Chapter 226: Impending Mountain Rain

“The general, the African command has sent a message saying the 13 countries of Central and Southern Africa have issued a joint declaration at the capital of the Tanga Federation, exposing some of our supply point bases to the media and unanimously demanding that we withdraw immediately, or they will forcefully remove us.”

With a “smack,” Curtis slapped his palm on the table and said, “Do these African fools really have the guts to provoke our U.S. Military?”

Seeing the fury in Curtis’s face, the aide-de-camp said, “General, our Iron Wall Encirclement plan was preparing to utilize these supply bases to achieve a complete encirclement of the Tanga Federation. Now, with these countries resisting, it’s becoming difficult to carry out the plan.”

Curtis walked to the massive world map in the office, looked at the countries surrounding the Tanga Federation, and pondered with his chin rested on his hand.

After a good while, Curtis seemed to have an idea. Just as he was about to express his plans to the aide-de-camp, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in—” Curtis said.

A navy admiral walked in. “General Curtis, we just received a message from the Indian Ocean. The giant beast has appeared!”

Curtis was startled and quickly asked, “Where exactly?”

“The location is northwest by north of the Diego Garcia base, approximately 500 kilometers away. We had a small supply fleet passing by there, and one of our supply ships was eaten by it.”

“General Harris, did the rest of the fleet manage to capture this on camera?”

Harris shook his head and said, “No, it was already night time. The supply ship was pulled under and disappeared within a minute. The situation was similar to that of the India’s Visakhapatnam ship—it was directly dragged down and eaten. The fleet’s escort warship immediately launched a helicopter to conduct sonar detection, but soon after, they encountered electromagnetic interference. The pilot instinctively flew out of the interference zone, only to find out that the target had vanished.”

Curtis pondered and said, “Clearly, this is consistent with our previous analysis. The beast can create an electromagnetic interference area, but it seems it didn’t cause any substantial harm.”

“Yes, I think we can inform everyone that there’s no need to panic in case of electromagnetic interference. Keeping the target in focus is the most important thing,” Harris suggested.

“That’s worth considering. By the way, how is the progress of the Iron Wall Encirclement plan that your navy is responsible for? Are there any difficulties?” Curtis asked.

Harris replied, “I came to you to ask precisely that now that the sea monster has appeared, should we not execute the capture plan first? This was already established earlier.”

Curtis shook his head and said, “A strike on the Iron Wall Encirclement of Dream Technology’s industrial park in the Tanga Federation is more important. The operational plan determined at yesterday’s joint chiefs of staff meeting must be implemented as soon as possible!”

He then emphasized, “This is the current top priority designated by the acting president. Dream Technology has been strengthening its control over Central and Southern African countries. They’ve just announced the establishment of a unified market for the 13 Central and Southern African countries, a unified trade access policy, and even set up a joint bank to support infrastructure development. Moreover, they’ve just revealed our secret military bases in Africa and demanded our withdrawal, threatening to use force.”

“What?” General Harris was very shocked. He was astonished to learn that there were secret military bases in some African countries as well as the audacity of these smaller nations to issue an expulsion order to the U.S. Military. As a navy staff chief, he was unaware of some matters within the African Command, which was the most inconspicuous among the major commands.

Curtis continued, “This matter will soon spread across all African countries and the world, and we will find ourselves in a very embarrassing situation. Under international pressure, our withdrawal is just a matter of time. Therefore, we need to delay in order to carry out the Iron Wall Encirclement plan before we complete the withdrawal. By then, these African jerks might get so scared by our thunderous strike that they’ll give up on their demands for our withdrawal.”

Harris nodded and said, “You’re right. I will issue orders immediately to speed up the assembly of the fleets.”

Saying that, he walked to the world map, pointing to the northern maritime area near the Tanga Federation, “Currently, our navy fleets have begun to move. The USS Stanis battleship group will pass through the Gulf of Aden tomorrow. From now on, it is expected to arrive at the designated position in 59 hours. The USS Rossford battleship group is the furthest from the predetermined position; they will cross the Sunda Strait at 11 p.m. tonight, and it is estimated that it will take 117 hours to arrive. The USS Kelvin Song has already maneuvered south from the Arabian Sea and is expected to take 87 hours to arrive. Due to the inconsistent timing, the encirclement will not be fully effective, so the plan formulated yesterday is to start a unified blockade operation after seven days.”

