Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

The aircraft carrier and the Type 05 transport ship arrived at Yongxing Island first, causing another great commotion. The South China Sea Governor simply boarded the Y-5 transport ship and rushed over to watch.

Even more outrageous, he demanded that the pilots land directly on the aircraft carrier, which terrified the pilots.

It doesn't matter if I fly by myself; even if something happens, I'll be salvaged. It'll just mean I'll stay in the sea a little longer, and the probability of death is low. But having the governor by my side puts more pressure on me than landing itself.

The old man is so old, what if he fell into the sea...?

Even being executed for half an hour wouldn't be enough to atone for the sins!

Ignoring the governor's obstruction, the pilot immediately contacted Yongxing Island. When Wang Yaotang received the news, he was terrified. Why did His Majesty rebel?

It took a lot of coaxing to calm the old man down. After landing, when he saw Wang Yaotang, the old man turned his head away, showing no signs of being a general and acting like a child.

Wang Yaotang quickly went up to coax him. He actually understood this quite well. He had been rooted in the navy his whole life, and his days had been spent under the oppression of the Russians and the United States. He didn't know how much resentment had accumulated in his heart. Now that he had seen the aircraft carrier, but was not allowed to experience it immediately, it was reasonable for the old man to be angry.

After some coaxing, the governor sighed, "I'm afraid I'll never have the chance to see our aircraft carrier launched in my lifetime."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Wang Yaotang shook his head and pointed firmly at the aircraft carrier moored in the distance, saying, "You see, the aircraft carrier itself is not that difficult to build. The aircraft carrier in front of us is not much different from the aircraft carriers of the United States and Britain during World War II in terms of materials technology. In some specific aspects, it is even better. Its electronic features are far superior to those old aircraft carriers."

"This shows that we have the capability to build aircraft carriers. It's not that we don't want to build them, but rather that we do it slowly, carefully, and efficiently, in a rhythmic manner. We let those who are prepared and have a mature mindset work first, so that those who start first can drive those who follow. It's not about working blindly, but about doing it precisely, scientifically, and efficiently..."

"Shut up!" the old man roared. "Did I come here to listen to your nonsense report?!"

"Sorry, I just said it offhand," Wang Yaotang laughed.

The governor couldn't help but laugh.

"Do you big companies really talk about this kind of nonsense in your meetings?" The old governor's curiosity was piqued; he was quite interested in things from different systems.

"Yes, it will." Wang Yaotang nodded. "That's no nonsense. As the saying goes, 'power comes from the top.' If I show any favoritism, my subordinates will escalate the situation. If things aren't handled properly, they'll cause trouble. Last time I told my subordinates to pay attention to environmental and personal hygiene, and look what happened! They gave me a month-long sanitation blitz, practically filtering the toilet water. They bought a ton of cleaning products, and the factory and shops smelled of disinfectant everywhere. People who didn't know better would think they were in a hospital."

"I can't swear yet, since I was the one who emphasized it, you fucking lunatic!" Wang Yaotang cursed.

The governor burst into laughter, saying that this place was no different from his hometown.

Seeing that the old man was in a better mood, Wang Yaotang steered the conversation back on track. “We’re not building aircraft carriers now because we don’t need them. The technology is accumulating. We’ll either not build them at all, or we’ll build the most advanced ones in the world. I discussed this with the experts during this construction project. They weren’t very confident before, but now they are.”

"More importantly, an aircraft carrier is a system engineering project. Without supporting carrier-based aircraft, missiles, radar, missile frigates, and anti-missile systems, the aircraft carrier is just an empty shell. I didn't expect it to have much combat power; it's just something to scare people."

"Of course, it's fine to use it to scare Southeast Asian countries, but we've never considered these countries as adversaries."

The governors knew all this, but they couldn't keep their composure when they suddenly saw that civilians were building aircraft carriers.

Not only he couldn't hold back, but the Governor of Hong Kong couldn't either. He immediately went to the British garrison to ask them how they planned to deal with the situation.

"What are you going to do, Governor? Bomb it?" the garrison commander asked with a strange expression.

The Governor's expression stiffened. "We can't just let him get away with this. Is this still a colony of Little Britain? Who really has the final say on this land?"

"It won't be like that for long." The person in charge shrugged, looking like he was giving up.

"you!"

