The Bering Sea in July finally has some summer feeling, the sky is a little blazing sun, no more snowflakes, there is no ice floe on the sea surface and no storms, in the cool sea breeze, the waves gently lap the side of the Ninghai, like a mother with a baby in her arms. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Under the banner of the blue sky and white sun fluttering in the wind, this light cruiser, which has been at sea for nearly a year, is heading south with a long white track.

The captain of the ship, Colonel Gao Xianshen, stood straight on the bridge, and he habitually looked at the sea with his binoculars. Now he is full of stubble and grim face, although the sailors on the ship are high-spirited, but the year-old battle to break the diplomatic relationship has made him physically and mentally exhausted - the RB Navy round-up is getting tighter and tighter, and several times the Ninghai has almost suffered a tragic fate, but as the captain of the ship, he must be fearless and calm in front of the sailors. But every time he went to sea, his nerves were tense, and from time to time he would think of the fate of the German East Asian Fleet more than 20 years ago, and perhaps, he should find a port in a third country to dock and then anchor permanently.

"Right fifth, set." Lieutenant Lin Renji, the chief navigator on duty, skillfully gave the rudder order, and at the same time as he gave the order, the car clock 'bell' sounded, which was the engine room in response to his car order just now. It was just before half past two in the afternoon, and the Ninghai had to pass around Holland Harbor and cross the Bering Islands into the Pacific Ocean at night.

"Right fifth, set. Okay, let's set! The helmsman repeated the helmsman's command. At the moment, the speed of the Ninghai is decreasing - now it is time to wait for dark, there is no need to waste fuel while waiting.

"Is there any movement on the radio?" The colonel put away his binoculars and asked the question for the fourth time. He became more and more careful and relied on telegrams from Holland Harbor, where the Navy had a radio station to collect information from nearby merchant ships.

"Everything works." Lin Renji is also aware of the importance of information from the Netherland Port radio station. "In the last telegram they said that no Japanese warships were found in the vicinity, and it is said that they are now mainly concentrated in the South Pacific."

"Hmm. Be careful. Gao Xianshen took off his military hat and brushed his messy hair. After this break, we can rest. He brushed his hair back and put his hat back on, and spat out something that meant something.

"......" Lin Renji and the helmsman both looked at him, but after he finished speaking, he said into the microphone: "I am the captain Gao Xianshen, the commander of the fleet Chen called, and he agreed that after the end of this diplomatic break, the Ninghai does not have to go to sea again this year to break diplomatic relations." I ask you to remain vigilant and not slack off in this mission. ”

Gao Xianshen's speech in the microphone was quickly relayed by the officers of each cabin, and when they heard that this was the last mission to break the diplomatic mission this year, the sailors all shouted. They didn't know why the Ninghai had sailed again, just over a month after its last trip to the Bering Sea, but everyone rejoiced at the thought that they could stay on that luxury cruise ship until next spring after the mission.

"What kind of reputation is Commander Chen doing?" In the clerical room, Lieutenant Chen Hui, the quartermaster, was inexplicable about Gao Xianshen's speech. After the Ninghai captured the Longtian Maru, the Admiralty did not urge the Ninghai to go to sea, and everything was based on safety. This time the sea was so urgent, and he promised not to send the Ninghai to sea again this year, there must be something wrong.

"I guess it's the national government." In addition to the extremely boring quartermaster on the ship, the equally boring clerk Captain Hou Youchang often thought about some useless topics in addition to occasionally reading domestic newspapers to the officers and men on the ship. "But it's not right, Lan Feng has won a big victory, do you want our navy to also have a big victory?"

"Hey, I really want to go to the SH dance hall to dance a few dances......" Chen Hui actually didn't care about what was famous in China, what made him most uncomfortable was the long and boring ship life. Thinking of the bustling concession and the enchanting dancers in the dance hall, his heart beat fast, and he missed the good old days too much.

"I don't go to sea for almost a year when I come back this time, maybe we can go to Vancouver once......" Hou Youchang also felt that the life of the ship was boring, and when he was smiling and saying that he could go to Vancouver, his face suddenly changed: the warning bell was ringing!

A blue-painted Type 97 shipboard reconnaissance plane swept past the Ninghai mast, and the 7.7mm machine gun on the plane pulled out two scorching lines of fire, but it didn't hit anything, leaving only a few bullet holes in the blue sky and white sun flag floating on the mast. In the sound of the electric bell, the sailors quickly ran to their respective combat posts while raising their heads, but the plane was very clever to circle around the Ninghai, and the bright red plasters on the fuselage were extremely dazzling.

