At this time, the ranks of the Chinese sailors began to disband, and then the battleship unmoored and set sail. The mighty battleship gently swayed its huge body, turned its bow, and slowly sailed out to sea. Soldiers and dock workers gathered at the gate, watching it go out to sea to the sound of a military band.

At this time, on a shore, a man dressed as a common man was leisurely fishing. Not far away, British soldiers and coast guards patrol back and forth with loaded guns, their alert eyes on the sea. They are faithfully defending their homeland. The angler sat still, munching on his dinner with relish, changing the bait, and occasionally catching a fish. The sun is sinking in the west, and the day is coming to an end. He jerked his head to the south, and in the afterglow of the setting he saw some indistinct black outlines appear on the sea. He quickly grabbed the binoculars that hung around his neck and held them up to look out to sea. After looking at it for a while, he put down his binoculars and rested his eyes and continued to observe. Then he saw a huge black silhouette, and he quickly recognized the identity of the giant ship from the flag fluttering on the high mast and the majestic main turret. The battleship was accompanied by twenty merchant ships. So, he quickly put away his fishing rod, picked up his fishing gear, hurried along the pier to the shore, passed the sentry of the British soldiers, entered a street, passed the post office, and disappeared into the flow of people.

A few minutes later, an elderly Englishman walked briskly into the post office. I wrote a short message in the newspaper and handed it to the help desk. One of the girls inside looked and saw that the address was an ordinary London firm. The message was just a very simple sentence such as "the price of porcelain and wheat has risen by at least 20 percent." The woman, apparently faithful to her duty, gave a glance to a white policeman stationed there, who approached and began to question her.

"What kind of business is this?" The policeman asked.

"It's a not-too-big importer of groceries." The other party replied.

"What's in your message?"

In order to reassure the police, the Englishman handed over the message in his hand directly. After carefully examining the contents, the policeman looked at the note to the light again, took out a magnifying glass and looked at it carefully for a while, and only after making sure that there was no problem with his hand, did he agree to shoot it, nodded and said apologetically: "Sir, please understand that this is a measure that has to be taken in order to keep the security of our country from being violated." ”

"I can understand that, you don't have to feel anything embarrassed about it." The Englishman replied kindly.

After the telegram had been taken, the Englishman left the post office, and after turning into an alley, he found a corner and sat down. At this time, beads of sweat were already oozing from his forehead, he took out his handkerchief and wiped it, looked at the watch on his wrist, and a trace of anxiety flashed in his eyes.

"I hope to get enough attention from those guys." He muttered to himself.

In a telegraph office in Berlin, a machine copied a telegram. A receiver was about to treat it as a normal telegram handle, while an overseer noticed the address.

"Wait a minute!" As she spoke, she quickly searched for a form in the folder.

A moment later, the telegram was delivered to the German Admiralty. The telegram was immediately delivered in layers and finally into the hands of a rear admiral. At this moment, the hour hand is pointing to 9 a.m., and the date on the calendar plate is July 26, 1919. After verifying the location of the report, the rear admiral quickly opened the codebook, looked at the chart on the wall next to him, and said to his colleague with some excitement: "Great! The Chinese battleships have returned home! Now leaving the UK and heading south! He pointed to the charts and said, "Here it is." ”

"Aren't they escorting the British's merchant ships?" One of his colleagues said, "The British won't agree to let them go home." It can't be a mistake, right? ”

"No, it has been determined, it is one of the 'Republic' class battleships of the Chinese Navy." The rear admiral checked the code book and said, "There are twenty Chinese merchant ships with it. ”

"It's really high."

"We're going to have to get this information in there right away."

The rear admiral found Admiral Scheer in the war room. After listening to the report, Scheer slowly pointed from one point to another on the chart with a pencil, and frowned: "The Chinese have gone out again, and for them, it is a rather bad time to return to China." ”

"Well, I heard that the political situation in China has not been very stable, and some provinces have actually escaped the control of Yanjing. The return of these Chinese battleships at this time is likely to be another unexpected incident in China. Rear Admiral said.

"But we have only found one Chinese battleship showing signs of returning home, which may not prove that all Chinese battleships will return home. The British could not have let these 'Oriental bodyguards' just walk away before their new battleships were launched. Scheer said.

"But we should also note that our enemies will never come to us without asking for trouble when it is most convenient for us to strike. You know, we have to pay close attention to their every move. The British convoys were here, here, here, all over the Atlantic. Our Yorkie has not yet completed its final training and cannot be counted on her. Because no matter how you look at it, you can't call her a combat ship now. The situation with the Scharnhorst was the same. The Chinese battleships came out at this time to be with their merchant ships, and there was only one possibility, that is, to escort them to China. "I think soon we will hear from the other Chinese battleships leaving." ”

"This is only speculation now, but for us, there is nothing more dangerous than these battleships that the Yankees built for the Chinese." "We can't take risks lightly. ”

"You're right, General."

