Chapter 819
We're out of ammunition, how can we fight this battle?
After a slight pause, Xu Dongguo continued speaking.
"Dingping's patriotism led him to choose our navy, which allowed me to do this job so easily."
"You all remember, right? Dingping refused his friend's invitation to go abroad together and chose to stay. It's all thanks to him that he stayed."
"Otherwise, where would our navy be today? I admit it played a small role, but it was only a minor one, merely going with the flow."
Everyone nodded in agreement, quite agreeing with Xu Dongguo's words.
In fact, these big shots had already read through Su Dingping's resume and knew all his experiences from childhood to adulthood. They knew that this young man was an outstanding talent!
As for any information about Su Dingping, it has been classified as a top secret of the Navy. Moreover, as Su Dingping develops more and more equipment, its secrecy level has reached the highest level of top secret. In other words, even if Army Chief Deng Zhenhua or Air Force Chief Ma Zhengbang wanted to access it, they would have to get Xue Shuai's permission.
Under normal circumstances, Xue Shuai would not allow anyone to reveal anything, let alone Deng Zhenhua and Ma Zhengbang. Sometimes he would not even give Liu Huaming any face, and would even say, "It's nothing, what are you looking at?"
The resume clearly states that Su Dingping twice refused an invitation from his classmate and roommate to go to the Eagle Tribe to pursue a bright future, and even severed ties with the other party at the airport!
Su Dingping uttered a very domineering statement: if they met on the battlefield, he would personally kill the other party!
How many people could achieve that level?
If it were anyone else, they probably wouldn't have been able to resist such temptation and would have gone to the Eagle Tribe directly.
Regardless, people strive for better things and want to achieve a bright future, high income, and good treatment when they are young, but such high income and good treatment cannot be provided in China at present.
Staying meant low income, and engaging in military industry relied entirely on passion. After all, people engaged in military industry at that time generally did not earn high salaries, and a nationwide fever for studying abroad swept the country.
Xu Dongguo said that his contribution was not great, at most he just went with the flow. It was not that he chose Su Dingping, but that Su Dingping chose the navy, which was the truth.
When Su Dingping joined the navy, the navy was still using the outdated Type 051 destroyer, a type of ship that was simply unable to carry out missions in the open sea, and whose combat capability was simply not adapted to modern naval warfare.
Later, the 956E was further modified, allowing the navy to no longer spend a lot of money to import from the White Bear Tribe, thus embarking on the path of independently designing and building modern warships.
If Zhang Gongnong had been replaced by a professor from the Air Force, Su Dingping might have gone to the Air Force, and the Navy would have been out of the picture.
Thinking of this, Xu Dongguo quickly said, "If we're talking about it, Professor Zhang Gongnong deserves a lot of credit. He's the one who led Dingping into the navy."
"In that case, when Zhang Gongnong was teaching at Harbin Institute of Technology, he made an exception and took Su Dingping under his wing as his youngest disciple. It was a brilliant move. He really had a keen eye for talent."
At this moment, Qian Wenbing chimed in, his face beaming, "Old Xu, when you talk about Professor Zhang, I'm afraid you're just trying to pat yourself on the back, aren't you?"
"Haha, you figured that out?"
Xu Dongguo made no attempt to hide it; on the contrary, he seemed quite proud. "Then you could go and visit various universities; maybe you can find the next Dingping?"
He always felt that after developing the 956E, it was the right thing to immediately decide to recruit Su Dingping into the navy. It was one of the few things in his life that he would remember for the rest of his life and be proud of!
Looking across the entire navy, among all the generals, only he discovered Su Dingping, a true prodigy. Even Qian Xuesen had already chosen Su Dingping as his successor.
You could say that if he were to die right now, he would leave with a smile.
If a person can do one or two great things right in their lifetime, it is enough to make them feel content, let alone something as important as this one, where if you are slow, you will miss out!
Xu Dongguo's words infuriated Qian Wenbing, who felt an urge to beat him up. He thought Xu Dongguo was an absolute jerk, a blatant display of arrogance!
Liu Huaming looked at Zhang Zhaoxin and said directly, "Zhang Zhaoxin, tell the troops at the front."
"Tell them to take note of the Enterprise carrier strike group's ammunition levels. I estimate that after two rounds of attacks, they have very few anti-aircraft missiles and close-in weapon system ammunition left."
"They probably never imagined that the anti-ship missiles, cruise missiles, and torpedoes they carried would be completely useless."
As Liu Huaming spoke, he was very pleased. The fact that the Eagle Tribe's navy had been reduced from the offensive to the defensive was probably unique to the Dragon Summer Tribe in the entire world.
"Yes, Chief!"
Zhang Zhaoxin quickly accepted the order.
As he spoke, he quickly jotted down the relevant information with a pen.
Xu Dongguo, who was standing nearby, chimed in, "I'm afraid that once the Enterprise carrier fleet runs out of anti-aircraft missiles, that's when they'll start to panic and become lambs to the slaughter."
"We'll just sit back and wait for those people from the Eagle Tribe to come begging to us. How satisfying! Just thinking about it makes me feel so good! Haha."
Everyone laughed along, and they were very happy.
If Alexander Pushkin, the great emperor of the White Bear tribe, were to find out about this, he would probably be unhappy for quite some time.
So, after fighting with the Eagle Tribe for so many years, the Eagle Tribe has never come to beg us, but now they're going to beg your Dragon Summer Tribe? Is there no justice in this world?
We are the second strongest military power on Earth, so why are we treated worse than you?
On the other side, at the Eastern Wilderness Tribe's garrison base.
General Cruz and Koro were extremely anxious.
