Chapter 64

  They couldn't bear the sorrow in their hearts and burst into loud sobs. All medical staff and patients who witnessed this scene were moved to tears. Tears are often associated with women, but when they flow from a man's eyes, it's even more heart-wrenching.

  The doctor in charge came in with red eyes: "Please go out for the time being, okay? We still need to give the patient some comprehensive care."

  Everyone looked at Yuan Shuai's tightly closed eyes and slowly left the ward.

  Jinfeng's surgery went smoothly, and he looked quite spirited. When they came in, he fell silent for a while before speaking thoughtfully: "Brothers, I've been thinking about something lately. Every time we complete a mission, the cost is extremely high. To be honest, every one of our victories relies on the individual strength of just a few of us... Jinfeng paused before continuing. We only managed to win by relying on the solo combat skills of a few people to break through and escape. If it's this difficult to deal with a few terrorists, what would happen if we went to war with countries that have advanced equipment and rich combat experience?

  "Since the Gulf War, our army has started its first real modern military thought revolution. However, in this era of rapid technological advancements, our pace of innovation is still slow, especially when it comes to military thought. Many of our commanders' thinking is still stuck in the Vietnam War era. I dare say that if a real war breaks out, our battalion-level and above, regiment-level and below cadres... not to mention commanding battles, but even the mobilization of troops, coordination between different units, and battlefield judgment ability are all questionable. Young officers may be more open to new ideas, but they also blindly worship high-tech, with most combat thinking stuck in the stage of armchair strategizing."

  "What you said, I've thought about it too. The last national large-scale landing exercise exposed this problem. Su-27 fighter jets took off from xx airport and flew to the "enemy" target area. Enemy planes took off, but our side didn't have time for air combat and hastily returned. These 'geniuses' commanding only calculated the maximum combat radius of our planes, but forgot to include the fuel needed for dogfighting. The occurrence of such a low-level mistake is clearly a typical example of armchair strategizing." Yang Zhongliang continued, echoing Jin Feng's words.

  "I think both of you make sense, but just like the captain said during that exercise, we exposed many substantive problems. However, weren't these problems noticed by many insightful commanders and adjustments made, ultimately leading to a 'red' victory? Looking back at past wars, which one didn't involve learning from war itself? The War of Resistance against Japan, the Korean War were all about learning from war, ultimately winning the victory." That's Li Nan for you, always an optimist.

  "You're talking about traditional warfare. In modern warfare, if you lose at the beginning of a war, the cost of turning the tide is unimaginable. The Gulf War is an example. At the start of the war, the US military didn't send in ground troops, but instead used precise air strikes to take out your radar, military airports, communication facilities, and military command centers. They first made you blind and deaf, making it impossible for your different troops to coordinate with each other. There was no time for reaction, and the war was basically over. The Americans didn't even think about occupying your country or taking your land. As long as they could establish a puppet regime loyal to them, their goal would be achieved. How much reaction time do you think we would have if modern warfare were to break out? How much time would we have to learn from the war?" Zhang Qikong retorted.

  Li Nan was clearly not convinced by his argument: "What you said is right, the Gulf War was indeed a modern war, and its combat ideology has undergone a subversive change. However, you must know that for America, Iraq was like an adult who had practiced martial arts fighting against an infant in swaddling clothes - it was a completely asymmetrical war. At most, Iraq only had a few non-separable "Scud" missiles, which were products of the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The warhead and body did not separate, and radar detection targets were as big as airplanes, so how could they not be intercepted by the Americans? Even with this, the Americans needed three or more 'Patriot' missiles to intercept them, and the success rate didn't seem to be that high either. We should of course learn from their combat ideology, but it's not yet time to worry about the sky falling. Sometimes looking at the enemy as too strong will make oneself lose faith."

  "I actually understand what Jinfeng means, he wants us to learn from the US team's anti-terrorism experience. I think his idea is not wrong, and most people admire America's anti-terrorism war. When they deal with terrorists, their own soldiers' mortality rate is almost zero. They are very detailed in battlefield reconnaissance and pre-planning, so their counter-terrorism operations are like playing cards - they have the best hand and can see what cards their opponent has, of course they will win."

  Jin Feng nodded slightly.

  "But China and the US have completely different national conditions, politics, and military technology. We should acknowledge that they are ahead of us in terms of democracy and human rights, because they have been operating for 200 years, while our country has only truly existed for 20 years. Now if we were to follow their example and implement democracy and human rights, China would definitely be thrown into chaos. This is because a democracy without a solid material foundation will inevitably lead to frequent changes in ruling parties, and these parties will not be able to focus on the economy or military, but only on politics. This has already been seen in some foreign countries.

  In terms of military strength, it's even more unequal. Their president is elected by votes, and for their political parties, sometimes the death of one person can lead to the loss of a large number of voters. Moreover, their weapons are advanced, and every soldier is fully armed. Think about it, they invest more in counter-terrorism than in actual warfare. We, on the other hand, have almost negligible costs for counter-terrorism.

  Furthermore, our national conditions are different from theirs. Their wars against terrorism are not fought on their own territory. On the surface, we need to deal with separatism within our own territory, but some foreign countries with ulterior motives have never given up on their plots to split China apart. If we were to follow the US example and enter the military on a large scale, what would the people in some minority areas think? They would definitely think that the Han Chinese are discriminating against them again. Because for thousands of years, the Han Chinese have been the dominant group, while other ethnic groups have been considered barbarians, including during the Nationalist period."