“Governor, don’t look at me like that. I must make it clear that there’s nothing we can do.” The person in charge’s expression also turned serious. He had to dispel the governor’s dangerous idea and make him face reality. He didn’t want to cause any trouble during his final term.

"Currently, there are a total of 8255 troops stationed here, including 7473 in the army, 529 in the navy, and 253 in the air force. Of these, 4000 are Nepalese, 1500 are from Hong Kong, and less than 1800 are from the UK. There are only the two of us in this room. I must remind you again that the army does not carry royal ranks, so you don't really think these Nepalese have any fighting ability, do you?"

"Furthermore, I can tell you clearly that even excluding any international influence, our navy is not as strong as Umbrella's, not to mention that these are all new recruits who have never experienced combat. They haven't even had many live-fire training sessions since arriving in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Umbrella has been fighting the Annamese recently. I'm not sure how many rounds we can last if a real war breaks out. I'm not even sure if these old-fashioned warships will still have problems as soon as they go to the battlefield."

"Dude, these warships haven't been back to homeland for maintenance in five years!"

"Those sons of bitches in Congress are clamoring for cuts to military spending again."

The Governor of Hong Kong suddenly stood up. He understood that in this Hong Kong city, Wang Yaotang was the master Huang, and he, the county magistrate, would have to be mindful of his feelings from now on!
……

In recent days, the Annamite Navy has suddenly discovered that the harassment along the transport lines has stopped, and even those disgusting mines have disappeared.

This made them even more nervous, and they raised the alert level to the highest level!
The guy surnamed Wang was definitely planning a bigger attack, which is why he pulled his fist back.

As time went by, the expected attack never came, which puzzled them.

Will the guy surnamed Wang back down now?
On Yongxing Island, thousands of miles away, a general mobilization is underway.

The four 0 ships that had been harassing the aircraft carrier were recalled, and after a brief rest, they conducted joint training with the carrier.

This carrier-based fleet combat mode is something that Wang Yaotang has no experience with, not even in his hometown. So the higher-ups are paying close attention to it. It's good to accumulate some experience in advance, and it would be best to discover problems in the process to contribute to the design of future carriers!
So the old general's visit wasn't just to fulfill his wish to see an aircraft carrier. Later, a large ship transported more than 2000 people over, and Wang Yaotang couldn't tell for a moment whether it was Umbrella Corporation conducting training or the South China Sea conducting training...

Wang Yaotang couldn't get a word in edgewise about aircraft carrier battle group training; all he could do was contribute money!

Training costs money, especially simulated combat training, which is very expensive. We can't rely on our hometown for that at all; we're already struggling to make ends meet with daily patrols.

There was training during the day and training at night, with 24 hours a day fully scheduled. People were repairing the boats, but not the people, which far exceeded the normal training standards. Wang Yaotang suspected that they were there to take advantage of him, but he had no evidence and still had to thank them.

This training lasted for 10 days, and the money was spent like water, but the effect was obvious. At the beginning, no one knew how the fleet should be formed to cooperate in combat. Although it was not perfect, it at least had a prototype.

As for further coordinated operations, that cannot be accomplished in a short time. Therefore, the first phase of training has come to an end. A real-world combat exercise is the best verification of the results.

Two days later, at 5 a.m., Huayang Reef.

This location is 100 kilometers from Nanwei Island, and the aircraft carrier group is anchored nearby.

After all the islands and reefs in the South China Sea were removed, the Annamese were like blind people, completely losing their ability to monitor the surrounding waters.

Everyone on the formation was busy conducting a final check. According to the plan, the Y-5 would take off in an hour to bomb Nanwei Island.

Standing on the deck, watching the three Y-5 transport aircraft being brought up by the elevator, Wang Yaotang said with some regret, "Time is still too tight; three aircraft are a bit too few."

“Actually, there’s no need to be in such a hurry,” a middle-aged man next to him said in a deep voice. He was from the South China Sea, but he was wearing a Protective Umbrella uniform.

“It has been three months since the last bombing of Nanwei Island. During this time, the Annamese have been building defenses on Nanwei Island like madmen. Although we have tried to delay, the construction work is already more than half completed. If we delay any longer and let them finish building, it will be too difficult to destroy it. Once they have built their air defense system, having more planes will be useless, after all, it is only a Y-5,” Wei Jinzhong explained.

