Chapter 734: A Battle (3)
While China was distracted, an intercontinental ballistic missile test was carried out in the Indian Ocean from an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy.
The result was successful as expected.
The missile tested this time was a projectile that was preparing to launch its own satellite.
The Indian Ocean was chosen as the venue for the test-firing because Kazakhstan was an inland country without an ocean, and if a launch test failed and fell on land, a catastrophe would occur.
This gave the tactical nuclear weapons, which President Nazarbayev left, a projectile capable of flying them beyond Shanghai, China.
The test-firing was conducted publicly.
It was intended to confirm Kazakhstan’s capabilities were.
There was no state to dispute for flying intercontinental ballistic missiles as there were no restrictions on the range of missiles, so it was open to the public. It was done this way as there was nothing like this that could scare the enemy.
It was like saying that all Chinese vessels operating in the Indian Ocean or the Pacific, as well as mainland China, were within the range of Kazakhstan’s ballistic missiles.
“Your Royal Highness. Why don’t we take this opportunity to reveal the existence of the laser gun? China is also developing laser guns, so they must’ve guessed the existence of our guns to some extent.”
Prime Minister Kasim, who came to discuss pending state affairs as well as to deliver the news of the successful launch of a ballistic missile, asked.
“There is no reason to be so kind. If the Chinese army doesn’t wander at the border, no one is going to get hurt anyway.”
“I would like to open it as a deterrent. If they know what they’d be facing if they get caught near the border, they won’t dare to provoke us. It’s to prevent damage to our army.”
“That makes sense if we think about the soldiers who were killed this time, but I’d like to wait and see for the time being. I’d like the Chinese military to suffer more for a little bit. I don’t want to throw away the opportunity to publicly disgrace the Chinese army, which boasts of being the strongest in the world. It’s going to be a good opportunity to demoralize the enemy troops.”
If the Chinese attempts of attack failed a few times in a row, the morale of the Chinese military would hit rock bottom.
On the other hand, this would serve as a good benefit to the Kazakh Army.
“Listening to your word, I think it would be okay to wait a little longer. I’ll leave it as a secret weapon for now.”
“Tell the army to be consistent with defensive warfare. We can’t beat China with our capacity. It’s the way to preserve our forces by refraining from excessive attacks.”
The mysterious fighter crash and the painful defeat in the Pamir Plateau had a tremendous impact on the morale of the Chinese troops.
In addition, armed independence struggles were taking place in Tibet and Xinjiang Uyghur, which inevitably caused confusion.
Especially in Tibet, which had been stable, armed struggle for independence broke out and countless soldiers and police were dead or injured.
Not knowing where to focus, the Chinese military was suffering a huge turmoil.
Kazakhstan had been making a big fuss over China’s mishap, and the world had been criticizing China’s inhumane behavior day after day, and these also played a role in affecting the Chinese soldiers’ morale.
In the southern district of the Chinese military, the South Sea Fleet, which was in charge of the South China Sea and Southeast Asian waters, was also stationed, with its forces included one aircraft carrier, three tactical nuclear submarines, 25 conventional submarines, 24 small and medium-sized destroyers, 11 amphibious vessels, and 18 missile patrol boats.
At first glance, it seemed to be a great force but it was far below the force of Kazakhstan’s Indian Ocean Fleet.
This was because the Kazakh Navy’s vessels were all the latest missile ships.
In particular, the Aegis destroyer boasted the strongest of its class.
China’s Southern Fleet had recently been expanding its sphere of activity into the Indian Ocean, and the conflict between China, which was trying to build a naval base in the Maldives, and India was deepening.
It would not be strange to confront each other right away.
The Kazakh Navy, which was operating in the Indian Ocean, was also wary of the Chinese Navy’s movements with great tension as the border between Kazakhstan and China had been closed.
Until now, the Chinese Navy’s navigation tendency had shown a pattern of moving close to the Indian Ocean.
This was partly aimed at saving fuel costs by shortening the range of the voyage, but on the other hand, it was a strategic move to stimulate the Indian Navy.
The reason behind the action was the confidence that the country’s naval power was ahead of India.
Although the Indian Navy was furious about China’s actions, it could not take any action because Chinese vessels were skillfully sailing in the international waters.
After being informed that China’s southern sea fleet was heading for the Maldives from the South China Sea, the South Kazakh Navy and the Indian Navy began tracking it down.
Admiral Jun had received a full text from his subordinate two days ago, so he was agonizing over how to strike the Chinese fleet.
Once again, if it were to sail close to the Indian Ocean, he planned to draw it from international waters into the Indian territorial waters.
