Chapter 7

This is a key technical reserve base for the country's third-line construction.

From small-scale firearms production technology and equipment to critical equipment and technical backups for nuclear weapons, and even the technical backups for intercontinental ballistic missiles like the Dongfeng-5, this is a national-level war preparedness factory!

This base was also a response to the call of the Great Leader, who once proposed "dig deep for tunnels, store up grain, do not seek hegemony, and prepare for war and famine for the people." This unnamed base, known by the code name "Mechanical Institute No. 9," is a top-secret war preparedness base.

And it is the most important military technology preparedness base!

In the event of war, if the external war situation deteriorates and most of the military factories are destroyed by the United States or the Soviet Union, the technology and talent stored in the base can quickly be converted into production capacity, continuously supplying various weapons and equipment to the front lines.

Construction began in the early 1960s, and an engineering regiment has been continuously digging tunnels deep into the vast and majestic Daba Mountains.

At the same time, various newly developed military equipment technologies and related equipment have been continuously added to the base.

The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union intensified, extending from the Earth's interior to outer space. In such an international situation, the new China, which was seen by the United States as part of the Soviet camp and by the Soviet camp as a obedient little brother not aligned with the group, had a difficult time, as one can imagine.

China's enemies were not only the NATO military alliance led by the United States but also the Warsaw Pact military alliance led by the Soviet Union!

Do not assume that China and the Soviet Union, with the same ideology, were allies.

The Soviet Union has always wanted to meddle in the internal affairs of all its little brothers.

In the past, it was precisely because the Soviet Union wanted to interfere in China's internal affairs using nuclear technology, which was firmly resisted by the Great Leader, that the Soviet Union withdrew all its aid experts during the most severe three years of natural disasters in the new China.

Later, the situation escalated to the point where both sides had millions of troops and large tank formations covering the entire northern border! Incidents of accidental gunfire were not uncommon, and the Zhenbao Island conflict was a typical example.

The world was shrouded in the shadow of a third world war, the ultimate battle of humanity.

In such a situation, whoever has more adequate reserves will ultimately survive. Therefore, China had the third-line construction...

This base has never appeared in Chinese history. At least, it did not exist in Liu Yijiu's memory, who knew many secrets of the new China after its founding.

In this era, after returning to the dormitory and hearing his roommates discuss some major events, Liu Yijiu felt that fate was playing a cruel joke on him! Because this year left a particularly deep impression on him.

If a certain year is taken as a historical cross-section to observe the tremendous changes in Chinese society, then 1976 is undoubtedly the most worthy of selection.

Many major events happened this year, which can be summarized as "heaven collapsing and earth splitting, shocking and terrifying."

On January 8, the beloved Premier Zhou Enlai passed away after a long illness;

On July 6, Chairman Zhu De, at the age of 90, passed away;

On September 9 at 12:10 AM, Chairman Mao Zedong, the founder of the new China, passed away after a long illness, leaving the people who deeply loved him...

The departure of these three great leaders can be described as heaven collapsing.

And the earth splitting, on May 29, two earthquakes struck western Yunnan, the first with a magnitude of 7.3 and the second with a magnitude of 7.4, causing no serious casualties but destroying over 400,000 houses...

Following this, on July 28, the Tangshan earthquake took the lives of 242,000 people who were still asleep, and also left 164,000 people seriously injured...

There is one more thing that cannot be left unsaid—the downfall of a certain four people in China.

Liu Yijiu came to this era right after these events had just concluded.

It was precisely because of these events that the base's material supply was affected.

Liu Yijiu did not believe it at first, but the hunger in his stomach told him that this was reality.

The leaders were busy dealing with numerous major domestic issues, and probably few people remembered these national defense science and technology workers who might spend their entire lives in the depths of the mountains.

There has always been a saying—SC, SC, surrounded by mountains. Planes cannot fly over, and cannons cannot penetrate.

The country's most critical strategic technologies were placed in the most important and industrially dense areas of the third-line project in the Daba Mountains. The rugged terrain and backward transportation isolated the young people who responded to the national call and became the bricks of socialist construction, ready to move wherever they were needed.

A base that could accommodate a complete national military industrial system would certainly not be the only one, and the vast Daba Mountains would certainly not have only one such base.

Mechanical Institute No. 9 is the internal name, and very few people know about it.

Liu Yijiu did not know how large the area was, how many technologies it managed, or how many large pieces of equipment it stored.

Here, one could see various advanced manufacturing equipment supported by the Soviet Union at the time of liberation, as well as mechanical equipment samples from the European Economic Community stored in the mountain caves in recent years.

Each person here had a designated area they could access. Even those with lower ranks could only move within a very limited range.

