One day in October 1965, Chairman Mao in his office circled a map for a long time, pondered for a moment, and suddenly dialed out a phone: "Enlai, I have something important to discuss with you." ”。
Premier Zhou listened to his serious tone, which was expected to be a very important matter, and he did not dare to delay for half a moment and hurried to Chairman Mao's office.
At this time Chairman Mao had been waiting in his office for a long time. After Premier Zhou arrived, he immediately withdrew from all the staff around him, and let his guards guard at the door, saying to Premier Zhou: "I have a very important plan, the matter is very important, and I want to ask your opinion." ”
Premier Zhou saw Chairman Mao with a serious look and did not dare to be sloppy at all, and their secret meeting lasted only half an hour. After the meeting, Premier Zhou left in a hurry.
Soon after, a remote town in Chongqing was lost on the map, and under the orders of Chairman Mao, 60,000 people also rushed to the town, and soon disappeared. What did Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou say in the past half hour? Where did these 60,000 people go?
After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the United States targeted China and North Korea with nuclear weapons in an attempt to drop atomic bombs on China and North Korea again.
But because of the threat of the Soviet Union, which also possessed nuclear weapons, the United States could only abandon this plan. Chinese, who have been threatened by a U.S. nuclear bomb, realize that to be backward is to be beaten. If China is to truly gain a foothold internationally, it must make itself strong.
At the 1956 political conference and the 1958 enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission, Chairman Mao made it clear: "If we want to avoid being bullied, we must have our own nuclear weapons!" ”
Under Chairman Mao's instructions, the relevant departments immediately began to prepare for this matter. The team to develop the nuclear bomb was soon formed. Soviet-supported experts also soon came to China with information to help develop a nuclear bomb together.
After the construction of the nuclear bomb test base was completed according to the opinions of Soviet experts, they were reluctant to "teach each other" the experience of developing nuclear bombs, and Deng Jiaxian would touch a nose of ash every time he went to inquire.
Soon after, due to the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations, Soviet experts quickly withdrew and took relevant information with them. They also taunted very condescendingly: "With your current technology, it is simply wishful thinking to successfully develop an atomic bomb, and even if you give it twenty years, you will not be able to build an atomic bomb!" ”
Later, as Sino-Soviet relations continued to deteriorate, there were constant conflicts between the two countries, and the Soviet Union even wanted to use nuclear weapons to bomb China.
After the break with the Soviet Union, this means that China will have to confront two powerful powers, which is very unfavorable to China in the international situation.
Faced with the threat of the United States and the Soviet Union, Chairman Mao decided to develop the atomic bomb himself without any help, and named the project "Project 596".
For the next five years, everyone in the nuclear bomb development team bid farewell to their families and worked on the Gobi in anonymity in China, developing the atomic bomb without sleeping or eating.
On August 2, 1964, Chairman Mao considered that most of China's economic lifeline and military facilities were in the coastal areas, and that if other countries invaded, they would suffer huge losses.
Therefore, after the successful development of the atomic bomb in 1965, Chairman Mao considered it again and again and decided to build a nuclear factory in China's rear area to prepare for a possible war at any time.
In October 1965, after Chairman Mao had planned this matter, he immediately called Premier Zhou and dismissed all the staff around him. When Premier Zhou saw Chairman Mao's cautious appearance, he understood the importance of this matter.
Chairman Mao also ordered the guards to guard the gate and forbid anyone to enter. After making sure that there was no one else around, Chairman Mao said to Premier Zhou: "Enlai, the current situation is very unfavorable to us, I have a plan, we can build a nuclear factory in the rear, and when the time comes, we can start a war and be prepared." ”
Premier Zhou thought hard for a moment and asked, "I think it is okay to build a nuclear plant behind us, and we can provide timely support." ”
Seeing that Premier Zhou agreed with his plan, Chairman Mao then informed him of all the plans in his heart and said very seriously: "This matter will be entrusted to you, remember, this matter is of great importance, and you must not tell anyone!" ”
The two of them discussed the matter in the office for half an hour before finalizing the specifics of the matter.
After Premier Zhou returned, he began to prepare for this project. He named the project "816" as the highest level of military secrets, and immediately ordered the relevant departments to visit Chongqing to find a place where a nuclear plant could be built.
At the same time, Premier Zhou made a special trip to find outstanding talents from major universities such as Tsinghua university and Harbin Institute of Technology, as well as various units, and after layers of screening, 60,000 people were screened out to form an engineering unit, and named it the "8342" unit, ready to go to the nuclear plant at any time. Until then, everyone didn't know where they were going and what kind of mission they were going to perform.
Subsequently, after the investigation and comparison of relevant departments, the location was finally set in Baitao Town, Fuling, Chongqing. The town is located on the edge of the Wu River, and there are only a few thousand people in the whole town, which can ensure the secrecy of the project, and the water of the Wu River can keep up with the water cycle required by the nuclear reactor.
In addition, the town's terrain is complex and the mountains are densely forested, and it is difficult to find the nuclear factories hidden in them even over the mountains, and with a little smoke, the "enemy" will soon be lost.
And the place is still a long way from the township, which is a perfect place to consider post-war readiness.
In 1966, after everything was ready, the Central Military Commission dispatched unit "8342" to the construction task, and in order to ensure that this secret was not leaked, the name "Baitao Town" was also erased from the map of China under the instructions of Premier Zhou.
After accepting the task, more than 60,000 people of the "8342" unit did not hesitate to sign a confidentiality agreement, did not tell their parents, did not tell their wives and children, took a "special car" to Baitao Town, and disappeared into the vast mountains, everyone did not know their whereabouts, even during the New Year's Festival, almost no one went home.