It was a little dangerous, but if the Kazakh vessels could push the Chinese fleet to the Indian territorial waters by sailing close to the Chinese fleet and luring it, there would be a cause to attack the vessels with laser guns.
The laser guns placed on the Kazakh ships were fixed and boasted high power of 100 kilowatts, which was far greater than what the Army had.
This was because frigates and Aegis destroyers had great power generation capability.
China’s fighter jet, which was shot down at the Kazakhstan border recently, more did so because of the pilot’s panic rather than a laser gun.
A thorough analysis of the collected fighter jet debris showed that the laser gun did not have a direct impact on its crash.
Unlike the mobile type possessed by the Army, the laser gun mounted on ships exerted the power of a rocket launcher.
That much power could sink a small boat right away and damage a destroyer with a sturdy hull.
The most vulnerable place in the warship was the bridge, and if the bridge was destroyed, the warship would become useless.
In the open sea where it was led to the Indian waters northeast of the Maldives, three 052C Lanzhou-class air defense destroyers and three Jiangdao-class frigates were moving.
The Lanzhou-class vessel was equipped with a pivoting type radar and a fixed phased array radar, but the surveillance distance was short and it was not capable of tracking many targets at the same time.
At that level, it was a little better than the Kazakh Navy’s new frigates as they also had radars comparable to the Lanzhou-class, and had a number of missile vertical launchers.
The Chinese fleet began to panic when three frigates of the Kazakh Navy, which discovered the Chinese fleet, approached the international waters where the Chinese fleet was located, out of the Indian Ocean.
The Kazakh Navy was rushing straight toward the Chinese fleet.
If there was any intention to attack, the vessels had fired missiles, but there was no such sign, which put the Chinese ships into confusion.
Chinese warships immediately began to evade the attack as they thought the Kazakh vessels were running with the collision in mind.
The Chinese side intended to avoid armed conflict as much as possible because the vessels were dispatched with the aim of going to the Maldives.
Also, they could not attack recklessly because not only the Kazakh Navy but also the Indian Navy were lined up nearby.
As the Kazakh warships, which had been rushing recklessly straight ahead, stopped at about three kilometers from the Chinese fleet, the Chinese Navy also aimed at the Kazakh ship in response.
Even though the act of pointing a gun at the other side in international waters was considered hostility, the Chinese fleet did so to protect itself.
If so, the Kazakh Navy could also respond.
However, the Kazakh Navy’s frigates were circling around the Chinese fleet, keeping only a reasonable distance, rather than responding.
And after a while, there were no signs of attack, but the bridge of six Chinese destroyers exploded in an instant.
Six Chinese warships lost their sense of direction when all the ship’s command died and the function of the ship’s navigation platform was paralyzed.
The Indian Navy was also at a loss as to what had happened.
It was strange to see the bridge being blown up like that, even though no missiles were fired.
The Chinese warships were shaking along with the tide as they lost the ability to steer, and when they entered Indian waters, the Indian Navy stepped forward and disarmed the Chinese Navy.
The situation was so absurd that the Chinese Navy could not resist.
With the command gone, they no longer had the ability to hold out.
A smile hung around the mouth of Admiral Jun, who was watching the series of events.
It was a situation that no one could doubt.
All the Chinese naval sailors were also watching.
Who could explain the situation in which the bridge burst at the same time as if it were a promise?
If there’s anything suspicious, it was that the Kazakh frigates came close about three kilometers away from them.
The laser gun had a range of four kilometers, and that was why they had maintained that distance.
For China, something crazy had happened.
There were no battles, but six warships were captured, but they could not complain.
It was because the warships had trespassed into Indian waters without permission.
Who would believe if the warships that violated foreign waters lost the ability to sail?
It was a mistake to sail close to the Indian sea leaving the wide-open waters.
With explosions without a known cause, it only seemed that the Chinese fleet brought it to themselves by entering the Indian waters.
As for the Indian Navy, it was a windfall.
Six Chinese warships and 1,500 sailors were captured.
The benefits in return for handing over warships and prisoners to China would be enormous.
The Kazakh Navy did not get involved in any of India’s events.
The Navy insisted on its stance that it was only operating on the Indian Ocean and that it had nothing to do with the incident.
It was done so, as it would only be troubled for revealing its involvement in the Chinese warships’ explosions.
The capture of Chinese naval forces in the Indian Ocean by Indian naval forces surprised the world.
It did not make sense that the Chinese Navy, which would have fought rather than being captured after its invasion in the ocean, was disarmed by the Indian Navy.
On the other hand, The Kazakh Navy, the main player in the incident, was pretending that it had no idea, saying that it was interesting as it happened during a joint operation with the Indian Navy, but was not aware about the incident that much.