The "Amphitrite" was discovered by the cruiser "Resolve". It was about nine o'clock in the morning. Captain Peterson was drinking coffee in his captain's room while reading some tabloids full of all sorts of popular content. The weather was unusually good on this day, the sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, even the waves became gentle, and the cruiser swayed slightly in the waves, which made people very comfortable. Peterson felt that there should be no discovery today, and those Yankees were not fools, they would definitely choose a not so good weather to cross the Cape of Good Hope with a boatload of arms against the British. Of course, this is dangerous, but the Yankees have always been afraid of nothing as long as they have money. Of course, the British are the same.

Just as Captain Peterson was comfortably drinking coffee, the voice of the lookout post suddenly came from the microphone on the side: "Captain, I found a cargo ship, it should be 'Amphitrita'!" ”

This discovery exceeded Peterson's expectations, but Peterson did not jump up directly like an American or an army bun and rush out to see what was going on, but continued to drink coffee slowly and leisurely, and wiped his mouth carefully with a napkin, and then slowly walked towards the bridge - the navy, especially the navy of the British Empire, has such an aristocratic style.

Slowly and leisurely onto the bridge, the first mate Balbo was already waiting there.

"Captain, look, over there." Balbo handed a pair of binoculars to Peterson. Peterson raised his binoculars and looked over there, and sure enough, there was a merchant ship there, with a light blue hull, a white superstructure, and a white-painted "Amphitrite" at the stern.

"Signal them to board the ship for inspection. Let the soldiers take down their gun jackets and get ready. "Although Peterson didn't think that the Yankees would try to resist after seeing a cruiser, it was a very, very happy thing to show the cannon to the people and then look at the faces of the other people.

The signal man hoisted the relevant flag, and the cargo ship on the opposite side began to slow down.

"Well, a wise choice. Isn't it? Peterson said.

"Yes, then get our lads on the boat and take them back to Cape Town." First mate Balbo said.

……

A small boat approached the "Amphitrite", which had been docked, and the American sailors on board cooperated to drop the rope ladder, and a British officer and several British sailors climbed up the rope ladder.

"Hello, I'm Drogba, the captain of this ship. Any questions, please? Captain Drogba said to the British officer who had boarded the ship.

"Hello, Captain Drogba, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lieutenant Darcy of the British Imperial Navy, and we suspect that there are prohibited items on your ship, so I need to check your logbook and temporarily detain your ship for a detailed inspection in Cape Town. Lieutenant Darcy said this politely, but his high chin made no secret of his contempt for the Yankees.

"My ship is full of legal supplies, and we don't have anything illegal. Your arbitrary interception of merchant ships on international routes is a typical act of piracy, and I would like to protest! Although this situation had been anticipated, and although his ship had made a great trip to sea for the purpose of catching the British, Captain Drogba was still very angry.

"That's your thing. I have to execute the command now. So, Captain, I hope you and your crew will cooperate with us, so that it is good for everyone. Lieutenant Darcy was still very polite.

"Hell yes! Whatever you're going to do! ”

Lieutenant Darcy went to the captain's room with a few sailors, first took the voyage records, and then signaled to the cruiser that "the target ship has been controlled."

……

In the Suez Canal, a dark blue cargo ship is queuing. An official from the Egyptian Port Authority and several Brits boarded the ship.

"Hello, captain, where is this boat going?" Looking at the drunken bearded captain and port authority official, the devout Muslim Basel frowned slightly.

"Ah, let's go to Bahrain first, and then to Mumbai." Captain Haddock replied.

"What's on board? We need to check it out. The port officer said.

"Some Brazilian sumac was shipped to India, where the rich people liked it. And some potatoes, flour, and so on, that were shipped to Bahrain. If you're interested, go see for yourself. Captain Haddock turned to the seaman behind him, and said, "Add, take them to the hold area." ”

"Yes, Captain." Eddie replied.

"Wait, Captain, can I see your nautical diary?" Said the Englishman who followed the port officer.

"No problem, you can come with me to the captain's room." Addock replied.

So the Egyptian port officer led a few men down to the hold with Eddie, the sailor, while the Englishman followed Captain Addock to the captain's quarters.

……

"Look, these are those Brazilian sumacs, not many, just a twelve." Eddie pointed to the "Brazilian suma" in the warehouse and said, "Do you want to go down and have a look?" ”

"No, let's go check out the others." Basel said.

