America: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 333 I don't have a smaller warship than this.

Zhang Ailun, riding a speedboat, distanced himself from the explosion's epicenter. He felt the violent underwater explosion, which created a whirlpool and caused the speedboat to rock violently. Oxygen bubbles were spewed onto the sea surface.

Once everything had calmed down, the mercenaries resumed their underwater radar surveillance. The previously conspicuous signal from the opposite sex had disappeared, indicating that the enemy had been successfully eliminated!

White Wolf breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help cursing, "These damned guys are everywhere, they even thought of using submarines to monitor the island."

Zhang Ailun didn't say much, only instructing, "Have someone put on a diving suit and go down to check."

White Wolf immediately had two mercenaries who were good swimmers put on frogman diving suits and oxygen tanks, and then plunged into the water.

After more than ten minutes, the two men swam up from the water, each holding a piece of sheet metal and a crooked turbine fan with some writing on it.

After climbing aboard the yacht, soaking wet, he said, "We found a small civilian submarine made by Scubapro down there. The two pilots have been confirmed dead. These are some damaged submarine parts we found."

Zhang Ailun took a look and confirmed that it was indeed a brand company that provided diving designs for the US Navy. They also had a lot of civilian submarine equipment, but the submarines were generally quite expensive, costing several million US dollars.

Nodding to confirm that the enemy had been dealt with by the deep-sea bomb, he immediately gave the order to return home.

The mercenaries drove two speedboats away from the nearby shallow waters and returned to the southern port.

After landing on the island, Zhang Ailun also ordered the mercenaries to strengthen the monitoring of the coastline, and summoned the captain and chief sergeant of the combat ship, instructing him to gather manpower to prepare for the littoral combat ship's voyage. Only then did he drive back to the villa area, and incidentally asked Gwen to inform the head chef John to prepare lunch.

After lunch and a cup of hot tea, around noon, Boketu arrived at Jehovah Island in a Black Hawk helicopter, landing at the airport and bringing the leader sea mines, spy balloons, and some clay explosives.

Upon learning of his arrival, Zhang Ailun left the mountain villa by car and headed to the airport to meet him. After getting out of the car, he saw the mines and spy balloons that had been removed by the Beggar Clan disciples.

The mine looks like a hedgehog, about the size of a human head, and is equipped with a radar signal receiver, a fuse and a triggering pin. It is filled with TNT explosives and will detonate upon collision. The explosion can also be manually controlled.

Although not particularly powerful, their sheer number was overwhelming. Densely packed underwater, even a real submarine or a large black fish would be blown to pieces if it accidentally triggered the mine trap.

The leader immediately handed the equipment to White Wolf, instructing him to lead his men to drop mines in the shallow waters of the nearby bay. He himself stayed behind, directing the Beggars' Sect disciples to launch spy balloons filled with hydrogen.

Spy balloons are typically made of lightweight and durable materials, such as nylon or polyester fiber. They consist of two parts: the upper part can be filled with hydrogen to ascend, while the lower basket contains reconnaissance equipment and communication systems, including clay explosives for self-destruction.

The equipment includes high-resolution cameras, infrared scanners, radar, and other devices, used to collect images, videos, and other intelligence information about the target area.

It also includes turbofan motor remote control equipment and automatic navigation system, which can control a certain movement trajectory and emergency landing, and can ascend to an altitude of 8000-4 meters.

After arriving at a suitable island highland for launching balloons, Zhang Ailun took out a high-powered telescope and pointed to the small black dots in the sky. "See those balloons? Blow them all up!"

Boketu nodded, glanced at the spy balloon ten thousand meters in the sky through the telescope, and immediately began to manually operate it with the Beggars' Sect disciples, filling the spy balloon, connecting the signal device, and after it was inflated to its maximum size, they cut the rope and let it fly into the sky.

Dozens of spy balloons quickly rose into the air, soon becoming out of reach. The Beggars' Sect disciples also took out their computers, connected to communication equipment, and their cameras transmitted back footage, enabling them to monitor the ground.

The 4K camera's view overlooked the island's ground, quickly revealing its entire outline. Then the image became smaller and smaller, and soon the spy balloon's camera flew to altitudes of 5000 meters, 6000 meters, 8000 meters, and 10,000 meters!

