Chapter 25: Destroying the Troops (2)

  After an afternoon, under the leadership of Wei Qidong, Xiao Lie learned about most of the situation of destroying the base. In the past, due to the lack of modernized destruction means, except for some ammunition with low safety performance that could not be transported and was blown up on the spot, other ammunition had to be transported by train to designated factories in the interior for destruction.

  The destruction base was established in 2003 by the Xinjiang Military Region and has been under construction for several years. Nine functional destruction lines have settled here.

  Firstly, the second production line mainly disposes of rocket tube-type shells, such as the commonly used 40-rocket tubes. Since these types of ammunition are equipped with highly sensitive electric detonators and propellants, they require more stringent conditions for disassembly and dismantling, and their disposal methods are special and costly. Compared to other production lines, this area has a high concentration of technical personnel, who operate with extreme caution. The work area is covered with anti-static mats everywhere, and all personnel must wear anti-static work uniforms, even underwear and socks must be made of pure cotton products. After unpacking and inspection, the technicians immediately remove the head assembly of the detonator. This can cut off the power source of the detonator and prevent accidental ignition after impact.

  Projectile, consisting of warhead and propellant. Fuze, belonging to the warhead part, is a core component, composed of multiple components such as safety, delay, arming and detonation sequence, mainly playing the role of gradual energy amplification. After ignition, the fuze will detonate the high-explosive explosive in the projectile, thereby achieving a lethal effect. With the rapid development of artillery, there are hundreds of fuzes, and rocket-type ammunition belongs to electrically controlled fuzes. This type of fuze may directly explode under electrostatic action. After removing the fuze head mechanism, the operator cuts off the warhead and propellant in the middle. Then, the propellant is poured out, the fuze is removed, and the wind cap is cut open to press out the explosive column through a special device on the copper tube. Finally, the disassembled fuze, explosive, and propellant are stored separately and destroyed at an appropriate time. The operations of cutting the wind cap and pressing out the explosive column are extremely dangerous. To prevent accidental explosions, these two operational links are completed in an explosion-proof small room.

  This is a five-sided wall body made of large amounts of reinforced concrete, and the other side is composed of pressure-relief surfaces and anti-blast screens. It can withstand the impact of 7 kg TNT equivalent small rooms. After an accidental explosion, fragments and energy are released through the pressure relief surface, which will not harm the entire workshop and adjacent processes.

  In addition to these, lightning protection is also required. Due to its location in the depths of a large mountain, this place often experiences thunderstorms. In addition to setting up lightning rods on the top of the technical zone's workshop to prevent direct lightning strikes, reducing the grounding resistance of the workshop is also necessary. Once cumulonimbus clouds form, an electric charge can be induced on the surface of the workshop, and after accumulating a certain amount, it will discharge directly, causing fires or other damage. Modernized destruction methods not only pursue safety and thoroughness but also ensure green environmental protection. During the destruction operation, the main task is to dismantle the energetic components of the ammunition, which is to recover usable materials. Generally, the main recovered materials are steel for making bullet casings and TNT explosives filled inside, while the gunpowder in the cartridge is destroyed.

  The third line of work mainly recovers TNT explosives from the projectile. Projectiles and propellant charges with a caliber exceeding 100 mm are disassembled separately. The projectiles, after being unscrewed by technicians, have their fuses removed, then they are placed upside down in an iron cage and sent into the equipment of a high-temperature distillation chamber. After going through a series of procedures including high temperature, distillation, and heat preservation, the low-boiling-point solid TNT explosives flow out from the projectile, and according to needs, are made into flake or scale-shaped finished products for industrial production.

  Fourth and fifth production lines are mainly used for disassembling and dismantling the ammunition of front and rear chamber guns. The caliber of this type of ammunition is less than 100mm, and the projectile and propellant case are integrated, which is also the standard ammunition used by conventional artillery. Each production line is a flow line. The front and rear chamber gun ammunition has no special requirements for anti-static treatment. After the technical personnel remove the fuse, they use specialized equipment to rotate out the bottom fire, which is roughly the size of a button. Pulling out the projectile is even simpler. The cannonball is fixed on the machine, and in less than 1 second, the projectile and propellant case are automatically separated. Then, the projectile is sent to the third production line for recycling treatment, while the propellant case is transferred to the next process.

  At this time, the cartridge was decomposed, but because there were 3 layers of tight seals made of hard paper at the outlet, the propellant in the tube could not be discharged. At this time, the technician held a high-pressure air pipe and placed the air door into the bottom fire chamber. After lightly opening the valve, the tight seal was immediately pushed out. The last step is to pour out the propellant in the cartridge.

  The propellant is highly prone to ignition under electrostatic conditions, so all destruction tools and workbenches are made of colored metal. To prevent any accidents, multiple sprinkler devices were installed above the workbench, which would release a deluge of water from top to bottom in case of an explosion.

  The disassembly of hand grenades is the sixth production line. Technicians sit in a blast-proof isolation room and place each grenade on a conveyor device. At that time, the equipment in the isolation room separates the wooden handle from the warhead. The detonator inside the handle is concentrated for destruction, and the TNT inside the warhead is inverted and emptied.

