Chapter 267: Admonishing a Group of Slick Western Veterans

Three days of drills finally passed, and the West was giving extensive coverage; in their exaggeration, merely this formidable Eastern army could beat the old Maozi black and blue, and even many military analysts claimed that if the old Maozi dared to strike Western Europe, this army would launch at full speed, sweep across the grasslands, and seize the vast eastern lands of the old Maozi.

This is clearly meant to provoke, but since people talk as they please, it's their business; we can't control it.

However, it's strange that the West hasn't run a single report on Eastern forces' modernized informationized command and control system; obviously they regard it as a secret, a winning trump card, so it must be kept confidential!

After the drills came a grand parade, with mighty, vigorous troops marching past the reviewing stand in high spirits.

Tanks rumbled past, followed by truck-mounted cannons with barrels raised high, exuding invincibility, while fighter jets screamed across the sky……

"Comrades, hello!"

"Chiefs, hello!"

"Comrades, you've worked hard!"

"Serve the people!"

These dialogues sound simple, yet the meaning behind them is thought‑provoking: the Western army invades others, while our army serves the people!

After the drills ended, everyone returned to the capital, and that evening there was a state banquet.

"Come, Mr. Qin, let me toast you—these past days you've helped us Westerners a great deal!" James finally found an excuse to flatter, and at this moment he began to praise Qin Miao.

Qin Miao smiled: "No, no, we merely did what we were supposed to do."

"Mr. Qin, once our GPS navigation satellites are up, you Easterners can also use them; we'll make them available to you around the clock!"

The French guy frowned: "What do you mean by that? France isn't a NATO nation, nor is the East; you won't open it to us but will to Easterners? That's terribly unfair!"

Qin Miao smiled: "Thank you!"

The two glasses clinked, then were drained in one gulp; Qin Miao continued looking at his counterpart: "Mr. James, I don't know what you've taken from our drill."

"Modern high‑tech warfare! It's really opened our eyes; once we get our GPS system built, we'll also establish such a network."

Qin Miao shook his head: "We can stand higher and see… further."

"Further?"

James furrowed his brow: "Mr. Qin, please instruct us."

"Well then… come, let's drink!"

James felt a jolt, kept drinking with Qin Miao a second round, then signaled the others; thus everyone took turns, and after a round Qin Miao was obviously drunk.

"Mr. Qin, when it comes to strategic vision, you're the best—why don't you share your thoughts with us?"

"Whoever holds this place holds the advantage." Qin Miao didn't refuse this time; instead he raised his hand and pointed upward.

"What's overhead? The ceiling? A crystal chandelier? Certainly not! Qin Miao was pointing to… space!"

James's eyes lit up: "Can you be more specific?"

"This navigation satellite is just the start; later there will be other advanced gear—for example, from space we could fire a laser blast that would blow up a Sky‑Leaping Monkey just as it takes off from the ground."

Everyone was stunned.

"What does that mean? A space fortress? An interstellar warship? Firing a laser from space to knock down ground‑based ballistic missiles? What joke are you pulling here?"

"Mr. Qin, you may not know that currently our lasers are only used as rangefinders and guidance systems on weapons. As for laser guns, laser cannons… they'd need at least megawatt‑level output, which our present technology simply cannot achieve."

Qin Miao shook his head: "It's not that we can't, we just don't want to… but… up to now, let alone landing on Mars, even returning to the moon might be difficult."

James blinked, speechless.

"As for a megawatt‑class laser, what's the difficulty? Back then the Apollo rocket could lift over a hundred tonnes to low Earth orbit; if you can launch a hundred‑tonne payload, I don't believe you couldn't fit a megawatt laser aboard!"

"Well…"

"That actually could be done, but… no way, it would cost a fortune! Apollo was a matter of national pride; later, when they tallied the bill, nobody wanted to pay."

"It cost a total of $25.5 billion—that's 1960s‑70s money! In today's terms that's $625 billion! As for the share of GDP it represented, they claimed it was 0.57 %, but by today's standards it actually exceeds 1 %!"

"In 1969 it accounted for 2.5 %."

"Keep going like this and the United States would go bankrupt!"

"In short, you just lack strategic vision."

Qin Miao, a young lad, lecturing a bunch of old fogies about lacking strategic vision—how hilarious!

"What, still not convinced? If it's not lack of vision, could it be lack of money?"

The American, having his sore spot hit, couldn't retort and felt utterly stifled.

"This laser weapon is just one kind; we also need other directed‑energy weapons—particle beams, electromagnetic kinetic weapons—to form a dense defensive net in space. So far you've only built a space shuttle that can, in a pinch, snatch an enemy satellite; that approach… is child's play."

James had nothing to say. Today he was dressed down by a wet‑behind‑the‑ears kid to the point he couldn't lift his head……

Clang!

Just then a sound came from the banquet table; he looked over and saw Qin Miao slumped over, asleep?

The banquet ended, the crowd dispersed, they got into their cars, and Qin Miao was still snoring like thunder.

"All right, San Shui, drop the act—spill it, what exactly did you mean by what you said today?"

"Old Lin…"

"Go on."

"Actually there's not much to it; just string them along. If they really take the bait and pour huge sums into space, it'll wreck their economy—don't look at the U. S. economy being number one worldwide; it still couldn't withstand the drain of a space war."

"Huge sums? How much are we talking?"

"Start in the trillions."

Old Lin's eyes widened instantly.

In the early 1980s, mentioning a figure in the trillions was practically tantamount to infinity.

Last year, the United States' GDP was only $2.86 trillion; that 'chicken‑droppings' figure is GDP, not pure profit, nor tax revenue—pouring an astronomical sum of this magnitude would be unbearable for the Americans.

"Compared to that, the Apollo moon landing is child's play, and these technologies are enormously difficult; even if they worked on them for twenty years they'd see no results, by which time… they'd have already collapsed."

"What if they don't take the bait?"

"Then it's the Soviet Union that will collapse."