After a busy few days, I have to think about the problem that Professor Yuan brought back from the UK. He brought back the news that the British had asked the Naval Resistance Army to send troops to the Indian Ocean - to escort British merchant ships.

The increased strength of the Maritime Resistance Force has increased its influence on South America and even attracted many business opportunities. The trade between South America and the Statue Island is booming, and many goods do not need to be purchased by the Maritime Resistance Army, and many merchants have begun to take the initiative to deliver goods to their homes.

However, another aspect of the increase in strength is that the Naval Resistance Force has already attracted the attention of the major international forces. For example, the British, the British will not let the naval resistance army side with the Germans in any way.

On the issue of the fulfillment of the land treaty, the British have been very good, and the British have not sent troops or government on the island of Nauru. As for the port of Hambantota in Ceylon, the British said that it could be handed over in October.

In comparison, the French are a bit less cheerful. The French are now beginning to repent on their sovereignty over the Polynesian islands, and neither de Gaulle's Free France nor Vichy France, which has surrendered to the Germans, recognize the treaty. The French are really ignorant of current affairs, and Li Guang naturally will not give up easily.

It is a matter of military affairs, and Yuan Ye cannot call the shots. In addition, Professor Yuan's contact with the Naval Resistance Army was all through British commercial radio, and there was no possibility of secrecy at all. The military strength and equipment of the Naval Resistance Army are all confidential, and in short, this matter cannot be communicated on the telegram. When Professor Yuan returned to the Stone Statue Island, the most important thing was to discuss this issue.

Why did the British Empire think of inviting Li Guang to send troops? It all started with the Dunkirk retreat.

On June 10, the Italian fascists saw that the Allies had taken the opportunity to declare war on France. The Italian army crossed the Alps into French territory and stabbed France in the back. However, the Italian knife is probably made of erasers, which are props for the movie, and they were beaten severely by the weak French army.

Italian Prime Minister Mussolini really can't hang up on his face, and he can't get a change of direction here. On July 4, 1940, Italian fascist forces based in Ethiopia launched an offensive against British troops in Sudan and Kenya. Initially, due to the weakness and unpreparedness of the British army, the Italian offensive went very smoothly, and soon occupied some strongholds in Sudan and Kenya. On 3 August, the Italian army began its offensive against British Somalia. Berbera was occupied on the 19th, and most of the British troops were forced to withdraw to Kenya. However, due to the difficulty of supply, the Ethiopian guerrillas were very active, and the Italian army lacked the means to suspend the attack.

It is clear that now the presence of British troops in Africa is threatened. And the homeland of the British Empire was still suffering from the indiscriminate bombardment of Hitler's air force. The British did not have enough troops at hand.

Strategically, Italy's occupation of East Africa stuck the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Even if the Suez Canal is still in the hands of the British, what is the use of the magic horse? In short, if the British commercial route continues to develop at this rate, it will have to make a detour through the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

The detour to Africa is not only a long route, but also windy and dangerous. It was definitely not a good choice for British merchant ships. Therefore, the British asked the Maritime Resistance Army to escort their merchant ships.

Even if the British had such and such needs, Li Guang would not risk the lives of the soldiers of the Naval Resistance Army to work for the British.

Looking at Professor Yuan's burning gaze, Li Guang suddenly realized that he might still suffer in the international intrigue.

But who is Professor Yuan? A real human spirit. If Professor Yuan can be made to suffer, the British may not be able to do it.

So Li Guang asked: "What conditions did the British offer?" ”

Professor Yuan, who was polite and polite, smiled like a fox at this time and pulled out a piece of paper.

The conditions put forward by the British were tempting enough, and the combat mission was clear, to strike at the various ports of Italy along the coast of East Africa, escorting ships in the Gulf of Aden.

The remuneration was two hundred thousand pounds per month for a battleship, sixty thousand pounds for a cruiser, and thirty thousand pounds a month for a destroyer. Thirty thousand pounds per month for a submarine. Ammunition and fuel were all provided by the British army.

However, if the battleship is sunk, you will bear the consequences.

An additional condition is the sale to the Naval Resistance Force, the aircraft carrier's arresting cable device, and other accessories of the aircraft carrier, excluding fighters.

Another piece of paper indicates the naval power of Italy in the waters around the Gulf of Aden. A couple of minesweepers, a couple of small gunboats, the power is not worth mentioning. The only thing that had some strength was that France had a few naval forces there, such as gunboats and small destroyers. In short, on the surface, there is not much danger.

