The white waves were flying, the whistle sounded, and amid the exclamations of the people on the shore, the huge mountain-like body of the aircraft carrier Count Zeppelin finally slowly sailed into the Soviet military port under the light of the setting sun.

Looking up from the pier, I saw that the gray steel hull was like a long causeway dam breaking through the sea, majestically cutting across the ocean; Standing below, the man is completely like an ant at the foot of a giant elephant, not worth mentioning at all. With an overall length of 270 meters and a maximum flight deck width of 56 meters, she is currently the largest warship on the planet, and even the Soviet battleship Frunze, anchored side by side, is completely reduced to a foil.

"Lieutenant Colonel Brom, are you ready to return to the warship?" Vice Admiral Valentin, commander of the Soviet Northern Fleet, spoke to Fang Yan with a complicated expression, and his heart was full of unwillingness and anxiety. For more than a day, he had not even gotten any leverage from the young German; The other party's caution and meticulousness far exceeded his age, and several recordings and candid shots that he had hoped for were in vain. As for Valentin, the black material about Fang Yan was something that he and Yevgeny and others urgently needed to get. Otherwise, once Fang Yan returned to Germany, if he would disobey or even refuse to admit the deals they had negotiated before, then Valentin and the others would not be able to make any counterattack against him from a distance of thousands of kilometers.

"With one more large aircraft carrier, the replenishment of fuel for our fleet will be completed. Now that the flagship has arrived, I have to get back to work. Fang Yan said in a serious tone. Seeing the tangle implicit in the smiles of several Soviet officers in front of him, Fang Yan, who still needed to use these people, comforted him gently: "Rest assured, several." What we value most in Germany is the contract, and since the contract has been signed, then I will definitely pay this money. What's more, besides a few of you, I'd be hard-pressed to find a second source that can sell weapons at such a low price. Therefore, gentlemen have no need to worry about my credibility at all. ”

Hearing Fang Yan's assurance, the mood of several Soviet officers was soothed. However, there seems to be something wrong with this: the young man seems to have said that the price of the weapons he sells is too cheap, and he will definitely come to the door with dollars to buy them. A few bears who had never been exposed to business warfare stood in place in confusion, and for a moment they couldn't figure out whether they had made a lot of money or had been deceived by the descendants of this cunning young capitalist. When they came back to their senses, they saw that Fang Yan had already stood on the ramp of the large aircraft carrier, and smiled and waved goodbye to them.

"We should have earned it, right?" Seeing Fang Yan's figure disappear on the six-story flight deck, Valenjing said with some confidence. Young Yevgeny nodded vigorously and said, "Since he said so, there should be no problem with the money being in place." The Virgin Mary is on top, and I can get $470,000 in it! You must know that in this desolate northern region, it is difficult for us to exchange the military rations, aging and other materials we usually leave behind for real wealth, and we often have less than 10,000 US dollars saved in a year. I must now think carefully about what else the Germans need in this military port, and if I can conclude a long-term business cooperation with them, it will not be in vain for me to seek such a position in the Soviet army. ”

"Two idiots. The Germans have eaten all the meat clean, leaving only a mouthful of soup for you, and you are so happy! After all, Oleg was an old man, and the experience of mixing in Imperial Russian society in the past made him quickly sober up from his confusion and worry, and scolded the two mercilessly. Although his rank of lieutenant colonel was the lowest among the three, Valentin and Yevgeny, who had been sprayed, did not dare to show the slightest expression of melancholy, so they had to say yes. However, after a while, Oleg slowly rubbed his chin and said, "However, it is also a good choice to cooperate with them." Now the Ministry of the Interior has no jurisdiction to dispose of the property of the reactionaries, and the arrest of people has no economic interests that they had in the past; I will retire in a few years, and it will be time for me to calm down politically and try to make a fortune for my next generation. ”

Fang Yan didn't care about the Soviets' calculations. He made it straight to the bridge and into the navigation command room, which he was familiar with. At this time, Bomei and Hoffman were both in the middle of the room, and the latter was passing instructions to the subordinate detachments through the microphone. Seeing Fang Yan appear, Bo Mei nodded approvingly to him. The wounded ship was properly resettled, and the fleet was able to receive valuable fuel supplies, and Fang Yan, who proposed to come to Murmansk and go ashore to negotiate, was definitely a great merit.

