West Sea, near Liumen Reef.
Two fishing boats and a small sand dredger are carrying out reclamation and island building operations.
The "fisherman" in charge of leading the team is named Ding Wen'an. His true identity is a sergeant in a certain Annan unit. He is also a well-known figure among the lower ranks of the navy.
Therefore, being sent to the sea to fill the island actually made him feel a little uncomfortable in his heart.
What he longs for is a real battle - even though the whole Annan is now frightened, he still feels that those so-called fourth-generation fighter jets are nothing more than paper tigers.
He had seen those fighter jets taking off from a distance. Their vertical take-off and landing efficiency was very low, and their defenses were almost non-existent.
If one's side can seize the opponent's opportunity to take off through close observation, and then use frogmen to carry portable air defense missiles, it can destroy a so-called fourth-generation aircraft with just one shot.
This tactic does not need to consider the impact of the opponent's radar, and the cost is very low.
Even if it fails, it will only result in the loss of a few worthless soldiers at most.
——
No, it doesn't even require losing soldiers.
If it fails, the attackers will definitely not be soldiers, but angry civilians
This is the perfect plan.
But why, the superiors just don’t agree?
Ding Wen'an was confused, but couldn't resist, so he could only lead other "fishermen" to build islands in the sea day after day.
Fortunately, this work was not meaningless. In more than a year, they built more than a dozen islands of various sizes on the sea.
The area of these islands is far smaller than that of Treasure Island. Let alone the airport, most of them are difficult to even build a helicopter pad.
But he is confident that as long as they develop slowly, these small islands will eventually build bases and ports and become the front line against China.
However, this future seems a bit far away.
Thinking of this, Ding Wen'an sighed and said to the busy fishermen:
"Speed up, we don't have much time!"
"In two hours, it will be the other party's routine patrol time."
"If you don't want to get into trouble, just finish the job quickly!"
"Someone will come over tomorrow to check. If the goal is not achieved, all of us will not be able to live well!"
Hearing his words, the fishermen immediately sped up their movements, and even the roar of the engine of the small sand dredger became louder, but the expression of the adjutant beside them changed.
He looked at Ding Wen'an with a grimace and said:
"Sir, it's not that we don't want to hurry. The tasks assigned by our superiors have been too heavy recently, right?"
"We only have seven or eight hours a day to create fifty square meters of ground. How is this possible?"
"Even if there is a dredger, the efficiency cannot be as fast as that."
"You also know that the water depth here is relatively deep, and the dredger is not very useful."
Hearing his words, Ding Wen'an couldn't help but sigh.
Yes, this kind of small dredger is really not very useful.
If you really want to bring fundamental changes to your own island-building work, you have to use giant sand dredgers like those Chinese people.
——
My own country originally had a giant sand dredger, the Haiyan.
It is a pity that on the first day of launching, the "Petrel" was severely damaged during the confrontation with the Chinese Whale.
Not only did it break down on the spot, but even after finally escaping, it has not yet been restored to function.
The reason is also very simple - all those damn foreign engineers have evacuated Vietnam. No matter how threatened or tempted the military is, they are unwilling to set foot in Vietnam again and only agree to provide remote technical guidance.
But what can the foreign engineers in the shipyard do?
I heard that when the ship was being built, they were only focused on making money and did not learn any real skills at all.
Now they need to get started with the operation, and it is normal to make a mess.
When you are in a high position, you must shoot these people!
——
Of course it's not because they are greedy, Ding Wen'an himself is also greedy.
It's because they are greedy and do nothing!
Ding Wen'an clenched his fists, glanced around, then took off his pants and walked into the water with the adjutant.
I have no choice but to do it myself.
Fortunately, he is not a pampered young soldier. Although he is unwilling to do such dirty work, he often does it when the task is urgent.
Now that I do it, I don’t feel embarrassed at all.
However, whether it is difficult is one thing, and whether it is hard work is another matter.
The midday sun was extremely scorching. Even wearing a straw hat, he felt his head getting hot one after another, and he could only keep soaking the straw hat to cool down.
As a result, the evaporated seawater left behind salt, which turned the hair into hard lumps and the scalp began to become dry, cracked and stinging, which was unbearable.
