ForewordFor the sake of the country and the people, the prime minister has done his best all his life and has always maintained a rigorous and meticulous attitude in his work. In a high position, he is even more strict with himself and implements the confidentiality system. Therefore, even if he is his favorite pillow person, he has a lot of secrets that he has not told. At the last moment of his life, ** lay on the hospital bed and said to Deng Yingchao: "I have a lot of words in my stomach that I haven't said to you. "During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the Chinese volunteers fought bloodily against the powerful US military in the distance, but the surrounding India was ready to move and wanted to take the opportunity to encroach on our territory. After the end of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, after comprehensively considering the international situation, ** proposed: "We cannot be bullied by others, even if it is for defense, we must engage in atomic bombs!" We don't take the initiative to attack others, but if someone hits us with an atomic bomb, we have to fight back against him. The development of the atomic bomb was therefore put on the agenda. However, at that time, China not only had a weak economic base and had no experience in the development of atomic bombs, but also faced a blockade from the West. To do this, we had to rely on ourselves and at the same time seek assistance from the Soviet Union, with which we had better relations. 
In April 1955, the Third Bureau of the Ministry of Geology was established to be in charge of uranium geological exploration. Three months later, the Construction Technology Bureau of the State Construction Committee was established to oversee the construction of Soviet-aided nuclear reactors and cyclotrons. In order to better develop the atomic energy industry, Zhongguancun built the best building in 1956, that is, the Atomic Energy Institute of the Academy of Sciences. Since the secrets of the nuclear industry are national political and military secrets, it is necessary to do a good job in guarding the secrets, and our atomic energy industry security bureau was established accordingly, with Cheng Cheng in charge. At that time, the Soviet side also delayed the provision of educational models and drawings of the atomic bomb under the pretext that the conditions for secrecy were insufficient. In this regard, some people proposed that "the work has not been moved, and secrecy should be kept first". Therefore, more attention is paid to confidentiality. Just when we were about to make a big move, in June 1959, the Soviet Union unilaterally tore up the agreement signed by the two sides on new defense technologies, withdrew relevant experts, took away important drawings and materials, and stopped equipment and materials. In the eyes of the outside world, this is undoubtedly a "devastating" blow to our country. The Soviets even threatened that China would not be able to build an atomic bomb in 20 years. In this regard, ** said: ignore his set, let's do it ourselves, and explore it from scratch! 
The process of exploring the development of the atomic bomb was extremely difficult and tortuous, and at the same time, there were many episodes in the crucial work of secrecy. Soon after the decision was made to set up a 27-member CPC special committee headed by the director to be responsible for the development of the "two bombs and one satellite," the secrets of China's nuclear research and development work were accidentally leaked. One day, Zhou Guozhen, who came back from seeing his girlfriend in Wuhan, couldn't wait to ask as soon as he saw ***: "Seventh grandfather, is our country going to build an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb?" That's great! Listening, ** was taken aback: "Who told you?" What did you hear about this from? Looking at ***'s frowning and solemn face, Zhou Guozhen was a little frightened, he didn't know why Seventh Grandpa was so angry, and replied cautiously: "I saw it on the document." "What file? Where did you see it? *Hurry up and ask. It turned out that Zhou Guozhen's girlfriend was the daughter of an important leader of the Wuhan Military Region. Because he knew the relationship between Zhou Guozhen and ***, his girlfriend's father showed Zhou Guozhen some ** documents without any scruples during the conversation. 
