Chapter 5 After the bell of the customs building spits out a series of solemn musical notes, it rings calmly eight times, which is eight o'clock in the morning, eight o'clock in the morning on the bank of the Huangpu River. www.biquge.info At this time, the workers of the docks were already working, and the muffled sound of the cranes and the evil horns of the dock workers, coupled with the steamers on the river and spitting out white steam, everything seemed to be the same as a few years ago.

However, around Suzhou Creek, Nanshi, and Zhabei, an area of 18 square kilometers enclosed an area of 18 square kilometers into an isolated island, and some of the houses outside were still in ruins. And inside, every corner is overcrowded, under the big sale, the tram full of advertisements is running as always, and the black-and-white stick of the red-headed Ah San directs the surging flow of people and traffic in an orderly manner, and the refugees who have never seen the world suddenly feel that the whole Shanghai has the greatest power in India.

However, people's hearts are chaotic - the newspapers often say that so-and-so was kidnapped, so-and-so was assassinated, and the Orientals laid down where and where ......, this is a newspaper, ordinary people do not often read it, they care about things related to their own fate - whenever they hear that the price of grain and rice has risen, these people immediately pull out the cloth bags and bamboo baskets, and run to the nearest grain store, but the news is always late, and when they run to the grain store, the queue to buy rice has already been full, winding like a moth.

"Thank you, boss." Yufeng grain store, peeled off the paint door panel on the side, white rice poured into a cloth bag, smiling buyers couldn't help but thank - after becoming an isolated island, Shanghai's major rice banks formed an evaluation committee, at the beginning of the year rice price limit 15 yuan per stone, but in the first half of the year, the Japanese army also tightened the rice system, the price of rice rose more than 20 yuan two months ago.

"Next," the guy in the store beckoned. Not far behind him stood the owner of the rice shop, a middle-aged man in a long robe, holding a hookah in his hand and a silver chain of pocket watches peeking out of his chest.

"Let's go! Give it a go! "A shopkeeper on the street ran wildly, and he rushed through the crowd and flashed into the store with the wind, and this behavior caused the whole team to look in fear, 'It's going to go up again,' someone said.

The shopkeeper whispered a few words in the boss's ear, and the boss didn't even look at the guy who sold rice, and went up to the attic on the second floor silently.

The account room in the attic of the "proprietor ......" looks very good, and when you walk in, you will find that his face is extremely immature.

"Send a report to Fuzhou immediately, the typhoon has entered Shanghai." After thinking for a while, the boss gave an order.

"Report, the typhoon has entered Shanghai!" An hour later, the Fuzhou Mawei Port Command. The director of the radio station, Chen Pan, personally read the telegram code to the commander, Major General Li Shijia, and after reading his salute, he prepared to turn and leave.

"Wait a minute." Lieutenant Colonel Ho Chi-hing, chief of staff of the 2nd Marine Corps Brigade, stopped him, "Is there any news?" ”

"No... Yes. Chen Pan shook his head hesitantly, and finally determined that there was no news.

"Is it possible that the radio is malfunctioning?" He Zhixing didn't give up when he saw this, "You ......"

"Report sir, all the radio stations were replaced with the latest American radio stations last year, and five sets were replaced at a time, and now four sets point to these two fixed frequencies, and if the other party calls, we will definitely receive them." Chen explained that the radio must be fine—the Admiralty has replaced its guns since last year, and all the old radio stations have been replaced.

"Forward the telegram. Remember to report the news immediately. Li Shijia also felt that there could be no problem with the radio station, the problem might be that the U-38 was not yet within the scope of radio contact, and of course it was also possible that it had already arrived, so he did not contact himself in order to be silent.

"Brother Kaitao, how is this good?!" Only the 4th Regiment of the 2nd Marine Brigade remained in Fujian, and the other units were transferred, and He Zhixing was the chief of staff of the 2nd Brigade, who graduated from the third phase of Baoding, and was a rare army officer born in the navy.

"There's no way to be in a hurry." Li Shijia looked at the calendar on the wall: August 23, and then shook his head helplessly. He knew the plan, and Sanduao, Putian and other places were even prepared to cover the cruise ship - in case he couldn't get out, he could hide. He then asked his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Ye Xinchuan, "There have been a lot of storms this month, is it possible to ......?"

"Report to the Commander, very likely." Ye Xinchuan nodded in agreement with Li Shijia's guess. "The last supply was off the coast of Honolulu, the time was August 7, according to the itinerary, it should have arrived three days ago, and now it is three days late."

