The Iron and Steel Frenzy of the Republic of China

In November, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, in the tropical region close to the equator, at a depth of 11 meters, the thousands of kilometers of Pacific seamounts meander like giant dragons towards the Antarctic continent.

At the top of the mountain stretched out with a gentle slope of less than one degree, a series of tough basalt fiber hollow ropes are deeply embedded in the rock through high-strength alloy expansion bolts, and the floating balls in the middle are circled every hundreds of meters. The long cable is stretched to the sea surface like super seaweed. With the erosion of ocean current layers at different depths in various countries, it twists and turns like a sea snake.

At a depth of about 300 meters into the water, at the end of the hollow rope, a circular plate made of tough hollow material spread out like a water lily submerged in the water, with clumps of super giant algae attached to it. Forming the shape of a blooming flower expands the cover to hundreds of meters in diameter, stretching all the way to the shallow water layer where faint light can be seen.

The buoyancy brought by the super macroalgae's own cavitation structure not only pulls a 200-meter-long self, but also drags a more than 2000-meter-long rope. The extra space is filled with green camouflaged sonar, which is mysterious. They are connected into a ring cordon that is thousands of kilometers long!

All of this, except for Zhu Bin who built the entire project and the staff on duty at the research base, no one knows the rest!

Including wandering around the sea for more than ten days, after dragging the net to search, the Nimitz aircraft carrier formation finally determined the direction and position of the target. They never expected that when the huge battleship quietly crossed the sea in a battle formation, the trigger sound The active search induced by the nanoarrays has laid bare their presence!

Even though the active sonar impact was reduced a lot, the sonar officer of the U.S. warship who was so focused still heard it really. The destroyer "Gwen" rushed ahead to open the way and immediately issued a warning to the flagship: "We have caught a weak sound. Receive signal! There may be an enemy submarine nearby!"

"Sonar?"

Nimitz did not rush to issue an alert order to the entire fleet, but only asked everyone to upgrade to yellow alert, then frowned and thought for a moment, and then ordered the elite soldiers of the Marine Corps to carry deep diving equipment into the water for investigation.And ordered the poor three submarines cruising in front, back, left, and right to explore forward cautiously.

Not long after, the diver first sent a report: "50 to [-] meters underwater, there are a lot of seaweed! Damn, how is this possible? According to hydrological data, this water area is at least one mile deep!"

The submarine, which dived less than 100 meters deep, was forced to surface within a few minutes after sailing down—its propeller was entangled in a large group of seaweed!If he didn't dodge quickly, he might be trapped there for life and death.

The rest of the ships probed down with anchors or other means.A large piece of seaweed was also picked up at a depth of tens of meters.Nimitz asked them to step up their efforts, and finally used the aircraft carrier's hoist to forcibly tear up hundreds of tons of macroalgae, and found a piece of obviously man-made debris at its root!

"Sure enough. I said, it is impossible for the Chinese to be unprepared. Thinking about it, they should have known about our arrival."

Nimitz was unusually calm, as if this was commonplace, but General Halsey, the flagship captain and commander of the 18th Task Force, was not so calm, and said sharply: "Then what are we waiting for?" ? Launch an attack directly! Pull out the fangs biting on the body of the United States, and smash the Chinaman's cross-sea attack conspiracy! Kill them all!"

Stubborn, irascible, and blunt to the point of rudeness, Halsey made no secret of his dislike for the Chinese.Including the Japanese who look a lot like Chinese, he doesn't like to see them.He didn't give any good face to the Japanese naval officers who had lost the entire national naval power and continued to have the cheek to spend their experience on US Navy ships.

Nimitz was not so impatient, and said calmly: "What is inside is still a cloud of fog. Moreover, we don't know how the Chinese will fight. It cannot be ruled out that they will send the fleet from the west coast to rescue .Although, here is at least six or seven days' flight from Los Angeles."

"That's enough for us to completely destroy this place! Hmph. I'd like to see, with the strength of our six aircraft carriers, can't we blow up a damned sea platform?"