"How do you know their construction progress?" the middle-aged man asked curiously.

“You know, our boss is very rich, extremely rich!” Wei Jinzhong said smugly. “They’re not exactly staunch proletarian activists. They would sell out their own parents if a ton of Annamese peso were placed in front of them, let alone just some insignificant information.”

The middle-aged man's expression froze. Since when did money have to be measured in 'tons'?
Seeing this, Wang Yaotang laughed and said, "Actually, it's not much. Annam's economy has been ruined by their years of upheaval."

“80年的固定汇率美元兑安南盾1:3.5，到了81年学咱们搞‘双重汇率’，官方汇率美元兑安南盾1:0.58，调剂市场1:15，……”

"How much? 1:0.58?" the middle-aged man exclaimed in surprise. He was just a regular soldier and didn't understand economics, but the official exchange rate dropping from 1:3.5 to 1:0.58 in a year sounded outrageous. This operation was simply breathtaking!

I get criticized for making novels seem intellectually deficient, but that's just reality.

Wang Yaotang burst into laughter, “Right? No normal person can understand this. Our exchange rate difference is about 2 times, but they’ve come up with 30 times. It’s hard to believe that this is something the national leadership came up with. Even if their brains were boiled in hot water, they couldn’t come up with such an outrageous exchange rate difference. The black market exchange rate is even 1:30, which is blatant robbery. Not only are a large number of import and export merchants going bankrupt, but domestic businessmen have no way to survive. The only way to avoid losing money is to stop production and sell the factory for free.”

"Annam's economy was on the verge of collapse overnight, so they attacked Cambodia to divert attention from their own problems."

"No, can't their leadership see the domestic economy collapsing?" The middle-aged man was bewildered and deeply shocked.

"Maybe they think these are just growing pains and will get better soon, or maybe everyone's making money, and they can't just stop the lower-ups from making money after the higher-ups have had their fill, so they can't call a halt now. Anyway, it's going uphill at a crazy high speed with an annual inflation rate of 700%." ​​Wang Yaotang said with a laugh, "Damn it, how did the country become like this!"

"No, son..." Words could no longer express his feelings.

"The invasion of Cambodia did initially alleviate domestic tensions, but by 1985, it was completely unsustainable. Perhaps the Annamese were encouraged by the Russians, or perhaps they were looking back at Chinese history for solutions, learning from Wang Mang's reforms and the Ming Dynasty's paper money. In any case, the official explanation was 'shock therapy' to carry out currency reform, exchanging old currency for new currency, with 1 new dong for 10 old dong. The official exchange rate was depreciated from 200 old dong (20 new dong) to 1 US dollar to 3700 new dong in one fell swoop, a depreciation of 18400%!"

How much? x2
Wei Jinzhong and the other middle-aged men looked over at the same time, their faces filled with disbelief.

“A devaluation of 18400%!” Wang Yaotang laughed and said, “It’s worth 1:8000 on the black market.”

"How about that? You didn't expect it, did you? This world is just a giant makeshift operation. Don't have any romanticized views of these foreign leaders. Their intelligence is most likely lower than yours. Compared to them, even Wei Zhongxian was a wise ruler. There's absolutely no need to restrict these countries. You can always trust their ability to mess things up."

"Why did they pretend to be dead after we killed so many people and destroyed a transport fleet two years ago? Because they realized that shock therapy really would shock the country, and they wouldn't care about us anymore. So in 86, they learned from us and started reform and opening up."

“官方汇率从1:20变成1:22，到了87年变成1:78，再次开始疯狂贬值，通胀250%，今年照样朝着破产的道路上一路狂奔呢。”

Although the middle-aged man had been in a standoff with the Annamese, he had never paid attention to their economic problems and never imagined that the Annamese were living in such dire straits.

Seriously, my worldview has been shattered.

Annan and his ilk are truly talented; they've fully demonstrated the theory that if I'm a pile of shit, no one dares to step on me!

The 87 economic crisis didn't affect them, nor did the 97 Asian financial crisis. Soros and his gang of squid didn't dare touch the Annan Shield; it was a complete cesspool, and if they messed it up, they wouldn't gain anything except getting covered in shit themselves.

