Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1296 The Age of Exploration? (4k)

It's like you're annoyed by someone playing a short video on their phone, so you blast a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) through a super loud speaker to drown it out. The other person's song is still playing, but they can't hear it at all.

And this way, there will be no leaks.

For most people, understanding how frequency hopping works, from where to where, and when to hop is not easy; otherwise, frequency hopping encryption would be meaningless.

However, determining the specific points where frequency hopping will occur is relatively easy.

Regarding the full-band suppression used, the other party had no idea that the frequency hopping encryption had been cracked, let alone that the entire encryption method had been compromised.

Then the situation quickly shifted to the question of what song to play.

"March?"

"Forget it, they don't deserve to hear this, and they don't understand it anyway."

"A large chorus?"

"No, this isn't suitable. If the enemy is the Japanese, then we'll use this."

"In that case, none of these places on the Songhua River are suitable."

"Yes, there's a certain degree of consideration when it comes to what kind of people listen to what kind of songs."

"The Newspaper Boy's Song?"

"No, you're actually going to provide them with entertainment?"

"..."

After discussing it, one of the comrades laughed and said, "I have an idea. Let's play these two for them; they'll definitely remember them. They'll understand the first one perfectly, and the second one is specifically designed to target them. With these two swords combined, they'll be invincible!"

As for when the phrase "two swords combined are invincible" originated, comrades are not sure. After all, martial arts novels appeared earlier here, and some people even stopped writing martial arts novels and switched to saving the country.

However, the comrades understood what he meant, and when they heard his idea, they all cheered.

"Great, this is awesome!"

"Hey, the second one sounds nice, and it's also suitable for them."

"Just do it!"

"But... I guess we can't find that one anymore?"

The comrades on the ship work at sea for a long time, so there are quite a few entertainment options available. Especially given the relatively advanced state of consumer electronics in China, the song mentioned later isn't hard to find; the comrades remember hearing it on the ship's loudspeaker these past few days.

But the first one isn't so easy. Anyone can understand it at a glance, and many can even hum the tune fluently. However, not many people listen to it regularly, mainly because its purpose is very specific and the tune is quite monotonous.

"Hey, you're worrying for nothing. Who are we? We're the Navy! No problem, we'll record a clip right now!"

A few minutes later, a burst of noise suddenly came through the radio of the US Navy ship, which was trying to coordinate the fleet, and nothing else could be heard.

Is it noise? Is it that loud?
Unencrypted broadcasts sound the same on encrypted radio stations.

"Could it be a key switch? I didn't receive a switch request." The Citibank communications soldier adjusted the equipment in confusion, but the problem persisted.

"Get it done quickly!"

The communications soldier tried turning off the encryption mode, and it worked, but not entirely.

A voice came through the radio that was unfamiliar to ordinary Americans, but relatively familiar to the American military.

"Tick-tock~ Tick-tock~ Tick-tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock~~~~~~"

This sound made the American men on the ship's scalps tingle and their hair stand on end!
It's not because of some other sound coming from their radio station; they haven't thought that far ahead yet.

It's because this voice is very familiar to the American troops deployed around East Asian countries in the 50s and 60s. After all, the American troops were still well-trained back then, and they would explain everything that needed to be explained. However, when they were deployed around us, one thing that had to be clearly explained was when we might be attacked.

—The bugle call to charge!

This simple yet stirring tune is very familiar to the American people who once fought against us on the peninsula, and their reaction is somewhat reactive.

Fortunately, these are all at sea. If it were one of their army units, their first reaction upon hearing this bugle call would probably be to fire two shots first.

"...Easterners are accustomed to launching attacks at night and from unexpected places. They always launch a fierce assault on us accompanied by a piercing horn blast..." This is a quote from their memoirs. To the enemy, the horn blast was naturally jarring.

After being terrified, the enemy realized that the sound was definitely the work of an Easterner.

But before they could figure out why an Eastern voice was playing on this channel, the bugle call, after repeating itself several times, was replaced by a beautiful female voice that was both melodious and strong.

"A great river flows wide..."

"..."

"If the jackal comes, it will be met with a hunting rifle."

"This is great..."

"..."

Citizens couldn't understand it, but they always felt that the beautiful melody and singing carried a power that made them tremble with fear.

They looked at each other in bewilderment. In fact, it wasn't just them; the same message was ringing from the radios of the entire fleet.

"Notify the fleet to slow down!" the Citizens commander ordered, wiping away cold sweat.

"Communications are being suppressed, Commander."

"Then switch to the backup channel! Simultaneously go outside and have the signalman use flag signals!!! You idiot!"

Shortly after the Citizens communications officer sent out the order after switching to the backup channel, a "tick-tock..." sound rang out again on the radio.

For spectrum analysis equipment, if you don't need to decrypt the data and just want to find new communication frequency bands, it's almost an instantaneous process.

"SOB!! Flag signal! Flag signal!" At this point, it was no longer a radio problem, but rather that the command needed to be sent out immediately, otherwise, problems would arise.

It must be said that Citibank's commander's professional skills are still top-notch; what he feared is indeed happening.

Not all ships realize the problem and find a solution. The operation of switching to a backup channel is not so standardized, especially the ships they bring. Some of them don't even know that this operation is possible. After all, technology is not entirely in the hands of civilized people.

The order to slow down was received by less than half of the ships, and some warships didn't even receive it.

If some cyclists in a group of bicycles moving forward suddenly change speed, the consequences are obvious.

Normally, the spacing between ships in a fleet can solve this problem, but the problem is that the spacing between ships in this fleet is abnormal!
Not long ago, the Citizens commander issued an order to regroup the fleet in order to have other ships act as shields for the warships, which slightly amplified the consequences of inconsistent actions.

"They're crazy!! Why are they slowing down?!"