Halsey swung his arms wildly, his raised chin was full of ferociousness.

Nimitz smiled faintly and shook his head: "It's not that simple. The tests we have done with Japan before are enough to show that any overestimation of the opponent's strength is not too much. Let's confirm it further."

He spread out the dozen or so destroyers with him horizontally, connecting them in a reverse arc, sweeping across a water area as wide as a hundred kilometers.Carefully and repeatedly searched for sonar signals, and sent active sonar to detect downwards. The divers worked tirelessly and repeatedly searched, and it took half a day to determine the underwater situation.

After drawing a neat circular arc on the chart, Nimitz then found the midpoint and calculated the radius and center of the full circle.In the end, the empty center was painted black, and he dropped the pencil and straightened up.

"There can be no mistake. Somehow the Chinese have arranged a circular underwater floating platform on this 150-mile-wide body of water, planted macroalgae, and may have hidden sonar in the middle, so as to Form a full circle with a radius of [-] kilometers! Their base is hidden in the center, just stuck at the apex of the route curve between Panama and Hawaii."

Halsey's eyes lit up, and he lay down on the ground and looked at it carefully for 3 minutes. His unruly face became solemn, and he took a deep breath and said, "It seems that the Chinese are more powerful than imagined! Just because of such a large construction They don’t even know how much it will cost! In other words, over the years, they’ve sailed secretly through Panama to Germany, or the fleet to and from the west coast has stopped here for supplies.”

It's no secret anymore.Since the relationship between China and Germany turned cold a few years ago, some information from the Germans has been leaked, and the US Navy is not a fool. They control the routes between the west coast to Hawaii and Panama, and the Chinese ocean-going fleet that runs away without a trace , it's normal to get tricky in the middle.

It's just that in recent years, the Pacific Navy has been unable to search and intercept this vast sea area, let alone find a floating base like a drop in the ocean.

Halsey's face became grim again, and he punched the chart table with a "bang", groaning: "Then we must hit the Chinese guys harder! Damn, they waste countless money on these useless things. things!"

A circular defense line of four to five hundred kilometers.Even a floating seaweed cultivation platform for one kilometer would cost astronomical figures, and even the rich and powerful United States may not be able to realize it.Well, it is completely impossible to achieve. Except for the Chinese, other countries in the world have no way to dive deep to 3000 meters for construction.They can't even make hollow basalt fiber cables.

Halsey wished he could send out all the carrier-based planes and directly blow up the targets in front of him, but Nimitz showed a wry smile, shook his head and said, "I'm afraid we can't do too much. You also know that in order to support the war, Mr. President is under tremendous pressure and has owed a lot of debts and favors. And here is everything those people want!"

"Damn consortium!"

Halsey cursed directly.He understood what was going on as soon as he heard it, those damn consortiums that manipulate Congress behind the scenes.One by one, greedy for profit, in order to obtain the technology of the Chinese, he just tied his hands and feet to the navy, which was already in a bad situation, and made many demands.How can this be a war?

Nimitz smiled and concluded: "So, we must not only defeat the enemy, but also get everything here as well as possible. The most important thing is that the speed must be fast. Otherwise, we may have to face the siege of the Chinese navy." block up!"

Chelsea was so depressed that she wanted to kill someone.when.The U.S. Navy actually needs to hide in the Pacific Ocean!Losing the west coast and Hawaii, and not even being able to find a place to quickly resupply, it's just... He doesn't know how to describe the bad mood.

Nimitz is a wise and documented general. Once he has made up his mind, he will execute it extremely resolutely and quickly.After confirming that it was correct, he dispatched two consecutive waves of carrier-based aircraft without hesitation.From the two sides of the fleet, occupying two heights of 1000 meters and 6000 meters respectively, they rushed directly to the core area of ​​the target like arrows!

It took less than half an hour for a group of thirty or forty fighters to take off and form formation, swarming towards the boundless sea ahead, and only ran a hundred kilometers.Suddenly found several floating platforms floating alone on the water!