"Wait a little longer......" Looking at the chart, Li Shijia said about the itinerary of the cruise, "The next stop is Hong Kong, and the next stop is Manila, we will have to work harder, but it is beneficial to the whole thing." ”

Li Shijia finally found some comfort, but he would not have been so optimistic if he had known that Germany would go to war in seven days and would notify overseas merchant ships to take emergency refuge three days before the war. The Scharnhot, which received an urgent telegram, was sure to return to Japan, and the Navy's capture was a waste of water.

What Li Shijia didn't know, Li Kongrong on the U-38 knew very well, but he couldn't help it, summer was the peak period of storms in the western Pacific Ocean, and he had to move forward at a speed below the sea surface for three days, and he was still nearly 1,000 nautical miles away from Fuzhou at this time.

After a month's voyage, the submarine cabin was no longer neat and clean, not only the stench was extremely damp, the unsealed rice and meat were all moldy, and the sailors almost had an accident when they abandoned the rotten material - in order not to stain the deck, all the moldy things were abandoned on the deck, and a group of sharks came to find them, and one of them fell into the water in panic, but fortunately, the sharks were attracted by the carrion and finally rescued.

"Sir, the Scharnhott has arrived in Shanghai." Shanghai's telegram was relayed by a high-power radio station in Mawei, which could theoretically cover more than 4,000 nautical miles, but the closer it was to Mawei, the clearer the reception. U-38 has been receiving messages from the Scharnholt that she left Yokohama on August 18, arrived in Nagasaki on August 21, and arrived in Shanghai today.

"When will it be in Hong Kong?" Li Kongrong also looked at the chart, and the East Asian continent was on the left side of the chart.

"It's about the 25th." "Then she will go to Manila, which is about the 27th; Then there is Singapore, and the time is about ......"

"No, she'll return to Japan in Manila." Li Kongrong interrupted his speculation, and then asked, "At the current pace, when will we get to Manila?" ”

"At the current rate...... Liu Yongren carefully measured the chart before saying: "If there is no storm, it will be around 8 o'clock in the morning on the 26th." Perhaps we could stop her on the Hong Kong-Manila route, then head east into the Philippine Sea and then at high speed toward Midway. ”

"Hong Kong and Manila are really not good places!" Li Kongrong looked at Taiwan and the Japanese South Pacific islands on the nautical chart, and felt that it was really not a good place to do it here. And before Germany went to war with Poland, the British and American fleets would search for the cruise ship.

"We ......" Liu Yongren wanted to say but didn't dare to say - if he acted a month in advance, it would not be so embarrassing.

"Sir, it's time to inform Mawei that they are ready to pick up the Hong Kong-Manila route, and the personnel who take over the cruise ship should board the ship in Shanghai or Hong Kong." Liang Xuzhao suggested. "The Jiankang also needs to be notified, and the time of the operation is set at seven o'clock in the evening of the 26th, and their side is also acting at this time."

"Okay." Li Kongrong's answer was very brief. After a while, he added: "Seven o'clock in the evening of the 26th is the latest time to act, and we will make a final confirmation in two days." ”

Liang Xuzhao drafted the telegram according to Li Kongrong's wishes, and immediately handed it over to Lu Ruping after he signed it, and Li Shijia, who finally received the telegram, was excited and cautiously measured the distance between Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Manila on the nautical chart, and in addition to forwarding the order to Shanghai, he also replied with a telegram to U-38.

"What Commander Li means is whether he can negotiate with the Hong Kong side so that the cruise ship will leave Hong Kong on the afternoon of the 26th." Liang Xuzhao said that he would hand over the telegram to Li Kongrong, and that the relationship between Li Kongrong and the British was not a secret in the upper echelons of the navy, so Li Shijia had this suggestion.

"A decision on this matter will be made in two days." Li Kongrong put the telegram on the table, thought for a little and then denied it. He was able to do this through MI6 connections, but he was worried about two questions: Will the British, who perceive something, come to eat black? Or Hong Kong is not doing things well, so that the German captain is starting to be alarmed.

"Understood." Liang Xuzhao immediately went to the radio room to call back.

Two years ago, Shanghai's Huishan Wharf was a bloody place, when the Chinese army stormed here was killed by all tanks under Japanese naval fire. In the landslide, a Vickers rushed down the dock without knowing the direction under artillery fire, and the turret blew up and landed on the bank of the Huangpu River. Now, the traces of the war of the past have long been collected by the Japanese.

