359: Chapter 359 The Wheel of Empire Can't Turn

A sergeant took off his helmet and buried his face in his hands. His platoon leader did not tell him to put it back on. The platoon leader himself was watching the lights of the base grow smaller in the rearview mirror, his fingers pinching the repeatedly folded death notification in his uniform pocket—he was going to deliver it to Kentucky in person. He knew the old couple receiving the letter would be standing at the door crying, just as had happened after the previous twelve knocks on the door.

Meanwhile, at Washington's Capitol Hill.

Behind the long wooden table in the hearing room of the Senate Armed Services Committee sat a row of grim-faced senators. In the center was the committee chair, Senator Susan Collins of Maine—the very one who had pressed General Milley in a previous hearing on "whether victory could be achieved at an acceptable cost." Standing in the witness stand before her was Minister of Defense Lloyd Austin. Austin was not in uniform—he used to be a four-star general, but today he wore a dark suit with a meticulously tied tie, yet the expression on his face looked like he had just been dug out of a grave.

"Mr. Minister," Collins's voice was as cold as a scalpel, "the withdrawal schedule submitted by the Pentagon yesterday will reduce the scale of stationed troops in the Middle East to the lowest level of this century. How much of this is a proactive strategic adjustment, and how much of it is—having no choice but to withdraw?"

Austin was silent for a moment. "Senator, I must prioritize the protection of our soldiers. Continuing to maintain the current deployment scale carries a risk of casualties far beyond—far beyond what the chain of command can bear."

"So casualties are the primary reason. Then please tell us, in this war, how many members of the US Military have been killed in total?"

Austin closed his eyes and then opened them. "As of 8:00 AM this morning, the verified confirmed death toll is—two thousand eight hundred and thirty-one. Among them, one thousand nine hundred and four were in the Persia theater, five hundred and twenty-one in the Red Sea theater, and the rest were losses in supporting operations. Another three hundred and forty-seven are still listed as missing. The number of injured exceeds nine thousand."

The hall fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the sound of photojournalists pressing their shutters.

Collins did not press further on the authenticity of the casualty figures—she had a more lethal weapon in her hand. She picked up a document and read it with clear and measured tones: "According to preliminary statistics from the Congressional Budget Office, to maintain military operations in the Persia and Red Sea theaters, approximately 247 billion dollars in new war expenditures were added this fiscal year. Combined with military aid and loan guarantees for allies like the Squid Nation and Saudi Arabia—the total cost amounts to over 320 billion dollars. Mr. Minister, I repeat: 320 billion dollars." She slapped the document onto the table. "What is the return we can show for it? A photo of a bullet hole in an aircraft carrier deck? A roster of destroyers crippled by small boats? Or a ceasefire agreement signed in Geneva—am I not mistaken—that states in the conditions: 'the USA must completely withdraw its troops'?"

Austin tried to explain the difference between strategic adjustment and withdrawal, but Collins interrupted him: "How do our allies see us? The Saudi Arabian royal family has already proactively initiated diplomatic contact with Tehran. The United Arab Emirates privately sent a congratulatory message to the current regime in Yemen before the ceasefire. Israel—our ironclad ally—must now withdraw all its stationed troops from Gaza, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights according to the Geneva Accords, and Prime Minister Levi's government is on the verge of collapse. And what you tell me in this hearing is, 'we protected the soldiers.'" She took off her glasses, "In reality, Mr. Minister, we protected no one—except for the stock prices of certain arms dealers. Since the arms dealers you mentioned seem to have benefited, then please explain why Raytheon still expects a loss this quarter even against the backdrop of the stock market rebounding after the war ended?"

New York, Manhattan, the underground conference room of Council of Elders.

Greenberg sat at the head of the conference table, with the electronic screen in front of him scrolling real-time stock prices: United Precision Systems, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin—all in the red. The post-war rebound lasted for less than a single trading day before being dragged into the abyss by excess inventory write-downs in Boeing's military aircraft division and soaring supply chain costs at Raytheon. Raytheon's Iron Dome interceptor production lines were running at overcapacity during the war, but as the ceasefire took effect, backlogged orders were unilaterally canceled by the Squid Nation's Ministry of Finance on the grounds that the 'national security state of emergency had terminated.' General Dynamics, meanwhile, faced the reality of having the majority of its supplemental orders for m1a2 tanks cut by Congress.

Greenberg did not throw anything; he had already passed the stage of throwing things. He just looked up at the remaining eight core members on both sides of the long table and said, "320 billion dollars, the most expensive defeat in the history of the USA. And then Congress is still discussing cutting next year's defense budget."

Former Assistant Secretary of the Army Haskins flipped through a summary of the Senate hearing records. The summary was a dozen pages of level-three encrypted documents, but the content could be summarized in one sentence—"Those people on Capitol Hill are no longer just looking for accountability; they want to cut flesh." He reminded them that the House Appropriations Committee was preparing a motion to strip the Overseas Contingency Operations budget from the National Defense Authorization Act. Once successful, the cash flow cycle of the arms industry chain controlled by Council of Elders would be completely severed. Abramovich added a piece of bad news: three sovereign wealth funds—the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the Kuwait Investment Authority, and the Government Pension Fund of Norway—simultaneously notified him yesterday that they would re-evaluate the compliance risks of hedge funds that had had financial dealings with the upper echelons. He explained the current situation in one sentence: "It's not just about losing money. It's a bank run. They will peel back our leverage layer by layer, and finally discover—what we lost in the Middle East far exceeds 300 billion. Because we still have mines buried in Southeast Asia."

Greenberg was silent for a long time. The coffee on the table grew cold. Then he said a sentence that was later called "Greenberg's Surrender" by declassified archives: "Disband. Everyone find their own way to survive. In the arms sector, the empire's wheels can't turn anymore. The next growth point—I haven't seen it yet."

Naypyidaw, Presidential Palace.

Zhang Cheng stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his study, holding a cup of Dianhong Tea in his hand. Looking east was the rising sun; looking west was the Federal Flag in the morning light outside the window. Old K's rigid body stood tall outside the door. Li Lanzhi had just entered, holding a stack of printed battle reports in her hand. On the cover, the title was written in Burmese, Chinese, and English in three lines: "Overall Battle Result Assessment of the 'Fengdi' Strategic Operation."

Zhang Cheng did not take the folder. He just said, "Read a few lines that will make me happy." Li Lanzhi flipped to the first page: "Article one: According to the annex of the Geneva Accords, all aircraft carrier strike groups of the USA Navy will withdraw from the Middle East within six months. uss carl vinson was withdrawn from Bahrain to Gibraltar this morning, and the uss gerald r. ford will leave port next month as planned. Within the scope of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, not a single USA aircraft carrier is currently in a deployed state, which is a first in these waters since 2001."

Zhang Cheng took a sip of tea.

"Article two, Marshal Sinwar sent an encrypted report: The Gaza resistance forces have completed reorganization and have been reorganized into the 'Palestinian Authority Armed Guard.' All checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be dismantled within seventy-two hours. Port of Eilat has been taken over by the Palestinian Port Authority and has begun dredging and repairs. At the entrance of the port, a monument has been erected with an inscription—" Li Lanzhi paused for a moment, "—the inscription is: 'To those who taught us how to stand while under the ruins.'"