"So, I reckon this naval battle with the Annamese will be the last. After we take Nanwei Island, they'll probably play dead. There's no other reason than they're poor and don't have the money to fight anymore."

Wang Yaotang didn't know these things before, since he didn't have much business dealings with Annam. It was only when Luo Wenhua mentioned Hong Kong's grain imports that he had someone investigate the proportion of Hong Kong's grain imports and found that Annam, which is obviously a major rice producer and so close to Hong Kong, only had a 12% import share.

Wang Yaotang was dumbfounded when he read the report. What an amazing move!

After chatting about this and that for a while, the preparations over there were almost over. Wang Yaotang raised his hand to check his watch. It was almost six o'clock, and the sky was already beginning to lighten.

"Report, all preparations are complete, please give instructions!" A man with a buzz cut ran over and shouted.

Without further ado, Wang Yaotang surveyed the deck and then shouted, "Dredging operation, begin!"

The massive propeller beneath the aircraft carrier began to spin rapidly, and large amounts of white seawater foam started to churn. The ship gradually accelerated and turned its bow to sail into the wind.

A dozen minutes later, the aircraft carrier, having increased to 15 knots, began to sail at a constant speed. The Y-5 aircraft was now carrying six 200-kilogram equivalent Typhoon Extended Range Bombs on its wings. When fully loaded, it needed to rely on the speed of the aircraft carrier itself to ensure a smooth takeoff.

"Bombing squad, prepare."

"Number 1 is ready."

"Number 2 is ready."

"..."

"take off!"

The Y-5 began to accelerate rapidly, and after six or seven seconds, its speed exceeded 100 kilometers per hour and it rushed onto the curved deck. Taking advantage of the oncoming wind, the pilot pulled the control stick sharply, and the Y-5 soared into the sky.

"Number 2 is ready for takeoff."

"take off!"

"Number 3, get ready..."

Three Y-5 transport aircraft formed a small formation in the air, adjusted their course, and instead of continuing to climb, they descended to about 30 meters and headed towards Nanwei Island.

The radar on Nanwei Island has been rebuilt, and its air search range can reach 300 kilometers. Given the Y-5's flight altitude and speed, it will be detected very quickly.

Of course, even if the Y-6 were to come, there wouldn't be much difference. The best approach is still low-altitude penetration, and the Y-5 with its twin wings is clearly more advantageous in this regard. If necessary, these pilots can maintain an altitude of 10 meters without any problem.

Half an hour later, Nanwei Island came into view, about 10 kilometers away. The flight squadron leader gave a shout, and the three Y-5s revved their engines to the floor, the piston-5 engines roaring wildly as the Y-5s rapidly climbed.

Just as the Y-5 was climbing to about 1000 meters, the green dot on the radar on Nanwei Island began to flash rapidly. The Annamese soldier next to him was eating his breakfast with his head down. The camp had been on high alert recently, and no one could leave the radar while eating!
The radar operator, his mouth stuffed full, glanced at the radar as usual and saw three flashing green dots. His eyes widened instantly. What was that?
The target was only 6 kilometers away from Nanwei Island, but in that moment of distraction, the distance became 5 kilometers.

It's an airplane!
The radar operator turned around in a panic and shouted, but all that came out of his mouth was rice.

"what happened?"

"Whoosh, an airplane! An airplane is flying by!"

"what!"

"where is it?"

The monitoring room was thrown into chaos.

"Is that our plane?"

"Impossible, the airport isn't finished yet!"

"Quick, what are you standing there for? Sound the alarm!"

Finally, someone reacted and rushed to the alarm, reaching out to slap it, but instead hit the glass cover.

At the same time as they frantically opened the glass dome and pressed the air raid alarm, three Y-5 transport aircraft had already flown to within about 3 kilometers of Nanwei Island.

"Get ready to drop the bomb!"

The fire control radar locks on, the optical sight is simultaneously confirmed, and the launch button is pressed sharply the instant the bombing distance is reached.

The six bombs hanging on the wings were released, and the compressed springs broke, applying a downward force. If the bombs were released directly during high-speed flight, they would fly upwards due to airflow turbulence and crash directly into the fuselage.

Three Y-5 transport aircraft completed their bombing runs within 20 seconds. The 18 bombs flew horizontally for a short distance before plummeting to the ground at an angle. (End of Chapter)