Chapter 35: Comrade Dingping, I am here to bid you farewell

A high-level meeting next month?

Without even thinking, Xu Dongguo knew that when the various Navy commanders gathered, Qian Wenbing would surely accuse him of obstructing the second procurement process of the 956E and refusing to let go of it.

He didn't care about this. There were still more than half a month left; he would stall for as long as he could.

If the 956E breakthrough project made significant progress by then, that would be best. Even if it didn't, he had other methods.

At worst, he would just show his hand!

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

Xu Dongguo shook his head with a smile, his gaze subconsciously drifting to the calendar on the desk, and he was momentarily stunned.

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

Over the past month, with Su Dingping's help, Sun Yongguo and the others had made massive gains.

Every time Sun Yongguo came to report the situation, he felt deeply gratified. If progress continued at this rate, it wouldn't be long before the Navy entered the era of modernization.

A new century was about to begin, and he felt as if he could see the modernization of the Navy waving to him from the horizon.

After yearning for so many years, he was finally seeing hope.

The years of frustration and humiliation were finally coming to an end.

"We are about to enter the 21st century. I hope our Navy can fire the first shot of its modernization at the start of the new year!"

Whether the Navy could win its comeback battle at the start of the new year depended decisively on Su Dingping's side.

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

"Regardless of how smoothly everything goes, Comrade Su Dingping's contribution is immense. He carries too heavy a burden. At the turn of the century, I must find time to visit him, no matter what!"

In the past, with one in Qingdao and the other in Harbin, the back-and-forth was too troublesome, and combined with his heavy workload, he truly had no time.

Now, the round trip was only about an hour. Even if he stayed for a while, it wouldn't take much time.

He decided that no matter how busy he was these next few days, he would make a trip to the base.

Just then, a guard knocked on the door.

"Reporting, Chief. A coded telegram has arrived from the Northern Shipbuilding Plant."

"Enter!"

The guard handed over the document and quickly withdrew.

He opened the file.

The content of the telegram was simple: due to the Navy's tight military budget, the third Type 052 truly could not be delivered by the end of the year! The earliest would be mid-January next year; he hoped Chief Xu would understand.

After reading it, Xu Dongguo let out a soft sigh.

According to the allocation, one 956E was assigned to the Northern Sea Fleet and one to the Eastern Sea Fleet. As for the two Type 052s already in service, one went to the Eastern Sea Fleet and one to the Southern Sea Fleet. Naturally, this third Type 052 fell to the Northern Sea Fleet.

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

With his obstruction of the second batch of 956E procurement, combined with Chief Qian's intention to take the 956E quota that belonged to him from the second batch, the military strength of the Northern Sea Fleet had been drastically reduced.

A single modern warship is extremely important to a fleet.

Now that the delivery date for the Type 052 was being pushed back again, Xu Dongguo felt immense pressure.

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

Because of this, Xu Dongguo felt an even greater sense of anticipation for Su Dingping's ability to lead his team to an early breakthrough on the 956E.

...

Meanwhile, at the 956E breakthrough site.

Su Dingping had led a group of professors to perform a detailed disassembly of the core components that had been removed a while ago. With him there, even if a detailed disassembly failed, it could be repaired in time.

The professors had already mastered 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 the others looked at Su Dingping, their eyes filled with fervor and admiration.

The 956E, which had once left them at a complete loss, was now having its mysterious veil lifted layer by layer. All of this was thanks to Su Dingping.

During this period, in addition to mastering the structure of the core components, they had also, under Su Dingping's leadership, overcome several "hidden hands" left by the Soviet Union in the 956E.

Furthermore, due to Su Dingping's unique teaching method—where each professor specialized in their own field, combined with the use of the 956E core components as teaching materials and Su Dingping's selfless instruction—everyone was progressing rapidly and in unison.

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

Today, they had finally conquered the last two backdoors.

"Dingping, this is your credit. We were just helping out," Sun Yongguo was the first to step forward and state his position.

Engineer Zhang Nong quickly chimed in, "Dingping, if it weren't for your leadership, we would still be at a complete loss regarding the 956E. Wouldn't you agree, everyone?"

"Yes! Dingping, we are riding your coattails!"

"We are already very satisfied just to be part of this project; we can't talk about credit at all."

Others also voiced their opinions one after another.

They had all seen Su Dingping's dedication during this time. How could those who came here to learn claim the teacher's credit?

They possessed that level of self-awareness.

Looking at the serious faces of the group, Su Dingping felt a surge of emotion: *They are all people with firm beliefs and pure hearts.*

"We are a team. The credit belongs to everyone; there is no such thing as riding someone's coattails," Su Dingping said, shifting the topic.

"I am very gratified by how quickly everyone has progressed recently. 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 is still very heavy, but I have great confidence in everyone!"

The crowd was filled with excitement.

Once this phase was completed, the 956E would hold absolutely no secrets from them.

This also meant they would completely master the core technologies of the 956E main ship.

Just as Sun Yongguo was about to speak up, Su Dingping continued.

"In a while, once everyone has mastered the current stage, the next phase will be the Baling supersonic anti-ship missile system and the 'SA-N-7 Hurricane' air defense missile system."

"These two shipborne missile systems are quite good and are worth our detailed study!"

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

*Is it that fast?*

*We aren't mentally prepared at all.*

The 956E breakthrough was only halfway through, and the next stage of tasks was already being put on the agenda?

"Dingping, could it be...?" Sun Yongguo asked cautiously.

Su Dingping explained, "I only have some ideas for now. By the time we finish up here, it should be about time."

Sun Yongguo was completely stunned.

He had heard Su Dingping mention putting the second stage of the curriculum on the agenda more than ten days ago, but he hadn't expected things to take shape so quickly.

The others couldn't help but gasp. The way they looked at Su Dingping changed; the original admiration was now tinged with a sense of worship and fanaticism.

With such a genius leading the way, what would they worry about? How could the Navy fail to achieve greatness?

"The materials provided by Dean Lyu have been of great help to me," Su Dingping said, looking at Lyu Guangjun. "Dean Lyu, thank you."

Hearing this, Lyu Guangjun straightened his back significantly.

To have this credit personally acknowledged by Su Dingping made him feel immensely proud.

Thinking back to when he had gone to apologize to Xu Dongguo, he felt it was all worth it!

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

At that moment, Lyu Guangjun, accompanied by two vice-deans, quickly caught up, and Sun Yongguo and Engineer Zhang Nong followed as well.

Lyu Guangjun said sincerely, "Dingping, we have benefited greatly from studying here during this time. Thank you for your dedicated teaching."

The other two also expressed their thanks.

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

"I feel somewhat ashamed," Lyu Guangjun said with a hint of guilt. "I know that Dean Sun and Comrade Zhang Nong have some grievances against me, as I was the one advocating for the second procurement of the 956E at the time."

"After coming here that day, I realized how absurdly wrong I was. For this, I apologize to both of you."

"Old Lyu, it's in the past."

"Dean Lyu, please, don't."

Sun Yongguo and Zhang Nong quickly replied.

Lyu Guangjun waved his hand. "If you are wrong, you must admit it. I understand that."

"Having studied here for a while now, I am very confident about the improvement of the Type 051B, 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."

(End of Chapter)