After agreeing to the invitation to jointly compile the textbook, Tang Lintian took out a ballpoint pen and a notebook from the pocket on the inside of his cotton coat, wrote something on it, and tore off the page:

"This is my pager number, as well as home and office phone numbers, if there is anything you want to ask, you can always contact me."

Chang Haonan subconsciously wanted to give back his contact information to the other party.

And then I realized that I didn't have a ...... at all

So I had to take the note, fold it and put it in my pocket:

"Okay, Dean Tang, I'll contact you if I have any questions."

……

At the same time that Chang Haonan got the opportunity to write a book for the first time in his life.

Permanent joint headquarters in Northwood, Kent, UK.

A man in a rear admiral's uniform knocked on the office door of Jock Slater, First Sea Lord and Chief of Staff of the Royal Navy.

"Sir Jock, are you looking for me?"

"Yes, Alain, sit down first."

Jock stood up, took out a bottle of wine from the cabinet next to him, and poured half a glass for himself and half a glass for the comer.

Although there is a big difference in official titles between the two, they are both from naval families, and they are familiar with each other's families, so they don't have a strong sense of alienation.

"It's 1997 now."

This seemingly unprovoked sentence made Alan West, who had just taken the wine glass, a little confused:

"Uh...... In fact, it is already the second month of 1997. ”

Obviously, he didn't mean to get his superiors at all.

Some speechless Jock had no choice but to choose a more straightforward way of expression:

"If nothing else, the United Kingdom will lose another piece of land this year."

"What do you mean...... Hong Kong Island? ”

Now West understood, but not completely:

"But isn't that what Thatcher determined more than ten years ago?"

"That's true, but things are changing."

Jock sat back behind his desk gracefully with his wine glass.

Although the other party still hasn't guessed the main point of this conversation, at least it's already on the road:

"Prime Minister Major has asked us to do something before everything becomes irreversible."

"This ......"

The Westers who heard this sentence were dumbfounded, and the wine glass that came to their lips stopped in mid-air:

"What can we do?"

"Like sending a fleet."

West's hand shook and he almost spilled the wine from his glass.

For a moment he thought that at least one of him, Sir Jock and the Prime Minister had gone mad.

It took about a few minutes for the rear admiral to regain full language skills:

"This ...... This is crazy. ”

"IMHO, sir, we are all nuclear states, and China is not Argentina, at least they have much more missiles."

After saying this, West added inwardly:

"And even without missiles, we can't stand the iron bombs alone."

In 1982, he was serving as the captain of the frigate USS Zeal.

In that war, the Zealous was hit by a low-altitude Argentine attack aircraft, and five 1,000-pound MK17 unguided bombs were hit.

If it weren't for the fuse setting problem that caused only two explosions, I'm afraid it would be someone else sitting here today.

"Of course I know that, so I didn't say I'm going to send a fleet to war."

Jock shook his head and drank the liquid from his glass:

"The Conservative Party is in a very bad situation right now, and if we don't do something to save our support, we're going to lose it very quickly. So he hoped he could be tougher on this matter. ”

"Wouldn't it be nice to find an excuse to drag it out, can't the cabinet secretary even do this now?"

West said with some disapproval:

"Isn't that how they treated our request for additional funding?"

"Actually, there's another reason."

Jock, who was scolded back, also realized that the reason he gave was indeed not very convincing, and after hesitating for a moment, he continued:

"Some members of the royal family are also hoping to distract the public, and Britain needs a propaganda victory to suppress the public opinion caused by the prince and princess."

In theory, the royal family in a constitutional monarchy should be just a mascot.

But this is clearly not the case.

"Propaganda Victory ......"

West, who picked up his glass again, accented the word "publicity", and then said a famous line in the tone of a character in a certain TV series:

“It is to make people BELIEVE Britain is defended？”

Apparently, he has gradually caught up with the rhythm.

"That's right, so we don't need to get close to the shoreline, just drive the fleet over, show force where they can't reach it, and then sail back."

Jock flicked the globe on the table as he spoke:

"You know, if the Huaxia Navy wants to go to the sea, it will take at least a few months to prepare, so it is impossible to react."

"But if it's too far away, wouldn't there be no threat at all? They can simply leave it alone. ”

West is still a little confused about the exact plan.

The admiral got back to his feet and came to a huge map of the world that was taped to the wall:

"On this point, the Pentagon will exert some influence and arrange for the Annan army to conduct joint exercises with us, where will it be...... It's put right here. ”

His finger pointed to a place not far from the coastline of Annam:

"The ownership of this sea area is disputed, and Annan has always wanted to develop the deep-sea oil and gas fields in this vicinity, so they approached BP."

"So we're going to go over and support them?"

West also came to the front of the map.

"No, let's take what we need."

Jock turned around and looked at West next to him:

"We can kill two birds with one stone, not only to help BP win this project, but also to disgust the Chinese people and give an explanation to the royal family and the prime minister. With our support, Annan will be more emboldened. ”

"Anyway, the exercise area is nearly 900 miles away from their Qiongzhou, and according to intelligence, the Huaxia people have no worth mentioning sea and air forces in this direction, at most they can dispatch some old-fashioned frigates or speedboats, without any risk."

"So, you're going to let me lead this fleet?"

Now, no matter how much West can't guess the purpose of the other party's call.

Faced with this question, Jock did not answer directly, but changed the conversation:

"Alain, if I'm not mistaken, you've been in the position of rear admiral for five years, right?"

West's eyes lit up.

This naked sentence can no longer be regarded as a hint -

As long as this unchallenging task can be completed, the promotion of the official is in front of you.

"So, has the exact composition of the fleet been decided?"

Obviously, he had already tacitly accepted the mission.

"Not yet, what do you think?"

On the issue of professionalism, Jock decided to consult the front-line commanders anyway.

"Since it is to influence public opinion, the size of the fleet must be large, otherwise the impact will be insufficient."

West immediately began to analyze:

"There must be an aircraft carrier, if it is going to depart in the near future, then the Excellence should be in a seaworthy state, the Sea Harrier aircraft performed very well last time, and the performance is not inferior to Annan's MiG-21, which is just the right opportunity to publicize it."

"The reputation of the Type 42 destroyer is average, and it can be replaced by the Type 22 frigate, the Beaver, the Cornwall and the Campbelltown, although they are frigates, they have a displacement of 4,900 tons, which is larger than all the combat ships in China, and they can completely suppress them."

"Although we won't really do anything to Hong Kong Island, we still have to do enough to put the Intrepid dock landing ship into it, and then bring a few medium-sized landing ships and marines, and prepare it according to the scale of landing in the Falkland Islands, these ships are very cheap to use, and they can also pull up the size of the fleet, which is very cost-effective."

"There are also supply ships, and the newly commissioned Fort Victoria should be able to carry out the mission......"

West's level of business really doesn't need to be said, and a fleet that is well thought out in all aspects is arranged almost on the spot.

Since it was just a fleet cruise with no real risks, it was natural to make the Royal Navy look imposing.

It would be better to clear the gloom of the 1982 loss.

(End of chapter)