Mencius said: "If it is not fate, it is necessary to accept it, so those who know their fate do not stand under the rock wall." Those who die in their own way are righteous, and those who are shackled to the dead are not righteous. Zhang Nan decisively decided to leave first when he felt that the Colombian side had paid enough attention to his salvage operation.

If you have at least hundreds of billions of dollars, or even trillions, you can't take any risks, you will flash people, and you will never do stupid things standing under the dangerous wall.

Not only that, but after a two-hour and 15-minute flight, the helicopter arrived in Cologne, near the entrance to the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal, and landed directly in a US air base, when more than 100 security personnel sent by the "combined forces" were already waiting on the tarmac.

When leaving the "Searcher", Zhang Nan only took some of his bodyguards with him, and chose to go to Panama first because this is really the territory of the Americans: three years ago, the U.S. military brazenly invaded Panama, because the Panamanian government wanted to take back the canal, and as a result, he directly changed the president.

The original President Ma was expelled from the Vatican embassy, and the Pope succumbed to Washington's high pressure, which would make it absolutely safe for Zhang Nan to leave Panama.

He is deeply involved in the interests of Washington, and besides, the "joint forces" have always had excellent relations with the US military, and they also have good relations with the top figures of the US military stationed in Panama.

The air base where Zhang Nan arrived is said to be ready to be returned to the Panamanian government after a while, so there are no combat aircraft of the US Air Force stationed there, only a few small auxiliary aircraft.

In fact, it is just a gimmick, but because of this, it is very convenient for Zhang Nan to stay here temporarily, and he does not need to obtain the consent of the United States, and the commander of the US Air Force stationed in Panama can do it with a phone call.

His own Boeing 767 was also waiting at the airport, but Zhang Nan was not in a hurry to return to New York, but stayed for two days in an air base near the Caribbean Sea, which was close to the city on one side and surrounded by jungles on the other three sides.

After chatting with the local garrison commander, we took a trip to Panama City on the Pacific side of the canal before returning to New York.

Zhang Nan's speed and accuracy in running away were practiced, in fact, the crew of the "Searcher" also hoped that the boss would leave early: they all knew that as soon as the boss returned to the United States, then they could let go of their hands and feet outside.

As long as the boss leaves, it is impossible to be controlled by others, as long as the boss is not controlled, the super fierce Mr. Allen can make most countries in this world jump!

As soon as the boss led the people away, there were only about 100 people left on the ship, and Thomas sent enough security personnel from the mainland to Panama, among which a platoon of fighters boarded the "Searcher" by helicopter in batches, led by a retired US Navy colonel named Miles, who had been stationed in Panama for many years.

There was a reason why he was asked to get on the ship, this Miles was not a high military rank when he retired, but his old boss, who had a very good relationship, is now the boss of the US military garrison in Panama, and other high-level officials are basically familiar with him, and the commander can send combat aircraft over the Caribbean Sea at any time in the name of training.

Training on the high seas, no one can say anything wrong!

Besides, in the Caribbean, except for Cuba, which can occasionally steel its neck with Lao Mei, other countries are almost a flock of little sheep.

In the future, there will be a Venezuela who can roar twice with Lao Mei, but now...

It has only been more than four months since the failure of the "2-4" military coup d'état launched by 38-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Chavez, and Mr. Lieutenant Colonel will be thinking about life in prison, and he is still far from being qualified to confront Lao Mei.

In order to give an account to the Pentagon and Washington, the US Air Force stationed in Panama came up with the name of this training, because some unexpected situations will occur during training, and under the powerful influence of the "joint forces," many people in the US military do not mind doing something out of the ordinary in private for the sake of their friends' demands.

The "joint forces" have good relations with the Pentagon, and they and their parent companies also welcome retired US troops to join, and general-level officers can also get good advisory positions in various groups under the Sunshine Star Group.

Finding a job in a large multinational company is a very good choice for US military generals after they retire, and traditionally, multinational companies are also willing to join some retired generals with considerable energy.

Whether it's involved in the management of the company or simply playing the cards when needed, these veterans who have been in the army for many years are quite effective, as long as they are paid a higher salary a year than they were in the army.

In order to occupy the position of public opinion, several staff members of the United Television Network, who were bold enough, also boarded the "Searcher" with equipment, ready to broadcast live around the world at any time.

Whether you want to make a name for yourself in the company or out of love for your work, there's no shortage of journalists who are willing to take risks.

The boss made all the preparations for the guys, and the guys on the "Searcher" were also hard enough, working overtime for salvage, and rotating 24 hours a day!

