In a huge factory, Chen Xin was following several staff members through the same huge production line, visiting the equipment being produced in the factory.

"Academician Chen, this is the most advanced shield machine in my country at present." The staff pointed to a machine next to him that looked like a giant pipe that lays flat and introduced to Chen Xin: "This shield machine uses our latest design cutter wheel, which can deal with various complex geological conditions, whether it is hard rock formation or soft rock formation, it can have a good excavation effect.

Moreover, on this shield machine, we have improved the conveyor belt of the soil warehouse, accelerated the efficiency of soil transportation, and improved the structure of other parts, greatly improving the working efficiency of the machine. Compared with the original model, the excavation speed and pipeline laying speed of this shield machine are at least 12%.

Listening to the staff's introduction, Chen Xin nodded clearly, and at the same time approached the shield machine, looked carefully before asking: "How fast is the excavation speed of this machine?"

After all, the shield machine is used to dig holes, and the efficiency of natural excavation is the first priority, and the standard for measuring efficiency is naturally how many meters this shield machine can move forward in an hour.

"Depending on the different rock formations, this shield machine can excavate 1.5-1.75m every 20-30 minutes, and can excavate about 3-5 meters in an average of one hour. It is currently the fastest-driving shield machine in our hands." The staff were very proud when introducing it.

Don’t think that this speed is slow. In fact, the excavation speed of the shield machine is already very fast.

Under normal circumstances, it is common to dig only more than ten meters a day.

After all, the main function of the shield machine is to dig tunnels, and during the process of digging the tunnel, the prefabricated tunnel pipes are laid into the excavated tunnel.

During this process, many processes such as excavation, pipe hoisting, subsequent construction, etc. are combined, and it is already very fast to be able to push more than ten meters a day.

Therefore, this shield machine can achieve an average propulsion of 3-5 meters per hour, which is really a very fast speed.

But Chen Xin was not satisfied with this, and could even be said to be disappointed.

The reason is very simple. The purpose of his trip was to prepare excavation equipment for his proposed plan to dig holes and attack alien creature nests. The deepest part of the alien creature nests he expected was at least one thousand meters underground, and perhaps even deeper.

At such a depth, even if you dig vertically, you have to dig more than 1,000 meters at a speed of more than ten meters per day for three or four months, not to mention the possible battles you may encounter in the construction of supporting facilities and excavation work.

Considering that this is an attack, it requires the delivery of troops and various heavy equipment downwards, as well as a large amount of ammunition supplies and other materials used for combat, digging downwards is undoubtedly much more suitable than making vertical holes.

But if it is oblique, according to the Pythagorean theorem, this oblique tunnel is undoubtedly much longer than a vertical shaft, and the construction period will also be much longer.

Dig slowly, of course it's not impossible.

Although the military's plan is half a year, the time delayed by various preparations before the attack and the possible unhappiness during the attack, as well as the multiple factors, the military actually reserves nine months for its plan, and will be postponed according to the actual situation.

In fact, although the top leaders have asked to shorten the counterattack time against alien creatures and the military has accelerated their plans, they are ready to fight at least one year.

Therefore, if Chen Xin's offensive plan can be completed within one year, it will still be within the scope acceptable to the senior management and the military.

But for Chen Xin himself, the year has been longer, and he must leave plenty of time for the plan and cannot completely expect the plan to go smoothly.

Therefore, excavation speed has become a key factor.

"Can this excavation speed be accelerated?" Chen Xin asked the staff, and at the same time he was also using the system upgrade interface to check whether the excavation speed can be increased through system upgrade.

The staff scratched their heads and said with some distress: "We also want to speed up the excavation speed, but the excavation speed of the shield machine has a lot to do with the material and structure of the cutting board. With our current technology, the cutting board we use now is the most efficient cutting board we can make.

If you want to speed up the excavation speed, you can only modify the cutter wheel, either changing the structure or improving the material, but neither of these points can be accomplished in the short term."

As he said that, the staff explained to Chen Xin in detail what the advantages of the knife plate used by this shield machine are now, as well as the details of its material and structure.

Although the staff did not know why Chen Xin was concerned about the shield machine, there must be such needs, so he still answered the questions raised by Chen Xin as much as possible.

Listening to the staff's explanation, Chen Xin frowned slightly. Although he could use system upgrades to improve the material and structure of the cutter plate to make it more efficient, the efficiency this can improve is not much.

According to the staff, even if the cutting board is improved, no matter how efficient the efficiency is improved, it can only increase the propulsion speed by 50% at most, which is the limit.

This is already a very satisfactory result. As long as this speed can be guaranteed, the entire tunnel can be fully completed within the original planned time, and even there is plenty of room for spare time.

But this is not enough for Chen Xin. After all, a very important factor he needs to consider is the combat time besides excavation.

Whether it is the alien creature nests deep in the strata or the huge number of alien creatures scattered and underground caves, the military's attack and clearance of them will take time.

If it takes more than half a year to dig a tunnel, there will undoubtedly be less time left for the military to fight. This is obviously not in line with Chen Xin's idea of ​​quickly solving the Dongting Lake War Zone problem in a short period of time to deal with possible enemy situations in the Middle East.

Of course, if the problem of the Dongting Lake War Zone cannot be solved in a short period of time, Chen Xin is not without other solutions.

For example, the military's current offensive is suspended and turned into a defensive situation, blocking the possibility of alien creatures attacking the surface, and then digging, while turning the troops and manpower into the prevention of defense lines in the Middle East.

When the defense line is repaired and the excavation progress is almost the same, then start the offensive again to solve the problems of alien creatures in the Dongting Lake area.

However, this plan is just an alternative plan. Before this, Chen Xin still hopes to shorten the time required to dig the tunnel as much as possible.

So he asked the staff a whimsical question: "Can you change the knife plate to a drill?"
Chapter completed!