Chapter 161 Shocking Feng Zi_1

Lunar Space Force Command and Combat Center, Secret Strategy Research Room Zero.

This was a research room exclusively for Feng Zi and Mr. Lin Sen; no one else was permitted to enter.

At the moment, Feng Zi was briefing on the military deployment on the Moon and the strategic planning scheme, while Mr. Lin Sen was also ready to reveal the true nature of the Lagrange project to Feng Zi.

In modern interstellar warfare, offense greatly outweighs defense.

The Earth Alliance and Moon Base had already formed a Dark Forest, and when both sides could threaten each other's existence, the Dark Forest comes into being, and the most rational action is to fire first, eliminating any potential threats.

Feng Zi, "This is the initial strategic planning I've submitted.

"The plan roughly involves using a decoy fleet and the Earth-Moon Lagrange L1 Point Spaceport to draw the firepower of the Earth Alliance Space Force during the early stages of the war.

"The Earth Alliance is still a loose organization; space war won't wait for one side to be fully ready. They are even more worried that we will strike first.

"The advantages of the Earth Alliance are increasing, but they are more worried that we will strike before they are ready.

"They only have one choice: to launch a raid on us as soon as their newest warships are nearing completion; they will definitely release countless false messages about the completion time.

"But this will be of no use; they have virtually no chance of victory.

"Our strategic goal is to destroy the Earth Space Force and the Earth Spaceport, and ultimately to demolish all but one of Earth's seven space elevators, leaving only No. 1.

"The worst outcome for us is losing nearly half of our warships and the Earth-Moon L1 Point Spaceport.

"We can win early in the war because we have the initiative and our hidden strength.

"Next, the war enters a strategic blockade phase, fully blocking the Earth Alliance's steps to expand outward. Without space elevators and relying solely on electromagnetic acceleration tracks and aerospace planes, it's very difficult to establish space power.

"We will enter a period of strategic equilibrium."

Mr. Lin Sen, "Indeed, during the strategic blockade phase, we can no longer attack. First, because our goal is not to destroy the Earth Alliance but to let both Earth and the Moon go through the trials of war; the longer this quality is preserved, the better.

"Second, if we cause the Earth Alliance to despair completely, there might be people on Earth who understand the Dark Forest theory just as you have.

"In their despair, they will seek help from any possibility; they might use the amplifying function of the sun to broadcast coordinates to the universe.

"We must never underestimate humanity's tendency for self-destruction."

Feng Zi, "Then we only have two choices:

"One is to ignore any voices from the Earth Alliance; we just manage to block their steps of exploring outward.

"A blockade cannot be maintained forever. The Earth Alliance can lie low until they establish a complete defense system; they might even launch an attack directly on us from the surface of the Earth.

"In this era, offense greatly outweighs defense. The technological gap between us and the Earth Alliance won't be intrinsic; they will have many ways to breakthrough our blockade.

"The second is to start negotiations with the Earth Alliance. We can make numerous demands again, using the resources and technology created by the Earth Alliance to feed back to us.

"As we enter the strategic blockade phase, the Earth Alliance will definitely probe repeatedly along our line of restriction. As long as we do not initiate an attack on the Earth Alliance, they will surely develop a stronger space force, step by step.

"No matter which choice we make, we should at least win a 30-year relative peace period, and the Earth Alliance will also use these 30 years to integrate itself into a whole entity.

"After 30 years, we should no longer be able to contend with the Earth Alliance; the fate of the Moon will head into the unknown."

Mr. Lin Sen, "Indeed, the normal course of war would inevitably lead to this result; it's not something that human effort can alter. A genius military commander might change the process, but the outcome is still destined!

"Either completely destroy the enemy from the start or be destroyed by them.

"On our own, we cannot break free from these shackles; the only possibility of a breakthrough comes from introducing new support."

Feng Zi, "What support?"

Feng Zi was somewhat puzzled upon hearing the word "support," but soon his expression turned to one of shock as subtitles appeared before their eyes.

[Hello, Mr. Gao Feng! We are your support.]

Surprised, Feng Zi looked at Mr. Lin Sen, "Mr. Lin Sen, is the support you're talking about the Trisolaran world?"

Mr. Lin Sen, "Yes, it's a mutual choice; in fact, the initiative to cooperate comes from the Trisolaran world."

"According to the non-cooperative equilibrium, our need for the Trisolaran world should be greater than the Trisolarans' need for us."

