Chapter 35: Comrade Dingping, I have come to bid you farewell.

Next month’s high-level meeting?

Xu Dongguo knew without even thinking that when the various naval chiefs gathered, Qian Wenbing would certainly accuse him of obstructing the second procurement process of the 956E destroyers and suppressing the project.

He did not care about that. In any case, there was still more than half a month left; he would stall as long as he could.

If the 956E research project had made major progress by then, that would be for the best. Even if it hadn't, he had other ways to handle it.

At worst, he would just lay his cards on the table.

"Old Qian, oh Old Qian, how could I, Xu Dongguo, possibly embezzle your 956Es?"

Xu Dongguo shook his head with a smile. His gaze inadvertently drifted to the calendar on his desk, and he froze for a moment.

"It’s already December 27th. Time flies. In just a few more days, it will be the year 2000."

Over the past month, with the help of Su Dingping, Sun Yongguo and his team had made tremendous gains.

Every time Sun Yongguo came to report, Xu felt deeply encouraged. At this rate of progress, it wouldn't be long before the Navy entered a new era of modernization.

With the new century about to begin, he felt as if he could see the modernization of the Navy beckoning to him from just ahead.

After waiting for so many years, he finally saw hope.

The humiliation of all these years was finally coming to an end.

"We are about to step into the 21st century. I hope that at the dawn of the New Year, our Navy can fire the first shot toward modernization!"

Whether the Navy could achieve this turnaround at the start of the new year depended entirely on Su Dingping.

Thinking of Su, he suddenly realized that it had been nearly a month since he first met him at the beginning of the month, and he still hadn't found the time to go and visit him again.

"Regardless of whether everything is going smoothly, Comrade Su Dingping’s contribution is immense. He carries a heavy burden, and at the turn of the century, I must find time to visit him!"

In the past, with one of them in Qingdao and the other in Harbin, traveling back and forth was troublesome, and with so many matters at hand, he simply hadn't had the time.

Now, it was only an hour’s journey each way; even if he stayed for a while, it wouldn't take much time.

He decided that no matter how busy he was in the next few days, he had to go to the base for a visit.

Just then, his guard knocked on the door.

"Reporting to the Chief, a classified telegram has arrived from the Northern Shipyard."

"Come in!"

The guard handed over the document and quickly left.

Xu opened it.

The content of the telegram was simple: due to the strained naval budget, the third Type 052 destroyer could not be delivered by the end of the year. It would be at least the middle of next January, and he hoped Chief Xu would understand.

After reading it, Xu Dongguo sighed softly.

According to the allocation, the two 956E destroyers were split between the Northern Sea Fleet and the Eastern Sea Fleet. Of the two Type 052s already in service, one went to the Eastern Sea Fleet and the other to the Southern Sea Fleet. This third Type 052 naturally belonged to the Northern Sea Fleet.

The Type 052 was currently the most powerful guided-missile destroyer in the Navy, aside from the 956E and the yet-to-be-successfully-upgraded Type 051B. Even so, there was still a significant gap between it and a truly modern warship.

With his obstruction of the second batch of 956E purchases, coupled with Chief Qian taking the 956Es that were supposed to be his, the military strength of the Northern Sea Fleet had been severely diminished.

A modern warship was vital to a fleet.

Now that the delivery of the 052 was delayed again, Xu felt a great deal of pressure.

After all, the Northern Sea Fleet still held the crucial responsibility of guarding the capital!

Because of this, Xu Dongguo found himself hoping even more that Su Dingping and his team could successfully crack the 956E project sooner rather than later.

***

Meanwhile, at the 956E research site.

Su Dingping had led the team of professors in a detailed dismantling of the core components removed earlier. With him present, even if a delicate disassembly went wrong, it could be repaired in time.

The professors now had a thorough understanding of the internal structure of each component.

"Today, we successfully discovered the last two backdoors in the combat command system. This is everyone's achievement," Su Dingping said to Sun Yongguo and the others.

Sun Yongguo and his colleagues looked at Su with fervor and admiration.

The 956E, which had once left them completely at a loss, now had its mysterious veil lifted layer by layer. This was all thanks to Su Dingping.