In Li Guang's view, this is because Britain wants to tie the naval resistance army to the same boat, otherwise with the strength of the British Imperial Navy, it should not be able to use the naval resistance army. A random fleet can accomplish such a task. The British Empire had eight search fleets in the Atlantic, and any fleet had the power to deal with battleships. The British were the first to deal with the German pocket battleship Count Spee, which was the squadron under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood (i.e., the G Search Fleet). Based in the Falkland Islands at the southern tip of the Americas, the fleet served as a patrol and alert in the western part of the South Atlantic. The Germans were now rarely present in South America, but the fleet was still stationed in the Falkland Islands.

Li Guang's guess is very reasonable, but the actual situation is that the British really can't draw troops. The Naval Resistance Forces could only get some information about naval battles from the radio, but they could not accurately know the naval battle information of Germany and Britain.

The situation in the Atlantic is slightly different from history, in which the Germans suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Norwegian, losing almost eighty percent of the destroyers alone, and it was quiet for a while.

But now, although the British navy still has absolute superiority, there are many troubles. Since the beginning of the year, the Germans began to increase the number of submarines ordered, and by September, submarines were already raging in the Atlantic.

Coupled with the fact that France fell into German hands, German submarines could now easily enter the Atlantic Ocean from the French coast of Biques Bay. The British Navy was busy blocking German submarines.

In addition, the Mediterranean Sea is also full of war clouds, and although Britain's fists are numerous, they are somewhat insufficient.

In fact, Li Guang should be able to deduce from this situation that from the beginning of the year to September, Germany purchased a total of 4,000 tons of Li Guang's batteries, and if the Germans still use 60 tons on each submarine, they will be able to equip 60 batteries.

Moreover, the Germans continue to increase orders, and it seems that the expansion of submarines is far from the peak.

Historically, up to this time, Germany still had 22 submarines that could be used for ocean warfare, the same number as at the beginning of the war. It was not that Germany did not build submarines, but that the pace of construction was just about the same as the rate of loss. With an average of only nine ships fighting in the Atlantic, the threat to Britain was already big enough.

At present, the number of submarines used by the Germans for ocean-going operations is estimated by Li Guang to be definitely more than fifty. On average, the number of submarines operating in the oceans is twenty.

To cope with these twenty ocean-going submarines and hundreds of small submarines, the British are now a little exhausted. The wolf pack tactics of the German naval commander Dönitz began in history in October of the year 40. Now this famous submarine tactician has a large number of submarines, and as early as August, he had already sacrificed the wolf pack tactics as a big killer. It is believed that this wolf pack tactic will inflict more damage on the British. This is also one reason for the recent price increase of the Liberty Wheel, which is now priced at $1.5 million per ship, not far from the historical high price of $1.8 million. In fact, it is almost the same, you must know that the liberty ship built by the Oolong shipyard has no weapons and equipment at all.

In short, in addition to blocking the German mini-submarines in Bickers Bay, the British also had to fight against dozens of German ocean-going submarines, and the pressure was not small.

The idle British Far East Fleet was close enough to the Gulf of Aden, but small Japan took advantage of the fire to loot and occupied the northern part of the original French Indochina (Vietnam).

After the surrender of France, Japan began to put pressure on the Vichy government, and on September 5, the Indochina Dispatch Army under the South China Front was organized to invade Indochina, under the command of Nishimura Takuma, with a fleet of carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers, and shore-based aircraft based on Hainan Island to provide support.

On 22 September, Japan signed an agreement with the Vichy Indochina government to establish military bases and transportation rights, but limited to 6,000 Japanese troops stationed in Indochina, and a maximum of 25,000 troops throughout the colony for a given period. The last document of the agreement stated that the Japanese army, air force, and navy were prohibited from launching military attacks from Indochina unless agreed by mutual agreement.

This kind of unguaranteed agreement, unless Churchill is stupid, is not at ease with the Japanese devils in any way. If the Japanese did occupy southern Indochina, they would be close to the British stronghold of Singapa in the Far East.

Although the British Far East Fleet was nominally the main fleet of the British Empire, in reality the British naval power in the entire Far East was not very strong. And the core of the Indian Ocean Fleet is in Calcutta, India, and its strength is much worse than that of the Far Eastern Fleet, about the same as an empty shell.

