The Ordnance Department of the Chinese Army has a shooting range on the southern outskirts of Yanjing. In 1932, Xie Xun built a new, modest rocket test station here. The design research team, headed by Feng Tianming, began to test the liquid rocket engine. The rocket has gone through a long process from design, development, testing to final use in practice.

During the eight years from 1933 to 1941, Feng Tianming and his companions developed and tested many small rockets, including H-1, H-2, H-3 and H-5.

At the end of 1935, Feng Tianming cooperated with Professor Wang Zhu, a famous aircraft designer, to develop rocket engines for combat aircraft of the Chinese Army Air Force, and also developed a discardable auxiliary take-off device for heavy bombers of the Chinese Air Force.

China's first-generation test rocket, the H-1, weighs 180 kilograms, has a diameter of 0.3 meters, a length of 1.4 meters, and an engine thrust of only 400 kilograms. The arrow weighs 50 kg. The launch failed due to the excessive weight of the head, insufficient thrust, and unreasonable design. But the researchers were not discouraged. After analysis, the rocket development team found the reasons for the first failure. The rotating part of the rocket was mainly improved and developed into the H-2 rocket. At the beginning of the New Year 1934, with the cooperation of the Navy, they brought two H-2 rockets to Leigong Island in the East China Sea for testing. The rocket rose up to 3 kilometers and achieved satisfactory results.

During this period, Feng Tianming also won a prestigious Ph.D. in physics from Yenching University for his high-quality dissertation on "Contributions to the Theory and Experiments of Liquid Fuel Problems". After several years of scientific research and training, he has stood out from an obscure little person and is recognized as an outstanding young rocket expert in China.

Successful wine stimulates forging ahead Chinese scientists. So, they set out to design the second-generation H-3 test rocket. The new rocket weighs 850 kilograms, has a diameter of 0.80 meters, a length of 7.5 meters, and an increased thrust of 1,700 kilograms. In other respects, certain improvements were also made to the rocket. Initial trials have also been successful.

However, Xie Xun was still very dissatisfied with the H-3 test rocket. Because during the First World War, he once commanded a 200 mm cannon supplied by the Entente, which also had a range of 130 km. At that time, the shells were too light, with only 11 kg of explosives, and the power of the explosion was limited. Their initial goal was to make the weight and range of the rocket's warhead exceed that of the original cannon. This rocket was codenamed H-4. When considerable progress is made in the work, it becomes extremely important to arouse the attention of military leaders.

With Yang Shuoming's support, China's rocket research has become larger. In order to achieve the purpose of using rockets in the future wars facing China, Yang Shuoming once strictly ordered to step up research on rocket technology. A large amount of money has been allocated to carry out this work, and many eminent physicists and engineers have been transferred to devote themselves to this important work.

In this way, China's rocket development has more abundant research funds, and more scientific elites have been concentrated to strengthen this field, and the organizational structure has been expanded and increased accordingly, especially the weak link of rocket testing. In 1934, China began to set up rocket technology laboratories, as well as several test plants and state-owned factories.

In mid-1936, a group was set up under the Ministry of Ordnance to specialize in the development of rocket weapons. In April, the leaders of the Chinese side came to the rocket test station to inspect the progress of the rocket test work and visit the test run of the 1,700-kilogram thrust engine. The tense and orderly atmosphere of development here left a deep impression on the visitors. They expressed satisfaction with the major results achieved, approved the development group's plan for developing the H-4 rocket, and adopted two far-sighted, major and effective support measures to make the research conditions more complete and ideal. These two measures are: first, a heavy amount of 20 million silver dollars will be allocated from national defense expenditures as funds for the development of the H-4 rocket; Second, considering the future development of the rocket research and development base, it is necessary to choose a remote area far from the big cities and with strong secrets. After thorough investigation and study, the new rocket test base was finally built in Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

In June of that year, the heads of the Chinese army and air force came to Baikonur to conduct on-the-spot surveys and site selection. In the end, the two sides reached an agreement on the joint use of the area: the Army built the "China Army Military Test Station" (later renamed the "Army Long-Range Artillery Factory") in the eastern strip, and the air force built an airfield and a shooting range for testing new weapons in the open area in the north. Baikonur soon became the most magnificent and ambitious "National Scientific Test Center for Rocket Technology" in the world, the main base for all research and experimental work in the field of reactive motion. Most importantly, it brings together a group of world-class rocket experts, scientific management talents and advanced and complete facilities. At the age of 24, Feng Tianming was appointed the first director of the Rocket Research Institute.

In 1937, due to his outstanding research achievements, Feng Tianming was promoted to the technical director of the Baikonur rocket base. The burden on his shoulders grew heavier and heavier.

Yang Shuoming has attached great importance to and supported the development of rocket weapons, thus enabling China's rocket industry to achieve twice the result with half the effort. He also actively supported the development and use of jet aircraft, as a result of which the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Air Force and Army Aviation was greatly improved. These precautionary measures have had a considerable impact on the course of the current war. After years of hard work, China has finally built a large-scale rocket base with an orderly layout, advanced equipment, and strong strength. As a result of the huge investment that began to be made, some senior officials of the Chinese political axe were quite critical of China's development of rockets. Later, when it was seen that rockets were a powerful means of warfare, rocket development became the darling of China's political axe.

