Scholars in the courtyard.

Chapter 2301 Muddy the Water
The old man on the right was tapping his pen on the table, then flipping through the information handed over by the investigation team.

After a moment, the old man spoke, "Team Leader Lehman, I read the report you submitted."

"In these materials, there are many words like 'suspected', 'possible', and 'probably'. Can I say that a large part of this material is uncertain and fabricated?"

"In other words, the conclusion drawn from this material is simply a possible conclusion."

The old man spoke sharply and directly asked Team Leader Lehman who was reporting to him.

Lehman remained calm after hearing this, and then turned to the old man, "Mr. Lance, although there are many doubts in our investigation, we were able to find this 'doubt' because it is based on facts."

“We have elaborated on these in the report.”

Lehman said seriously, but the old man didn't buy it. "That's not enough to prove your conclusion."

"You know, the Blackbird represents our highest technological essence. Even the Alliance does not have this kind of technology."

"But your conclusion tells me that the Blackbird was shot down. This is unscientific."

After the old man finished speaking, Lehman was about to refute, but the old man with the medal in the middle position raised his head and said, "Yes, I agree with Mr. Lance's judgment."

"Besides, I don't think the enemy has the ability to destroy our Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft."

"I don't think they have the guts to challenge the great United States."

"You know, that's more than 20,000 meters in the air. In my opinion, that altitude has exceeded the scope of territorial waters, so it should be considered free airspace."

"How dare they attack us?"

The old man with the medal said this with disdain, and the old man on the right side nodded in agreement.

Firstly, they didn't believe that the Blackbird could be shot down, and secondly, they couldn't believe that the other side would launch an attack at such a high altitude.

When the people in the West heard the two say this, they all fell silent. Although they didn't care in their hearts, they looked serious and solemn.

At this time, the white-haired old man on the far left finally spoke.

"I think Team Leader Lehman did a great job. Even though it took a while, the information in these documents shows that they put a lot of effort into it."

After hearing this, Lehman looked at the old man with gratitude.

"As for the problem Mr. Lance mentioned, it may be related to Mr. Lance's work. He does not understand intelligence work."

After saying this, Lance on the right looked grim, and he put the pen in his hand on the table. Then he crossed his arms across his chest, leaned back in his chair and said nothing.

"Sometimes intelligence reporting requires accurate information to support intelligence, but there is also some intelligence that requires our staff to follow the clues and unravel the mystery to express the most likely scenario."

"And these speculations are often closest to the truth."

The white-haired old man seemed to be explaining something, but he felt that he had already said too much.

Then he looked at the old man with the medal beside him and said, "As for what you said, it's hard to say whether the other party dares to do it now, but more than ten years ago, the other party crossed the river without hesitation."

Hearing this, the old man with the medal blushed and leaned back in his chair along with the old man on his right.

Seeing this, the white-haired old man achieved his goal and took the initiative in the interrogation. "Lyman, this report shows that the other party launched a missile from an airplane."

"Does that prove the missiles' superiority, or is it the aircraft's fault?"

Hearing this, everyone looked at Lehman again.

I thought Lehman would give a quick answer, but at this moment Lehman smiled bitterly, "I'm sorry, sir. I know this is unfortunate news, but I still want to say that the other party has missiles that can catch up with the Blackbird."

"Moreover, this missile should have been launched from an aircraft based on the pilot's final response."

"From a plane?"

"It's faster than the Blackbird reconnaissance plane, otherwise how could it catch up?"

"No, is the enemy's plane that fast?"

People began to doubt one after another, and the voices became louder and louder.

"Quiet, quiet."

The old man with the medal who was in charge of the meeting immediately shouted, and everyone quickly calmed down.

The old man with the medal looked at Lehman, and then asked seriously, "Team Leader Lehman, you have to know what you are talking about."

Lyman nodded solemnly, "Sir, I know."

"Every word I said here today was the result of careful consideration."

"Every word I say, I will be responsible to the great and free United States."

"It is my passionate love for the United States that has led me to the most appropriate conclusion."

Lehman finished speaking, his expression serious.

The three old men at the top remained silent.

The white-haired old man was even more immersed in his own world.

If the other party has the ability to intercept the Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft, then the entire earth will lose the surveillance of the United States in the future.

If the other party knocks out their eyes and ears, they won't even know that the mushroom eggs are secretly delivered right under their noses.

The white-haired old man was so frightened that he didn't know what to do for a moment.

Finally, the white-haired old man calmed down and asked, "Do you think these missiles and aircraft were developed by them?"

Lehman shook his head. "It's unclear, but they will definitely have some stock."

After hearing this, the white-haired old man asked Lehman to sit down, and then looked at Lawrence beside him.

"Lawrence, what is your intelligence?"

Lawrence, who was next to Lehman, stood up immediately.

