Carmen looked at his old father who was sawing wood in front of the wooden house. He walked up and looked at the pile of wood by the lake in shock.
"My beloved father, what are you … doing?"
"Galen ship … a miniature version." Jacono wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked at the unfinished dragon skeleton by the lake and said to his favorite son.
"Galen ship? What is the use of this? "Carmen looked at his father in confusion.
"If we conquered the Pacific, it would be useless." Jacono said straightforwardly, "Including us, including all of this, it would be useless."
He said something indecipherable. But Carmen seemed to be used to his father's incomprehensible words, so he didn't say anything. He just sighed like an old man.
"… Okay, but do you know how to build a ship?"
"I don't." Jacono smiled and pointed the saw at the dragon skeleton that was starting to take shape. "Don't think that this is just a piece of wood. There are a lot of tricks in it. Including how to deal with the wood, including how to splice the wood. In order to forge this keel, I spent an entire year. Although I failed many times, the process was surprisingly interesting. "
Carmen looked at his father with surprise, then looked at the dragon skeleton seriously.
"Unbelievable … Is there no one to help you?"
"Caddis wanted to help me find a shipwright, but I refused. I want to try to figure it out myself and see what is going on with this ship. " Jacono threw the saw in his hand aside and picked up a bottle of mineral water from the wooden pile on the side. He tilted his head back and took a few gulps.
Carmen looked at his father who was enjoying the process. He was silent for two seconds before he said.
"I heard you wanted to talk to me-"
"Give up on the prophecy." Jacono didn't look at him but at the dragon skeleton.
Carmen was stunned by his father's sudden words.
After a while, he spoke with difficulty.
"Why?"
Jacono shifted his gaze and looked into his son's eyes seriously.
"Babies will one day leave their parents and learn how to walk on their own. They can tell us a lot, but they can't tell us more. If we continue down this path, I'm afraid the future we'll face will be even more depressing than the outcome they've already won. "
"… But if we listen to the wisdom of the wise, won't we take fewer detours?"
"Is a detour a mistake?" Jacono asked.
Carmen was stunned and fell into silence.
Seeing that his son did not speak, Jacono said meaningfully, "Humans should pray for wisdom from the sages instead of placing their hopes in the distant future."
"Although history has changed, the trend should not be wrong. In the next few decades, it will be artificial intelligence, then it will be a technological explosion triggered by material science, and then — "Unable to agree with his father's perspective, Carmen said softly.
"Not necessarily." Jacono snorted and walked over to pick up the saw. "See this keel? If I tell you directly how to build a Galen ship, how to build a steamship, and then one day 'I' die, can you build an aircraft carrier? "
"… That's the scientists' job," Carmen said helplessly.
"Science and capital have always been in the same boat. Technology determines the space humans live in, and capital expands this space. This is the nature of science and capital. Did you return all your economics knowledge to your Harvard professor? I suggest you read the chapter on the Schumpert function again. "
The old father returned to his wooden stake and began to work, ignoring his son.
Carmen stood by the lake for a long time until the sky started to turn yellow before he left his father's wooden house.
…
The next morning, Jiang Chen boarded a flight to Australia. Due to the size of the airport and the flow of passengers, Xin's airport on Coro Island only opened direct flights to the two major neighboring countries, Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, if one wanted to travel from Hua to Xin, they had to first transfer to Australia.
After a series of twists and turns, Jiang Chen finally got off the plane on Coro Island, but it was already late at night.
When he walked out of the airport, Ayesha was already waiting at the gate.
"To the presidential palace," Jiang Chen said as he got into the car.
Nodding, Ayesha started the car and went on the road.
"Don't you need to go home and rest first?" While driving, she asked nonchalantly.
"No need, if you don't see me, you won't be able to sleep well," Jiang Chen joked, then he leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes.
Ayesha grinned and didn't say anything on the way.
When he arrived at the presidential palace, after he explained his identity to the guard, Jiang Chen was quickly allowed to enter. A servant led him to Zhang Yaping's office.
