"Come, Mr. Clinton, I propose a toast for the friendship between our two countries and for the bright future of our two companies!"

Raising his glass was a German captain in a blue collarless and epaulette uniform, proud of his service in the German Navy, so he wore the lieutenant's uniform every time he went to sea.

"Mr. Foster, you are so gracious!" This is the owner of a mineral company in the United States, and his company is not very large. However, when Germany and the United States signed a land-for-resource agreement worth $2 billion, Clinton smelled the huge benefits contained in this, and although the Atlantic route was not very safe at this time, Clinton still led a group of subordinates to Germany to look for business opportunities, and finally selected Captain Foster's Prussian shipping company as a partner.

Clinton's plan was not to sell minerals to Germany, on the contrary, he was prepared to buy a large amount of various mineral resources from Germany after the signing of the relevant treaty between Germany and the United States, because he believed that after the United States exported a large amount of ore to Germany, the price of minerals in the United States would inevitably continue to soar, and the price of minerals in Germany would fall accordingly. Based on the fact that the owner of the Prussian shipping company had close ties with high society, Clinton was interested in the fact that the German company could get a certain amount of ore and also provide convenient shipping. After all, with the superiority of the German navy, it was safer to use German freighters in the Atlantic than American ones.

After dealing with the contract and transportation on the German side, Clinton returned to the United States on the first German steamers loaded with ore to arrange for the American side, where he never expected to run into a British special fleet. On board the 10,000-ton ship named "Hill," in addition to Clinton, there were 22 US citizens, all of whom were employees of the Clinton Minerals Company.

As soon as Clinton's wine glass touched his lips, a German sailor hurried in and reported: "Captain, a large amount of black smoke has been found ahead, it is estimated that it is a large fleet!" ”

Foster glanced at Clinton, and in general, this area close to US territorial waters is where only the US fleet would cruise the sea with such swagger.

"Don't worry, it should be our American Atlantic Fleet!" Clinton triumphantly comforted everyone, as if the stronger the U.S. Navy, the more vigorously he spoke in front of the Germans.

"But your country has already sold most of its Atlantic Fleet to the British!" Foster whispered a reminder that although the Anglo-American and German-American transactions were carried out in a relatively secret state, this was no longer a secret to most people.

"This ......" Clinton was obviously aware of this matter, and if the fleet in front of them was the one that was assigned to the British, they would not be in a good situation now.

"Tell the first mate that we'll immediately turn north and try to avoid that fleet! If they send a signal to ask, tell them that we have American citizens on board! There was not much nervousness on Foster's face, his freighter was one of the first German steamers to sail out of German ports after the German navy defeated the British navy, and he had never been intercepted by a British warship since the end of October when he changed course to and from Germany and the United States.

However, only a few minutes later, a thunderous sound could be heard from a distance, and Foster and Clinton finally understood the truth that there are no absolutes. However, there were no reconnaissance / collation aircraft, and the long-range shelling of the fleet ahead was not accurate, and the first tall water columns were raised nearly a kilometer on the starboard side of the "Hill".

"Hell! Tell them there are Americans here! Clinton shouted hysterically.

Foster did not answer, but walked quickly to the ship's control room, and an angry Clinton had to follow him closely.

Taking the telescope handed over by the crew, Foster looked carefully at the sea under the black smoke to the west for a while, "Turn 25 degrees east-north, full speed ahead!" ”

"Is that really the fleet of the British?" Clinton still had some illusions about what he was seeing, even though a second dull shelling could be heard from afar. Foster disdained to answer, instead handing him the binoculars.

Clinton was surprised to see some white shadows of ships through the telescope, which belonged to the "Great White Fleet" that shocked the world seven years ago.

"Unbelievable!" Clinton had long been reluctant to believe what he was seeing, and as they were the last thing they wanted to see, the U.S. government had sold the main force of its Atlantic Fleet to the British, which was now firing at itself.