In order to achieve maximum efficiency, the silver coins and the countless seawater pearls that had been corroded by the sea were temporarily ignored for the time being, and the gold coins were salvaged first.

The "Searcher" threw off its arms and did a great job, the Colombian patrol boat tried to interfere when it saw that the signs were wrong, and the salvage ship occupied the territory and did not move at all because it was big enough.

After two days of stalemate, Andre, who remained on the ship to direct the combat crew, simply asked some of the security personnel to go to the deck with MP5 submachine guns for the Colombians to see.

Why MP5?

There are more than these short-range little guys on the ship, because Andre is trying to confuse the other party, so that the Colombians think that these people are just so firepower.

Not only that, but André has a backhand: many of his old subordinates and former CIA operatives will already be traveling in Colombia, not only in its capital, Bogotá, but also near several naval and air bases near the Caribbean.

The gang was drinking freshly squeezed juice from tropical fruits, ready to wreak havoc on Colombia, which was already messy enough, and cover the salvage boats on the high seas.

Anyway, the number of guerrillas and drug dealers in Colombia can be as many as the people in the vegetable market, and some of them will take the initiative to jump out and take charge of the blame for a few artillery battles, and Colombians have long been accustomed to explosions or something.

Everyone is busy, and as for Mr. Captain Jamie Bostwijk, his mission is to fight the Colombians!

Zhang Nan said that he still did not contact Washington, and did not let the allies in Washington put pressure on the Colombian government, why is this?

Because it's the San Jose underneath!

The gold salvaged from the wreck will be worth at least seven or eight billion US dollars, or even more, if it is according to the price standard in 20 years, Zhang Nan calculated, the treasure caught this time can reach 20 billion US dollars!

If you want to give a reference comparison, China's foreign exchange reserves last year were $21.7 billion, and according to the development trend this year and next, China's foreign exchange reserves will even fall a little.

What's more: foreign exchange reserves are, to put it bluntly, nothing more than a pile of paper, and more importantly, gold!

Nearly 200 tons of gold had been recovered, and the Spaniards had not only loaded gold coins in the ship, but also had a large number of gold bricks of more than 10 kilograms in the bilge as ballast, which was only discovered four days after the salvage work began.

When Zhang Nan returned to the United States, it was estimated that there were still forty or fifty tons under the seabed, which was the real super wealth of the pen!

The San Jose has a full load displacement of more than 1,000 tons, and the Spaniards stuffed almost 300 tons of cargo into it, a proper super treasure ship!

Regardless of how many dollars these possessions are worth now, just more than 200 tons of gold can put a country without gold reserves in the world's top 20 gold reserves, which will be like Belgium, Austria, and Spain have more than 200 tons of gold reserves.

As for countries such as Turkey, Singapore, and even Saudi Arabia, their gold reserves are only a little more than 100 tons.

How much gold reserves does this have in Colombia?

A little more than 6 tons!

If they knew the truth here, Colombians would go crazy and even risk not getting any more American aid to control the Searcher.

At the critical moment, the dollar is paper, and if there is gold in the treasury, it is called hard gas!

The situation became more and more tense, and just seven hours before Zhang Nan asked Andre to take over the command, the "Searcher" was still carrying out salvage operations on the surface of the sea.

Captain Jamie and dive captain Vita Bruno both wanted to withdraw after another half a day, but the Colombian side should have judged that the wreck of the "Searcher" was being salvaged was the San Jose, and the new patrol ship actually sent ordinary divers to interfere with the salvage operation here.

The salvage project is nearing completion, and there is almost no gold on the seabed, and if there is any left, it is only a very small number of fish that have slipped through the net.

Some of the silver coins were scattered and not salvaged, maybe one or two tons, or seven or eight tons, plus twenty or thirty bronze cannons that were found that had not had time to be fished.

The divers are about to come and make trouble, and a confrontation breaks out between the two sides, and the "Searcher" fires warning shots, and at the same time, the divers on the seabed urgently rise to the surface - Jamie and Andre decide at the same time that they can't delay any longer and evacuate quickly!

It was on the high seas, and as soon as the Colombians saw that the "Searcher" had finished its salvage operation, that is, they fired a few shots into the sea indiscriminately according to the "reciprocal mode", and did not come up again to make trouble, they blocked the direction of the "Searcher's" bow from a distance.

And then...

Jamie Bostwick ordered the Seeker to go westward and not return north to the United States, accelerating to its maximum speed of 17.9 knots towards Panama.

