From the 7th Steel Company to the Synthetic Division

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Qiu Ming quickly solved the mystery.

"You think this computer is turned off, but it's actually still working in the background. It has satellite positioning and reconnaissance systems inside."

From the moment you got your hands on this computer, your movements and the sounds you make could potentially be transmitted to the other side's surveillance system.

"Huh? Does that mean I brought back a time bomb?" Wu Liuyi was startled.

"Exactly."

Qiu Ming said seriously, "If I don't remove the battery in time, the other party can remotely control the computer to delete all the most important information and listen to our conversations."

I am absolutely certain that they now know this computer is in our camp.

Your entire journey back must have been recorded on this computer and then transmitted back via satellite.

After the military entered the information age, various high-tech equipment experienced explosive growth.

Previously, we could only dream about and envy the advanced equipment that other countries had. Now, these advanced equipment are being deployed in our military, and combat has become more diversified.

A single device can reveal the movement of the military, something that was simply impossible before.

It has now become a reality.

"So, does that mean we can't do those things that sow discord?" Tuo Yonggang said, unwilling to give up.

"Actually, we've been under their watch ever since we entered the venue. We just used the pretense of providing security to temporarily lull them into a false sense of security. I'm telling you clearly, this pretense won't last long," Chen Jun said.

"It's okay, I'll take it to a completely shielded environment and restart it in a bit, then copy out the useful information. We can't just take what we've got for nothing," Qiu Ming said with a smile.

"Okay, the sooner the better. Go now," Chen Jun immediately ordered.

……

The director's viewing platform.

"Commander, I have notified the main leaders of the Mountain Eagle Brigade and the Tsunami Assault Brigade to gather them together for a coordination meeting tonight," Deputy Commander Qian said to Team Leader Tan.

"What was the agenda of the meeting?" Team Leader Tan asked.

"As for the meeting agenda, we'll start by having both sides sit down and discuss today's situation to clear up any misunderstandings. You can't explain things clearly back-to-back. Then I'll give my comments, and you can give final instructions," said Deputy Commander-in-Chief Qian.

"Since we've already notified them, let's proceed," Team Leader Tan nodded.

"Alright, then, my two commanders, I'll go make preparations." Deputy Commander Qian said, getting up to leave.

"Come with me for a moment."

No sooner had Deputy Commander-in-Chief Qian left than Team Leader Tan got up, called Chief of Staff Shen over, and whispered, "Was this done by the 7th Steel Brigade?"

"Ah."

Chief of Staff Shen nodded in agreement, but he was still a little uneasy, worried that Team Leader Tan would be angry and that this would affect the Seventh Steel Brigade.

Surprisingly, Team Leader Tan wasn't angry at all; instead, he laughed after receiving confirmation.

"Good, this is a good opportunity to stir things up."

Team Leader Tan's expression could be summed up as one of greater satisfaction than he had anticipated.

"Well, that's not too much to ask, is it?"

Chief of Staff Shen, who had been tense, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's not excessive at all; I'm still not satisfied."

Team Leader Tan continued with a serious expression, "We conduct exercises every year and every month, it's always the same routine. When have we ever seen someone suddenly appear out of nowhere?"

What I want is to muddy the waters, create chaos, and complicate the exercise.

Team Leader Tan is truly a visionary leader. His unique thinking is completely in line with the times, which makes Chief of Staff Shen admire him in his heart.

At the same time, Chief of Staff Shen's concerns and worries completely vanished at this moment.

"What do you mean by modern warfare? Can you explain it clearly?" Team Leader Tan suddenly asked.

"Modern warfare is a broad topic involving many things, and I really can't explain it clearly in just a few words," Chief of Staff Shen said with a wry smile.

"It's actually quite simple to explain clearly."

Team Leader Tan, however, had a different opinion, smiling as he said, "Actually, it can be summed up in one word: chaos. Just one word, chaos, is enough to describe modern warfare."

"This is too dramatic," Chief of Staff Shen said, both amused and exasperated.

"This isn't drama, it's philosophy, and it's something my wife came up with." Team Leader Tan proudly tilted his head back, clearly praising his wife highly.

"Is your wife involved in military science research?" Chief of Staff Shen asked earnestly.

"No."

