"I'm afraid we're going to have to make some adjustments to our future work."

In the imperial capital, in a building with a red exterior wall, an old man in a tunic said to the people sitting around him.

"For a long time, the reality of rapid technological development has given us the illusion that we believe that in a leapfrog technological explosion environment, mankind should no longer break out into large-scale wars, but will quickly enter a stage of peaceful and stable development."

"This is a relatively reasonable inference, but in fact, even throughout human history, we have not experienced such large-scale, large-scale, large-span technological progress that we are currently experiencing."

"Therefore, the 'trends' that we have deduced based on past experience are actually not credible."

"This can be seen from a series of events in Europe and the Americas."

"In the final analysis, social science is still an 'empirical science' after all, not an absolute 'theoretical science', and we must learn this lesson in the future."

Hearing his words, everyone in the room nodded.

Then, a man with glasses -—— Chen Feiyun and said:

"At this point, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences does have to take responsibility, but also bear the infamy."

"After all, our horizons are still too narrow, and we think we can control everything, but in reality, things are moving in the direction of getting out of control."

"If there is any accountability."

"Don't say anything to blame."

The man in the tunic interrupted him with a wave of his hand, and then said:

"As I said, the assumptions we made earlier were reasonable, but they just couldn't take into account all the randomness."

"Therefore, the point is not to hold accountable, not to consider who will take the blame and who will pay for it, but to find ways to adjust the view of the future so that our recommendations can really be used as a reference."

"So now, a problem is in front of us."

"Are we going to prepare for war?"

"Will this war burn around the world like wildfire, or will it extinguish itself when it runs out of fuel?"

The words fell, and everyone in the room fell silent.

The so-called "burning out of fuel" is actually easy to understand, which refers to the consumption of the United States' war motivation through one or two local wars, so that the benefits of war are reduced to a degree that is less than peace and stability, so that the risk of war will naturally disappear without a trace.

But is this really possible?

On the left side of the room, a man in military uniform raised his hand to speak.

"Personally, I don't think it's going to happen if you run out of fuel."

"The U.S. military has just experienced a heavy blow in which they have fully experienced the bitter consequences of losing their rights, and in the military there is a general perception that is fermenting."

"That is, the future will definitely be a peaceful generation, but the more peaceful the generation, the less the military will be able to obtain sufficient benefits."

"So, if you want to keep your position unchallenged, you have to constantly wage wars – even if it's meaningless, purposeless."

"The clash of ideologies will become more and more intense, because this is the best excuse, to put it bluntly, they will constantly add fuel to the fire, maybe the fire will not burn all over the world, but there will always be a fire"

Hearing his words, the man in the tunic nodded slightly.

"Raise your hand in agreement."

Only a few people in the room did not raise their hands, and after questioning, the man found out that the opinion of the remaining people was that the war would definitely burn out to the whole world.

That is, the fire will ignite, which is already a common perception.

"Well, it seems that everyone has reached a unified opinion on this issue."

"Then we're going to take the issue a step further - do we let this fire burn, or do we take the initiative and find a way to put it out?"

This is another extremely difficult problem to choose, but the point that is difficult to choose is not the so-called "trade-off of interests", but an "uncertainty".

Theoretically, the best solution is to keep the fire burning and allowing a small war to drain the American side, because it can eliminate a major destabilizing factor and buy the whole world enough time to develop.

As long as a third or fourth country in the world emerges one day that is capable of confronting the United States on its own, the risk of all-out war will naturally be eliminated.

But the question is, if the fire is burning, who can guarantee that it will not catch fire?

War is uncontrollable, and so are the people involved in it, what if they are really crazy enough to throw a nuclear bomb?

All the efforts made by mankind for development will be wiped out in an instant.

"I don't recommend letting it go."

It was the man in military uniform who spoke.

"I would like to state at the outset that my proposal is not for 'profit' reasons, but for security reasons."

"It is true that if the fire is allowed to burn all the time, as the defense force of the republic, our military can gain a greater voice, obtain more resources, and even obtain a higher decision-making position."

