Bright Sword: Starting from the Improved Grenade

"airship?"

Old Liu looked at Zhao Tianyang in surprise: "No one has used that thing since the First World War. One reason is that it is unsafe, and the other is that it is too weak."

"Today's fighter jets can easily use airships as targets. I think it's better to try transport planes instead of airships."

Zhao Tianyang did not explain Liu Lao's question, but asked in return: "Does Liu Lao know Ferdinand von Zeppelin?"

Without waiting for Mr. Liu to answer, he continued, "The rigid airship pioneered by Zeppelin uses an aluminum frame with a fabric skin on the outside. The frame divides the entire hull into more than a dozen cabins, and each cabin has an airbag."

"Compared with airplanes, airships have lower requirements for take-off and landing sites, stable flight, good maneuverability, and are easy to drive. At the same time, they are low-cost, have long endurance, long range, large payload, and lower maintenance costs than airplanes."

Hearing this, Mr. Liu nodded thoughtfully: "From what you said, if we can control the air supremacy, airships still have great development prospects, but we don't have air supremacy!"

"So there is absolutely no need for us to fight the planes!"

Zhao Tianyang spread his hands and said, "The airship can fly to an altitude of 7 meters, while our main opponents, the Japanese and the Nationalist Army, usually fly at an altitude of to meters."

"Generally speaking, our airship only needs to maintain an altitude of four thousand meters, and we can sit back and relax."

"Moreover, on the routes from Shaanxi to Xinjiang and Tibet, you generally won't encounter Japanese planes. Even the Kuomintang's planes are rarely encountered. Their planes won't fly to these remote places."

"That makes sense!"

Mr. Liu felt as if he had suddenly understood something. “But manufacturing an airship is not easy. To make it fly to the height you mentioned, the difficulties involved are not easy to solve.”

"It's okay, we'll do it one by one."

Zhao Tianyang said indifferently: "The difficulties we face in manufacturing airships now are nothing more than the engine, inflating the airship, a lot of rubber, and a lot of aluminum."

“As for the rubber and aluminum, we can only outsource them.”

Mr. Liu thought for a moment and said, "I will report to Yan'an and ask them to find a solution. We can find an opportunity to hold a meeting to discuss other issues."

"Okay, I'll go back and rest first."

After returning to the room, Zhao Tianyang took out a white paper and began to think about how to build the flying boat.

In fact, among the many problems he told Mr. Liu, there was only one problem that needed to be solved the most, and that was the problem of inflating the airship.

Airships use gas with a density less than that of air to rush into the hull. The same volume of light gas displaces the heavier air, thus generating buoyancy and causing it to rise into the air.

The only gases that can make an airship take off are hydrogen and helium.

Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, flammable and explosive gas at room temperature. It can be produced by electrolysis of water, water gas, hydrocarbon conversion and other methods. It is also the mainstream gas for airship inflation.

Compared with hydrogen, Zhao Tianyang actually prefers helium, which is a colorless, odorless, inert gas with high safety.

The most important thing is the oil field in Yan'an, which is accompanied by natural gas. When they pre-process the natural gas, they can get 99.99% pure helium. It's basically free stuff!

"I wonder if Yan'an has started processing natural gas? Regardless, I'll go to sleep first!"

With the solution, Zhao Tianyang felt a little sleepy. After writing down the condensation method on paper, he went to bed.

...........

The next day, Zhao Tianyang and others had breakfast and gathered outside the town.

"The leaders are busy, so I will have to accompany you today."

The deputy director of the Political Department looked at everyone and apologized.

"The leaders are so busy that it was not easy for them to take time out to have dinner with us yesterday. We can go by ourselves today. No need to trouble you!"

Zhao Tianyang doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter who accompanies him as long as it doesn’t delay his work.

"How can that be possible? We still need a local boss to accompany us. The chief wants you to resume production as soon as possible!"

The deputy director of the Political Department waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'll accompany you today."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked forward.

This time, the comrades from the Special Forces Regiment are still responsible for the protection of Chiyu Village and Huangya Cave. As for the 772nd Regiment, they should have already embarked on the return journey.

Huangyadong is located in the middle of Taihang Mountains. The enormous energy generated by the relative movement of the earth's crust has cut out many canyons in the mountains composed of hard red quartz sandstone and shale layers, and the cliffs stretch for dozens of kilometers.

Looking at these cliffs that are often more than a hundred meters high, Zhao Tianyang sighed: "How steep!"

"Hahaha, there are many cliffs here, which are easy to defend but difficult to attack. As long as we defend the Weng'erlang we just passed, we can sit back and relax and produce here with peace of mind."

The deputy director of the Political Department spoke proudly.

"Yes, there is also a small basin that is very suitable for growing food. Coupled with the river running through the mountain, this place is simply a self-sufficient paradise!"

Zhao Tianyang echoed.

He knew that our party had taken advantage of the terrain here and achieved an astonishing record of 6:1.

The most important thing is that this place has never fallen in history, so he can conduct research and produce weapons here with peace of mind.

"Okay, we've almost finished our tour here, what do you think?"

Three hours later, the deputy director of the political department, who led Zhao Tianyang and others to visit Huangya Cave, asked everyone.

"Very good, this place is perfect for military industry."

"Yes, it's safe, and we can grow our own food. It couldn't be better!"

Looking at everyone talking about the advantages of Huangya Cave, Zhao Tianyang smiled innocently.

"The people have sharp eyes. It looks like this will be our new arsenal in the future. Let's call it Huangyadong Arsenal. What do you think?"

"As long as you are satisfied, it is worth our days of searching!"

The deputy director of the political department smiled with satisfaction.

"Okay, let's rest here tonight and try to build the arsenal as soon as possible."

Zhao Tianyang waved his hand, and after the crowd quieted down, he began to arrange tasks.

"Comrade Li Yuncai, you will lead the team to survey the map here and find a suitable location for building the factory."

"Others were setting up tents, checking machines, and finding a location for the arsenal, but the machines had problems."

Then Zhao Tianyang looked at the deputy director of the Political Department and said, "I'd like to trouble you, Chief, to mobilize some villagers to help us build the arsenal."

"Don't worry. It's getting late today. I'll let the Special Forces Company stay behind to protect you. I'll mobilize the people to go up the mountain tomorrow."

The deputy director of the Political Department assured.

"Okay, it's settled then!"