Looking at her old father sitting in front of the cabin sawing wood, Carmen stepped forward and looked at the pile of wood by the lake in surprise.
"My beloved father, what are you... doing?"
"Galen's ship... a smaller version." Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Iacono happily looked at the unfinished keel by the lake and said to his beloved youngest son.
"Galen ship? What's the use of this thing?" Carmen looked at her father in confusion.
"If it has conquered the Pacific, it will be useless." Iacono said bluntly, "Including us, including all of this, it will be useless."
He said something whose meaning was unclear. But Carmen seemed to be used to her father often saying things that no one could understand, so she didn't make any expression, and just sighed in an attitude of letting the old man go.
"... Okay, but do you know how to build a ship?"
"I don't know." Iacono smiled cheerfully and pointed the saw at the keel that had already begun to take shape. "Even though this is just a piece of wood, there are many doorways inside. Including how to process the wood, including how to splice it. Wood. It took me a whole year to build this keel. Although I failed many times, the process was unexpectedly interesting."
Carmen glanced at her father in surprise, and then looked at the dragon bone seriously.
"It's unbelievable... No one can help you?"
"Thaddeus wanted to find a shipbuilder for me, but I refused. I wanted to try to explore it myself and see what was going on with this ship." Throwing the saw aside, Iacono said: He picked up mineral water from the wooden pile on the side and took a few sips.
Looking at her father who was enjoying himself, Carmen was silent for two seconds and then spoke.
"I heard you have something to do with me—"
"Give up that prophecy." Iacono did not look at him, but looked at the keel.
Carmen was stunned by her father's sudden statement.
After a while, he spoke with difficulty.
"Why?"
Jacono moved his gaze back and looked seriously into his son's eyes.
"Babies will one day leave their parents and learn how to walk on their own feet. They can tell us a lot, but they can't tell us more. If we continue along this path, the future we will face may be It’s a more frustrating ending than what they’ve already earned.”
"... But if you listen to the wise man's mottos, wouldn't you avoid a lot of detours?"
"Is the detour necessarily a mistake?" Jacono asked rhetorically.
Carmen was slightly startled and fell into silence.
Seeing that his son was silent, Iacono continued meaningfully: "Human beings should pray to sages for wisdom. Rather than pin their future on a more distant future."
"Although history has changed, the trend should not be wrong. The next few decades will be artificial intelligence, then there will be a technological explosion caused by materials science as a breakthrough, and then -" Unable to agree with her father's point of view, Carmen said softly.
"That's not necessarily the case." Iacono snorted. He walked over and picked up the saw, "Have you seen this keel? If I tell you directly how to build a Galen ship, how to build a steamship, and then one day 'I' die, can you build an aircraft carrier?"
"... That's a matter for scientists." Carmen said helplessly.
"Science and capital have always been grasshoppers on a string. Technology determines the space for human life, and capital opens up this space. This is the essence of science and capital. Have you given all your economics knowledge back to Harvard professors? I suggest you read the chapter on Schumpeter's function again."
The old father returned to work in front of his wooden pile and stopped talking to his son.
After standing by the lake for a long time, until dusk began to appear on the horizon, Carmen turned and left her father's cabin.
... ...
The next morning. Jiang Chen boarded a flight to Australia. Due to the size of the airport and the passenger volume, New Zealand's airport on Koro Island currently only opens direct flights to Australia and New Zealand, its two main neighboring countries. Therefore, if you want to reach New Zealand from China, you can only fly to Australia first. Turnaround.
After much twists and turns, Jiang Chen finally got off the plane at Coro Island, but it was already late at night.
When he walked out of the airport, Ayesha was already waiting at the airport gate.
"Go to the Presidential Palace." Jiang Chen said directly after getting in the car.
Nodding, Ayesha started the car and got on the road.
"Don't you need to go home and rest first?" she asked casually while driving.
"No need. If you can't see me, I'm afraid no one can sleep well." Jiang Chen teased, then leaned on the seat and closed his eyes to rest.
Ayesha pursed her lips and smiled and stopped talking along the way.
Arrive at the Presidential Palace. After explaining his identity to the guard, Jiang Chen was quickly released and was received by a waiter to Zhang Yaping's office.