As for the patrol ship that blocked the channel and had a displacement of a thousand tons?

Jamie Bostvík didn't bother to pay attention to the other party, and the average cargo ship would choose to change course to avoid this situation, but the Colombians forgot one thing: the "Searcher" looks like a salvage ship, but it is actually a B1-class icebreaker!

The B1-class icebreaker can easily crush 1.2 meters of ice in a row, and the bow with a slightly upward, heavy and blunt blade-like bow is made of characteristic thick steel plates!

If that Colombian Navy patrol ship was unreasonably blocking the way and not getting out of the way, Mr. Captain wouldn't mind splitting it in two!

It's like driving a car, you can bully the small, and if you don't let it, it will kill you!

Seeing that the large ship, which was more than 20 times the displacement of their own ships, unexpectedly rushed straight over, the panicked Colombians hurriedly avoided it, and did not dare to fire at the "Seeker" with the only heavy fire on the ship, a 20-mm Erlikon machine gun.

This is an American ship, flying the Star-Spangled Banner!

Now it's 92, and it's really hard to find a navy that dares to fire at an American ship on the high seas for no reason!

The Searcher did not violate any international law, and it did not even enter the territorial waters of other people's homes, and if the Colombians opened fire on it under such circumstances, it would be equivalent to going to war in Washington.

The Colombians were clearly not prepared for this, and the patrol boat had to turn around at sea and follow while notifying the higher-ups for backup.

Then the tragedy was urged, the patrol ships are all more than 30 years old, and the new ship can run at a speed of 20 knots, but the horsepower will be driven to the maximum, and this speed will not go up to 17 knots!

The "Seeker" is a new ship, not yet fully loaded, and its speed actually ran 18.1 knots, which is 0.2 faster than the maximum design speed, and slowly threw the patrol ship that was already lagging behind because of U-turn and re-acceleration.

The "Seeker" also began to flash, and Colonel Myers, who was on board, immediately informed his old friends in Panama to prepare to receive them, and two F16 fighters at Howard Air Force Base and Rodman Naval Air Station were each ready for first-class "combat readiness training" and were fully armed and ready to take off at any time.

The pilots have been given a very clear "hint": once they receive the order to take off, their mission is to protect a private American research ship that may be threatened by the Colombian Navy and Air Force, and disperse Colombian ships and aircraft.

If the Colombians are attacking the research ship, then these pilots can attack the Colombian ships and planes, and the safety of the research ship must be absolutely guaranteed!

As for whether such an operation is illegal and whether the upper echelons will be held accountable, the "hints" that the pilots got made it very clear: when the sky falls, there will naturally be a tall one!

The generals don't care about the stars on their shoulders, Washington and the Pentagon are a combination of interests, everything is just a business, and the stars on their shoulders are very stable.

And this time it's not just a problem that someone has to carry - starting from the "combat readiness training" duty, the ground crew that the pilots cooperate with, as well as the relevant personnel of the base, can already get benefits, and there will be changes according to what the pilots and these guys do in the end.

If the pilots don't end up with something that they do, they will get a dollar that they won't spend for a lifetime, and they don't have to worry about a new job, because the ship belongs to the famous Mr. Allen!

Some people don't bend their pockets for money, but some people do, and everyone has them — pilots waiting by the planes even hoping to get an emergency take-off order as soon as possible.

Once the order is given, it's all money, lots and lots of money!

......

The guys on board will not rely on the help of the US military stationed in Panama for their safety, and the "Searcher" is a scientific research and salvage ship, not a merchant ship, which can carry weapons and guard against piracy, which is also an international practice.

This trip to the high seas off the coast of Colombia to start work, I have long considered that there may be interference from the other party, and now the ship looks ordinary, but it is actually armed to the teeth!

Two hours later, the patrol boat had been left behind more than three nautical miles, and two oddly shaped twin-propeller planes approached the Seeker from a low altitude, and the ship's radar had already spotted them.

Andrei and others recognized that it was an OV-10 Mustang attack aircraft, but ignored the other party's call to stop the ship on the common frequency of international navigation.

Not only did he not listen, but he was also sprayed directly on the walkie-talkie by Captain Jamie: "This is the high seas, we are an American ship, if you dare to attack, it is piracy!"

Don't think you're, when our air force comes, you're nothing..."

Although Jamie is a captain and should have the demeanor of a captain, he is also an American, and his temper is enough to damage his mouth!

Americans, that's a group with a strong sense of superiority.

The pilots of the two OV-10 Mustang attack planes were probably angry enough, and several times lit up the machine gun pods under the wings, but the "Seeker" still ignored them.

