Chapter 59

"Weather weapon?" Ji Zhixing was a little surprised when he heard this term.

Most of the weapons currently on the public's radar are focused on firepower coverage. Of course, there are also biological and chemical weapons with serious flaws, while weather weapons seem to be a completely different matter.

Seeing the curiosity on Ji Zhixing's face, Wen Zhengyang decided to go into the room with him and chat for a while longer.

He gestured for Ji Zhixing to sit down in a chair. Director Qi, who had led Ji Zhixing in, poured water for the two of them, and Ji Zhixing quickly stood up to offer it to him.

"How much do you know about weather weapons?" Wen Zhengyang asked.

Ji Zhixing thought for a moment. He had not been exposed to much information about weapons and war. His limited understanding came from history and politics classes in middle school and courses on current affairs and policies in university.

The first thing that came to his mind was the legendary story.

In ancient times, when the Yellow Emperor and Chi You fought a great battle at Zhuolu, it is said that "Chi You created a great fog that lasted for three days," trapping the Yellow Emperor's forces.

Also, Zhuge Liang's clever use of the east wind to burn Cao Cao's chain of water fortresses during the Three Kingdoms period could also be considered.

In modern times, the cases of weather weapon application that he was familiar with mainly occurred during World War II.

In 1943, in order to cover its troops' river crossing operation, the Fifth Army of the United States used aircraft to drop fog-making agents on the Voltuno River in Italy, creating a dense fog belt 5,000 meters long.

However, the weather weapon in this case is purely defensive in nature.

According to Ji Zhixing, weather weapons that truly demonstrated offensive capabilities first appeared in the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

During its invasion of Vietnam, the United States employed many inhumane and unethical methods. For example, it extensively sprayed the highly toxic defoliant "Agent Orange" in the jungles.

In addition, the so-called "Popeye" plan was implemented, which dispatched 26,000 aircraft to drop tens of thousands of tons of rain-inducing agents and 4.74 million rain-inducing bombs into the clouds, turning light rain into heavy rain and heavy rain into torrential rain.

This artificial rainmaking lasted for seven years, causing flash floods, bridge collapses, and muddy roads in Vietnam. It not only severely affected the guerrilla activities and logistical supplies of the North Vietnamese army, but also dealt a devastating blow to the agricultural production and daily life of local civilians.

Ji Zhixing vividly remembered that when his history teacher taught this section, he spent an entire half-class period vehemently criticizing the United States. Even when the history teacher taught this lesson in another class, Ji could hear the teacher's righteous indignation through the classroom.

"I am only of limited knowledge, and this is all I know about weather weapons," Ji Zhixing said.

"You've done a good job with history," Wen Zhengyang encouraged, and then told Ji Zhixing some examples of the use of weather weapons.

"For example, in 1970, in order to cut off Cuba's economic lifeline, the United States used a low-frequency electromagnetic wave to change the airflow path, causing an abnormal drought in Cuba and resulting in a major food crisis."

"For example, in 1974, in order to establish a regime in Honduras, the United States used artificial hurricane technology to direct a super hurricane with wind speeds exceeding 177 kilometers per hour toward Honduras, causing tens of thousands of deaths, leaving more than 600,000 people homeless, and plunging the country into complete chaos."

Ji Zhixing was shocked; he had never heard of this history before. Cuba and Honduras were incredibly unlucky to have such a ruthless neighbor as the United States.

Wen Zhengyang sighed deeply. If China were located in the Americas, it would probably have suffered a hundred times more attacks than it has now.

Ji Zhixing suddenly remembered a sentence mentioned in his history book: "In 1977, the United Nations issued the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Climate-Affecting Means for Military Purposes."

At the time, he thought this was just a precautionary measure. After all, in his imagination, weather weapons were futuristic weapons that existed only in science fiction novels. He never expected that they had already been developed into widespread combat applications.

