With the sudden sound of diesel engines, Fang Yan, who was on a traffic boat, walked onto the dock in Murmansk.

The sky was blue, the sun was cold and snow-white, and a group of Soviet sailors in dark blue shirts were lined up on both sides with rifles, watching the arrival of Fang Yan and several followers with vigilant eyes. On the big black round cap, the red five stars are particularly dazzling. In the middle of these sailors, three high-ranking officers in splendid and solemn clothes stood side by side, and when they saw the young and handsome German lieutenant colonel approaching them, they all greeted each other with solemn expressions, and then they stretched out their right hands and completed all the proper etiquette for the first meeting.

"Vice Admiral Valentin, commander of the Northern Fleet of the Soviet Red Navy......" When Fang Yan shook hands with the officer in the middle, the Soviet interpreter next to him introduced it appropriately. Hearing the translated words, Fang Yan couldn't help but be shocked in his heart: although the Walenjing in front of him had a thick beard, he was clearly a young man in his thirties between his eyebrows and eyes, considering that the appearance of Maozi men was generally older than his real age, the other party was estimated to be two or three years older than himself. However, such a young guy has already become a commander in his own right, and his dazzling rank of vice admiral makes Fang Yan, who has always been proud of his promotion speed, staggering!

Fang Yan froze and walked up to the next person, only to see that this man with a tough silhouette didn't seem to be more than 30 years old, but he was already wearing gorgeous clothes with a good bearing. According to the translator, this person turned out to be Colonel Yevgeny, commander of the garrison of the port of Murmansk. Fang Yan, who already had immunity, did not show his gaffe, and after shaking hands with him, he set his sights on the last person. To Fang Yan's surprise, in the end, this person was a tall and thin old man with wrinkled skin, with a faint glint in his long and narrow eyes; And his costume was not the standard navy blue of the Soviet Navy, but a peculiar style of a yellow-green top with black trousers.

"This is the honorable Lieutenant Colonel Oleg of the NKVD ......" There was a tremor in the interpreter's voice, and he didn't dare to look directly into the old man's eyes. Hearing that this old man Oleg was a lieutenant colonel, Fang Yan was obviously stunned, and after a while, his mind suddenly raced, and in a moment he understood the strange source of these people in front of him.

"I am Lieutenant Commander Brom of the Imperial German Navy. His Excellency the Commander is in charge of the fleet, and it is impossible to go ashore to meet with you, so I have specially entrusted myself with negotiations with the friendly forces of the Soviet Union. In the face of the Soviet officers with higher ranks than himself, Fang Yan spoke without humility or arrogance, and in a few words, he told all the people in front of him the information he was about to express, "According to the agreement reached by the Soviet and German Foreign Ministries, you will allow our 1 light aircraft carrier and 2 heavy cruisers to enter the dry dock, and at the same time provide us with 10,000 tons of heavy fuel oil for fuel supply. Please verify the identity of the vessel we intend to dock and inform us of the specific berth for refueling. ”

The young Yevgeny glanced at Fang Yan and said, "The battleship Frunze has just completed overhaul, so the slipway No. 1, which was originally her exclusive property, can be rented to you for use. We are also prepared for heavy oil, and at the moment we have installed oil pumps and pipelines at berth 17, where your ship can receive supplies. ”

Seeing that the Russians agreed so readily, Fang Yan couldn't help but be a little surprised. He had thought that he would encounter some troubles and twists and turns on his trip, which made all the words he had prepared on the transport boat useless. However, after some thought, Fang Yan felt that this was also a reasonable thing.

In order to drive the Soviet Union to facilitate the German ocean-going fleet, the German government must have made concessions in diplomatic and economic interests; Even if there is no direct comparison between the two, it is clear that Germany is paying a much higher price in the current situation than in normal times. In connection with the Soviet Union's gobbling up of Poland and its greed for trade with Germany, Germany was furious with the Soviet Union, a temporary new ally, and there was a faint tendency to go violent. If the Soviet Union played any tricks in fulfilling its obligations this time, it would inevitably completely annoy Germany, and the consequences of this would never be what Stalin wanted to see.

At present, although Britain and France have declared war on Germany for more than a month, they have not moved on the Western Front: not only have they not launched a land offensive along the Rhine River, but they have not even sent planes to bomb the Ruhr industrial area in Germany. Therefore, the German Army was under no pressure on the Western Front, and the main group, which had just shown its might on the Polish battlefield, was also at the time when it had no scruples and was fully capable of attacking the Soviet Union to the east!

