The atmosphere in the Persian Gulf is already getting more and more tense!

China's move to the northwest and Tibet with great fanfare, and even the dispatch of the 1st Infantry Division and the 101st Central Guard Division, which are regarded as absolute trump cards, sent chills down the spine of Downing Street and Whitehall, and Prime Minister MacDonald and all the British people did not expect China to be so tough this time! Although they all understood that it was impossible to conduct military operations in Tibet this season, the Green Mountains were different. With most of Tajikistan embraced and turned into a Tajik province, the Wehrmacht could easily bypass the unattainable Himala Mountains and head south south to India through the green plateaus, so pessimists even believe that Delhi would fall in two weeks at most.

The strong smell of gunpowder can't be hidden! In order to deal with the possible outbreak of war, Whitehall is like a red-eyed gambler who has lost this time and takes out his last bargaining chip and orders the Rodney to reinforce the Indian Ocean!

The news is undoubtedly shocking! What was the battleship Rodney? It is one of the 7 battleships in the world (the Beijing class is not included due to caliber)! Together with the Nelson, it was hailed as the super ace of the British Empire! But such a "treasure of the town" sailed out of the harbor early in the morning.

Nelson's descendants finally spoke the hardest, and everyone understood that as long as the Rodney arrived in the Indian Ocean, the formation of a strategic strike force with the Rodney, Prestige and Counterattack as the core in the Indian Ocean would mean the complete closure of the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz!

"After all, this era is British, and without these straits, how can the Chinese Navy get close to the Persian Gulf?"

When Paris made such a noise, the position and mentality of some countries were shaken, and even Germany pessimistically predicted that the Republic of China would lose the confrontation completely, because they had lost access to the Persian Gulf. Everyone understands that as long as there is a passage, the British Empire will not dare to attack, but after the passage is lost, it will be a different situation.

The dispatch of the USS Rodney was strategic, and the super-battleship was still the king of the era, but just when everyone thought that China would soften first, Beijing once again issued a stern warning. And officially announced the indefinite suspension of the fulfillment of the Washington Treaty from now on!

Whitehall is straight to the fryer!

You must know that the Washington Naval Treaty is not a London Treaty that only restricts destroyers and cruisers, it is a general outline of the disarmament of the navies of various countries, and the withdrawal from the London Treaty is a big deal of a cruiser and destroyer race, but if it withdraws from the Washington Treaty, it means that the Navy will manufacture all warships, including battleships, without any restrictions at all.

If China announces its withdrawal, then Japan, France, and Italy will all withdraw, and in this case, will the United States still stick to the contract? The world has finally been completely turned upside down! Connecting Europe and Asia, there is the Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. The Persian Gulf region, where China, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union were able to intervene but were unwilling to act lightly, lifted the last fig leaf. The contradictions between the old and new worlds after the Peace of Paris were infinitely magnified by this crisis.

The Rodney was dispatched, Beijing stopped fulfilling the Washington Naval Treaty, and the invective and ridicule in the Palace of Nations reached its peak. China and Britain are engaged in the most serious maritime confrontation crisis since the European War, and hundreds of warships on both sides are chasing each other. This scene made the world's **oss finally unable to sit still, France began to increase troops in Syria just in case, and Italy also sent battleships to observe the movement. Germany, while supporting China, began to consider the construction of new battleships, Japanese warships wandered the South Seas, and Turkey was neutral. The Soviet Union secretly increased the number of troops on the Persian border even half to death, and the United States, known as the boss of the new world, was not at ease, and while expressing its demand for restraint from China and Britain, it accelerated the fulfillment of the contract to send machinery and equipment to China, and let its fleet transport the materials purchased by China to Riyadh.

In this winter-spring exchange season, 14 years after the end of the European war, China's access to the Persian Gulf was cut off by the Rodney.

Admit defeat? Never!

Inside the Fazabad base in northern Afghanistan. A group of young Chinese pilots are ready to push the limits. Announce to the world that we are in control of the sea lanes!

Under the high-power magnesium light, 48 specially modified Y-3 transport planes are undergoing final inspection. These look like JU52 Junkers aunts. However, the transport aircraft that has been enlarged a lot is the military model of the Albatross 1927 equipped according to the experience of the Afghan conflict, and the latest batch number has used three 950-horsepower Comet air-cooled engines, and the maximum range has been increased to 2,500 kilometers after enlarged wings and fuel tanks, making it the farthest flying aircraft in service in the Air Force.

But that's not enough!

Lieutenant Colonel Huang Guangrui, a first-class pilot of the Air Force, who had been baptized in European war, lay on the belly of his plane and carefully inspected the booster rocket. It's no secret that planes take off and climb the most fuel-guzzling, and the straight-line distance from here to the Gulf Oil Company's Ghawar oil field airport is 2,300 kilometers. It seems that it can fly over, but in fact, combined with the load and necessary margin, as well as the likely bad weather and the miscarriage of navigation signals that cannot be received, it is still not sufficient. Therefore, for this operation, Meteor and the Air Force worked together to add a temporary fuel tank in the cabin, and finally to help it overcome the high fuel consumption during the take-off and climb phases. Rocket boosters were also used for the first time, increasing the range to 3,000 kilometers in one fell swoop.

It's just that after doing so, there is not much that can be loaded, leaving aside the four-person crew and two Gulf Oil company technicians, and the cabin can only fit another 400 kilograms of load. Fortunately, this mission is to show the world that China has another way to go after losing the sea lane, so there is no need to bring too many things.

