What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 659 Containment
In late May, war reignited on the subcontinent.

After Operation Shakti came to a de facto halt, in order to maintain its dignity and internal unity, India attempted to appease its internal forces by launching a surprise air strike with a small-scale raid.

However, it turned out that Old Sami might really exist. The unknown ace pilot Goya was shot down after crossing the border, instantly ruining Anil's sneak attack plan.

The two sides then remained at odds for about ten days, neither willing to actually fight.

On one hand, it is being utterly sanctioned and is in dire straits. Coupled with the failure of the Shakti Plan, it is already difficult enough to maintain internal stability. The expenses of getting involved in a large-scale conflict would be enough to drag it down.
The other side was also unwilling, after all, the third brother was still a big cricket with both oxen and cesium, and his size was undeniable; acting impulsively was definitely not a wise choice.

However, things don't always go as planned.

The temporary termination of the Shakti Project rendered India's hardline stance meaningless. Paraniapan summoned the Imperial Ambassador multiple times, but not only did no progress occur, the Ambassador also leaked the information to the media, instantly ruining Paraniapan's reputation.

Prism has maintained a tough stance and shows no sign of backing down, while its European bases have been frequently undergoing large-scale mobilizations.

Faced with this situation, everyone believed that the Empire refused to accept reconciliation. After struggling for half a month, the internal flames of reconciliation in India grew stronger and stronger. Finally, on the last day of May, Anil commanded multiple fighter jets to launch another surprise attack.

……

Tangning Street

When a photo of a T-72 speeding across the high-altitude sand appeared in the newspaper, Blair's heart sank completely:

"Dai Ying lost the entire East."

First, there's the situation in Southeast Asia. The British were trying to retaliate against Guyin, but in the blink of an eye, Luck was arrested, and in recent days there have been rumors that Sharp will be arrested as well.

The South Seas are about to undergo a reshuffle, but unfortunately, Dai Ying is not at the table.

The subcontinental crisis was even more infuriating. The sinking of the Lancaster and the casualties of hundreds of crew members dealt another heavy blow to the Royal Navy, and the HMS Hood quietly fled back to the mainland overnight.

Naval Minister Band refused to continue interfering overseas, proposing not only a complete reduction in the number of fleets stationed abroad, but also demanding that they interfere as little as possible in places where the lost empire existed.

The failure of these two major objectives and the retreat of the Royal Navy meant that Britain would lack the ability to directly intervene in the East for a long period of time.

Of course, Band used very euphemistic language when referring to Blair:

"We are only temporarily losing out. The Royal Navy needs to recover and rebuild. At most, the HMAS Malta will be able to cruise at full capacity in two years. The newly built frigates will also fill the gap, and our economic pressure will be alleviated."

As for those lunatics of the Lost Empire, let them fight like dogs with the Yang Jikes.

However, Blair just sneered:

Do you think we can just avoid it whenever we want?

Band was somewhat confused and answered cautiously:
"It's impossible for the Fourth Fleet to land in Britain again right away, is it?"

"No, but it's almost there."

It was Teren who spoke. He handed several intelligence reports to Bander, who glanced at them and was greatly surprised:
Spy intelligence revealed that Millersavich had secretly contacted personnel from the Lost Empire!

The Balkan Peninsula is the most pressing issue for the Atlantic Alliance right now. Everyone has been planning strikes, and they have not given up even after being severely weakened by the Christmas campaign.

Europe originally hoped to catch its breath or drag things out until the Empire was defeated, and then make a decisive intervention similar to the Gulf War, and was very confident that it would achieve its goal.

Right now, all that's holding them back is money, but if the Lost Empire gets involved... that would be absolutely terrible.

If Millersavich were to receive protection from the Lost Empire, the latter could easily send thousands of aircraft, even turning the Mediterranean upside down and directly crippling the Suez Canal. That would be a true disaster, far more terrifying than the Christmas campaign.

Should we abandon the idea of ​​involving Britain in the Balkan Peninsula?
Impossible. This concerns the interests of Europe, and no one can tolerate Millersavich continuing his "messing around."

But if it comes to fighting... no one wants to fight the Lost Empire. The latter is as prickly as a hedgehog, and even if you manage to defeat it, you won't get any meat.

Bander realized he had spoken too soon; instead of seeking out the Lost Empire, it had come knocking on his door!

What will become of the Balkan Peninsula after gaining the support of the lost empire? At the very least, we need to think carefully before taking action with the British and must anticipate the worst-case scenario.

After Bender and Teren left, looking worried, Robin finally spoke:

"Ultimately, it's because our funds are too tight, and we can't afford the consequences of the losses. The Christmas campaign almost made the Chancellor of the Exchequer resign... Britain needs money."