"Jonas, do you think it's possible for us to return home from the Baltic?" Before Fang Yan could report his experience on the shore, Bo Mei couldn't wait to ask. He summoned Fang Yan to the table, pointed to the lower right corner of the chart, and said, "I only learned from the Seydlitz yesterday that the Soviets had already opened up the White Sea and the Baltic Sea. Their ships were able to cross the interior directly from Leningrad to the White Sea City at the southern end of the White Sea. Now that the ice period in the White Sea has just begun, and the Baltic Sea is completely freezing, if we can enter the Baltic Sea from the interior of the Soviet Union, there will be no risk on the whole way back. ”

Fang Yan was stunned for a moment, and then a helpless wry smile appeared on his face, and said: "General, the Soviets did open the White Sea ~ Baltic Sea Canal at the beginning of 1933. But this canal is a completely different project than our Kiel Canal. ”

"The White Sea ~ Baltic Sea Canal is 227 km long, of which 190 km is composed of natural lakes and rivers in the interior of the Soviet Union. Since the Soviets did not make any widening and deepening of these inland rivers, they could not pass large battleships. Even small ships can pass through the canal very limited, because the 37-kilometer-long artificial waterway dug by the Soviets is inferior to the navigability of natural waterways. ”

The corners of Fang Yan's mouth hooked up a hint of ridicule, and continued: "In order to show the superiority of the socialist system, the Soviet Union officially only gave the White Sea Canal project a two-year construction period. However, in 1930, the Soviet Union was severely lacking in large-scale machinery and equipment, and construction was almost entirely based on manpower, which made the hope of building a large canal even more dashing. Finally, the navigable White Sea Canal has a water depth of only 3.6 meters, and its locks are only 135 meters long, which is not comparable to the 11 meters and 330 meters of locks of the Kiel Canal. Even with destroyers, the White Sea Canal was not guaranteed to be navigable, so we could not return to Germany through this canal. ”

"3.6 meters deep? I'm afraid it's barely even a 1,500-ton destroyer, right? What's the point of digging out such a shallow channel? Bomei said in amazement. Fang Yan shrugged his shoulders and said, "This is what makes this red regime special. As long as they can get the job done and create a good situation across the country, there's nothing they can't do. In fact, the canal was completed four months ahead of schedule, earning the officials responsible for digging the canal. However, as many as 25,000 of the 200,000 gulag prisoners who participated in the project died unnatural deaths, and the body of a laborer was buried every 1.5 meters of waterway. ”

Soon after, the Soviet government knew that it had done something extremely stupid. As a result, all the pictorial magazines that had been issued to promote the White Sea Canal were taken back, and the radio and newspapers did not mention anything about the canal. If the Soviets had really built a canal comparable to the Kiel Canal, they would have been so eager to let the whole world know about it. Fang Yan added.

Bommey was silent. After a moment, he slowly spoke, "It seems that we will only have to cross the North Sea. ”

The speed of refueling at rest in the harbor was apparently much faster than on the bumpy sea, and in about four hours, the planned 2,500 tons of fuel were poured into the Zeppelin's oil depot. The boiler in the pressurized state of standby immediately resumed normal operation, and the huge hull of the ship began to slowly sail out of the harbor. Her sister ship, the Ekona, then entered the berth where she had docked, and it was the last ship to be restocked.

At midnight, the Ecna, with its equally large size, sailed out of the docks and returned to the queue. The German fleet sent a light signal of thanks and friendship to the Soviet military port, and then turned back on the route from which it came. More than 3,500 German officers and men remained in the port of Murmansk along with their ships, and they remained on board the ships until the damage was completely repaired.

Although the fleet was reduced from the time it arrived, the morale of the German officers and men was high as the oil tanks of the ships were re-filled, and they were full of desire to conquer the stormy waves on the North Point route. In a single day, the fleet sailed nearly 500 nautical miles, from the 72nd parallel north latitude where the cold wind roared, to the Norwegian basin outside the Arctic Circle. If all goes well, then in less than two days the fleet will be able to see the white jade iron bridge over the Kiel Canal.

"We've been missing for more than ten days, and the British should be crazy to find us, right?" Seeing that victory was already in sight, Bo Mei finally showed a smug smile. If the sprint is carried out at a high speed of 28 knots, it takes less than 20 hours to traverse the North Sea. And halfway through, it was already in the radius of activity of the S-type torpedo boats of the German Navy. At this time, Britain's control of the North Sea was far less than at the beginning of the war, and the threat of the German Navy's rapid air diving caused the British fleet to withdraw almost completely from the eastern part of the North Sea. The only truly risky waters are the more than 100-nautical-mile shipping lanes east of the Shetland Islands. (To be continued.) )