The Chinese political axe invested a lot of human, material and financial resources in Baikonur. By the beginning of the war, there were 4,450 people working here, including 900 scientists and engineers. Due to Xie Xun's organizational and command skills in the construction of the base, he was promoted to the chief of the Baikonur rocket base and promoted to lieutenant general commander.

China's rocket development work has not been smooth sailing. In the autumn of 1937, launch tests of the H-3 rocket were carried out in the North Bay, and all three launches ended in failure. This is a big blow to the entire test base, and the results of the expert inspection: the engine is working normally, and the main reason for the failure is a problem with the design of the control system. After a large number of simulation tests, it was found that the loop response of the control system of the H-3 rocket is too slow, the size of the control torque, and the strength at the wire contact is too weak. In response to these problems, the control system was redesigned and the area of the combustion chamber was expanded. In this way, a new model of the H-5 rocket appeared.

In March 1939, the H-5 rocket was successfully launched. The rocket rises to 12 km. The designer also ingeniously designed two parachutes, one large and one small, for the rocket, which fell into the sea of sand after launch, and could be used again or many times, which shortened the development time and saved the development cost. It's a brilliant innovation that led Chinese scientists to invent recycling technology.

The H-4 rocket was designed in 1938. The development work was carried out with the help of the H-4, now the "Sirius" T-2 rocket.

The Sirius T-2 rocket was named after former Chinese President Wu Peifu and was taken from the poem "Jiangchengzi?" by Su Shi, a Chinese Song Dynasty artist. The poem "Will hold the bow like a full moon, look northwest, and shoot the wolf" in "Hunting in Mizhou".

The T-2 is a more powerful ballistic rocket. The rocket has a total length of 16 meters, a diameter of 1.75 meters, and four tail fins. With a take-off weight of 16 tons and an engine thrust of 32 tons, it can send a 1.5-ton warhead to a distance of 400 kilometers, and the speed reaches 2.2 kilometers per second when the engine is turned off. This large-scale and advanced weapon was called "unparalleled in the world" at the time.

On June 30, 1940, the Chinese T-2 rocket was test-launched, which was partially successful. After many efforts to improve. On October 3 of the same year, the third test launch was carried out, and the rocket climbed to an altitude of 80 kilometers as required and flew to the surface of Hani Lake, 180 kilometers northeast of the Ailan River.

The last thing they could do for the Axis [***] team was the T-2 missile, which could be mounted on a flatbed trailer and pass through a railway tunnel. Flexible and flexible arrangement in any corner. However, the T-2 rocket has low accuracy and is only suitable for attacking very large targets such as cities and ports. To strike at small targets, the Chinese have developed a family of guided weapons that transmit commands. These weapons are guided to the target by the handicraft through radio waves or control command transmission lines.

On July 1, 1942, Yang Shuoming met with Xie Xun and Feng Tianming at the Xichang Rocket Launch Center, and watched the documentary of the successful launch of the T-2 rocket and the model of the T-2 rocket and its transporter. Yang Shuoming was very satisfied after reading it, and instructed to give priority to the arrangement and mass production. He even demanded that the warhead of the T-2 rocket be increased to 5 tons. A few days later, Feng Tianming received an honor. Yang Shuoming conferred on him the senior academic title of "Honorary Professor".

After the successful development of the T-2 rocket, Feng Tianming and other rocket experts were not intoxicated by the victory. They also designed the longer-range H-9 and H-10 missiles, and even expected to combine them into an intercontinental missile that would have a range sufficient to reach the entire European part of the Soviet Union.

The H-9 missile is a modification of the T-2 rocket. Its general design is essentially the same as that of the T-2 rocket. However, the designers added two swept stabilizer wings to the new rocket. It got its name "winged T-2 rocket" from this. The missile has a total length of 15 meters, a diameter of 1.72 meters, a weight of 15 tons, and a warhead weighing 1 ton. The maximum firing range is 600 km. Do not have a guide rail when firing, launch vertically. When the missile rises to an altitude of 24-29 kilometers. At this time, the gyroscope with the data adjusted in advance controls the graphite rudder, so that the missile enters the predetermined course and continues to rise to an altitude of 48 kilometers at an angle of 40 degrees, reaching a speed of 6,000 kilometers per hour, and the launch time is only 1 minute. At this time, the engine was turned off by radio command, and the rocket continued to rise to an altitude of 100 kilometers relying on the habitual surname. Then, at a speed of about 3,700 kilometers per hour, it descends along a parabolic trajectory, and the ground speed reaches 2,900 kilometers per hour.

Chinese designers have designed the H-10 missile to be even more bold. It is a large booster rocket, 31 meters long (slightly more than double the H-9 missile), 4.1 meters in diameter, weighing about 90 tons, and with an engine thrust of 207,000 kilograms.

