Chapter 199 Advanced Soft Sleeper

After hearing the detailed plans for the fleet, Admiral Jock Slater nodded with satisfaction.

As the de facto supreme commander of the Royal Navy (the nominal commander of the Royal Navy is the Queen or the King), he certainly hopes that the fleet he sends out will be well-organized and sail thousands of miles, so that the world can once again see the shadow of the empire on which the sun never sets. .

But the reality requires him to consider the cost of this operation and not make it difficult for the Secretary of Defense to do so in the House of Commons.

Even if the Conservative Party looks like it may not be able to survive for a few months,

West's deployment happened to be able to keep the operational budget at a relatively low level while satisfying his boss and, of course, the vanity of the royal family.

No media would waste space listing every ship in the fleet.

In fact, those reporters may not even know the difference between different types of destroyers and frigates.

So the report will only say "a huge fleet of more than 30 ships, including the aircraft carrier Excellence, Beaver, Cornwall and Campbelltown frigates and the Dreadnought landing ship..."

So both dignity and face are gained.

"There is nothing wrong with your arrangement in general. It's just that we can't make a decision yet on which warships to send out. Alan, please write a written plan to me as soon as possible after you return."

Slater returned to the desk, took out a newspaper dated December 31, 1996 from the drawer and handed it to West:

"Be careful not to have too obvious tendencies in the conclusion. At the beginning, just emphasize the effect of naval operations on improving public morale and support. You can refer to Thatcher's example and previous opinion polls conducted by the Guardian. The result is this."

The latter took the newspaper and found a shocking headline written on it:

"This is the final chapter of the British Empire."

Obviously, for a media like the Guardian whose position is leaning towards the opposition party, it is definitely not too big a deal to watch the excitement.

"In addition, remember to add a chapter in the middle of the text to explain the possible risks of this operation and remind decision-makers to consider it carefully. I suggest you sandwich this content between the specific equipment list carried by the fleet and the personnel composition. .”

"Middle part?"

West, who had not yet moved his attention away from the report, was stunned:

"But generally speaking, the format..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Jock waving his hand:

"This part must be added, otherwise if something happens then, they will put all the responsibility on our Royal Navy. But if it is placed in too conspicuous place, I am worried that the minister will look forward and backward again, just in case of equipment The lists and staffing lists are all filled with tables and figures, and the minister will never look at them, so it is safest to be caught between them.”

After explaining, he looked to the other side meaningfully:

"understood?"

West thought for a moment, then nodded with surprise.

Just at that moment, he suddenly figured out something——

From the beginning, Jock said a lot of things that had little to do with the military field, and put himself directly in charge of writing the action plan submitted to the Secretary of Defense. He obviously meant to support him.

As for why you chose yourself...

In addition to the close relationship between the two families, it is probably also because they are half a generation apart in age.

The admiral's second son is currently serving as the captain of the Type 23 frigate HMS Somerset.

The Type 23 is mainly used for anti-submarine warfare and its tonnage is not as good as the older Type 22. Some weapon systems are not yet stable, so West just looked at it purely from a business perspective and had no intention of taking any of this model into consideration.

But now I need to change my mind.

He is used to the straight-forward style within the military, but he is not really stupid, otherwise he would not be able to get the position of rear admiral.

Some things are more appropriate for me as a subordinate and fleet commander to raise.

"Got it, Sir Jock."

West folded the newspaper in his hand and tucked it under his arm, then put on his military cap again:

"The plan can be completed within a week, and I will consider the fleet list for this mission in detail. The plan just now seems to lack some cutting-edge combat forces that represent the future of the Royal Navy."

The two of them showed a tacit smile at the same time.

"Go and do your work, I'm going to Westminster."

…

Chang Haonan encountered a big or small trouble.

He forgot how terrible the Spring Festival Transport, especially the Spring Festival Transport in the 1990s, was.

As a prefecture-level city, Liucheng certainly has an airport, but the scale is too small, and the economy is not very developed, so few airlines choose to open routes here.

Later, in the early 21st century, Sanyan Airport was suspended for a period of time due to airworthiness issues.

In 1997, although the association was still nominally responsible for civil aviation business, there were only two flights per week, one to Beijing and one to Shanghai.

Unfortunately, the next flight is on New Year's Eve.

Unable to wait, Chang Haonan finally decided to buy a sleeper ticket and go home.

Compared with hard seats, the environment of sleeper carriages is better because the density of people is lower, so theft is not so rampant.

Of course, it's just too limited.