The images also showed the silhouettes of more than a dozen spy balloons.

The other side's cameras were still swaying left and right, conducting high-altitude surveillance of the island. When they spotted a spy balloon in the same location, they immediately took pictures and transmitted the images back.

"Boss, apart from surveillance cameras, the enemy's spy balloons are basically unequipped; their purpose is simply to conduct surveillance," the Beggar Clan disciple replied.

"Never mind all that, just maneuver our balloons to crash into it and pop it!"

Zhang Ailun glanced at the footage transmitted from the camera. The enemy spy balloon had spotted our spy balloon, and instead of running away, it was slowly floating around, taking pictures. How could anyone tolerate this?

Crush it!

The Beggars' Sect disciple immediately activated the control system, and the spy balloon changed its floating direction, heading straight for the other party, crashing into it head-on as it approached.

The other party seemed to realize that the newcomer was hostile and turned to run, but perhaps due to a problem with their equipment, their movement speed was too slow, and they didn't have time to dodge.

The two collided high in the air, and the clay explosive trigger installed below the spy balloon immediately exploded, causing the transmitted image to go black instantly.

Looking through the telescope, flames could be seen high above. The enemy's spy balloon had been successfully blown apart by clay explosives. Tiny fragments fell from the sky and then drifted into the sea with the wind.

Zhang Ailun nodded in satisfaction when he saw that the method was indeed effective.

This is arguably the most cost-effective way to strike enemy spy balloons; otherwise, air-to-air missiles would be needed to destroy them, which would cost at least several million dollars.

In the following time, the Beggars' Sect disciples used the same trick again, taking turns to blow up the spy balloons at designated locations. The camera feeds on the computer screens went black one by one, and explosions occurred frequently in the high sky, like fireworks. The small black dots disappeared one by one with flashes of light and fell down. In the end, only the leader's spy balloon remained in the high sky.

"How long can these spy balloons stay up there at most?" Zhang Ailun also inquired about relevant information from Boketu.

"Boss, although these spy balloons are all disposable, they are made of nylon fabric. If they are out of control, they can fly as far as half the Earth. If they are suspended in one place for a long time, they can last up to four months," Boketu replied.

He then asked, "Do we need to activate the self-destruct program?"

"No need, just let them stay up there. They can also monitor the situation in the nearby sea and transmit information back in real time." Zhang Ailun immediately handed over the important task of operating the spy balloons to the Beggar Clan disciples.

Although the mission could be accomplished using private satellites, the spy balloons had already been purchased, and even after eliminating the enemy's spy balloons, there were still some left. Leaving them on board would allow them to monitor the surrounding waters and capture images of all ships sailing near Jehovah Island, just in case.

He took out his walkie-talkie and called Spike, asking if they were ready to set sail.

Spike, standing aboard the littoral combat ship, immediately replied, "Boss, we are ready to set sail and can depart at any time."

"Go and park the Black Hawk helicopter on the platform as well. We're heading out to take out some enemy supply ships," Zhang Ailun ordered.

Those flies buzz around the island all day long. If we don't teach them a lesson, they'll really think the Grand Master is someone to be trifled with.

He turned around, got into the pickup truck, and had the Beggars' Sect disciples drive him to the southern port.

They soon arrived at the southern port. After getting off the vehicle, Zhang Ailun saw that the pilot had already parked the Black Hawk helicopter on the platform of the littoral combat ship. He then led his men in small boats to approach the combat ship and boarded it.

"Boss, Captain Spike and the entire crew are reporting to you! We are at your command!" Spike ran over and saluted.

"No need to be so serious. Our operation this time won't stray too far from the island's waters, and we need to make it quick and decisive. Are the weapons and equipment on the warships in good condition?" Zhang Ailun said.

"Reporting to the captain, the ship's weapon systems, communication equipment, navigation systems, and propulsion systems are all functioning normally," Captain Spike officially replied.

"Set sail, depart," Zhang Ailun commanded. He also instructed the mercenaries and the Beggars' Sect disciples remaining on the island to continue performing their duties.

Captain Spike immediately gave the order, and the dozens of people on the warship began to mobilize, starting the engines in the cockpit. With a buzzing vibration, they turned around and sailed away from the port area.