Curtis frowned and said, “Seven days? Let’s do this: I’ll give your navy four days. As soon as the USS Stanis and USS Kelvin Song battle groups are in position, start the blockade. The USS Rossford battle group will act as a reserve force and must arrive within the following 48 hours to ensure a complete blockade of all coasts and airspace of the Tanga Federation. The acting president will arrange for Mr. Holmes to declare at the international security conference that Dream Technology is a corporation supported by a terrorist organization, and we will launch a military strike. Once the declaration is made, the military operation begins immediately. The first round will be carried out by your navy aircraft carrier strike groups, followed by an assessment of the battle results. If the outcome is not as expected, the B2 from Diego Garcia base will deploy the mother of all bombs for the second round of strikes! If that still isn’t successful, the acting president will authorize a third round of strikes, which will be carried out by the USS Marilan, currently on duty in the Indian Ocean.”

After listening to Curtis’s lengthy explanation, General Harris’s face grew solemn. He stared at Curtis, “General Curtis, did you just say the USS Marilan will be used to launch a third strike? This wasn’t mentioned at yesterday’s meeting, right?”

“Yes, you heard correctly. Because this is a special request from the acting president. We must ensure that the target is completely destroyed,” Curtis nodded.

“Just for one enterprise, do we need such a massive operation? Aren’t we afraid of being mocked by international opinion?” Harris couldn’t understand. With the limited military power of the Tanga Federation, deploying three aircraft carrier fleets was already somewhat overkill, yet Curtis wanted to use a strategic nuclear submarine currently on duty for the final strike. Is this a sign of the U.S. Military’s decline? Or severe lack of confidence in their own striking capabilities?

Curtis said seriously, “Harris, do not take this lightly. Dream Technology has shown to be completely overwhelming U.S. giants in both the electronics and machinery industries. These two industries are key to the production of cutting-edge weapons. How do you know Dream Technology doesn’t have powerful weapons for defense and counterattack? Even if they can’t manufacture them, can’t they buy them with their financial resources? Have you forgotten that the India’s Kuchin was sunk by a missile launched from a second-hand frigate of the Tanga Federation?”

Harris’s heart chilled as he apologetically said, “I was presumptuous. I will urge General Myers, who is responsible for command at the front, to remember not to make the cardinal mistake of underestimating the enemy.”

Curtis’s face showed a hint of a smile, “Hmm, now, our U.S. Military cannot afford any failure, or many challengers will rise to take advantage.”

“Alright, I’ll start preparing immediately.”

Curtis bid farewell to Harris and, looking at the world map, said to his aide-de-camp, “Notify the African Command to agree to the withdrawal, but we must delay it for at least one month.”

The aide-de-camp nodded and left.

Previously, the U.S. Military’s two carrier battle groups sequentially withdrew from the Arabian Sea, causing many international observers to speculate that the U.S. Military planned to withdraw from Persia. The Persian people, hoping to seize the opportunity to launch an attack and take back some territories in the absence of U.S. aerial support, suffered a disastrous failure instead. They lost a significant amount of heavy equipment and forces they had difficulty gathering, diminishing their capability to launch further attacks for the time being.

In the Tanga Federation, a summit meeting of the thirteen unified markets was just held, and a declaration that shook the world was made. The world was shocked by the mention in the declaration of the U.S. Military having supply bases in twelve of these countries and their firm stance on expulsion. However, following the announcement from the U.S. Military’s African Command agreeing to negotiate withdrawal, many were truly taken aback. Why did the U.S. Military concede to these African brothers?

Some say this is because the U.S. Military knows their actions don’t comply with international law and border on violating other countries’ sovereignty. Consequently, more African countries began to declare the presence of U.S. Military secret bases within their borders, expressing hopes for a swift U.S. withdrawal.

The “Leak Society” conducted a special interview titled, “Shock: The U.S. Military Has Over A Hundred Bases in Africa!” In fact, in most people’s understanding, the U.S. Military should only have two public bases in Africa—one in Djibouti and another in Kenya. Even the African Command had no African country willing to accept them and had to be combined with the European Command. Who could have imagined that the U.S. Military had secretly established so many supply bases? With these bases, the U.S. Military can carry out any small-scale special forces operations in Africa, whether for reconnaissance or counter-terrorism, ready to deploy at any time.

As the world believed this to be an isolated incident, an article began to circulate on the internet, “Impending Mountain Rain and Winds Fill the Building: Three U.S. Military Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups Head to the International Waters of the Tanga Federation – What Monkey Business Are They Up to?”