to the news coming from the car radio, Qian Fukang, who was driving the car, raised his lips slightly and talked to himself.

“I don’t know if anyone would say that Malaya is a satellite state in Southeast Asia.”

Just yesterday, on August 8, the Republic of Malaya was announced. As we all know, it is a country where Chinese people account for 31% of the population. If Singapore can also be merged into it, the Chinese population will exceed 65%.

But no matter what, the Tang people still firmly controlled that country, of course with the help of Nanyang. Nanyang had an investment of more than one billion yuan in Malaya, stationed troops, and even destroyed a country for Malaya - helping the King of Siam to restore the throne. In the eyes of the outside world, Siam was a puppet state of Nanyang, and even the King of Siam was renamed Zheng Xi.

What about Malaya?

I'm afraid it is also a satellite country of Southeast Asia.

Just like Europe and the United States’ view of Eastern European countries, in the eyes of European and American countries, Eastern European countries are puppet states of the Soviet Union - their leaders and officers all come from the Soviet Union. Although many of them are Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, Bulgarians or Czechoslovaks, they have all lived in the Soviet Union for a long time, and some are even generals of the Soviet army.

What about Malaya?

It seems that some places are not the same.

It was just a thought in his mind. In fact, Qian Fukang didn't care about these political matters at all. Compared with politics, he was more concerned about the manned space project currently underway. Soon, the car drove from the Rocket Town into Wanhujiao. After entering Wanhujiao, Qian Fukang quickly came to his office.

In his office, in addition to a model of the Wanhu-5 rocket, there is also a model of a cylindrical rocket, which is the "Peace Guardian Missile" under development - Nanyang's first truly strategic missile with a range of more than 16000 kilometers. It can not only cover any country in the world, but also carry a warhead weighing up to 10 tons - the 1200 million ton hydrogen bomb that Nanyang has just tested is of this level.

As one of the leaders of the two projects, Qian Fukang was under a lot of pressure. Not only was he under a lot of pressure, but all the scientific researchers in Wanhujiao were under a lot of pressure.

“It’s still very difficult to carry out two projects at the same time.”

Qian Fukang frowned as he talked to himself. Although Nanyang provided sufficient funding, it was still very difficult to carry out the two projects due to the limited number of engineering and technical personnel.

Both of these projects are very important. One is manned aviation, sending people into space, and the other is related to the security of Southeast Asia.

But...staring at the blueprint taken out from the safe, this blueprint is not for the "Peacekeeper", but a further improved version of the Wanhu-8 rocket. Compared with the original model, it has greater thrust and heavier weight, and can send an 200-ton payload to a low-Earth orbit of kilometers.

It is also the rocket currently used in manned space projects. Two months ago, it completed its first unmanned spacecraft launch mission. Although the launch was successful, some problems were also exposed.

While he was studying the drawings, the office door was pushed open.

"Fu Kang, are you still researching Wan Hu Wu?"

It's Yuri. He walked over and looked at the blueprint.

"From the current perspective, there doesn't seem to be anything that needs to be adjusted."

"It's not that we need to adjust, but we need to use the Wanhu-12 rocket as much as possible. The military has manufactured 5 Wanhu- rockets, which were originally used to launch nuclear bombs. But once the Peacekeeper intercontinental missile is put into service, they will soon be eliminated. We must be prepared to accept them and make them applicable to satellite launches..."

As he spoke, Qian Fukang raised his head, looked at Yuri and said:

"Although Nanyang is very rich, its financial resources are far from comparable to those of the United States and the Soviet Union. We cannot compete with them in the space race. Therefore, we must save every penny. Only in this way can we go further in the space industry."

In fact, this is also the most helpless thing about Nanyang. Although Nanyang is the third largest country in the world, its GDP is only about 40% of that of the Soviet Union. And how about comparing it with the United States? There is no need to compare it, but it is only equivalent to 13.4% of that of the United States!

The United States’ annual military expenditure exceeds 25% of Southeast Asia’s GDP!

With such a huge gap in national power, how could there be a space race? Not to mention a space race, even an arms race, Nanyang had no intention of competing. As for the 12 "intercontinental missiles", they were just to maintain Nanyang's nuclear deterrence capability. In order to increase its own voice, during the "Hungarian Crisis", the Nanyang intelligence department deliberately released false information to the Soviet Union through Soviet spies, not only exaggerating Nanyang's nuclear arsenal, but also exaggerating the number of the only test ballistic missile submarine.

