Agriculture Maniac

Chapter 503 Global Ranking

The Leoster luxury cruise ship.

Launched in 1999, it is 360 meters long, displaces 22 tons, has 15 decks, and houses a theater, bar, arcade, presidential suite and other facilities. It has 2706 rooms and can accommodate 6880 passengers and 2500 crew members. The total cost was US$14 billion. The legendary Titanic was only one-fifth the size of it.

Nominally, the luxury cruise ship belongs to Royal Caribbean International.

In reality, the investment and profits are jointly made by executives from multiple regions, such as North American Deputy Secretary of Defense Keller, North American Treasurer, Philippine military chief, South African chief, and Mummy chief.

In 04, the cruise ship industry generated a total revenue of US$8.3 million on paper, with a total revenue of approximately US$159 billion from its hidden industries.

General Small, from South Africa, is in charge of the Leoster luxury cruise ship. He commands over 1700 well-trained soldiers to serve as the ship's security personnel and can also command five F-16 fighter jets from Sumatra for support.

Therefore, when he received news that someone was forcibly boarding the ship, he remained calm, swirling a glass of red wine in one hand and pressing a burning cigar against a woman's thigh with the other, closing his eyes to listen to the melodious screams.

"There have been quite a few rats trying to board the ship lately."

The manager in charge of the cruise ship business said expressionlessly, "We recently received a batch of high-end goods, including well-known models, senior executives of large companies, rich young ladies, and college students from international universities. Perhaps their parents are pragmatic and have entrusted the police or hired large security companies to rescue them."

"Be careful, whatever you do, don't provoke those monsters."

"Understood. We have avoided the major powers and arranged for some capable people to join them, work diligently for them, master all the characteristics of women, and avoid arresting the wrong people from within."

"Well done."

boom!
A loud bang was heard, and General Small, who was holding a wine glass, paused slightly and looked at his deputy.

The latter hurriedly walked out of the luxurious hall, but the next second a mechanical hand grabbed his head and crushed it.

Immediately afterwards, a scarlet figure appeared before everyone.

It was a 3-meter-tall bipedal mechanical device.

He has a chain machine gun mounted on his left hand and three small launch tubes on his arm.

The right hand is a mechanical gripper with a handle equipped with gears, a welding torch, and a nozzle, which seems to be able to replace tools.

It has no head; instead, there's a driver's window on its chest, inside which sits a camouflaged man holding a joystick.

The man wore a helmet with goggles, his eyes shrouded in green light, through which flowing data strings could be faintly seen...

General Small spotted the red flag and the three red and one green four-leaf clover on the mechanical monster's arm and slammed his hand on the alarm on his chest.

He needs to notify his employer that he has provoked a monster.

pity.

Hiss hiss hiss...

Flames swept through the hall, and General Small's head was shattered into pieces in the blink of an eye, his half-raised hands falling limply to his sides.

In the instant of death, he saw the mechanical monster, without stopping, raise its hands to smash open the compartment and move towards its next target.

In the next room, Bennett, the once high-and-mighty English billionaire, was dripping wax on a woman who had lost her hands and feet, when it was immediately sliced ​​in two by hissing flames.

Then, three high-explosive shells rolled down.

boom!
The mechanical monster has moved on to the third room.

That's too brutal!

···
The seven large cruise ships anchored in international waters are 220 meters long and 35 meters wide on average, with 10 to 12 decks, and each deck has an area equivalent to two football fields.

Because of its involvement in illicit activities, the cruise ship has a complex internal structure, with wealthy individuals, crew members, and hostages all mixed together. It also houses undercover Interpol agents and civilian mercenaries infiltrating to rescue a specific target...

Rescuing all the hostages would be an incredibly difficult task.

The combined fleet deployed 200 combat units, subtracting more than 30 high-altitude snipers, and the rest were evenly distributed among 7 cruise ships and 2 research ships, with each ship having fewer than 20 people rappelling down.

Based on the number of pirates on one of the cruise ships, it was almost equivalent to 20 versus 1000.