  Article 7: The disassembly line for ammunition mainly deals with the disassembly of cartridges with a caliber between 12.7mm-14.5mm. After removing the bullet head, pour out the gunpowder inside the cartridge case and remove the primer from the bottom of the case.

  Article 8 is the disassembly production line of fuses. Some fuses can be recycled for their high value. During recycling, the detonator and fuse cap inside the fuse are removed by machine.

  Article 9 is the incineration operation, which is to burn the unusable fuses and detonators through the incineration furnace. The ordinary bullet destruction operation uses a destruction furnace with holes of diameter smaller than that of the bullets on all four walls, where 800,000 rounds can be burned at one time in just 20 minutes. As for mortar shells, since the explosive inside cannot be recovered after removing the fuse, they are stacked outdoors and directly ignited.

  "Not all ammunition disposal is suitable for modernized production lines. Innovation was forced out!" Wei Qidong said with a smile: "In recent years, in order to avoid risks, we have thought of ways to develop many results on our own. Although some need to trouble the military industry department, it's not good to go to trouble them all the time. Look at this machine, the fuse of the previous high-altitude shell was difficult to remove, and the original production line could only disassemble 600 shells per day. Later we invented the fuse removal machine, which won the third prize of the whole army's scientific and technological progress award. With this thing, more than 1,000 fuses can be removed in an hour."

  "You're here now, the conditions are much better. In the past few years, handling large-caliber gunpowder was a problem. Due to the danger of the powder, it had to be destroyed. The previous method was to strike the powder with a hammer. When striking, the suddenly flying shell could easily hurt the operator, and the 120-decibel noise and harmful gases produced would harm people's physical health. Later, our company commander led us in making different types of powder-striking machines, which could hold 10 rounds of the same caliber at once. When struck with external force, the powder was destroyed simultaneously, but there were still loud noises and harmful gases, although it was no longer dangerous. This problem had to be thoroughly solved. Later, our company commander and we spent several months researching and experimenting, and developed a large-caliber powder-water flushing machine. This is an advanced instrument that uses water pressure to directly flush out the powder, with no noise or pollution, and can destroy 100 rounds at once. The flushed-out powder caps can also be recycled."

  Wei Qidong took Xiao Lie to a production line and said slowly, "For these things, it's like they're the treasures of my own family. I'm filled with pride this time."

  At that moment, Xiao Lie was no longer so repelled by this place and temporarily did not have the urge to leave.

  "Come on, I'm too tired today, let me tell you a joke instead. When I was young, we loved to play fight during the summer. One time, several guys ganged up on me alone, and as they say, 'two fists can't defeat four hands.' When I had no way out, I escaped into an old shack. After a prolonged battle, I was exhausted and out of ammo." Tang Fei's expression at this point seemed like he himself was surrounded by Japanese devils on a small hill, ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good. "Hmph, in that moment when all seemed lost, I discovered my clever strategy - I took off my pants, filled up my water gun with pee, and killed my way out of the encirclement with a single shot, using the element of surprise to defeat the many with the few."

  The soldiers were listening carefully to Tang Fei's heroic deeds, and when he finished speaking, they suddenly came back to their senses, a group of people burst out laughing. The mental pressure of destroying the enemy every day was enormous, so someone learned to tell jokes to relieve the tension.

  "Xiao Lie, come on, you tell one of your old jokes too, remember, it has to be funny!" Li Xiao Qiao pulled Xiao Lie over with a smile.

  "If it's not funny, you'll be punished until it is." Someone nearby chimed in.

  "Professor asked: How can we prove that cats climb trees. No one answered, then he called on the eagle to answer. The eagle sobbed and said: That year I fell asleep, then the cat climbed the tree, and finally there was a cat head owl."

  When Xiao Lie told this somewhat ambiguous joke, the soldiers on the side couldn't help but snicker.

  "You look like a pretty honest kid, but this kind of joke will corrupt people." Gaoyuan Mountain said with a smile.

  "Right, not suitable for children, you can leave now." Tang Fei said with a smile.

  "You guys, staying here is good, not only can you quit drinking, even old smokers can quit smoking within a week. Do you know our instructor? He was an old smoker for 20 years, started learning to smoke at the age of 11, and even in the new recruit squad, he would finish his cigarettes before being locked up in a dark room. Later, when he arrived at the regimental headquarters, the old regimental commander tried many methods to get him to quit smoking. Coincidentally, our company commander went to the regimental headquarters on business that day and quietly told the regimental commander a good method after learning about his troubles. The next day, the instructor was transferred to our company, and surprisingly, he really did quit smoking within a week." Tang Fei said.

  "What about our instructor? I haven't seen him yet?" Xiao Lie had just arrived, and more than 60 people in the whole company had seen him, but indeed, he hadn't seen the instructor.

  "He's gone early, his name is Wu Minghui, now he's the captain of the reconnaissance company."

  Xiao Lie suddenly remembered who his instructor was.