Among these documents, there is information about the **7,000 people conference, as well as news that our country is going to build atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs. After figuring out what happened, ** was very angry, and he said to Zhou Guozhen: "This document is only sent to the provincial military level now, and even the county and regiment level don't know about it, how can he show you such a confidential document?" Seeing that *** was so angry, Xu Ming, deputy director of the Prime Minister's Office, hurriedly played a round: "Guozhen will not spread it." * reluctantly said: "This is not a question of whether it is passed on or not, it involves the strict implementation of the secrecy system." "Afterwards, in response to this incident, the relevant personnel were severely criticized at the meeting, and everyone was warned to strictly implement the confidentiality system. At that time, the United States was hostile to China, the Soviet Union was also deteriorating relations with us, India and Chiang Kai-shek were restless, and the external environment was very grim. In order to find out our plans, the United States not only instructed Kuomintang Air Force pilots to fly U-2 planes and high-resolution cameras to the mainland to reconnoitre, but also used spy satellites. 
If it is not strictly demanded, our nuclear business may not even begin, and we will be stillborn. As early as December 1961, the United States identified the Lop Nur base through spy satellites. In 1964, the United States again determined through reconnaissance that a facility near Lop Nur was a nuclear test base. Fortunately, they misjudged our development process at the time, thinking that we did not have enough nuclear fission materials and would certainly not conduct a nuclear test before the end of the year, so that our development process was not hindered. Li Xuge stopped Zhang Aiping As the development of the atomic bomb was nearing the end, on April 11, 1964, he presided over the eighth meeting of the special committee. At the meeting, he demanded that the Second Aircraft Department and the National Defense Science and Technology Commission make all preparations for the first nuclear test by 10 September. At the same time, the meeting also decided to set up a general command for nuclear tests, with Zhang Aiping as the commander-in-chief and Liu Xiyao as the deputy commander. After the meeting, Zhang Aiping and Liu Xiyao put into intense work. On 9 September, they prepared the "Outline of the Report on the Readiness for the First Nuclear Test and the Formal Arrangement of the Experiment" and submitted this document to the ** Special Committee. 
Due to the special environment and the fact that nuclear ** was very sensitive in the world at that time. Taking into account the situation of our nuclear fuel production, the choice of the time for the test detonation of the atomic bomb, and the continued development of China's nuclear power, have become key issues. In this regard, from the afternoon of the 16th to the morning of the 17th, he presided over the ninth meeting of the special committee to study these two issues. During this meeting, it was proposed that we should make two preparations for the timing of the nuclear test, one is to test the test as soon as possible in the face of the threat, and test the explosion before the end of the year. The other is to postpone the test and first step up the production of nuclear fuel and the construction of two sets of bases. The test explosion was postponed to a year or even two years later. As for when exactly it will take place, this needs to be reported to *** to make a decision. After reading the report, after some careful consideration, he made an instruction on the 22nd: "I have read it." Immediately. "* believes that we don't necessarily use the atomic bomb in the first place, and this ** is used to scare people. Since it is scary, it should be sounded early, and people with bad intentions should hear it as soon as possible. 
The day after receiving ***'s instructions, **immediately convened **, Zhang Aiping, Liu Xiyao and others to hold a small meeting in the West Flower Hall of Zhongnanhai. It was an important meeting with only 11 participants, and each participant was the core of the core. At the meeting, the instructions of *** were conveyed to everyone, and the time for the first nuclear test was determined from the second half of October to the end of November, preferably between October 15 and 20. At that time, our activities to celebrate the National Day had basically come to an end. However, since the external threat is enormous, we need to think ahead of the various scenarios that may arise and be prepared to deal with them. **Again, we must do a good job of confidentiality. The United States already knows that we are going to conduct a nuclear test, but it does not yet know exactly when we will do it. In order to prevent the enemy from sabotaging and carrying out nuclear surgery on us, on the basis of doing a good job of secrecy work, the General Staff Headquarters and the Air Force will study and make strict arrangements for prevention and control. On the northwestern front, it is necessary to mobilize flight divisions and antiaircraft units to go over in order to form an anti-air defense line and a firepower network. 
