Chapter 25: You have your Zhang Liang's stratagems, and I have my bridge-crossing ladders!

"Is there something wrong with the 956E?"

Sun Yongguo was somewhat bewildered.

When the 956E first arrived, he, Zhang Gongnong, and the others had all boarded to inspect it; all the equipment was operational.

Moreover, if there truly were an issue, it couldn't have gone unnoticed during seven months of continuous research.

But since Su Dingping had put it that way, he was uncertain.

"Comrade Gongnong?"

He glanced at Zhang Gongnong. "Did you perform any debugging on it later?"

"Director, all operational procedures are recorded; everything was done according to the standard steps."

Since even Zhang Gongnong answered this way, it meant that no one had indeed made unauthorized changes to the 956E's relevant equipment.

He looked at Su Dingping again, only to see Su Dingping staring deeply at the 956E with a slight frown, as if he had encountered a difficult problem.

Could Dingping really have spotted an issue?

Sun Yongguo was filled with suspicion, but he felt awkward about interrupting Su Dingping's deep thought.

"Director, I'll take another look."

With that, Su Dingping stood up and began walking through the 956E.

Half an hour later, Su Dingping finished his second circuit.

During this round, he discovered that there was a discrepancy between the actual 956E ship and the one in the Military Industry Illustrated Forging Space.

The overall structure was fine, but many of the data points on the instrument panels did not match.

The system wouldn't have an issue, which meant the 956E in front of him had a problem.

With a silent sigh, he already had a suspicion in his heart.

It seemed that, just like in his previous life, this 956E was a downgraded version!

Seeing Su Dingping's expression turn somewhat solemn, Sun Yongguo asked, "Dingping, what's going on? Did you find a problem?"

"Director Sun, the relevant technical parameters of this 956E differ from the parameters I derived."

As soon as these words were spoken, Sun Yongguo's brow furrowed sharply.

There was a discrepancy in the parameters between the two?

Which one was more advanced? That was the key!

He instinctively felt that the core technology of the 956E derived by Su Dingping through images and technical parameters should be inferior to the actual ship.

After all, one was the life's work of many military experts from the Bear Nation! The other was merely the product of Su Dingping's five months of intensive research! How could one person match a group? With such a short timeframe, a gap was normal.

Having thought this through, Sun Yongguo offered words of comfort.

"Dingping, I didn't expect that bringing you here would yield such an unexpected harvest."

"It is indeed an unexpected harvest," Su Dingping nodded.

"Dingping, do not be discouraged. Although the 956E entered service in '81, it is nonetheless one of the representative works of the Bear Nation's navy! Our level is twenty years behind theirs. See if you can learn something from it; perhaps it will be of some help to you."

Just as Sun Yongguo finished speaking, he noticed Su Dingping's expression was somewhat strange.

Su Dingping also realized it—they were talking about two completely different things.

"I thought you knew, but it turns out you don't."

Upon hearing this, Sun Yongguo and Zhang Gongnong looked at each other, filled with confusion.

Su Dingping said, "Director Sun, its technical specifications have been downgraded!"

Hearing this, Sun Yongguo's expression changed abruptly.

"What did you say? Downgraded technology? Impossible!"

"Dingping, you shouldn't say such things lightly," Zhang Gongnong said from the side.

"We spent 440 million USD on this one! When the contract was signed, both parties clearly stated that the relevant technology must be guaranteed without compromise! It's written in black and white!"

Su Dingping did not hesitate. He shouted toward the 956E's captain, "Captain Zhou, are there any records of the training parameters?"

Captain Zhou looked at Sun Yongguo with some difficulty.

Training parameter records were classified and could not be leaked.

Sun Yongguo also hesitated.

Su Dingping said, "I trust my judgment."

The complete version of the 956E was sitting safely in the Military Industry Illustrated Forging Space; he naturally had full confidence.

Seeing Su Dingping's confident face, even Sun Yongguo couldn't help but feel some hesitation in his heart.

Could what Dingping said be true?

"Captain Zhou, go get them. If the higher-ups blame us, I will take the responsibility!"

"Director Sun, I can bear this responsibility. I indeed want to know if we have been cheated by the Bear Nation." With that, Captain Zhou hurried to the main control room, retrieved a document, and handed it to Su Dingping.

After flipping through it a few times, Su Dingping became even more certain.

"Director Sun, come look at this."

He pointed to the records in the document.

"Director Sun, on the first day of class, I explained that the 'Ore' sea-state perception radar's active detection mode can locate targets 80 kilometers away, and in passive detection mode, it can..."

"But look at the parameters here; in active mode, the average of several actual tests was only 70 kilometers!"

"And here, the dual-mount PK-2 decoy launchers, under actual testing..."

"Including the four KBG-4 steam boilers; according to calculations, they should provide a maximum of 120,000 shaft horsepower, reaching a maximum speed of 35 knots. But here, there is only 100,000, and the maximum speed is only 32 knots..."

Aside from the basic hull parameters, almost everything else was more or less mismatched.

A little less here, a little less there; it seemed like a reduction of only about ten percent in total, but for the overall combat capability of a warship, it was a drop of as much as thirty percent!

Even after Su Dingping finished speaking, Sun Yongguo remained in a state of shock.

Captain Zhou was puzzled: "But these are consistent with the parameters released by the Bear Nation."

"Are the released parameters of our 052 consistent with its actual parameters?"

Faced with Su Dingping's rhetorical question, the three men were rendered speechless.

Indeed, who would expose the true parameters of their own warships?

Everyone would keep something in reserve!

"We were cheated by the Bear Nation?" Captain Zhou looked bewildered.

"It can't be said that way," Zhang Gongnong said helplessly. "The warships they gave us are indeed consistent with the released parameters!"

"Even if we took these parameters to confront them, it would be useless. The contract specifies these exact figures! We can only blame ourselves for not being more vigilant at the time!"

"This is a lesson for us," Sun Yongguo said deeply. "Our technology is inferior; we have to swallow this loss no matter what!"

Sun Yongguo looked at the document in his hand, then at Su Dingping, hesitating to speak.

He had thought that bringing Su Dingping to see the warship today would allow him to gain something, and indeed he had, but this was a harvest he found difficult to stomach.

At the same time, he felt a sense of relief in his heart; if he hadn't brought Su Dingping here today, discovering this problem in the future would have left him kicking himself in regret.

"Should we inform the higher-ups?"

"This..."

For a moment, silence fell over the scene.

The topic was too heavy; none of them knew what to say.

"Inform the higher-ups."

Before Su Dingping could finish his sentence, Captain Zhou said, "I'll go."

"I'll go!" Sun Yongguo stopped Captain Zhou. "This is a failure of my responsibility as the Director of the First Institute."

Seeing that Zhang Gongnong was also about to join in, Su Dingping quickly said, "Gentlemen, it's not that serious."

*An accident this severe and it's not serious?*

Just as that thought surfaced in Zhang Gongnong's mind, his eyes widened upon hearing Su Dingping's next sentence.

"Inform the higher-ups that for the next period, I plan to move the teaching location here! When the time comes, I will bring you all together to fix it!"

"The Bear Nation has their schemes, but we have our own ways to overcome them!"