Chapter Fifteen: No More Emperor (Four)

  (4)

  The night of the Andaman Sea, the sea surface is calm like the tequila tasted in the bar last night. The 55-year-old Fernandes has been working on the ocean for over 20 years. He likes his job and loves this piece of ocean under his feet.

  But he was not familiar with today's route, and today he would be driving the newly launched "Nicobar" bulk cargo ship fully loaded with supplies for the Indian Army from Elphinstone Harbour in Middle Andaman to Banga Yazi Port in northern Sumatra. It was not alone in this sea area, and there were six Indian military requisitioned transport ships speeding ahead in the distance.

  Before being requisitioned by the Indian military, the bulk carrier "Nikoba" was one of eight 30,000-ton double-hulled bulk carriers ordered by a Danish shipping company. Since all spare parts were made in Korea, it had a much more comfortable driving experience compared to those that were completely "Made in India".

  "I heard even Singapore has joined the war." Standing on the bridge of his cargo ship, Captain Fernandes gazed out at the Indian Navy's "Gomati" missile corvette crossing paths with them in the distance and muttered to himself: "A beautiful little island like that daring to defy powerful India - it's simply overestimating itself."

  As there were two carrier battle groups deployed in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Navy did not assign more escorts to this convoy and only two frigates sailed on either side of the convoy.

  At this moment, Captain Fernandes did not know that it was Singapore's participation that made the ASEAN coalition's Rogan River defense line, which the Indian Army had previously thought could be easily breached, become a stalemate. The Indian military had to urgently dispatch three battalions of troops and tens of thousands of tons of strategic materials tonight to ensure the continued pressure on the ASEAN forces.

  Under the calm sea surface, ASEAN's "sea wolf" is also eager to try, 2 "Sea Snake"-class submarines of Singapore Navy's 171st Flotilla have occupied their respective attack positions waiting for the large school of prey to move forward...

  Although the development of the situation is not as perfect as New Delhi imagined, Major General Prashad, Commander-in-Chief of India's Far Eastern War Zone, did not have too many surprises for Singapore's participation in the war. After all, facing war, soldiers have a different intuition from politicians. However, Major General Prashad had to face the turning change in the balance of power between the two sides after Singapore joined the war.

  The air force is Singapore's traditional advantage, and the small island nation of Singapore had the strongest air force among ASEAN countries before the war. The Singapore Air Force, which owns 12 F-15SG multi-functional fighter jets produced by Boeing in the United States for Singapore, has completely broken the Indian Navy's dominance in the skies above Malacca. Two hours after Singapore declared war on India, the Singapore Air Force intercepted two waves of Indian attack aircraft formations executing ground attacks in southern Malaysia. Shot down 7 Indian fighters, including 2 Su-30MKIs of the Indian Air Force.

  What enraged General Prasad even more was that Singapore seemed to have seen through the Indian army's game plan. Apart from frequently intercepting Indian fighter jets entering Malaysian airspace, the Singapore Air Force also crossed the strait to bomb several civilian airports on Sumatra Island that were being renovated by the Indian Air Force with all its might. Equipped with the Anglo-French jointly developed "Storm Shadow"

  The Singaporean-made "Typhoon" attack aircraft squadron, equipped with the new Shadow air-launched cruise missile, carried out long-range strikes on civilian airports in Bandar Aceh and Medan, which had already been taken over by the Indian Army, beyond the range of the Indian Army's anti-aircraft missiles. The Indian Air Force's plan to shorten flight distances using these civilian airports has temporarily turned into a mirage.

  "Space is currently the biggest problem facing our military."

  Major General Prashanth Bhushan had already realized this problem, the Indian Air Force's fighter jets took off from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands airport to arrive over Kuala Lumpur, at least 1400 kilometers away. Even for a heavy-duty fighter jet like the Su-30MKI, without mid-air refueling, it would have already entered fuel time. They could only drop bombs and were unable to engage in air combat dogfighting.

  "If we didn't have that midfield, we would never be able to beat opponents like Singapore."

  "General Prashad bit his lip. 'Get me a line through to New Delhi.'"

