After leaving the White House, Morgan cursed eighteen generations of Roosevelt's ancestors in his heart. But as his emotions subsided slightly, he immediately had his secretary wire New York to terminate the discussion among legal experts regarding the reparations issue.

Having issued that order, Morgan then had his secretary arrange a dinner with Rockefeller. Within the three months starting from October 1941, the combat power displayed by China had completely exceeded the assessments made by American financial groups. Now, the consensus among American consortiums was that the Rockefeller Group understood China best.

Upon returning to New York, Morgan went straight to the Rockefeller Center. In a room on the top floor, Rockefeller was already waiting. Morgan skipped the pleasantries and asked point-blank, "Do you believe China's oil industry can support its war requirements?"

Rockefeller replied calmly, "Why do you assume China will be the first to crack?"

Morgan paused for a moment. He already felt Rockefeller's view might be more accurate, but Rockefeller's perspective still exceeded his imagination. Organizing his thoughts, Morgan asked, "US domestic oil production can reach 1.4 billion barrels (about 200 million tons), while China's annual oil production is only 400 million barrels. Even adding oil from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, China's total production won't exceed 700 million barrels. Such a quantity of oil is insufficient to support China's demands."

Rockefeller shook his head. "In terms of total numbers, China's oil production may not compare to the United States. But at this stage, China's oil demand is primarily for diesel and kerosene. China's domestic oil and Southeast Asian oil are most convenient for producing diesel and kerosene. Especially since the Chinese Air Force uses kerosene as aviation fuel, while the high-octane gasoline used by the US Air Force costs 5 to 10 times as much as aviation kerosene. To maintain an air force of the same scale, China's cost is roughly half that of the US. If China's air force military expenditure were the same as the US, the number of Chinese aircraft would be double that of the US. Your judgment of China's oil situation is not rational."

Morgan had seen some similar assessments, but hearing it confirmed by Rockefeller himself forced him to believe the description was correct. Yet Morgan persisted with another question, "What about China's ships?"

Rockefeller answered calmly, "As far as I know, the tonnage of China's civilian vessels has already exceeded that of the United States. Assuming China's civilian shipping tonnage reaches 200 million tons, it can roughly satisfy China's needs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans."

Morgan didn't know how to refute Rockefeller's description, because he didn't want to admit the possibility that the United States might be defeated. Currently, the massive capital support for the Sino-American war was largely based on the premise that "China will be defeated." If the United States were defeated, American capital would instantly explode. Although even if American capital exploded, the Morgan consortium could still retain its current status, Morgan had no desire to bear such losses.

After stabilizing his mind for a while, Morgan asked, "Tell me all your thoughts. I can take it!"

Rockefeller looked at the obviously flustered Morgan with interest. It wasn't easy to make Morgan this exasperated. During the Great Depression of 1929, Morgan had burned through a billion dollars in two months to save the market. Even then, Morgan hadn't been this chaotic.

Unconsciously, the corners of Rockefeller's mouth tilted up slightly. Although Rockefeller did not wish for a US defeat, seeing these arrogant members of the American upper class in a panic did make him feel the ticket price was worth it. After several frank discussions with He Rui, Rockefeller believed that these self-righteous American fellows truly couldn't compare to He Rui's ruthlessness.

He Rui's World People's Liberation Plan was calculated through higher mathematics, while the American high command's view of the world order was summarized from past historical experience. One was a cold, rational engineering type, the other was a capitalist who believed the world should be grasped; the superiority between the two had long been decided.

After enjoying Morgan's state for a while, Rockefeller continued, "Morgan. China can do 30 billion dollars of business this year with the 500 million liberated people. In 1945, China might expand this business scale to 100 billion dollars. I've said what I can say; what else do you want me to say?"

"...Why didn't you say this before?" Morgan asked, almost in an interrogating tone.

Rockefeller replied calmly, "Because like you, I didn't believe China could achieve such great results on the battlefield. I was very clear about the United States' preparations in the military field, so I thought He Rui was bragging. Now, I have to admit, China's preparation for war is far more sufficient than I imagined."

Morgan sank into the sofa, raising his hand to cover his eyes, murmuring involuntarily, "Oh God, my God!"

For a moment, Rockefeller even felt a shred of sympathy for Morgan. Because when he saw the battle reports, Rockefeller had also couldn't help but mention God.

However, after a brief moment of weakness, Morgan recovered his previous firmness. He replied, "I believe the United States will not lose."

Rockefeller nodded. "I think so too; the United States can fight for a long time. But we have to recognize one thing: this war will only get more and more cruel. The United States will not compromise, and neither will China. We can already determine the upper limit the United States can reach, but the upper limit China can reach cannot yet be determined.

"Morgan, what if He Rui's goal of liberating the world isn't a slogan, but real? If the Soviet Union doesn't join China's camp, the US has to fight an economy with a population of 1.2 billion. If the Soviet Union joins, the US needs to fight an economy with a population of 1.4 billion. If the per capita industrial and agricultural output of this economy is one-quarter of the US, the US has to fight an economy three times its own size.

"I believe the United States won't lose. But the United States can't win."