Admiral Upper walked in front and went straight back to his office.

"Either way, it's always right that we get ready for it first." Scheer looked at the charts, "The 'Kaiser Wilhelm' has completed its training, and if all of those Chinese battleships really leave, or one or two, we have a chance to bring the British and the Yankees to the bottom again." ”

Just as Scheer finished speaking, another German naval officer walked in quickly, and Scheer noticed that his face was also full of excitement, and he had a vague premonition in his heart.

"What happened? Colonel Raeder? ”

"Two Chinese battleships left Scapa Bay at nine o'clock this morning, accompanied by fifty merchant ships." Reddell suppressed the excitement in his heart and said, "After analyzing it, our intelligence agents all believe that they should have returned home. ”

Scheer took a look at the telegram and looked at it, a look of disbelief on his face.

"How is this possible?" He said to himself.

Hearing his words, the war room became silent for a while, and everyone focused their eyes on Scheer.

"Send a telegram to Lut and Hipper, asking them to be ready for battle." Scheer hesitated for a moment, then commanded in a deep voice.

A short time later, on the battleship "Wilhelm the Great", a German naval officer walked into the cabin of Admiral Lut. Admiral Lut was napping in his armchair with his head resting on his hands. "Sir, telegraph." The officer said respectfully.

Ruth immediately woke up. He glanced at the telegram with his loose eyes, and his brow tightened.

"Call the captain right away."

After a while, the captain arrived. "The Admiralty has telegraphed, it's our turn to strike. I asked the warships to be ready for battle immediately. ”

"Yes, sir." The captain said.

"Kaiser Wilhelm" was at this time in a state of secondary readiness. Through the thick fog on the deck, you can faintly see the crew shrouded in fog on the gun emplacement. Half of the occupants below deck were sleeping or napping. At this moment, the loudspeaker suddenly gave a loud command to the anchor crew and the entire crew to take position. People rushed out of the cabins, and the entire warship immediately got busy in an orderly manner.

At night, on the streets of Berlin, a cyclist is hurrying through the streets of Berlin. As before, a letter was sent to the Admiralty, and as before, the letter was immediately delivered to the Rear Admiral. It was an ordinary-looking letter. The Rear Admiral, however, read it very carefully and repeatedly, and consulted the codebook from time to time. After a while, he hurried to Admiral Scheer to report the information he had just received.

"Your Excellency, important information has been received about the Chinese battlefleet."

"Oh?"

"Your Excellency, this is the report that our intelligence officer at the Vickers shipyard sent four days ago. The letter had just been received because it had to be transited through Switzerland and Portugal. ”

"I didn't know you had eyes and ears at Vickers Shipyard."

"Only a very small number of people know about him. Your Excellency, we do not receive much information from him. As you can imagine, he can't just take risks. However, he is a good person, and his information is always accurate. ”

"What does his intel say?"

"Your Excellency, he said that not long ago, three Chinese battleships had secretly visited here for repairs in preparation for an ocean-going voyage, and their destination was the Pacific Ocean. He said that his information was extremely reliable and had been obtained from shipyard workers. ”

"Is your 'dude' reliable?"

"He's one of our best tipsters, Your Excellency. Never fooled us. ”

"Don't believe it."

"I can make a bet with you for him, Your Excellency."

"Maybe. However, you are betting on your status and reputation in the Navy. I would like to point out that this matter is not only about your position and honor, but also about the success or failure of our cause and the security of our country. You tell me? ”

The rear admiral hesitated a little and replied: "I do not change my opinion. Your Excellency, I believe the information of this 'dude'. ”

"Well, I believe your intelligence is true. However, even if there is any major incident in China, it is unlikely that the Chinese will drive all six battleships back home, right? ”

"Maybe only three, Your Excellency." Colonel Raeder reminded Scher, "The three Chinese battleships that the intelligence officer saw may be the three whose whereabouts we already know, because the Chinese could not have given up the safety of their allies who had provided them so many benefits." ”

"However, I would like to remind everyone that the Chinese have another enemy." Rear Admiral said.

"You mean...... Say myself? Scheer asked thoughtfully.

"Yes." The rear admiral replied, "According to our intelligence, the two capital ships of the Navy, the Fuso and the Shancheng, are in the port of Luda, China. And the political situation in China is once again in a fierce turmoil, which is also related to himself. ”

"It's possible, and it's probably quite a surname." Scheer paced back and forth around the room, one of the habits he had developed on the warship.