At the same time, the following arrangements were also made: Liu Jie was responsible for organizing the safe transfer of key technical data and equipment; Preparation of external publicity work by **organization***; Zhang Aiping and Liu Xiyao rushed to the test site to organize and command; In addition to me and **, Liu Jie presided over a joint office composed of the Second Aircraft Department and the National Defense Science and Technology Commission in Beijing, responsible for the liaison between Beijing and the test site; It is necessary to stipulate some code words and passwords. After a pause, he continued: "We have to prevent retaliation after the atomic bomb goes off, of course, not necessarily, but we have to make some preparations, there are so many air defense lines..."In addition, ** specifically emphasizes the need to protect our experts. ** worries are not unfounded, and such things are not uncommon, both in the last century and in today's seemingly peaceful times. As recently as November 2020, Mohsin Fakrizadh, known as the "father of Iran's nuclear bomb", was assassinated in the capital, Tehran. The success of this nuclear test is good to say that we have a weapon of deterrence, and even if the enemy knows about it, we will not dare to act rashly. But if it fails, the news leaks, and the enemy knows about the course of our work, then there will be serious repercussions. 
In order to prevent this from happening, ** stipulates strict confidentiality discipline for those present: do not write letters during special periods, do not fight for private individuals except for official business, and do not disclose news to the outside world, even if it is a family member. **Take yourself as an example: "Deng Yingchao is an old party member and a member of the committee, but I won't tell her a word about what I shouldn't say, because she has nothing to do with nuclear tests." "Married for many years, although the relationship between the two is very good, the key to the prime minister's office and the safe has always been carried by him 24 hours a day, and he has to press under the pillow when sleeping. Only when he went on a business trip abroad would he solemnly hand over the key to Deng Yingchao for safekeeping. And Deng Yingchao will not use his key without authorization. It's not about distrust, it's about discipline. After finishing speaking, ** was still not at ease, he turned to Zhang Aiping and Liu Xiyao and said, "You two, don't meet foreign guests from today on." Then, he said to the ** who is the foreign minister: "You can't talk about it! * smiled and said, "I don't talk about wow." * I knew in my heart that the prime minister was afraid that he would reveal the news when he met with foreign guests. Just when *** was still tirelessly discussing other details with everyone, Zhang Aiping suddenly stood up and said: "Prime Minister, *** has arranged a foreign affairs event tonight, and I need to attend." I'm sorry, I had to quit early. ”
** Raised his head and nodded in agreement after thinking for a while, and then he said to the other participants: "Don't take it as an example, don't arrange Comrade Zhang Aiping's foreign affairs activities in the future." Just as Zhang Aiping stood up and took a step to leave the venue, ** Leng Buding jumped up from the sofa and waved his hand and said, "Aiping, please stay!" Lieutenant General Li Xuge, who was the commander of the Second Artillery Corps at the time, saw *** coming over and immediately walked in front of Zhang Aiping to block the way. Subsequently, ** came to Zhang Aiping's side unhurriedly and asked, "Aiping, did you bring the documents for the nuclear test?" Zhang Aiping was a little confused, and after thinking for a while, she said, "I didn't bring it." Although he is an old comrade, there is no exception, he stretched out his finger and pointed to Zhang Aiping's pocket and continued: "Search it and see if there is a note in it." When you participate in foreign affairs activities, you can't take a word out of the first nuclear test. Under everyone's gaze, Zhang Aiping obeyed ***'s instructions and carefully dug out all her pockets one by one. After seeing that there was indeed nothing, he was released from the venue. All the people present were instantly shocked by the meticulous handling of the best. 