It is a floating object of steel structure that is dozens of times simpler than an offshore drilling platform. The most streamlined buoy-type main frame supports a square steel frame platform with a length of 100 meters and a width of 50 to 80 meters. The 3000-meter-long cable is anchored, and there are almost no pipes and complex structures above it. Four pieces are pieced together, and a spiers of a hundred meters stretch out to the sky, with a wireless transmission receiver shining blue light on top. In addition, there are only eight discrete electrically driven propellers.

On the platform, the only decent building is a square building that can accommodate about 100 people. The rest, tower cranes of different heights and strange-shaped mechanical arms, can be seen to temporarily dock small ships for loading and unloading. God knows what it's for!

"Find the target at sea!" The leading aircraft group sent out a signal immediately, and then according to the predetermined tactics, a small group of fighter planes swooped down and bravely rushed to the sky above the platform. Immediately, the radio signal was interrupted!

Electromagnetic jam!

The US military is familiar with this situation and immediately understands that they have really entered the battlefield!The pilots all stared, ready to fire at any time, but the first batch of nine fighters dived at full speed to the limit of [-] kilometers per hour with extreme caution, passing the platform at a low altitude from a height of less than [-] meters, and they were not harmed. Any attack!

"Damn it! Is there no Chinese on duty here?!"

Such a strange situation made the pilots more and more anxious. After one of the fighters slowed down and climbed up, he waved his hand and made a quick gesture to the other teammates, then turned around and recoiled, continued to slow down until more than 100 kilometers, and gritted his teeth. Slowly bully the middle of the empty platform with the waves, and land decisively!

"Ah! My God! Is he crazy?! There is no arresting wire on it, and he will fall into the sea!"

The pilots of the other fighter planes were taken aback, their jaws almost fell off, and their eyes widened in a hurry to pay attention, but they saw that the f4u fighter plane seemed to be possessed by a god, as if it was favored by God, and it was firmly attached to the joint of the platform. Crack, successful landing!

The landing posture of the heavy fighter was not very safe. The fuselage bounced up after a sudden pause. The tires rubbed out a few clouds of smoke and dust. They stumbled and tried to slow down. In the blink of an eye, they rushed to the end of the 200-meter-long platform, and everyone held their breath. Breathe, under the gaze of a wide-open mouth.The wings slammed into the base of a tower crane and stopped abruptly. At the last moment, the pilot lifted the canopy and jumped out, rolling on the platform for more than ten meters, grasping the edge with both hands and feet. Hanging dead on the railing!

"Wow! Well done!"

There was a violent cheer among the fleet.You can hear it through the cockpit!Several fighter planes rushed over and waved their wings at low altitude to congratulate.

After the pilot got up, he swung his fist triumphantly towards the sky, and one of the fighter planes "clicked" to capture this rare scene. I believe it will definitely become the headlines of the New York Times and other newspapers in a short time!

Moving his hands and feet, the pilot took out a self-defense pistol and loaded it, spread his legs and ran to the small building on the edge to search.

In the sky.On the next bomber, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle, the leader, slapped the left wing excitedly, and shouted: "Good boy! You really deserve to be the elite I selected! Send this situation to the fleet immediately. In the past, let them send the marines up to help and occupy this undefended platform!"

Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle is happy!Such a jackpot actually fell into his own hands, which indicates that a great victory is very likely to be in sight, and he himself has struggled for 40 years.It is also about to usher in a glorious stage in your career!

Flocks of fighter planes roared and passed over the platform continuously, and the pilot also successfully snatched into the small building.After a while, he climbed to the top and made a safe gesture towards the sky.

All Doolittle's fleet passed by, and a large floating building complex appeared in front of it. On the clear water, under the bright sunlight, a huge ring-shaped platform with a diameter of three kilometers was surrounded by several layers inside and outside.Make him almost jump up!

huge!It is ten times, dozens of times larger than all steel structures ever built in human history!

