A port.

Feng Ping stood on the bow of the No. 1 semi-submersible barge, looking at the many ships that were constantly entering the port from a distance, with a leisurely expression.

And standing beside him is the first mate Feng Ru-—— or his own son, who he has brought out single-handedly in the past few years.

Just half a month ago, he received a mysterious phone call, and the man on the other end of the phone made an appointment to meet him at the Fishery Administration Bureau and conveyed an important task to him.

The content of the mission was very simple, and it could even be said that he had roughly guessed what they wanted him to do before he went to the Fishery Bureau.

But to his surprise, the duration of this mission was 18 months.

He was puzzled.

It's just to build an island, and it's not like I haven't done such a thing.

Does it really take that long?

Or to put it another way, it takes so long, so how big is the island you want to build this time?

No, it's bigger than the Yongxia Island I've built before, right?

You know, more than ten years ago, when they built an 8,000-square-meter island on Yongxia Reef, it only took six months.

And this time.18 months?

He asked the man at the interface his question, but the latter did not answer him.

He just told Feng Ping that this mission was very difficult and dangerous, and if he was unwilling to go, he could bring it up and let someone else take Feng Ping's place.

This proposal was rejected by Feng Ping on the spot.

Are you kidding? Do you seem to be afraid of death?

Since he is the captain of the Heavy Duty No. 1, he has to take on the heavy responsibility.

Not only him, but also his own son, could not hide back.

Therefore, no matter how his wife persuaded him, Feng Ping still brought his son Feng Ru, wanting to take this opportunity to let him exercise hard and really take over his burden in the future.

Feng Ru's performance also made him quite satisfied, not only did he not evade, but immediately after receiving the task, he took the whole ship of sailors to inspect and repair the ship, just to make the ship in the best condition to meet the challenges of the next 18 months.

By this time, he had done all the checks, and there was only one last night left before the official departure.

Thinking of this, Feng Ping turned around, patted Feng Ru's shoulder and said:

"Good boy, I've worked hard for you in the past ten days-—— but I'm also a little bit like a captain."

"How? Is everything going well? ”

Feng Ru nodded and replied:

"Smooth, all the equipment has been on the ship, several hidden dangers that I told you before have been eliminated, I have also prepared additional maintenance materials, and when the time comes, I will unload them first, in case of ship damage, just repair it directly on the spot."

"Yes, very well thought out."

Feng Ping smiled with satisfaction, and then asked:

"How is it, are you afraid?"

"Afraid?"

Feng Ru repeated suspiciously.

"Why be afraid? To build an island, not to fight. ”

Feng Ping rolled his eyes and said in a slightly hateful tone:

"Do you think the island is not a war? Do you think we built it in the past, but people really let you build it right under your nose? ”

"We're going to Treasure Island this time!"

"To put it mildly, it's people's territory, and their warships are patrolling everywhere, so they have to fight every day!"

"A fight is not a war"

Feng Ru muttered, but after seeing his father's dissatisfied eyes, he hurriedly said:

"I know, I know, I'll be safe. But it's you, so don't go, right? It's too late to go back. ”

"I'm not going, can I rest assured that you will go? Anyway, I still have a little experience, you are stunned, what can you do when you go? ”

Feng Ping knocked Feng Ru's head hard and said in a stern tone.

"I can do anything you can!"

Feng Ru was stiff at this time, in fact, he was not bragging.

Technically speaking, he is indeed fully qualified for the job of captain, the only thing missing is experience.

However, this is also the problem that Feng Ping is most worried about.

He frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke:

"Our mission this time is different from the work we usually do at our doorstep."

"This time, it's the same as when we were on Yongxia Island."

"At the end of the day, it's not difficult to do the work, it's how to do it."

Hearing this, Feng Ru instantly became interested.

He turned to Feng Ping and asked:

"So what the hell did you do over there? I've never heard you say that, so tell me about it this time? ”

Looking at his son's expectant eyes, Feng Ping hesitated for a moment, and finally opened his mouth.

"Actually, there's nothing you can't say about that, the reason why I haven't told you about it before is that I feel that it's not time for you to worry about it."

"But now that we've come to this point, there's no harm in talking."

Feng Ping's eyes gradually became a little blurry, as if he was recalling the thrilling six months more than ten years ago.

It was a full two minutes before he continued:

"At that time, that island was not called Yongxia Island, it was called Yongxia Reef"

"In May '87, I received the task of going there to build an island, but it wasn't until January '88 that our ship officially left the port."

"On the first day I got there, the monkey's boat chased after me."

"I remember that day two armed ships, carrying construction materials and their sailors, crashed straight into our fleet."

"I just arrived then, and like you now, I'm still a stunned young man."

"Where have I ever seen this? I was directly scared stupid, looking at those monkeys holding guns, I thought that there was going to be a war, and I even thought of my last words. ”

"But fortunately, our escort formation was also there, and in less than half an hour, we forced them back."

"I was kind of relieved, thinking that was the end of it."

"But I didn't expect that in the first two months we were there, things like this happened almost every day."

"Monkeys don't care if you're a soldier or not, for them, if they can kill you and stop your project, it's already a big profit."

"So, a lot of the time we were so scared that we couldn't sleep well, for fear that they would bomb us with cannons that night."

"What's worse is that we were very unlucky in those two months, the weather was very bad, the wind and waves were strong, and the work could not be started for a long time."

"At that time, we even thought that this project was going to be yellow."

"It wasn't until the end of February that the superiors finally made a decision, they couldn't wait, even if they worked hard, they had to work hard."

"If the reef digging boat can't dig the reef, we will blow it up with explosives; The barge can't get into the water, so we use small boats to transport it. ”

"There are even some shallow water places, and it is up to people to carry the building materials on their shoulders."