Team Leader Tan shook his head and said, "He specializes in philosophy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. I've watched his TV news and international commentary programs frequently these past few years."

I often watch movies about the Middle East, Kosovo, Iraq, Somalia, and various conflicts, both large and small.

She gets annoyed whenever I see these things, so I told her, "Your husband works in the military, and these wars we're fighting now are called modern warfare. I study it to win future wars." Guess what she said?

"What insightful opinion does Madam have?" Chief of Staff Shen asked curiously.

"What modern warfare tactics? It's all chaos. Is there any need to study them?" Team Leader Tan repeated his wife's words, mimicking her tone.

"I said, isn't there any pattern to it?"

Team Leader Tan asked himself a question, then switched to his wife's tone and said, "She said, what I'm talking about is the pattern, and the pattern is chaos. Western powers want to attack you by creating chaos."

First, disrupt your national system, then disrupt your ideology, factions, and ethnic relations, making your economy, society, and political parties chaotic.

Inciting the government, firing the president, and causing chaos and fighting across the country—this is the truth of modern warfare.

A government on the verge of collapse, with twenty or thirty anti-government armed groups emerging to fight for territory—it's practically a gang fight.

After mimicking his wife's words, Team Leader Tan looked at Chief of Staff Shen with a serious expression and asked, "What do you think of what she said?"

That makes sense.

Chief of Staff Shen took a deep breath, his emotions a mix of feelings.

Although Team Leader Tan's wife's words were somewhat biased and even off-topic, her core message was correct: modern warfare really is a chaotic mess.

Wars like exercises are fought step by step according to a pre-arranged plan.

In modern warfare, it simply cannot be found.

Perhaps this is why Team Leader Tan was not angry at the Seventh Steel Brigade for disrupting the exercise, but instead praised them highly.

"Looking back, isn't it all just chaos?" Team Leader Tan turned to face forward, gazing at the distant mountains, and said, "We'll disrupt you strategically, throw you into chaos tactically, engage in asymmetric warfare, play by our own rules, break traditional thinking patterns, and let each of us fight according to our own methods."

A major power deployed its most modern fifth-generation fighter jets to confront militants armed with weapons from World War II.

Satellite reconnaissance, cyberattacks, information warfare, and World War II-era mine warfare and tunnel warfare were used side by side; even artillery from World War II was used.

Pickup trucks have become standard equipment; whatever equipment you have, you fight with, with winning as the primary principle. This inadvertently creates chaos, which is also a natural consequence.

Many people wonder why so many people need to study military research, since it's just about fighting a war.
That's actually true.

For example, what Team Leader Tan said is just a study that unfolds from the word "chaos," but the amount of information contained within it is enough to change the final form of war.

Chief of Staff Shen is a man of great insight; he fully understood the meaning behind Team Leader Tan's words.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "When patterns are established, they become rules; even chaotic battles can be a form of warfare."

"So today's situation... was well stirred up. I don't like stagnant situations. Now I'll watch them and see who can emerge victorious from the chaos," Team Leader Tan said expectantly.

"But if this continues, won't it affect the experts' observation experience?" Chief of Staff Shen asked with concern.

The expert group was formed under the leadership of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and every expert who could participate was of extraordinary background; there might even be a big boss behind them.

Even though Chief of Staff Shen was a high-ranking officer in the theater command, he still had to take these junior officers and colonels seriously.

"I don't care about that."

Team Leader Tan, also from the J Committee, didn't have as many concerns as Chief of Staff Shen. He said nonchalantly, "Those who know what they're doing can continue reading, and those who don't can go back to sleep."

We're spending so much money on this exercise, not just for show or for them, but to train our own troops.

When he said those last few words, Team Leader Tan emphasized them.

I reminded Chief of Staff Shen that training should be the primary focus, with observation as a secondary measure.

"Team Leader Tan really has foresight," Chief of Staff Shen praised sincerely.

That's some guts...

Chief of Staff Shen couldn't produce it.

"The Red and Blue Teams will have a meeting tonight, you should attend too," Team Leader Tan instructed.

"Me too?" Chief of Staff Shen was surprised.

"The tiger has come down from the mountain, it's time for you, the tiger breeder, to show your face," Team Leader Tan said with a smile.