After a few days, this guy looked a lot more haggard. It was obvious that all kinds of troubles tormented him. When he saw Jiang Chen, he was clearly relieved and couldn't wait to greet him.
"You're finally back." Zhang Yaping had a bitter smile as he looked at Jiang Chen.
"Don't ask me what to do first. Tell me the situation," Jiang Chen said concisely.
Zhang Yaping nodded and began to explain to Jiang Chen what happened in the past two days.
First, after Ivan ordered to sink the fishing boats that interfered with the construction of the military facilities, he led the force to confront the coast guard of Country F. At first, the coast guard of Country F was very arrogant. Although they couldn't defeat the coast guard of Hua, they didn't care about the three boats from Xin.
But just as they were about to enter Xin's territorial waters to demand for Hua's people, Ivan and his people took out their weapons without any hesitation.
The monkeys of Country F were stunned. They never thought Xin would have this kind of courage, and they didn't know what to do. Although the coast guard was equipped with light weapons, the few coast guards didn't dare to make a decision that could cause serious diplomatic problems. If they opened fire, the problem would be serious. Therefore, they had no choice but to confront Ivan and report the news to their superiors.
Finally, the president of Country F, Aquino, finally managed to contact Zhang Yaping. But Zhang Yaping didn't realize what happened on New Moon Island since the national defense was controlled by Celestial Trade.
Zhang Yaping, who realized that something was wrong, immediately got in touch with Ivan, and then learned the whole story.
Well, when he heard that Ivan had sunk a few rowdy fishing boats — no, pirate ships, he couldn't help but curse in his heart, "Damn, that's so satisfying." Although Pannu Islands and Country F didn't have a feud, the resentment among the people had been building up for a long time.
But he was the president of Xin after all. He should consider the national interest more than his personal feelings. After he calmed down for two seconds, a drop of cold sweat rolled down his forehead.
Just yesterday, Aquino called him again. If the salvage could not begin within three days, Country F would retain the option of resolving the problem through military means to ensure the legal rights of its citizens overseas.
But when he heard the last sentence from Zhang Yaping, he was instantly unhappy.
[There should be a limit to how shameless he is. Since when did Country F's citizens blackmail construction workers, bully local fishermen, and obstruct the construction of military facilities become legal rights? Why don't you go to Guam and ask your UA military dad for money?]
"Fu * k your legal rights," Jiang Chen cursed. "Military means? What a joke, I'll kill you. "
It had been a long time since he cursed so much.
"Country F has an active force of 120 thousand … We may not even be able to defeat their brigade," Zhang Yaping said in a quiet voice.
Jiang Chen glanced at him and laughed.
"Who said we're going to fight them?"
"But they already threatened us like this," Zhang Yaping said with a bitter expression.
"Country F has been carefully maintaining its image as the" weak "and" victim "on the sea power issue in order to gain the sympathy of the international community. It's impossible for them to send their ground forces to fight us. "
"But-"
Zhang Yaping still found it hard to believe, but Jiang Chen interrupted him.
"Also, the most important thing is Hua and UA. Do you remember what I told you? Maintain a neutral position and don't lean toward either of the two behemoths. If Country F takes military action against us, it will make us lean toward Hua, and Hua will definitely not let go of this opportunity to break through the first and second island chains and will actively provide assistance to us. UA won't want to see Hua have another military base in the Western Pacific, and they will definitely restrain their underlings from going too far. "
In terms of culture, Xin was close to Hua, and ideologically, it was close to UA. This situation caused both sides to think that the country could lean toward their side.
"Because we didn't choose a side, we are absolutely safe." Jiang Chen patted President Zhang's shoulder and said earnestly.
Although he felt he was right, Zhang Yaping still felt it was a bit far-fetched.
"But why don't we stand on the UA's side and continue the previous government's diplomatic strategy?"
Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow.
"Because I don't want to."
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