Chapter 43: Taking the First Step
The American fleet hired by Andy finally appeared in the port of Bremerhaven at the appointed time, and when they saw the large ships in the port area from afar, the Jews in the shelter shouted excitedly, and even even knelt on the ground and cried involuntarily. The presence of a ship was a sign that they were about to leave Germany, and the Jews, who had been living in torment for the past few days, were finally able to relax and finally see the hope of life.
The Jews in the containment facility, who had already received boarding plates, began to organize their belongings, only to their surprise that their expected boarding time had been delayed by two days. Andy is a businessman, and if he is a businessman, he can't let go of all the opportunities to make money, and the American fleet from New York Harbor is not Bremerhaven with empty ships, but is loaded with a large amount of American scrap steel.
"Mr. Andy, you've got me a good job." Regarding Andy's business talent, Zhuo Fei had to secretly praise himself while expressing helplessness. The loading machinery and workers on the docks had been gathered, and their first task was to unload the scrap steel from the ship, and then take advantage of the darkness to carry the loaded Mauser rifles and ammunition into the hold, which would never be detected by the Jews.
12 large freighters, all the ships Andy could hire, and the cunning Andy has signed long-term contracts with these freighters, and these freighters must serve Andy's Huamei Transportation Company for the next three years from now. "Zhuo, I think it is better to go to England and hire another batch of freighters, the British have many large freighters, we can use the British ships to transport Jews, and our own ships directly transport arms and materials, and then we don't have to go so much trouble to pour the goods around."
Regarding Andy's suggestion, Zhuo Fei shook his head and declined, "Andy, the money is endless, and compared to our entire plan, the money we make now is just a small amount of money. We can hire British ships to transport supplies from America to Germany, or we can hire them to transport Jews to Asia, and there are things that the British can't know. Andy wanted to say something, but Zhuo Fei stopped him, "Andy, believe me, it's absolutely right." ”
"Alright then, I'll listen to you." Zhuo Fei's insistence made Andy unable to say the rest of his words, so he had to shrug his shoulders with some regret. But just like that, Andy was already jumping on the spot with joy, and the Germans ate this batch of scrap steel very generously, and the price given was enough for Andy to wake up laughing when he dreamed.
The port area has been tightly sealed by the local SS, whether it is loading and unloading steel or munitions, it will not be known by irrelevant people, but Zhuo Fei is still a little uneasy, and asked Bowman to bring more than 100 veteran guards to serve as a guard on the periphery. It wasn't until two days later, after all the munitions had been shipped, that Zhuo Fei ordered the impatient Jews who had been waiting in the shelter to go to the port area in order.
This was the first batch of Jewish refugees sent to China, and the American freighter hired by Andy was also loaded with this munition and a batch of construction machinery, so Zhuo Fei only gave only 6,000 Jews in the shelter to board the ship this time. The Jews left the camp in three rows and headed for the harbor, and although the scenery along the road was good, no one was in the mood to enjoy them, as expected, and the closer they got to the harbor, the more obvious the smell of the sea became in the air.
The salty smell of the wind blew in their faces, and the occasional whine of the steamer's horn made the Jews, who had already been boarded, quicken their pace. But after only a few blocks, the streets became more and more crowded until it was completely impossible to move forward. Jewish militiamen with red armbands began to appear on both sides of the road, of course, these young Jews with red armbands did not come to drive away the crowds here, they were just here to maintain order, so that the crowds could be slowly dispersed.
Cole stood on tiptoe and craned his neck to look ahead, it turned out that a wooden-framed barbed wire cordon along the street blocked the way to the port, and through the gap between the buildings in the distance, Cole could already faintly see the deep blue. "Daddy, Daddy, why aren't they leaving!" The little daughter on Cole's shoulder asked in a milky voice, and there was no impatience or dissatisfaction in her innocent tone.
Cole looked left and right, and saw that the expressionless red armbands were busy maintaining order, so he reached out and held the little girl in his arms, and then turned his head to look at his wife and eldest daughter who were following him, but did not say anything. The crowd crowded the streets, at least thousands, men and women, young and old, wearing hats, shawls or nothing, and almost everyone wanted to know what was ahead, so much so that their heads were like dogtail grass growing in a small area, swaying slightly from side to side in the wind.