However, the first joint operation of lightweight mechanical exoskeletons and heavy individual mechanical armor, along with the communication network support and AI support of the combat platform, made this battle overwhelming.

In just one hour, they eliminated six or seven thousand pirates and rescued nearly two thousand hostages.

This left the Eastern military advisors and military observers from various countries watching the live broadcast speechless and deeply powerless.

too strong!
It's ridiculously strong, so strong it doesn't seem like something from its home planet.

Especially during the rescue process, the combat units acted like emotionless, highly precise killing machines.

Those who can be saved should be rescued on the spot.

If someone is beyond rescue, has no value in being rescued, or is impossible to rescue, simply throw a few high-explosive grenades at them without hesitation or delay.

Is this still a human army?

in shock.

Ten 2000-ton ships in the Nanyang Joint Fleet suddenly erected more than 100 ladder-shaped tracks.

It is about 20 meters long and 2 meters wide, facing upwards at a 45-degree angle.

Immediately afterwards, one after another, wing-ground effect torpedo bombers were sent up the ladder by robotic arms.

Immediately, the words "Electromagnetic Orbit Accelerator Ready" appeared on the side of the ladder.

next second.

One hundred wing-effect torpedo bombers were launched into the air and flew at Mach 3, skimming the sea surface towards two research vessels and seven luxury cruise ships.

Five seconds later.

A second batch of 100 wing-mounted torpedo bombers were launched into the air...

Ten seconds later.

The third batch of 100 wing-to-ground effect torpedo bombers...
Once the first batch of targets were less than 20 kilometers away, each wing-to-ground effect aircraft released four torpedoes, effectively turning into a suicide bomber and accelerating forward again...

Boom boom boom!
Two research vessels and seven luxury cruise ships sank rapidly into the sea amidst towering flames.

Three batches of 100 wing-effect torpedo bombers launched a total of 1200 torpedoes, which then transformed into 300 supersonic missiles...

Currently, let alone frigates, cruisers, and destroyers, even carrier strike groups would struggle to cope with such a dense saturation attack.

So military advisors and observers almost all had the same idea.

'The era of aircraft carriers is truly coming to an end.'

···
Jishui Canal Theme Park.

An unnamed beer and barbecue stand.

Yu Yang was eating grilled oysters and watching the live broadcast of the Nanyang 2005 naval exercise and the hostage rescue, and he was equally shocked.

Although he personally recruited the mechanical exoskeletons and individual mechanical armor, the relevant troops performed exceptionally clumsily during performance testing.

The plan was to drop them there to draw fire, and then drop a second batch.

Unexpectedly, the job was done in one fell swoop.

Is this a technological creation from 1980?

What a joke.

It's likely that even in another timeline in 2030, such a powerful level of combat capability would never have been achieved.

Yu Yang then realized that this was not an increase in combat power brought about by mechanical exoskeletons and individual mechanical armor.

Rather, it is a combat unit of the Level 1 City Hall, which inherently possesses combat capabilities.

Or.

A farmer can build a house in a very short time by swinging a hammer and banging away, and can also make soybeans grow quickly in the soil.

This is the farmer's ability.

The burly, dark-skinned man could wield a long spear and charge into battle like a mini-Superman, or he could lift a cauldron and act as a strongman. This was the ability of a warrior.

The modern military units before us, relying on mechanical devices, can take on a hundred enemies single-handedly; this is also a soldier's ability.

In other words, anything produced by a famous author is guaranteed to be of high quality.

The factory secretary reported: "Chairman Yu, the frontline report is that the nearly 2000 hostages rescued were immediately sent to Xiangjiang Central Hospital for medical treatment and three months of psychological rehabilitation, but what about the follow-up arrangements?"

“They are all adults and everyone should be responsible for their own actions. Although we have rescued them, we are not saints. There is no need to arrange jobs for them. They should be sent back home directly. Those who are homeless should be sent to the community where they are registered and let the local authorities find a solution.”

