Zhao Ping stood on the bridge, holding the railing in one hand and the telescope in the other, looking into the distance, looking at the warship surrounded by a vast sea water, reflecting the blue sky, vast and boundless, and the end of the world is unlimited.

In fact, at this time, Zhao Ping has been a naval soldier for more than 4 years, and he has long been accustomed to seeing the scene on the sea, and he has changed from the original novelty to no waves, and there is no surprise in humiliation, but now Zhao Ping's mentality is different from before, and now he is the captain of the cruiser Hejian, so there are some surging ups and downs in his chest, and standing on the bridge, he also has a sense of self-pride.

Because Zhao Ping has served on the Hejian for nine months, six of which are in the capacity of deputy captain, he is very familiar with all the affairs on the warship, and the Hejian Bijing is only a 3,500-ton small and medium-sized warship, with only about 240 personnel. Therefore, although Zhao Ping had just become the captain and did not run in the whole ship, he was able to set sail to perform tasks.

Of course, Zhao Ping is the first time to command a warship to carry out a mission as a captain, and it is inevitable that there will be mistakes, and the newly replenished crew is also inexperienced, so it is difficult to give full play to the combat effectiveness of the whole ship, but this time Zhao Ping's task is not to fight, but to intercept the merchant ships of Britain and France that he encountered, which is relatively simple, and can take the opportunity to run in the whole ship and accumulate experience.

Zhao Ping is responsible for carrying out the interception mission in the south of the Ryukyu Islands, north of Palau Island, east of the Philippines, west of the Northern Mariana Islands, the vertical and horizontal distance is about 2,000 kilometers, and the merchant ships in this area are mainly trade between Britain and France in Southeast Asia, East Asian colonies and the American continent. He was accompanied by a destroyer, the Laiyang.

And just when Zhao Ping was standing on the bridge with great feelings, suddenly the watchman's shout came from the lookout: "Captain, I found a British merchant ship, in the direction of 2 o'clock, about 28.6 kilometers away." ”

Zhao Ping listened, hurriedly held the telescope in front of him, looked in the direction indicated by the lookout, and sure enough, he found a British merchant ship flying the rice flag. So Zhao Ping immediately ordered: "Turn right 60 degrees, accelerate 20 knots, and move forward." ”

The Kasuma immediately turned to accelerate and headed in the direction of the merchant ship. About 20 minutes later, the distance between the two sides had been shortened to within 15 kilometers, and Zhao Ping ordered the merchant ship to issue a banner of "slow down, come to me, stop the ship".

The merchant ship had already spotted the River, but after the River's signal, the merchant ship did not reply, but immediately turned to accelerate and tried to escape. Naturally, the River Breeze would not let the merchant ship escape, and immediately turned to chase after it.

Of course, the speed of merchant ships cannot be compared with that of warships, although the Hejian is only a low-level cruiser in the ranks of the People's Army, but the speed has also reached 22 knots, and can travel at a stable speed of 20 knots for more than 10 hours, while the speed of merchant ships is generally only 15-18 knots, so it cannot be compared at all.

After about 20 minutes of pursuit, the distance between the two sides was shortened to within 10 kilometers, and during this time, the Hejian issued two consecutive flags to the merchant ships to "slow down, stop the ship", and also added the flag of "otherwise our ships will open fire", but the merchant ships still turned a deaf ear and still struggled but fled in vain.

Seeing that the merchant ship had no intention of stopping, Zhao Ping decided not to entangle with the merchant ship anymore, and ordered the twin 155mm main guns in the bow of the ship to open fire and fire warning fire at the merchant ship.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

On the left and right sides of the merchant ship, 5 or 6 water columns were raised in succession, of course, each water column was more than 300 meters away from the merchant ship, because there was no guidance from modern warships, and at this distance, it was impossible to shoot accurately. However, Zhao Ping's purpose in ordering the fire was not to sink the merchant ship, but to warn them.

Of course, even if the river fires, even if the merchant ship still does not slow down, the river will not easily sink the merchant ship, this point is clearly stipulated before the attack, as long as the merchant ship does not fight back, it is strictly forbidden for the warship to sink the merchant ship, after all, with the speed of the warship, it is definitely possible to catch up with the merchant ship, it is nothing more than a matter of time, and even if it can't catch up with the merchant ship, it doesn't matter, it's a big deal to find the next merchant ship, after all, in this era, there are merchant ships at sea.

However, after the Kamma fired, the merchant ship finally began to slow down, because the merchant ship did not know whether the Hejian really did not hit, or whether it deliberately did not hit, what if the Hejian really hit? Who would dare to joke with his own life, not to mention that even if the opponent did not really fight, but with speed alone, he could catch up with him in an hour at most, so it was better to slow down and stop the ship to see what the other party was going to do, maybe there was still a glimmer of life.

