In the deep and slightly white sky, there were still a few stars scattered, and the sea was still pitch black, but at the place where the sea and the sky met in the east, a milky white narrow band had been faintly straightened, and then a drunken crimson fainted, and the remnant star also closed its tired and sleepy eyes, and finally retreated and disappeared.

"Damn, it's only 5 o'clock, it's dawn, and if it's an hour late, even if it's half an hour. Captain Macliney of the Arthur looked out of the porthole, at the junction of water and sky behind the side, where the day was contending with the darkening night, the night was curled up, and the rose color of dawn was gradually expanding.

But Captain McCleaney had no intention of admiring the beautiful sunrise over the sea, for the Arthur was still about 20 nautical miles from shore, and McCulnone knew that it was not a safe distance, so he ordered to go at full speed.

As the sky grew brighter, the Arthur gradually accelerated to its top speed of 14 knots, and McLiney prayed like God in his heart to keep him safe.

But just half an hour later, the sailors at the lookout shouted: "Captain, at 5 o'clock, find the ship." ”

McLineny's heart tightened, and he hurriedly picked up his monoculars, looked behind his side, and sure enough, he saw that in the background of half of the orange sky, the silhouettes of two ships did appear, which were very blurry at first, but gradually became clearer and clearer. And Sam, the first mate beside him, had already let out a scream: "God, those are two warships." ”

And the data from the observation deck also came that the two warships were about 4,500 meters away from the Arthur, and the speed was about 20 knots, and at this speed, it would take about 40 minutes to catch up with the Arthur. Of course, if that warship fires, this distance is already within range.

McClini's face turned pale and he said, "Call those three Japanese and let them know what the situation is." After a pause, he said: "Call a few more sailors to come up and prevent the Japanese from pulling us to the end, these yellow-skinned monkeys are all tendons." ”

At this time, the lookout said: "Captain, they have sent a flag asking us to slow down and stop the ship and accept their inspection. ”

McCollini said: "Reply to them, we are British cargo ships, only obey British orders, and do not accept their inspections. ”

At this time, I only heard the sound of footsteps, and I saw three Japanese with short stature stepping on the bridge. One of them said, "Captain, what's going on?"

McClini said: "Three gentlemen, we are now being targeted by a warship, see for yourself." They had asked us to stop the ship for inspection, and I replied to them that we were British cargo ships, subject only to British jurisdiction, and did not accept their orders, hoping only to deter them. ”

While he was talking, five more sailors boarded the bridge, and at this time, there were already more than a dozen people standing on the bridge, which was not large, and it seemed a little crowded. And the other party's flag replied again from the lookout: "Stop the ship immediately and accept inspection, otherwise the cannon will be fired." ”

Immediately after that, I heard a "boom" from the rear, and about 200 meters to the left of Arthur, a column of water several meters high rose. Later, the other party sent a flag, "The first warning shot, stop the ship immediately and accept inspection." ”

McClini said to the three Japanese: "Gentlemen, according to our agreement, in the event of an interception by a warship, we have the right to choose to give up resistance and surrender to the warship, and this is the time to do so." ”

A Japanese man: "No, Mr. Captain, we don't ......"

Before he could finish his words, the five sailors who had just come up immediately surrounded Long, and the hands of the captain, first mate, and second mate were also pressed on the pistols on their waists. When the three Japanese saw it, they also knew that it was useless to use force, so they had to express their obedience to the captain's orders.

The Arthur is a seaborne cargo ship with a displacement of 3,600 tons, a load of about 1,400 tons, a maximum speed of 14 knots when fully loaded, and a crew of 32 people, this time it was hired by the Japanese government to deliver supplies to the Korean Peninsula, and the ship was loaded with 20,000 rifles, 1.5 million rounds of ammunition, 200 artillery pieces, 3,000 shells and other ordnance items.

After the Japanese army retreated to the Korean Peninsula, it reorganized its army and restored its combat effectiveness, and the Japanese mainland also tried every means to deliver military supplies to the Korean Peninsula. Despite the KPA's control of sea power, Japan sent a large number of ships to smuggle across the Tsushima Strait at night to deliver supplies to the Korean Peninsula.

However, the KPA's blockade of sea routes is very tight, and there is at least one modern warship patrolling the Tsushima Strait, and the detection range of the ship-borne air-to-sea scanning radar is about 50 kilometers, which is more than twice that of the naked eye in this era, and the observation range of the ship-based helicopter has reached 200 kilometers, and there is basically no difference between day and night, so the KPA's blockade efficiency is quite high, and most of the cargo ships have been intercepted by the KPA. Of the 10 cargo ships that have been able to visit the Korean Peninsula, there is only one in 10.

In this way, after about one month of transportation, Japan lost a total of more than 200,000 tons of cargo ships, and tens of thousands of tons of materials, while only four cargo ships successfully reached the Korean Peninsula, with a total of about 6,7000 tons of materials. In addition to the previous losses, the total loss of Japanese cargo ships is nearly 400,000 tons, accounting for about 4% of the total tonnage of Japanese cargo ships.

