May 27th. Inside the office of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Army Chief of Operations, the echoes of an enraged "Motherfucker" rang through the room. The officer across from him reporting on the war situation dared not speak and could only lower his head.

Eisenhower cursed for a while, finally venting his fury. He grabbed the telephone and called MacArthur. By the time MacArthur's voice came through the receiver, Eisenhower's voice had calmed down. "Chief of Staff, the Air Force still hasn't seized air superiority. Has the Chinese military built airfields in such a short time?"

MacArthur's voice was not agitated; he had already proposed the possibility that China was likely relying on the extreme transport capacity of its carriers to maintain the air war. Hearing Eisenhower so worked up, MacArthur replied: "We can only exploit the weakness of China's insufficient transport capacity and wear them down. General Eisenhower, the Army must intensify its offensive!"

Eisenhower did not want to lose face before MacArthur, nor did he want to admit to him the difficulties the Army was facing. However, the situation was far from optimistic, and Eisenhower could only say: "The operational plan needs adjustment. If we want to break through the Chinese lines, we need to send more troops."

General MacArthur, the Army Chief of Staff, had already received the latest situation reports, but since Roosevelt trusted Eisenhower more, MacArthur had stepped back to let Eisenhower, as Chief of Operations, command the war.

Seeing that Eisenhower was finally lowering his head, MacArthur said: "I agree to your request. But General Eisenhower, do you believe the engineers can achieve your goals?"

Eisenhower fell silent. MacArthur had graduated from West Point with record-breaking scores before joining the Corps of Engineers and had shown amazing ability in military command. The Sino-American theater of operations was located in the Rocky Mountains, and as MacArthur said, Chinese heavy rockets were currently destroying key transportation nodes on the U.S. axis of advance with an incomprehensible level of precision.

Once bridges and roads in the mountains were destroyed by heavy rockets, repairs were extremely difficult. The number of Chinese fighters was not as large as the U.S. force, and they suffered daily losses, yet they remained unexpectedly resilient, maintaining a scale of 400 aircraft for five consecutive days. Eisenhower had to admit that MacArthur's pre-war prediction was correct.

On MacArthur's tactical map, the Chinese aircraft carriers had become mobile operational platforms. Every night, they moved toward Hawaii; Chinese jet fighters taking off from Hawaii moved toward the carriers and finally landed on them. The Chinese carriers would then move back toward the American West Coast to catch the daytime battles.

When first hearing of such a possibility, at least half the personnel in the entire Army Staff had not believed in this fantastical scheme. At the time, a young and brash staff officer had asked: "Do those damaged planes have to take off while wounded?"

Eisenhower remembered MacArthur calmly puffing on his corncob pipe and replying coolly: "Just throw the planes into the sea."

This concept had made Eisenhower think MacArthur was mad. Jet fighters were nothing like propeller planes; the cost of manufacturing one jet was enough to produce four or five propeller fighters. To simply push damaged aircraft into the sea was something even the United States wouldn't dare to do.

However, as the war had raged for five days and the Chinese Air Force continued to maintain its fighter numbers, Eisenhower had to consider that MacArthur might be right.

And worse, if China maintained the battle through such massive waste, the U.S. military truly had no way to counter it. Because China *really could* afford such extravagance.

While Eisenhower was silent, MacArthur said: "General Eisenhower, at this stage, we can only rely on numbers to overwhelm China. I hope you don't think China will give us any further opportunities."

Hearing MacArthur talk to him like he was lecturing a cadet made Eisenhower very unhappy. But he didn't argue, because MacArthur's statement also accepted part of the responsibility for him. If Eisenhower used tactics involving massive casualties, MacArthur would stand behind him.

Ending the call, Eisenhower began to adjust the arrangements. Because China had used giant rockets to destroy many traffic nodes within 200 kilometers of the battlefield, the U.S. troops launching fierce attacks against the Chinese were bunched up at these passages, unable to advance. Eisenhower ordered the various units to speed up repairs and to proceed to the battlefield via infantry march in the meantime.

