After receiving Li Xiang's call, Chen Nian suddenly had a feeling of enlightenment.

No wonder he always felt that the situation was so familiar, it turned out that in the previous life, such a thing did happen.

Of course, the other party's methods are not 100% active, and not every step is a deliberate foreshadowing of them.

Some of them are indeed tentative strategies they have made, such as restrictions on the semiconductor industry, and military contraction and arms race downgrade.

But the other part, such as competition in the field of talent, should be a contingency after the strategy fails.

Of course, there is no point in carefully distinguishing the nature of each strategy, and what Chen Nian is most concerned about is actually a few key clues that can characterize the situation.

It was already 10 o'clock in the evening, Chen Nian was sitting in the office, and finally waited for Chen Guo and Li Xiang, who rushed over as fast as possible.

"What's the situation?"

As soon as he saw Chen Nian, Chen Guo immediately asked.

"I suspect that the other party is laying the groundwork for us, and is ready to pull us into the water."

"South Island?"

"That's right."

Hearing Chen Nian's answer, Chen Guo nodded slowly.

On the way over, Li Xiang had already finished telling him his speculation, so he already had a certain understanding of the basic situation.

But after hearing Gao Chennian's answer, his first reaction was still questioning.

Are you kidding?

The recovery of the South Island can be said to be a strategic goal at the top, once realized, not only can unity be achieved in terms of ideology and national identity, but more importantly, the opponent's multi-point layout will also be burned.

In this case, they will give a chance?

However, after a moment of careful consideration, it suddenly occurred to him that this strategy was not impossible.

The key to implementing the strategy lies in the superiority of military strength.

Yes, the accumulation of decades after World War II, this can be said to be the strongest hole card of the American side.

Under the premise of the explosive development of Huaxia science and technology and the full flowering of the economy, what else can they rely on?

Soft means alone are not enough.

But fair competition is not dominant, so the answer is obvious.

Only by pulling the opponent into the field that he is good at, and then defeating him with rogue means.

Local conflicts, or rather, unilateral proxy conflicts.

They consume it, after all, the expiring munitions in the ammunition depot always have to find a place to digest them.

Compared with spending in the Middle East and Africa, if you can spend it on the sea, it is definitely the most cost-effective thing

Thinking of this, Chen Guo's brows furrowed.

He looked at Chen Nian and asked:

"You told Li Xiang before that you need to determine a few key pieces of information, what are they?"

Chen Nian pushed the A4 paper full of words in front of him and replied:

"It's all on it, you guys take a look first."

There aren't many words on the paper, only six in total.

Determine the future travel plans of the other party's key personnel.

Determine the direction of the other side's main arms sales next year.

Determine the opponent's military equipment development plan in the short term, especially the production plan and the maintenance plan of the equipment in service.

Obtain the direction of economic cooperation between the other party and the South Island, and the industrial layout strategy of the South Island.

Get changes in the opponent's and South Island's material reserves.

Get information on the adjustment of personnel in the island system and future trends.

Chen Guo and Li Xiang hurried forward, but after seeing what was written on the paper, the two fell silent in unison.

After a long time, Li Xiang spoke:

"These pieces of information are critical, but the problem is that they are not easy to obtain."

"A lot of it belongs to the other party's top-secret information, and if we can get it, it is estimated that the other party's intelligence department will have a big change from top to bottom."

Hearing his words, Chen Nian nodded slightly and replied:

"I know it's not easy, but to really confirm their strategic direction, this information has to be available."

"Of course, it doesn't have to be direct information, and indirect evidence can also be corroborated."

Li Xiang hesitated for a moment, but finally looked at Chen Guo.

"This matter is completely beyond my ability-—— Professor Chen, what do you think?"

"Me too. If this information must be obtained, I am afraid that the entire upper strategy will have to be adjusted. ”

"Report it first, there is some information, we should have it originally, take it first, and make some basic judgments."

"That's all it can be."

Li Xiang nodded slightly, then turned back to Chen Nian's direction and asked:

"If it's ultimately determined to be true, what should we do? Do you have a judgment? ”

It stands to reason that such non-technical questions should not be answered by Chen Nian, but as the two people who have the most contact with him, whether it is Chen Guo or Li Xiang, they are very clear about the boundaries of Chen Nian's ability.

Therefore, when he asked this question, he actually hoped that Chen Nian could give a "standard" and "effective" answer.

However, this time, Chen Nian didn't give him the answer he wanted.

"I don't know, there's no standard answer to this question."

Chen Nian is not lying, in fact, in his opinion, there is no standard answer to any question involving major strategies between the two countries, such as "technical solutions".

The situation in the world is a vast chaotic system, and the situation changes from moment to moment, and even the slightest disturbance can cause the whole system to go in a completely different direction.

Therefore, it is completely difficult for him to answer the question of "what to do".

However, he can also give a general direction.

So, he continued:

"But one thing is certain, we can't be completely passive and avoid war."

"Avoiding conflict does not really avoid conflict, and those resources saved militarily will definitely be lost in other areas, which is an iron law of international exchanges."

Hearing this, Chen Guo and Li Xiang nodded at the same time, but neither spoke.

After a moment of silence, Li Xiang spoke:

"It feels unreal. We seem to be very close to conflict. ”

"It's always been close."

Chen Nian's expression was a little surprised, but he quickly calmed down.

Li Xiang's words made him suddenly realize one thing:

It turns out that in this era, the vast majority of people are unprepared for the so-called conflict.

They have not experienced the confrontation of 2016, nor have they experienced the conflict in the river valley, nor have they witnessed the tension of a foreign trip.

