Siheyuan: I eat melons while doing scientific research

Chapter 1477 Upgrade Operation (3k)

And this new space is undoubtedly most suitable for people from the East.

It is large enough, strong enough, independent enough, and subtly does not belong to any party.

The man knew that the bear, who should have been closest to them, seemed to be acting strangely.

Seine was feeling extremely overwhelmed. Talking to these big shots was such a hassle; one question could lead you on a journey around the Palace of Fine Arts eight times.

The good news is that he now finally understands what this man is really thinking.

"I understand, sir. With your decision, leave the rest to me. I know what to do."

“Good that you understand, Mr. Sena. I hope you can turn this crack you’ve created into a passable path.” More paths would be better. Having already felt that Old Master Ou was becoming increasingly entangled and controlled by Citibank, he felt things shouldn’t be like this.

It's time to do something.

It's hard to say what he should do, but the Citizens he wants to deal with are certainly not idle right now.

To be precise, this guy is never idle; he always manages to come up with something big.

Laundry Village, inside White Hall.

"We believe that we must increase our investment in Vietnam." These were the words of a soldier from the General Staff Coordination Committee, and the person he was speaking to was none other than the leader.

The commander frowned: "Isn't the current investment enough?"

It's important to understand that they had already fully entered Vietnam along this route, and the scale of their investment at this point, in every aspect, exceeded the investment made during the same period on the original timeline.

"Yes, it's not enough," the association member replied firmly.

Although more resources were invested, the competitors were also stronger. It was as if the entire process was pushed forward by several years, and the competitors were not just a matter of pushing it forward by a few years.

"Have you calculated exactly how much you've spent?" The commander looked at the other party, his brows furrowing even more. "Mr. Smith, I know you're in a hurry, but hold on. The hole you've created in military operations costs is already big enough."

"We've calculated it, and that's precisely why we must increase our investment; otherwise, all our previous investments will be wasted on the monkeys in the jungle." The person from the association spoke eloquently, as if it made perfect sense, and even the examples he gave seemed to fit the actual situation of their operations.

However, this gentleman who participated in the association forgot one thing, or rather, he had never learned this at all.

When considering whether to continue a substandard project, you cannot calculate sunk costs, otherwise you will be led by the nose by sunk costs and eventually get into a deeper mess.

Applying this principle to our situation, a vivid example is the saying, "Since we're already here," meaning that when someone on the team says this, everyone else should think about it carefully.

However, that's all beside the point. It's not that no one present knew this simple truth, but for various reasons, none of them wanted to say it aloud.

After all, the bigger the cake, the more you can eat.

How do you plan to increase investment?

Seeing that no one objected, the commander had no choice but to ask the question. "Perhaps I should send an audit team to Jiaozhi to take a look," he thought viciously to himself as he asked, pinching his nose.

If the people attending the association could hear what he was thinking, they would surely laugh out loud. "Do as you please," they'd say, "I'd be surprised if their people even set foot on the soil of southern Vietnam." Even professional soldiers like us struggle to guarantee our own safety, let alone an auditing team with no fighting skills.
However, he did not have the ability to read minds, and instead began to answer the leader's questions.

"After analyzing the recent results of our operations, we believe that we must launch a long-term, low-cost strategic bombing campaign to deplete North Vietnam's strategic potential and destroy its economic capacity and ability to support the South."

If Gao Zhendong heard him, he would definitely laugh and say, "Oh, so this is Operation Rolling Thunder? It's been decades, how come you've become so lame?"

Unlike Gao Zhendong's previous life, on this line, due to the change in the timing of the full-scale intervention in Jiaozhi affairs, Operation Rolling Thunder, which was originally launched in March, was slightly delayed.

The others almost burst out laughing. How could the gentleman from the association put the three words "long-term," "strategy," and "low cost" together? The first two words, no matter which one, meant that the cost couldn't be low.

Later generations of military enthusiasts familiar with the various projects of the US military know that when they name a piece of equipment or a project "low cost," it means that it is a long-term, continuously costly, inevitably overspending, and expensive plan that may not achieve its goals.

This event is also documented in projects such as the Littoral Combat Ship and the Constellation Frigate.

But people nowadays don't know that. The commander simply raised his question: "Aren't you doing this right now?"