Wen Zhengyang sighed: "So-called international conventions are nothing special. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 reiterated the ban on the development of weather weapons, but which military power, led by the United States, is willing to stop researching them? At most, they just come up with pretexts under the guise of civilian use or environmental protection."

For example, in 1994, the United States built a massive experimental base on the Alaskan Peninsula to study the High Frequency Active Aurora Project (HAARP), attempting to use high-frequency electromagnetic beams to control the upper atmosphere in order to repair the ozone layer.

With such a pretext for restoring the atmospheric environment, the United Nations has no reason to stop it.

However, after research, Wen Zhengyang and some of his former colleagues unanimously concluded that the HAARP project is actually the world's largest weather warfare weapon.

By modifying the ionosphere, it's entirely possible to control electromagnetic beams to disrupt communications in other countries, damage spacecraft and launch vehicles, and intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles. Even more dangerously, it could artificially manipulate local weather!

Ji Zhixing was startled, and couldn't help but think of the strange and unpredictable weather over the past year: "Could it be..."

“We’re just speculating,” Wen Zhengyang shook his head helplessly. “We don’t have any concrete evidence yet.”

High stealth is also a major characteristic of weather weapons; sometimes, it is difficult for people to distinguish the connection between natural weather changes and human influence. Weather weapons of the last century still leave traces, but future weather weapons may very well develop to the point of killing without leaving a trace.

This stealth provides a completely new means of confrontation between nations in peacetime. Given the ruthless and unscrupulous nature of the United States, it's highly unlikely they wouldn't utilize this new technology.

“Of course, there’s no need to worry too much right now.” Wen Zhengyang said to Ji Zhixing, who was frowning. “Although we can’t fully grasp the extent of the United States’ weather control, we can infer that it is not yet mature enough. Otherwise, its homeland would not suffer from extreme weather such as hurricanes every year.”

Even so, after hearing about the HAARP project, Ji Zhixing felt an overwhelming sense of urgency. He finally understood why he had been asked to explain the derivation process of the Navier-Stokes equations.

The Navier-Stokes equations describe vortices, turbulence, and the dynamic changes of all fluids. They are crucial for studying changes in the troposphere, stratosphere, exosphere, and other atmospheric layers, as well as the manifestations of extreme weather events such as hurricanes, torrential rains, and lightning.

In fact, current weather forecasting models are built based on numerical algorithms of the Navier-Stokes equations.

Ji Zhixing couldn't sit still any longer. He said, "Professor Wen, I'm not tired at all. If it's convenient for everyone, I can start speaking now!"

In fact, he even felt a little ashamed. Previously, he had only treated the Navier-Stokes equations as a purely academic problem to be solved, without ever considering their application in the military field.

If he had known that weather weapons had developed to this extent, he would have preferred to remain unknown for the rest of his life rather than reveal the general solution of the Navier-Stokes equations to the world in the form of a paper.

Only now did he truly understand how important a strong academic journal system is to a country!

He didn't believe in the idea that science knows no borders; he only hoped that his country could develop better.

Wen Zhengyang noticed Ji Zhixing's frustration and patted him on the shoulder: "You don't have to take the blame. You have no responsibility. As a student, you should focus on knowledge."

However, Ji Zhixing couldn't help but wonder if he had indirectly accelerated the development of weather weapons in the United States.

Having lived to this age, Wen Zhengyang could easily see what the young man in front of him was thinking, so he gently patted Ji Zhixing's head.

"Don't get stuck on this! You have to have faith in our country! Although we started late, we are not without any means to fight back."

Wen Zhengyang simply took Ji Zhixing out of the room and personally led him by car to visit a less sensitive area of ​​the research institute.

Although it's called a research institute, the outdoor area is vast. Ji Zhixing sat in the car and looked out the window; no matter which direction he looked, he couldn't see any walls.

