In addition, each of them took a group photo with the Varyag.

This passage lasted for twelve hours.

At 2:30 p.m., the Varyag finally safely passed the last dangerous bend in the Bosphorus Strait and smoothly entered the vast Sea of ​​Marmara.

As he watched the enormous creature disappear into the vast ocean, tears welled up in Li Xiangdong's eyes. He secretly wiped them away and turned around to see Zhang Lu and Park Young embracing and weeping.

Du Liang and Gui Yu looked at the two clowns and really didn't know how to dissuade them, so they could only smile at each other in the end.

After this battle, the road ahead will be smooth sailing.

The Varyag rounded the Cape of Good Hope on October 11, passed through the Strait of Malacca on December 5, and finally entered China's territorial waters near Dalian on January 2, 1995.

In the years that followed, the rusty "Varyag" was finally reborn from the ashes and transformed into the "Liaoning" thanks to the efforts of many technicians!

Of course, that's a story for another time.

After the Varyag successfully entered international waters, Li Xiangdong and his team retired with their mission accomplished and returned to Yanjing by chartered plane.

As soon as they landed, they were received by General Hua Qing and Liu Donglai.

Although the process was short, Li Xiangdong and the others still felt a great sense of honor.

After the meeting, Liu Donglai called Li Xiangdong aside and said, "The country will give you a great credit for this mission, but for now we can only keep it a secret and can't give you anything openly."

Li Xiangdong said very sincerely, "Being able to contribute to the country is the greatest reward for me. What merit or not? The revolutionary martyrs back then certainly didn't think about this."

Although these words sounded like empty flattery and high-sounding, Liu Donglai found them pleasing to the ear.

————

After leaving Liu Donglai's office, a cool breeze blew by, and Li Xiangdong finally understood why he had been assigned to this secret mission.

It turns out that when the news of the sale of the "Varyag" was circulating, the highest levels of the Chinese government had already made an assessment, and their conclusion was that China would not develop aircraft carriers for the time being.

The reason for not building an aircraft carrier is, of course, the country's tight budget.

However, the navy could not sit idly by and miss this great opportunity for development, nor could they stand by and watch the "Varyag" fall into the hands of others.

Therefore, the navy chose a strategy of acting first and informing later.

Once the purchase of the aircraft carrier becomes a fait accompli, the country will have no choice but to take it over.

Of course, it turned out that the Navy's decision was correct.

However, the naval leaders were unaware of the outcome at first; they then approached Liu Donglai.

After discussing a proper plan, Liu Donglai proposed that to increase the success rate of the operation, he would add another person to the team.