It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 196 | Black Humor: Lao Gan Ma

The seventh day of the new year.

A black sedan stopped outside the Tri-United Defense Research Institute.

The new house prepared for their wedding is not yet furnished, so Shang Ke and Jian Keqiu have been staying in the research institute's room for the past two days.

The uninvited guests were two military officers in civilian clothes. After getting out of the car, they looked around and, after confirming that the address was correct, raised their hands to knock on the door.

This scene reminded Jian Keqiu of the news that a month ago, the National Defense Forces office had come to inform her that someone named Shang had gone missing.

"What do you want from me during the Chinese New Year?"

Shank was annoyed that his private time had been disturbed. He saw that the visitors were a technical lieutenant colonel and a major.

The major stood at attention and saluted, then stated, "Excuse me, Colonel Shang, I am here on orders from the General Staff to invite you back to Beijing for a meeting. You can see the details here."

Taking the note and reading the handwritten words, Shang Ke reluctantly nodded and said, "Okay, I understand. When are you leaving?"

"The meeting is on the morning of the ninth day, so you can leave tomorrow."

"Row."

"Then we'll pick you up tomorrow."

The two then left.

After they left, Shang Ke told Jian Keqiu about it.

To be honest, he felt a little helpless because the wedding date agreed upon by both families was the Lantern Festival, which is the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

"It's alright, flying is quick, I should be back in two or three days, right?" Jian Keqiu said casually.

"If it's just a meeting, that's fine," Shang Ke muttered. "It's only right after the New Year, why does the General Staff want to see me?"

"You've done a great job in Hungary, so I need to discuss some important matters with you."

"It shouldn't be. War is war. I have no problem talking about tactics, but strategy is another matter."

Shank was unaware of the meeting convened by the core of the country's power structure.

During the very days that he and Jane were deeply in love, the Controlling Government's embassy in London delivered a diplomatic memorandum, expressing its high regard for the Ivanos Empire's next decision and its close monitoring of the situation.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the ambassador to America visited the Secretary of State’s residence one afternoon to probe the United States of America’s attitude toward the current situation—would America intervene in the near future?
The ambassador received a curt reply—impossible! America will remain neutral.

Supporting Mariana now would be of no benefit to America, and the army is not prepared for modern warfare in Europe; intervening in a European war would be a thankless and arduous task.

Compared to the Great Unified Federation, America's military strength is much weaker.

With a weaker foundation, insufficient officer reserves, and outdated weaponry, the American army considered itself to be ten to fifteen years behind.

Spurred by the wars in Europe, Capitol Hill also began to focus on defense.

On January 18th of this year, Capitol Hill approved the conversion of a portion of the National Guard into active-duty Army units, eight months earlier than originally planned.

On February 1st of this year, Capitol Hill passed the Peacetime Draft Act, implementing a one-year mandatory military service, seven and a half months faster than previously thought. As of now, the American Army has a total strength of 470,000 personnel, with the National Guard comprising 210,000.
｜22 infantry divisions
｜2 cavalry divisions
｜3 armored division
｜20 National Guard Infantry Divisions

The size of the American ground forces has doubled since last year, but both their training and weaponry are in a terrible state.

The army at this time resembled a Boy Scout—soldiers panting, wearing ill-fitting uniforms, carrying old rifles crookedly, and endlessly walking back and forth.

Those who prioritize weaponry might scoff at this, arguing that as long as weaponry is powerful and advanced enough, it doesn't matter if the army's quality and will are somewhat lacking, thus concluding that the American army's combat effectiveness is acceptable.

But what if even the weapons aren't considered advanced?

Taking anti-tank weapons as an example, 25mm/37mm/40mm anti-tank guns have become very popular in recent years, and many countries' armies are equipped with this type of light anti-tank gun. However, the American army is still developing its own system behind closed doors, equipping itself with .50 heavy machine guns (12.7mm M2HB) as anti-tank weapons, naively thinking that it is enough to rely on 'Lao Gan Ma' (a popular chili sauce brand).

It wasn't until last year that the American army belatedly realized that heavy machine guns were no longer sufficient to counter tanks. They purchased two 25mm SA37 anti-tank guns from Marianna and two 37mm Pak35 anti-tank guns from Varland. After testing, the Ordnance Department decided to copy the latter.

The Ordnance Department's reverse engineering of the 37mm anti-tank gun was only nearly complete by Christmas this year, and it will be at least several months before it goes into production. In other words, while the T-34 was sweeping across Europe, the American army hadn't even used the outdated small-caliber anti-tank gun.

This could be described as a joke full of dark humor.

The next day.

At noon, Shang Ke and the two officers who came to pick him up set off together, taking a civilian airliner straight to Xi'an.

Besides him, there were two other people accompanying him, who were representatives of engineers from Suzhou Jingyi Optics Company.

The technical lieutenant colonel took a file folder from his ever-present briefcase and handed it to Shang Ke.

"Commander Shang, please take a look at the general schedule. The General Staff is holding a multi-department meeting. Here are Xu Gong and Tang Gong from Jingyi Optics." The lieutenant colonel explained, "Several companies involved in tank production, such as Guangda Heavy Industry, Hualian Industry, Gonghe Steel, Huating Casting Steel, and Huitong Electric, have also sent representatives."

A multidisciplinary expert consultation, right?
Industries such as steel, machinery, and optical instruments are all represented.

Shang Ke opened the file folder and glanced through it, immediately understanding the purpose of the General Staff's sudden summons.

Long-distance travel in an unpressurized cabin is not a good experience; it can be tiring after sitting for a while.

Representatives from all walks of life who came to Xi'an from all over the country rested overnight at the National Defense Army Hotel. The next day, on the morning of the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, they took a car to the General Staff Headquarters before dawn.

Due to confidentiality requirements, more than a dozen representatives from private enterprises were unable to attend the first meeting and could only wait in the reception room.

The lineup of attendees was quite impressive, with a constellation of generals. Shang Ke spotted the dean at a glance, along with several other generals and professional technical officers.

Before the meeting even started, the people from the General Staff Equipment Bureau and several army generals began blaming each other.

Qian Changxuan, the commander of the Provisional Training Tank Division, was furious. He angrily complained that the Equipment Bureau was too arbitrary and made the decision to modify the technical and tactical indicators without seriously consulting with the troops.

The Equipment Bureau was completely in the wrong in this matter and was criticized so harshly that they dared not utter a single word in rebuttal.

At that moment, the conference room door was pushed open by the guards, and Chief of the General Staff Cheng Yun walked in slowly. The room immediately fell silent, and everyone stood up.

"The discussion is quite intense, the atmosphere is great, is everyone here?" Cheng Yun walked to the top of the conference table, put his hands behind his back, glanced around, and said in a calm tone, "If you want to do something well, you can't be fickle. Today we need to thoroughly understand the tank-related projects."

(End of this chapter)