The car drove for more than ten minutes before stopping outside a high wall. Wen Zhengyang led Ji Zhixing through several checkpoints, introducing the area as he went: "This research institute covers an area of ​​nearly 360,000 square kilometers and has nine climate workshops. Look, this is the lightning workshop."

Workspace… Ji Zhixing looked at the endless glass-enclosed area in front of him and simply couldn’t associate this vast, seemingly endless area with the word “workspace”.

He wasn't part of the research institute and couldn't enter the workroom, but even through the thick glass, he could see the process of a lightning pulse developing and exploding inside.

He had a little understanding of this process, and he remembered that it involved seeding charged clouds with frozen nuclei, controlling charge neutralization and transfer, and altering the dynamics and microphysics of the cloud to trigger lightning discharge.

A deafening roar exploded in his ears. Even through the thick glass, Ji Zhixing could still feel the chill of the lightning. To put it simply, he felt a tingling sensation from head to toe, even while standing on a thick, insulated carpet.

It seems that being struck by lightning in the future is not a dream! If we can precisely control the landing point of lightning, we might even be able to shoot down enemy aircraft.

Ji Zhixing suddenly remembered the incident where Bai Gong was struck by lightning. Was it divine retribution or...?

He glanced at Professor Wen's expression and realized he might be overthinking things. Well, regardless, given the countless despicable acts the United States has committed, it wouldn't be surprising if they faced divine retribution!

After inspecting the lightning workshop, Wen Zhengyang took Ji Zhixing back to the car, and the car drove for another ten minutes before stopping at another location.

Wen Zhengyang pointed ahead: "Look, this is the marine work area."

Ji Zhixing stared in disbelief at the vast, boundless sea where the water met the sky; he couldn't believe it was a man-made ocean.

"This workshop has a water area of ​​80,000 square kilometers. In fact, we can already create small typhoons on the sea."

Ji Zhixing's eyes lit up: "That's great!"

"The main purpose of our research is to control the climate to change in a way that benefits the people, which simply means favorable weather and abundant harvests," Wen Zhengyang explained. "Of course, if necessary, we can also destroy hurricanes from nature or man-made sources."

Ji Zhixing was deeply moved.

May the weather be favorable and the crops abundant!

For thousands of years, countless sacrificial ceremonies across China have been held for the sake of these four words: "favorable weather for crops" and "national peace and prosperity."

With the development of technology, modern people's production and lives are not as affected by climate as those of the ancients. However, in the face of extreme natural disasters, humans are still like ants, utterly powerless to resist.

If we can artificially regulate the climate, we can intervene before natural weather patterns escalate into disasters, preventing problems before they arise! We can also easily deal with extreme weather events manipulated by other countries!

Looking at the surging water in the workshop, Wen Zhengyang said, "As far as we know, the focus of the United States' research on weather weapons is twofold: lightning and typhoons."

They estimate that the energy of a thunderstorm is roughly equivalent to a 2.5-megaton nuclear bomb, and a typhoon is even more terrifying.

A single cyclone generates energy equivalent to a 1-megaton hydrogen bomb, while a mature typhoon is equivalent to detonating a 10-megaton nuclear bomb every 20 minutes!

It's important to understand that the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of only 15,000 tons. This means that the energy released by a single typhoon each day is equivalent to the energy released by hundreds of thousands to millions of Hiroshima atomic bombs!

The energy contained in natural weather changes is immense. Weather weapons often only play a guiding role as a catalyst and multiplier, and can trigger a super-powerful change with the "butterfly effect" by releasing a small amount of energy!

In terms of destructive power and attack range, weather weapons surpass traditional weapons of mass destruction. The United States, in a research report, even argued that weather control is more important than the atomic bomb.

Given its remarkable characteristics of high power, strong concealment, and low cost, although all countries have signed the UN convention, no country with any capability has given up on developing weather weapons.

China has also been dragged into this new arms race, but fortunately it has already made some progress.