  Colonel Prash stood up and said to his staff officer beside him...

  In the Kalekunda Air Force base on the outskirts of Kolkata, Eastern India, Base Commander Colonel Das is savoring a rare moment of peace. The six Mirage-2000s that had flown in from the west have just taken off. The continuous sorties for four days and nights have finally come to an end. Colonel Das has propped up his legs, swollen from wearing boots for too long, on the desk in his office and is leisurely flipping through an adult magazine sent by airmail from New Delhi two days ago.

  "Report... we have an emergency situation." The intercom suddenly crackled with the terrified voice of the sentry at the gate. Colonel Dasan hastily stood up. Through the glass window, he could see 4 huge 8-wheeled trucks smashing through the makeshift roadblock at the entrance and driving into his base.

  "Colonel, sir, I represent New Delhi's Warehouse 0-12. Here are the relevant documents, please receive them." Dasan ran quickly to the front of this mysterious convoy and stood before a massive truck, where a refined and courteous major general was standing, but years of battle experience told him that people like this were often extraordinary. Dasan gave his most proper military salute and swiftly signed his name on the document.

  0-12 hangar is located in a separate area at the southern part of the base, which has been closed for a long time. Even Dasan, the person in charge of the base, does not know what secrets are stored inside. He sees off 4 trucks driving away. Dasan's eyes suddenly catch a familiar face, "Is it him?"

  Dasan recognized the man sitting in the corner of the last truck.

  "Denapahan~~~~!! Is he still alive?!"

  Dassan could hardly believe his eyes. The man named Denaba Khan, once the ace of the Indian Air Force in the east, had been declared dead by New Delhi two years ago after a plane crash. But today he reappeared before Dassan's eyes. However, there was no longer any trace of the former ace's pride on his body. He sat among those tall men wearing flight helmets like an ordinary soldier...

  In the southern part of China, in the Taiwan Strait. Under the moonlight, a huge aircraft carrier is slowly leaving the Penghu Bay naval base surrounded by many escort ships. On the bridge of this giant ship named "Shanghai", Debussy's famous piece "Clair de Lune" is echoing.

  "Off we go again, and you're still the same old self." Looking at his old captain - Xu Jie, Major General of the South China Sea Special Mixed First Sea-Air Attack Group, Commander of the "Shanghai" aircraft carrier Ma Lan chuckled against the glass window of the bridge.

  "You've been following me for so long, how come you haven't developed any musical cells at all."

  Xu Jie opened his eyes and smiled.

  "Right, Liu Qingzheng, former captain of the 47th Fighter Squadron 'East Sea Arrow', has returned to the team."

  Ma Lan Zhong school seemed to casually mention a sentence.

  "Really? I thought..."

  Xu Jie's face became grave.

  "This kid is really lucky, after being shot down by the Japanese in Java. He was found by our own people. Just in time to catch up with our fleet's withdrawal, he was borrowed by the army as an air support guide for a few days. Then chased us all the way from Hong Kong. Just boarded the ship yesterday."

  Ma Lan knew what Xu Jie was worried about and quickly said.

  "Ah, he's back at this time, which is quite a moderate-sized problem for us~~."

  Xu Jie's face showed a difficult expression as he continued: "The technical backbone from the Nanjing Military Region Aviation and Aerospace Academy has just been transferred. The old birds from the original 47th Fighter Squadron have basically all been transferred to the rear to serve as instructors. If he comes back now, it might be that he is the only one left in command. To restore his original position, I'm afraid there will be problems both above and below."

  "I know your concerns, but he himself strongly requested to come back. I also don't want to discourage his enthusiasm."

  Actually, before bringing up this topic in the morning, Ma Lan already knew it was a hot potato. However, she couldn't not say it.

  "Alright, let's do it this way... Let him continue to serve as the commander of the 47th Fighter Squadron, but add the word 'acting' to his title. After all, I have to report back to Commander Tong, and he did give up a comfortable position in the rear to come here. Let everyone compete fairly."

  Xu Jie thought for a while before finally making up his mind.