"Report! Plane... Sending a report, nearby... There may be Japanese troops ... Fleet. Captain Zheng Wenqi, the chief electrical officer, ran to the bridge with a pale face and stammered his words, and it took a lot of effort to finish the sentence.

"Got it!" Colonel Gao Xianshen pinched the binoculars in his hands, his brows were almost twisted together, it was not the first time he saw a Japanese naval reconnaissance plane, but it was the first time that he was swept overhead by a Japanese naval reconnaissance plane, and he was finally exposed!

"The course is zero ninety, and it is set." He then gave the order to take refuge to the east, and then ordered the engine room: "Four into four, full speed ahead!" ”

"The course is zero ninety, and the ...... is set; Four into four, full speed ahead" The helmsman and the car bell responded one after another, and as the Ninghai turned, the entire warship trembled, and at the same time that the chimney spit out thick black smoke, the Ninghai began its escape journey at the top speed of twenty-one knots.

"I think it's in this area." While the Ninghai was heading towards Holland Harbor at high speed, Li Kongrong, who was on the supply ship Fuqing off the coast of Florida, was flipping through the charts that Qiu Zhongming had collected—the completely hollow Marquesas Islands were an excellent marker, and he could finally determine that the wreck was ten kilometers south of the Marquesas Islands.

The location is actually very memorable, drawing a north-south vertical line at the western end of the Marquesas Islands, and then drawing an east-west parallel line on the south side of a small coral reef in the south of the archipelago, where the two lines intersect perpendicularly is the X-point, which is a scattered strip of artefacts discovered in 1983, which contains square ship nails, ballast stones, copper ingots and coins. Treasure hunters searched for the anchor from 1971, when the Marquesas Islands found the anchor, 12 kilometers west of the Marquesas Islands, where the anchor was found. They spent four years searching in the southeast direction, and in July 1975 they accidentally changed direction and began to search due east, then found five bronze cannons, and then went in parallel in both directions, until 1983 when they found point X.

Point X was not the end point, and treasure hunters searched further east in this direction for two years, that is, in July 1985, when the wreck of the Lady Atoka was discovered. Li Kongrong can't wait two years, and he doesn't have to spend two years. Later generations of treasure hunters were wary of the shipwreck being completely buried in the sand, so they searched every inch of the seabed carefully for fear of missing it - they only searched less than 30 kilometers in 14 years, that is, only 2 kilometers a year. Of course, Li Kongrong knew that the wreck was not buried in the sand, but a wall 90 centimeters high, 22 meters long, and six meters wide, and divers could search for this wall at the bottom of the sea at ten times the speed of future treasure hunters.

"Hansheng, are you sure you started looking here?" After more than 40 days of sailing, the Fuqing arrived off the coast of Florida, and at this time the captain was replaced by Colonel Fang Ying, who had the most experience in steering in the navy, which Lin Xianxin had designated him to come.

"Yes, just look east from here!" Li Kongrong drew a cross with the pencil in his hand at the X point, "At first, you can find it finer, but after determining the place, you can be faster, what we are looking for is actually a wall." ”

"A wall?" Fang Ying was ten years older than Li Kongrong, and he had doubts about this mission, but it was a direct order from the Admiralty, and there were the best divers in the Navy on board. "It's not something you can find in a day or two, it's the ...... off the coast of the United States."

"Don't worry, we have a lawyer," Li Kongrong said and took out a salvage company's license, "There is also a salvage company's license, and the US Coast Guard can't find anything wrong even if it checks." At most, I will pay ......" Li Kongrong suddenly forgot the tax standard in Florida, and he asked Qiu Zhongming, "How much tax do you have to pay?" ”

"Report to the Chief, no more than 20 percent income tax." Qiu Zhongming said. In Florida for several months, he has been familiar with the local situation, and he has inquired very clearly about how to avoid taxes and taxes.

"Alright, let's start fishing from here." Fang Ying looked at Li Kongrong's harmless smiling face a little helplessly, he never thought that the reconstruction of the navy would start by digging up the sunken ship, but the problem was that such a ridiculous thing was happening.