816 Project Tunnel
The task of this group of engineers is very difficult, and many of them already have stable jobs. However, for the sake of the development of the motherland, they resolutely decided to carry their bags to this deep mountain and dense forest, and "threw their heads and spilled their blood" for the construction of this project.
They have no modern machinery, and can only rely on some traditional tools to dig little by little in this deep mountain, which is very difficult to construct.
Over time, many workers who have been working underground for a long time have problems with their vision due to the lack of sunlight, and many people have silicosis because of inhalation of dust. During their construction, a total of 76 young engineers fell on the way to build the nuclear plant.
The youngest of them is only 18 years old, and the oldest is no more than 30 years old. After their deaths, they were buried in a bowl of water martyrs' cemetery less than a kilometer from the main cave of the nuclear plant.
Meng Jie is one of them. When he was 18 years old, he threw himself into the construction of the motherland with his own enthusiasm, he fought on the Gobi in Gansu, and then followed the troops to Baitao Town to participate in the construction of the nuclear plant, in the process, at a young age, he never cried bitterness or tiredness, and as a result, when he was 24 years old, he fell in the hole of the 816 nuclear plant.
In addition, the confidentiality requirements for everyone in nuclear plants are very strict. First of all, all of them were able to reach the nuclear plant, which was selected by the organization. However, after the nuclear plant was officially established, many rules were first laid down, and all the villagers living nearby were arranged to leave.
The external name of the 816 nuclear plant is "State-owned New Chemical Machinery Factory", and the mailing address can only be written "Chongqing 4513 Mailbox".
At that time, no matter how senior they were, the first thing everyone came in was to learn to keep secrets. Each of them was given a numbered notebook, and all materials were handed in to the organization at the end of the day, and it was forbidden to take them out of the base. Even the construction drawings, they can only look at each other, can not read each other.
As a group of people who bear the fate of the country, they "have a home and cannot return", and even writing letters to their families must be repeatedly checked by the organization, in which they cannot even mention their place of work.
At that time, when the factory was under construction, there was a pair of Hunan brothers, one involved in the construction of the army, one working in the workshop, they exchanged letters for two years, they only told each other that they were participating in the construction of the third line, and never revealed their work location, and the specific content of the work.
Until one day, the two brothers met on the street of Baitao, and they found that the two had been working in the same place all along, and the two brothers who had been "reunited for a long time" cried with joy.
In addition to them, there are many people who have dedicated their whole lives to building the motherland.
In 1984, just as the nuclear plant was about to be completed, the central government suddenly ordered the construction to be stopped. Tens of thousands of engineers were subsequently disbanded.
At that time, the construction in the cave was basically 85% complete, and even some infrastructure was mostly completed, and the state's investment in this project had reached 740 million yuan, and it only took one year to complete all the projects and put them into use. The sudden order of suspension issued by the central authorities puzzled all those who knew about the matter at that time.
There are also very important reasons why China gave up the large amount of manpower, material and financial resources it invested in the "816" project.
At that time, the Soviet Union gathered hundreds of thousands of troops on the border of China, posing an extremely serious threat to China, China was isolated and helpless, and had to resist constant harassment by India, so China began to build this very strong and hidden facility mainly to resist the Soviet Union, which could invade at any time, in case of emergency.
And all that began to change after Nixon's visit to China in 1972. Since the victory of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, China's prestige in the world has been increasing day by day, and the United States has also begun to change its attitude toward China and constantly throw an olive branch to China.
It was in this international situation that Nixon decided to "establish good relations" with China. Chairman Mao also believed that New China was in a critical period of development at that time, so he accepted the overtures of the United States, and in the next ten years, the two countries became closer and closer.
At this time, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was already in a very fierce stage, and the Soviet Union was inferior in this economic competition, and because of the Afghan problem, its strength was not as good as before. Therefore, the threat to China is much smaller.
Another important reason is the rapid development of China, which has caused great pressure on the Soviet Union. Since the 1980s, China has been developing the modernization of the military, and the military development has been different from the past.
With the rise of satellites, fixed nuclear weapons have lost their advantages, and the development of new types of nuclear weapons was the most urgent task at that time. Moreover, when the "816" nuclear plant was built, the materials for China's development of atomic and hydrogen bombs were very scarce, and later with the development of China's industrialization, these materials were no longer in short supply, so this also became a very important reason for the factory to stop construction.
Finally, it is because China has gradually shifted the goal of construction. The maturity of China's atomic and hydrogen bomb technology has attracted worldwide attention, and the Soviet Union does not dare to easily shout "give China some color to see", and after the threat of the Soviet Union, China began to turn its target to economic construction.
It was not until 2002, when the underground nuclear plant was made public, that people learned that as early as the last century, so many people were silently making their own contributions to the country, and many people could not help but be awe-inspired after learning about this.
After the "816" nuclear plant was stopped, it was renamed the Jianfeng Group for "military conversion". In April 2010, the "816" nuclear plant was officially opened to the public in the form of a tourist attraction, with a total area of 104,000 square meters, more than 140 tunnels, guide holes, etc., including a 3-kilometer-long dark river, and the construction project is amazing.
After this project was converted into a tourist project, many elderly people who had fought in blood here came to visit. In 2014, a pair of elderly people also came to "816", and the grandfather was one of the engineers who had participated in the construction. After he left here, he kept the secrecy required by the organization until the secrets of the project were completely revealed, and he returned with his wife to visit. He looked at this place where he had sprinkled sweat for many years, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.
Later, the project also applied for the World Industrial Cultural Heritage, and the names of more than 20,000 veterans collected by Jianfeng Group, as well as the names of martyrs lying in the martyrs' cemetery, will be engraved on the veterans memorial square for all to remember that difficult time.