Chapter 28: Mmm, Delicious!
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Inside the main control room of the Project 956E Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyer, Su Dingping had already begun his preliminary research.
Without large-scale cutting equipment, the only way to find a breakthrough was to compare the vessel with the Project 956E in the military-industrial compendium’s forging space.
Just then, Sun Yongguo walked in.
“Dingping, there’s something I need to discuss with you.”
“What is it, Dean?”
“Dean Lu of Research Institute 408 is coming too.”
Su Dingping looked puzzled.
Who was Dean Lu?
“Lu Guangjun. He was the one who—”
Zhang Gongnong explained the whole matter from the side, and Su Dingping soon understood.
Lu Guangjun had been among those who had pushed for the second purchase of the Project 956E.
“He always thinks we’re inferior to everyone else—that we can’t do this and can’t do that. Anyway, he and I have never gotten along! Cheng Yiqiang is no better!”
Zhang Gongnong added, “Anyone can choose the easy way out. But without a complete, independent modern industrial system, we’ll remain at the mercy of others for the rest of our lives! The sudden price increase of the Project 956E is the perfect example!”
Sun Yongguo looked at Su Dingping.
“Dingping, you’re in charge of this breakthrough program. You make the decision. We’ll follow your lead.”
Zhang Gongnong nodded as well.
“If you say no, then if Lu Guangjun manages to set foot on this base, I’ll change my surname to his!”
After thinking for a long while, Su Dingping looked at them both.
“Let him come. If he still clings to his original views after seeing our progress, then he’ll have lost the last shred of his conscience.”
“When the time comes, I’ll report it to the commanding officers and recommend that he be removed from his position as director of Research Institute 408.”
Zhang Gongnong drew in a faint breath. He realized that Su Dingping was even more ruthless than he was.
At most, he had only considered giving Lu Guangjun a beating. Su Dingping, on the other hand, intended to strip him directly of his position as director.
“Fine. It’s settled!”
Sun Yongguo was the first to support him.
Once the matter concerning Lu Guangjun had been settled, Su Dingping led the two men onto the deck.
Looking at the shipborne missile launch systems, Su Dingping said, “Dean, while studying the Whitefly supersonic anti-ship missile system and the SA-N-7 Hurricane air-defense missile system recently, I ran into some problems. Do we have any more detailed and in-depth material on shipborne missiles?”
“I’d like to study it.”
These past few days, whenever Su Dingping was awake, he had been busy teaching Sun Yongguo and the other seventeen men. At night, while sleeping, he studied the two shipborne missile systems in the military-industrial compendium’s forging space.
Because he lacked sufficient technical material, his progress had not been especially fast.
He had been planning that, once everything went smoothly and Sun Yongguo and the others had mastered the core technology of the Project 956E, he would immediately begin teaching them about shipborne missile systems.
After all, shipborne missiles were another major weakness of the navy.
Shipborne missiles?
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Sun Yongguo was dumbfounded.
“Dingping, you’re with us all day, busy teaching and answering questions. You still have time to study this?”
“I think about it in my head while I’m sleeping.”
The corner of Sun Yongguo’s mouth twitched violently.
Dingping, at least wait for us!
You’re moving so fast that we can’t keep up!
Zhang Gongnong, standing nearby, was rendered completely speechless.
Comparing oneself to others could drive a man mad. Today, he had finally experienced the difference firsthand.
“Dingping, shipborne missiles are one of the greatest weaknesses of our navy. Overcoming them will be extraordinarily difficult! Why don’t we work on it together after this course is finished? Besides, you’re handling this and that all by yourself. Your body won’t be able to take it.”
“It’s fine. If I move a little faster, then by the time your course ends, you’ll be able to catch up with the new one sooner. Time is short, and the task is heavy. The enemy won’t give us time to rest!”
Since Su Dingping had put it that way, the two men knew that he had made up his mind.
“Fine! I’ll take care of it,” Sun Yongguo said. “Since Lu Guangjun is coming, I’ll discuss it with him later.”