What's the meaning behind the substantial number of combat aircraft losses reported every week? Surely they can't all be taking kickbacks, can they?
When this was mentioned, the member of the association immediately demonstrated his professionalism: "We are indeed bombing important targets of the enemy, but that is tactical, targeting specific tactical objectives. All targets have clear tactical significance, and the main combat objectives are not aimed at the economy, industry, transportation, agriculture, etc., but rather at the purpose of combat operations. However, we have found that this approach is not very effective."

"Given the number of combat aircraft you lose every day, even if the bombs don't hit the target, those downed planes could still kill the enemy. Why is the effect still not good?" The commander couldn't help but use his taunt skill.

The association members seemed oblivious to the underlying meaning in his words, shrugging and saying, "Because these planes crashed before reaching their targets, otherwise they should have achieved the effect you described."

I wasn't praising you guys! The commander's face was visibly flushed.

Somewhat angry, he didn't even realize he was talking nonsense: "Then why did the plane crash prematurely?"

In advance? From what you're saying, all planes should automatically crash upon reaching their target area?
However, now is not the time to nitpick. The member of the association frowned: "Because they have the support of their friends and can receive a steady stream of aid, while we cannot launch an attack from the ground."

His mood was truly heavy. Even Smith, as a man, longed to win battles, and these two desires were not contradictory for them.

Citibank and the White Bear are truly a match made in heaven; they both chose the wrong opponent in the wrong place.

The former, in the Korean Peninsula and Annam, twice chose countries backed by us, fighting the two biggest wars they fought after the end of Season 2, and then fell into a trap. In fact, after Season 2, apart from gaining an advantage by bullying children and engaging in gang fights, they didn't win either of the two real hard-fought battles.

Punching the Nanshan Nursing Home and kicking the Beihai Kindergarten are examples of this.

Having learned from these two experiences, Citibank later chose a place to trick its opponent.

As for the polar bears, their situation was even worse. They fell into the pit once and never climbed out again, also choosing a place adjacent to us—the Imperial Graveyard.

His overall record was actually worse than the former. To be precise, after S2, apart from betraying his allies, he did not win any wars. He even rarely took action because he was too afraid. He was too badly hurt in S2.

The only place where they actually fought was the graveyard that led them all the way to their deaths. It's a situation where not fighting is a way to maintain appearances, but fighting exposes their weakness. This explains why, while they were swaggering and aggressive, they didn't dare to actually fight—afraid of revealing their vulnerability.

These three major battles since Season 2 reveal which opponent they chose that was the wrong one.

That's why, when he gave this reason, it was the only time the commander didn't mock or doubt him. Instead, he seemed to empathize with him and his expression turned serious: "So you're planning to expand the targets and scope of your attacks?"

"Yes, compared to focusing on key tactical targets, this open-ended attack prevents the enemy from taking care of all targets at once, increasing the success rate of the attack, slowly depleting the enemy's resources, and exhausting their war potential."

What he didn't finish saying was that, in fact, they had carried out similar operations before, such as ranch operations that primarily targeted crops.

However, his words did have some effect.

The leader understands that nine sausages cannot make ten hot dogs.

"So, you want permission to expand your attack range and broaden your attack targets? And you need the resources to carry out these attacks?"

"Yes."

"But have you considered whether this might anger the people in northern Jiaozhi?" This was the commander's biggest concern.

"We have assessed that as long as our large-scale ground troops do not set foot in northern Vietnam, the other side will not react excessively. They drew the bottom line, and we have abided by it. Given their style of doing things, they will not take the initiative to attack. Moreover, they also need time to develop their own economy."

It is clear that the people who came to this conclusion were not just members of the association; their efforts went beyond their professional capabilities.

Hearing the association's "bottom line theory," everyone present felt a bit aggrieved. When has our prestigious American Bank ever fought such a frustrating battle?
"Where's the evidence?" Theory is one thing, but evidence is still needed.

"The evidence is that when our air force entered the north, the other side did not directly participate. They only provided a certain amount of air defense capabilities under the guise of engineering units, demonstrating a principle of reciprocal upgrading."

This tactic of reciprocal countermeasures is something we're all too familiar with.

"How do you know that after we upgrade our air strike capabilities, the other side won't upgrade in return? As far as I know, their air defense capabilities were the biggest source of our air power losses in the past."

(End of this chapter)