“In fact, we started late, and there is definitely a gap between our depth and breadth of meteorological research and that of the United States. It will take time to close this gap.” Wen Zhengyang looked Ji Zhixing straight in the eye. “But you have cracked the Navier-Stokes equations!”

"What does this mean?" Wen Zhengyang said as he led Ji Zhixing outside, "It means that countries can make rapid progress in the research of weather weapons in a relatively short period of time, but this is actually a good thing."

Huh? Ji Zhixing was confused at first, but then he understood something: "So... does that mean that in the future, weather weapons will be like nuclear weapons, basically serving a deterrent and counterbalancing role?"

Anyway, you have it and I have it too. If you drop a nuclear bomb on me, I'll play my cards and we'll all die together! If you dare to strike me with lightning, I'll retaliate with a hurricane. Even if my technology isn't mature enough to create a hurricane, a few cyclones will be enough to give you trouble.

“That’s right, that’s exactly it.” Wen Zhengyang nodded. “The general solution of the Navier-Stokes equations can quickly bring the research of various countries to a level that is not much different from that of the United States. It just depends on which country is willing to invest a lot of manpower and resources.”

Today, China is developing rapidly, and the country is naturally sparing no effort in this regard.

"Once everyone has developed, no one will dare to act rashly. Only then will the research focus of meteorological weapons truly shift to serving people's lives."

At this point, Ji Zhixing's heavy heart, which had been weighing on him ever since he heard about the HAARP project, finally felt a little relieved.

Wen Zhengyang also breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid that Ji Zhixing would become timid and hesitant because of unnecessary psychological burden.

Mindset is crucial for researchers; once concerns arise, thinking becomes stifled and inspiration is stifled.

Ji Zhixing is only 21 years old and has a long research career ahead of him. How could he bear to let him give up like this? That's why he made an exception and took him for a walk around the research institute.

Seeing that Ji Zhixing had finally let go of his psychological burden, Wen Zhengyang joked, "Aren't escape room games very popular among you young people? Maybe in another ten years or so, these escape rooms will be able to simulate all sorts of realistic scenarios such as wind, rain, thunder, hail, scorching heat, and freezing cold."

Ji Zhixing had a sudden thought and remembered the virtual space in the system.

Virtual spaces offer a variety of training scenarios, with forests, oceans, grasslands, deserts, and diverse climate experiences all remarkably realistic. Is this the foundation upon which holographic technology is built?

He suddenly felt a strange sense of witnessing the unfolding of history.

After spending three days at the research institute, Ji Zhixing felt as if all the knowledge in his mind had been emptied out. Compared to the scholars there, he was truly too superficial!

This three-day trip to the research institute made him realize even more what it means to have endless learning and that learning is a lifelong endeavor!

There is so much for him to learn! Especially after broadening his horizons, he feels he should carefully plan his future studies and research.

On the third day, Ji Zhixing was dropped off at the entrance of the research institute by Wen Zhengyang, and then Director Qi escorted him all the way back to the school.

Director Qi handed Ji Zhixing to Zhu Ren, thanked Ji Zhixing politely, and then left.

Zhu Ren read Ji Zhixing from beginning to end and was relieved to see that he was in good spirits and even very excited.

That day, Director Qi arrived very suddenly, immediately presenting several identification documents to prove his identity, and indicating that he wanted to ask Ji Zhixing to go to another place to assist in the research.

He was incredibly anxious at that moment. He had only ever heard of those documents but never actually seen them; how could he know if they were real or fake? What if they were people in disguise trying to kidnap Ji Zhixing?

Later, seeing his deep doubts, Director Qi specially called the city's police department and asked the chief to verify his identity. Only then did Zhu Ren dare to hand Ji Zhixing over to him.

Even so, I've been on tenterhooks these past few days. Now that I've seen him, I can finally relax.