The German liner Schänholt was parked at the berth, her mast towering, one in front of the other at the ends of the ship, between the two towering masts was a tall white cabin and a thick black chimney that was higher than the cabin. The Scharnhult-class cruise ships are powered by complex electric power and are manufactured using the most advanced electric welding technology – the forward-facing technology used by major countries to build warships is always tested on their own cruise ships, and the Scharnhult class is such an experimental product.

The cruise ship has lit a fire, the whistle urges the late passengers over and over again, and in the corner of the cruise railing, Zhang Junhe, who is connected to the head, hides the note, and then carefully goes to his cabin.

"As usual." After entering the cabin, Zhang Junhe reported the latest situation to his captain Wang Zhongliang, who spoke Japanese.

"Where's the weapon?" Wang Zhongliang asked about the weapon. He is a native of North Korea and graduated from the 10th class of the Central Military Academy. After Li Fanshuang set up the intelligence department, he recruited some North Korean action team members, and he was one of the team leaders.

"Here." Zhang Junhe handed him the note in the inner pocket, but he didn't read it at all.

"Good." Wang Zhongliang lit a fire to burn the note, and then he said to his teammates: "As usual." ”

As usual, the time for departure was up, and the Scharnhott, with its whistle blaring for a long time, activated the windlass, untied the cables and prepared for it, and with the trembling of the hull, the 18,000-ton cruise ship sailed out of the dock and sailed to its next destination.

As before, the news of the Scharnhot's departure from the Shanghai dock reached Mawei at first and then to U-38. However, the protagonist of the matter is not U-38 or Ponytail for the time being, but in New York. At the German Consulate General in New York on Fourth Avenue, Chen Jiliang, dressed in a lieutenant general's uniform, strode in, followed by a group of Chinese and foreign journalists.

"Excuse me......" The German guards immediately stopped Chen Jiliang, he looked at the yellow man in front of him suspiciously, and he didn't know why.

"I am Vice Admiral Chen Jiliang, commander of the 1st Fleet of the Chinese Navy, and since your country has recognized that our country and Japan are in a substantial war relationship, our navy will carry out the necessary inspections of all your merchant ships sailing to Japan, and if any prohibited items are found on them, they will be dealt with in accordance with international law." Chen Jiliang spoke Chinese, and the interpreter next to him translated this passage in German loudly under the flashing lights of reporters, and then Chen Jiliang asked to meet the German Consul General in New York and deliver an official note.

The presence of so many reporters at the entrance of the consulate naturally alarmed the German Consul General, and after understanding the situation, the Germans took the note with one hand and sneered: "Sir, where is your fleet?" ”

"Every part of our fleet in the sea!" Chen Jiliang was immediately relieved when he saw that the Germans had received the note. He then told reporters present: "From today onwards, the Chinese Navy will blockade Japan, but we will do so in strict accordance with international law, and we have not recognized that the merchant ships of countries that are in a state of war with Japan are not within the scope of naval inspection......

As Chen Jiliang spoke, the spotlight kept flashing. The next day, the news of the Chinese navy's announcement of the blockade of Japan was published in the New York Times, which said harshly that the commander of the Chinese Navy, Chen, had gone to the German Consulate General in New York yesterday to inform Germany that if necessary, his fleet would inspect all merchant ships sailing from Germany to Japan to determine if there were any wartime prohibitions on them, but his fleet had long since ceased to exist......

The Chinese Navy's note was seen as a joke by most people, but some were extremely sensitive to it, and on the same day the newspaper published the news, Ambassador Hu Shi and Consul General Yu Yanji in New York approached them.

"Commander Chen, I fully understand your desire to serve the country, but by doing so, you are undermining the already very unfavorable Sino-German relations," said Hu Shih, the ambassador to the United States, who had come after receiving instructions from Chongqing, pushing his glasses and speaking in a harmonious voice. "I hope you ......"

"Is there anything wrong with me saying that?" Chen Jiliang looked at Hu Shi and Yu Yanji. "The German Foreign Office has explicitly recognized that our country and Japan are in a state of war, so an arms embargo will be imposed on our country. That being the case, it was lawful for the Navy to inspect German merchant ships bound for Japan. ”

"This ......" The navy always makes trouble for the government, and the Longtian Maru incident made Hu Shi anxious, he said: "Commander Chen, the government doesn't like such remarks very much, and please try to exercise restraint." ”

"Restraint? It's too late, and the Navy can't restrain itself. Chen Jiliang looked at the table clock on the wall and smiled happily. (To be continued.) )