Light Speed ​​War

Chapter 264: An Unexpected Encounter

General Chu had already reported to his superiors last night that a plane from the Western Turks had dropped bombs, causing serious casualties on his side.

While awaiting orders from his superiors to be punished, General Chu dared not relax his vigilance. He ordered his troops to strengthen their defenses and be ready for battle at any time. In particular, he ordered the anti-aircraft rocket launchers and anti-aircraft guns to be deployed in a dense arc in front of the main camp, and heavy tanks and armored vehicles to be deployed near the arc-shaped anti-aircraft fire network to prevent the enemy from destroying the anti-aircraft network.

General Chu waited anxiously. At 10:30 AM, he finally received General Chu's coded telegram. General Chu said that the leader would sign a ceasefire agreement with President Thomas of the Western Turks in the capital of the New Founding Nation at 9:00 AM the day after tomorrow. The leader was already on his way to the front lines and was expected to arrive at the front-line headquarters by tomorrow afternoon. The leaders of 46 countries worldwide, including the New Founding Nation, the Rissa Nation, the Rika Nation, and the Laobu Nation, would witness and supervise the signing of the agreement and discuss solutions to the global crisis. In the telegram, General Chu did not mention how his superiors would punish him.

Knowing that the leader was coming, General Chu increased his vigilance and hurriedly summoned his subordinates to make arrangements in all aspects, including the convoy and security for the leader's trip to the capital of the newly established country the day after tomorrow.

Upon learning the contents of the coded telegram, General Chu moved a portion of the anti-aircraft firepower, tank and armored units, and marines ten kilometers forward, deploying them along the border between the New Founding Kingdom and the Eastern Turkic Kingdom. He also mobilized a large number of long-range artillery pieces to the border, targeting the capital of the New Founding Kingdom. Furthermore, he secretly dispatched a dozen special forces soldiers and several snipers to immediately traverse mountains and bypass enemy defenses, arriving early at the capital of the New Founding Kingdom to ambush the enemy. General Chu did all this simply to prevent the Western Turkic Kingdom from playing tricks.

After the deployment was completed, General Chu personally visited the mobile medical team's base to see and express his appreciation to the more than 500 medical staff.

General Chu shook hands with Dr. Chen, a representative of the medical staff.

"Uncle Chu?" Ye Xiaomei was first surprised, then excited, when General Chu, dressed in military uniform, and his entourage appeared. Ye Xiaomei was standing behind the medical staff, and General Chu did not notice her.

"Comrades, you have worked hard. Your selfless dedication and fearless spirit are the pride of our Tang Dynasty..." General Chu praised the medical staff.

Ye Xiaomei's feelings were very complicated. She was hesitant, wondering whether she should take the initiative to meet with General Chu. Xiaomei knew that this was a rare opportunity, and she would probably not be able to see General Chu again in the future.

Ye Xiaomei made up her mind and slowly raised her right hand. Her colleagues next to her were curious and couldn't help but glance at Ye Xiaomei. Ye Xiaomei was already tall, and her raised hand made her even more eye-catching.

General Chu and his entourage noticed a tall, young woman raising her hand in the back row of the medical staff. "Miss, do you have... Ah, Xiao Mei!"

General Chu then recognized Ye Xiaomei. He was first taken aback, then overjoyed, and beckoned to her to come forward.

Ye Xiaomei stepped out of the group and came to General Chu. "Xiaomei, what are you doing here...?" General Chu originally wanted to ask, "What are you doing here?" but then he felt it was inappropriate and didn't finish his sentence.

“Uncle Chu, I volunteered to come to the front line.” General Chu gripped Ye Xiaomei’s right hand and patted her hand with his left. “Comrade Xiaomei, you are a role model for us to learn from.”

General Chu released Xiao Mei's hand, whispered a few words in the ear of one of his attendants, who nodded and then left.