Although Stalin concluded that Germany was less than 20% likely to do so, he had no intention of drawing the Soviet Union into a war at this stage. If Germany is really forced to fight with the Soviet Union, it will not be Britain and France that will benefit in the end. I'm afraid that those politicians in London and Paris are looking forward to the Soviet Union and Germany, the two **** dictatorial fascist countries, after the partition of Poland, because of the loss of the buffer zone, and fight to the end in a dog-eat-dog war!

In terms of international politics alone, Stalin was definitely a shrewd hunter who knew all three of them. He knew when to take the most and when to be generous, almost every time he could get the most out of the Soviet Union. Germany is now a fierce but calm wolf, and it is bearable to be robbed of some of its food by bears, and if it is more, something will happen. Moreover, Stalin now had another key reason not to provoke Germany: the purge campaign he launched had already captured too many officers, and now the Red Army was in dire straits and urgently needed time to recover.

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, you are our faithful friend and distinguished guest from afar. We are preparing to hold a welcome dinner at the Port Command today, and if it is not convenient for your fleet commander to come, then please be sure to attend the banquet with your men. Lieutenant General Valenkin, with a thick beard, spoke up, and his face was full of sincere smiles. Even the old man Oleg with a gloomy face cast a gentle glance at Fang Yan. Several lieutenants who came with Fang Yan were moved in their hearts, and their previous hostility and prejudice against the Red Army disappeared without a trace. Although the goal of the Bolsheviks was to eliminate the capitalists, and the poisonous repression of the people at home was even more inhumane, these Russian men who worked in the navy like us were really hospitable and good people.

Fang Yan was stunned when he saw this, what is the situation? It was the first time for me and these Maoist officers to meet, and I came ashore today to ask the other party to do something, and it was already an unexpected joy to get things done without gifts, why did these Maoist officers still greet me so warmly? Thinking of a possibility, Fang Yan's whole body felt a chill; However, the other party is three people, and it is impossible for them all to have that amazing fetish at the same time, right?

"Since Your Excellency the Lieutenant General has extended a kind invitation, I am very happy to respect your will." Fang Yan glanced at each of the people beside him, and then responded with a smile. Unlike in the past, this time I am not fighting alone, and there are comrades next to me to respond. Fang Yan wanted to see what kind of calculations these Soviets were making.

With the cooperation of the Soviet side, Fang Yan quickly completed the paperwork required for the battleship to enter the port. One of the lieutenants who accompanied him immediately took the materials and returned to the flagship in a transport boat to report to Bomay on the situation on the shore. Taking advantage of the fact that it was still dark, Fang Yan walked to the window of the lounge and began to carefully observe the situation in the port: the friendly relations between Germany and the Soviet Union were only temporary, and maybe in two or three years, this place would become a battlefield.

"The Soviets really value this northern military port." Fang Yan looked at the rolling barracks and warehouses in the distance, and his eyes couldn't help but show a little surprise and emotion. The infrastructure here was even as good as some ports in Western Europe, and the seven dry docks that had been carved out of the hard permafrost rock formations alone made Fang Yanwei's heart tremble and shocked. In addition, Fang Yan also found two twin heavy shore guns on the hill to the west of the port. Although Fang Yan couldn't judge their caliber due to the distance, this kind of shore defense heavy artillery requires huge underground fortifications to servo, and the amount of work involved will definitely not be less.

Regarding the Soviet Union's behavior of investing a lot of manpower and material resources in this northern wilderness far from the heart of the European continent, Fang Yan has a clear picture in his heart: If you open the map, you can find that Murmansk is the only military port in the entire Soviet Union that can freely project power to the ocean and does not freeze all year round. In addition, whether it is Kronstadt west of Leningrad, Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula, or Vladivostok, which is 8,000 kilometers from Moscow, they will all be affected by the three-month winter freeze or the access to the inland sea will be choked by others, which will greatly reduce the strategic deterrent of the fleet. Although the passage from Murmansk to the ocean was a long and windy North Point route, it was the ideal base for the Soviet Navy to sail the blue waters.

Thinking that the Soviets had not only built a large fleet, but also worked so hard in the field of logistics support such as port construction, Fang Yan felt happy in his heart, because this must mean that the Soviet Army had eaten chaff and reduced its size. Counting the time, the winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland is not far off, and Fang Yan very much wants to see what the outcome of the Soviet Army, which has experienced the exploitation of naval construction, will end after colliding with a position defended by a group of old Finnish drivers.

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, the commander has asked me to send back an order that he wants you to express your gratitude to the Russians tonight in his place, and at the same time order that you must not get drunk." Two hours later, the lieutenant, who had reported the situation to Bomay, went back and brought back the news to Fang Yan. Fang Yan nodded, indicating that he was already clear, he always remembered that it was still wartime, and he, the liaison officer, would never relax and slack off just because he went ashore. (To be continued.) )