Morgan was silent again for a good while before asking, "What do you plan to do?"

"I won't oppose the war. In order not to become a 'November Criminal' of the United States, I will firmly support the war," Rockefeller replied frankly.

Hearing this, Morgan felt some disdain for Rockefeller in his heart. But Morgan soon felt that Rockefeller was truly smart. From what Morgan understood of American public opinion, although the loss of 300,000 US troops had indeed filled the American people with anger toward the government and military, the American public no longer opposed the war. Such huge losses were a massive "sunk cost" for the American people, and they didn't want to oppose the war at such a time.

During this period, Morgan had used the American anti-leftist attitude to get rid of quite a few left-wing "muckrakers" who had once offended him. This process was so easy that it surprised Morgan. In the past, these left-wing "muckrakers" had gained a lot of support from the American public by writing books and articles attacking capitalists.

Now, the public was indifferent to these purged left-wing "muckrakers." Many Americans even believed that the left-wing "muckrakers" were indeed traitors to the United States. Even if these people weren't Chinese spies, they had at least greatly harmed America's interests.

Morgan stood up, looked at Rockefeller who claimed he would firmly support the war, and felt as if he were seeing a thousand-year-old fox. As an American oil tycoon, Rockefeller had no other choice.

*Truly a fellow who completely understands how to survive!* Morgan roasted him in his heart, but verbally only said, "Goodbye."

When leaving the Rockefeller Center, Morgan determined that the best way to protect his interests was to continue supporting the war. However, Morgan only wanted to support the war, not necessarily support winning it; Morgan would have to adopt more measures.

Compared to Morgan, Roosevelt was fully focused on how to win the war. After beating Morgan into line, Roosevelt held a meeting with the Secretary of War and the Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The meeting lasted a long time, and by the end, Roosevelt was exhausted. But the old man still carefully read through the combat applications with bloodshot eyes and signed his name on them.

Now Roosevelt had to win a major campaign, or at least inflict heavy damage on China. Not long ago, news that Indian independence activists had seized the urban area of Mumbai reached Roosevelt. If subsequent news consisted of similar losses, Roosevelt believed he had basically no chance of winning the next election.

Even if it was a pyrrhic victory, the United States needed a real victory!

The three US Chiefs of Staff knew they had been forcibly protected by Roosevelt, and at this point, they had no way of retreat. If they were defeated again, Roosevelt wouldn't be able to protect them either and could only let them be dishonorably dismissed.

Seeing Roosevelt sign the documents, the three Chiefs of Staff saluted Roosevelt simultaneously. At this moment, they didn't say any words of gratitude. All they had to do was figure out how to win the coming war.

On January 27, 1942, the Allied carrier formation cruising in the western Mariana Islands received news that traces of a US carrier formation had been discovered near the Marshall Islands.

The previous Great Battle of the Marianas had been intense, but the result was somewhat anticlimactic. Since both China and the US used computer fire-control radar, neither side's carrier-based air forces could breach the other's air defense system. In the Marianas air battle, China only sent out 300 fighters at a time, while the US fleet air defense radar could track targets significantly exceeding this number.

Upon learning that the US military had sortied again with the Marshall Islands as the target, Allied Navy Commander Yamamoto Isoroku ordered, "Sortie immediately! Engage the US carriers!"

Both China and the US had basically figured out the other's strength, so the US carriers didn't specifically avoid Allied reconnaissance. Similarly, the Allies didn't specifically avoid reconnaissance by US scout planes.

At 8:00 AM on January 29, the blips constantly appearing on the air search radars of both fleets confirmed that the opposing carriers were ready for battle. Almost at the same time, the fleet commanders of both sides ordered the launch of the first wave of attacks.

According to reconnaissance, both sides determined that the opponent had roughly four carrier groups, totaling eight aircraft carriers. Based on the experience of the Great Battle of the Marianas, the attack formations of both sides would be exhausted after launching at most two waves of attacks. The Asian Alliance believed their aircraft groups had stronger combat power, so they chose a direct approach. Sure enough, they didn't encounter the main US air groups head-on along the way.

When the Chinese air group saw the dense cluster of US ships on the sea surface from an altitude of 10,000 meters, as well as the huge silhouettes of aircraft carriers in the center, the radio receiving equipment installed on the Chinese fighters had also picked up the radio waves emitted by US radar.

After detecting the US radar frequency, the commander of the first attack wave asked over the radio, "Special Service Team, how is the aluminum foil cutting coming along?"

A voice came from the radio, "Special Service Team reports, aluminum foil cutting has begun, release in 10 minutes!"

The Chinese air group began to circle the US carrier formation outside the range of the US 5-inch anti-aircraft guns. As the service team, the H-6 fighters (Note: Likely a typo in source for a heavy fighter/bomber variant, preserved as H-6 per text) were under the strict protection of fighter jets. Inside the relatively large cabins, aluminum foil cutting machines rapidly cut thousands of pieces of aluminum foil to the required dimensions.

Ten minutes later, the H-6 fighters began to fly toward the US carrier formation. When they were 15 kilometers away, the cabin projection ports opened, and a massive amount of aluminum foil was released like scattering flowers from heaven.