Soon after, the mobile medical team's escort company of over a hundred people arrived. General Chu announced that all members of the escort company had been promoted one rank and presented Dr. Chen with a banner and a five-star medal. Everyone was excited, as the five-star medal was the highest honor for a soldier. Thunderous applause rang out, and they felt their blood boiling again.

General Chu and his entourage stayed for nearly an hour before leaving, and everyone else dispersed to begin lunch.

After lunch, Ye Xiaomei was called out by Company Commander Zhang, who then handed her over to one of General Chu's attendants. This attendant then took Ye Xiaomei to see General Chu.

The attendants left, leaving only General Chu and Ye Xiaomei in the room.

"Hello, Uncle Chu." Ye Xiaomei greeted General Chu first.

"Xiaomei, thank you for your hard work. Please have a seat."

Ye Xiaomei sat opposite General Chu. After briefly inquiring about Professor Ye's situation, General Chu said to Xiaomei, "Xiaomei, you seemed to have something you wanted to say to me just now?"

“Yes.” Ye Xiaomei looked at General Chu. “Uncle Chu, I would like to ask you about someone.”

"Who?"

"You know this person too, he is Zhou Yuan."

"Zhou Yuan?" General Chu's heart stirred at Xiao Mei's concerned expression. He had noticed the radiant look on Xiao Mei's face when she spoke of Zhou Yuan at her house last night, and this time he was even more certain. Because Zhou Yuan was so sensitive, General Chu hadn't revealed Zhou Yuan's whereabouts to Professor Ye's family at the time.

"Xiaomei, do you want to know if Zhou Yuan is with me?"

"Well, before Brother Zhou left, he said he had been drafted into the army and was going to the front lines. I later went to the armed forces department in his community to inquire, but I couldn't find any information about Zhou Yuan. I felt something was amiss, so I went through my dad's connections to the Beining City Armed Forces Department, and they said they couldn't find any information about Brother Zhou either. I then went to my good friend Xiao Lan, and she said the National Astronomical Observatories couldn't find any files or information about Brother Zhou either. It's as if Brother Zhou has vanished into thin air."

"So you volunteered to come to the front lines?"

“Yes,” Xiao Mei said, her face slightly flushed. “General Chu, to be honest, my ideal is not lofty. I just want to find Brother Zhou.”

“Xiaomei, I can tell you definitively that he is not in my unit.”

Xiao Mei looked at General Chu with surprise, somewhat puzzled by his certainty.

"He's not on the front lines; he's on a secret mission. As far as I know, he's safe and sound. Xiaomei, that's all I can tell you."

Upon hearing about the secret mission, Xiao Mei finally understood why she couldn't find any information about Zhou Yuan. Considering that even a high-ranking official like General Chu couldn't speak about it, it seemed that the secret mission Brother Zhou was carrying out was extremely important.

Ye Xiaomei was silent for a while, then she understood. "Uncle Chu, I understand, thank you." Indeed, the information General Chu revealed was very important to her, so that she wouldn't be searching aimlessly like a headless fly.

"Xiaomei, you should go back. This place is not suitable for you. You are still young."

"Uncle Chu, thank you. But since I'm here, I didn't plan to go back. Now that I know Brother Zhou is safe and sound, I'm relieved. The front lines need me, and those young soldiers need me." Now that her heart attack had subsided, Ye Xiaomei, although still worried about Zhou Yuan, saw the wounded soldiers, and her professional instincts made her rush forward without hesitation. This baptism of war had matured Xiaomei considerably.

General Chu nodded, his thoughts drifting to his beloved daughter, Chu Xiaolu. To be honest, he missed her dearly. Ye Xiaomei and his daughter gave General Chu hope for the Tang Dynasty. Even Zhou Yuan's mother, his own wife, refused his care and went with him to an arsenal in the suburbs of Beining to do hard labor. War is not only a comprehensive test of technology, economy, industry, military, and talent; it also tests the humanity and courage of a nation or people.