"The Trisolaran world is also helping us. The Moon Base and the Earth Alliance provide checks and balances on each other, their mutual promotion leads to continuous technological development."

"Our strength in the War of Doomsday against the Trisolaran world will be much greater, while the only thing the Trisolarans receive may be the possibility of an increase in strategy."

"For the Trisolaran civilization, the greatest immediate threat is human civilization, but their vision is far-reaching, extending beyond the War of Doomsday."

"On one hand, this demonstrates the confidence of Trisolaran civilization; they believe that no matter how strong humans become, they won't pose a threat to them."

"On the other hand, it also shows the determination of the Trisolaran civilization; even though the universe is a Dark Forest, they wish to create their own spark amidst this darkness, even if it leads to death."

"Trisolaran civilization has shown us the brilliance of a civilization, breaking the 'cage' woven by fate."

"Weakness and ignorance are not barriers to survival, only cowardice is."

Feng Zi was hugely surprised, but he still forced himself to stay calm; his heart was also extremely excited. The fact that the Wallfacer could cooperate with the Trisolarans was something he hadn't even dared to think about.

Feng Zi addressed Lin Sen, "Is this part of your plan as well? Had you planned to cooperate with Trisolaris half a century ago?"

There was no need to hide anything from the Trisolarans at this point, as honesty can sometimes be an important lubricant for cooperation.

Lin Sen: "Yes, I planned to cooperate with the Trisolarans half a century ago, but humanity was trapped by its own shackles and could only introduce an external force.

"But history tells us that rashly introducing external forces has always been a road to death, this step is extremely dangerous, with only a one in ten thousand chance of success.

"But in the battle of civilizations, is one in ten thousand really that low?

"Over this half-century, not only have we achieved the rebirth of our civilization, but the Trisolaran civilization has also made a breakthrough in itself. Compared to us, we believe that the progress of the Trisolaran civilization is even more significant.

"Sometimes such an enemy scares me. They suppress us in technology, and in strategy, they are not much less capable than us, coupled with their execution efficiency, our odds of winning are also slim.

"In a clash of civilizations, there is no retreat, no failure, we can only move forward courageously, continuously breaking through ourselves, and finding life in a place of death."

The subtitles were displayed in both Lin Sen's and Feng Zi's eyes:

[We are not afraid of you either! You are Mr. Poison Snake, but the poison snake can bring us wisdom.]

The content of the subtitles straightforwardly told Lin Sen that he was No. 7.

Lin Sen solemnly announced, "Xiang Gaofeng, you are now the military executive commander of the Trisolaran world.

"All orders from the Trisolarans will be issued by you, and their battle plans also need to be discussed with you.

"You need to carefully analyze each command; you have a veto right, but unless there is a special circumstance, do not use that veto.

"What you are undertaking is the most challenging and greatest mission in history."

Feng Zi: "I will always remember my mission!"

Lin Sen: "You also need to remember that the core personnel of the Earth Alliance now are all extraordinary strategists; never underestimate them.

"Do not think that having Sophon to monitor everything means everything will be fine; your cooperation might be deduced by them through various probes."

No. 7: [You are right, we had also considered finding partners among humans, but they gave us a strong sense of threat, even comparable to you, we simply cannot see through them.]

Lin Sen: "There should be quite a few of these people, don't you think? How do they compare to Wade?"

No. 7: [They are not inferior to Wade!]

PS: I believe another crucial factor that validates the Dark Forest theory is that offense greatly exceeds defense.

In the original text, several advanced weapons used by high-level civilizations are introduced, such as "light particles", which are near the speed of light. It should be very difficult to defend against such attacks, though it seems high civilisations should be able to defend themselves, ordinary civilizations would probably have no means to defend against them.

Weapons like the two-dimensional foil are described as "inexpensive" in the original text, but their use requires authorization. They are indefensible even by advanced civilizations, and eventually, the entire universe will be reduced in dimensions, with the solution being self-dimension reduction.

There's also the Dark Domain, creating vast slow-light regions in space by using extremely powerful space-curve ships, which even high civilizations cannot pass through.

This leads to progressively smaller living spaces in the universe, and the competition becomes increasingly intense.

So the author speculates that Cleaner civilizations may also seek to prevent too many middle and high-level civilizations from emerging in the universe, accelerating the irreversible trend of the universe.