"Now that you're back, there are several things waiting for you," Zhu Ren said, opening his memo. "The most important thing is that the International Congress of Mathematicians has invited you to give an academic report next week on your research findings on the Navier-Stokes equations."

"The International Congress of Mathematicians?" Ji Zhixing asked, puzzled. "Didn't it just happen in July?"

The International Congress of Mathematicians is the largest and most important academic conference in the international mathematics community, often referred to as the "Olympics of Mathematics," and is held only once every four years. This July, the 29th Congress just concluded.

"Therefore, this conference was specially opened just for you!" Zhu Ren said, his face beaming with pride.

"Ah...I see," Ji Zhixing said, feeling quite pleased to hear that.

He wasn't a pure mathematician and didn't have such a strong obsession with the Navier-Stokes equations. But thinking about it, it's understandable. For mathematicians, the Navier-Stokes equations are a puzzle that has been explored for 200 years, and now that the answer is in front of them, everyone is bound to want to know more details.

It's like if someone announced that they had observed signs of extraterrestrial activity on a certain planet, they would definitely be eager to know more.

People share the same sentiment, so it's not surprising that the International Congress of Mathematicians is held twice a year.

"And the second thing?" Ji Zhixing asked.

"The second thing is that this time, so many media outlets have requested to interview you from the school. It's been an endless stream!" Zhu Ren said with lingering fear.

At first, he and the principal were quite happy to be interviewed by the media, after all, it was a matter of pride, especially since such a terrible thing had just happened during the summer vacation. They hoped to use the glory brought by Ji Zhixing to wash away the negative impact brought by Fan Chuanshuo and his son.

Look! How outstanding our students are! One or two scoundrels don't prove anything.

However, there were simply too many media outlets requesting interviews! They were already exhausted just from accepting interviews from various official media outlets.

There's only so much material to draw on, and constantly repeating it to dozens or even hundreds of media outlets is exhausting, both verbally and mentally. Eventually, even my praise became devoid of emotion.

He always carries a pack of "Jin Sang Zi" throat lozenges in his pocket, and the principal keeps a cup of Pang Da Hai (a type of herbal medicine) on his desk.

Now that the main character is back, it's his turn.

Ji Zhixing scratched his head, somewhat reluctant to face the media: "You and the principal have probably already said most or less the truth, so there's no need for me to accept any more media interviews, right?"

Zhu Ren sighed. He and the principal could only have a general conversation and couldn't get to the heart of the matter when it came to academic issues.

In fact, many people wanted to interview Lao Yan, the dean of the Physics Department, but he hid in the laboratory, and no one dared to force him to show himself. But Ji Zhixing was definitely not going to escape.

"It's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that there are just too many media outlets that have come through all sorts of connections this time. There are so many officials and media leaders, we can't afford to offend any of them!"

Initially, he truthfully told reporters that Ji Zhixing was not at school, which was seen as an excuse. So, various media outlets resorted to all sorts of tricks, sending increasingly higher-level notes – they simply couldn't stop them!

"Moreover, this press conference is actually quite meaningful. Just think, next week you'll be giving a presentation to the world's top mathematicians, aren't you nervous?"

Ji Zhixing thought for a moment and nodded.

Although he doesn't know how many people will come, he estimates it will be quite a few. Most importantly, he might see many people who appear in textbooks; how could he not be nervous?

"Right, just treat the media interview as a rehearsal. Reporters can be very cunning, but mathematicians can't be any more shrewd. Practice a bit so you won't get stage fright later."

Ji Zhixing then agreed: "Then... okay."

Although he felt he had a good mental fortitude, he knew he would definitely have to debate with many experts and scholars at the academic conference. While the questions from reporters and scholars would certainly be different, it was good to get used to a similar atmosphere beforehand.

"So, do you think we should use a series of attacks, or just hold a press conference to wipe them all out?" Zhu Ren asked.

"Let's wipe them all out in one fell swoop, and finish this quickly!" Ji Zhixing said.