After not seeing each other for a few days, this guy looked very haggard. It can be seen that all kinds of troubles have tortured him a lot. After seeing Jiang Chen, he was obviously relieved. He couldn't wait to get up and greet him.
"You're finally back." Zhang Yaping smiled bitterly and looked at Jiang Chen and said.
"Don't ask me what to do first, tell me everything about the situation." Jiang Chen said concisely and concisely.
Zhang Yaping nodded and began to introduce to Jiang Chen what happened in the past two days.
The first is that after Ivan ordered the sinking of fishing boats that interfered with the construction of military facilities, he then led his troops to confront the Philippine Coast Guard ship at the border. At first, the Philippine coast guard was very arrogant. Although they could not defeat the Chinese coast guard ships heading north, they did not pay attention to the three speedboats of the new country.
However, just when they were about to break into the new country's territorial waters and dignitaries, Ivan and others took out their weapons without losing face.
Now the monkeys in the Philippines were confused. They had never thought that the new Congress would have such courage, and for a while they ran out of ideas. Although the coast guard ships are equipped with light weapons, a few of them dare not make such a rash decision that may cause serious diplomatic problems. After all, if a shot is fired, the problem will be serious. So they had no choice but to confront Ivan and the others and report the news at the same time.
Finally, Philippine President Aquino finally got in touch with Zhang Yaping. However, Zhang Yaping didn't realize what happened on Crescent Island. After all, the national defense was controlled by Xinghuan Trading Company.
Realizing something was wrong, Zhang Yaping immediately contacted Ivan and learned the whole story.
Well, when he heard that Ivan had sunk those naughty fishing boats - oh no, pirate ships, he couldn't help but cursed in his heart, "What a relief for his mother." Although there is no feud between the Panu Islands and the Philippines, the people have been grudges for a long time.
However, he is the president of the new country after all, and he should consider national interests more than personal feelings. After calming down for two seconds, a drop of cold sweat slipped from his forehead.
Just yesterday, Aquino called him again. If the salvage of the sunken ship cannot start within three days, the Philippines will retain the option of solving the problem through military means to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens overseas.
However, Jiang Chen suddenly became unhappy when he heard Zhang Yaping say the last sentence.
You say there should be a limit to this person's shamelessness, right? Since when can you, the citizens of the Philippines, go to the territorial waters of other countries to extort construction workers, bully local fishermen, and hinder the construction of military facilities, and it can be called your legitimate rights and interests? Why don't you go to Guam to ask your American father for money
"Trash%￥#%'s legitimate rights and interests." Jiang Chen immediately scolded, "Military way? What a joke, let's see if I can kill you."
It's been a long time since he used so many bad words.
"The Philippines has 120,000 active troops... We may not be able to defeat even one of their brigades." Zhang Yaping whispered.
Jiang Chen glanced at him and laughed.
"Who said we would fight them?"
"But they are already so threatening." Zhang Yaping said with a grimace.
"The Philippines has been carefully maintaining its image as a 'weak' and 'victim' on the issue of sea power in order to win the sympathy of the international community. It is absolutely impossible for them to send ground troops to go to war with us. "
"But-"
Zhang Yaping still seemed a little unbelievable, but Jiang Chen interrupted him.
"In addition, the most critical thing is China and the United States. Do you remember what I told you? Maintain a neutral position and do not fall to either of these two behemoths. If the Philippines takes military action against us, it will inevitably It makes us turn to China, and China will definitely not miss this opportunity to break through the first and second island chains and actively provide us with assistance. The United States will not be willing to see that China has an additional maritime military base in the Western Pacific , he will definitely restrain his younger brother from going too far."
In the cultural circle, New Zealand is close to China, and ideologically close to the United States. This situation has led both sides to believe that this country may fall to their side.
"Just because we didn't take sides, we are absolutely safe." Jiang Chen patted President Zhang on the shoulder and said sincerely.
Although I think what he said is good, Zhang Yaping always feels that it is a bit far-fetched.
"But why don't we stand with the United States and continue the diplomatic strategy of the previous government." He whispered.
Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows.
"Because I don't want to." (.)