"Okay, I see."

Chief of Staff Shen nodded and did not reject the proposal.

Time flies by.

Eight o'clock in the evening.

The high-ranking officers of both the Red and Blue armies' brigade headquarters, along with several representatives from the expert group, all gathered in the director's meeting room under the guidance of the director's office.

"Sir, I'd like to say a few words first."

The atmosphere of the meeting was very serious. There were no opening remarks and the meeting went straight to the point. Xiahou Lan, the brigade commander of the Mountain Eagle Brigade, was the first to speak, saying, "What happened today was indeed strange and surprised us all."

Before the meeting began, I confirmed with Director Wang that Brigade Commander Wang firmly denied sending troops to attack us. We also could not fabricate a story that we had sent troops to launch a surprise attack on the Howling Assault.

I have to be convinced of my suspicions that there is an invisible force between our two armies, the Red Army and the Blue Army.

If so, then this unit is the mysterious one that arrived yesterday afternoon to support the expert team—a unit whose unit number we don't even know.

Xiahou Lan voiced his guess, and Team Leader Tan and Chief of Staff Shen exchanged a glance, their lips curving into slight smiles.

They weren't surprised that Xiahou Yuan was able to react at this moment, because they knew that Xiahou Yuan's abilities were extremely outstanding.

"Alright, Brigade Commander Xiahou."

Commander Wang of the Tsunami Assault Brigade asked, "Then what's the point of this unit attacking you and me? What are they after?"

"What they're after, you'll have to ask them; I don't want to say anything more."

Xiahou Yuan was actually quite angry, and he retorted to Commander Wang without any politeness, then looked at the person in the main seat again and said, "If the commander thinks that today's performance needs to be repeated tomorrow, I can accompany him to the end."

If they stop performing, we will proceed with the exercise plan and conduct a live-fire confrontation, a real battle with real weapons, to see whose fist is bigger.

Xiahou Lan's words were so direct, Brigade Commander Wang certainly wouldn't back down.

He immediately retorted, "No problem, I agree, let's do it for real."

Seeing that the brigade commanders of the red and blue armies had started arguing, adding a bit of tension to the meeting room, the three group leaders, including Team Leader Tan, remained calm.

Sitting in the middle, Team Leader Tan picked up the document in front of him, opened it, and said slowly, "The document I'm holding is a fax from the Military Commission's working group that we just received. The content is exactly the topic we're discussing now."

After watching the exercise, the experts are scheduled to return to the capital today.

However, they requested permission from their superiors through their respective channels to stay and continue observing, and the training management department has agreed to their request.

Therefore, the experts will observe the entire next exercise. So the question is, why are the experts interested in continuing to watch?

Two experts told me that if today's exercise went as planned, they wouldn't want to watch any more.

We've seen too many of these staged exercises; they're not very appealing, and watching them makes no difference—they're not very valuable.

However, today's exercise went awry, the command center was in chaos, and communications were cut off.

It turned out that the Blue Army's airfield had been attacked by the Red Army, and the Blue Army's vertical strike plan had failed. Later, it was heard that a Blue Army unit had been dispatched and had swept through the Red Army's mechanized infantry battalion.

This unprecedented way of conducting the exercise completely piqued their interest, making them eager to continue watching.

The uncertainty about who will win or lose has actually made this exercise more exciting. If the fighting continues like this, I honestly can't say for sure who will emerge victorious, and that makes it even more intriguing for me.

The core of Team Leader Tan's words is this: the unknown experience is what attracts people and better reflects the essence of the exercise.

After saying that, he looked to his left and said, "Deputy Commander Qian, after the meeting, you can inform the expert group to stay and continue observation tomorrow."

As for how the exercise will actually be conducted, I think we should proceed as planned.

"No pre-planned scenarios, live-fire exercises—whoever wins, the red or blue team, will have to prove themselves. What do you both think?"

Team Leader Tan's gaze swept between the left and right sides, hovering over the brigade commanders of both the red and blue teams.

"Uh, that."

The purpose of the meeting, as Deputy Commander-in-Chief Qian had convened, was to assign blame. Seeing that Team Leader Tan hadn't uttered a single word, he quickly interrupted, "Then what should we do about today's events?" (End of Chapter)