The Shandong is a 2,549-ton mixed passenger and cargo ship, launched in 1915 and owned by the Swire Steamship Company. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 It is more than 80 meters long, the deck is about six meters above the water, and there are four long booms at the bow and stern mast, and in the middle of the mast are white three-story cabins and black chimneys. The U-38's narrow hull was not much shorter than the Shandong's, and the two ships, one tall and one short, were moored, attracting the attention of many sailors, who finally saw the full view of the German submarine. Thank God that this one belongs to the Chinese.

Under the watchful eyes of the sailors, the crew of the U-38 rowed a rubber boat to send Liu Yongren and the three of them there, and the Shandong also lowered the rope ladder. Liu Yongren was the first to climb to the deck, and when he found the ship, he said in English: "Mr. Captain, there is a wounded man below, and he is also a citizen of Great Britain." ”

"Oh, really?" Blonche, who was on deck, did not expect that there was a British citizen below, and that he was still a wounded.

"Yes, Mr. Captain." Liu Yongren looked at the British captain by the light, bearded, in his forties. Because the Swire Steamship was not unfamiliar with the Navy, he was a little worried that the captain would recognize him.

"British citizens?" Blonch looked at Liu Yongren with some suspicion, because he deliberately wore little and his clothes were soaked, and Liu Yongren's whole body trembled when the sea breeze blew.

"Yes, Mr. Captain. At least his passport was issued by His Majesty's government. Liu Yongren took out a passport from his arms, which he found from Li Kongrong's private storage cabinet. His head was injured by the explosion, but they couldn't save him. The doctor said that he had to be taken to the nearest hospital immediately or his life would be in danger. ”

Just by looking at the cover of the passport, Blonch knew that this was indeed a British citizen, but this person was of Chinese descent. He returned his passport to Liu Yongren, "Sir, you can stay in cabin A03, which is empty." Are you three? ”

"Yes, the three of us." The sailors were lowering the ropes to hang the wounded onto the boat, while Chen Zaihe climbed the rope ladder to support Li Kongrong. "Thank you, Mr. Captain, for your help, it's a little bit of heart." Liu Yongren took the passport and stuffed the prepared envelope at the same time.

Blonche, who had been in China for a long time, of course, knew what 'a little bit of heart' meant, and he pinched the envelope, opened it again, and saw that it was not a depreciating fiat currency, but a ten-dollar pound sterling, about two hundred pounds, which was not a lot. He looked at Liu Yongren again: "Sir, what else do you need to help just speak?" ”

"I wish I could have gotten to the hospital sooner." Liu Yongren said bluntly, "We don't want to be detained and interrogated by the Japanese, I hope you can ......."

"Of course." Blonche immediately understood. "You can get off the boat at the Concession Pier, and from there you can go directly to any hospital in the Concession. May God bless Mr. Lee. ”

Without hesitation, Blonch put the envelope in his pocket and arranged for the cabin crew to take Liu Yongren and others into the cabin, and only then did he see the women and children emerging from the bridge of the submarine, who were also survivors, and they were boarding the ship in rubber boats and lifeboats.

"Mr. Captain, thanks for the help." The rubber boat lifeboat came and went, and more than a dozen women and children were all sent to the underboard of the Shandong, and Lin Xiangguang, who had retracted the rubber boat, looked at the shadow that disappeared on the deck with reluctance, and then thanked the captain.

"No thanks, Mr. Major, this is war." Blonche replied loudly as he looked at the departing submarine, his pipe clenched. "Teach those Japanese monkeys a good lesson." His last sentence was too quiet for anyone on deck to hear.

"Long ......" Chen Zaihe, who was dressed in civilian clothes in the corridor, found that he had just shouted the wrong one as soon as he opened his mouth. The captain of the Shandong was British, but the cabin crew was Chinese, and he quickly changed his words: "It really scared me to death this time when I grew so big." ”

"Hehe," the cabin taker who walked in front and took Liu Yongren's tip didn't hear anything unusual, he smiled and said, "Take it can be regarded as picking up a life." Do you know how many people died early last morning? The radio said that 524 people had died, and that 354 passengers had died. It's really a sin, and many people have been buried with Chairman Wang. ”

"So many people died? Amitabha. Liu Yongren was also surprised, he remembered that the Fengtian Pill had no more than three hundred cabins.

"Allah listened to the radio at night, and the chairman of the Standing Committee and the navy said that they would take care of these passengers, hey...... "The cabin crew is not young, carrying his back, walking with solid steps, he must have been on the ship for many years."

