Looking at her old father, who was sitting in front of the hut sawing wood, Carmen stepped forward and looked in amazement at the pile of wood by the lake.

"My beloved father, what are you doing here?"

"Galen ship miniaturization. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Yakonor looked happily at the unfinished keel by the lake, and said to his beloved youngest son.

"Galen, what's the use of this?" Carmen looked at her father in confusion.

"It is useless if it has conquered the Pacific Ocean. "That includes us, including all of this, and it's useless. ”

He said something of unknown significance. But Carmen seemed to be accustomed to what her father often said that people did not understand, so she did not say anything, but sighed in the attitude of the old man.

"Okay, but do you know how to build a ship?"

"I don't know. Jakono smiled happily and pointed the saw at the keel, which was already in shape, "Don't look at it, it's just a piece of wood, there are many doorways inside." This includes how to handle the wood, including how to splice the wood. It took me a whole year to build this keel. Although it failed many times, the process was unexpectedly interesting. ”

Carmen glanced at her father with some surprise, and then looked seriously at the keel.

"Unbelievable no one helped you?"

"Thaddeus wanted to help me find a boatman, but I refused. I wanted to try to figure it out on my own and see what the hell was going on with this ship. Throwing aside the saw in his hand, Jakono picked up the mineral water from a nearby stake and poured it a few sips.

Looking at her happy father, Carmen was silent for two seconds before speaking.

"I heard you're looking for me—"

"Give up that prophecy. Jakono didn't look at him, but at the keel.

Carmen was stunned by her father's sudden remarks.

Half an hour later. He spoke with difficulty.

"Why?"

Jacono looked back and looked earnestly into his son's eyes.

"Babies will one day be away from their parents and learn how to walk on their own feet. They can tell us a lot, but they can't tell us more. If we continue down this path, we will face a future that will be even more depressing than the outcome they have already won. ”

"But if you listen to the proverbs of the wise, won't you take many detours?"

"Is it necessarily wrong to take a detour?" asked Jakono rhetorically.

Carmen was slightly stunned. fell silent.

Seeing that his son did not speak, Jakono went on to say meaningfully: "Mankind should ask the sages for wisdom, and not pin their future on the more distant future." ”

"History has changed, but the trend should not be wrong. The next few decades will be artificial intelligence, then the technological explosion caused by the breakthrough of materials science, and then—" Carmen said softly, unable to agree with her father.

"Not necessarily. Jacono snorted, and walked over to pick up the saw, "See this keel? How do you build a steamship, and then one day 'I' die, can you build an aircraft carrier?"

"That's a scientist's business. Carmen said helplessly.

"Science and capital have always been grasshoppers on the same rope. Technology determines the space of human life, and capital opens up this space, which is the essence of science and capital. Did you return all your knowledge of economics to the professors at Harvard? I suggest you take a second look at the chapter on the Bear Porter function. ”

The old father went back to his stake and got busy, and no longer cared for his son.

After standing by the lake for a long time, until the sky was dark, Carmen turned and left her father's cabin

Early the next morning. Jiang Chen boarded a flight to Australia. Due to the size of the airport and the number of passengers, the new airport on the island of Koro is currently only open to direct flights to its two main neighbours, Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, if you want to arrive in a new country from China, you can only fly to Australia for a transit flight.

After some tossing and turning, Jiang Chen finally got off the plane on Koro Island, but it was already late at night.

When he walked out of the airport, Aisha was already waiting at the airport gate.

"Go to the presidential palace. Getting into the car, Jiang Chen said directly.

Nodding. Aisha started the car and hit the road.

"Don't you have to go home and rest first?" she asked casually as she drove the car.

"No, if you can't see me, I'm afraid that someone won't be able to sleep well. Jiang Chen teased, then leaned back on the chair and closed his eyes.

Aisha pursed her lips and smiled. No more talking along the way.

When he arrived at the presidential palace, after explaining his identity to the doorman, Jiang Chen was quickly let go and went to Zhang Yaping's office under the reception of a waiter.