Blair: "I know what you're trying to say, doing business with the University of Tokyo?"

Nearly six months have passed since China joined the WTO, and its rapidly developing society is eagerly absorbing everything it wants from Europe, but it still faces obstacles:
Embargo agreement.

Besides tariff subsidies, the benefits of joining the WTO include expanding the import and export trade catalog, and the country is eager to absorb emerging technologies that were previously restricted.

There are many valuable items that are restricted from being imported by the UK, such as the RB211 gas turbine for ships, the "Eurostar" control system for high-speed rail, oil robots from BP and Shell, and T800 carbon fiber resin materials... They cannot be purchased, but China is willing to pay high prices, which adds up to a huge order worth hundreds of billions of US dollars, but the cabinet has been blocking the import.

There was also the shipboard electronic system, which was rejected by the British as soon as it was proposed. Although the British ships were bad, their subsystems were still advanced, but unsurprisingly, they were strictly controlled.

If all of these are opened up, the UK, which has suffered heavy blows from both inside and outside the country, will surely experience a brief period of recovery.

Robin: "The public won't remember what sensitive equipment we sold that endangered the security of the Commonwealth, but they will certainly know that the deals you facilitated caused the stock market to rise."

Right now, the whole of Europe is being dragged down by military spending. If we can persuade the US to do so, we'll almost certainly not be stopped by the Prism Building. Besides, they rushed to sell the CH-47D overnight and almost sold the F-18.

Have you seen the latest financial report from Dongda University? They started construction on two aircraft carriers simultaneously this year, but I bet their subsystems are very incomplete. Our military industry enterprises are starving and desperately need an order to survive.

Blair finally made up his mind:
"Well, things can't get any worse anyway."

……

In early June, domestic military procurement personnel traveling in Europe were pleasantly surprised to find that both the British and the Germans had softened their stance.

Rolls-Royce is willing to discuss gas turbine technology, and the ESM electronic reconnaissance system to be manufactured by BAE Systems for the Type 23 frigates is also open for discussion.

The latter, in particular, has a reconnaissance range of 400 kilometers, which is a technology urgently needed for the Type 055 destroyer. BAE's willingness to agree to this is quite surprising.

Meanwhile, Faji has brought up the transfer of helicopter turboshaft engine technology again. Unlike Dai Ying and the others, who originally had no objection but were simply blocked by the Empire from selling, Faji is now determined to stand up to Dai Ying and is naturally unwilling to fall behind.

The British thought they would at most sell helicopters and missiles, but in reality, the chickens were much bolder.

The current leader of the French, Chirac, can be described as a Gallic man, who has always advocated a "multipolar world" and is extremely rebellious.

Military cooperation between Japan and China has always been relatively harmonious, so there are quite a few military procurement personnel visiting Japan, covering a wide range of areas—including a naval delegation. After several days of exchanges, one of them, named Marvel, caught the attention of the Tokyo University naval delegation.

This person often secretly observed them and was a commander who participated in the Battle of Guyana. Although he was demoted, he has now slowly risen back to a high level in the mainland.

Finally, on a dark and stormy night, after a casual dinner together, Marvel drunkenly said:

"The Type 011 ship, which is a copy of the HMAS Melbourne and is also the Dignity-class ship, is too outdated, and you are adding two more... Warships should not be built like this."

There was nothing wrong with what he said, and Lieutenant Colonel Lin Qi nodded repeatedly, but they were forced to "create" it.

Last year he was still a major, but due to manpower shortages, the Navy had to promote a group of outstanding officers ahead of schedule to expand its ranks, so he was promoted another rank in less than two years.

Marvel spoke again:

"Fortunately, the combat power of an aircraft carrier depends on its aircraft, so the combat power of the Malta is no weaker than that of a modern aircraft carrier. Your J-7J 'Mountain Eagle' is really too bad. It is a generation behind."

Our Rafale has completed all carrier take-off and landing tests. It has advanced engines, strong electronic sensing capabilities, and maneuverability far exceeding that of the Hornet. It is also lighter and smaller, making it more suitable for operation on medium-sized aircraft carriers.

If a small aircraft carrier were equipped with Rafale fighter jets, its combat power would more than double, and it could even use a two-carrier battle group to confront the Pacific Fleet.

'What is this guy saying!'

The domestic delegation remained outwardly calm, but their minds were completely elsewhere at the dinner table. They knew that Marvell could not possibly be talking nonsense while drunk—how could Marvell's assistant have fallen asleep?

Lin Qi probed subtly:
"The J-7J is just an emergency product; we are already preparing our true main carrier-based aircraft."