However, there is no 12306 these days. Chang Haonan only remembers that the railway system operated a telephone booking system, but as a reborn person, he had long forgotten the long series of numbers, and secondly, there was no phone installed in his home.

Had to give up.

"well……"

Chang Haonan looked at the calendar on the wall, and while sorting out the gifts he just bought from Lao Wu and AVIC International Building today, he lamented that he had been so busy in the past six months that he had almost lost his common sense in life, and he also comforted himself by the way - —

There are probably not many people who can afford sleeper tickets these days. Even during the Spring Festival travel season, there shouldn’t be no car to ride on.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the apartment door.

Opening the door, Tang Lintian was standing outside.

"Dean Tang?"

Chang Haonan was a little surprised to see the person coming.

After all, it is a house allocated by the school, so it is normal for the dean to know everyone's address.

But after all, we just met last night.

The relationship between the two of them didn't seem to be to the extent that they would just drop by for a meal when it was almost time for dinner.

However, he quickly invited Tang Lintian in and poured two more glasses of water.

"You are here, I have nothing to prepare..."

"It doesn't matter. I'm just representing the college to express my condolences to our young researchers."

The two sat down on the sofa and chatted about some issues related to the textbook.

But Chang Haonan was very sure that Tang Lintian did not come here specifically to talk about academics.

Sure enough, after a certain small question was over, the latter changed the topic without any trace:

"Xiao Chang, I remember you are from Liucheng?"

"That's right, a county below Liucheng."

It was obviously impossible for Tang Lintian to remember, but to check the student information specifically, otherwise he would have said something yesterday.

Of course, Chang Haonan would not expose such things.

However, the other party's next question was beyond his expectation:

"Have you bought your train ticket home?"

"Uh... not yet. I'm going to buy it tomorrow and take the sleeper home."

A guess gradually formed in Chang Haonan's mind——

Could it be that someone gave me a pillow when I fell asleep?

Tang Lintian did not disappoint him. He turned around and took out a ticket from his bag.

The cardboard tickets are full of the characteristics of the times, but the shape and color are slightly different from the common ones.

"Considering your situation, the college arranged a premium soft sleeper ticket for you. Tonight's train did not go directly to Liucheng, so we bought one for Jinxi, which is next to Liucheng."

Even though Chang Haonan had seen a lot, when he saw this ticket, he couldn't help but feel a little shaken in his heart.

He had heard about high-end soft sleepers.

There are only two bunks in a box.

Expensive is the second priority. In the 1990s, even if you had money, you might not be able to buy this ticket.

On the same train, the environments of premium soft sleepers and hard seats are basically two different worlds.

Intellectually speaking, he knew very well that this was Tang Lintian's attempt to win over him on behalf of the academy.

After all, the other party didn't hide it either. From this apartment building, which is nominally a dormitory, but he can automatically get the property rights as long as he obtains faculty status, to the book he talked about yesterday, it is enough for him to leave a mark in the education world. The teaching materials and gestures have been very adequate.

But it must be admitted that this ticket was indeed sent to Chang Haonan's heart.

"Thank you, Dean Tang. You really helped me solve a big problem. Our county happens to be closer to Jinxi."

There was no need to be pretentious, he took the ticket directly and said thank you solemnly.

"It doesn't matter. You are a very valuable asset to our college. It is our responsibility as administrators to provide a comfortable and safe environment for talents like you."

Tang Lintian stood up and spoke in a clear and concise manner:

"Okay, the ticket has been delivered to you, so I won't stay any longer. You should also have a good rest. There is no need to go out to see you off."

Despite what he said, Chang Haonan still sent the person to the entrance of the corridor.

"When you succeed, you will find that you are surrounded by good people."

When he returned home, he looked at the premium soft sleeper ticket in his hand and had a profound understanding of this sentence for the first time.

In his previous life, Chang Haonan studied for a doctorate at Beijing Airlines and stayed there for a total of 12 years. In fact, he did not have a deep impression of Dean Tang. They were basically two people living in the same space but had no intersection at all.

Including the entire college level, there is actually no sense of existence.

Ordinary, ordinary, fulfilling the responsibility of educating a student, there is nothing to criticize.

Originally, a doctorate degree looked rare outside, but it was just like that in universities, especially universities at the level of Beijing Airlines.

But throughout his life, both the college and the dean himself, as well as famous bosses such as Du Yishan, Yang Fenghao, Yan Zhongcheng, Lu Yuying, and Yang Wei, all showed extraordinary kindness and even love to him.

Among them, there are some who had not received very good reviews before he was reborn.

It's not that they're different in this new timeline.

But Chang Haonan himself became different.