Liu Yongren only sighed when he learned of the casualties, and he wanted to ask about the situation in the Shanghai Concession again, but this was not logically correct. I was a passenger on the Fengtian Pill and boarded the ship from Shanghai, so how could I not know the situation in Shanghai? He had no choice but to ask, "I would like to ask, when will the ship arrive at the concession wharf?" ”

"It's up to the Japanese to get to the pier. Wusongkou wants to check, the inspection is early, the first half of the day can arrive, and the inspection is late, then it will be the second half of the day. The cabin crew glanced back at the patient carried by the two and said, "The injury should be severed?" There was a doctor on board. ”

"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter." Liu Yongren hurriedly refused, this injury could not be treated by the doctor on board.

"It doesn't matter." At this time, several people had already arrived at the door of the A03 cabin, and the receptionist opened the cabin door and turned on the lights inside. It's a first-class cabin, luxurious and clean. "There's boiling water in the bottle, and it's seven o'clock early."

After giving another silver dollar, Liu Yongren sent away the enthusiastic and somewhat nagging receptionist. At this time, he shivered a few times, and immediately took off the wet suit outside, wrapped himself in the quilt and opened the curtains to see the situation outside. The night was vast, the submarine had long since disappeared, and there were only those surviving passengers on deck who had just boarded the ship, and most of the women and children who had escaped were crying together, waking up many passengers to look at the probe. Listening to the child's cry, Liu Yongren couldn't help but smile when he felt that everything was going well at the moment. "We'll be in the concession at noon tomorrow." He said to Chen Zai on the side.

'Woo——! Woo——! The brightly lit Shandong took anchor again, and where the lights could not shine, the crew on the U-38 bridge silently watched it take Li Kongrong away, Lin Xiangguang saluted solemnly, and Xue Kuiguang and others also saluted.

"Where are we going next?" Li Kongrong and Liu Yongren were not there, Xue Kuiguang was very at a loss, he didn't know what to do next.

"Where else can I go?" The submarine also set sail, in the direction of the north. Lin Xiangguang said with a smile: "Of course, I went to Qingdao to shell the Governor's Palace, isn't this the plan set by the chief before." ”

"That group of traitors is still going to have a meeting." Xue Kuiguang was puzzled, "Isn't Wang Jingwei dead?" ”

"The telegram said it would be held again." Lin Xiangguang said that this was no longer the news of the Central Union, but the news from the Navy's own intelligence organs.

"Report, urgent call from the headquarters." Lin Lian Fan reported below, his tone was quite anxious.

"What's going on?" Lin Xiangguang snatched the telegram in his hand and began to scratch his head when he saw it. The New York side said that it had already coordinated with the British, and that tomorrow evening the British Consul General in Shanghai would send a ship to pick up Li Kongrong and bring him to the concession for treatment. The telegram was brief, and in addition to informing the British side that a ship would be sent to pick them up tomorrow night, it also informed the British side that the telegram would be sent to U-38, and that the red code book in the safe could be activated.

The person has been sent away, and if it goes well, it is estimated that the operation will be completed tomorrow night. However, Lin Xiangguang did not complain about the inefficiency of the command, after all, this involved diplomatic relations between the two countries, and once the Japanese found out that the British ships were receiving the wounded U-38, it would definitely cause a diplomatic dispute between Britain and Japan.

"Let's file it." Returning the telegram to Lin Lianfan, Lin Xiangguang whispered.

"Sir, are we going to call back?" Lin Lianfan asked. After sending Li Kongrong onto the boat, the atmosphere in the boat became cheerful again.

"Can't call back right now." Lin Xiangguang shook his head, "We have to go south first, and then call back to Hangzhou Bay." ”

Lin Xiangguang adjusted the course of the submarine again, so as not to reveal that he was in the sea off the mouth of the Yangtze River or was going to Qingdao. In the eyes of the Chinese people, the sinking of the U-38 Mukden Maru was a righteous act, but in the eyes of the American press, the sinking of the cruise ship without warning was no different from that of the Nazi Navy, which made the Navy Command feel very passive. In this case, the Americans did not respond to the Navy's request for help, and the British side, relying on the relationship of MI6, only responded in 24 hours, but the telegram sent U-38 did not call back.

"Didn't there be an accident?" A telegram was sent in the afternoon, but there was no response after dark, and Lin Guogeng was very worried.

