It stands to reason that Annan has entered the annual rainy season, but strangely enough, the first few days of October are sunny every day, making people feel like they are back in the hot summer.

The waters of the Gulf of Tonkin were as crystal clear as emerald green crystals in the sun, but they did not give Captain Paul the slightest cool feeling, and the sturdy captain was wearing only a navy short-sleeved shirt on his upper body, and the sweat had soaked his back and chest.

"Captain, the depth of water in this sea is only forty-seven meters, and the water depth will be shallower to the north." Second Lieutenant Gao Rufeng put down the telescope in his hand and reported to the German commander.

"At the end of last year, the French Indochina fleet just conducted a hydrographic survey of this area, and their data is very detailed, more accurate than the charts in the hands of your Chinese navy, but I didn't expect that the charts you used were drawn by the British 20 years ago." Captain Paul tugged at the towel hanging from the fence and wiped the back of the binoculars.

"My country has been in the midst of war, but we are constantly trying to improve, and I firmly believe that as long as time passes, China will definitely catch up with the trend of the world." Second Lieutenant Gao Rufeng said loudly in fluent German.

"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing that day come. Two cars at two-thirds speed, pay attention to the observation, we have entered the area patrolled by the Japanese Navy. Second Lieutenant Paul smiled and nodded to the Chinese naval officer, then lowered his head and ordered loudly into the microphone.

"Two-thirds of a two-car speed, sir." The third-level officer in the command cabin replied loudly.

"You have a very good group of sailors, ensigns, who only need to complete systematic training and will definitely be able to become qualified submarine operators." Captain Paul, with his elbows propped up on the enclosure of the conning tower, looked with great interest at a group of Chinese sailors on the foredeck, who were training in the operation of the 88mm deck gun under the guidance of the second class officer.

"Thank you, sir. They are all the bravest warriors, ready to sacrifice for the sake of their country. Gao Rufeng puffed up his chest and said proudly.

"Courage is important, but courage alone will not win the war you face. It is not enough for you to learn how to operate this ship, you need to learn the world's advanced naval tactics, learn advanced administrative management methods, and establish a sound logistics supply and equipment maintenance and repair system.

You must also establish a complete and efficient command system, and at the same time develop senior commanders who know how to use submarines to fight. They must know where, what and how to send their submarines, not just sit at a map table and point around with a baton. Captain Paul pulled his pipe out of his trouser pocket and said as he expertly filled it with shredded tobacco.

"That's the truth you say, sir. It is true that my country is very backward now, but behind us there are 40,000 industrious and brave citizens, and although we do not have what you said now, I believe that in the future they will all be realized, not to mention the help of our friends in the German Empire. Gao Rufeng replied loudly.

"Of course, the second lieutenant is tall, so my U50 and I will be here." Captain Paul struck a waterproof match and lit his sepiolite pipe.

Originally, before the outbreak of the war in Europe, the government ordered five submarines from Germany, four offshore Type IIB and one Type VIIA, plus a submarine support ship, and the contract was signed on behalf of the Chinese side by Cheng Shaokuan, the commander-in-chief of the National Government's Navy, with a total contract value of up to 90 million German marks.

The problem is that the government has never been able to scrape together the money, and only paid a deposit of 10 million yuan, so Germany only started construction of two Type IIB submarines according to the price on the contract, and the rest of the ships are ready to wait until the money is ready.

Unexpectedly, just when the delivery was about to be delivered, the war broke out in Europe, and the two submarines were immediately requisitioned by the German Navy, that is, U120 and U121, and the German side canceled the contract and returned the full amount through the Yugoslav bank. In fact, both parties breached the contract in this matter, so they did not make any claims for compensation.

Now the German side has suddenly proposed that in order to promote friendly relations between the two countries, Germany is ready to deliver two Type VII submarines to the Chinese side, and hopes that the Chinese Navy will send personnel to French Indochina as soon as possible, and the German Navy will train these naval officers and men for China. The course includes submarine navigation and combat theory, as well as practical submarine maneuvering training.

This news really made Admiral Chen Shaokuan of the National Government Navy feel overjoyed, and his naval commander had almost become the commander of the river army at this time, and he once had more than 60,000 tons of ships of various types under his command, but now there were only a bunch of river gunboats left. The officers and men of the navy who came ashore could only carry their rifles and became like an army, and how could the admiral not be worried when he saw this.

Now he finally saw the hope of rebuilding the navy again, although it is only a submarine at the moment, but in the future he may be able to get destroyers, cruisers, and even battleships, and the hope of regaining the motherland's thousands of miles of sea frontier is at hand.