Even in the eyes of some people, the other party is just a "nasty friend".

But in fact, this friend wants our lives at every moment.

Once the incident starts, the consequences will be more serious than any previous friction.

Because it can't end in any kind of peaceful way.

The final result is either that one side admits intimidation and retreats completely.

Either that, or a full-scale conflict.

This is the source of Chen Nian's previous anxiety.

Before Li Xiang could point out the crux of the problem, his intuition had already sensed this threat, and he automatically shifted his attention to the strategic nuclear counterattack capability

Chen Nian suddenly couldn't laugh or cry.

Should you say you're sharp, or should you say you're pessimistic?

But in any case, at least for the time being, the direction of development in terms of equipment is right.

If you want to stop the opponent from using the sword, the best way is to show a sharper blade in front of it

At the same time, on the other side of the sea.

In the corner tower office, Bob sat behind his desk with a serious expression, sorting through the latest information in his hand.

Since Houston's "suicide in fear of crime", the power system of the entire May Council has almost collapsed, and in order to maintain the normal operation of the intelligence department, Congress has adjusted the relevant agencies, and the external intelligence affairs that originally belonged to the May Council have been unified into the corner tower.

This meant an increase in Bob's power-—— which was an incredible result, and before the order was given, Bob even thought that he would end up like Houston.

But it was clear that Congress didn't intend to leave the country unusable, and so Bob rose to the pinnacle of power in this bizarre way.

Of course, the expansion of power also means the expansion of responsibilities, and he has to take on more work, the most important of which is the strategic layout of the external world.

Over the past few months, he has made a series of adjustments in a familiar way, and finally settled on the so-called "ultimate strategy", and according to the stated goal of this strategy, all departments immediately moved to prepare for the final step of the decisive victory.

Of course, until now, his preparations were not quite ready.

——

Or rather, he wasn't completely sure.

After all, it's a win-or-lose gamble, and he has to make sure that all the details have been taken to the extreme.

After reading the last report, Bob raised his head, turned to the waiting assistant, and asked:

"Loma, Thor, GM, Lopu, have you received feedback from these four companies?"

Hearing his question, the assistant hurriedly replied:

"All the feedback has been collected, and there are no problems."

"The four companies have promised to complete the capacity expansion within a month and prepare for new orders."

"It is expected that within two months, Loma can start executing the contract first, and the other three companies will be ready within 90 days."

"Overall, the plan went smoothly and we didn't have any problems with our production capacity."

"But again, all companies have the same concern, they are worried that their orders will not be fulfilled and that they will lose money"

"That's not something we need to think about."

Bob interrupted the assistant with a look of disdain on his face.

Of course, he knew that there was a risk that the order he had promised would not be kept, after all, no warmonger could guarantee that war would happen at some point.

But isn't that what these companies earn?

If you want to get excess returns, you have to take the risk of excess.

He doesn't care about the losses that breaking the contract may cause to the other party, all he cares about is the resistance to his strategy caused by the other party's inability to complete the order on time.

After a pause, Bob continued:

"How's the communication going on in the South Island? Arms sales, appointments and dismissals, and restrictions are reported separately. ”

"In terms of arms sales, we have negotiated a $4.6 billion contract for the design of anti-aircraft missiles, fighter jets and other anti-landing combat equipment."

"According to your requirements, the price we gave was not high, and the other party was also very satisfied."

"In addition, we have committed to further export plans in the future, mainly for radar systems."

"Well done."

Bob nodded slightly.

Seeing his reaction, the assistant continued:

"In terms of appointment and removal, it is very likely that Ma Yingnai will take the position at present, but we have reached a consensus with most members that we will support Gu Kuanmin to take the position."

"Gu Kuanmin? I know him. He seems to be too old."

"But he is the most suitable candidate, if we don't choose him, we can only choose Wu Zhaoxie, but this person, we are using it very well at the moment, and it is not suitable to use him as a sacrifice."

"Understood."

Bob immediately understood.

In such a huge strategy, we must keep ourselves in the background.

And the "talker" standing in front of the stage is the best back-erabbed man.

Obviously, this role can't be done by really useful people-—— anyway, Bob doesn't expect any kind of ability from the person in this position, all he needs is a dog that can bark firmly.

In this case, it is only fitting that an 80-year-old man should be the dog.

"What about the limits?"

"The previous semiconductor strategy did play a role, but the response of the other side was very fast, and they had already launched a backup plan two years ago, so in general, the effect was limited."

"I'm afraid this layout will not achieve the desired effect, and we need to consider discarding it."

"But fortunately, we don't need to put pressure on us in this way, they have already misjudged the overall strength, as long as they tease a little, they will definitely bite the hook."

"My concern is not that they don't bite, but that they bring scissors to cut the line when they bite the hook."

Bob replied with a frown.

Hearing this, the assistant couldn't answer for a while.

After a few seconds of silence, he spoke:

"So, we have to be fast, so fast that they don't have time to break free."

"That means we have to put enough pressure on them at the very beginning of the event to create enough sunk costs that they have to gamble on."

"It's not going to be easy, I'm afraid we'll have to make them lose at least one fleet."

"No, I don't."

Bob shook his head and replied:

"We just need to knock out their flagship."

"Their 001, and that 055."

"That's their biggest source of confidence, and if you beat them, everything will fall into our rhythm."

"It's really the best outcome, but what if, they just watch, don't bite the hook?"

As soon as he said this, Bob couldn't help but laugh.

He asked rhetorically:

"Do you think we're really fishing?"

"If they don't bite the hook, we will only gain more."

(End of chapter)