Break out of the courtyard

A black sky, a gray earth, and rows of bright silver lunar modules...

As the scenery on the screen changes, the viewer's gaze follows the camera, trembling, until it reaches the massive stone archway at the bottom of the slope.

The camera paused briefly in front of the archway, tilting the lens upwards to give a close-up of the "Guanghan Palace Underground Palace" stone carving on the archway.

A dozen seconds later, the camera continued to move forward, shakily, and entered a tunnel as bright as day.

The footage inside the tunnel was sped up eight times, and the scene quickly moved to the unmanned brick production plant, allowing viewers to see the automated production line for moon bricks and two engineering robots that were inspecting the equipment.

The camera continued to move closer, passing one unmanned factory after another, and finally stopped at a maintenance workshop near the excavation site.

This is a video of the construction of the Guanghan Palace base released online by Peace Media. There is no sound or narration throughout the video, as if to tell the audience that there is also silence on the moon.

In contrast, CCTV News featured a special report on the topic.

Instead of releasing such a long video, they selected and displayed some video footage based on the content of the report.

Although Japan, Europe, and magnesium have launched three lunar probes to Mars, the matter is still being debated.

After the video of the Guanghan Palace base construction was released, many comments refuting Japan, Europe, and the United States appeared online.

For example, lunar probes can only take pictures of the lunar surface, not the underground construction of the Guanghan Palace base; if the Chinese mainland's intrusion into the lunar probes of Japan, Europe, and the United States was to prevent them from orbiting the moon and taking pictures of the Guanghan Palace base, then why were the construction videos of the Guanghan Palace base made public?

Why was it made public?

Zhang Heping gave the capital a very high-sounding reason: to enhance national cohesion and national self-confidence!

But Hua Lao, Yang Lao, and others all knew that Zhang Heping was creating anxiety and fear among foreigners again!

Because of this, Europe, the United States, and other countries were greatly stimulated and held emergency meetings to discuss the various technologies revealed in the video of the construction of the Guanghan Palace base!

However, the most anticipated features—the helium-3 controlled nuclear fusion power plant, the gravity system, and the defense system—were not shown in the video.

In the 1960s and 70s, there were only two players on the stage of the space race: the USS John S. Smith and the USS John Bauer.

In today's space race, although countries such as Japan, Europe, and the United States are involved, China is the only major player!
Because the total number of satellites from all other countries combined is less than half the number of satellites from mainland China.

The news about the lunar base, which began to circulate on September 18, greatly stimulated the American people. Many members of Congress, in discussions with the National Science Committee, expressed their hope that the lunar base plan could be implemented immediately to ensure that the United States would not fall too far behind in the space race!
Coinciding with this year's US presidential election, both candidates gave speeches stating that if elected, they would do their utmost to ensure that the United States takes the lead in the space race.

In order to secure space cooperation from mainland China and obtain a low-priced Lifespan 120 drug, Xiao Ke actually visited mainland China during a crucial period of campaigning.

Unfortunately, Guangdong Province was hit by a typhoon, so Xiao Ke couldn't go to Shenzhen, and Zhang Heping didn't have time to deal with him either.

However, Xiao Ke's visit wasn't without its benefits.

This guy verbally conceded some tariff benefits and promised to expedite China's accession to the WTO, which earned him some official responses.

For example, encouraging and supporting the strengthening of exchanges and advancements in aerospace, medicine, machinery, and other technologies between the two countries.

After receiving this reply, Xiao Ke ended his trip to mainland China and went back to continue campaigning.

While the mainland's true intention was to encourage and support domestic companies to exchange technologies with US companies in fields such as aerospace and medicine, it did not promise to facilitate such exchanges.

To put it simply, I support your cooperation, but whether or not you can cooperate is up to you to discuss.

Will the Peace Group open up its aerospace, medical, and other technologies to US companies?

Judging from the fact that Thailand, the Philippines, India, and Malaysia have all been attacked by international speculators, the US is no benevolent country, not to mention the many grudges between the Peace Group and the US!

……

"Honey, Thailand has abandoned the fixed exchange rate system!" As soon as Chen Shuting received the news, she immediately called Zhang Heping.

"Hmm!" Zhang Heping's voice came from the other end of the phone, his tone flat. "Our group has a lot of magnesium reserves, so we're not afraid of them attacking the Hong Kong dollar's linked exchange rate. Just keep an eye on the Hong Kong stock market!"

