In the southern hemisphere in October, the midwinter has passed, the warm spring has just arrived, and most of Europe is filled with gunsmoke, and the port of Mindelo on the island of São Vicente is still a quiet and peaceful scene. www.biquge.info This important port in the Cape Verde archipelago is just over 100 years old, with only 1,400 inhabitants in 1850. With the development of West Africa's mineral resources, it gradually became a thriving maritime transit point, and by 1884, the laying of submarine communication cables made it an important international communications hub. However, in the 20th century, oil began to replace coal as the main industrial fuel, and oil ships sailing from Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, and the development of the port of Mindelo tended to stagnate or even weakened.

By the time the long whistle sounded from outside the harbour, the people begging for a living on the wharves were already looking forward to it: businessmen dealing in coal, flour, fruits, vegetables, and livestock, skilled workers operating cranes and driving trucks, porters who sold their energy, and small vendors selling souvenirs.

At sunset, two medium-sized cargo ships slowly sailed into the port. According to the international rules, they are to fly both the flag of the home country and the port state at the same time, and the Portuguese flag with a straight red and green stripe and the Norwegian flag with a blue cross on a red background flutter on the mast.

Even veteran sailors who have been sailing for many years will be unfamiliar with this flag, after all, the Kingdom of Norway has only been independent from Sweden for only nine years, and this vast but sparsely populated country is dominated by fishing, and its influence in Europe and the world is very weak. Even so, the arrival of the two "Norwegian ships" did not arouse the slightest alarm among the locals, after all, the war seemed to them to be something that happened in another world. In their view, there was no need for the two belligerent military camps to infringe on Portuguese neutrality, and no matter which country's warships came here to replenish supplies, they would never turn them away as long as they did not default on their payments. Of course, the Port of Mindelo is not only Portuguese, but also has large colonies in West Africa, and the submarine cable to Europe is laid at British expense.

In terms of geography and port layout, Mindelo is an open seaport with easy access for boats. Two "Norwegian ships" docked at the main pier adjacent to the port area, and as soon as the pedals were put down, the begging people were already eager to try it on the pier. The crew on the ship did not look very large, only three or two were the first to go ashore, they were in full uniform, but there were no cockades and badges. Once ashore, they asked not about the price of supplies, but about the location of the telegraph office and the police station in jerky Portuguese.

A neatly dressed businessman satisfied the other party's question with the most simple and straightforward answer, and in order to show his humor, he smiled and asked, "Could it be that you met pirates on the way?" As far as I know, there have been no pirates in the waters of West Africa for decades! ”

"No, of course not."

The "Norwegian crew", standing in front of him, shrugged his shoulders, unhurriedly took out a delicate Luger pistol from his pocket, expertly loaded the bullet, and waved his hand at his companion on board. A large group of heavily armed soldiers, like the Vikings who plundered the port in the past, stepped on the pedals and jumped ashore with great vigour. Seeing such a scene, the people gathered on the pier were immediately stunned, only a few people subconsciously turned around and fled, but the armed men who landed on the shore did not open fire, some of them stayed to control the dock, and the rest divided into two teams and went straight to the telegraph office and the police station here according to the instructions of the businessman.

At this time, although there were more than 10,000 residents of Mind Lu Harbor, there were only a dozen police officers to maintain law and order, and if the Coast Guard was included, they could barely raise forty or fifty troops, but their combat effectiveness would not exceed the same number of militia.

Without firing a single shot, the landed "Norwegians" quickly took control of the communications, security and main docks of the port of Mindelo. In this case, a group of British, who wanted to ventilate the news, sailed out of the port from another pier, but as soon as they left the port, they ran head-on into a fleet of two powerful warships of the 10,000-ton class, and this time, they had German flags on their masts!

Intimidated by the black muzzles of the German warships, the British abandoned their attempts. Someone on board recognized that the two warships with a high degree of uniform appearance and contour were the German armored cruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau", which were originally deployed in the Far East. The British Navy has been keeping a close eye on the two dangerous cheetahs, who are rumored to have already entered the Atlantic Ocean and are waiting for an opportunity to join up with the "Blucher" formation and work together to strangle Britain's sea lanes. It is said that the British Navy and the French have assembled a cruiser fleet in the waters off the Azores, on the one hand, to protect the Atlantic routes of the Allies, and on the other hand, to intercept the German Pacific detachment from afar. It now appears that Spee's two armoured cruisers did not take a shortcut to the North Atlantic, but made a long way back to Europe - on the world map, the route along the coast of South America to Europe via the Azores was only slightly closer, which in reality could mean a distance of thousands of kilometres.