"Comrade Eats-Not-Enough, haven't you given up on this idea? Have you forgotten the base's rules?" Qin Huaibao, who almost starved to death during the three years of natural disasters, allegedly survived because his father changed his name, "Even if we had guns, wouldn't the sound of gunfire get us blown to pieces by the artillery of the guard regiment?"

"We can borrow guns from the equipment warehouse! The rusty Type 38 rifles are only good for hunting wild chickens and rabbits..." Qin Huaibao was not bothered by Luo Tong's sarcasm.

There were many military equipment pieces from the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War in the mountains, but whether they were for technical reserves or to preserve history, no one could say for sure.

Eats-Not-Enough's "borrowing" was not really borrowing.

In this era, this was a matter of life and death. Risking one's life for a meal of meat was not worth it!

"Let's not. If we hear gunfire in the mountains, it will cause a commotion. Although the Revolutionary Committee guys are not around to bother us now, if we get caught... Why don't we go fishing in the river tomorrow..." Yang Shan, 33 years old, had not been there long but had experienced a lot.

For those not devoted to national defense construction, the mountains were like a prison, with the nearest city being dozens of kilometers away.

Even if Liu Yijiu, as a patient needing nutritional supplements, were discovered, the consequences would be severe.

Eating meat was a small matter; losing one's life was a big deal.

In this era, most people were recommended to university by workers, peasants, and soldiers, but Liu Yijiu was the only one who had learned from his father and a group of colleagues since childhood, entering university directly without formal schooling.

A pure and red successor of socialism!

"Little Jiu, what do you think?" Hearing their heated discussion, Liu Yijiu had not spoken, and Qin Huaibao could not help but ask him.

"Anything to eat meat!" Liu Yijiu said weakly.

Better to be shot than to starve to death!

There were many wild animals in the Daba Mountains. Since the base was built, the supply had never been as tight as it was now, and no one had harmed them. With a hundred-mile radius being a military禁区 (military restricted area), no gunfire was allowed except by the military. Even the mountain hunters used old methods like traps and bows.

Moreover, for just a few dozen pounds of grain tickets, one could get a wild rabbit and a wild chicken, so no one thought of using guns.

Wild animals had a strong gamey taste, far less delicious than domesticated ones. A domesticated goose would cost 40 pounds of grain tickets, not worth it.

However, if such transactions were discovered, the punishment would be severe! Capitalist speculation, if caught, could cost one's life! There were precedents in the base!

"No guns? Can you set traps?" Qin Huaibao was immediately depressed.

Gunfire echoing in the mountains would cause many problems. This was a situation they had to face. The sound of gunfire could make the surrounding guard forces tense.

"Thorough materialism is fearless! To better adhere to materialism and build socialism, taking some risks is worth it!" Luo Tong felt that it was better to be a well-fed ghost than to suffer from hunger.

"Whatever we do, we should not fight unprepared! To do a job well, one must first sharpen the tools. To make the gunfire not attract the attention of the guard regiment, we need to make the sound smaller or even eliminate it." Liu Yijiu was speechless. They were all successors of socialism, working in the military industry, and didn't they know about silencers?

It was said that last time, Zheng Hao was caught by the guard regiment for firing three shots randomly and had not returned yet!

"Stop joking. Little Jiu, do you have any ideas?" Everyone had not had a full meal for days, and their stomachs were empty.

The dumb rabbits and wild chickens that would fall into traps had already been hunted by those with families.

Without guns, they could not get food. Moreover, they did not know how to set traps.

And they had to go deep into the mountains.

"It's just about not letting the gunfire be heard. A silencer will do! As long as you can get the guns, I can ensure the sound won't travel more than 100 meters..." At this point, Liu Yijiu did not care that he had not completed his base entry exam.

He had never experienced hunger or a life without meat.

To eat meat, he was willing to take the risk.

More importantly, these three brothers left him half a cornbread every night, enduring hunger themselves!

"I knew you had a way. Are guns a problem for us? How will you solve the gunfire?" Hearing Tan Kaixin's words, everyone perked up.

As long as the gunfire could be solved, guns were the least of the problems in the base.

The base had a vast array of mechanical processing equipment, capable of manufacturing intercontinental missiles. A gun would not be a problem, especially with ready-made guns in the armory!

"Eats-Not-Enough, forget it, theft is a serious crime! Especially stealing guns" Yang Shan felt his eyelids twitching, and this matter, if caught, would be a matter of life and death. He could not say his eyelids were twitching, as that would be feudal and superstitious!

"Even if it costs my head, I must eat meat!" Eats-Not-Enough had suffered too much hunger in his childhood and did not want to experience it again! "Besides, to be caught, one must be caught. The warehouse guard is a buddy of mine!"