Chapter 694 Ghost Attacks

Chang Haonan's estimate was not wrong.

Although the US intelligence agencies do have "special intelligence acquisition channels" in Europe, this channel cannot be real-time and there will always be an update cycle.

Especially since the EU delegation is currently in China, this cycle will be longer than that in Europe, which has already iterated on a mature path.

Therefore, by the time the news spread back to North America, the news about "a package of trade agreements reached between the EU and China" was already broadcast on TV...

ET, early the next morning.

Still the Oval Office.

Still the same few people.

But the atmosphere in the room was completely different from the previous days.

Several cigars were lit, making the splendid office filled with smoke.

No one spoke.

Everyone's attention was focused on one corner of the room.

There was a TV there, which was playing scenes of Chinese and EU negotiators answering reporters' questions at the press conference.

“In the next five years, no less than 50% of the trade between China and the EU will be settled in euros. In addition, when conditions permit, both parties will also try to be more diverse in a wider scope. The means of using currency..."

"Germany, France, and Italy will sign a free trade agreement with China before December 31, 1999, with reference to the most-favored-nation trade status. This agreement has the principle of openness and does not rule out the inclusion of more countries in the future. The EU recognizes that China is a global player. The important role played in the process of market opening, understanding and supporting China’s demands to join the World Trade Organization..."

"..."

Everyone had a "numb" expression on their faces.

Compared with the information they are holding, the content shown on TV is not complete. For example, it does not mention some details of tariff reductions.

But the core meaning is the same.

Obviously, their movements were still too slow.

"I have long said that my previous stance should be tougher, but now they obviously don't take us seriously at all..."

After a long silence, Albright frowned and waved away the cigar smoke that was blocking his vision before speaking in a slightly hoarse voice.

Logically speaking, in the current situation, it is not suitable for her as a secretary of state to speak in such a tone.

But in the past few years, several consecutive scandals, each bigger than the last, have already destroyed the president's authority.

If the United States was not still on the rise at this moment, and the donkey-elephant dispute was still somewhat of a show-off, I don’t know what would have happened.

Just playing with flowers, no problem.

Everyone is in a moral vacuum anyway.

Not to mention that the target of the zipper door is an adult woman, even if it is an underage boy...ahem.

But after you finish playing, you are left with a lot of messy things that you can’t clear up, and in the end you have to let others follow you to wipe your ass. This is a question of ability.

In this circle, people can be bad, but they cannot be stupid.

So now, the entire team doesn't take the person behind the desk seriously...

Rubin, who was sitting opposite, didn't look good either.

This round of complex games surrounding the Balkans is relatively complicated, involving many fields such as foreign trade, monetary and financial policies, and military operations.

But there is no doubt that no matter what the superficial reason for the series of operations is, its core purpose is to suppress the new euro, so as not to threaten the dollar's absolute dominance in international trade.

As Finance Minister, he is naturally directly related to this.

Now that China has implemented this operation, the exchange rate of the euro against the US dollar has risen by nearly two percentage points.

Although not worth mentioning compared to those that have already fallen, this is obviously not a trend that the United States wants to see.

Of course, Rubin will definitely not let go easily:

"The problem now is not whether we are tough or not, but we did not expect that the Chinese people would completely ignore the conditions for our departure, and that the Europeans could also reach an agreement with the Chinese people so happily, which resulted in the previously planned plan being completely ignored. Too late to implement.”

"Taking a step back, if you look at the specific content of this agreement, it has obviously taken into account the worst case scenario of failure to join the WTO. If China and Europe are really allowed to establish a free trade area and then include Russia and ASEAN, we will not have to What about the World Trade Organization..."

"Moreover, we promised those companies to open up the Chinese market. If something goes wrong in this regard, I am afraid that the entire West Coast will become an iron vote warehouse for the Elephant Party. For at least the next twenty years, Congress may be dominated by the Elephant Party alone. Da, will you be responsible for this when the time comes?"

Albright's lips moved but he did not continue speaking.

Although the Secretary of State has a higher position in the cabinet than the Secretary of the Treasury (fifth vs. sixth), Rubin has an extremely close relationship with the financial capital of Wall Street and has students and former officials all over the United States. , but actually a very influential figure.

And what the other person said makes sense.

The office fell silent again.

"Since China and the EU have even signed an agreement, are our previous preparations... unnecessary?"

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Shelton didn't care about exchange rates or trade. He just wanted to quickly persuade the guys in front of him to take back their previous crazy ideas so that he could order the 509th Bomber Wing to end its combat readiness.

As a professional soldier who has walked on thin ice during the Cold War, he has clearly realized that the current cabinet's application of military means is too childish.

The great victories in several previous operations have made them forget about the old events of Goryeo and Annan. They have excessively abused force, and they have used excessive force against opponents whose level is far lower than themselves. This is by no means a good sign for an army. .