As the angle of the sun decreases, the sunlight reflected from the water becomes more dazzling. Most of the time, Ding Wen'an even works with his eyes closed.
The lower body that had been soaked in water for a long time was the most comfortable part of the body, but the rapid loss of water still made him feel uncomfortable.
He even had some strange ideas:
If you keep soaking in the water like this, your dignity as a man will be affected, right?
This thought made him tremble. He quickly jumped on the ground and wrung out his underwear.
Upon seeing this, the adjutant on the side also went ashore to rest. While drinking water, he flattered:
"Sir, you are the most diligent of all the teams."
"Not only did you plan it well, but you also did it yourself. The brothers all admire you."
"Otherwise, if we asked everyone to speed up, why wouldn't anyone object? If it were placed in other groups, these unruly people would have started making trouble long ago."
Hearing this, Ding Wen'an couldn't help but smile.
He took a breath and said with affectation:
"There is no way, our task is indeed very heavy."
"We built an island of tens of thousands square meters piece by piece, and everyone has tried their best."
"We are doing pretty well. The shifts I arranged are reasonable and no one suffers too much."
"Go and look at other groups. A lot of them are sick and have to go to the hospital. There are even some who commit suicide by jumping into the sea because they can't stand the hard work."
At this point, Ding Wen'an changed the topic.
"But we have to understand that what we do is meaningful."
"You see, although the facilities on this island are still very basic, brick and stone barracks have also been built."
"We built this bit by bit. Everyone here has carried the bricks of the barracks."
"It won't be long before the barracks here will be officially opened - by then, as long as our people move in, even those Chinese people will not dare to act rashly."
"This is huge progress and our glory"
The adjutant secretly pursed his lips and thought to himself:
What glory is, at best, it is just your "credit".
However, after thinking about it, Ding Wen'an said that there is some truth in it.
Whenever you look at a place that you have built brick by brick, you will still feel a sense of accomplishment.
That was when it was really difficult. It was difficult to even stand on a small reef.
Now, conditions are much better.
He suddenly felt that he had motivation again.
Perhaps this is indeed the case. Even if no tangible benefits are obtained, this kind of spiritual satisfaction will make people feel happy.
This is probably the reason why China is always full of fighting power.
He sighed, stood up again, picked up his tools and walked into the water.
Ding Wen'an also followed closely behind.
After working for more than an hour, seeing that today's day's tasks were basically completed, Ding Wen'an put down his tools and walked ashore, calling everyone to get on the boat and prepare to leave.
They can't have unnecessary friction with China, so they just need to withdraw before they patrol here.
After all, the ownership of this island is still controversial. As long as there is no head-on conflict, basically nothing big will happen.
In just a few minutes, everyone boarded the fishing boat, and the small dredger also lifted anchor and retracted its arm. Everything was well-trained.
When the Chinese ships appeared on the skyline, Ding Wen'an was already preparing to leave with his team.
Standing at the stern of the ship, Ding Wen'an held up his binoculars to look at the Chinese warship approaching in the distance. After seeing the shape of the warship clearly, he suddenly frowned.
"This is not their coast guard ship."
he muttered.
The adjutant on the side also immediately looked into the distance. After a few seconds, he nodded and replied:
"It's certainly not that ship. It looks like it's the latest one sent over - maybe it's about to be rotated?"
"Maybe, that's not a good thing for us."
"If they have started regular rotation, it means they have regarded this sea area as their territory."
"The situation is very bad. If we still want to keep our island, we will definitely have conflicts with them in the future."
After hearing Ding Wen'an's words, the adjutant sighed and said:
"This is not something we small soldiers should worry about. Let the leaders consider it."
"madness!"
Ding Wen'an interrupted him unceremoniously, and then said:
"We are the front line. If there is a conflict, there will be blood."
"This time it won't be like last time where just one fighter jet forced us to withdraw our troops."
"Even from the military's point of view, they have already lost face to the Chinese people once, and they cannot do it a second time no matter what."
"Otherwise, forget about their domestic rule. I can't say this clearly. Just understand."
The adjutant nodded heavily and said nothing.