"Sir, we are investigating the other party's military industrial unit."

"During this period of time, the enemy has used two types of weapons, one of which is a surface-to-air missile code-named Thunder."

"This missile has been fully tested in actual combat in Shanghai."

At this point, the old man with the medal in the middle snorted coldly, as if his scar had been exposed. Lawrence immediately changed the subject after hearing this. "The other one is Baiju. The other side's code name is J-10."

"We have investigated this name. The main fighter jet currently in service is called the J-7."

"If they were arranged numerically, there should be two types of aircraft in the middle, the J-8 and J-9, but the other side just called them the J-10."

"This shows that the performance of this aircraft is much better than that of the J-7."

"All of the above fully demonstrates one problem, that is, the enemy has a high-speed aircraft."

Lawrence said this, which was a disguised proof of Lehman's conclusion.

As Lawrence finished speaking, whispers were heard again throughout the conference room.

Obviously, everyone still couldn't understand why the other party suddenly had the power to restrain them?
"Well, I think we have an answer now."

Finally, it was the white-haired old man who spoke. After he finished speaking, the old man with the medal and the old man on the right just nodded but did not express any opinions.

Seeing that the two were silent, the white-haired man nodded to Lehman and the others, "Okay, gentlemen, your mission has been completed. You can go back and enjoy your vacation."

Lyman Lawrence and others immediately stood up and saluted, "Thank you, sir."

Everyone filed out, leaving only three people sitting at the round table.

"Lance, what do you think?"

The old man with the medal in the middle asked.

At this moment, the expressions on the three people's faces were different, but they all had one thing in common, that is, there was a dangerous light flashing in their eyes.

"The opponent is no longer someone we can easily bully as before, especially after that battle. They have gained confidence."

"And now we are stuck in the jungle quagmire, the battle is stalemate."

"So, I think we should stop this provocative behavior, focus on the battlefield in the south, and relax other policies appropriately."

"Besides, we are the provocateurs now. Without strong evidence, it is better to maintain the current relationship."

After Lance finished speaking, the old man with the medal turned back to look at the old man with the daytime, "What do you think?"

The white-haired old man picked up the pipe he carried with him, put in some tobacco, and lit it with a lighter.

The other two were not impatient, but waited quietly.

“Some things don’t need to be 100% certain.”

"It's very dangerous. You all know that if our aircraft cannot conduct effective reconnaissance, many things will be out of our control."

“And once you lose control, you lose your sense of security.”

"That would be a very, very dangerous thing for the great free United States."

"So, we have to make our voices heard and deter Xiao Xiao."

After the white-haired old man finished speaking, Lance was about to refute, but was stopped by the old man with the medal of honor.

"That makes sense!"

The medal man said seriously, "Many countries are watching us now. If we back down now, it will be a major blow to our international reputation."

"This kind of thing must not be allowed to happen."

The old man said it with absolute certainty.

Lance was forced to agree, "So what should we do?"

The old man looked directly at the white-haired old man without saying anything.

The white-haired old man was silent for a moment, then his eyes flashed, "Since the other party wants to hide it and doesn't want to expose it, then we might as well expose it directly and see how they respond."

"Besides, if this is true, there are many people who are more worried than us."

After hearing this, the two of them thought about it for a moment before nodding in agreement.

In the city of Sijiu, the sky was dark and the cold wind was howling.

The lights in the office were still on, and the thin old man was writing furiously, reviewing materials.

Not only Yang Xiaotao, Liu Huaimin, Lao Hong and others were busy with the establishment of the Nine Departments, but he, the chief steward, also had to distract himself.

However, judging from the current situation, the affairs of the Ninth Ministry are being handled very well.

In particular, every development direction is productive and not just empty talk, which makes the old man very pleased.

Just as the thin old man quickly finished processing the documents and was about to go to bed, Tong Xiaolong walked in quickly from outside the door, holding a report in his hand and looking nervous.

"Chief, this is an inquiry from the United States."

Tong Xiaolong suppressed his anger and handed over the paper.

If it weren't for the old man's clear decision, any telegram from abroad would have to be known as soon as possible, no matter how late it was.

Otherwise he would have postponed it long ago.

The thin old man took it and read it carefully.

After a moment, a look of anger appeared on the old man's face.

These guys are simply robbers. They actually described the trespassing as unintentional entry, and even turned the tables, saying that the plane was stolen. They need an explanation.

"What a shameless bunch of guys."

The thin old man's literary attainments prevented him from saying anything else, but the word "shameless" was indeed an appropriate description.

However, the old man looked both ways again and realized that the other party was not aware of the Blackbird captives.

Obviously, the other side prefers that the Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft was shot down.

The reason for doing this is to muddy the waters so that other people with ulterior motives will also know about the situation.

But in this case, one of Baiju and Pili No. 3 will have to be chosen to be revealed.