After the orders were issued, Eisenhower's mood grew even worse. Currently, the U.S. Navy was sandwiched between China's Northern and Southern Fleets. The Northern Chinese fleet was attacking Northern Canada, while the Southern fleet constantly threatened Panama. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Kimmel proposed that aside from a plan to split his forces, he was willing to execute a decisive battle in either direction.

But the Army, Air Force, and Roosevelt cabinet all believed the Navy should not act rashly at this time. If the Navy fought in either direction, it could be flanked from behind by the massive Chinese carrier task force from the other direction.

As long as the Navy still existed, it could at least protect the West Coast. If the Navy on the West Coast were wiped out, the Chinese fleet could head south at any time to destroy the Panama Canal and then land anywhere they pleased along the American West Coast. At that point, the United States would be just like the Qing Dynasty of old, paralyzed by the fear of a Chinese army that might invade from the sea at any moment.

But the U.S. Navy's inability to deploy in force also meant the U.S. Army couldn't strike from the Canadian west coast to cut off the Chinese offensive against Canada and Alaska. According to the latest news, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops had landed, completely annihilated the U.S. forces in Alaska, and occupied the territory. They were now beginning to move south along the coastline.

If the Chinese troops occupying Alaska moved south and linked up with the Chinese troops attacking Western Canada, the strategic situation in North America would undergo a fundamental shift.

The reality was even worse than Eisenhower imagined. On May 23rd, a fishing fleet centered around three 10,000-ton ocean-going factory ships and ten 1,000-ton fishing vessels arrived in the Gulf of Alaska under naval escort.

Late May was the peak season for salmon fishing. Upon arriving at their destination, the fleet immediately began fishing operations. As the great nets were cast, countless salmon were hauled from the sea.

While the 10,000-ton ships also engaged in fishing, their most important job was actually the processing of the fish. Following a workflow of Raw Material → Descaling → Filleting → Deboning → X-ray → Brine Wash → Skinning → Brine Wash → Salting → Marinating → Brine Wash → Drying → Smoking → Maturation → Semi-Freezing → Slicing → Inspection → Quantitative Packaging → Sealing → Flash Freezing → Metal Detection → Crating → Warehousing, the workers on the factory ships toiled with feverish intensity.

The salmon, with their beautiful scales, were first frozen to a core temperature of -3°C to prevent the meat from breaking during handling. Workers on both sides of the conveyor belt used specialized descaling knives to completely remove the scales from the surface of the fish, then rinsed them with fresh water.

The meat was then sent by conveyor to the next processing room, where rotating cutting machines spun as workers skillfully removed fins and belly bones after filleting, selecting slices of Grade 24 color or higher.

The next phase was more delicate and mostly performed by women. They used tweezers to remove the nervous spines, ensuring no fragments or broken bones remained.

The completely deboned cod was then deep-skinned to a fat line width of no more than 3cm, with edge fat and silver membrane trimmed away. After a rinse with 5% salt water to remove surface impurities, it was sent to the smoking workshop.

In the smoking workshop, a marinating powder made of coarse salt and sugar in a 2.5:1 ratio was prepared. Workers applied it evenly to the surface of the fish, averaging 30-40g per fish. When producing the same batch, the amount of salt followed the principle of less first, then more. Before use, the coarse salt had to be ground as fine as possible.

The salted fish bodies were placed in the marinating warehouse at 18-20°C for refrigeration. To ensure flavor, they could not be stacked too high. The marinated salmon were rinsed again with 5% salt water to remove residual salt, then kept at a warehouse temperature of 6-8°C for 3 hours to dry the meat.

After this series of processes, the salmon were hung in rows inside the smoking machines, maintained at 27°C for 4 hours. During the smoking process, a consistent, thick white smoke was required; no open flame was allowed at the smoke source. If a flame appeared, water had to be sprayed or cherry wood added to produce more smoke.

The low-temperature smoked products were then sent to a maturation warehouse at 0–4°C for at least 8 hours.