“I know, it’s similar to ‘Phantom,’ right? But our Gust is the best.”

The J-10 just completed its maiden flight in March of this year, but outside intelligence is still stuck in 1996, when Jane's Defence Weekly revealed that there was a medium-sized aircraft development program in China, with canard and delta wing configurations, but the specific name and progress were still unknown.

Lynch had already determined that the chicken wanted to promote the Gust, which was why he had done such thorough research—but it was still astonishing.

That's the Rafale-M, an advanced fighter jet that hasn't even started mass production and is just nearing the end of its development.

Compared to the Su-27, which boasts incredible integration capabilities and is considered a pinnacle of engineering, the Rafale M is like a fine work of industrial art, exuding the sophistication and reliability of a long-established industrial company from the inside out. It's impossible not to be tempted.

The Germans astutely grasped the key point: the Rafale M is simply the perfect choice to fit "three small and medium-sized aircraft carriers," since their own development target is also medium-sized aircraft carriers.

Even though some of the higher-ranking members of the delegation knew about the existence of the red F14, they still had doubts. The Rafale M seemed pretty good too!
Marvel let out a burp:

"The Rafale M will be conducting take-off and landing tests on the Foch tomorrow afternoon. It's an internal exercise, but you're welcome to come if you want to watch."

"Of course we'd love to!"

……

Poyang Lake

After the rain, the sky was overcast. A CH47D helicopter, piloted by elite army aviation personnel, flew over the lake, and a camera at the open cabin door faithfully recorded the flooding below.

On the night of May 29, rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River exceeded the warning threshold.

Over the past day and night, water levels in the Xinjiang and Fuhe River basins have surged, flooding more than 50 mu of farmland in Jiangxi Province.

The floods were no less severe than in history because the main cause of the inundation was Poyang Lake.

As a rare giant freshwater lake, it should have played a role in regulating water resources. However, large areas of farmland have been reclaimed around it, and waterways have been arbitrarily cut off and diverted for irrigation convenience, reducing its regulation capacity by more than half.

This is a problem that has accumulated over more than a decade of development, and even though the Emergency Management Bureau reacted and began rescue efforts in early May, it could not significantly improve the situation.

Most of the flooded farmland is located around the lake. Although Poyang Lake has not yet collapsed, the rising water level has already caused huge economic losses. The only fortunate thing is that the local area started preparations very early, and there were no casualties.

But both Tang Wen's warning and the meteorological bureau's simulation proved that this was just the beginning.

"Outrageous! Utterly outrageous!"

Looking at the submerged riverside highway, Zhao Hande cursed helplessly and angrily:

"The disaster management department notified us in advance that there were no casualties, so many people started to celebrate, thinking that everything was fine. But if you look at the aerial photos, you can see that many of the dikes were completely ineffective, and there were even breaches that had been deliberately breached!"

Tang Wen stood silently to the side, while the higher-ups began to pay attention to the water conservancy facilities in the disaster area—the tremors were also very strong.

Recent meteorological simulation data perfectly matches the information provided by Tang Wen, confirming that a flood peaking in June or July is certain, and various regions have already begun prevention plans one to two months in advance.

In the original timeline, after this flood, the government issued multiple national bonds to strengthen the dikes and publicly denounced the engineering quality issues for the first time.

Don't even think about trying to avoid disaster at the last minute. The main focus now is on reinforcement and the early evacuation of people and property, but even so, the impending losses are enough to make people's hearts ache.

The areas that Tang Wen was most concerned about, such as Yichang, Jiujiang, and Hanyang, received special attention, which put his mind at ease.

"Thank you, thank you."

Zhao Hande looked at him solemnly:
"When the flood really comes, the losses that could have been avoided in this area alone would be three or four hundred billion. There will be a thank you afterwards."

Tang Wen: "So, how's the moon landing plan going?"

"..."

Zhao Hande relayed his crazy idea, but received no response.

Tang Wen believed that no response was itself a response, but the latter told him to wait and that there would definitely be a clear answer—seven days passed.

Zhao Hande slapped his forehead:
"I had actually forgotten about that. I mentioned it last night... But Professor Qian isn't the one who hasn't heard from you. He's busy writing the moon landing plan."

I doubt you're absolutely confident you'll succeed, are you? How many resources and manpower would a moon landing require? It's only worth considering if Professor Qian brought it up—I reiterate, I have no intention of delaying; personally, I would agree.”

He paused before speaking:
"Even in times of world peace, we cannot let your crazy idea get out."

Tang Wen: "..."

Okay, so this is being treated as a physical entity?
(End of this chapter)