After about 20 minutes, the Karuma reached a distance of about 300 meters from the merchant ship that had stopped, and its speed dropped to 8 knots, and it made a circular motion centered on the merchant ship, and the 10 50-mm rapid-fire guns on the warship were aimed at the merchant ship. Although 50 mm caliber guns were not enough to pose a lethal threat to merchant ships, they could form a sufficient deterrent.

This merchant ship is much larger than the Kabet, with a displacement estimated at between 8,000-10,000 tons, but in front of the Kabeta, it is like a giant whale facing a tiger shark, although the whale is much larger than the tiger shark, but it is defenseless in front of the tiger shark. At the same time, the Kasuma issued a flag to the other side, "We board the ship, no resistance."

Then three dinghys were placed on the Hejian, each carrying 20 soldiers, and Zhao Ping also personally boarded the third dinghy, preparing to board the merchant ship in person.

As the dinghy approached the merchant ship, the soldier threw out the hook, hung it on the side of the ship, and climbed to the ship. Although there were nearly 30 crew members on the deck of the merchant ship at this time, and at least nearly half of them had guns in their hands, no one dared to act rashly under the threat of the muzzle of the river, and any KPA soldiers easily boarded the merchant ship and lowered the rope ladder so that their companions could climb onto the merchant ship more easily.

By the time Zhao Ping boarded the merchant ship, the KPA soldiers had already occupied all the points on the deck of the merchant ship, and the crew was forced to gather in front of the sailing room. But he was pressed down by a man in a white uniform, about 50 years old, who seemed to be the captain of the merchant ship.

Seeing that Zhao Ping's uniform was different from that of the other soldiers, the man in the white uniform took a few steps forward and said, "I am the captain of this ship, George Jackson, who is your commander, I hope to talk to him." ”

The captain speaks English, but in the People's Army Navy, English is a soldier, and it is one of the courses that officers must learn; first, the navy is a high-tech, international service, and English is basically the international common language; second, the British navy's experience, technology, and concepts are all world-leading, and it is the object of learning from other countries, so the navies of all countries must learn English.

Before Zhao Ping joined the army, he was able to read and write, and had a certain ability to read and write, so after he joined the navy, he immediately began to learn English, eliminating the steps of literacy and literacy, and 4 years of study time, coupled with Zhao Ping's own efforts, is now considered to have made some achievements, general communication, reading is basically no problem, and the entire Hejian ship, there are few people whose English level can be compared with Zhao Ping, which is also one of the reasons why Zhao Ping wants to follow the soldiers to board the ship, there must always be a person who can communicate with each other in language.

Seeing that the captain of the other party asked a question first, Zhao Ping also took two steps forward and said: "I am Zhao Ping, the captain of the cruiser Hejian of the People's Army Navy of the East China Government, and now the city announces that your ship has been captured by our army, I hope you will obey our orders, do not make unnecessary resistance, I can guarantee your personal safety, otherwise don't blame us for being polite." ”

Captain Jackson said in a deep voice: "The East China government? Ah, I have heard that it is a government that split from the Qing Dynasty. I don't care what your government is, but we are the merchant ships of the British Empire, and if you hijack this merchant ship, you will be an enemy of the British Empire, and you will wait for the retaliation of the British Empire! Even if it is your government...... Oh, I remember, it seems that there is a war going on between us? as if Britain had sent a fleet to Asia......"

Zhao Ping nodded, it seemed that the captain's news was too backward, and said: "What you said is not wrong, now our East China government and Britain are indeed hostile countries, and Britain and France have also formed a joint fleet to fight us, but they have been defeated by us." ”

"What? It can't be. Captain Jackson said, "The navy of the British Empire cannot be defeated. ”

Zhao Ping didn't bother to dwell with him on this issue, and said: "Mr. Captain, you should think about your situation first, Britain's retaliation, even if it is a matter of the future, but now this ship is already our prisoner, so I hope you can have the appearance of a prisoner, until now we still maintain restraint, and we do not want bloodshed, but if necessary, we will never hesitate." ”

Captain Jackson was silent for a moment, then finally nodded and said, "Okay, I see, please rest assured, we will obey your orders." Then he turned to the crew and said, "Lay down your arms and don't resist." ”

In fact, people who live in the sea know that if they encounter interception at sea, it is intercepted by the regular national army, if they can't escape, it is best not to resist, they will be captured, and wait for the country to solve it from the diplomatic level, and at this time Captain Jackson still firmly believes that the British Navy will not be defeated by the East China Government, but will comprehensively crush the East China Government's navy with a comprehensive advantage, and after the British Navy wins, the British Government will naturally seek justice for its merchant ship, and all losses will be compensated by the East China Government. Therefore, at this time, there is no need to fight against the other party, it is enough to endure for a certain period of time for the time being.