It was also in this context that Churchill made a request for escort to Yuan Ye. To be honest, Li Guang felt that Churchill was really an old fox, who accurately grasped the strength of the Naval Resistance Army, and the tasks given should be said to be within the capabilities of the Naval Resistance Army, and the sweetness given was tempting enough.

The British's grasp of the navy was simply superb, and with two battleships on the surface, the British were able to roughly estimate the necessary attrition. It would not be so easy to feed two battleships, and if it were, the British Empire would not have only twelve battleships, and the United States would not have only seventeen.

The British figured out that Li Guang was short of money, and he was very short of money. What to do without shortage of money to pick up garbage in Dunkirk?

Li Guang thought about it, but he really couldn't find a reason to refuse.

In Li Guang's plan, once the battleships were in force, the most suitable target for the aircraft carrier should be Japan's Marshall Islands in the South Pacific. But now aircraft carriers are still being built, and battleships are really useless. Rashly entering the South China Sea, or entering the eastern coast of China, a battleship is definitely looking for death. In particular, the speed of this battleship is really slow enough, and once it encounters someone who is inferior to others, there is no possibility of escape.

Why don't you find a soft persimmon to practice your hands first?

To be precise, Italy's naval power can be tied with France for fourth, but it is actually slightly weaker, and it is definitely not a soft persimmon. But the Italian Navy did not go out of the Mediterranean Sea at all, and certainly not out of the Mediterranean. Not only the Atlantic outlet of the Mediterranean Sea was in the hands of the British, but even the Suez Canal, the outlet of the Indian Ocean, was also controlled by the British, and the huge fleet could not reach the east coast of Africa.

Maybe it doesn't seem to be too dangerous? Li Guang thought to himself.

And it doesn't seem to delay submarine operations.

It seems that the British won this game, and the treacherous and cunning British can be regarded as having the pulse of the Naval Resistance Army, and the tasks and remuneration are almost all tailor-made for the Naval Resistance Army.

Recently, the Maritime Resistance Army has made a lot of gains, but the cash on hand is very small, and Li Guang is in dire need of cash to maintain this huge fleet.

After making up his mind, Li Guang no longer hesitated. A few precautions were put forward, and Professor Yuan was given full responsibility for negotiating with the British.

The first point is the right of command. The fleet of the Naval Resistance Army can cooperate with the British Navy and Army, but the command of the fleet is fully under the command of the Naval Resistance Army.

Second, the air force of the Naval Resistance Force will also participate in the battle, and the British army will also be responsible for military expenses and fuel ammunition.

The third point is time. Li Guang is expected to arrive in Ceylon in mid-October.

In other aspects, Li Guang doesn't need to say much, Professor Yuan will definitely be more thoughtful than Li Guang thinks.

After deciding to send troops, Li Guang immediately got busy. Sending troops is not an order to open a large army. There was a lot of preparatory work in the middle, and although the staff of the Naval Resistance Army had shortcomings of one kind or another, it was quite qualified to do this work.

Even so, coupled with the fact that October 1 is the day when the port of Hambantota in Ceylon is connected, the Maritime Resistance Army still needs to transfer part of the army. Moreover, in the plan of the Naval Resistance Army, some industries also need to be transferred to Ceylon, so that the movement will be great.

In fact, Li Guang is busy, and Professor Yuan is absolutely not idle, Li Guang threw Professor Yuan a plate of materials and photos, and Professor Yuan was even busier. This time, when the Naval Resistance Army rescued the British and French troops in Dunkirk, Li Guang and several staff officers and crew members took thousands of photos and several video tapes. According to Li Guang's thoughts, if he didn't spread this great act of righteousness to all corners of the world, he would be too sorry for himself. This is a truly informative piece of propaganda material, which can easily be recognized by the British and American countries, and its benefits are simply immeasurable.

However, how to write an article sensational and moving, this thing is really not something that Li Guang can handle. This is something that only a true literati can play. Professor Yuan was naturally the most suitable person to organize this kind of book compilation work. Li Guang only has one reminder that the article is for foreign devils, and it is necessary to pay attention to the psychology of foreigners.

Li Guang has every reason to believe that once the book is written and published, the big seller will be secondary. It can definitely bring endless benefits to the Naval Resistance Army.

Not only that, Li Guang even considered making a movie, but the conditions were insufficient, so he could only put it aside for the time being, if Professor Yuan could find time to plan, Li Guang would definitely allocate funds to support it.

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