I haven't seen him for a few days, and this guy is a lot haggard. It could be seen that all kinds of troubles tortured him a lot, and after seeing Jiang Chen, he was obviously relieved, and couldn't wait to get up and greet him.

"You're back. Zhang Yaping smiled bitterly, looked at Jiang Chen and said.

"Don't ask me what to do, tell me everything. Jiang Chen said succinctly.

Zhang Yaping nodded and began to introduce to Jiang Chen what had happened in the past two days.

First of all, after Ivan ordered the sinking of a fishing boat that interfered with the construction of military installations, he led his troops to confront Philippine coast guard ships at the border. At the beginning, the Philippine coast guard was very arrogant, although it could not beat the Chinese coast guard ships to the north, but they did not pay attention to the three speedboats of the new country.

However, just as they were about to break into the territorial waters of the new country and become an important person, Ivan and the others took out their weapons directly without losing face.

Now those Philippine monkeys are blinded, they never thought that the new Congress would have such courage, and they have no idea for a while. Although the coast guard ships are equipped with light weapons, a few of them do not dare to make such a decision that could lead to serious diplomatic problems. After all, if this is a shot, then the problem is serious. So they had to confront Ivan and report the news at the same time.

Finally, Philippine President Benigno Aquino also managed to get in touch with Zhang Yaping. However, Zhang Yaping didn't reflect what was going on on Crescent Island, after all, the national defense was controlled by the Transwarp Trading Company.

Zhang Yaping, who realized that something was wrong, immediately got in touch with Ivan, and then learned what happened.

Well, when he heard that Ivan had sunk those sloppy fishing boats—oh no, pirate ships—he couldn't help but curse in his heart, "It's really his mother's relief." Although the Panu Islands and the Philippines do not have a feud, the people have a long-standing grudge.

However, after all, he is the president of the new country, and he should think more about national interests than personal feelings, and after calming down for two seconds, a drop of cold sweat slipped across his forehead.

Just yesterday, Aquino called him again and said that if the salvage of the wreck cannot begin within three days, the Philippine side will reserve the option of resolving the issue through military means to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens overseas.

However, hearing Zhang Yaping say the last sentence, Jiang Chen was suddenly unhappy.

When did you Philippine citizens go to the territorial waters of other countries to blackmail construction workers, bully local fishermen, and obstruct the construction of military installations? Why didn't you go to Guam to ask your US military father for money?

"Grass%¥#% legitimate interest. Jiang Chen immediately scolded, "Military way? joke, see if Lao Tzu can't kill you." ”

It's been a long time since he's exploded so much foul language.

"The Philippine country has 120,000 active troops, and we may not be able to defeat one of their brigades. Zhang Yaping whispered.

Jiang Chen glanced at him and smiled.

"Who said to fight them. ”

"But they're already so threatening. Zhang Yaping said with a bitter face.

"The Philippines has been careful to maintain its image as a 'weak' and 'victim' on the issue of sea power in order to win the sympathy of the international community. Sending ground troops to war with us is absolutely impossible for them to do. ”

"But—"

Zhang Yaping still seemed a little hard to believe, but Jiang Chen interrupted him.

"In addition, the most important ones are China and the United States. Do you remember what I said to you? Maintain the position of a neutral country and not fall to either side of these two behemoths. If the Philippines takes military action against us, it will inevitably cause us to turn to China, and China will certainly not miss this opportunity to break through the first and second island chains and actively provide assistance to us. The United States will not want to see that China has an additional naval military base in the western Pacific, and it is bound to restrain its younger brother not to go too far. ”

Culturally, the new country is close to China, and ideologically close to the United States, which leads both sides to believe that the country may fall to their side.

"Because we didn't take sides, we were absolutely safe. Jiang Chen patted President Zhang's shoulder and said earnestly.

Although he felt that what he said was good, Zhang Yaping always felt that something was far-fetched.

"But why don't we go over to the side of the United States and continue the diplomatic strategy of the previous administration. He whispered.

Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows.

"Because Lao Tzu doesn't want to. (To be continued.) )