The Ninth Fleet turned south in the Society Islands.

Like other warships in the fleet, the battleship "Nanling" sailed on the sea in the heat and dreary weather of summer on the Tropic of Cancer Ocean, and the heat and humidity were the same inside and outside the ship. The steel plates on the outside of the mine protection shell were covered with salt grains, and the bulkheads inside the ship were dripping with distilled water formed by evaporation.

The 223-meter-long war machine was like taking a steam bath, and it was sweating profusely. Streams of damp water vapor flowed from the floors, ceilings, bulkheads, and decks of this massive floating fortress.

On the "South Ridge", this heat and humidity were almost impossible to escape, and on this old battleship, only the bridge and the commander's cabin were equipped with air conditioning. Therefore, the mechanical wind constantly blowing by the changing fans in the ship is also hot and damp, and although the air in the cabin is changed, it does not feel any coolness.

The tropical scorching sun scorched the decks, superstructures, and turrets of warships, and all the superstructures such as steel decks, pillars, gun barrels, and railings were so hot that their skin burned when they touched it.

In addition, the heat emitted from the eight main boilers on the warship is also extremely large, and it is transmitted from the steel plates in the engine room to the whole ship through riveting and welding into a huge proportional whole steel hull, and the crew of the "Nanling" wears sweat-soaked clothes all day long, breathing in humid air, which is simply a torment.

As soon as the sky was bright, Ling Wencha got up early today, and after a little washing, he hurriedly boarded the bridge.

The captain of the "Nanling", Colonel Liu Mingliang, was already standing on the bridge where he was accustomed to standing, he was tall and had brownish-red hair, which was relatively rare in the Austrian fleet, which was mostly black-haired. He looked at the "Wuzhou" sailing ahead, and the radar antenna on the bridge of the cruiser was spinning at the moment.

Because the tube components are so susceptible to heat up, the radio radar equipment on warships now needs to be turned off every three hours to cool them down. So the radars on these two warships can only be turned on in turn every three hours.

"What's the situation today? Captain! Ling Wencha saw that Liu Mingliang was wearing a formal uniform outside, so he asked.

"No, but my gut feeling is that something is going to happen today, Chief of Staff." Liu Mingliang took the cigar off his mouth and turned his gaze to Ling Wencha.

"Of course it is possible, the enemy is attacking the islands in the Caribbean Sea and is preparing to land in South America." Ling Wencha smiled, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "Your intuition is just a high-probability event, do you want one?" ”

"No, I prefer to smoke cigars." Liu Mingliang shook his head, "I'm afraid that the Europeans have increased their vigilance now, and they must know that we are sailing in the direction of the Atlantic." ”

"That's nothing, as long as they don't dare to go further south, our goal has been achieved." Ling Wencha took out the lighter, turned around to cover the sea breeze, and then lit the cigarette, "I guess they don't have the guts, okay, let's go to breakfast together?" ”

Liu Mingliang nodded, and the two got down from the bridge together and entered the officer's cafeteria under the bridge.

The two sat down at a dining table.

"Sir, what do you want?" An orderly approached.

"Well, a fried steak, a boiled egg, a grilled sausage, a sandwich, and a glass of milk." Ling Wencha turned his head and said to the orderly.

"Hehe, Brother Ling, your appetite is still so good." Liu Mingliang said with a smile, "A fish sandwich, and another cup of coffee, thank you." ”

"Okay, Captain!" The orderly replied neatly.

"Lao Liu, how can you eat so little, it is very likely that you will have to work after a while." Ling Wencha leaned back in his chair, "If nothing else...... That's what you just said. ”

……

In Sinden, Alan Kelly saw the shocking news of the outbreak of war on the newspaper news.

With the outbreak of war and the school holidays, he is ready to return to his hometown on the banks of the Alabama River. The entire station, airport and port of Sindenju are now very busy and cluttered, with queues of passengers surrounding the windows of reserved seats, and almost everyone is walking or running briskly. Sweaty porters pushed piles of luggage and shouted at the passengers or the porters next to them.

The loudspeakers at the train station have been thundering and buzzing.

He walked to a newsstand and bought a stack of newspapers, North American newspapers with headlines in bold letters, looking a little panicked, while those based in East Asia appeared calm and unhurried, preaching the eventual victory of the war. In Shinjeju, the rebels have taken control of the situation in the north, south and northeast regions, proclaiming the establishment of an "independent American republic".

He hurriedly ate a bite to eat in the crowded and noisy restaurant at the train station, and was somewhat disappointed to find that the train tickets for the following week had been sold out.

Alan had no choice but to return to school first, preparing to try his luck at the port tomorrow.

The rain was falling in the sky, making this spring seem a little overcast and cold, and in the distance there was land that had been renovated by aerial bombs* like endless swamps.

At the school gate, several people in civilian clothes stopped in front of Allen: "Are you Alan Kelly's classmate?" ”

Alan nodded and looked at the mixed-race man in front of him: "You have something to do with me?" ”

The man spread out the documents in his hand and let him look at them: "Please come with us, there are some things we want to check with you." ”

Alan followed the three men into a black car, albeit with some reluctance.

The invitation of the personnel of the Imperial intelligence services could not be refused.

Listening to the footsteps coming from outside the office, Li Zuodong withdrew his gaze from the distance, sighed in his heart, and then casually flipped through the investigation record in his hand. As a major intelligence officer of the Imperial Military Intelligence Bureau, Lee Chok Dong did not need to participate in such a relatively low-level investigation, but this young man was very interesting.

He was involved in many of the activities of the Al-Shabaab of the Americas, but he did not share their ideas and was not an independentist or separatist. Much information proved that he had been dragged into the water by his little girlfriend from a missionary family.

This may be something to be taken advantage of.

At this moment, one of his men led the young man in, who looked a little immature, to be precise, he should be a junior.

Li Zuodong carefully looked at the young man in front of him, Allen's face was a little fearful, but he couldn't see a trace of emptiness.

"Sit down." He pointed to the wooden chair across from his desk, then looked down at the file in front of him for a moment before he looked up and said, "Alan Kelly, do you know that some of the activities you participated in will be prosecuted by military prosecutors for treason?" ”

……

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