"But that's not what I really want."

"What I really want to see as a part of this country is a bright future-—— which is a big deal, but it's true."

"So, on that basis, I can't tolerate any risk."

"Even if the risk can bring benefits, I'd rather be slower-—— besides, we can't be slow."

"Don't we still have a spark? Not yet. Old. Core? ”

"I agree."

The man in the tunic was the first to speak, and then the others also raised their hands.

"Then, the situation is clear."

"The next thing we're going to do is find a way to extinguish the flame."

"At the very least, we'll have to build a firewall to keep the fire in the United States."

"In other words, the Cuban incident will be our strategic focus for some time to come, and the first batch of support will obviously not be enough, and we will need to invest more equipment and personnel – still the process that has been proven at the moment."

"Understood."

The man in military uniform nodded immediately.

Subsequently, the man in the tunic continued:

"In the same way, in terms of economic and technological development, we also have to make some adjustments."

"Major equipment projects should be accelerated, and deterrence should be quickly formed."

"Speaking of which, when will our air platform be able to take off?"

"Within 18 months, the first verification flight can be carried out, but it will take at least three more years if it is to reach the stage of tactical availability."

"It's enough to be able to fly, deterrence doesn't just come from weapons, it's more from the military potential that we can show"

At the same time, Miami, an unprecedented large-scale operation is in full swing.

The operation involved River Force, the CIA, the DEA, and even the ATF, and they had only one thing to do: to intercept a gang of drug traffickers from Mexico trying to land from Miami.

The organizer of the operation was naturally the DEA, but considering that "the enemy may have a large number of heavy weapons", the River Force was also involved in the operation.

In the operational command room, the leaders of several departments sat together, but what they discussed was not a pre-war briefing and a plan of action at all, but the consequences of this operation.

According to the plan, we will have to lose at least two assault boats and four combat personnel, which is a big price, but this is not the point, the point is that we cannot afford the unpredictable consequences of voluntarily entering the territorial waters of the other side."

"We have to have a reasonable reason — I mean, it has to be reasonable enough to make sure it's not our problem, the kind that physically erases all the evidence."

The man in military uniform on the left side of the long table spoke.

"Understood."

The man with glasses across from him nodded slightly, and then said:

"We're prepared for that, is that a good enough reason that the other side will use drones to continuously electronically jam you, and you will lose your direction and contact with the larger forces?"

"It's not enough, we have the ability to fight in a complex electromagnetic environment, it's too far-fetched."

"So what if you lose more than 50% of the crew on a single assault boat?"

"That is, the command staff needs to sacrifice-—— I can accept it, but it is difficult to execute, how can you guarantee this?"

"I repeat, it's not us who do it, it's the drug dealers who do it!"

The man with glasses sighed and continued:

"Leave this to them to solve, if it can't be done, then we will use the backup plan and directly seize the ship."

"Yes."

Hearing the man in military uniform's answer, the man with glasses nodded and looked at the third person who had never spoken.

"After everything is done, you must ensure that they can dock near Dimas, that is, you need to get the patrol force of the other side on the coast and ensure that the assault boats enter the river."

"Is there any difficulty with this?"

"There is no difficulty, we are professional."

The third replied without hesitation.

"Okay, then the implementation issues have been concluded."

"Now, we are faced with only one problem: what if the other side finds the boat and returns it immediately?"

"Intelligence, people, equipment, or something else?"

Everyone who asked this question was stunned, and after a short silence, the third person spoke:

"Intelligence, continuity and credibility are relatively high."

"However, I still try to make sure that it does not develop to this point, if we really need to act on this ground, then we are naturally at a disadvantage."

"Yes, so, the most stressed, is you."

Several people nodded, and after a moment, the man with glasses continued:

"Finally, there is information that a group of armed men has recently entered Havana, they are well armed, most likely from a PMC company in Northern Europe."

"But the specific background, I think everyone is very clear."

"Therefore, we should try to avoid them in this operation."

"We must not give them the opportunity to interfere with us."

(End of chapter)