Japan could not afford such a large consumption, because it was the loss of cargo ships, which greatly affected Japan's shipping, and the KPA only intercepted Japanese merchant ships at sea, and did not intercept cargo ships from other countries to the Korean Peninsula, so in desperation, Japan had no choice but to charter ships from the British Swire Shipping Company to transport supplies to the Korean Peninsula.

Although Swire Shipping knew that it was very dangerous to transport military supplies to Japan, it was greedy for lucrative freight rates, and because it felt that it was a British company, the East China government might not dare to intercept its cargo ships. In order to help Japan, the British government also assured Swire that once the KPA warship intercepted it, the cargo ship would not resist and surrender to the KPA, and the British government would rescue the crew through diplomatic channels.

As a result, Swire added a clause to the contract signed with the Japanese government: "Once intercepted by a warship, the captain has the right to choose to surrender, and the crew shall be redeemed, and the ship's expenses and losses caused shall be borne by the Japanese government." It was also stipulated that only goods and not people should be transported, and each cargo ship could only be accompanied by three Japanese and that it was not allowed to carry any weapons. This is a lesson learned from the high ascension.

At that time, the British captain on the Gao Sheng advocated surrender to the Japanese warship, but the Qing officers and soldiers on board were unwilling to surrender, and coerced the captain by force to refuse to surrender to the Japanese warship, as a result, the Japanese warship lost patience and sank the Gao Sheng. Therefore, Swire can help Japan transport, but it must retain the power and ability to surrender at any time. In addition, in order to avoid the patrols of the KPA Navy, Swire also made careful arrangements in the route and timing, choosing to depart from Japan at dusk, take advantage of the cover of night, cross the Tsushima Strait, and arrive on the Korean Peninsula at dawn the next day, which can reduce the chance of encountering the KPA Navy.

After the two sides reached an agreement, Swire immediately sent cargo ships to help Japan deliver supplies to North Korea, although the cargo ships sent were voluntary, but the freight was three times that of usual, and the huge profits still made many captains tempted. In the beginning, Swire only sent one ship a day to test the attitude of the People's Army Navy, and for five consecutive days, there were three encounters with the People's Army Navy, but none of them intercepted the British cargo ships, so Swire also became emboldened, and began to send more flights every day, increasing to 2 or 3 ships.

In fact, at the beginning, the People's Army Navy did not intercept the cargo ships of other countries to the Korean Peninsula, because there were not many cargo ships from other countries going to North Korea, and now it is a time of war, so naturally there are even fewer of them, and it is often difficult to see a single one for a few days, so in order to avoid unnecessary international disputes, the cargo ships of other countries are also open, and there are not many anyway.

However, the frequency of British cargo ships to the Korean Peninsula increased, not only every day, but also to more than one per day, and such an abnormal phenomenon naturally attracted the attention of the People's Army and Navy, so it reported to the Qingdao Military Working Group and asked for instructions on the next step.

After consultations, the military working group held that it was very likely that Britain was helping Japan to deliver supplies, and that the KPA naturally wanted to stop it, and that Britain and Japan must not be allowed to submit it. Some people proposed to protest to Britain first, but the military team rejected it, because after the protest, the two sides will negotiate, so that the delay will only allow the Japanese army on the Korean Peninsula to get more supplies, and Britain can also take the opportunity to put pressure on the East China government, so first detain the ship, catch the people back, and then see the British attitude to deal with it.

Therefore, the military working group ordered the navy to conduct a pedal inspection of the British cargo ship near the Korean Peninsula, and the cargo ship that refused to accept the inspection was fired three times with warning, and if it still did not accept the inspection, it could be directly sunk. If military-related items are found on the cargo ship, the ship will be seized and brought back to Qingdao for disposal along with the crew and cargo.

As a result, the Arthur became the first British cargo ship to be intercepted by the KPA. After the KPA's first warning shot, Captain McCulini wisely chose to slow down. Although this money is easy to make, you have to spend your life to spend it, and you can't play for Japan. Although the three Japanese who accompanied the ship were in a hurry, they were alone, and they did not carry weapons, so they could not do anything.

So Arthur immediately slowed down, and more than 10 minutes later, two warships caught up with Arthur, which is the destroyers of the People's Army Navy, Gaomi and Jimo, the three ships docked at Long, and the warship sent soldiers to board the Arthur for inspection, and soon found the weapons and ammunition carried, so the soldiers on board immediately announced that because Arthur was transporting war materials, the People's Army seized Arthur. McLiney also made a few symbolic protests, and there were no other radical acts of resistance.

Later, the Arthur was escorted by the Gaomi and Jimo and sailed to Jeju Island to anchor. The Arthur was not the only British merchant ship to be seized by the KPA today, and in the following time, the KPA Navy seized two more British cargo ships carrying military supplies.