Xiao Mei noticed that General Chu reached out and wiped his eyes. "Uncle Chu, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Xiaomei, just let me know if you need anything."

"Okay, thank you uncle."

General Chu escorted Xiao Mei to the door, and even after she had gone far away, he remained lost in thought. General Chu snapped out of his reverie, glanced at his watch—one o'clock in the afternoon. At this very moment yesterday, the motherland had launched two ballistic missiles targeting Western Turkey.

The Presidential Palace, Ministry of Defense, Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Security, Intelligence Bureau, Space Agency, Transportation Bureau, and Cyberspace Administration of the Western Turkic Kingdom were all busy and embroiled in controversy on this one day.

After road traffic was restored under manual control, reserve forces and armed police were stationed in all cities, towns, arsenals, fortresses, and important government departments throughout the Western Turks. President Thomas has ordered a seven-day nationwide curfew, with police going door-to-door using loudspeakers to urge citizens to stay home and not go out. Government departments have dispatched personnel to deliver supplies and daily necessities to every household to reassure citizens.

After making secret contact with the leader of the Eastern Turkic Kingdom, President Thomas led a group of high-ranking officials on a submarine to the South China Sea to attend the signing ceremony of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries in the capital of the newly established nation, as well as a global crisis consultation and resolution conference with the participation of world leaders.

The Western Turks signed the ceasefire agreement out of necessity, as they had lost their satellite positioning capabilities, rendering their powerful carrier battle groups and air force ineffective. Fortunately, a large number of drones, after dropping numerous bombs and destroying the Eastern Turks' frontline assault forces, instilled fear in the Eastern Turks' leaders, leading them to agree to the proposed reconciliation. Otherwise, the three allies of the Rissa Kingdom would have fallen into the hands of the Eastern Turks.

Thomas and the other officials were stunned when they saw the infrared photos taken by the drone. Dozens of photos showed that more than a dozen bombs dropped by the drone were hovering motionless in the air. Judging from the time displayed on the photos, these bombs hovered in the air for a full five minutes, and human figures could be seen crawling below the hovering bombs.

This unusual situation shocked everyone. Combining all the strange and mysterious events of yesterday, everyone came to a fairly consistent conclusion: Earth has been invaded by some mysterious force. The reason why it was not said to be aliens is because no alien warships, alien spaceships or any aliens have been found globally.

On the land of the Eastern Lands, a special train sped south. In the VIP lounge, a burly man with dragon-like eyebrows and large eyes was reading a briefing when a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

"Sir, as per your instructions, we have sent secret telegrams to the heads of state of more than 40 countries."

"Minister Guo, well done. Please convene a brief meeting with the comrades from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence and the National Space Administration."

"Yes, Chief."

Four minutes later, Minister Guo knocked on the door, and the leader opened it himself. Behind Minister Guo were two comrades from the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and two comrades from the State Space Administration.

"Please sit down," the leader said, gesturing to his own bed. Everyone then took their seats.

"Director Liao, according to General Chu's report from the front lines, enemy planes have dropped a large number of bombs. What's your opinion?"

"Sir, we were also puzzled. After some thought, we realized that the enemy was using aircraft that were not the fighter jets we usually see."

"Oh, what do you say?"

“Fighter jets require satellite navigation. We believe the enemy is using aircraft with a local area network connection, which does not require satellites.”

The commander lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "These aircraft must be at a relatively high altitude, otherwise why can't our anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft guns shoot them down? You should have a way to deal with them, right?"

"Yes, we can manufacture high-power electromagnetic interference equipment to disrupt their communication and electronic equipment. The Southern Arsenal is working overtime to produce it."

"Hmm, not bad. But there's one thing I don't understand. In his report, General Chu mentioned that a batch of enemy aircraft dropped bombs and then hovered in the air for several minutes before landing and exploding after our personnel left. Isn't that strange?"

The four men looked at each other, as this was the first time they had heard about this. They whispered among themselves.