Like Ding Wen'an, he is not an "ordinary soldier" in the true sense, so his perception of these things is not as rudimentary as that of ordinary soldiers.
The two of them watched the warship approaching in silence. Because the sand dredger was moving slowly, the figure of the warship began to grow larger and larger in their sight.
It was only then that they discovered that there was not one, but three warships approaching.
All are Type 052.
"Where did they get so many warships? During this period, they not only sent warships to Africa, but also to us. The number of warships out there should be close to 10."
"There are not that many, there should only be 6 ships."
Ding Wen'an shook his head and said.
"In addition, their recent economic situation is indeed very good, and it is normal for the speed of warship construction to increase."
“I don’t know when we will be able to achieve the same speed as them.”
As he spoke, his eyes never left the approaching warships. When they got closer and closer, Ding Wen'an's eyes suddenly widened again.
"This ship doesn't seem normal."
"Abnormal? What do you mean?"
the adjutant asked doubtfully.
"Its guns seem different from the naval guns we have seen before."
After hearing his words, the adjutant quickly raised his binoculars, and then his brows also wrinkled.
"There's something really wrong. Isn't it an ordinary naval gun?"
"The size is larger and the barrel is longer - wait, why does its barrel look square?"
"Square shape? It's really... maybe it's a problem with the heat dissipation structure."
Ding Wenan put down the telescope and turned to tell the captain to speed up.
From these three warships, he felt an obvious crisis.
This sense of crisis comes from his keen intuition.
It’s like, if I don’t leave now, I might not be able to leave.
"They're not going to start a war, are they?"
the adjutant asked worriedly.
Ding Wen'an shook his head and replied:
"Probably not - if they really want to use force, they will attack us from outside the visual range. Most likely it is just a demonstration."
The adjutant breathed a sigh of relief and followed Ding Wen'an to stand at the stern again.
This was their first meeting with the modified 052C, but they still knew nothing about the seriousness of the matter.
They just looked at the warship silently, envious of each other's "wealth".
Gradually, the dredging fleet moved away from Liumen Reef, and the three warships also began to turn.
It seems that this encounter at sea will end in such a plain and full of tacit understanding.
However, just when Ding Wen'an was about to return to the cabin to rest, an incredible scene suddenly appeared in his sight.
——
On Liumen Reef, a puff of smoke suddenly rose.
Immediately afterwards, a large area of the place where the masonry barracks used to be was inexplicably empty.
The buildings on that island disappeared.
Ding Wen'an's heart suddenly lifted, and at this moment, his legs even felt weak.
Was it really possible to fire?
He immediately picked up the telescope and looked at the warship in the distance, but because the distance was getting farther and farther, and due to the curvature of the earth, he could no longer see the ship's muzzle.
But the "gunfire that doesn't sound like the sound of cannons" has been heard, and it continues continuously.
——
To be precise, it doesn't sound like the sound of gunpowder explosion at all, but rather like the sonic boom of a supersonic flying object?
So weird.
Without any time to think, Ding Wen'an hurried to the cabin. He had to report to his superiors that they were under attack!
However, the voice on the radio was a step ahead of him.
"We are under attack! This is Hongxiu Island!"
"Nungwi Island! We were attacked! The buildings on our island were destroyed!"
"The same goes for Daxianjiao! The building was destroyed, but there were no casualties. They just waited for us to leave before blowing it up!"
"This is a shelling, a shelling! We have seen the rules of shelling!"
"How is that possible! We are nearly two hundred kilometers away! Their ship is close to Liumen Reef!"
"How could they possibly hit us!?"
Ding Wen'an listened to the radio dumbfounded.
In just a few minutes, the "new island" that had taken us several years to build was completely hit.
There is no doubt that the buildings on the island must have been destroyed.
Some islands may even have turned into "reefs" again.
How did they do that?
That cannon.
Ding Wen'an's eyes were about to burst.
At this moment, he suddenly understood.
In the face of absolute strength, the so-called "effort", "diligence" and "determination" of people like me are so insignificant.
Just one ship and one cannon destroyed all our operations.
As for our own side, we don’t even know where the attacker is or what weapon he is using!
It's all over.
After this ship comes over, we have no place to stand on this sea.
(End of chapter)