Under the watchful eye of the inhabitants of the port of Mindelo and a number of foreign ships, Count Spee's detachment sailed into the harbor, docked at the docks, and began to load coal, fresh water, and other supplies. During the whole process, the two battleships never lowered their anchors, and the smoke and dust in the chimney did not break.

"Protest, Monsieur Earl, I make a solemn protest to you in the name of the Governor of the Port of Mindelo! You and your soldiers do not have the right to use force in the overseas territories of Portugal, which can be considered aggression, without a declaration of war...... This is a shameless act of aggression! ”

On the Scharnhorst, Earl Spee's flagship, a well-dressed old gentleman blushed with emotion, his tone was very stiff, his gaze was very sharp, but he still left as much room as possible in the content of the language, which fully showed his experience and skill in dealing with affairs.

Count Spee politely replied, "Dear Lord Nars, I accept your protest and apologize to you in my own name. The German Navy had no intention of offending the independence, sovereignty and neutrality of the Kingdom of Portugal for a reason, and I hope that Your Excellency will understand. As soon as the resupply is completed, we will depart and we will compensate for any damage to the port facilities during this period. ”

The port governor still glared angrily at Count Spee, but there was nothing else to be done.

"Well, I will do my best to reassure the people, and I hope that you will keep your promise and restrain your soldiers. I do not want any further bloodshed during your stay. As for the diplomatic troubles, I will leave it to the government diplomats to negotiate and settle them, and I hope that the Kingdom of Portugal will not be involved in the war and will meet you on the battlefield. ”

"I believe this is just a small episode during the war, on the European continent, thousands of people are dying on the battlefield every hour, the lands occupied and lost by the belligerents are changing every day, new territories are being formed, and who cares what happened here?" The Count said calmly. During the capture of the telegraph office, a staff member tried to organize German sailors to enter the equipment room, but he received a rifle butt and blood on his face, but the person was fine, nothing more.

Night is falling, but the docks are still busy. The local cochiners were sweating and shoveling coal on the conveyor belts, the quartermaster had procured fresh vegetables, fruits, and meat, and the locals were bringing the food supplies and fresh water to the docks, where they were being carried to the ships by cranes, all in an orderly manner, but the efficiency of the half-mechanical and semi-manual ports was certainly not as efficient as those of the large, highly modern ports.

"If all goes well, my less popular fleet will leave tomorrow morning." The Count said to the old gentleman before him, who was older than himself, "if you don't mind, we can smoke a cigar together and have a few drinks, for my greatest hobby is to make friends." ”

The port governor's mood eased somewhat, but instead of accepting Spee's invitation, he said, "If you don't mind, I'd like to go home first and spend the night in my office." ”

"What, I'm afraid my family will be worried?" Count Spee grinned and looked at each other with a smirk.

"They all thought the Germans were going to take it." "I have heard that in Europe there are more towns than have been razed by the German army," said the Governor of the Port, not without irony, and that more than a million people have been killed by your guns, many of them ordinary civilians. ”

Hearing this, the Count's reaction was surprisingly calm: "If that is the case, I personally feel very sorry, but since the beginning of the war, my soldiers and I have been adrift at sea, and we are also worried about our families. Maybe...... In just over a week, we will be back in Germany. ”

"You shouldn't have said that to me." The old gentleman sighed, "Even if you cut the submarine cables and scuttle all the ships here, within two or three days, news of your whereabouts will still reach the British." Unless...... You intend for me to keep this a secret forever. ”

Count Speeze shook his head: "Even if Your Excellency doesn't reveal a word to the British, they can guess the whereabouts of my fleet, but a time difference of two or three days is enough!" ”

The old gentleman thought for a moment and sighed: "The British navy, which was once invincible, has now become a defeated commander under you. Germany...... Victory in this war is not far off! ”

(End of chapter)