During this period, in addition to mastering the construction of the core components, they had, under Su's guidance, overcome several "traps" left behind by the Soviets in the 956E.

Moreover, thanks to Su's unique teaching method—where each professor focused on their own area of expertise, utilizing the core 956E components as study material while Su shared his knowledge without reservation—everyone had made rapid progress.

They had already mastered nearly half of the core technologies of the 956E main vessel.

Today, they had finally conquered the last two backdoors.

"Dingping, this is your achievement; we were just assisting," Sun Yongguo was the first to speak up.

Zhang Gongnong quickly added, "Dingping, if it weren't for your excellent leadership, we would still be clueless about the 956E. Isn't that right, everyone?"

"That’s right! Dingping, we are benefiting from your brilliance!"

"We are already satisfied enough to just be part of this project; there's no talk of credit for us."

The others echoed these sentiments.

They had seen Su Dingping's dedication during this time. As students, how could they claim their teacher's glory? They had enough integrity for that.

Looking at the earnest faces of the group, Su Dingping was moved. These were people with firm beliefs and pure intentions.

"We are a team; the credit belongs to everyone. There is no such thing as who is benefiting from whom."

Changing the subject, Su continued, "Everyone has made great progress recently, and I am very pleased. Now that the backdoors have been removed, starting tomorrow, we will officially begin the phase of unlocking the full combat capabilities of the 956E!"

"The task remains heavy, but I have great confidence in you all!"

The group felt their hearts swell with excitement.

Once this stage was completed, the 956E would hold no more secrets for them. This meant they would fully master the core technology of the flagship.

Just as Sun Yongguo was about to speak, he heard Su continue.

"In a while, once you have all mastered this, the next steps will be the Sunburn supersonic anti-ship missile system and the SA-N-7 Gadfly anti-aircraft missile system."

"These two ship-borne missile systems are quite impressive and deserve our careful study!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the previously excited group was stunned.

So soon?

They weren't mentally prepared for this yet.

The 956E project was only halfway done, and the next phase was already on the agenda?

"Dingping, is it true?" Sun Yongguo asked cautiously.

Su Dingping explained, "I only have some ideas for now, but by the time we finish our work here, I expect we'll be ready."

Sun Yongguo was dumbstruck.

Just over a dozen days ago, he had heard Su say he would put the second phase on the agenda, but he hadn't expected things to be moving along so quickly.

The others couldn't help but gasp. The way they looked at Su Dingping changed, with their original admiration turning into a hint of fanatic worship.

With such a genius leading the way, how could they ever lack the drive to succeed? How could the Navy fail to achieve its great goals?

"The data provided by Dean Lü has been a great help to me," Su Dingping said, looking at Lü Guangjun. "Dean Lü, thank you."

Hearing this, Lü Guangjun straightened his back.

With Su Dingping’s personal recognition of his contribution, he felt an immense sense of pride.

Thinking back to when he had gone to ask for forgiveness from Xu Dongguo, he felt it had all been worth it.

"Everyone, get some good rest tonight. We continue tomorrow!" With that, Su Dingping stood up and left.

Lü Guangjun, accompanied by his two deputy deans, quickly caught up, as did Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong.

Lü Guangjun said sincerely, "Dingping, we have benefited greatly from our time here. Thank you for your selfless teaching."

The other two also expressed their gratitude.

Su Dingping quickly replied, "Dean Lü, this is what I should do. We are all working for the future of the Navy."

"I am ashamed," Lü Guangjun said with some guilt. "I know that Dean Sun and Comrade Zhang Gongnong had some opinions about me, as I was an advocate for the second 956E procurement at the time."

"After coming here that day, I realized how absurd I had been. For that, I apologize to both of you."

"Old Lü, it’s all in the past."

"Dean Lü, you mustn't say that."

Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong replied quickly.

Lü Guangjun waved his hand. "When one is wrong, one must admit it. I understand that."

"Having studied here for a while, I am now very confident in the Type 051B upgrade, and it is time for me to leave." As he spoke, he looked at Su Dingping and said solemnly, "Comrade Su Dingping, I have come to bid you farewell."