Chapter 88: Night 4
The Japanese envoys proved more efficient than their cruisers. The day after Xie Zeyi left, she began directing the design of the "boiler" blueprint. After working all night at the research institute, a rough draft of the blueprint was completed on the third day. While everyone was checking the minimum volume and radiation value calculations, on the fifth day, the pure graphite required for the blueprints arrived by sea in Shanghai and was processed into graphite bricks at a temporary chemical plant north of Yangjingbang. Furthermore, the next day, liquid cadmium, cadmium rods, and related radiation dose counters were secretly delivered by a team of Japanese guards and representatives of the Nanjing government.
The "boiler" was finally decided to be built in the center of the playground. A week before the boiler was built, a simple test shed was quickly erected in the center of the playground, and the experimental platform was built inside the shed.
The original site of the INFIT laboratory was a Catholic school established by the Church of England the previous year. At the end of 1928, when the school's basic construction was completed, they suddenly received tragic news: from 1929 onwards, all university presidents and vice-presidents could not be foreigners.
The school was completed, but the priest was unable to find a Chinese teacher. He couldn't let years of preparation and hard work go to waste. Then, the Royal Society unexpectedly reached an agreement with the Minister of Education to build a physical and chemical research institute in the International Settlement. After negotiation, the building was half-given and half-sold to the Royal Society on behalf of the British Catholic Church. Later, the teaching building doubled as a research facility, and the playground became the perfect location for a reactor.
The transition from a Catholic school to a research institute was relatively smooth, and the hiring of several world-renowned professors to the concessions was not particularly noteworthy. Other countries might have coveted the concessions, but because the concessions were within the "sphere of the powers' rights," none of them were as blatant as Japan.
Long before the Japanese arrived, the Institute was coveted but still within a safe range. It was also known that a president of the Royal Society was working abroad to secure greater benefits for the Institute. Britain and Nanjing were still negotiating their interests when Japan suddenly intervened, and in an instant, all these interests were smoothly aligned. It's hard to say whether this could be considered a blessing in disguise.
In addition to secretly sending materials to the research institute, there was a sudden and widespread publicity outside about how Japan would donate to China's industrial, business and educational construction. Newspapers of all sizes were flooded with reports about "how His Majesty Emperor Hirohito attaches great importance to scientific experimental research", "how Japan negotiated with the Nanjing government and was ready to invest in the establishment of the China Resources Committee to accelerate China's industrialization", "how His Majesty the Emperor spared no effort to help their old friend in Greater East Asia", as well as "Sino-Japanese friendship", "Sino-Japanese cooperation" and other rhetoric that flattered Japan.
Although fast and slow reactions complement each other, and data from slow reactions can be directly used in fast reactions in the future, everyone was forced to change their research direction within a day, and many people still complained about this. Especially after the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and the Japanese guards personally escorted the materials to the site, and after the newspapers in the past two days were full of praise for Japan, researchers who had previously been unfamiliar with China have more or less understood the nature of this "weak nation", and she has also encountered a lot of hostility and coldness.
Whether it was deliberate or simply an overreaction to Japan's propaganda, many domestic and international newspapers, driven by this propaganda, have begun to cast doubt on the credibility of the "Neutron Discovery" study, regarding China and the scientific research capabilities of the Chinese people. Several prominent English-language newspapers have unanimously predicted that this year's Nobel Prize in Physics will go to the French physicist who discovered the wave theory of electrons.
Bohr didn't explain this to the team members for now. In fact, he himself was overwhelmed. He wasn't a time traveler, and he couldn't, like Lin Zhi, quickly comprehend and absorb a large amount of new information in a few days, and then convey this information to all the team members. While he was comprehending this, most of the team members were just subconsciously accepting the calculation orders and accepting the set of calculation formulas, without much time to think.
There was another reason: even if he obtained a new high-level telegram, he would not be able to pass on the information that was beneficial to her as long as it was under the sight of the Japanese, and she would have to suffer misunderstandings from the team members who did not understand her for a day.
The only thing that made her happy was the almost certain news that Xu Shaoqian would win this year's Elizabeth Golden Coronet for his paper "The Existence of Compact Stars." In an era when astronomy isn't worthy of the Nobel Prize, the Elizabeth Golden Coronet is the greatest honor an astronomer can receive. If the news is true, it will not only bring greater fame to all of his projects, but also indirectly validate the credibility of his previous paper, "The Existence of Neutrons."
For the first time since leaving Xu Shaoqian's protection, she clearly felt the disdain and contempt for women's abilities among male scientists in this patriarchal era. No matter how persuasive her abilities were, they were useless; she still couldn't make decisions within a small circle. When others spoke up for her, like Oppenheimer and Bohr, they were viewed with tinted glasses.
What saddened her most was the increasingly unconcealable disappointment and contempt for the Chinese nation that wore across Oppenheimer's face whenever the team members discussed "China." Every time she saw him, even if he didn't say it, she could sense it written on his face: Our efforts will not be rewarded. Six weeks from now, whether Japan withdraws or not, as long as your government remains, our research will always be in someone else's hands.
The contradiction finally broke out.
One day, she dozed off in the stands. Bohr called her from below, and she jolted awake. He stood there with a blank face, waving at her. "Come here, Auburn and I want to talk to you," she said.
She followed him, her head groggy. They crossed the playground together and returned to the laboratory building. Once they reached the second floor, the door to the monitoring room opened a crack, and the person inside cautiously beckoned them to hurry in.
Bohr and she entered the monitoring room one after the other, and the door immediately closed. The monitoring room had two sets of monitoring devices placed opposite each other. At this time, the monitors were on duty, and apart from a few white women, the only people left in the room were Fermi and Oppenheimer, who were facing each other by the window.
Without even having time to exchange a few pleasantries with Fermi, whom he hadn't seen in a while, Orben leaned against the window when he saw the two men come in, narrowing his eyes in displeasure. He asked directly, "So, a slow reaction can save the day. But what happens next? The Japanese have exposed us with this trip. What should we do with the next experiment?"
She glanced at Bohr and replied, "Everyone should 'disband' and return to where they should go." She deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of "disband" so that everyone would understand that this "disband" did not mean a literal disbandment.
Oppenheimer laughed heartily and then asked, "Where are they disbanding? Who's behind them?" Without even looking at Chu Wang, he unfolded the nearest newspaper in his hand and went straight to question Bohr and Fermi, "With this pro-Japanese China, our research will always be in someone else's pocket, won't it? China doesn't have the conditions for this kind of research. Whether it's the frontier, the people, or the safety. There are obviously more countries with better research conditions, why do we have to settle for this hopeless land!"
Every word he said touched her heart. But at this moment, she had no way of telling him: even if the research results fell into Japan's hands, there was a chance that he would lose more than he gained.
It was impossible for her to predict the Japanese invasion of China nine years later, and it was certainly impossible for her to tell him her "evil" plan regarding the nuclear leak.
Bohr spoke before him: "Then where do you think is more suitable?"
"Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Czech Republic... some are wealthy, some have vast territories, some have discovered abundant uranium mines, and are well-armed. There are too many places in the world, and any one of them has conditions far superior to China!"
Bohr stared intently into his eyes and asked, "Then tell me, if you place this research in these countries you call qualified, and if it succeeds, how can you guarantee that they won't use it?"
Oppenheimer fell silent.
"You might advocate for some national virtues, but you forget that, in the eyes of any decision-maker, there is only territorial expansion and national interests. In 1731, how did the British deal with the stubborn resistance of the Indians and achieve victory without fighting? How did Germany send spies to deliver anthrax to the Allies during World War II? Can you guarantee that such war decision-makers, armed with powerful armaments and possessing 'it', will not make decisions that go against human progress for their own selfish desires of expansion? Do you understand what I mean? Using 'it' was never the original intention of this research."
He shook his head. "If 'its' secrets can't be made public, Nanjing won't realize the interests involved. Then we can't be sure whose side Nanjing will ultimately side with. Then, under what pretext will they 'dismiss' us, and where will they send us?"
Seeing Oppenheimer still puzzled, Fermi smiled and reassured him, saying, "Lu went to Jiangxi. On behalf of Jiangxi, he asked France to contact the School of Physics and Chemistry and hire the best geological teams from both the School of Physics and Chemistry and Cambridge. The first group has already landed in the South China Sea, and the second group will be arriving soon." Then he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Wait a little longer."
He spread his hands and said, "So we just take it one step at a time. If it doesn't work out, will we really be laid off?"
She pursed her lips and said in a somewhat helpless tone, "Auburn, no."
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "How do you know not?"
She said without blinking, "Believe me, absolutely not. The slow reactor is too tempting for Japan. As long as they want the results of the slow reactor, then we will definitely have the conditions to proceed to the next step of research."
After she finished speaking, even Fermi was puzzled: "Why are you so confident about the promises the Japanese made to you?"
Fermi seemed to assume she was confident in Japan's claims of "Manchurian Railway rights, withdrawal from Shanghai, and never going to war." After a moment's thought, he questioned Bohr with his eyes. After receiving his approval, he stepped closer. "Lin Zhi, I've been in Bohr's monitoring room for so long, and I've gained some information about the Japanese. I think you should understand your country's weakness and the Japanese's evil, and not be so optimistic."
Fermi skillfully winked at the Frenchwoman wearing monitoring earmuffs. A moment later, a stack of encrypted intelligence files was placed on the table in front of her. The pile of brown paper files stretched a palm's width.
The first one was written in English: "The Fall of Port Arthur".
"In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the Qing dynasty suffered a crushing defeat, while the Japanese triumphed. On November 21st, the Japanese captured Port Arthur and carried out a massacre. After entering the city, the commander ordered, "Kill without restraint." Yamaji Motoharu replied, "Kill to get promoted. The more you kill, the higher your rank." After four days and three nights, only thirty-six people survived the city's fifteen thousand residents... The Japanese forced civilians to jump into ponds, beheaded them, slashed their chests, and disemboweled them... Ten Japanese soldiers captured dozens of refugees, tied their pigtails together, and subjected them to a "lingchi" (lingchi) process, chopping off their hands, arms, and feet, cutting off their ears, gouging out their eyes, and then decapitating them..."
"The most ridiculous thing is this: Port Arthur was the base of the Beiyang Navy and the "first naval port in the Far East," boasting 78 cannons and a garrison of 15,000 troops. Yet, despite claiming it could hold out for three years, it was lost before even a single day. As soon as the Japanese army departed Dalian, the well-informed governor, Gong Zhaoyu, fled with his family by steamer. Generals Huang, Zhao, and Wei, realizing the situation was dire, also fled Port Arthur. Of the abandoned garrison, more than 2,000 were killed or wounded, while the rest were also "missing." The Japanese captured over 20 artillery batteries on the Port Arthur Peninsula in just one day, suffering 280 casualties. In 1907, however, it took the Japanese six months and 60,000 casualties to capture Port Arthur, which was garrisoned by the Russians."
A photo of a woman raped, murdered, and beheaded, and photos of piles of corpses, a fine layer of sweat dripped from her forehead. Later generations know much about the Nanjing Massacre, but are unaware of the even more brutal Port Arthur Massacre during the First Sino-Japanese War. Besides the heartless Japanese army, the corrupt Qing officials also personally destroyed the souls of the city's civilians.
Even more heartbreaking are the comments at the very end of the dossier: "Japan won a resounding victory in the First Sino-Japanese War, winning both the war and public opinion. The international community sang praises for Japan, calling the First Sino-Japanese War 'a landmark event in Japan's emergence as a mature, civilized nation.'"
She flipped the page and found a British newspaper reporting in English: "After the Beiyang Navy was destroyed, the Japanese Field Red Cross took the initiative to provide medical services to the injured Qingjun, released all prisoners, and allowed the Qing government to transport the coffin of Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Navy."
The French girl handed over another telegram and the translated text.
The translation of that paper is:
——His Majesty ordered the preparation for the establishment of an “epidemic prevention and water supply unit” and sought opportunities for log research.
"This is the telegram we intercepted last night. Can you understand it?"
Her heart was pounding and she nodded, almost having difficulty breathing.
"Your Majesty" Emperor Hirohito was a "great" biologist who once compared the vast China to his own experimental field; the Epidemic Prevention and Water Supply Unit was the predecessor of the infamous "Unit 731" in later generations, and "logs" referred to the Chinese; sometimes, they also called the Chinese "Chinese apes."
Fermi whispered, "Do you understand? Japan is a master at manipulating public opinion, putting on a show of 'civilization' for the benefit of Westerners, and covering up the truth about the Port Arthur Massacre to this day. Isn't it very similar to what's happening recently? They donated money to China to build industry and businesses, promised to withdraw from Shanghai, and relinquished control of the Manchurian Railway, but secretly had other plans. Who knows how they'll manipulate public opinion and go back on their word once they get the results of the slow-acting reactor?"
Suddenly, she was hallucinating. It felt as if countless needles were pricking her, and the liquid in the syringes read: syphilis, anthrax, plague... Her entire body itched, and she suddenly broke out in a sweat.
She continued reading—the second one was "Taiwan Formosa": Opening the file, what caught her eye was a mess of corpses and severed heads. Under the photo was the caption: "In 1915, Taiwanese volunteers who resisted Japanese occupation were brutally massacred. The Taiwanese people's resistance has never stopped..."
The third one is "Jinan Massacre"...
Oppenheimer and the French girl were angrily denouncing the Japanese for their outrageous evil.
After looking through the photos one by one, she felt her lips dry and her tongue parched. She looked up, sweating profusely, and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.
Femi patted her shoulder and closed the file for her to prevent her from getting further provoked.
Bohr comforted him, "I'm showing you this today just to prepare you mentally: China truly doesn't have the conditions to conduct 'it' experiments. If the slow reactor is completed, Japan doesn't live up to its promise, and Nanjing remains in Japan, and we're forced to move to a more suitable country, such as the United States... or if the experiment simply fails, and we reunite many years later to start over, I wouldn't be surprised at all. Please remain vigilant and don't be overly optimistic."
She smiled at Bohr to show that she was fine.
The Japanese perversion and Sino-Japanese hatred did not begin after the September 18th Incident or 1937. The Japanese contempt and humiliation of the Chinese were long-planned, and the 80 years of humiliation that ended in 1945 cannot be explained by a single "Nanjing Massacre" or "Eight Years' War of Resistance Against Japan."
This is why, even though 1932 and 1937 had not yet arrived and the alarm had not yet been sounded in the Northeast, the city of Nanjing had not been massacred... When she made the decision on the slow reactor a few days ago and formulated the corresponding asphyxiation effect and the corresponding earthquake meteorological concept in her mind, she did not even feel a little guilty.
You can call her narrow-minded or perverted.
Science is innocent, aggression is guilty. Evil will be punished, and blood debt must be paid with blood.
She is never too optimistic. (m.)138TXT
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