“Okay.” After noting it down, the factory secretary continued, “Just now, RAND Corporation updated its global military rankings.”

"Oh?" Yu Yang curiously opened the Titan phone and found the relevant article.

This military ranking takes into account multiple indicators.

Strategic threat (accounting for 30% of the score) includes the number of nuclear weapons, delivery capabilities, and triad strike system.

Conventional combat capability (accounting for 20% of the score) includes the size of active service, the level of equipment modernization, and joint operations capability.

Technological autonomy (accounting for 25% of the score) includes the scale of the military industry chain, the completeness of the industrial industry chain, ultra-high frequency communication networks, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, etc.

Strategic deployment (accounting for 15% of the score) includes overseas bases, carrier strike groups, and long-range delivery capabilities.

Strategic resilience (accounting for 10% of the score) includes resource self-sufficiency rate, industrial scale and potential, and wartime industrial conversion rate.

North America ranked first with an overall index of 9.9.

It possesses absolute hegemony, with a military expenditure of trillions, ranking first in the world. It has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 253 F-22s, 12 Valkyries, 6 B-2 stealth strategic bombers, 30 B-21s, and its shipborne AI command system, Aegis 2.0, is mature. It has deployed 265 UFO-based ultra-high frequency communication satellites, 12 anti-missile early warning satellites, and 35 keyhole spy satellites in space. It has access to the world's internet and GPS, and has nearly 800 military bases around the world.

Second place: Ice Bear, with an overall score of 8.9.

Possessing nearly 7000 nuclear warheads and 45 nuclear submarines, it has completed radar and communication integration based on three systems of electronics; it has completed the GLONASS Starlink system based on three systems of aerospace; its air defense and anti-missile capabilities have been greatly improved, and the modernization level of its active military forces has exceeded 80%.

Third place: Dongfang, with an overall score of 8.8.

Entering 2005, the Eastern Land Force completed its modernization reforms, equipping itself with land-based missile launchers, area barrage anti-missile systems, and achieving over 40% electronic and AI-enabled soldier capabilities. The Eastern Air Force completed its modernization reforms, with the number of J-14s exceeding 30, J-11B Pro Max reaching 200, and approximately 1500 J-10B and higher-class aircraft. The Eastern Naval Force developed rapidly, possessing 45 Type 054 destroyers, 3 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 3 Xiao Dongyue-class 10,000-ton destroyers, 2 Dongyue-class guided-missile cruisers, 2 concrete aircraft carriers, and 5 mobile concrete platforms.

Note: Joining a group will increase your overall score by 1.

The group possesses the West Tower Starlink, a three-system command and combat system, a super AI computer, and the Xintai Data Center, and owns five major resource regions: the Far East, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Central Asia, and West Africa.

Entering 05, the entire collective industry underwent a radical modernization reform. The new Sanyuan Heavy Industry launched a nuclear-powered spaceplane, achieving the capability to strike and deliver aircraft within half an hour at a range of 3 kilometers; the Sanyuan Aerospace division was about to possess three space stations; the Sanyuan warship division's annual production capacity reached 16 tons; the Sanyuan aviation division's annual production of fifth-generation fighter jets reached 20; and the Sanyuan pulse detonation engine was about to be put into practical use…

Fourth place: France, with an overall score of 7.1.

The EU's leading power, possessing 290 nuclear warheads; its Rafale fighter jets (originally 4th generation) have been upgraded to 4.5 generation fighters by introducing a third-generation command and combat platform; it has established a 35-strong foreign mercenary force in Africa, equipped with three-generation weaponry; and it has independently developed the Tejas fighter jet…

Fifth place, Japan, with an overall score of 6.5.

With its military spending continuing to expand covertly, it spends nearly 100 billion US dollars annually, ranking third in the world; the construction of three Izumo-class aircraft carriers is accelerating, 12 large destroyers are about to be launched, anti-ship missiles have a range of over 1000 kilometers, and the number of troops has exceeded 3 million.

England ranked sixth with an overall rating of 6.2.

