"We really underestimated them. Similarly, we also underestimated Connett too much."
"I originally thought that he was very experienced in manipulating public opinion, and I intended to let him perform this not-too-difficult task, but I didn't expect it. I can only say that our opponent is very powerful."
"I suspect that they have established a professional consultant team, and their comprehensive capabilities and authority should be at the same level as ours."
"Otherwise, they would not have been able to organize such a ferocious counterattack in such a short period of time."
In the reception room of the May Meeting, Paine listened to Houston's report, his face full of decay and death, and the cigar between his fingers was gradually extinguished, but he seemed not to notice it.
It wasn't until the long ash fell that he sat up straight as if he had just woken up from a dream.
Then, he nodded and said:
"It is true that we were too careless this time, but Connett's betrayal is still unforgivable."
"Think of a way to make this person disappear from the world."
After hearing his words, Houston shook his head helplessly and said:
"Don't be ridiculous. The place he is in now is probably one of the safest places in the world - a prison in China."
"If you want him to disappear, you either have to push the other party to give him the death penalty, or you have to wait for him to be released after being imprisoned for decades. What's the point in that?"
"Besides, we can't allocate so much energy to take care of his affairs now. There are still a lot of messes waiting for us to clean up."
Paine couldn't help but sigh again. This failure not only caused heavy losses to him, the May Party, and ADM, but even the country itself was greatly affected.
The originally forward-moving pace was blocked, not to mention the resources and funds lost, just in terms of prestige, it was already weakened.
Even some small countries that were originally under their own food territory have begun to secretly contact COFCO.
What they want to do is self-evident.
After a moment of silence, Paine asked:
"What is our loss this time?"
"What do you want to talk about first?"
"Do you still care about this? Just start anywhere."
Houston shook his head helplessly and replied:
"Let's start with ADM."
"First of all, ADM China has actually suffered heavy losses. We originally planned to expand into the Chinese market after this operation, but obviously, this plan failed."
"Not only has the other party's market not been vacated, it has become more stable."
"As for ADM? Their estimated capital losses are almost US$4 billion, of which direct losses due to market fluctuations have reached US$2.7 billion."
"Their entire year's cash flow has been ruined. Even if they can stay in China, they can no longer participate in any transactions. At most, they can only maintain basic business operations."
"In addition, the situation in the Argentine market is more severe."
"ADM probably never dreamed that the Chinese would reverse the trading order and directly use 'magnitude' to overwhelm them."
"If we raise the price, they will ship the goods; if we lower the price, they will sell the goods."
“I have chips and funds, so what can I do?”
"The most ridiculous thing is that all the bargaining chips that COFCO bought at low prices in the final stage were shipped to Argentina, sweeping away the market system that ADM had finally built there."
"In short, the Argentine market is almost rotten now. COFCO's white gloves are taking over everywhere, and Atanor is also gradually expanding."
"If this trend cannot be stopped, we will lose this important outpost."
Upon hearing this, Paine's hand tightly grasped the cup in his hand, as if he wanted to crush it.
After a long time, he took a long breath and asked:
"What about ourselves? Let's not talk about ADM!"
"Our own investment of .3 billion only recovered 1.1 billion. This has been the most failed decision in recent years."
"In addition, our main objective has also completely failed."
"Not only has the opponent's fighter jet project not been affected in any way, but it has also added a huge amount of funds."
"And, through this game, their arms sales system has been further improved."
"In the past, their markets were only the Middle East and Southeast Asia. From this time on, South America has also become their customer."
"Judging from the J-8 III's recent flight performance, they are not joking. This is indeed a second-generation aircraft that is extremely close to a third-generation aircraft."
"The military predicts that the battle loss ratio of the J-8 III against the F-16 will be about 6:1, while the predicted battle loss ratio of the J-8 II is 16:1 - and the J-8 III is even just an export model. fighter."
"Once the J-10 variant is put into mass production, once the J-22 is put into mass production, our advantage in the air will be completely lost."
Houston's tone was heavy. In fact, he did not expect that things would develop to such an unpredictable extent.
In the original plan, even if the other party was allowed to continue conducting research, as long as the funding chain was strangled, it would be enough to slow down their progress.
After all, this is a process of chasing each other. If you can develop, won’t we?
But now, this strategy has completely failed.
Because the opponent is too fast and has a tendency to overtake.
Paine's condition was even more serious - his facial features were twisted together, and it seemed that he was about to die of a myocardial infarction in the next second.
After taking several breaths, Pan finally recovered.
He asked weakly:
"What about the progress of radar? How effective are we in striking this area?"
". Nothing works. It's inherently difficult and we can't find an entry point at all."
"In fact, they not only built a reverberatory furnace, but also recently broke through the technical difficulties of single crystal furnaces."
"At least in the field of radar-related semiconductors, we can no longer stop them."
".Damn Connett, what has he done!"
Paine shouted angrily.
Looking at his reaction, Houston hesitated for a moment, and finally said:
"Actually, you can't blame Connett for this."
"Our strategic focus from the beginning has not been on suppressing the opponent's phased array radar development. Instead, we have focused more on anti-stealth radar."
"So, it should be true that it has no effect - but at least from now on, the development of their anti-stealth radar has indeed been restricted, which can be considered good news."
"They have no opportunity to import, and key technologies have been closed to them. At least for the next ten years, they will not have the opportunity to make a breakthrough."
Finally waiting for the good news, Paine's expression softened a little.
He frowned and remained silent for a long time, and then asked:
"Is there any other news? Let's finish it all at once."
Houston shook his head and replied:
"That's it for now. It's bad enough."
"It's really bad enough on the Congress side that it's hard for us to account for it."
"Be prepared, maybe we are about to face the most serious storm in recent years. Whether it is you, me, or the brothers on the front line, it will be a difficult time."
"But we cannot retreat, because once we retreat, the foundation we have built up with great difficulty will be destroyed."
"We must launch new operations as soon as possible."
Having said this, Paine paused for a moment, and then continued:
"The budget for the second half of the year should focus on intelligence work."
"We must build a more complete intelligence network at all costs to understand the movements on the other side."
"How can we respond correctly if we don't even know what they are doing?"
Houston nodded in agreement, but soon his expression darkened again.
This is indeed something that must be done.
But what must be done must be done well?
During this period of time, every technological breakthrough on the other side seemed to come out of thin air, and our dense intelligence network did not receive any news.
This is unreasonable and terrifying.
After all, to be able to achieve this level, either the other party's intelligence agency has developed to a level that is elusive to one's own side, or
It's just that they cheated.
And in a game without a manager, you can't punish a cheater.
Especially if you don't know how they cheated
(End of chapter)