Add breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn't really a big deal. The exposed ends of those barrels are wrapped in real Brazilian sumac, and there is no problem without careful inspection.

"Let's come over here." Add opened another warehouse. Here are all potatoes shipped to Bahrain. As Eddy pulled open the warehouse, several potatoes rolled out, and a stench of rotten potatoes poured into the noses of several people. Basel covered his nose and looked inside, and when he saw that there were piles full of potatoes, he shook his head and said, "Your potatoes are rotten." ”

"There is no way, the sheikhs of Arabia want a bargain. Anyway, it was cooked, sun-dried, and ground into powder, and few people could see that there was anything wrong. ”

At that time, Arab oil had not yet been developed on a large scale, and naturally there were no rich petrodollars for the Arab sheikhs. So at that time, most of the Arabs were poor.

Basel looked at it again, and then said, "Close the door, there's nothing to see!" ”

Basel didn't know that just under this pile of potatoes and flour were several trucks and 155mm howitzers.

……

In the captain's room.

"Would you like a drink?" Captain Addock handed the voyage record to the Englishman and said, "This damn place is so hot!" If I didn't have beer, I would have died of heat stroke. How about a drink? ”

"Ah, no." The Englishman saw that Addock had taken out another large glass, and said so.

Captain Haddock leisurely poured himself a large glass of beer, took a sip, and then said, "I said how long have you been in Egypt?" ”

"It's been five years." The Englishman replied absentmindedly as he flipped through the voyage records.

"Hell! Five years in such a hot place? You haven't melted yet? And, I know, it's hard to get beer in Egypt, right? I can't stay in a place like this for a day...... Really don't need a drink? ”

"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't drink." Said the British.

"Ah, if a man doesn't drink, is he still a man? You don't believe in their teachings, do you? ”

"How is that possible? I am a devout Christian. When it came to the question of faith, the British finally responded seriously.

"Oh, how can a Christian not drink alcohol? You don't know Jesus Christ ...... at the Last Supper"

Captain Haddock buzzed like an enthusiastic fly, making the Englishman's head a size bigger, and he hurriedly looked through the voyage records and saw that there seemed to be nothing wrong with them, and hurriedly took his leave.

After a while, the person who checked the cargo also returned. They shook their heads at the Englishman and said, "One qiē is normal." Then he said goodbye to Captain Haddock and left.

In the afternoon of the same day, Captain Addock's "Thetis" sailed down the Suez Canal.

……

"What is this?" A British soldier asked, pointing to a bunch of long, tightly wrapped cylinders.

"Open it up and see for yourselves. Brazilian sumac! Captain Drogba replied angrily.

"Are you transporting wood to Madagascar? Is there still a shortage of wood in Madagascar? An Englishman asked.

"People ordered this, we don't care what they want to do. We don't ask our customers what you want to do. As long as they're willing to pay. Please check it out, if there are no problems, we have to hurry. When the time comes, in case the date is delayed, you British will give us compensation? "Captain Drogba is clearly in a bad mood.

"We'll check it very carefully." Said the British.

That's what the British say and do. They brought in a crane and lifted the Brazilian sumaca one by one ashore, and carefully inspected them one by one. However, the results of the inspection were very disappointing to them, these tightly wrapped cylinders were really authentic, and they could not be more authentic air-dried Brazilian sumac.

"Hell, your ship is out of Boston, how can there be a Brazilian Sumu?" The British were a little angry.

"Hell, didn't you see that this wood has been drying for more than ten years? It's a transit, you know? "Captain Drogba looked like he was in a state of frustration.

In fact, if the British were more knowledgeable, they would have been able to see that the wood had not really been dried for more than ten years, but at most it had only been left there to dry for two or three years.

As for the rest of the cabins, they quickly checked them out, there were trucks, exactly the same numbers as on the intelligence, and they had also found what looked like howitzers mentioned in the intelligence - two-wheeled trailers that hauled wood. The thing stretched out a long stretch of traction arm to the side, and then the whole thing was wrapped in oiled paper, and it looked like a cannon in the dark night.

"Hell yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Chris could no longer maintain his so-called demeanor, he originally thought that he now had the hope of retiring from the rank of colonel, who knows, this is actually a complete intelligence miscalculation. The ship had already sent a telegram before it was brought back, and if it was held for a long time, it would definitely cause diplomatic problems.

"Reload the goods and let them go." Lieutenant Colonel Chris finally made such a decision.