"I'm afraid they've decided to kill us!" Although Foster's sailors signaled to the other side over and over again, the other side did not know whether they did not see it or ignored it, the shells continued to fall in batches, and the deafening explosion was extremely ironic proof of Clinton's so-called "powerful fleet."

Apparently, the poor German freighter has become the target of the first live-fire exercises of the British special fleet.

"Quickly send a message to the German Embassy in the United States that our ship is being shelled by a large fleet at a distance of 97 nautical miles from the territorial waters of the United States! Our coordinates are XXXXX, and there are 23 US citizens on board, please inform the US government as soon as possible! Seeing that the landing point of the opponent's shells was getting closer and closer to him, Foster couldn't help but feel hopeless.

"Mr. Clinton, let your people start writing a suicide note! We won't last long! ”

On the battleship "Utah", Mr. Churchill was leisurely smoking a cigar amid the thunderous shelling, and listening to this familiar voice, he seemed to have returned to the era of the invincible navy of the British Empire.

"Report, the cruiser 'Knight' sent a signal, and the first three waves of shelling were all lost."

The communications officer's report was like a basin of cold water to Churchill's displeasure, 6 dreadnoughts and 12 armored battleships fired at a slow-moving freighter at the same time, and more than 100 heavy shells fired in three salvos did not hit the target, even if it was only a close miss, the unarmored German steamer was powerless to resist, so it seems that the shooting accuracy of this new fleet adheres to the consistent style of the British Navy, and it is the nature of this group of people to waste shells.

"The fleet maintains its current course and speed, the shooting observation post redetermines the firing data, and if the next three waves of shelling fail to hit the German freighter, let the firing commander sweep the toilet for a month!"

Churchill's order soon reached the cruiser "Knight" in front of the fleet, which was responsible for observation and calibration, and the Canadian captain, Lieutenant Commander Reese, was very dissatisfied with this, he felt that he only needed to let his "knight" rush at full speed and come to a close range of artillery bombardment, and the German steamer would obediently sink to the bottom, but Churchill insisted on using the ship as a target ship for shooting training, so that the battlefleet could practice long-distance shooting.

"It was a waste of shells, and enough time for the Germans to send a telegram, so that the German government would soon know where we were!" Reeser complained sullenly, in fact, as soon as the fleet left the port, the German spies had already transmitted the information back to the country, whether there was a German freighter or not, their whereabouts were already known. As for the shells, the Americans were still very generous to move the inventory in the warehouse to these warships, after all, it was useless to have those shells without a warship, and more importantly, the warships that the Americans were building and preparing to build had to use larger caliber main guns.

"Captain, that freighter seems to be signaling us all the time!" The first mate, who was standing next to Reese, said with a telescope, but the distance was too far and the rising water column in front of the ship made it a little difficult for him to read the signal.

"The German freighter ...... 'Hill'...... Germany...... Weapons...... U.S. Citizen ......"

The first mate stared blankly at the telescope, then repeated the last word on one side, "American citizens!" ”

"Is there a U.S. citizen on that freighter?" Reeser was taken aback, "Why didn't our observers report that the freighter was signaling us?" ”

Another wave of large-caliber shells pierced the air and flew over the Knight's head, a throat-tearing sound that drowned out Risser's stunned and angry voice. It wasn't until after the battle that the dazed and innocent observer explained the reason: "I saw the signal from the German freighter, but the flagship's previous order was to fire directly without warning the other side, so I ignored the signal of the German ship!" Although I have only been in the British Navy for three months, I see the order of the flagship very clearly, and I will never be mistaken! ”

When the dark red "meteorite" appeared in front of him, and his eardrums were shaken uncomfortably by the sharp and piercing sound, Foster closed his eyes with unusual calm and prayed silently, if all this was fate, he felt that he had nothing to be sad about.

