Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2664 Moscow, Hurt by the Beating (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

Moscow!
The world's workers... well, not anymore. Summer in Moscow is the best time of year, and the Frunze Dam is filled with people enjoying the summer sun.

On the other side was the Ministry of Defense building, a steel structure that was the heart of the 500 million Soviet troops and the foundation upon which this world empire had built its strength.

After the car drove into the Ministry of Defense building, the door opened, and Air Defense Lieutenant General Andrei Ivanovich quickly stepped out.

Having just returned from Thang Long, he frowned, his face showing undisguised seriousness. As soon as he got off the plane, he went straight to the Ministry of National Defense and headed towards the Minister's office.

The corridor was brightly lit, and footsteps echoed in the empty space. Occasionally, when someone saluted him, the general would simply nod slightly in return.

Apart from that, he acted as if he had something on his mind.

He was indeed preoccupied with something on his mind.

He arrived at the minister's office quickly, and the captain outside the door saw him and immediately spoke.

"General, the Marshal has been waiting for you."

Then he turned around and opened the door. As Andrei walked into the office, the air conditioning mixed with a slightly pungent smell of tobacco hit him.

Marshal Ustinov was standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, with his back to the door, looking out at the people enjoying the sunshine in the riverside park.

His brow furrowed as he watched the children playing.

This peaceful scene reminded him of his responsibilities and what he should protect.

"You've arrived."

Upon hearing the door close behind him, Marshal Ustinov's deep and annoyed voice reached Andrei's ears.

There was no small talk, and the dissatisfaction in his tone was undisguised.

He slowly turned around, his eyes fixed on Andrei, filled with anger and dissatisfaction.

"Now the whole world has seen our failure in Thang Long! We can't even help our comrades protect their capital and stop those damned bombings. Even their special envoys have to beg the enemy for security before they can go!"
The whole world has seen this joke. Western media are spreading this news everywhere; are they mocking Rising Dragon?
Yes, but it was also a mockery of us. This was a disgrace to the Soviet Union! A disgrace to our army!

Marshal Ustinov's voice grew louder and louder until it was almost a shout. He stared at the Air Defense Lieutenant General, the one who had chosen Andrei to go to Rising Dragon to help the comrades there.

But what was the result?

The result was witnessed by the whole world.

Faced with Marshal Ustinov's anger, Andrei remained calm and responded in a deep voice:
"Yes, Comrade Marshal, it is indeed a disgrace. I witnessed it all firsthand in Thang Long, and it was more shocking than any intelligence report."

What did you see?

Marshal Ustinov walked to the conference table and sat down. Although he seemed to have suppressed his anger, his gaze remained fixed on Andrei.
"I want to hear the truth from you, not embellished words."

"What I see is despair, destruction, and our weapons..."

Only then did Andrei's seemingly calm tone become somewhat hurried, even flustered:
"The anti-aircraft missiles we provided are now completely ineffective. Their electronic jamming is too powerful, forming an impenetrable network of radio waves that we cannot break through no matter what countermeasures we take."

Our radar is completely ineffective; the display screen is filled with interference and clutter. Even if we launch missiles, they will go out of control midway and we will be unable to lock onto the target.

The air defense forces of Shenglong have stopped launching missiles into the air because they know it's pointless and a waste of ammunition.

"Even our S300 is useless, right?"

Faced with Marshal Ustinov's question, Andrei nodded somewhat helplessly.

"In some cases, it has some effect, but most of the time it is useless. We must enhance its anti-electronic interference performance."

For a moment, the office fell silent. After all, this anti-aircraft missile was their most advanced technology, but it had still become ineffective.

Although I had received reports on this topic before, the feeling of hearing it firsthand is completely different.

"And what about in the air?"

Faced with Marshal Ustinov's question, he paused for a moment and said:

"As for the air, the northern air forces were completely destroyed by SEA drones at the very beginning of the war before they even had a chance to take off."

Their airfields and hangars were reduced to ruins in the first wave of attacks. The Northern Air Force is now practically defunct; they can only passively endure the attacks, completely powerless to retaliate.

Then Andrei added:

"Although we provided them with a batch of aircraft, they still couldn't serve their intended purpose because they had no opportunity to repair the airport."

"Only the airport at Golden Bay is intact now. The reason it escaped attack is because our fleet and aircraft are there." As he said this, Andrei didn't even know whether he should be grateful, after all, with all the airports and ports attacked, only Golden Bay... had survived.

This shows that they still gave the Soviet Union some face. But on the other hand, even if they fought to that extent, all the Soviet Union could do was limited to providing weapons aid to its allies, rather than directly intervening in the war.