"Boss, are we going on an exercise or a strike mission this time? Who is the target?" Spike asked as he returned with the sergeant.

"They are some international illegal organizations that have been harassing the security of my island. Just now, I worked with my team to shoot down one of their civilian submarines and a spy balloon overhead."

Zhang Ailun took out his phone and shared the coordinates with them. "This is the approximate location of their supply ship at sea, as well as the location where the hackers and gunmen are operating the spy balloons. There are dozens of people in total, but they are not together and their locations are quite scattered."

Spike said in surprise, "When we were patrolling yesterday, the radar showed that there were some ships in the nearby waters, but we spotted those pirate ships' speedboats and drove them away. We didn't have time to deal with them and thought they were just some passing merchant ships. I didn't expect them to be up to no good."

"We didn't notice the submarines, because they seem to have only been deployed to the area last night, and we haven't gone out to sea for patrols yet today."

This is because there are too few warships available to militarize and conduct regular patrols.

If the patrols are conducted in three shifts, the enemy will definitely not have any gaps to infiltrate.

But if there really are that many warships, who is the Grand Master guarding against? Does he really treat his island as a private country?

Solving this problem is quite simple.

"Once we get back, have White Wolf create a patrol schedule and have people drive speedboats to patrol the nearby waters day and night at irregular intervals."

Zhang Ailun said, "Once we take down these supply ships with our littoral combat ships, those guys will definitely give up on monitoring the islands for a while."

If we don't strike hard and teach them a lesson, those people will really think the Grand Master's warship is just a model toy. We need a sledgehammer to crack a nut! Because the Grand Master simply doesn't have a smaller warship.

Too many warships are expensive and not as cost-effective as speedboats. Even if a warship goes out for a short trip and does nothing, it can still cost tens of thousands of dollars.

There are also maintenance costs, food expenses, and wages. You really can't afford to play this game if you don't have money.

"Understood," Spike nodded in agreement.

Piloting the littoral combat ship, they sailed through the seas and quickly reached the designated area.

The sergeant detected the unusual signal source through radar and reported, "Captain! Boss! Something's up!"

"Call me Commander," Zhang Ailun said.

"Reporting, Commander! We have detected multiple radar signals in the nearby waters. Should we launch a long-range strike?" the sergeant asked.

"No need, Sergeant Major. Do you know the price of a single AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missile?" Zhang Ailun asked.

The sergeant was taken aback, wondering why the chief commander was asking such a question, but he still answered honestly, "Reporting to the commander, the Longbow Hellfire missile costs about $68000 per unit."

"That's right, $68000. That's enough to open a box for the King of Land Warfare! You want me to shoot down a few supply ships? They're not even worth as much as one of my missiles," Zhang Ailun said irritably.

He further advised, "No need to activate the fire control radar, just rush over and use their size to intimidate them!! If necessary, activate the Black Hawk helicopter and use speedboats to surround them and relay messages! If they don't understand human language, then give them an RPG rocket and wipe them out with 7.62mm machine guns!"

At least RPGs are cheap. The cheapest RPG-7 costs only $100 per rocket.

The more expensive Stinger costs $2. Export prices are generally around $5.

"Understood!!" The sergeant immediately issued the order.

The massive littoral combat ship approached menacingly.

At this moment, a civilian supply ship was still leisurely resting on the sea surface.

Inside the captain's cabin, the captain, Robinson, the notorious leader of an internationally infamous theft ring, was having an intimate conversation with a Latina female team member. The Spanish theme song from a pay-per-view program was playing from inside the cabin, and the table was shaking violently with a loud clatter.

The hacker team member sat in the ship's radar room, monitoring the images on the radar. Finding no response, he yawned out of boredom.

A group of men on deck were playing cards and drinking, each with an AK-47 hanging around their necks. One of them, having won a game with a particularly good hand, couldn't help but burst into laughter, shouting, "I fucking won! Twenty times the prize money! Give me the cash!!"

"You got lucky this time!" muttered the person next to him, then retorted defiantly, "Let's try again!!"

"Come on... wait, what's that?" The team members rolled up their sleeves, ready to get to work, when they looked up and suddenly saw a small dark shape appearing on the horizon.

He rubbed his eyes, took out his binoculars, and peered through them. He couldn't help but gasp in shock, "A warship!!"