With the appearance of the aluminum foil, large patches of snow immediately appeared on the screens of the US radar observations. It was as if countless Chinese fighters had appeared in the sky.

"Fxxk!"

"Momfxxk!"

"Sonofbi..." Curses erupted abruptly in various US radar control rooms.

The officers didn't have time to curse and immediately shouted, "Switch channels!"

"Notify the Commander!"

The Chinese H-6 fighters continued to release aluminum foil. The commander of the first wave saw the US fighters suddenly change formation, abandoning the escort state of closely watching the Chinese fighters and rushing toward the Chinese air group. He knew that the aluminum foil interference researched over the last month had worked. He immediately ordered: "J-10s engage! J-9s begin bombing run! Special Service Team, quickly determine the US military's new wavelength and produce the corresponding aluminum foil!"

Moments later, Chinese and American fighters were already dogfighting in the air. The J-9 fighters carrying torpedoes, bombs, and rockets, following pre-war training, divided into three teams and began attacking from low and high altitudes.

At this time, on the Chinese carrier formation, Chinese radar operators also lost the ability to determine targets due to the aluminum foil interference dropped by the US military. Although the Chinese fleet had predicted beforehand that the US military would also develop radar jamming tactics, when actually encountering such a situation, people in the radar rooms of various Chinese warships also constantly swore as they fell into crisis!

Citizens of both China and the US were human, and their reactions of impotent rage were about the same. However, both China and the US possessed the most advanced naval and air force equipment and technology in the world at this time. Like their American counterparts, the Chinese immediately switched wavelengths and continued to lock onto US fighters.

The response of the US carrier fighter group was similar. Through extensive testing, they had determined the effects of different sizes of aluminum foil on different wavelengths. While launching a fierce attack on the Chinese carrier formation, US fighters responsible for electronic signal collection provided data, and the US continued to throw out aluminum foil interference, causing the Chinese carrier formation's fire-control radars to fail again for a short time.

When the air battle reverted to relying solely on fighters and visual observation by anti-aircraft personnel on ships, the battle turned bloody in the blink of an eye. Whether Chinese or American ships, they all had to abandon anti-aircraft guns with calibers above 120mm, relying instead on 40mm rapid-fire guns and 20mm high-speed cannons to deal with enemy fighters.

Both China and the US had determined based on massive testing that aluminum foil interference was very effective, but not a panacea. The time left for both sides to attack was only half an hour. Within half an hour, the defending side would definitely be able to find a wavelength unaffected by interference. So once time was up, regardless of how many results were achieved during this time, the attack team had to retreat.

Chinese and US fleets simultaneously began to release smoke, and every warship began to execute Zig-Zag anti-aircraft maneuvers, seeking to avoid losses as much as possible before finding an interference-free frequency band.

The first to be hit was a Chinese destroyer. A US dive bomber rushed down almost vertically, dropping a bomb at an altitude of 500 meters. Twenty seconds after the US dive bomber pulled up, the bomb hit the rear of the smokestack of the Chinese destroyer, which was firing fiercely. The violent explosion shook the destroyer.

At this time, Chinese and American fighters were flying at high speeds in the channels formed by the warships. One fled and the other chased, and the pursuer was not safe either. The maneuverability of the US P-51 fighters was quite strong; some US fighters even momentarily shook off the pursuit of Chinese fighters through bold aerial maneuvers, turning around to pursue the Chinese fighters that had been chasing them.

Fighters from both sides constantly took hits and smoked. Fighters that lost control crashed directly into the sea, either diving into the ocean or skipping a few times on the surface like skipping stones. Colliding with seawater at high speed was like colliding with concrete. The fighters disintegrated immediately, and sharp-eyed naval officers and men on the warships could even see pilots being thrown directly out and falling into the sea.

"Cruiser *Huangshan* hit!"

"Destroyer *Xixia* hit!"

...

Bad news for the Chinese fleet came one after another. And the US military gained no advantage either; bad news also came one after another. But when the news that the aircraft carrier *Enterprise* had been hit by Chinese rockets reached the US Pacific Second Fleet Command, Vice Admiral Nimitz even closed his eyes momentarily.

And the Chinese aircraft carriers were also the main targets of the US attack. As long as the Chinese carriers lost combat effectiveness, the carrier-based aircraft formations on the US carriers could launch a fierce attack on the Chinese fleet without air cover.

At this moment, both the Chinese and US navies were very clear that they had both chosen the correct direction. If the belligerents in the naval battle were not China and the US, but other countries in the world, the naval battle would have already entered the slaughter phase!

The first wave of battle was extremely tragic. Under the desperate attacks of pilots from both China and the US, three Chinese aircraft carriers were hit. One was hit by two bombs in the center of the deck, losing takeoff and landing capabilities. The other two also suffered considerable damage.

On the American side, the aircraft carrier *Enterprise* was attacked by more than 30 rockets, and the warship caught fire. The deck of the aircraft carrier *Hornet* was severely damaged, losing combat capability.

In addition to aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers on both sides suffered losses. And to achieve such results, both China and the US lost nearly 100 fighter jets.