Later in the day, on the other side of the globe in Arlington County, Virginia.

William Cohen, the new defense secretary, who has been in office for less than half a month, has just walked into his office, ready to take care of some of the work left over from his predecessor.

For the past decade or so, he has worked on the Intelligence Selection Committee.

Although it sounds like the name of an intelligence agency, it is actually a civilian position connected to a think tank, and it has nothing to do with intelligence business, and it is not even a federal department.

Of course, there is a lot of oil and water in it.

However, this also means that his previous experience will not help him in his new role in the defense sector, so he is still in a bit of a hurry.

Cohen looked at the pile of documents and forms in front of him, and was a little helpless in his heart, glad that it had been relatively calm recently, and nothing particularly tricky had happened.

However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, there was a knock on the office door.

"Come in."

Cohen, who didn't even lift his head, thought that maybe he didn't know which corner he had found the document again.

As the only member of the Elephant Party in the Donkey Party in the United States, he is not surprised that he has been subjected to some harassment and obstruction.

Some of the troubles were even the pits that his ex deliberately dug for him.

"Mr. Minister, an urgent telegram from the military attache in New Delhi."

The secretary puts a document on his desk.

"Urgent electricity, emergency electricity again, how can everything ......"

Cohen muttered as he flipped through the folders.

Then he gasped for a long time, and the temperature in the whole office seemed to be a little higher.

Obviously, this time it was not someone who deliberately found trouble for him, but something really happened.

"Contact General Shalikashvili, I want to meet with him."

About half an hour later, a Caucasian officer with the rank of four-star general arrived in Cohen's office.

John Shalikashvili, the thirteenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"General, I need an explanation."

Cohen handed the other party the document he had just made.

At first, he was a little angry.

In the 90s, the United States had not yet played with identity issues, so in Cohen's view, it was understandable that the donkey-elephant dispute had caused him some stumbling blocks, but it was a bit of a cross line to make such big news in order to exclude him.

But soon, he found that the admiral sitting opposite also had a shocked expression on his face, and he didn't seem to know anything more than himself.

"I can't explain anything, Mr. Minister."

The gray-haired John handed the document back to Cohen:

"If my guess is correct, this should be Langley's doing, but ...... Something happened, so our military attaché will find out. ”

Then the two of them fell silent together.

"Will the Air Force not know about this kind of professional aerial reconnaissance equipment?"

After about a minute, Cohen asked, somewhat distressedly.

"Mr. Secretary, you know, the CIA has a lot of authority in terms of intelligence."

Shali Kashvili shook his head helplessly:

"A lot of reconnaissance equipment, such as this pod, and even U2S reconnaissance aircraft, are their assets, and the Air Force only operates them on their behalf, and there is no need, and of course there is no authority to manage the terminal."

"Whew-"

Cohen threw the folder on the desktop with a thud:

"Then this thing ......"

"Leave it alone."

The Admiral shook his head:

"This matter has nothing to do with us, if we get involved, if something happens in the future, they may push it to our military."

"But according to the document, the pod they lost seems to be very advanced, so it really doesn't matter?"

Cohen, who has just taken office, is still a little worried.

"Advanced or not advanced should also be something for Langley's side to consider, Mr. Minister."

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff still insisted on his opinion:

"Also, it says that the pod is hanging under a MiG-25, and the plane is suspected to have been shot down."

"So there's nothing to worry about, although I'm from the Army, I also know that high-altitude and high-speed planes will disintegrate directly after being hit, broken into tens of thousands of pieces, from the onboard equipment to the pilot, it is impossible to leave anything behind."

"Besides, take 10,000 steps back, Langley still has the inside relationship of the intelligence bureau of the three services, and there is always a way better than us."

Cohen looked down at the document and frowned.

He was unimpressed by the third reason given by the other party.

Even if the so-called insider relationship exists, I am afraid that it has become less useful for some reason.

Otherwise, why bother to engage in aerial reconnaissance?

However, the first two statements are quite reasonable.

"Well, you're right, General."

The new minister remembered all the troubles that his colleagues had caused him in the past half month, and finally decided to listen to the advice of professionals and leave the matter alone.

……

The turmoil in the South Asian subcontinent is destined to affect only a small number of people, and for the vast majority of Chinese people, the most important thing today is obviously the Chinese New Year.

Chang Haonan, who was at home, didn't know that he had been targeted by the electronic industry system, and was sitting around with his family at this time, watching TV while making dumplings.

The Spring Festival Gala in this era is still relatively watchable, and he has basically been working at high intensity since he was reborn, so he is also happy to empty his mind for the time being, and only occasionally answer some questions raised by his sister.

This kung fu TV just started to play a sketch called "Willows and Flowers".

Chang Haonan suddenly felt that the memories of the past began to attack him.

Because this is a skit about blind dates.

Of course, the theme is definitely the story of spring.

But the scene that can't stand is a blind date.

Sure enough, halfway through the sight, Zhou Li stopped what she was doing and turned her head to look at Chang Haonan.

"Xiao Nan, you will be 23 years old after the New Year."

In the Northeast, this era is generally said to be a virtual age.

"Mom, I haven't even had my 22nd birthday yet......"

Chang Haonan replied helplessly.

No matter what others think, he lives a lifetime anyway, and he just feels that he is really young now.

"23 is really not a big deal, but it's time to think about the girlfriend."

Zhou Li's topic really went around here:

"It's not our era, parents can get married when they meet each other, why can't you talk about it for a few years after you meet a girl? It just so happened that the neighbor's daughter who lived in the bungalow before ......"

Chang Jiayao was smiling beside her.

Chang Haonan was speechless.

He couldn't understand how the relationship between his former neighbors could keep in touch for so many years.

But before Chang Haonan could figure out how to refuse tactfully, Chang Yuanchao, who had been concentrating on making dumplings just now, raised his head in astonishment:

"You said the daughter of the old He family?"

"yes, what's wrong?"

Zhou Li looked at her husband with some confusion, as if wondering why he reacted this way.

"Lao He's family is going to Fujian Province to work with relatives in the New Year, don't you know?"

This time it was Zhou Li's turn to look shocked:

"I don't know, I saw Lao He's daughter-in-law a few days ago."

Chang Yuanchao shook his head:

"Lao He's factory was restructured, and his family has been determined to be laid off, and her daughter can't find any good jobs here, so she simply prepares to go to the south as a family."

It took Zhou Li a while to recover from the shock:

"Lao He's daughter-in-law didn't tell me this, and specially asked us about Xiaonan's situation, I thought she wanted to match the two families."

Hearing this, Chang Yuanchao's face changed.

As a police officer, he immediately figured out the other party's calculations.

"Old He's daughter-in-law...... No, you can't marry her. ”

Zhou Li also turned around later, realizing that the other party was trying to tie up Chang Haonan, and no longer mentioned anything about the blind date.

Chang Haonan, on the other hand, didn't think about agreeing to it at the beginning, so he didn't feel much about it.

It's just that for the first time, he intuitively felt the impact of the wave of layoffs.

For a family, it can mean moving away from home.

Fireworks went off outside the window.

1997 is just around the corner.

(End of chapter)