After circling near the ship for a long time before leaving, the last two gestures of preparing for an attack were transmitted directly by satellite to the United States by the staff of the United Television Network.

Zhang Nan is not afraid of big things, anyway, he will not travel to the place where the drug lord is plagued by drugs in Colombia, after Henri DeBosson asked if he wanted to broadcast live, he said: "Broadcast!"

It can only be said that the Colombians and Washington should be really slow to react, just like the Los Angeles riots three months ago, and you don't expect Washington to react quickly.

The old cloth in Washington is a busy cargo, the U.S. Embassy... Not to mention that they can't control the affairs of the high seas, even in Colombia, the US Embassy is not a!

Rely on yourself.

A little more than two hours later, a Colombian-flagged corvette caught up with the Seeker at a speed of 27 knots and kept close to less than 300 meters to the port side of the ship.

The frigate not only used radio, but even used a loudspeaker to strictly order the "searchers" to stop for inspection, on the grounds that they had entered Colombian territorial waters to steal state aircraft.

As a result, Captain Jamie replied, "Your territorial waters are 200 nautical miles, and you are piracy...

In the end, Captain Jamie dismissed the radio on the pretext of a radio failure.

Stratagems, all stratagems, the frigate approached to a distance of about 200 meters parallel to the parallel, and repeatedly called out through a loudspeaker.

After an hour of stalemate, the Colombian fired hard.

It will make the whole country watch the sea chase, worry about their own ships, and curse the Colombians for piracy!

The commentators of the television network also added fuel to the fire, saying how much of the poison that flows into the United States every year is this Colombian goods, and directly portraying it as a heinous and criminal country!

Worried about its own ship, the "Seeker" is facing an Admiral-Padiya-class frigate, a corvette built for Colombia by the Federal German Holvaz Shipbuilding Company in the early 80s.

With a standard displacement of 1,500 tons and a maximum speed of 27 knots, it is equipped with two quadruple French MM-40 Exocet anti-ship missiles, one single-barreled 76-mm "Otto-Merara" rapid-fire gun, one double-barreled 40-mm "Bleda" rapid-fire gun, two triple MK-32 torpedo tubes and one B0-105 anti-submarine helicopter.

If you really want to do it, although the displacement of the "Searcher" is more than ten times larger, it looks like it has no power to fight back at all!

On one side are research ships, and on the other side are warships equipped with anti-ship missiles!

The bullets hit the driver's building, and even if it was completely torn apart, the "Searcher" received clear instructions from the boss - to put it under the command of Vasily.

Vasily is a Red Devil, and he doesn't have the word "surrender" in his dictionary!

......

Next, everything was under Andre's instructions, looking from the tall 7-story wheelhouse, the 91-meter-long corvette 200 meters away was very beautiful, and Jamie, who was standing on the side of the wheelhouse, said to Andrei: "Do you think it looks like 'Sydney'?"

As a result, Andre, who was standing on the side, heard this and replied: "It is too close, there are only two guns, there are no eight 152mm naval guns on the 'Sydney', and there is no group of secondary guns, a bunch of fools."

It seems that our plan to decoy the enemy was successful.

By the way, Mr. Captain, we are not the Cormorant, and we will not all die together. ”

At this time, Captain Miles shouted: "Four F16s are about to take off!"

Andrei nodded and said loudly into the intercom: "I'm Andre, pay attention to all teams, all of them!"

For the sake of freedom, fire!"

......

Fifty-one years ago, in 1941, the Third Reich Navy's attack ship "Pelican", disguised as a cargo ship, encountered the Australian Navy cruiser "Sydney" equipped with a total of eight 6-inch guns with four turrets in the waters near Australia.

Although both sides eventually sank, most of the crew of the "Pelican" survived, and the "Sydney" was later considered by the Australian Navy to be a mysterious disappearance, because it disappeared, none of the crew survived, and the Australian army had no idea what happened to it!

This is the "sinking of a cruiser by a merchant ship" in modern history, and the German Navy has created a miracle in the history of the world's navies.

And now, at 3 p.m. on June 25, 1992, on the high seas of the Caribbean Sea, 15 nautical miles west of Panamanian territorial waters, a naval battle similar to the one that existed 51 years ago broke out.

Real civilian ship vs. missile frigate: An ordinary civilian ship with a slight self-defense weapon, after being directly fired at by the frigate, announced to the world: Lao Tzu is going to fight back!