The first round of anti-ship missile attacks from the front lines has been reported. The Enterprise carrier strike group has lost two destroyers. Facing the second wave of anti-ship missile attacks, the number of anti-aircraft missiles is insufficient, and the reinforcements needed at the front lines are still on their way and cannot arrive in time to provide support. This confirms Willis's words: they're going to collect their corpses...
A series of bad news made the two of them extremely restless and upset. It seemed that even beating someone up wouldn't solve the problem.
"Report to the General."
The communications soldier glanced at the two men, then steeled himself and reminded them again, "Willis said in his battle report that they are in extremely dangerous condition and need immediate support!"
It was his duty; he couldn't remain indifferent. "Shatap!"
General Cruise glared at the communications officer and roared, "I already know!"
He was so angry that he almost punched the other person to the ground and beat him up to vent his anger!
Doesn't he know that Willis is urging him to get foreign players? But where is he supposed to find foreign players now?
All available resources had already been deployed, and he had no forces left to mobilize. Aside from the carrier air squadron from the USS Condor being intercepted and unable to reach its destination, reinforcements from the other two directions were simply too far away to arrive in time.
What could he do? Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, let alone a commander!
He was merely the commander of the garrison base, not on the Eagle Tribe's homeland, and could not dispatch more warships or even aircraft carrier fleets to help at any time. He had both air force and army resources at his disposal.
General Cruz once again felt powerless and deeply frustrated. This battle had been launched too hastily and recklessly, with serious lack of preparation. It could even be said that they had not even obtained accurate intelligence on the Longxia Navy.
They had no idea what weapons and equipment the Longxia tribe possessed, or whether they had any trump cards.
If they had thoroughly investigated the enemy, just like they did when they attacked the Ke Yi tribe, and then mobilized a large force and launched an attack with allies against the Longxia tribe, even if they had retreated a step further and only had a quarter of their strength, they wouldn't be in such a passive position.
In fact, his initial plan was to take advantage of the fact that some of the Longxia Navy's forces had been deployed and that the forces left behind were insufficient, so that he could directly attack and wipe out that part of the Longxia Navy's forces.
Who could have imagined that the offensive operation would end up being a defensive one?
Moreover, in actual use, aircraft carrier fleets are the best offensive weapons, not defensive ones, so naturally, they are often unprepared.
Even if he realized this, he couldn't change it; there's no going back in this world!
"General, if the carrier fleet runs out of anti-aircraft missiles and close-in weapon system ammunition, I'm afraid Willis and his men are in grave danger," Koro couldn't help but remind him, he was also very anxious.
This reminder only made General Cruise even more irritated. He felt like his brain was about to explode, but he was completely helpless and really wanted to punch someone!
After taking several deep breaths, Cruise finally made up his mind. He turned to the communications officer and instructed, "Tell Willis to hold out for me. If he gets through this, I'll personally award him a gold medal. I'll contact headquarters now to see if there's a better way."
"Yes, General."
The communications soldier accepted the order and left.
As soon as the other person left, Cruise couldn't wait to take out his satellite phone and make the call while walking towards his office.
Meanwhile, at the Pacific Naval Base Command in Honolulu, four-star general Curilla and his fellow generals were equally anxious, awaiting the latest battle reports from the front lines.
Even though there had been no battle reports for some time, they continued to comfort themselves like Ah Q, using the mental victory method to numb themselves by saying that the battle situation wouldn't be too bad and that there would definitely be a chance to escape death.
Just as they were anxiously waiting, Kurila's satellite phone suddenly rang urgently.
He hurriedly picked it up and glanced at it. To his relief, it wasn't the Great Chief calling. However, his heart jumped again when he saw it was Cruise from the military base.
Unless it's something extremely urgent, Cruise wouldn't contact himself directly via satellite phone.
So it seems things aren't going well at the front? Why does this battle report have to be given to him personally, alone?
Or is there some good news that made that guy come over to boast about his achievements?
In those brief few seconds, Curilla's mind raced, considering many possibilities, but he never imagined that this was such devastating news.
So after pressing the answer button, Kurila said directly, "General Cruise, I hope to hear good news."
Upon hearing that it was Cruise calling, all the generals present pricked up their ears and listened intently, wanting to confirm whether it was truly good news.
General Cruise's slightly hesitant voice came from the other end of the phone: "General, there have been some unexpected developments at the front."
"An unexpected situation? What is it?" Kurila's voice was low, and his expression stiffened.
An unexpected situation is obviously not good news. An ominous premonition instantly spread through his mind, making him feel much worse.
"The USS Condor carrier strike group has entered into defense against the second wave of incoming anti-ship missiles, but they are facing a shortage of anti-aircraft ammunition, while the reinforcements I dispatched are still on their way and will not be able to arrive in time."
"In addition, under the first round of anti-ship missile attacks launched by the Longxia Navy, our side lost two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers."
Cruise's battle report stunned everyone present, and Curry almost jumped up on the spot.
"What did you say? We've already lost two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers?" Kurilla asked in shock.
Indeed, he found it hard to believe, and everyone present was utterly shocked, their faces filled with horror.
This is not good news at all, it's absolutely terrible news!
Losing two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers in World War I—that's an incredibly large loss, isn't it? Do you know what happened?
They fought against the Soviet Union and defeated it. Then they fought against the White Bear Tribe, but they did not suffer such huge losses. In fact, they often had the upper hand and never lost a single warship, not even a frigate.
On the contrary, they suffered such heavy losses in a battle against a third-rate navy that they looked down upon. Is this normal? It's not normal at all!
This is an utter disgrace! It's not just that they've trampled on the face of their Eagle Tribe, but they've also rubbed it in!
Growing increasingly furious, Curilla's originally stern face contorted into a grimace. Just as he was about to unleash a torrent of abuse at Cruise over the phone, the other end's anxious voice came through the receiver. (End of Chapter)