"For us, this is an opportunity to change the fate of our great motherland." Scheer muttered to himself and stopped at the phone table.

There was a telephone line that led from the Admiralty to the distance, across the land to the coast. Then, from underwater, through a rainy bay, it winds its way to Wilhelmshaven, where it joins a water drum. When the flagship of the fleet was connected to the water drum, he pulled the telephone line onto the ship and connected it to the telephone switchboard installed in the compartment under the waterline.

In Wilhelmshaven, where the night fog was completely shrouded, the signal lights began to flicker continuously, calling and answering back and forth. Suddenly there was the sound of leather boots rattling on the silent deck of the German ship, and a shrill telephone ringing sounded in the darkness. A voice came from the phone: "Captain, the flagship has sent a signal-"

The loudspeaker in the cabin sounded the whistle scream of Sergeant Sailing, followed by an order: "Call the port duty officer." The cable crew will assemble on the foredeck within 10 minutes. Call the on-duty officer,......。 "The big cabin was full of canvas hammocks. People woke up from their sleep and got out of bed one by one.

"What's going on?" Someone asked.

"God knows! Ask the fleet commander! Another said, "I'll have to anchor anyway." ”

"Peace be upon you!" One interjected in a slightly resentful voice.

"What are you doing?" Someone asked, "Isn't it about choosing an evening dress?" ”

"Haha, he wants to travel to sunny Greece." Someone laughed.

At this time, the sailors, who had already completed their preparations, pushed through the crowd and shouted: "Hey, make way for the man who is going to work!" The men "clicked" down the narrow aisles of the giant ship, climbed the ladder, and reached the deck. All around is full of people who are busy in an orderly manner. Some sailors came to the foredeck from the bright lights. It was still dark at the moment, and they flocked to the foredeck and began to lift anchor, just as the wind howled and made people unsteady on their feet.

In a dark cabin, the telephone rang. The lights came on immediately. The ringing kept going on until the shaggy man got up to answer the phone.

"I'm the chief engineer."

"Chief Engineer, please have enough steam in ten minutes." Said loudly on the phone.

"Okay, I'll go right away." The chief engineer rolled over and got out of bed to get his uniform.

At this time, the clock hanging in the brightly lit engine room of the German [***] ship pointed to 4:45. The windlass began to turn, and the anchor chains twisted up section after section, and the password was passed back and forth; The valve opened, steam entered the turbine, the propeller turned in the dark water, and the directional signal light was still signaling.

Scarpa's Bay, United Kingdom.

"I'm curious now to see what kind of expression I'll have when I see our six battlecruisers."

In an officer's cabin on the battleship "Republic", Shen Honglie poured Xu Zhenpeng a glass of red wine and said with a smile.

"The promises he made back then have all come true." Xu Zhenpeng took the wine glass, drank it all, and shook his head with a wry smile, "I still feel like I'm in a dream." ”

"I still remember the grand occasion when the second ship of Dingzhen returned to China," Xu Zhenpeng recalled the past, and the corners of his eyes began to moisten, "But I didn't expect that I would be defeated by the Japanese in China." Haiquan is difficult to ask again. In the battle of the four people's resistance against the Japanese, our navy did not dare to confront the Japanese invaders, and now it ......"

"Now that we have 12 huge ships of more than 50,000 tons, I don't believe that the Japanese will dare to attack us with impunity like last time." Shen Honglie said.

"It is true that we have this huge ship, and it is true that we have surpassed the Japanese Navy in terms of numbers, but we must not take it lightly," Xu Zhenpeng said, "You know, these six ships were sailed back as training ships at the request of Yang Hanzhi." ”

"For the domestic navy, it is a training ship, but for our group, it is not a training ship." Shen Honglie smiled disapprehantly, "It's just that I can't think of it now, what he Yang Hanzhi wants these battle cruisers to do back." After all, the battle on our side is not over yet. ”

"The Germans won't last long." Xu Zhenpeng said, "When those battle cruisers come back, the Germans will collapse if they don't get it." ”

"Not necessarily, I heard that Germany has launched a new ship, and the caliber of the main gun has reached 403 mm, no matter the speed of firepower, it can fight our ship head-on." Shen Honglie said, "At that time, we will have a tough battle again." ”

"What you said is right, but the German Navy is still one layer worse than ours, we now have twelve giant ships, Britain, France and the United States are also racing against time to build their own new giant ships, these new ships are estimated to be almost completed and put into service next year, and the Germans are no match in any way."

(To be continued)