"Sir, it's all ready." After Huang Guangrui got out of the belly of the plane, the crew members involved in the operation all gathered around, and a sergeant who was eating a boiled egg came out of the crowd and raised the egg with a smile:

"Sir, do you want a few? After a while, it will be gone. ”

Huang Guangrui knew this sergeant, his name was Xu Huansheng, a graduate of the Nanjing Aviation School of the Air Force in 1928, and he is currently the co-pilot of the No. 51075 bomber of the 5th Bomber Wing of the Air Force, and he is also one of the 68 young pilots specially transferred by the Air Force to accumulate experience in this operation.

"You kid knows how to eat, leave me some for the British." Huang Guangrui smiled and scolded and walked among the pilots, reminding again: "Remember it all for me!" We're going to fly for 9 hours! It was 3 hours in the dark, and the fuel was not very sufficient, so this take-off required a dense formation, and there would be no circling formation, and each plane must turn on the navigation lights to indicate the aircraft behind after the day. Try not to accelerate sharply to reduce fuel consumption. After rising to 6,000 meters, one engine is used to fly, and the other two are smooth to save fuel consumption. The navigator should pay attention to the fact that the songs of the oil field navigation tower and the Riyadh radio station are not the same, and the triangulation is carried out immediately after receiving the signal. Don't be relentless if something breaks down or falls behind. Come back immediately, if you can't do it, fly in the direction of Persia, find an open space and blow up the plane after a forced landing! Contact the local Persian government and they will take you to Tehran. ”

"Do you understand?!"

The boys were in high spirits and shouted in unison: "Understood! ”

"Let's go."

Huang Guangrui was the first to drill into the engine room after giving the order, and as the hatch was locked, the transport plane slid towards the runway in groups of four or four. When the oil rod was pushed to the bottom, the four rocket boosters at the bottom of the transport plane suddenly erupted into shining orange-red flames. Forcibly pushing an almost fully loaded transport plane into the sky.

One group. After the two groups waited for the 12 specially modified Yun-3 groups to take to the night sky, eight Falcon C fighters followed suit.

At the same time as the fleet took off, the Tajik "Tien Shan Navigation Tower" sent a telegram that would later become world-famous.

"The eagle has taken off."

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Holm this strait, 1 p.m.

The heavy cruiser Kent flew a full flag. The sailors of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet stood on deck, cheering as they watched the battleship Rodney approaching slowly in the distance. No one knew better than the Navy what the battleship Rodney meant, with three triple 406 mm/45 x caliber guns. 6 twin 152mm/50x secondary guns, 6 120mm/45x guns, and 8 40mm anti-aircraft guns together represent the most powerful power of the British Empire!

After two thunderous whistles, the Rodney began to slow down, and the two light cruisers and several destroyers around it spread their guard. Before boarding the transport boat, the captain of the USS Rodney, Andrew Rodney. George. Major General Cunningham deliberately tidied up his clothes.

When boarding the Kent. Roger John was already waiting at the gangway. Compared with the latter, Cunningham was a little less qualified, so he immediately saluted and reported like a petty officer: "General." The Rodney was ordered to come to the rescue. ”

"Welcome, Andrew."

After exchanging greetings, Cunningham and Roger John asked, "Did the Prestige find that fleet?" ”

Immediately after the outbreak of the Saudi crisis, Whitehall ordered the battlecruisers Prestige and Counterattack to track down Task Force 21, but to this day, the two battlecruisers have only encountered aircraft a few times, but they have never been able to catch each other, which is also a headache for Roger John. Although the aircraft carrier and heavy cruiser were not battleships, if such a fleet was allowed to make trouble in the Indian Ocean, Britain would not be able to concentrate on dealing with the main forces of the Chinese navy gathered in the South China Sea in the event of a real war.

"Damn, now they (referring to the British Parliament) should know how bad it is to cut the budget of the Navy." Cunningham was also very helpless when he learned about it, because of the economic downturn in recent years, the British Navy was seriously weakened, especially after the cruisers suffered heavy losses, and he could no longer replicate the grand scene of mobilizing hundreds of warships to hunt down the "Spee fleet" during the European war.

The Indian Ocean is too large to search every corner without a sufficient number, not to mention that the opponent has also made clever arrangements this time, all of them are extremely fast warships, so it is very difficult to capture them unless they take the initiative to approach the near sea.

"The aircraft carrier Brave is already on its way, and the planes will be able to find them quickly." Roger John was not as worried as he was, and said: "Even if it can't be found, the Far East Fleet has already blocked the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait, and if they can't be replenished, they will be exposed." ”

"I hope so." Unable to find a good way, Cunningham had to focus his attention on the Saudi side first, and was just about to ask about the local situation, when a low buzzing suddenly sounded in his ears.

"Airplane!" Trained British sailors immediately discovered the source of the sound.

Cunningham and Roger John looked up and saw a large group of planes appear in the northwest direction. It made them wonder how there could be such a large fleet here. Looking at the plane getting closer and closer, a bad feeling suddenly rose from the bottom of the hearts of the two of them.

"Let Marne go up and see, the anti-aircraft cannon is ready." Cunningham's reaction was already very fast, but it was still much slower than Yunsan, who had consumed most of the gasoline and was as light as a swallow.

When the British sailors hurriedly refueled the seaplane and pulled out their gun jackets to prepare, they did not know that cheers erupted almost simultaneously in the group of transport planes overhead. Then dozens of young pilots ignored the increase in fuel consumption caused by turbulent airflow, and urgently opened the hatch, and then moved baskets of raw eggs over, looking at the British ** ship that was getting closer and closer, and their eyes were full of excitement