After the postponement of the announcement of the good news and all the expected things have been properly settled, it is only necessary to formulate the code word, which is also a crucial part of the secrecy work. ** waved to Li Xuge, who was sitting behind, and Li Xuge immediately stepped forward quickly: "Prime Minister, what do you have to explain?" "After you arrive in Malan, all the contacts with ** must be in code, and it will be formulated tonight, and you go back and tell Zhang Aiping." That night, after Zhang Aiping rushed back from foreign affairs activities, Li Xuge immediately reported the instructions to Zhang Aiping. Immediately, they quickly organized a meeting to discuss the codeword. Probably because the shape of the first atomic bomb was relatively round, Li Xuge proposed to name it "Miss Qiu", and everyone applauded after hearing it, this code word is both interesting and appropriate, and it couldn't be better. Then, according to Miss Qiu's extension, everyone named the platform for the atomic bomb a dresser, and the cable was a braid, etc. In addition, ** and other relevant leaders also have their own code names, among them, ** code name is No. 82. The next day, they reported the result to *** and others, and passed it smoothly. After everything was ready, everyone studied the specific date and time of the test explosion according to the meteorological conditions at the test site. After Zhang Aiping's repeated instructions, ** agreed to set the time at three o'clock on October 16.
At half past two in the afternoon of October 16, 1964, Zhang Aiping and Li Xuge came to a place 60 kilometers away from the explosion. At this time, Deng Jiaxian and other scientists had also entered the bunker in the observation center, and their minds were highly concentrated, ready to witness history. Subsequently, Zhang Aiping dialed the ** of the Prime Minister's Office and held it tightly in her hand. At this time, he was a little nervous, and he couldn't help but hold his breath freely, patiently waiting for the moment that would shake the world. With the commander counting down....The hearts of those present were beating wildly. After the order, a dazzling white light slid over the silent Gobi Desert, and a loud sound sounded, and the whole earth seemed to tremble. Watching the huge fireball in the sky slowly fission, and the huge mushroom cloud soaring into the sky, everyone was ecstatic. Yes, we succeeded! Although Zhang Aiping was shocked, he did not forget to report to the premier, and he said excitedly: "Prime minister, we have succeeded in the first nuclear explosion!" Unlike Zhang Aiping, who was excited to the scene, ** seemed to be very calm, he was silent for a few seconds and asked: "Is it really nuclear**?"
Zhang Aiping hurriedly turned around and asked Wang Ganchang, a scientist next to him: "Is it really nuclear?" Wang Ganchang replied: "It's true! The *** on the other end said happily: "Very good! On behalf of ***, I would like to express my warmest congratulations to all the comrades who participated in the development and test of the first atomic bomb! ** In the Great Hall of the People, I'll report to him right away! At five o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, I met with the *** and others of the large-scale ** dance epic "Dongfang Hong" in the Great Hall of the People, and told everyone the good news. The people present all cheered and applauded. Seeing that everyone was so excited, ** humorously said: "Everyone can cheer and jump, but be careful not to jump the floor down!" Subsequently, ** told everyone: "This news has not been announced to the public, everyone should keep it secret for a few more hours, and don't tell anyone else before the radio broadcast." "Because of the importance of this nuclear **, ** is very cautious, he has asked experts three times to find out whether it is really nuclear.
In the end, scientists determined that it was indeed nuclear through on-site observations and collected measured data. Even so, the news of nuclear ** has not been announced. Until the voice of the foreign ** who observed this anomaly sounded. Japan was the first to report that China may have dropped an atomic bomb in the west. Subsequently, the United States, which has been closely investigating our country, also reported the news of our country's atomic bomb. Only then did I agree to announce this bombshell news to the world. The success of the atomic bomb is of great significance to our country, and we not only have a sharp weapon to defend it. Moreover, if it were not for this success, we probably would not have had a chance to develop an atomic bomb. Less than a year before China's atomic bomb, the United States and the Soviet Union jointly submitted a "nuclear non-proliferation draft" to the United Nations, and three years later, the draft was approved. In 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) entered into force! So, if we don't develop the atomic bomb before the adoption of the treaty, it will be very troublesome. It may be like Iran now, facing many obstacles. As Professor Ai Yuejin said: "Dignity is only above the edge of the sword, and truth is only within the range of the cannon!" "Without a strong national defense force, we are not even qualified to reason with others. The success of the atomic bomb, in addition to the hard work of countless scientific researchers, also has a lot to do with the painstaking control of the overall situation and not letting go of any detail!