"American citizen ......" Churchill looked at the communications officer who was panting and running in a daze, the cigar in his mouth was still burning helplessly, and a column of light smoke slowly rose up, like an Oriental burning incense to pay tribute to the dead. If it was a neutral steamer, or a German passenger liner, he would not give the order to fire so easily, but it was an extremely ordinary German freighter, and Churchill had a feeling of stepping on ****, and he couldn't wipe off the "smell" on his body if he wanted to.

After the intermittent "thunder" ceased, Vice Admiral Conway, deputy commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, was not in a better mood; although the Anglo-American land-for-fleet treaty stipulated that the British could drive away from that fleet at any time, the order to release the fleet was given by him Conway himself, and he was afraid that he would not be able to escape the involvement in the event of any major problems.

Major Sritton stood silently behind Lieutenant General Conway, and when Admiral Sims called, Conway was accompanying the local dignitaries on a hunting trip in the woods a dozen miles from Norfolk Military Harbor. When Sriden managed to find him, he was dressed as a hunter and immediately had several turkeys hanging from him. After returning to the base and hurriedly changing into military uniforms, Conway, Schrieddon and the others quickly boarded the destroyer waiting at the dock. Two U.S. patrol fleets and one destroyer fleet, a total of more than 30 warships, accelerated toward the British fleet, and the speed of 25 knots made these warships almost lose their neat formation, but also allowed them to see the black smoke clouds in the sky and the sea ahead in the afterglow of the setting sun.

"Lieutenant Admiral, a coded telegram from the Navy Command!" The communications officer handed over a long-awaited telegram.

The frowning lieutenant general quickly swept the piece of paper, and the clouds on his face became thicker. After reading the telegram carefully and heavily again, he crumpled it up and threw it into the sea on the side of the ship, which made Schridton and the others even more puzzled and curious.

"The 1st Patrol Fleet from the right and the 2nd Patrol from the left side, all of them caught up with and intercepted the British fleet at maximum speed! No one is allowed to open fire without my orders, no matter what happens! Also, to signal to the British that they should stop their advance for the time being, that we have something very important and urgent to consult with them! ”

The newspaper soaked in the seawater slowly unfolded under the action of the seawater, and there were only two lines of words on it:

Germany and Japan signed a secret agreement, the main force of the Japanese Navy forced into the west coast of the United States, and the Pacific Fleet could not support it alone, so it was necessary to recall the main force of the Atlantic Fleet that had been handed over to the British to return to defense.

In a short time, the telegram soaked in sea water slowly sank into the water with this important order, and with it the mood of Lieutenant General Conway. At this time, Conway and the U.S. Navy officers and sailors did not know what had happened to the German freighter Hill and the 23 American citizens on board. The poor German freighter was now slowly sliding down the seabed, its port side was hit by a 305mm shell, and the ship was missing a large piece as if it had been bitten by a huge shark, and the huge impact of the shell explosion and countless shrapnel killed most of the crew, and only a few extremely lucky people survived.

When the American-built, British-owned, Canadian-controlled cruiser Knights sailed near the wreck of the Hill, the sea was a mess, with survivors rowing on all fours like ants overboard, and all sorts of things floating on the surface, with small pieces of wood, broken furniture, and bottles and cans.

"Oh God! What did we do! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Reeser's lamentation was mostly for the sake of American citizens, and he did not care at all how many Germans had died. Thanks to the efforts of Canadian sailors, 17 survivors of the German freighter were eventually rescued, only two of whom were American citizens. Captain Foster, Clinton, who has a net worth of $20 million, and 25 other German sailors and 21 American passengers were killed in the shelling. In the aftermath, the Americans called the disaster "Clinton," and for them it was a tragedy that had been staged before Christmas.

**************************

The first chapter of this week's lifting of the ban, as long as everyone continues to help click, recommend, and collect friends' new book "Yu Qing Cong", the sky will lift the ban on eight chapters in a week as promised, so that readers who have not entered the VIP can look good, the book URL - http:///showbook.asp?bl_id=118884, or click the link below, thank you for your support!

Click on the image link: