Chapter 85: Anti-aircraft Weapon Completed

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Eight rifles fired simultaneously, bullets whistled out, and accurately struck the back of the two prisoners' heads.

Yi Zhonghai and Long Laotai fell to the ground in response, blood gushed out, staining the yellow earth red.

The prosecutor stepped forward to confirm the deaths, then nodded to the execution squad leader: "Execution complete."

The public security officers stepped forward, dragged the two corpses into the pit, and quickly covered them with soil.

The entire process was clean and efficient, without any hesitation.

In less than half an hour, two new graves were piled there; apart from the slightly raised mounds of earth, there was nothing special to see. No tombstones, no markers, just as if these two people were about to be forgotten by history.

The execution squad returned in formation, the truck engine roared, and they drove away from the Execution Ground. Only those two nameless graves remained, silent in the cold wind.

The news soon spread back to the Siheyuan.

When the residents learned that Yi Zhonghai and Long Laotai had been brought to justice, their moods were complex and heavy.

On one hand, everyone felt relieved that the country had cleared out two dangerous elements; on the other hand, the shock and unease that neighbors they had lived with day and night were actually enemy agents could not be calmed for a long time.

In the evening, Li Mingyuan returned to the Siheyuan and found the courtyard unusually quiet.

The neighbors, who were usually noisy, were all hiding in their respective rooms, occasionally poking their heads out to glance at him with awe-filled eyes before quickly shrinking back.

It was another busy morning; Li Mingyuan rode his bicycle to the Rolling Mill and heard the roar of machines inside the workshop from afar.

Pushing open the workshop doors, a wave of heat mixed with the smell of machine oil and metal rushed toward him.

Li Mingyuan looked at the scene before him with satisfaction—three Assembly Lines were operating simultaneously, workers were busy and orderly, semi-finished rocket launcher parts could be seen everywhere, and the finished product area was neatly lined with weapons that had just come off the line.

Lou Changzhang walked up to meet him, his face carrying joy that he could not hide:

"Chief Engineer Li, you've come just in time! We broke the record yesterday; the daily output of the Single-tube Rocket Launcher reached five units, and we can meet the production target of 30 units this week!"

"Not bad, not bad." Li Mingyuan nodded, his gaze sweeping across the workshop, "What about the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher?"

"Good news!" Lou Changzhang pulled Li Mingyuan toward another workshop, "The '107 Rain' production line you designed has been fully debugged, and the goal of one set per day has been reached. At this rate, the monthly output can reach 30 sets!"

Walking into the workshop specifically for producing the "107 Rain" Multi-tube Rocket Launcher, a dozen Technical Workers were busily assembling a launch rack.

Li Mingyuan walked over and carefully checked the welding quality and assembly precision.

"The angle is off by 0.3 degrees." Li Mingyuan frowned and pointed at a weld spot.

The workshop director hurriedly leaned in to look, then his expression changed: "You're right! Masters, hurry and adjust it!"

The workers hurriedly took out specialized tools and began to adjust the angle. Li Mingyuan nodded; this attitude of striving for excellence was exactly what he had always emphasized.

"By the way, what did the Military Industry Department say?" Li Mingyuan asked.

Lou Changzhang lowered his voice: "Yang called personally, saying the rocket launcher's performance exceeded expectations, and the feedback from the front line is excellent! He has already ordered our production technology to be promoted to several other factories in the Beijing suburbs to expand production scale."

"How many technical personnel did they send over to learn?"

"Two full shifts, over forty people; they are currently staying at the factory's guesthouse, staring at our production line and learning from morning till night." Lou Changzhang said with a smile, "Looking at how serious they are, it's like they're copying homework back in school."

Li Mingyuan smiled with satisfaction: "Teach them well and promote the technology as soon as possible. The front line needs weapons, the more the better."

Inside the Rolling Mill's workshop, the atmosphere was as tense as a taut bowstring.

Li Mingyuan, along with several Hexin technical personnel, was conducting the final debugging on the first batch of Anti-aircraft weapon samples.

The workshop was strangely quiet, with only the sounds of metal clashing and wrenches turning.

"Adjust the ballistic computer by another 0.3 degrees," Li Mingyuan bent down to check the aiming system of the 14.5 Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun, "This thing is for shooting down planes; it won't tolerate the slightest bit of carelessness."

Technical Supervisor Lao Liu wiped the sweat from his forehead and carefully turned the calibration knob:

"Chief Engineer Li, according to your design, this thing has been adjusted to the limit of precision, more than ten times more accurate than our original ordinary machine guns."

Li Mingyuan straightened his back and looked at his watch: "Three days, we only used three days to turn three brand-new Anti-aircraft weapons from blueprints into physical objects."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, "This speed will probably scare those experts to death."

A commotion suddenly came from the workshop entrance. Li Mingyuan looked up and saw a group of Military Experts led by Lou Changzhang walking into the workshop.

"Right on time," Li Mingyuan whispered to the technician beside him, "Get all the samples ready; let them have their eyes opened today."

Yang led a group of military industry experts and walked quickly into the workshop, his gaze locking directly onto the weapons on the central display stand.

"Chief Engineer Li," Yang asked eagerly, "I heard the Anti-aircraft weapons have already been made?"

Li Mingyuan nodded calmly: "Yes, samples of three different models of Anti-aircraft weapons have been completed and are ready for testing."

A white-haired old expert squeezed to the front row, his eyes fixed on the weapons on the display stand, his brows tightly locked: "So fast?"

His tone carried obvious skepticism, "Anti-aircraft weapons are one of the most precise weapon systems; without several years of research and development, it's simply impossible..."

His voice suddenly stopped abruptly because he saw the three types of weapons on the display stand clearly—a modified 14.5 mm Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun, a 35 mm Anti-aircraft Gun, and the most eye-catching "Heaven's Net" anti-aircraft rocket launch system.

"This... this is impossible!" The old expert's voice trembled, and his fingers were shaking too, "These are finished products? Not models?"

Another middle-aged expert pushed up his glasses and stepped forward to carefully examine the structure of the Anti-Aircraft Machine Gun: "Optical aiming system, ballistic computer, dual-barrel design..." His lips began to tremble, "These are technologies that our research institute discussed for three years without finalizing!"

Li Mingyuan stood calmly to the side with a faint smile on his face, as if all of this were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Seeing the experts chattering as they surrounded the weapons to study them, Li Mingyuan coughed lightly: "Everyone, rather than discussing here, why not go to the shooting range and witness the power of these weapons with your own eyes? Talking on paper is ultimately not as good as actual combat testing."

Yang immediately made the decision: "Right, let's go to the shooting range immediately!"

Half an hour later, at the Far Suburb Shooting Range, a group of people stood ready.

When Yang led the crowd of military industry experts to arrive at the Far Suburb Shooting Range, the sky was slightly overcast, and the distant mountains were looming, adding a bit of mystery to this special demonstration.

In the center of the shooting range, three completely different weapon systems were neatly arranged, shimmering with the cold light of metal under the rising morning sun.

The experts couldn't wait to crowd around, their eyes full of anticipation and skepticism.