Zhang Gongnong explained, “Dean Lu and the others have conducted more advanced research into shipborne missiles than our institute has.”
Having made all the necessary arrangements, Su Dingping led Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong back into the main control room.
“There’s enough room. Let’s begin!”
The two men did not waste any time. They asked the deputy captain for notebooks and paper.
Time passed swiftly.
A little after seven that evening, several transport trucks sped into the base.
“Old Sun, what are you busy with? Comrade Li Mingrui told me that when you heard I was coming, you were so frightened you planned to move out overnight!”
Before the man himself arrived, Lu Guangjun’s voice had already drifted up from the gangway.
It was obvious that he was in high spirits. Even the way he addressed Li Mingrui and Sun Yongguo had become considerably more familiar.
During the journey, Li Mingrui and the other researchers had not said a word, but Lu Guangjun was, after all, the director of a research institute. With an entire truckload of documents and models before him, it had taken only a little thought for him to understand what had happened.
If Li Mingrui had not stopped him and absolutely refused to let him dismantle the models, he would have taken them apart in the truck and examined them carefully.
That was why, during the eight- or nine-hour journey, he had not found the bumpy road unpleasant in the slightest. On the contrary, he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
“Old Sun, I’ve come all this way, and you can’t even come out to greet me? I’m getting old. My lower back isn’t what it used to be.”
He muttered to himself for quite some time, yet no one came out to welcome him.
When he reached the main control room, with one foot still outside the entrance, he saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.
What in the world?
Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong were sitting cross-legged on the floor, writing things down with pens and notebooks in hand.
As he focused his gaze, he saw the back of a young man seated with his back to him, apparently giving a lecture.
Old Sun was taking lessons from someone?
And the other person looked so young!
This had to be a ghost!
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He must have been jolted around for too long and started hallucinating.
He rubbed his eyes hard. When he opened them again, everything was still exactly the same.
Listening more carefully, he finally heard what Su Dingping was saying.
“...From the Western perspective, the Fanzesisil Protocol is considered erroneous. In reality, it is a smokescreen they deliberately released! Let us examine the S-E integrated combat management system aboard the Project 956E. It is a typical product of the Fanzesisil Protocol. Through...”
The Fanzesisil Protocol was a smokescreen?
Hadn’t the West already proved that it was a false protocol?
Didn’t the integrated combat management systems of warships use the Leisedorf Protocol?
Without thinking, he spoke up.
“Comrade, I believe the standard protocol used by modern warship combat systems should be the Leisedorf Protocol. Although we have yet to overcome that difficulty, we—”
Only then did Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong, who had been completely absorbed in the lesson, realize that someone had arrived.
Lu Guangjun was here.
Su Dingping glanced back at him, then calmly turned his attention forward again.
Lu Guangjun, however, looked as though he had seen a ghost.
He had been able to tell from the young man’s back that he was probably quite young, but he had never imagined he could be this young!
The boy did not even look old enough to have graduated from university.
“Old Sun, Comrade Gongnong, what were you two doing just now? Taking... classes?”
Sun Yongguo looked at Zhang Gongnong.
“Is this embarrassing?”
“When one possesses ability, one becomes the teacher. There’s nothing embarrassing about it.”
“I agree. There’s nothing embarrassing about it.”
Lu Guangjun clutched his chest. “My heart isn’t in good shape. Don’t frighten me like this.”
At that moment, Su Dingping said unhurriedly, “There is nothing wrong with the Leisedorf Protocol, but it does not resolve the core problem of modern warships.”
“What?”
“System-level confrontation! Every component within a warship is its own system. The first problem we must solve is how to integrate all those systems into one whole. The Leisedorf Protocol cannot resolve that issue, but the Fanzesisil Protocol can.”
System-level confrontation!
The moment those four words were spoken, Lu Guangjun knew that the young man understood the subject.
Ten minutes later, when Li Mingrui brought people over to carry in the equipment, he saw Lu Guangjun—the same man who had been roaring and shouting that morning—sitting quietly beside Sun Yongguo, diligently taking notes.
What the hell? I spent an entire day on the road and started hallucinating?
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