"The Vietnamese are stupid, they can't imagine that we can still do it after being so harassing."

"So, they're crazy too. As our progress picks up, so do their warships. ”

"The situation is critical, no joke."

Speaking of this, Feng Ping paused, and Feng Ru's expression became heavy.

From his father's words, he could fully understand how difficult and dangerous the environment was at that time.

It's hard to believe that they can still build that island in such an environment.

No wonder my mother didn't want to let me go this time, it seems that this is indeed a fatal job.

"So what happened later? How did it come back on? ”

Feng Ru asked.

"Later. Later, at Chigua Reef, we fought with them. ”

"March 14, 1988, I remember it very well."

"They sank at least 3 ships, and 1 person on our side was slightly injured."

"Since then, they've been honest. They didn't come back until June, when we finished it. ”

"That's right!"

Hearing this, Feng Ru's confidence greatly increased.

"I just have to teach them a lesson! Since you love to cause trouble so much, the fight will be over, and if you are convinced, why won't it be smooth?! ”

Feng Ping gave him a blank look and said:

"Do you think it's still that time?"

Feng Ru scratched his head and asked inexplicably:

"Huh? What's wrong? Is there a difference? ”

Feng Ping sighed and lowered his tone.

"Now, if we really fight, we will not fight Vietnamese monkeys, but American eagles."

Feng Ru was stunned, and then, he also fell silent.

Oh, yes.

In this year, our opponent is no longer Vietnam.

Eyeing the tiger is another, more formidable opponent.

If you are not careful, the final result may be a catastrophe.

But aren't we going?

He looked at Feng Ping, stared at him for a moment, and then suddenly laughed again.

In his father's eyes, he had found the answer.

The other side of the sea.

On the deck of the aircraft carrier, Carl Thomas sat in the bridge command room, holding the command document he had just received tightly in his hand, with a serious expression.

Standing beside him was Michael Gilday, the commander of the aircraft carrier formation, who held the same document in his hand, but with a much lighter expression than Thomas.

So, the mission this time is basically decided, we are going to go to the ship port and resupply there?"

Gildy asked.

Thomas nodded solemnly and replied:

"That's right. This time, we need to bypass the Philippines, pass through Bandar Seri Begawan to the west, and then follow the coastline north to the ship port. ”

"Our goal is to curb the island-building operations, but not to clash with them head-on as much as possible."

"In other words, the main thing is still done by Annan's side."

"But if a conflict breaks out, then we can step in and start playing our part."

Hearing Thomas's words, Gildy nodded slightly.

There was a look of emotion on his face, and then he spoke:

"I didn't expect that we and Annan were enemies decades ago, but now we have become their friends."

"This should be the first time we have had a military exchange of this kind with them, right? Even if it's Japan and South Korea, we haven't been there yet."

Thomas frowned, thought for a moment, and then replied:

"In my mind, it should be."

"It's not a big deal, though."

"There are no eternal friends or enemies in the world, only eternal interests."

"We used to have a honeymoon with them."

"It's just that their development has gradually exceeded our expectations, squeezed out our interests, and forced us to change our attitude towards them."

"As for the so-called ideological conflict . We all knew in our hearts that it was just an excuse. ”

"That's true."

Gildy laughed, then changed the conversation and asked:

"However, can our action really have a deterrent effect on them? Will they really abandon their plans to build an island because we are there? ”

"Judging by the information on intelligence, this time, they are very determined and prepared in all aspects."

"If it's just 'deterrence', I'm afraid it won't achieve our goal, right?"

"I don't know."

Thomas replied bluntly.

"Actually, none of us know the consequences of this strategy-—— of course, including the so-called experts of the Corner Tower and the May Society."

"The reason why we dare to take such a risk is nothing more than one thing: no matter which direction things develop, we will not suffer."

"So, they're willing to gamble."

"Anyway, it's someone else who puts the chips, what does it have to do with us?"

Hearing Thomas's words, Gildy couldn't help but be a little puzzled.

He asked:

"However, you just said that if there is a conflict between the two of them, we will take advantage of the situation to intervene."

"You mean, this kind of involvement, not including military involvement?"

"Then it depends on the specific development of the situation."

Thomas leaned back in the command chair, his hands casually hanging at his sides, and continued as he swayed leisurely:

"We certainly don't want military involvement, because that would have uncontrollable consequences."

"But at the same time, we must communicate our determination to intervene militarily."

"It's a very simple truth, if your neighbor doesn't believe you will shoot, then what's the point of your so-called threat?"

"So, not only do we have to put the guns up, but we also have to load the bullets, open the safes, and aim the guns at them."

"Only in this case will our threats be convincing."

"As for whether to shoot at the end. It depends on whether the benefits we can obtain exceed the value of the bullet. ”

"Judging from the current situation, our bullets are still very expensive."

Hearing this, Gilday had fully understood Thomas, understood the Corner Tower, the May Meeting, and even the Congress.

Obviously, the gesture of raising the gun is not just for this side.

What's more important is to show Annan.

Only when they believe from the bottom of their hearts that there is someone standing behind them will they unscrupulously provoke and collide.

In this way, one's own strategy can be regarded as a reality.

Thinking of this, Gildy sighed deeply.

"I really can't imagine that our relationship with them will come to this point so soon."

"Even three years ago, when I first boarded the Reagan, I could not have predicted that one day I would come on such a mission."

"At that time, I probably thought that they were no different from Vietnam, right?"

Thomas shook his head with a smile and replied:

"It's not just you, I'm actually thinking the same way."

"It's just that their development has indeed far exceeded our expectations."

"But that's okay."

"We have the most powerful power in the world, let alone fight us, even if they look at us, they will be scared and their legs will go weak."