"Okay, honey!" Chen Shuting replied with a smile, "Are you busy in the lab right now?"

Zhang Heping casually said on the other end of the phone, "Just came out, about to go to the lecture hall to see the training over there!" The couple exchanged a few words and then hung up the phone to go about their own business, seemingly not taking those international speculators seriously.

The reason Zhang Heping and Chen Shuting were so calm was that Chen Shuting listened to her husband and amassed hundreds of billions of US dollars in liquid funds, making her unafraid of those scattered and disorganized individuals.

With the Thai baht depreciating against the US dollar, Thailand's foreign exchange and other financial markets are in complete chaos!
The financial markets of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia were also affected, triggering the Southeast Asian financial crisis!
Chairman He, Chairman Guo, and the ship king approached Chen Shuting to discuss how to advance and retreat together.

A financial war targeting Hong Kong stocks and the Heping Group has begun in Zhang Heping's absence!
……

September 27th has quietly arrived, the Mid-Autumn Festival!
Most of the staff at the World Institute of Advanced Technology are on holiday!
Taking this opportunity, Zhang Heping led the active-duty personnel and trainees of the Space Force to visit the construction command center of the Lunar Palace Base in the underground base, the Lunar Engineering Department, and the Dapeng Peninsula.

Finally, he gathered these people together in the indoor stadium.

"I've been quite busy lately and haven't had much interaction with everyone!" Zhang Heping held the microphone, stood in the middle of the arena, and slowly looked at the people in the audience, who were all his soldiers.

"The reason I took you on this tour today is twofold: first, to let you know about some of the advanced technologies our country currently possesses; and second, to give you more motivation in the subsequent selection and training!"

"Also, the Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. Everyone take a break, make a phone call home, or write a letter or send a telegram. Political Commissar Chen will tell you the specifics later."

"I won't go into the rest. Everyone has signed a confidentiality agreement and has been here for so long. If you have any questions, you can ask them now."

After he finished speaking, the indoor gymnasium fell silent.

The soldiers in both the male and female formations sat ramrod straight, none of them daring to utter a sound.

Zhang Heping walked around the arena for a short while, then picked up the microphone again and said, "If there are no further questions, I'll hand the microphone over to Political Commissar Chen!"

"Report, sir!" Xiao Zhou, the former brigade commander in charge of the military aerospace force, stood up straight and asked, "May I ask you anything?"

Zhang Heping smiled and said, "You can ask me anything. I will answer according to the level of confidentiality, so that you won't become more and more confused as you train!"

"Excuse me, sir!" Brigade Commander Xiao Zhou asked loudly, "Will we be stationed at a lunar base in the future?"

"Yes!" Zhang Heping said with a smile, "After the Moon Palace Base and the Mars Mars Base are completed, we will send people to be stationed there!"

"However, there are two forms of stationing. One is the remote robot control mode that you just saw in the Lunar Engineering Department, which will become the mainstream; the other is that you will station there yourself, and your personal wishes will be respected."

After Brigade Commander Xiao Zhou started the conversation, the other soldiers dared to stand up and ask questions.

"Sir, with so many impact craters on the moon, isn't the Guanghan Palace base afraid of meteorite impacts?"

"The Guanghan Palace base is building a defense system that is resistant to meteorite impacts!"

"Sir, there are so many training courses in the virtual dream world, will we be able to use them in the future?"

"Are you trying to say that robot operators only need to learn how to operate robots, and that learning anything else is a waste of time? Before answering your question, I need to ask you, how many people do you think our space force will have after it is developed? How many non-commissioned officers and officers will be needed?"

……

After answering a long list of questions, Zhang Heping handed the microphone to Chen Mo, the political commissar of the Space Force.

Political Commissar Chen didn't say much. He gave a few simple instructions and then dismissed everyone, leaving only the non-commissioned officers and officers to continue the meeting, and also to introduce Zhang Heping to them.

It's been almost two months since the Space Force was established, and this is the first time Zhang Heping has met all these sergeants and officers.

After finishing his official business, Zhang Heping finally went home to celebrate the holiday.

To his surprise, his mistress Chen Shuting returned today with some cultural relics, which were said to be from the Eagle Museum in the Eagle Kingdom.

As for the purpose of the Americans' move, it is nothing more than to try to get closer to each other and then seek some cooperation.

However, they failed to realize that they were the ones who looted those cultural relics!

Besides, Zhang Heping wasn't interested in cultural relics and donated them to the Palace Museum immediately... (End of Chapter)