Finally, the salmon were sent to a freezer to be chilled to a core temperature of -4°C to 0°C. Once the meat's firmness had increased, a slicer was used to create slices 2.5-3.0mm thick.

The first batch of delicious smoked salmon had left the warehouse. Quality inspectors performed random checks, inspecting individual slices for residual bones and removing fragments or bruised pieces to ensure only the best smoked salmon reached the front lines, providing delicious food for the Chinese soldiers fighting bravely there.

As food for soldiers, the Chinese workers were extremely conscientious, and the inspectors were equally dutiful. On May 27th, the inspected smoked salmon was delivered to the military dining cars in Prince Rupert and Vancouver.

Although the deliciousness of the smoked salmon indeed won praise from the officers and soldiers of the Chinese National Defense Force, they only had a brief moment to appreciate it. After finishing their meal, the soldiers immediately threw themselves back into the fierce fighting.

Mountain warfare was the specialty of the Chinese National Defense Force. Currently, the 190,000 troops who had landed had shifted from the offensive to the defensive following the arrival of the U.S. military. they held a "beachhead" of approximately 200,000 square kilometers.

On a plain, 190,000 troops could never have held 200,000 square kilometers. But in the mountains, the situation was entirely different. The combatants fought for individual passes and key heights. Once the Chinese held these strategic locations, one man could hold off ten, preventing the enemy's advance.

At this stage, the longer the time was dragged out, the more advantageous it was for the Chinese military. Even though the Soviet Union had not allowed China to use its ports, China didn't care. Currently, China had stockpiled a vast amount of supplies in the Hawaiian Islands, with a large number of troops waiting there to head for North America.

Every minute, Chinese troops and equipment were landing. These newly landed units quickly replaced those that had suffered significant damage to continue holding the strategic points, and they worked day and night transporting supplies and building airfields.

Based on the situation so far, by mid-June, the number of Chinese troops landed would reach one million, at which point large-scale breakthrough tactics could be employed.

The Chinese military did not simply engage in a war of attrition. Some small units had departed from Alaska, marching southeast to eliminate scattered Canadian towns in the western region and open a road from north to south, seeking to insert themselves behind the Anglo-American forces.

Even if only a small number of Chinese troops appeared behind them, it would cause a major shock to the Anglo-American forces and create a degree of chaos.

Having reached this point in the war, the Chinese commanders understood perfectly that this was a competition of national strength. At the start of the war, China had dominated in the South China Sea because of its massive advantage in force projection compared to Britain, the U.S., and the Netherlands.

As the war broke out in North America, the situation changed: China had to expend enormous human and material resources to transport its army across the vast Pacific. Meanwhile, Britain and the U.S. could wait at their leisure and fight the Chinese army at their doorstep. Unknowingly, the roles of attacker and defender had undergone a massive shift.

But this was inevitable. If China truly wanted to win the war, it had to win this battle. Only then could the North American region understand that China was fully capable of conducting a large-scale war in such a distant region. In this way, the outcome of the war would be truly decisive.

To lower the difficulty, China had dispatched the fishing fleet during the war to provide the army with fish, including smoked salmon. The shorter the supply line, the lower the cost.

Not only in the Eastern Pacific, but China was also conducting a long-distance power projection in Africa. Compared to North America, the farming conditions on the East African coast were much better.

China had dispatched 50,000 members of a construction corps with extensive agricultural experience to Africa. These personnel had already been working in Mozambique, Tanzania, and other places for about six months. On the African soil, large tracts of fertile fields had already begun to appear—these were construction projects completed by the Chinese reclamation teams and the local Africans who had joined them.

No decent food crops had ever been grown on these lands. Even when there were crops, they were grown by white plantation owners using black slave labor. For profit, the white owners mostly grew cash crops, while the local Africans ate local root crops. Until the Chinese came.

The African blacks were initially quite reserved when facing the Chinese, because the Chinese had thoroughly defeated the very small local white military forces and occupied the white-owned towns.