In a word, Nanyang does not have enough funds to build so many weapons, at least not yet. The reason why Nanyang was able to "fool" the Russians is essentially because Russia judges others by its own standards - because of its own extraordinary military spending, Russia believes that other countries are the same, and even calls the United States a military-industrial empire.

In any case, Nanyang certainly does not have the capital to engage in an arms race or a space race.

It is also for this reason that, unlike the United States and the Soviet Union, the launch of artificial satellites in Southeast Asia has emphasized practicality from the very beginning. For example, the artificial communications satellite is the most successful example, and its launch costs are still borne by enterprises.

This is why Qian Fukang solemnly mentioned the twelve missiles that would be retired "in the future", wanting them to make use of their remaining energy in the rocket industry.

"really,"

Lighting a cigarette, Yuri, the person in charge of the Nanyang Space Program, thought for a while and said, "We must do more with limited funds. This is why you put combat readiness life first when designing the Peacekeeper."

"The longer its combat readiness life, the lower the cost. Now Nanyang's missiles and rockets have been divided into two paths because the requirements of the two are different. So from the beginning, we must consider how to reduce costs."

This is exactly the biggest difference between Qian Fukang and other engineers. The Aurora missile he participated in designing, a medium-range missile with a range of 4500 kilometers, is a very low-cost missile. It has not only been deployed on land, but also launched by the Nanyang ballistic missile submarine. Now technicians from other departments are designing submarine-launched missiles based on the Aurora missile. Although this is a very complicated process, it has nothing to do with Qian Fukang. His current mission focus is manned space flight and Peacekeepers.

"What about this?"

Yuri asked, pointing to the drawings on the table.

"According to the current progress, when can we send people into space..."

When talking about "space", Yuri deliberately emphasized his tone a little. His tone was full of anticipation. Who wouldn't be looking forward to it?

Everyone is looking forward to sending people into space, just as Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky said: The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but mankind will not stay in the cradle forever.

And now, for the first time, they have the technology to send humans into space. There's only one problem left - time!
Although they launched their first unmanned spacecraft two months ago and launched another one two weeks ago, they are still some way from an actual launch.

"You know, the Russians are working on this right now. Just last month, Khrushchev announced that they would send humans into space for rehabilitation in the near future."

After a pause, Yuri said in a very serious tone.

"We have to outdo the Russians!"

We must surpass the Russians!

For German engineers like Yuri, there is a grudge between them and Russia.

Of course, Qian Fukang and his people never cared about these things. They only cared about one thing: sending the Tang people into space before the Russians did. This was what they cared about most.

"If nothing unexpected happens, I think the Russians should launch their spacecraft in the first half of next year."

After listening to Qian Fukang's judgment, Yuri thought for a while and said.

"I think it may be earlier. The Russians are different from us. When they do things, they consider it more from a political perspective. If they can launch in the first half of the year, then officials in Moscow will definitely ask them to launch as early as possible, in advance of Revolution Day."

"Revolution Day?"

Qian Fukang looked at the other party with some confusion.

"Yes, it's Revolution Day, which is November. For Moscow, there is no more valuable gift than launching a spacecraft to send a Soviet citizen into space!"

Obviously, compared to Qian Fukang, Yuri understands those Russians better, and he knows very well what is most important to the Russians.

"So there is a good chance that they will launch a spacecraft in November to send their astronauts into space."

Listening to the chief engineer's speculation, Qian Fukang frowned. He looked at the drawing in front of him, thought for a while, and then spoke.

"If we want to surpass them, we must complete all launch tests in the shortest possible time. But at the current rocket production rate, we can't produce enough rockets before November... The safest way is to use the military's missiles to conduct an unmanned launch, and then use the newly produced rockets to conduct a launch. With these, we should be able to complete all tests before October."

Yuri nodded and said:
"It seems that we need to coordinate with the military."

There was no need to coordinate, just report to the management. After learning that they wanted to use the military's missiles for the launch test, Li Yian agreed without hesitation.

He was well aware that the missiles capable of launching nuclear weapons would remain there as decoration for decades to come.

Rather than using it as a decoration, it is better to launch it, whether it is used to launch a satellite or a spacecraft into space, so as to avoid waste.

Moreover, space is a new frontier that humans must conquer. So, soon at his instruction, the military handed over a rocket.

Half a month later, Wanhujiao conducted its third unmanned spacecraft launch experiment.

(End of this chapter)