Chapter 584 The Severity of the Drought
After giving the bulletproof vest to his second brother, Zhou Tian felt relieved.
The next day, Zhou Tian did not go directly to the research institute as usual, but went to the Forbidden City. Now that there were signs of drought, he must report to his superiors.
Arriving at the leader's study, Zhou Tian told the leader everything. After he finished speaking, he said solemnly, "Leader, this is just the rural area around Sijiu City. I don't know how other places are doing."
"Although experienced farmers say that the epidemic may recover next year, we still have to be on guard. Besides, if it really lasts for a year, it's not a big deal. What's scary is that it lasts for more than just one year. Therefore, we must prepare in advance!"
The leader listened to Zhou Tian's words and fell into deep thought. He tapped the table with one hand and looked up at Zhou Tian after a long time.
“How credible is this statement?”
It’s not that he didn’t believe Zhou Tian’s words. On the contrary, it was because he believed them that he asked this question.
After all, the leaders have not received reports on the drought situation from various places this year.
"Leader, your credibility is very high!"
Zhou Tian assured with a serious face. After all, with the memories of his previous life, he naturally knew the severity of the disaster.
"Is that so? Fine then. I will verify this matter. If it is true as you said, then we should really make preparations in advance!"
Seeing Zhou Tian’s serious expression, the leader also spoke seriously.
Because the country has paid off its foreign debt in recent years, grain has been harvested in good quantities for several years, and the treasury is also abundant, so although the leaders attach great importance to this disaster, they still feel that it will not last too long.
One or two years was already his worst estimate, but no one would have thought that this natural disaster would last for three years.
After leaving the Forbidden City, Zhou Tian still looked uneasy, but fortunately, the higher-ups had made preparations, so it shouldn't have as huge an impact as in his previous life.
After returning to the research institute, he put everything aside and began to study long-range missile vehicles. Over the years, he has been committed to improving the domestic industrial level, so most of the products developed by the research institute are heavy industrial products such as machine tools, steel furnaces, and automobile production lines.
He only occasionally involved some civilian products. It was not that he did not understand the importance of national defense, but that he was very clear that it would take longer to develop military products when the domestic industrial level had not reached a certain level.
Now that the domestic industrial level has gradually begun to catch up with some developed countries, it is natural that the military industry will no longer be shelved, and it is time to strengthen the capabilities of national defense and military industry.
Among them, the long-range missile is his first project this year.
Especially with the rapid development of the domestic economy, a strong national defense is definitely needed to protect it.
Long-range missiles undoubtedly meet this goal. Zhou Tian had previously studied radar missile vehicles. Although their range did not reach the standards of long-range missiles, he had accumulated a lot of experience in this area.
This time, when researching long-range missiles, they are naturally more adept at it, especially with the emergence of chips, which can increase the hit rate of long-range missiles.
The most important parts of a long-range missile are the launch pad, power system and guidance system, among which the guidance system and power system are the most important. After all, without these two systems, even if the missile is developed, it is just a deterrent weapon.
With Zhou Tian's existing knowledge, it is not difficult to manufacture the missile and its power system. The difficulty lies in the guidance system. If he wants to ensure the missile's accurate hit rate, he can only use radar for guidance when satellites have not yet appeared.
Zhou Tian had also manufactured a radar vehicle, but due to limited conditions at the time, the radar he manufactured was rather crude. Now with chips and transistors, both radar reliability and data processing are far beyond what the original radar could achieve.
Although long-range missiles were not difficult for him, it was still a complex system engineering project after all, even with the help of many experts who specialized in military research in the research institute.
However, it was not completed until the end of 1958.
During this period, as Zhou Tian expected, the Great Leap Forward did not occur, and the entire domestic economy continued to develop rapidly. Perhaps because of the personal intervention of the leaders, although the grain output in many places decreased, it did not have much impact.
Especially in many rural areas in the north, the state has advanced funds and allocated a large number of irrigation machines, well drilling machines and water pumps. Each village has dug at least three wells.
In addition, in the past few years, under the leadership of the production teams, each village built reservoirs, which indeed reduced the impact of the drought.
When Zhou Tian heard the news, he couldn't help feeling relieved. After all, as long as the disaster was not serious, it was the best news. But he was not relaxed or vigilant. After all, he knew that next year, the year after next, and the year after that would be the most serious period of the drought.
After successfully researching the long-range missile, Zhou Tian reported it immediately.
Only after the military had transported away all the long-range missiles and information did Zhou have time to inspect the branch's farm. The results of the inspection were not ideal. Even though the branch's farm had dug wells and used irrigation machines and water pumps, some abnormalities in the land were still inevitable.
"Dean, according to this situation, if it doesn't rain or snow next year, then the harvest next year will not be optimistic!"
Inside the farm, Professor Qiu Ying observed the soil fertility of the fields and said seriously that although with fertilizers and grain seeds, the farm's grain output is indeed much higher than the per-acre yield in the countryside, but if there is a lack of water, the grain output is still not optimistic.
"Professor Qiu, according to your analysis, if there is no rain or snow next year, how much will the farm's output drop?"
Zhou Tian looked at the vast farm and asked with complicated eyes.
"Dean, this is hard to estimate, but if it really is as you said, without any rain or snow, the grain output will at most be only two-thirds of last year's!"
"Two thirds?"
After hearing what Professor Qiu Ying said, Zhou Tian silently calculated in his mind and felt that two-thirds was not unacceptable.
“What if the drought continues for another two years?”
Professor Qiu Ying was stunned for a moment when he heard this. He didn't understand why the dean asked this question, but he still answered: "If it really continues for another two years, it will be dangerous. The impact will not be significant in one or two years, but if it lasts for three years, many rural areas in the north will have no crops!"
"Is it that serious?"
Zhou Tian was stunned for a moment, his expression somewhat solemn.
"Well, it's even worse than that!"
Professor Qiu Ying nodded affirmatively.
"What if we have irrigation machines, well drilling machines and water pumps? Isn't that possible?"
Professor Qiu Ying’s words suddenly made Zhou Tian feel a little numb.