"Don't crowd, don't mess around, line up in the order you left the camp, prepare your boarding number plate in advance, there is no chance to board the ship without the number plate." The red armbands roaming the streets shouted as hard as they could, stopping those who tried to squeeze forward. Maybe he was a little impatient to wait, and Cole also had a plan to squeeze forward, with Cole's body and strength as a young man, it was not impossible to squeeze to the front, but Cole didn't know if his wife and eldest daughter could keep up with him.
Cole thought for a moment, then turned to look back, and there were still refugees coming this way, but it was the people who sat on the corners and on the balconies of the buildings along the street that caught his attention. Judging by their attire, these people are probably the natives of Bremerhaven, and compared with the Germans in Austria, these natives have less disgust for the Jews on their faces, and more sympathy and helplessness.
One by one, the Jewish refugees crowded the streets through the barbed wire fence and wooden horses, and under the watchful eyes of the German soldiers at the checkpoints, Kohl and his wife and daughter quickly followed the flow of people to the distant port. Woo......
With a short, loud whistle, a single-chimney steamer sailed into the harbor from the fairway. The upper part of the hull, along with the deck and deck structure, was painted white, and the lower part of the hull was painted black, clearly not for war purposes.
"Big ship, mother, look at it, big ship." Cole's youngest daughter clapped her hands and laughed, and reached out to pull her mother to see the big ship that appeared in everyone's sight. With the appearance of this steamer, the people who were sitting or squatting on the dock suddenly stood up, and if it were not for the red armbands trying to maintain order, they would probably rush to the very edge of the pier without any recklessness.
The boarding plate had already been taken away when it passed through the checkpoint, and the original neat formation of three horizontal columns had already been deformed, especially after the appearance of the ship, the crowd waiting for boarding in the harbor had already become a pot of porridge. The red armbands that stopped in front of the crowd began to let them go, but instead of letting everyone pass in a swarm, they helped them line up in an orderly manner to board the boat. The position of the Cole family is not very good, and the huge force behind them makes the Cole family of four like a small boat in the ocean, but fortunately, Cole relied on his strength, so he protected his wife and daughter to squeeze in front of the row of red armbands.
"Don't crowd, don't crowd, there are 12 boats on the pier, and each of you has a chance to get on board." A little girl who had picked up himself stuffed into the arms of his companion, stood on a box with a tin horn, and shouted at the crowd. "Queue, please queue up, if you're still just squeezing around like you are now, I think we'll have to close the port."
The words of the red armband were like a spell, which made the noisy and crowded scene instantly silence, and after the coordination of the large group of red armbands, the originally crowded crowd in the port finally calmed down, and according to the arrangement of the red armband, began to line up to board the ship. "Bring him here, I want to see him." Zhuo Fei, who had been standing in the distance, finally moved, the first batch of Jews had boarded the ship, but he had not yet found an agent to go to Chongqing to contact the Nationalist Government, this young man who dared to speak out against the Jews seemed to be good.
"Boss, are you going to see me?" The young man who was brought over by the guards seemed to be a little excited when he saw Zhuo Fei, and even when he spoke, he already had some trills. "My name is Evan, I'm an architecture student at the University of Munich, I arrived here a week ago with my parents, two sisters and my aunt, and I'm now the leader of the 15th squad of the militia."
"Evan, I have a task for you to complete now, and in return, I will allow your family to board the ship to China early." Just the first impression and the words that the other party had just introduced himself, Zhuo Fei knew that the young Jewish man in front of him was not an incompetent person, and then he also had a love in his heart. As Zhuo Fei expected, after hearing that Zhuo Fei was going to act as the plenipotentiary agent of the first batch of Jews in China, after only a short period of consideration, Evan agreed and promised Zhuo Fei that he would act according to Zhuo Fei's request.
It was indeed a risk for Zhuo Fei to let this young man, who had only met once, be his agent in China, but Zhuo Fei, who had no one around him, had to do so. Zhuo Fei was not without countermeasures against Evan, not only equipped Evan with as many as three radio stations, but also specially dispatched a team of 30 guards to protect Evan's safety. Zhuo Fei also secretly gave a secret order to the team commander, once he found out that Evan had done something harmful to himself, the team commander could deal with Evan on the spot.