"After I arrived in Thang Long, I was fully impressed by their methods of warfare, which were particularly violent, deadly, and terrifying."

Andrei recounted the enemy's operational philosophy, his tone heavy with emotion:
"They believe in saving their soldiers' lives with steel, shells, bombs, and powerful firepower, just like the Americans, but they are more reckless, more violent, more deadly, and more terrifying than the Americans."

After using these words in succession, Andrei continued:

"In the past few months, they have dropped no less than 50 tons of bombs in the north."

This number may not sound particularly large, but it's important to understand that these bombs were dropped intensively over just a few months, and their destructive power is unimaginable.

Andrei paused slightly, as if the scene he had witnessed was replaying in his mind:
"The comrades of Thang Long told me that the bombing by the SEA completely destroyed all the industrial, transportation and communication facilities they had painstakingly built up since their victory in the war against the French and their independence. Decades of economic development achievements were reduced to nothing in the bombing."

The bombing raids on the north covered all the cities, including six industrial cities that were completely razed to the ground, leaving no intact buildings.

Of the 30 provincial capitals, 28 suffered severe damage, with 18 of them completely destroyed and reduced to ruins.

As he listened to these numbers, Marshal Ustinov silently lit a cigarette and took a puff.

Having experienced the Great Patriotic War, he knew very well what it looked like to be completely destroyed, but what was even more shocking was...

All of this was accomplished in just 100 days.

"It wasn't just the cities; their bombings even extended to rural areas, causing significant damage to those regions as well."

Andrei's voice grew lower and lower:
"Of the 5788 communes across the country in the north, 5281 were bombed and damaged, of which 3300 were completely destroyed, leaving the villagers homeless."

1600 water conservancy projects, 6 railway lines, all highways, all bridges, and all sea and land ports were completely destroyed.

All the power plants were severely damaged, plunging the entire country into a power shortage.

More than one million livestock were killed by bombs, tens of thousands of hectares of farmland were destroyed, food production plummeted, and the shadow of famine loomed.

A deathly silence fell over the office, where Marshal Ustinov continued to silently smoke his cigarette.

Andrei took a deep breath and uttered those despairing words:

"Theoretically speaking, Comrade Marshal Ustinov, the North has really been bombed back to the Stone Age by the SEA. That's what I saw there—horror, destruction, annihilation."

He suddenly fell silent, his eyes revealing a kind of despair.

After a long while, he finally spoke with difficulty, his voice weak but clear:
"And then there's... helplessness. We have no way to stop this destruction from happening, Marshal Ustinov!"

Neither providing more weapons nor sending military advisors can counter their air superiority and electronic jamming. We...we are completely helpless!
They've completely overtaken us on another battlefield. On this battlefield… we have absolutely no advantage. No, we don't even have the strength to fight back.”

Andrei almost gritted his teeth as he uttered the last sentence. He was fully aware of the immense risk involved in making this judgment, but he was also acutely aware of the immense risks that the Soviet Union's inability to confront the situation would pose to the country.

Marshal Ustinov froze in his chair after hearing this. His expression seemed unchanged, but his brows betrayed an undisguised seriousness.

He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and seemed to be deep in thought. The atmosphere in the office became even more oppressive, as if even the air itself had frozen.

After a long while, Marshal Ustinov slowly opened his eyes. He didn't speak again, but just stared quietly at the table, as if he was thinking about something.

Andrei remained standing at attention, awaiting Marshal Ustinov's instructions. However, he knew in his heart that, given the current situation, no matter what instructions were given, it would be difficult to change the fate of the North, let alone change the gap between them and the Western countries in electronic warfare technology.

This gap is devastating in some ways. Both have experienced war, so what are they most afraid of?

The Soviet Union lagged behind its enemy in both war preparations and war tactics.

"Okay, you've just gotten back, go back and rest for a bit."

Marshal Ustinov's voice wasn't loud; he merely spoke casually, and then he added:
"We'll always find a way to catch up with them."

After Andrei left the office, Marshal Ustinov sat there silently, and then picked up a report from the table once again.

This report, submitted by the Vice Minister, is an analysis of the reasons for the leading advantage of Western electronic technology.

Looking at the report, Marshal Ustinov's brow furrowed, and he muttered to himself:
"Could it be that the reason why Western electronic technology is so advanced is because they opened up the civilian market, and because the widespread demand from the civilian market stimulated the development of electronic technology?"

Marshal Ustinov, as a soldier, found it difficult to understand these market rules, but now he was facing a backward situation in electronic warfare technology.

Marshal Ustinov found himself restless and picked up the phone.

(End of this chapter)