It was not a warship, it was a civilian ship, and there was no way to declare war in such a way as the "Pelican" suddenly raised the naval flag of the Third Reich, but the "Searcher" did not want to go to war without declaring war.

It has its own way!

A reporter from the United Television Network stood in the cockpit and shouted excitedly at the camera: "We have just been attacked by the Colombian Navy, no, Colombian pirates!"

We are now on the high seas, less than 15 nautical miles from Panamanian territorial waters, and they are brazenly shooting at us, and the captain orders a counterattack for the sake of America's freedom!

We are civilian ships, but we are not afraid of any pirates......"

This guy is definitely a good reporter and a good actor, and halfway through the roar, the American audience watching via live satellite broadcast heard a violent explosion!

At least tens of millions of people's hearts are tugging: Colombians have fired?

The cameraman rushed to the port side with the camera, and the audience around the world saw the unbelievable spectacle: there were multiple cameras on board, several simultaneous shots were being switched in the New York studio, and the crew of the Seeker was fighting bravely for the Star-Spangled Banner flying high on the mast against an almost invincible opponent!

They used every weapon they could!

The scientific research ship is allowed to have self-defense weapons under international law, but although it is a live broadcast, some of the pictures are still not visible to the audience.

The "Seeker" is a civilian ship, and there is no need to consider the problem of stealth of the ship's radar, and there are ship bars, instead of poles and chains in the style of a warship.

While the Colombian sailors on the frigate were shooting the Seeker's wheelhouse with automatic rifles, more than 70 crew members and security personnel were already in ambush under the port side of the Seeker.

They were all half-crouching, quietly waiting for orders from above.

Behind the doors of some cabins on the port side, and behind the positions covered by some canvas and boards, the Russian crew and security personnel were basically waiting in groups of two, each ready to shoot as soon as the shelter was opened.

Similarly, in the middle of the hull, there seem to be several containers piled up for the reason for the investigation, which is a normal situation on any research ship.

These are containers that have been loaded onto ships in Ukraine, but they are not ordinary containers, but large boxes that will cost people's lives!

With Andrey's command to "fire", six large gaps suddenly appeared in the long side panels of one of the containers, and then in just a second, a steel waterfall appeared!

The captain of the Colombian frigate, who was 200 meters away, noticed the change in details, but before he could see what the situation was, he didn't know anything!

It was a custom-built "security container" designed to protect important, high-value vessels like the Seeker from piracy.

It can be manually manipulated to deal with sea targets, and it can also use remote control shooting to deal with low-altitude targets with lower speeds: six sets of Soviet-made four-barreled Gatling Yak-B 12.7mm machine guns are lined up in the container, a kind of national machine gun with a rate of fire of 4,500 rounds per minute, which is very combative!

The United States has a similar weapon, the three-barreled GAU-19 machine gun, which is the kind used in Zhang Nan's team, but the maximum rate of fire is only 2,000 rounds per minute.

What's even more exaggerated is that the Gatling gun ammunition supply in these containers uses electric two-way ammunition feeding, which can be converted to each other, each ammunition supply has 6,000 rounds, and one machine gun is 12,000 rounds of ammunition, which is simply heartbreaking!

When the whistling sound of the barrel turning had just sounded, and then the sound of intense fire could not be heard at all, six large-caliber Gatling machine guns were divided into three groups, the front and rear two were aimed at the two turrets in the front and rear of the frigate, and the middle two were aimed at the cockpit of the frigate!

Shell casings fell like a waterfall on the deck, a dense barrage of bullets enveloped the point of impact, and hundreds of bullet holes appeared in the beautiful 76mm rapid-fire running circular turret at the bow of the frigate, and at the same time fireworks and dense sparks that could be seen during the day!

Two four-barreled Yak-B 12.7mm machine guns fired at this shell, the distance was only 200 meters, and the speed between the two ships was still almost equal, and it was difficult to hit crookedly!

Nearly 150 degram-piercing and armor-piercing incendiary shells will be hit in one second, and the steel plate with a thickness of less than a centimeter on the turret cover is no different from the paper paste!

At the same time, the 40mm rapid-fire gun in the stern of the frigate and in a relatively high position was also treated the same, and the turret was beaten into a hornet's nest in an instant!

Maozi is unreasonable, this distance is too close, so close that the frigate touches the muzzle of the Gatling gun!

Before the Heavy could enjoy it, the turret of the Breda rapid-fire gun exploded, and the "fireworks" were much larger than the sparks produced by the bullet penetration.

The Colombians had reloaded the secondary artillery before, and now it is clear that the shells inside have exploded!