"Get out of the way!!"

"Left full rudder, left full rudder!!"

"Break! Hold on tight!"

"..."

A boat isn't something you can just stop or turn at will, because it's in water. Almost all collisions between boats happen right before your eyes; you see it, you try your best, but there's nothing you can do.

Several accidents occurred between ships. Although not many, the chaotic scene made the signalman on the flagship, who was trying his best, look unusually comical.

"Order all ships to stop immediately!" The commander of the US fleet, who was watching this scene from the bridge, had no choice but to issue a second order.

Sending flag signals takes time, and for a moment the formation commander felt as if he had returned to the seas of the Age of Exploration.

"Raise signal flags and let the warships follow us!" Flag signals and signal flags are two different things, but warships can definitely understand signal flags.

Amidst the chaos, eight US Navy ships broke free from the entanglement of other transport vessels and slowly moved forward.

Not far ahead, they could already see the four suddenly appearing maritime targets that the patrol plane had mentioned through their binoculars.

Those are four corner reflectors!
Corner reflectors? Why would an Asian throw four of these things here? Knowing full well that close contact is possible, corner reflectors won't fool anyone in this situation; instead, they'll only expose their own guilty conscience.

No, Easterners wouldn't do that. They have their pride, and even if they wanted to use tactical deception, they wouldn't use such a stupid method.

For us, the Americans, or at least the American military, still maintained enough respect. That's what you call respect earned through fighting. It's five stars in terms of difficulty, but the effect is also five stars.

What are they trying to do?
Just then, an English announcement came over another radio station that broadcast maritime public channels.

The accent was a bit strange, but I could understand it. In any case, the accents of East Asians are still much better than those of Indians or Japanese...

Just as he thought of this, he suddenly realized that this was an Easterner issuing a warning or notification. He listened carefully and then panicked.

"Holy shit!!! Sea training! Easterners are training at sea!!! Stop the ship!!!" He grabbed the microphone from the maritime public channel and shouted the order.

Only then did he remember that, damn it, there was also a maritime public channel available. Easterners are very particular and did not use this channel to play horns or songs.

He did this for two reasons. First, the order to stop the ship was no longer necessary to keep secret under the current circumstances.

Secondly, the order to stop the ship must be issued and executed immediately and as quickly as possible.

He already knew what those four corner reflectors were for; they were four targets, targets used by the Easterners for maritime training!

If our fleet advances further, the signal might overlap with the corner reflector ahead, making it a target in the eyes of radar. In that case, it's hard to say who will be attacked.

They knew perfectly well that their own warships had a much stronger signal than those corner reflectors, and with current radar technology, the probability of their fleet's ships being selected by radar was much higher. Even though they were still several kilometers away from those corner reflector targets, he didn't dare to gamble.

Moreover, he was well aware that while he didn't know how accurate the enemy's naval artillery was, their missiles were incredibly accurate!
If we knew his true feelings, I reckon our naval comrades would tell him, "It's definitely true, absolutely true."

However, he was overthinking it. With the radar on our aircraft now, distinguishing them from corner reflectors is a piece of cake; we absolutely won't make a mistake. If we say we'll shoot down a reflector, we'll shoot down a reflector; if necessary, if we say we'll shoot down a ship, we'll definitely shoot down a ship.

"Four of their large targets have broken formation," came the voice of a Citibank patrol aircraft on the maritime public channel.

The patrol aircraft's encrypted radio wasn't very effective either. Although the distance was greater and the jamming effect was weaker, they could still recognize that they were being blocked and interfered with, and then switched to using the maritime public channel.

If even he himself couldn't handle such a long distance, he could naturally imagine what the situation was like with the fleet on the sea.

"Four aircraft?" This news made the Citizens squadron commander a little nervous, but also somewhat relieved.

Based on previous estimates of the anti-ship missile capabilities of the East, the amount of ammunition carried by a medium or larger bomber is theoretically sufficient to severely damage or even sink two or fewer warships.

So the fact that the other side sent out four ships seemed to be just enough to deal with the eight ships he had, and this numerical coincidence made him somewhat uneasy.

However, considering the combat habits of Easterners, who have always concentrated their superior forces to annihilate themselves... ah, I mean... annihilate their opponents in one fell swoop, in this situation, if the other side really wants to do them a disservice, then their more than 10 large aircraft will most likely be deployed, or at least more than 8.

"It's better to break one finger than to injure all ten," is an original saying from the East.

Moreover, the enemy had deployed four bombers, but there were also four targets at sea, and this numerical match reassured him somewhat.

"The air force should advance a little, but not beyond the naval fleet." After thinking it over, he felt it was better to be conservative. Previous experience had shown that as long as they didn't go too far, the other side would be reasonable.

At sea, less than 20 kilometers away from them, our fleet commander heard the American's explicit orders through a translator, which reminded him of an old friend who was "unimpeded".

“The other side seems a bit guilty. Come on, give them some reassurance and make them behave.” The formation commander smiled as he wrote a line and handed it to the translator.

"...We are conducting routine, planned maritime training. Please stay away from the training area and do not approach the target; otherwise, you will bear the consequences..."

Listening to the slightly accented English coming from the maritime radio, the commander of the US fleet breathed a sigh of relief. Although the last sentence sounded very tough, it at least showed that the other party had no interest in his small fleet.

It seems that the other party has also shown him respect, which is the only thing that has brought him some comfort so far in carrying out this mission.

Thinking of this, he felt a pang of sadness. How long ago was it that he had subconsciously considered a fleet of eight destroyers and frigates, capable of dominating the Asia-Pacific region after S2, as a "small fleet"?

This made Citizens feel somewhat uncomfortable.

However, once you've done something the first time, the rest is much easier, and you'll gradually get used to it.

(End of this chapter)