The embarrassing thing is that at this moment, the Admiralty of the State Government has been cancelled and changed to the Navy Command, and the reason put forward by the State Government is very practical.

Now that he saw the hope of the re-emergence of the navy, how could Cheng Shaokuan dare to slack off, he dispatched elite soldiers overnight, ready to be sent to French Indochina for training, and at the same time received the two valuable submarines.

Although the combat ships were completely destroyed, most of them sank in the Yangtze River waterway, and the crew and officers of the ships were almost completely preserved, and the losses in personnel were not as serious as imagined.

But the problem is that among these people, most of them are old oilmen who are used to being soldiers, many of them have eaten this bowl of rice since the Beiyang period, and even some of them are old enough to come from the Manchu government's Mawei Navy Division Training Camp, and they are all historical witnesses who have witnessed the rise and fall of the navy.

Cheng Shaokuan knows very well that these old sailors are no longer usable, not only because their thinking has been out of the times, but also because of these sailors and officers, many people have been contaminated with the ugly habits of the government and the army, eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, cheating, abducting, smuggling and selling smuggling, and dare to do anything for a little money. If such people were sent to the Germans, once there was any scandal, the Chinese Navy would be completely faceless.

During the two days of selecting personnel, the commander-in-chief of the navy withstood the entrustment of a large number of relatives, friends, classmates, and protégés, and when they got the news, they all knew that leading a team to the French Indian branch was a big fat shortage, and even if they squatted with the Germans for ten days and a half at will, they would immediately have a promising future and double their value when they came back.

It's time to cultivate new people, Chen Shaokuan has already made a decision in his heart, even if the selection is not all Fujian, it doesn't matter, now when it is critical, there is still room for him to cling to the old habit of dividing the door. Although this admiral has always regarded himself as the leader of the Fujian navy, and in the past he did not play a little trick to suppress the officers and men of other provinces in the navy, but when it came to the threshold of naval reconstruction, he did not dare to act rashly anymore, and he could no longer hold a regional view, and he should attach importance to his personal ability and temperament, because only in this way can he select the officers and men of the navy who can really shoulder this heavy responsibility.

In the end, the Chinese Navy selected 168 people and organized them into four groups, each of which was equipped with a submarine. This is the suggestion given by the German Navy, each submarine should be equipped with two sets of personnel, so that when the first team of the submarine completes the cruise and returns to port to rest, the second team will immediately have to rotate the boats, so that the people can stop the ship without stopping, and the combat efficiency of the two submarines can be brought into full play as much as possible.

These people are the seeds of the Chinese Navy's submarine force, and after completing the training of the German Navy, they can also become instructors for other officers and soldiers, training more qualified submarine crews.

"It's two o'clock in the afternoon." Paul raised his wrist and looked at the time. At this time, the sailors who were on duty as the cook's assistant climbed up the command tower with a bucket containing a thermos and several enamel cups.

"Iced coffee you wanted, Captain." The sailor poured a cup of coffee and handed it to the captain.

"Thanks, Wolf." Paul took the cup and thanked him with a smile.

"It's yours, Mr. Ensign." Wolf handed the cup to Gao Rufeng.

"Thank you." The second lieutenant put the sextant in his hand into the canvas bag on his waist, and then carefully took the enamel cup.

"We're only thirty nautical miles away from Qinzhou Bay, should you reconsider your plans, sir?" Gao Rufeng said with coffee.

"What, you're scared?" Paul swallowed a sip of cold coffee and said with a smile.

"How is it possible, why should I be afraid, it's just that I'm a little worried, my soldiers still lack training." Gao Rufeng hurriedly retorted.

"Gao, you really don't lack courage, what you lack is confidence in yourself. Rest assured, this time the whole process will be operated by our personnel, and your soldiers will only need to watch from the sidelines. Believe me, it is good for the growth of these sailors to let these sailors feel some real combat atmosphere earlier. Captain Paul took a sip of his coffee and handed the cup back to the sailors.

"Ten minutes later, everyone will enter the combat position, and we will break through to Qinzhou Bay today." Paul commanded loudly.

"Yes, sir."

"We're going to surprise those little Japan."

"I just hope they don't pee their pants in fear." The sailors and watchmen who watched from the conning tower cheered loudly.

"Forcibly infiltrated the reconnaissance, I didn't expect the German Navy to have such a strong desire to fight." Gao Rufeng secretly sighed.

"I'm afraid of a ball, Lao Tzu will definitely be able to do it!" The second lieutenant gritted his teeth, and his heart was full of pride.

Ask for a monthly pass.,It's the end of the month.,Please vote for the monthly ticket left in your hand for this book.,The previous one is full of fifty votes ahead.,The author needs everyone's support.。

Thank you.

(To be continued.) )