Energetic Chinese designers have taken their ingenuity to the extreme. They also envisaged a round hole in the cone of the H-10 missile, which could be connected to the tail of the H-9 missile to form the original giant two-stage rocket, which was 36.5 meters long and weighed 100 tons. When launched, the engine of the H-10 is first ignited, and the rocket engine of the H-180 missile is ignited when the missile rises vertically to an altitude of 9 km, and continues to rise to a height of 380 km. Then, let it fly horizontally, and after the missile drops the booster rocket, the maximum speed is 10,000 kilometers per hour. By the time it re-entered the dense atmosphere and dived towards the target at high speed, it had already flown a distance of 5,000 kilometers. Since Chinese companies were ordered to manufacture rockets (aviation rockets and anti-aircraft rockets) specifically for combat use against enemy air force aircraft. Chinese scientists have used their experience to create airborne rockets and anti-aircraft rockets. During this period, great achievements were also made in the study of the composition of gunpowder and liquid fuel, as well as in the control of rocket flight.

From 1941, a number of companies in China received the task of manufacturing various rocket parts, and the assembly of these rockets was carried out in an absolutely secret place. Work to improve the construction of rocket weapons has been going on intensively. During this period, Chinese scientists also vigorously studied the use of radar and television to control flights. A significant part of these research projects were successful until the beginning of 1943. China's political axe is intending to apply it to warfare.

The first mobile missile unit that China first established was equipped with the Chinese Army's armored instructors.

The armored instructor is equipped with a combat "Sirius" T-203 rocket (missile) with a semi-armor-piercing 3.4-ton warhead or 700 5-kilogram cluster bombs with a range of 400 km and a target radius of 600 meters with firing accuracy. It was used to attack the material bases of the Soviet rear or to attack the second-line assembly areas of the Soviet army with cluster bomb warheads. During the attack on Chelyabinsk, the Chinese missile forces launched their first attack, which inflicted heavy losses on the Soviet army, in which more than 8,000 Soviet troops were killed and 47,000 wounded, and were forced to retreat.

At this time, the missile launch brigade of the armored instructor hid the Sirius T-203 rocket in the forest on the outskirts of Sverdlovsk, preparing to launch a massive attack on the rear of the Soviet troops.

The improved Sirius T-203 rocket is a little more powerful. The ground is controlled by radio, as well as with an acceleration device mounted on the rocket. It is a rocket that is pushed by a liquid rocket engine, and when it reaches a certain height and speed, the engine automatically shuts down. After that, the warhead flew to the target along a predetermined trajectory; The Chinese rocket forces use the method of vertical launch. At launch, the rocket is mounted on the launch pad with an oil derrick that resembles a high erection. The rocket flies through the atmosphere to the target, and most of its trajectory is a free parabolic trajectory. In addition, the flight speed is fast, and it only takes 4 or 5 minutes to reach the target of the attack; I couldn't hear the sound until I landed. In addition, the destructive power of the T-203 rocket was huge, so the Soviet army could not defend at all.

Soon, huge rockets took off into the air and flew into the distance, looking at the majestic posture of the rockets rising into the air, Dongfang Bai suddenly seemed to have no strength, and sat on the ground.

"Don't do that, old white." A voice rang out behind him, and then a strong hand lifted him to his feet.

Dongfang Bai turned his head and saw that it was Lieutenant General Fang Zhongtian, commander of the 17th Mechanized Infantry Corps.

"Why are you here......" Dongfang Bai looked at Fang Zhongtian with a smoky face, and smiled bitterly, "Are all the troops gone......

"I'm done scolding you." Fang Zhongtian laughed, "If the troops are really gone, will I still have the face to stand here?" Eat a hot bean and go with the brothers. ”

"It's all my ...... to blame" Dongfang Bai knew that in his "snowball" operation, the 17th Mechanized Infantry Corps, which came to support the armored instructor in the battle, suffered heavy casualties, and more than half of the troops' combat vehicles had been lost, but the whole army did not complain.

At this time, Dongfang Bai's heart was full of indescribable guilt.

"I just took a risk and took someone to Hongmaozi's place for a spin." Fang Zhongtian said in a relaxed tone, "By the way, I'll come to you to take a look." ”

As soon as Fang Zhongtian's words fell, a "Sirius" rocket roared into the sky, Fang Zhongtian glanced back at the huge rocket painted with yellow-green camouflage and quickly disappeared into the sky, and couldn't help but stick out his tongue.

"If we rely on this thing to fight wars in the future, we will all be unemployed." Fang Zhongtian said with a smile.

"It's hard to say." Dongfang Bai, who had already seen the power of this weapon, turned even paler.

Fang Zhongtian realized that he shouldn't talk to the exhausted Dongfang Bai about "unemployment", so he changed the topic.

"Guess what I saw when I went to the red-haired man's place?"

"You can't see this kind of rocket too, do you?" Dongfang Bai said.

"Not really." Fang Zhongtian smiled and said, "I saw them destroying. ”

"Sabotage?" Dongfang Bai was stunned.

"Yes, they seem to have foreseen defeat and are destroying everything except weaponry." Fang Zhongtian said, "I estimate that they may have to prepare to fight hard in the next few days." ”

(To be continued)