The Fuqing was just a small ship of less than a thousand tons, using a steam coal-fired boiler. It was originally one of the supply ships of the Ninghai, but Li Kongrong needed a ship of his own, and Lin Xianxi and Chen Jiliang coordinated and transferred her over and equipped her with the required personnel. It took 40 days for the Fuqing to stagger through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean Sea, and after three days of rest in the port of Cuba, the Fuqing, loaded with supplies and fuel, finally sailed off the coast of Florida. Here, the most dense domestic route in the United States, countless oil tankers from Houston in the Gulf of Mexico loaded oil to the ports on the east coast of the United States, so the Fuqing has not yet begun salvage, just from the speedboat from Fort Myers to carry salvage equipment, the United States Coast Guard came.

"Please stop the ship immediately, we ask to board the ship for inspection!" That's what the Coast Guard patrol boat says. Including Fang Ying, the whole ship did not wear military uniforms, and now that the American Guard is here, everyone is looking at Li Kongrong.

"Then stop the boat and let them come up." Li Kongrong smiled helplessly, he didn't expect him to be so unlucky, and he came to the door before the start of the guard. Fifteen minutes later, a small group of guards boarded the Fuqing.

"Sir, this is the ...... of U.S. territorial waters," Li Kongrong, Fang Ying, and a blonde lawyer stood at the bow of the ship to greet the Coast Guard soldiers. The sergeant leading the team saw a white man, and his tone was a little more polite. "I beg your pardon, we have to inspect the entire ship to determine ......"

"This is a chartered vessel from the Fort Myers Aix Salvage Company, and I'm Bernard, the company's lawyer, and that's my business card." Bernard, a lawyer brought from New York, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, politely and rigorously declared his identity.

The Coast Guard sergeant who took the lead in the "...... of the Aix Salvage Company" was a little suspicious, but Li Kongrong had already shown the license of the salvage company. May I ask who of you is David Robert Lee? ”

"I am." The salvage company is newly registered, and the legal representative is naturally Li Kongrong.

"Sir, your papers?" The sergeant handed the license to the person next to him and began to look at Li Kongrong, who was dressed in a suit.

"Here." Li Kongrong was already holding a license and a passport in his hands.

"You're British?" The sergeant looked at his passport, then at Li Kongrong, and felt that something was wrong.

"Yes, as you can see." Li Kongrong nodded, and then glanced at Bernard again, he was worried that the Americans would be looking for trouble.

"Sir, we found these things." While the sergeant was checking his documents on the ship, the soldiers entered the cabin to search, and finally they brought out the 'mailbox', a simple water spray device invented by later treasure hunters to use the clear water of the upper layer to wash away the turbid water of the bottom layer; "And this ...... "This one is a magnetic needle for searching for submarines, and a tool for finding steel." We didn't find stowaways, sir. The soldier finally reported.

"Mister Lee, what is this?" Hearing that there were no stowaways on the ship, the sergeant's face looked better, and it was precisely because of the blue sky and white sun flag flying on the Fuqing and the telescope that he saw that the ship was full of yellow people.

"A rinsing tool." The sergeant was referring to the 'mailbox', "The upper layer of this sea is very clear, but under a dozen feet, the water is very turbid, and we need to use it to flush out the turbid water." Sir, this is my exclusive secret, please don't tell anyone else. ”

"What about this?" The sergeant suddenly laughed, and then pointed to the magnetic needle.

"The tool for detecting steel is also my exclusive secret, and it can also be used to find German submarines in times of war." Li Kongrong felt that the previous tense atmosphere had become lighter, and they did not find contraband on the ship.

"Gentlemen, what are you going to salvage here?" The sergeant nodded and returned Li Kongrong's passport and company license, and the soldiers beside him had already copied all the passport numbers and company license numbers.

"Treasure." Li Kongrong handed over a cigarette, but the other party did not answer.

"Treasure?!" The sergeant laughed, but the laughter quickly subsided, and he said with a straight face: "Mister Lee, you must know that this place is close to the territorial waters of the United States, and anything that violates the laws of the United States is absolutely forbidden here. ”

This was a warning from the Coast Guard, and Li Kongrong did not make a sound, just looked at the sergeant and smiled, while the sergeant glanced at Bernard, the lawyer standing next to Li Kongrong, and finally warned: "I will keep an eye on you, Chinese." ”

The sergeant left the Fuqing with the soldiers, Fang Ying felt a handful of sweat when he saw this, and he said, "Find it early and leave early, this place is not easy to stay." ”

"That's not!" Li Kongrong shook his head, "Even if we find it, we have to look for it for a while longer, and then announce that we will find anything, and the fool will pay the 20% income tax." (To be continued.) )