The Tang Empire and several vassal states dispatched naval fleets to blockade the coast of the southwestern Samanid Kingdom, nominally imposing an "arms embargo", but in fact the purpose was to block the way for the two empires of Great Eclipse and Byzantium to provide assistance to the other Heavenly Sect.

Dressed in a blue military coat, Huo Xunchi returned to the bridge of the "South Ridge", thinking with some concern about the order he had just received—this could lead to a war.

Just yesterday, a fleet of cruisers of the East Frankish Kingdom passed through the blockade of the combined fleet led by the Tang Dynasty, entered the southern part of the Persian Gulf, and then entered the port of Chakhbal in the Samanid Department under the surveillance of the Tang naval fleet. The situation was immediately reported to China, and the Tang fleet was initially ordered to monitor the East Frankish fleet with all its might, but try to avoid causing conflict.

This East Franconian fleet, consisting of two cruisers and two destroyers, as well as a supply ship, was not very strong. But in peacetime, if there was a conflict with the warships of other countries, it would undoubtedly be an act of war, so the Tang fleet did not forcibly intercept the East Frankish fleet and forcibly enter the port of the Samanid Kingdom.

But this morning, the commander of the Datang blockade fleet, General Huo Xunchi, suddenly received an order from the prime minister himself: if the East Frankish fleet leaves the port, it will be detained immediately, and if the other party returns fire, it can be sunk!

This was simply a declaration of war, which puzzled Huo Xunchi, and he replied with a telegram, and Marshal Pei Yunsong, the Minister of the Navy, told him to act according to orders, and that a special commissioner would be sent over to explain the details of the situation to him.

Now the commissioner sent by the government had flown to Faou, and sent a cruiser to the port of Faou to pick up the commissioner, while he himself led the fleet outside the Persian Gulf to continue to monitor the movements of the East Franconian fleet.

This East Franconian fleet remained in the port of Chakhbal for three whole days without any action.

The light cruiser "Wuzhou" returned to the fleet from Fao, and the warship lowered the traffic boat, and after a while, the figure of General Luo Bingye, director of the Imperial Naval Intelligence Bureau, appeared on the deck of the "Yunling".

Major General Luo Bingye left the two entourages outside the door and followed Huo Xunchi into the cockpit of the commander.

"Well, what the hell is going on? You have to know that the Prime Minister's order has the potential to start a war! Huo Xunchi poured Luo Bingye a cup of coffee, then sat on the sofa and said.

"Yes, the intelligence services learned through Saman's informants that the rebels in Samani wanted to transfer the gold from the treasury to East Francia, and the intelligence services confirmed that the rebel officers' palace was indeed preparing to transfer half of the gold reserves." "Before, they broke through the capital and the royal palace, and swept away the gold of the bank and the royal family. ”

"So what? That's not our thing, anyway. Huo Xunchi said.

"The Empire's top brass thinks the Franks are going to embezzle this huge amount of gold."

"That's just the Samanites, why should we care about them?!"

"The problem is that the Prime Minister doesn't want the Franks to get this gold, they're doing something in the Americas, and some of that money will be spent in the Americas. That's about 600 tons of gold and about 300 million Chinese dollars in foreign exchange. Luo Bingye said.

"How much?!" Huo Xunchi was startled.

"600 tons of gold and about 300 million Chinese dollars in foreign exchange cash." Luo Bingye said, "A large amount of money, the total value is about 800 million Chinese dollars. ”

"But even if we take it back, aren't we ready to return it to the Samanites?" Huo Xunchi said.

"Of course, it will be returned to the Samanid royal family, but we can use arms to offset it." "So that we can now provide them with assistance without any worries." ”

"Oh, I kind of get it." Huo Xunchi said, "But the Franks will definitely not hand over this huge amount of money easily, and we may fight." ”

"This requires skill, we will force them into the shallow water first, and if they resist again, we will find an excuse to sink them, and the rest will be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to solve." "I brought three photographic teams out, and we would prove on film that it was the East Francians who fired first, and we were forced to fight back. ”

"But what if the East Francians don't fight back?"

"This requires your cooperation, planting explosives in a few unimportant places on the warship, and then setting them on fire." "A camera is set up in the Command Tower, and there are some lines that you need to rehearse a few times first. ”

Luo Bingye put a few pieces of paper on the table, Huo Xunchi picked them up and looked at them, it was a bit like a script, and some of the things he needed to say included: "Push them to the shore, we need to check if they are carrying prohibited items." ”

"Exercise restraint, if they don't fire, we won't be the first to use force!"

"Send them a signal, we need to board the ship for inspection!"

"Oh my God, are the Franks crazy enough to dare to attack us first and start fighting back!"

"Let the destroyers rescue the Franks who have fallen overboard. We have no intention of attacking them, they have brought on themselves, and we are forced to defend ourselves! ”

After Huo Xunchi finished reading it, he threw the pieces of paper on the table, "You have carefully prepared a deception, but what if the Franks insist on declaring war on us?" ”

"What's so terrible about that, would the Empire be afraid of the Franks?!" "They want to attack us, and the navy has to come all the way from the Bay of Biscay. With the strength of the East Frankish navy, even if they were all dispatched, I am afraid that they would be able to clean them up with only the East African Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet, and they would not have the courage to start a war with the Empire. ”

"Well, for the sake of 800 million Chinese dollars, we will offend the Franks again, anyway, we have always been enemies." Huo Xunchi said.

"Good job, Vice Admiral, the Prime Minister promised that the money would be temporarily allocated to the Navy for the new phase of special shipbuilding military expenses."

"Well, in this case, we will do our best, I don't want to be scolded by Marshal Pei Yunsong." Huo Xunchi said, "But is this news true?" ”

"We've been keeping an eye on the Saman Bank neighborhood and will report to us as soon as we get the news." Luo Bingye said.

The plan had been formulated, but the Datang fleet had been waiting at sea for ten days.

Although the Samanian rebel regime, instigated by Byzantine advisers, decided to transfer half of the gold reserves it had obtained to Byzantium, firstly to facilitate the purchase of weapons in East Francia, and on the other hand, to ensure the safety of this gold in order to seek a way out.

The Tang Navy was very strict with the interception and search of Byzantine and Dashi naval ships, so they colluded with the East Frankish fleet to make this deal.

The Franks tried it a few more times outside the port, and the Tang Navy would let it go after just routine inquiries, and basically would not force it to board the ship.

This finally put them at ease......

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