Siheyuan: I, Shazhu, started out as an army and became a general.

Naval Headquarters, Operations Room.

The room was filled with smoke, so thick it was hard to open one's eyes, and the atmosphere was as oppressive as the sky before a storm.

The sand table in the very center was covered with small red and blue flags. Unfortunately, the blue flags representing the enemy were densely packed, while the red flags representing us were so sparse it was heartbreaking.

Commander Xiao Jingguang, the "naval steward" who has spent most of his life at sea, is carefully stroking a black and white photograph as if he were holding his own newborn son.

The photo shows four Soviet-made "Furious"-class destroyers, later known as the "Four Great Kings," which were considered the lifeblood of the navy.

"Chief Consultant, please take a look."

Commander Xiao pointed at the photo, his eyes slightly red, his voice trembling: "This is a precious gem that we tightened our belts, spent seventeen tons of gold, and painstakingly extracted from the teeth of the Soviets! With these four pillars, the Chinese Navy can finally stand tall!"

He Yuzhu sat opposite him, his brand-new general's uniform still warm from being worn, with two buttons already undone.

He glanced at the photo, but didn't even reach out to take it. He simply took out a bottle of Daqianmen cigarettes from his pocket, lit it with a "snap," and exhaled a perfectly round smoke ring.

"Seventeen tons of gold?"

He Yuzhu flicked his cigarette ash, his voice languid, yet like a barbed knife, stabbing straight into one's heart:

"Commander Xiao, if I may be so blunt, you're using our people's hard-earned money to buy a bunch of iron coffins at sea."

"Clang!"

A deputy commander next to him slammed his enamel mug heavily onto the table, splashing tea all over it.

"Chief Advisor He!" The deputy commander's face turned a deep shade of liver; he was truly enraged. "I know you're a genius at developing atomic bombs and a master at missiles. But every profession has its own secrets! This is a two-thousand-ton destroyer! A weapon our navy wouldn't even dare to dream of! You're calling it a 'coffin' right off the bat—isn't that going too far?"

The meeting room was eerily quiet; you could hear a pin drop.

Which of the generals present didn't cherish these ships like the apple of their eye? He Yuzhu's words were tantamount to ripping out their hearts.

Commander Xiao raised his hand to suppress the crowd's anger, but his face also darkened: "Comrade Yuzhu, you can't just say things like that. How did it become a coffin?"

He Yuzhu stood up, walked a few steps to the huge nautical chart, and tapped the South China Sea heavily with his finger, making the map clatter with his knuckles.

"Two thousand tons, a steam turbine that pants when it runs, its main weapon is artillery, its air defense is basically just shouting, and its anti-submarine warfare is all luck."

He whirled around, his gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping across the room: "You are all veterans who have crawled out of piles of corpses. We just encountered the American 'Enterprise' in the South China Sea. What is that? Nuclear-powered! 90,000 tons at full load! More than a hundred carrier-based aircraft!"

"I just have one question: if these four 'Kongo' ships encountered the 'Enterprise,' how long could they hold out?"

He Yuzhu held up one finger and sneered, "One minute? Or thirty seconds? Or maybe you won't even see them before they're used as target practice by carrier-based aircraft and sunk to feed the fish?"

"What else could this be but a coffin? This is a deluxe underwater cemetery bought for the soldiers!"

The entire room fell silent.

No one argued. Because although the words were harsh, it was the bloody truth.

The suffocating feeling brought about by that technological gap was like a mountain, pressing down on these tough men and making it hard for them to breathe.

"We're poor..." Commander Xiao sighed, took off his glasses, and wiped his eyes with the back of his rough hand. "We have no technology, no special steel, not even a decent 10,000-ton shipyard. If we don't buy this junk, with the sea wide open, what will we use to defend it? Our skulls to shield us from cannonballs?"

"Who said there isn't?"

He Yuzhu stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, a signature, slightly roguish, arrogant smile playing on his lips.

"Xiao Wu!"

"arrive!"

Zhang Xiaowu entered from outside the door in response to the call, carrying a huge blueprint tube that could practically be used as a cannon barrel.

"Clear the table for me!" He Yuzhu waved his hand, exuding domineering aura.

The staff officers were stunned for a moment, then hurriedly swept away all the teacups and documents on the table.

He Yuzhu untied the ribbon, and with a "whoosh," spread the huge three-meter-long blueprint onto the conference table.

"Snapped!"

He slammed his hand on the center of the drawing, making the table tremble.

"Seventeen tons of gold, to buy someone else's industrial waste? With that money, we'd rather build our own Dragon King!"

Commander Xiao leaned closer, and after just one glance, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Above the drawing, a line of bold black text is striking: [Type 055 10,000-ton guided destroyer assembly drawing].

The densely packed parameters were like an incomprehensible book, but a few key data points struck like heavy hammer blows, making everyone's hearts pound:

**Full load displacement: 12500 tons.**

**Power system: All gas turbine propulsion.**

**Weapon System: 112-cell vertical launch system.**

**Radar System:** Dual-band active phased array radar.

"What...what the hell is this?" The deputy commander, who had just been furious, was now shaking as if he had Parkinson's disease. "Twelve thousand tons? Vertical launch? Phased array? Old He, are you writing science fiction?"

"A novel?" He Yuzhu scoffed, pointing at the blueprints. "This is called a dimensional reduction attack; this is called the future!"

"But..." Commander Xiao, though his beard trembled with excitement, remained rational. "Yuzhu, taking too big a step can lead to disaster. Our industrial foundation is weak; we can't produce this kind of special steel!"

"I'll provide the formula for the steel. I'll have the Red Star Steel Mill smelt it overnight. If they can't produce it, I'll twist the factory director's head off."

"If vacuum tubes don't work for radar, we'll use transistors. I'll figure out how to get Loongson 2 working."

"Missiles, Dongfeng series modified for shipboard use, I have ready-made solutions, which can be installed on ships with slight modifications."

He Yuzhu braced himself on the table with both hands, leaned forward, and unleashed his fierce "Tiger He" aura.

"Commander Xiao, I'll take care of all the technical aspects. You just need to give me two things."

"What?" Commander Xiao instinctively stood at attention, like a new recruit following orders.

"First, give me the largest space available, a completely enclosed shipyard, no unauthorized personnel allowed."

"Second, money." He Yuzhu rubbed his fingers together, his eyes shining. "Lots and lots of money."

Commander Xiao gritted his teeth and slapped his thigh hard: "I'll give you the best shipyard in Huludao! If you can't build it, I'll move the headquarters to sleep on the streets! But the money..."

The old general looked troubled, spreading his hands with an expression more painful than tears: "You know the state of the national treasury. We've been completely drained since the atomic bomb detonated. These seventeen tons of gold are our last reserves for our funerals..."

"No money?"

He Yuzhu raised an eyebrow, his eyes suddenly becoming somewhat playful, like an old fox eyeing a fat sheep.

"No money? No problem. We can't print US dollars, but we can earn them, right?"

"Commander Xiao, please give me a note. I'd like to set up a stall at the Canton Fair in a couple of days."

"Set up a stall?"

The room full of generals stared at each other in disbelief. "A general of your caliber setting up a stall? What are you selling? Your specialty, braised pork?"

He Yuzhu chuckled, revealing a set of white teeth in a smile that sent chills down one's spine.

"Braised pork? That's for family."

"To outsiders, we sell 'truth'."

He straightened his collar, his tone chilling:

"By the way, let me give those naive rich kids a lesson on what 'fear of insufficient firepower' really means—a unique treatment plan!"