Chapter 44: Chief, I Have Faith in Comrade Dingping!

Sun Yongguo asked with a solemn expression, "No matter what it is, I will definitely secure it from the Chief for you."

He naturally knew that if Su Dingping brought this up with him alone, the difficulty would likely be considerable.

Of course, the matter must also be extremely important.

Su Dingping said, "I hope the Dean can help me speak with the Chief. I need to utilize the two types of missiles on the 956E!"

"Two types of missiles? Both of them?"

Su Dingping nodded.

"Live ammunition?"

Su Dingping nodded again.

At this, Sun Yongguo furrowed his brow slightly.

The missiles on the 956E belonged to a completely different category from those currently adapted by the navy. One type was foreign-imported, while the other was domestically produced.

Imported missiles were consumed with every use, each one valued at over a million. Furthermore, there were no dummy rounds available for testing; only live ammunition could be used.

While the 9M38 ship-borne air defense missile was not particularly advanced in technology and thus relatively inexpensive, the "SS-N-22 Sunburn" anti-ship missile was considered quite advanced internationally, and each unit was exorbitantly expensive.

Ever since the 956E arrived, so much time had passed, yet only four missiles in total had been expended between the two types.

It was heartbreaking! He truly could not bear to use them.

With these thoughts racing through his mind, Sun Yongguo replied straightforwardly.

"Alright, I will apply to the Chief for this! No matter how difficult it is, I will get it approved!"

Could the difficulty of this matter possibly exceed the difficulty of dismantling the 956E?

Chief Xu had approved the dismantling of the 956E, so he believed this matter should not be a major problem.

At the very least, it was no longer a major problem now.

Su Dingping explained, "Then I will trouble the Dean. Once the live ammunition is approved, I will use it to teach everyone. That way, everyone's progress will be faster."

"You'll lecture using live ammunition?"

Sun Yongguo was utterly stunned.

Using live ammunition for lectures—what if... an accident happened?

He never expected Su Dingping to be so audacious.

"Dingping, might this be somewhat inappropriate? Shall we discuss this further?"

"It's fine, I have confidence." Su Dingping said calmly, "Just get the approval, and I will arrange the subsequent lecture sessions."

Sun Yongguo's head was buzzing.

Normally, using live ammunition for instruction wouldn't lead to accidents.

However, right now, they still knew nothing about the missiles on the 956E. In the event of an accident during the dismantling process, it would be fine if he himself were ruined in the process, but if Su Dingping were even scratched or bruised, the loss would be catastrophic.

"Dean, trust me."

***

Until Su Dingping left, Sun Yongguo still had not fully recovered his composure.

Huu—

Taking a deep breath, he had originally thought this matter wouldn't pose much of a problem, but now it was hard to say.

He knew very well in his heart that the Chief treasured Su Dingping even more than he did.

On the other side, at the Northern Fleet Headquarters.

Xu Dongguo was busy preparing the materials for the meeting the day after tomorrow.

Going to Beijing for a meeting this time, with the chiefs of all three major fleets gathering together, meant he naturally had to prepare a vast amount of materials.

Just at that moment, the telephone on his desk rang.

"Chief, Dean Sun is on the line."

"Put him through."

As soon as the call connected, Xu Dongguo said, "Comrade Yongguo, it's me."

"Chief, there is something I'd like to discuss with you."

"Go ahead."

"Um..."

Hemming and hawing for half a day, Sun Yongguo simply did not know how to begin.

"It's fine, go ahead and speak."

Gathering his thoughts, Sun Yongguo said, "Chief, the 956E research and development project has entered its final stage. All technologies have been fully mastered, and tomorrow we will officially begin final assembly! By then, we will possess a 956E completely cleansed of the hidden backdoor left by the Bear Country!"

Hearing this, Xu Dongguo's mood lifted significantly.

Now, at tomorrow's high-level meeting, faced with Qian Wenbing's aggressiveness, he would no longer feel weak.

"Comrade Yongguo, this is wonderful news! Why were you acting so hesitant?"

Seeing that the groundwork had been laid, Sun Yongguo continued, "Dingping wants to apply to use the live ammunition on the 956E!"

"That's fine! I approve it!"

Xu Dongguo didn't even hesitate and approved it right away.

He assumed Su Dingping wanted to use live ammunition to test the performance of the fully restored 956E, so he didn't give it a second thought. In his view, a test wouldn't consume many missiles anyway. When the time came to return it to Qian Wenbing, it would just be a matter of a single sentence.

I already had someone upgrade your 956E and pull out all the backdoors; it's not too much to use a few missiles, right?

"Let Dingping test it to his heart's content; using a few extra missiles is fine."

"Test? Chief, Dingping intends to use live ammunition to give us lectures!"

"Dingping has already conquered the core technology of the 956E ship-borne missiles?"

Xu Dongguo felt a jolt in his heart; this efficiency was simply too fast.

Immediately afterward, realization struck him, and his tone changed abruptly.

***

"What did you say? Lecture using live ammunition? Comrade Sun Yongguo, how could you agree to this?"

"Right now, we still know nothing about the missiles on the 956E. In the event that the dismantling process triggers the backdoor left by the Bear Country and causes a major disaster, blowing up the base wouldn't be the end of the world, but what if Dingping gets hurt? How could we ever recover from that?"

"No, no! Absolutely not!"

"Progress can be slower, and we can wait, but Dingping's safety is our top priority!"

Scolded by Xu Dongguo, Sun Yongguo was placed in a difficult position, yet he had no choice but to bite the bullet and press on.

"Chief, I already tried to persuade Dingping on this matter, but he said there is no problem and asked me to trust him! I've also thought it through carefully beforehand; as long as we exercise caution, there shouldn't be any major issues."

"I believe the Bear Country may have simplified some components of the missiles, but they surely wouldn't dig such a massive pit for us! That violates international principles."

Xu Dongguo did not reply immediately, remaining silent while holding the receiver for a long time.

Researchers must be granted sufficient trust, but their safety must also be guaranteed.

Now that the two principles conflicted, he found himself with a headache.

"Chief, I trust Comrade Su Dingping! No matter what happens, we will definitely ensure the safety of Comrade Su Dingping!"

"Let me consider this matter."

With that, Xu Dongguo hung up the phone and rose to pace back and forth across the room.

Although he also believed the Bear Country would merely simplify the missiles rather than rig them with traps, it concerned Su Dingping's safety, and he could not afford to be careless.

The navy had just caught a glimpse of hope, and it could not be allowed to be extinguished right here.

Meanwhile, in the office of Dean Lü at the Beijing 408 Research Institute.

Knock, knock—

"Come in!"

"Dean." The Vice Dean walked straight in and said, "All major components of the 051B have been successfully forged and are ready to be put into service immediately."

Hearing this news, Lü Guangjun sprang to his feet.

"Are all the components free of error?"

"Dean, after precise calibration, there are no errors! Right now, all that remains is to commission them onto the warships for testing!"

"Good, good, good!" Lü Guangjun said excitedly.

He had always kept his previous promise to Xu Dongguo to achieve tangible results firmly in mind. The high-level naval meeting was the day after tomorrow, and if he couldn't produce a decent result by then, Xu Dongguo wouldn't look good either.

"Quick, quick, quick! Let's set off immediately! I'm going to the site myself to oversee the commissioning!"

As he spoke, Lü Guangjun grabbed a coat to drape over his shoulders and strode swiftly toward the exit.