However, the Joint Chiefs of Staff itself, as a purely military department, does not have decision-making power under the modern command mechanism, so he can only make suggestions where possible.

"Of course not!"

Albright's answer directly made Sheldon's eyes darken.

"But no matter what we do now, there is no way they will withdraw from the agreement..."

The latter is still trying to save the situation.

But people often can’t hold back when they can’t hold back.

Albright is currently in a state of breaking defense:

"We must teach China and Europe a lesson now. Otherwise, if we allow them to cooperate, not only will our efforts in the past period be in vain, but it will also affect the prestige of our speeches in the future. If we can't even deal with China and Europe, how can we talk about leading the world? ?”

"Moreover, even if the agreement cannot be withdrawn, it can still be delayed at the implementation level. The euro exchange rate has not recovered much now, only 2%, which shows that the wait-and-see mood in the market is still there. As long as the Chinese people dare not take action immediately , the newly established confidence will collapse again, and it will collapse faster than before..."

Sheldon has secretly scolded this crazy woman countless times. He said in his heart that even if we take action, we will not be able to cause much damage to China and Europe. At most, we will only save some face...

Of course, you still have to change your words:

"But the risks behind this..."

"There's no risk."

Albright interrupted Sheldon directly:

"We pay you 270 billion US dollars every year. Do we dare not take action just because a plane crashed a few days ago?"

When he heard her talk about the military expenditure issue, William Cohen, who had been watching the Donkey Party jokes just now, couldn't sit still.

He has served as Defense Minister for two years and plans to serve for another two years. When the next Xiang Party cabinet comes to power, he will retire and go back to open a company to specialize in the internal business of the US military. Now he even has the company name and operating structure. All thought out.

If something goes wrong with military expenditures, it will undoubtedly be equivalent to taking money out of his cornucopia.

But Cohen has become a veteran now, and he knows that if he expresses his position at this time, he will probably take the blame in the future, so he directly diverts the trouble:

"This matter should be left to our Commander-in-Chief to make a decision..."

"Just follow the plan we made before..."

Sheldon felt that his high blood pressure was about to break out, but he had no choice but to stand up, salute towards the desk, and then turn around and leave...

…

That evening.

Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri.

Brigadier General Bonn Marlott, who had just put on his dark green flight suit, held the mission document marked "SECRET" on the cover in his hand, and walked to the concrete hangar not far away with his partner Colonel Sampny Statham.

At this time, the huge hangar door had been opened, and several flying-wing stealth bombers were parked inside.

B2 "Ghost".

The original purpose of this aircraft design was to rely on stealth and low-altitude penetration capabilities to carry free-fall nuclear bombs into the vast Siberia and hunt for land-based intercontinental ballistic missile launchers operating there.

However, when it actually entered service in 1997, the imaginary enemy it once was no longer existed, and it could only carry out some ordinary bombing missions with far lower risks than expected.

At the end of last month, the B2 bomber completed its first combat mission in its career.

Of course, it's just a test.

According to the original plan, the Allied operation did not require a second sortie of this strategic weapon.

But a few days ago, the 509th Bomb Wing suddenly received an order to re-enter combat readiness, and received a new top-secret mission this morning.

Only the captain, Brigadier General Marlott, knew the specific mission information, and even Colonel Statham could only be informed after the plane took off.

The two quickly came to the B2 scheduled to be used for the mission.

Although this unit has been deployed for nearly three years, Colonel Statham is still shocked by the appearance of this aircraft every time.

Just like the alien battleships he had seen as a child.

Since there is no vertical tail, the aircraft number is written on the nose gear door.

890127.

On the main landing gear door, the name of the aircraft is written: Spirit of Kansas

Strategic bombers like the B2 are extremely costly and rare in quantity. Each one has an extraordinary meaning, so just like the warships of the Navy, they have their own names.

This one is called the "Spirit of Kansas."

As usual, Marlott and Statham signed the flight mission sheet handed over by the ground staff, then climbed into the cockpit one after another along the ramp behind the nose landing gear, and began to perform various pre-takeoff inspections according to the checklist. .

On the weapon selection interface, Statham saw 6 GBU-31 joint direct attack munitions.

Basic flight data, such as weapon load, should have been informed to the pilot during the mission briefing, but this process was not followed during today's mission. Instead, Brigadier General Marlott took him directly onto the plane.

This made Statham feel a little different.

Half an hour later, the Spirit of Kansas bomber headed down the taxiway to the end of the takeoff runway.

As the two pilots pushed the four sets of throttle valves to the end at the same time, the four F118GE100 engines burst out a total of 33.8 tons of thrust, pushing this behemoth weighing more than 150 tons to slowly accelerate on the runway.

After a taxiing distance of about 1,000 meters, Brigadier General Marlott pulled the control column back.

As a feeling of overweight came, the black-painted aircraft lightly left the runway and quickly disappeared into the vast night sky...