Existing aircraft carriers are being transformed into missile launch platforms, resulting in a surge in combat capability; the Red Devils paratrooper regiment has achieved a modernization rate of 90%; the Trident nuclear submarines have adopted the three-system command and combat platform; and English industry, with the support of the three-system industries, has jointly launched a fifth-generation fighter jet development program with FAANG, GOAT, and EA.

The seventh-ranked third brother has an overall score of 6.1.

Israel ranked eighth, with an overall score of 5.8.

Ninth place: Pakistan...
Tenth place: South Vietnam...

"Are those Japanese devils that awesome? They've climbed to fifth place."

"North America probably realized that it would be difficult to return to the Asia-Pacific region in the short term, so it began to vigorously support Japan and South Korea. This update to the military rankings is twofold: first, to flatter us to the point of making the world feel threatened; and second, to push Japan and India out of the spotlight to make us feel threatened."

"I will not allow such a powerful entity to exist in the Asia-Pacific region."

"Then let the 'Vietnam-Hong Kong-Macau Economic Circle' isolate Japan?"

"We live in an era of economic globalization, where trade knows no borders. Isolation makes you seem petty."

"Then what do we do?"

Have you ever heard the saying, "Without guns, without cannons, the enemy..."

"Of course I've heard of it."

"So why not just bring the Japanese warships right to our doorstep?"

"????"

"Is it that our family can't do it?"

"It should be possible."

"So, we need to give the Japanese islands a chance to develop peacefully. Otherwise, how will they build warships? If they don't build warships, where will we get ours?"

Yu Yang flipped through the military rankings again: "With 3 Izumo-class aircraft carriers and 12 large destroyers, our naval strength will reach a new level this year."

"I'm afraid that the higher-ups will be hesitant to do this due to public opinion, and that the Japanese islands, in order to avoid being secretly attacked by us, may very well cripple themselves by suspending ship construction."

"If we suspend it, we will still achieve our goal. The Asia-Pacific region will not allow such a powerful entity to exist."

“Then I’ll contact Yang Rong of the Far East Trading Company and have him handle this.”

Yu Yang nodded, put away his Titan phone, and continued shoveling oysters.

Pingdong Lake's three major aquatic product companies have risen to prominence: one with crayfish, one with turtles, and one with Yellow River carp.

Although they haven't received much support from the three-line technology over the past five years, they have benefited from having a powerful backer and have now grown into behemoths.

Just like oysters.

They used to cost a dozen yuan each, and ordinary people would only try them once in a while.

They're now only one yuan each, and they're charcoal-grilled. Buy 10 get 2 free, and you'll be stuffed.

Most importantly, the fish raised in cold water in the Far East have a fresher taste compared to those raised in the south.

It also resembles a sea cucumber.

They used to cost a few dozen yuan each, and the average person had almost never seen what they looked like.

They're 50 cents each now, but you can stir-fry a whole plateful for 10 yuan.

So, what constitutes a visible rise in living standards?
Perhaps that's it.

Enjoy products that were once difficult to afford with less money.

Yu Yang ate twenty oysters in a row and looked at his old classmate, "Isn't it said that eating too many supplements can cause nosebleeds? Why am I fine?"

"I'm probably too weak lately and haven't replenished myself properly. Here, have twenty more."

"Fine, bring me some ginseng, I'll just chew it dry!"

"···"

4 month 20 number.

Alongside news of the crackdown on pirates in the South China Sea, Shiliying held the South China Sea Expo on the South Third Ring Road.

Countries within the Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area have contributed money, personnel, or materials to create a 100-kilometer-long exhibition area along the South Third Ring Road.

However, on the morning of that day, the Shiliying Subdistrict Office suddenly received a rectification notice from the anti-prostitution system.

There's no other reason than that Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia have all set up "beautiful women" cultural promotion zones and staged all sorts of strange cultural performances.

Old Huang was first criticized by Dongshan, then by the capital, and then by Yuyang.

"I quit. Let whoever wants to do it do it."

(End of this chapter)