"How is that possible?" In the evening, it was a Sunday meeting, and the heads of all the places were basically there. Colonel Chen Jingqian, the quartermaster chief, immediately shook his head when he heard Lin Guogeng's concern, "Hansheng is a lieutenant general, no matter how you look at it, it is not a premature death. It's just radio silence, and maybe their telegram will be turned later on. ”

"It's so inconvenient to have the headquarters in New York." Colonel Cai Shiqin of the Military Balance Department sighed with emotion.

"In the second half of the year, the situation changed." Lin Guogeng, who knew the Navy's combat plan for this year, interjected, and he no longer thought about the U-38 submarine, but talked about the Marine Corps. "When will Brother Baitao return to China?"

"He hopes early next month." Lin Guogeng talked about the Marine Corps, and Yan Shouhua did not mention submarines for the time being. "The ship has been arranged, the voyage is a bit roundabout, you can't go to the Pacific Ocean, you have to go to the Atlantic."

"And if it's a secret?" Lin Guogeng asked. The ship's biggest concern was the Japanese spies, who had a high chance of sinking the American merchant ships if they discovered the Marines on board.

"They're going to be scattered all over the U.S., and we've coordinated with U.S. Customs so that they don't attract attention when they leave customs." Yan Shouhua said. "The newly launched Yingrui may accompany the escort while transporting a group of saboteur attack aircraft to Myanmar."

"Yingrui?" The Yingrui was purchased and docked in October last year, less than three months ago. Lin Guogeng asked, "Is this too late?" ”

"If only the time could be graced until April, it would be too late." Ma Deji of the Naval Ordnance Department. "The shipyard has already changed its experience, if the hull is not extended, and the armor is not laid, the eight-thousand-ton ship is not fast for five months, and the other month is the sea trial time, it depends on Xiu Ruo."

"Yingrui and Ninghai are of the same level, so it shouldn't be a problem to be familiar with her." Fang Ying continued, "But April seems to be a little late,"

"Hansheng also felt that it was too late." Lin Guogeng said, "And what if there is an escort by Yingrui?" Once the Japanese fleet comes, such a training aircraft carrier will not only be useless, but may also attract the attention of the Japanese. ”

For example, when it comes to transporting airplanes, after the United States amends the Neutrality Act, arms are allowed to be sold, but the export of these arms requires the approval of the military. For example, the aircraft must first send a prototype to the Army Airlines for test flights, and the Army Airlines says that it can be exported, then it can be exported. The Army Aviation is not interested in carrier-based aircraft, but the Naval Aviation Agency has always disagreed with the export of the F5F, and now there is no explicit ban just because of the new German aluminum alloy and F6F prototypes. However, neither of these can be solved in a short period of time, the Swiss metallurgical research laboratory is not sure when the new aluminum alloy will be imitated, the prototype of the Grumman F6F will not be able to test fly until a few months later, and the navy now has only a new aluminum alloy test report.

While others were debating whether to escort or not escort the merchant ships of the Marine Corps, Lin Guogeng thought of a new aluminum alloy and F6F prototype. He couldn't control the former, and he was going to ask Chen Wenlin of the Aviation Department in the latter: "How is the F6F, when will it be able to test fly?" ”

"I'm talking to Mr. Grumman to promise a test flight in May." Chen Wenlin is also keeping an eye on F6F. Theoretically, the 6F has better performance than the 5F, with more power, higher propeller efficiency, and significantly lower drag and weight. Compared with the 6F, he even had the idea of not wanting the 5F, but Li Kongrong believed that it would take at least one to two years for the F6F to mature, and if the United States entered the war, the fleet would probably not get the new F6F until 1943.

"Can't you just go ahead?" Lin Guogeng said, "The F6F test flight report is related to whether the Naval Aviation Administration will release the F5F. If there is no news about the new Swiss alloy, we can only hope that this test flight report will impress those officials. ”

"I'll go to Grumman tomorrow to talk." Chan knows how important things are. "Let's see if we can test fly in April."

"It's as if we're driving the Americans forward." Chen Jingqian complained. "We now have at least three excellent carrier-based aircraft for the US Navy. We paid for the R&D, and they didn't let us sell it. ”

"Things will work out." Yan Shouhua said, he talked about Chen Shaokuan again. "Houfu returned to China yesterday, and it is impossible to negotiate with Chongqing in a short time, and the test flight time in April is enough, right?"

"It's hard to say. The efficiency of the aviation bureau is ......" Lin Guogeng shook his head when he talked about the aviation bureau, which reminded him of the former Qing Yamen. When Chen Jiliang is here, they will sell some face, and they are far behind.

"Report, U-38 calls back." A report interrupted Lin Guogeng's train of thought, his expression became excited, and he turned his head and said loudly: "Read." ”