While the East African blacks had not been ravaged by the white slave trade for 500 years like the West Africans, they had been oppressed for at least a century. Seeing that the Chinese could cleanly and efficiently deal with the whites who had previously been so fierce and had casually bullied and murdered them, they naturally didn't dare to act rashly.

Soon, new military units arrived in East Africa, including over a thousand local East Africans who had been international students in China. With this group joining, the East African blacks began to rapidly build relationships with the Chinese.

A short time later, a large number of whites also appeared in East Africa. These were all new faces unknown to the local tribes. But seeing those whites obediently following behind the Chinese, the East African tribes finally knew that a new group of masters calling themselves "Chinese" had arrived, and these new masters were even more noble and powerful than the whites. The black tribes accepted their new fate and, as before, no longer refused when the "Chinese masters" asked them to work.

It must be said that initially, the East African tribes did not like the Chinese and were very afraid of them. Because these Chinese masters, besides working day and night themselves, would also make both whites and blacks work day and night. Furthermore, the work appeared completely nonsensical to the blacks.

To the blacks, scattering seeds on the ground was understandable behavior. But digging stones out of the ground and filling in pits was simply making things difficult for people. The blacks believed there was no lack of land; if one didn't like the terrain, one could just find level ground. That was how the white masters had done it.

The blacks didn't understand why so much effort was spent on uneven land. Moreover, the Chinese not only cleared the land but also dug irrigation canals. To the East African blacks, this was even more absurd. When it rained, everyone left the flooded land and returned when it was dry. Digging ditches in the ground specifically to transport and drain water—what kind of nonsense was that?

The local East Africans didn't understand the Chinese, and the Chinese reclamation teams in Africa were also infuriated by the local blacks. The veins of the Chinese teams were filled with an army of antibodies against all known infectious diseases, ensuring their basic health. From their perspective, the fertile East African soil was even healthier than the reclamation teams themselves.

Although the East African climate differed from China's four seasons, being divided into wet and dry seasons, the Chinese teams were accustomed to such climates from their time in South Asia. Moreover, in the past decade or so, due to agreements with European colonial nations, a small number of Chinese had already conducted farm planting and research in East Africa. In East Africa, as long as the land wasn't too bizarre, anything would grow well.

The problem was that these Africans had no farming experience at all, which the Chinese saw as a terrible waste of natural resources. Things a Chinese child could easily do left the Africans lingering with confused expressions. Eventually, the Chinese aid personnel gave up trying to solve the Africans' conceptual difficulties and simply required them to complete simple tasks—though even these were not simple for the Africans.

The Chinese firmly believed that "a point of effort brings a point of harvest." This belief, passed down through thousands of years of Chinese civilization, functioned normally on the soil of East Africa as well.

When the first batch of vegetables and peanuts matured, it immediately shocked the East African tribes. They hadn't expected that in just three months, they could eat green plants they had never tasted before, and that the flavor of these things was vastly different from anything they had eaten in their lives—even quite delicious.

Next to mature was the sesame. Large iron pots were set up in the villages, and the sesame seeds were roasted until fragrant, making the gathered black brothers and sisters salivate. Although they had never eaten sesame, their physical reaction was no different from humans of any other skin color.

The World People's Liberation Army reclamation teams mixed flour and cornmeal, baked it into cakes, sprinkled them with sesame, and shared them with the blacks. Everyone ate very happily.

Later, after the local tribal elders ate a hotpot meal with sesame paste, cilantro, scallions, and crushed peanuts as seasoning, most stated: "We'll follow the Chinese from now on."

Even those tribal elders who had been cheated so many times by whites that they didn't dare make a decision were completely conquered by this delicacy after a second hotpot meal. They finally decided to try cooperating with the Chinese.

Thus, after six months of hard work, the World People's Liberation Army obtained the labor of 4.8 million local able-bodied men in East Africa, providing them with a relatively stable base.

From then on, the full-scale African campaign finally had its first large, stable African base. 州。