Doolittle could not imagine how much steel and money was needed to build such a huge structure, even the outermost link.The width is at best three to 400 meters, but the total is equivalent to a hundred aircraft carriers linked together!Well, even if they are all hollow, the surface alone is several square kilometers, and it makes people dizzy to think about it!

The most majestic central core, a huge platform of one square kilometer, and the giant tower stretching towards the sky may not be 300 meters high. The huge wireless transmission spherical structure, the arc released actually caused a large area of ​​the sky to appear continuously. The lingering thick clouds, the piercing lightning flashed all the time, and the roar of explosions shook the airspace with a radius of tens of kilometers, it was like the world of Thor descending!

Inside and outside the platform, there are countless steel skeleton creations, various tower cranes, various mechanical arms, buildings of different heights, strange factory boilers, thick chimneys emitting smoke, like giant dragons with teeth and claws, gathered in the vast In the depths of the ocean, just the first impression makes people tremble and awe from the bottom of their hearts!

This is a manifestation of strength, a technological creation that is almost miraculous, representing an unimaginable technological height, and Wang Yang's wanton imagination!Doolittle could not think of anyone in the world who could build such a terrible thing.But after all, it has appeared before his eyes, so, what will he see next? !

Across dozens of kilometers, even the most powerful telescope could not bring a clear picture. Doolittle could not see if there were people on it, but he noticed the ships moored on the edge of the outer ring, which were many times smaller. And use this to calculate the size of the target.

There are battleships!You must have the ability to fight back!No matter how the lightning jungle and dark clouds that shrouded before disappeared, at least here, it is absolutely not safe!

The next moment, his premonition was fulfilled!

Excitedly, the fighter planes rushing to the front had just rushed to a distance of more than ten kilometers. They seemed to see a flash of light on a certain giant tower on the outer ring of the platform, and then the fighter planes exploded into a ball of dazzling fireballs. Hulala sprinkled to the sea surface with inertia!

A squadron that followed hurriedly dodged sideways, but they only survived for a few seconds. They could not see even a trace of the ballistic flying, nor could they see a colorful cloud of shell explosion. The partners disintegrated in the air, and the pilot didn't even have time to parachute, so he followed them and was smashed to pieces!

The b-25 bomber that Doolittle was riding in hastily slowed down and turned, stopped advancing without hesitation, and warned the fleet behind with actions, and immediately started to evade---he didn't want to go up to die for no reason!

Afterwards, the low-altitude aircraft group decisively turned back and lowered their altitude, and approached quickly from the top of the waves at the ultra-low altitude close to the sea level!

On the sea 25 kilometers away, the main force of the East China Sea Fleet, painted in navy gray, is advancing in battle formation at a speed of [-] knots. Wang Wenda, with a cigar in his mouth, is smiling at the picture transmitted by the synchronous satellite of the sea base, hehe laughing Said: "The Yankees hit their heads against the iron plate again! Let's see how long they can survive this time?"

The Eastern Pacific Base, which is the second most important place under Zhu Bin after the City of Light, provides all his gold deposits, deep-sea metal minerals, all deep-sea active material extraction, and countless valuable marine resources, and even the world The top deep sea laboratory.

In the past eight years, hundreds of serious floating platforms have been built, and the rest of the pure water skeletons are calculated in square kilometers. Not to mention the dying shipbuilding industry in the United States, it has even expanded the scale of the German shipbuilding industry. double!

With such a large investment and such an important output, in order to ensure safety, it is almost equipped with various high-end weapon systems developed by the City of Light. It can be said that what is in the old nest, there is what is here.

The U.S. military is trying to pick up cheap with a mere half-disabled sea force?What a beautiful idea!

Watching the clusters of light dots representing the U.S. fighter jets go out, Wang Wenda crushed the cigar, rolled up his sleeves in a very disfigured manner, and shouted: "Guys, cheer up and put on a good show for the U.S. Check it out!" (To be continued...)