When it comes to the Aegean Sea, most people's first impression is the blue sea, blue sky, romantic love and beautiful sunset, but for some people, the Aegean Sea does not represent these, for them, the Aegean Sea represents a strategic transportation artery, and it is the only water area for the Black Sea coastal countries to reach the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean.

One such person was Antonius, the captain of the cruiser Elli of the Greek Navy, whose main task was to cruise the Aegean Sea with the Elli.

Cruising the Aegean Sea was a true accomplishment in the eyes of many, but in the eyes of Antonius, the task was not beautiful – especially after Naval Intelligence informed him that naval reconnaissance planes had found traces of Italian naval activity near the Aegean Sea.

As the total number of Italian and German troops deployed on the Albanian-Greek border exceeded 300,000, some experts and scholars in Greece who shouted that "Germany and Italy will not disperse their forces to attack us Greece at such a critical juncture, because we are only an insignificant neutral country for them" have closed their mouths with amusement, because even a three-year-old child can see this situation at a glance.

In fact, for the civilians of Greece, the war was not much of a horror, because in the previous battles, the German army did not deliberately harm the civilians, they just changed the regime, and the German army was full of mercy even to the soldiers who laid down their arms and surrendered, but only concentrated them in concentration camps to participate in some labor, and then sent those who were willing to cooperate home.

So the civilians of Greece did not show much fear of the coming war, and even some people who were dissatisfied with the current government hoped that Germany would enter Greece as soon as possible, so that they could elect a new prime minister (the funny thing is that their current government is still *** regime, pursuing the Nazi idea).

Of course, this does not mean that the Greeks will give up resistance and be willing to give up the country, if the German and Italian armies do attack Greece, they will still rise up and resist, they just do not fear war.

But for a soldier like Antonius, the situation is completely different, because as soldiers, they know very well how terrible the combat effectiveness of the German and Italian armies is - France, which has a complete military industrial system and strong industrial production capacity, cannot hold on for two months, let alone a country like Greece that does not even have a military industrial enterprise and relies on Britain and France for weapons and equipment.

So for Antonius and the others, they were full of fear of going to war with Germany and Italy, and they were now thinking more about how to survive as much as possible in future battles.

"Ugh." Thinking about it, Antonius leaned on the guardrail of the bridge corridor and let out a long sigh, and said to himself, "Why don't the Germans and Italians have to get along with us?" Didn't we say we would be neutral? ”

"Captain! Lunch is ready! Just as Antonius was worried about his future, a hearty shout came from behind him.

There was no need to turn around, and Antonius knew who the voice was coming from, because on this warship, no one could make such a loud sound except for Dennis, the chief cook. Whatever the future holds, lunch is always to be eaten, so Antonius answered, and turned and walked to the dining room under the bridge.

In the past, the cruise radius of the Elli was not large, and each time it went to sea, it could come back for at most one day and one night, so most of the officers and men on the ship used to rely on canned food and other portable cooked food, and anyway, they would soon be able to return to their home port of Crete to enjoy delicious food.

But this time was different, in order to prevent the Italian Navy from sneak attack, the Elli's cruising range became much larger, and it usually took a week or even half a month to return to the port to rest once at a time, so in addition to carrying a large amount of canned meat, they also brought a lot of food that needed to be cooked.

The restaurant of the Elli is not big, because the cruiser Elli itself is not big, the full load displacement is only more than 3000 tons, and the establishment is only 200 people - looking at the world, even a weak naval country like Greece can call it a light cruiser, if it is placed in the home of a naval power such as Britain and the United States, the Elli is at most a destroyer, not even a destroyer (after all, Germany's earliest Z-class destroyer 1934 model has a full load displacement of 3155 tons, And the Z-class destroyer in 1936 Type C had a full load displacement of 3683 tons).

So by the time Antonius arrived at the restaurant, the small dining room was already packed, but no matter how small the cruiser was, it couldn't change Antonios's status as the boss, and no matter where he was, the boss would always have the privilege of being the boss, so he didn't need to huddle with ordinary soldiers to eat.

Navigating through the crowded dining room, Antonius pushed open a hatch where the senior officers of the warship dined, which was not only spacious but also beautifully decorated, in addition to enjoying the "chef's specialty" prepared by the chief chef himself.

"Hi Dennis, what's today's recipe?" Sitting in his seat, Antonius smiled and greeted Dennis, the head cook who had called him for dinner, "Wouldn't you make a salad with rotten vegetables and a can of canned beef?" I'm throwing up after eating. ”

"Yes if you follow the predetermined recipe." Dennis smiled as he brought a plate, "But we were lucky enough to catch a net of fish this morning, so our recipe for today is a salad made of freshly grilled fish and rotten vegetables and a can of canned beef." ”

"Oh! I'm so happy. Antonius smiled bitterly, "My dear cook, I'll be happier if you can catch some lobsters." ”

"If it had been before, I think I could have caught some fresh lobsters at the fish market in Crete tonight." "But the Italians don't want us to go back today." ”

"Alright......," said Antonius, picking up a piece of grilled fish with his fork, "but I still appreciate you, after all, this grilled fish is the freshest thing I've eaten this week." ”

With that, he brought the grilled fish to his mouth and opened his mouth to bite into it.

But at that moment, the warship suddenly shook and tilted, and the things on the table slid quickly to the right, and even Antonius was thrown to the ground by inertia - his grilled fish was not spared.

After a few seconds, the warship regained its balance, and Antonius stood up rubbing his sore right arm.

"What's going on?! What kind of rudder is you messing around?! He yelled angrily, "I want to eat a grilled fish, and you won't let me?!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, a second lieutenant officer hurriedly opened the hatch from the outside, and said to Antonius with a pale face: "Captain! Torpedo! ”