"Mr. Michelle, the latest intel, those things are on board. The ship, called Amphitrite (Fairy of the Sea), was destined for Drago. There is no doubt that the ship must have been loaded with weapons! "A man was reporting to Michelle, the second secretary of the British consulate in Boston.

"Are you sure there's a weapon on board?" Michelle asked.

"Yes. Just yesterday evening, some large parts were sent to the ship. It was a large part, though not very visible at night, and it was tightly wrapped, but it was a very thick tube in appearance, and I saw that it was probably forty feet long, and very heavy, and needed to be lifted onto the ship by the largest crane in the harbor. This is definitely not something normal, I suspect that this could be the barrel of a heavy artillery. ”

"More than eleven meters in length, very thick and heavy." Michel estimated it in his head, and then compared this size with the known figures of various weapons exported by the United States, especially heavy artillery, and the image of a weapon immediately came to his mind:

"MacDonald's Model 1889 11-inch Fortress Cannon! Caliber 11 inches, 42 times caliber barrel, 38.5 feet long, plus packaging or something, it's really normal to have 40 feet long. Besides, visual inspection may not be so accurate. Yes, it's probably this! These Boers are so mad that they even buy such things! ”

Although Michelle felt that it was not very cost-effective to spend $80,000 on this thing to build a fortress, in any case, it would be very troublesome if the Boers really had to build a fortress with several gates near the gold mine. This thing had a farther range and was much more powerful than any cannon that the British could drag to the vicinity of Johannesburg. It's a big problem anyway.

"Do you see how many of these things there are?" Michelle asked.

"I've counted, and it's twelve." The man replied.

"Twelve?" Michelle was taken aback, because even if the Boers were to prepare a spare barrel for these damn fortress guns on a one-to-one basis, that would mean that there would be at least six of these heavy fortress guns on that possible fortress. If that's the case, it's a big problem.

"Be sure to intercept that boat at sea." Michelle thought.

"Is there anything else besides these things?" Michelle continued to ask.

"There were also some trucks, and something that looked like towed artillery. However, the package is very tight, and the model number is not clear. The man replied.

However, there is no need to see clearly, the types of artillery produced by MacDonald Infantry Weapons Company are limited, the 70 mm infantry guns are drawn by people, the 76 mm caliber guns are mule-drawn guns, and only the 155 mm caliber heavy howitzer is left. The power of that thing...... Michelle couldn't help but shudder.

"Damn Yankees!" Michelle gritted her teeth and cursed in a low voice.

But now that they already know about it, and have even figured out which ship is transporting these supplies, the British still have a way to solve the problem. Although the British have not imposed an arms embargo on the Boers at present, there are still a lot of ways to detain the ship first, and then drag it until the matter is resolved, and it is not too difficult for the Royal Navy to let the ship disappear silently into the depths of the ocean.

"Good." Michelle said one last thing, pushing a small pocket from the table to the man sitting across from him, "Keep your eyes on." ”

The man silently put away the little pocket, then stood up and walked out. Michelle stayed inside, slowly finishing her coffee before getting up and leaving.

……

All the cargo had been loaded onto the ship, and Captain Haddock's ship lifted anchor and sailed out of Boston Harbor just after a flute.

"Alright, get moving, you lazy pigs! Slow down, the British will throw you all into the sea to feed the sharks! "On the fourth day after the Amphitrite sailed out of port and into the ocean, Captain Adolph began his magic show.

At the urging of the captain, the sailors hurriedly began to tear off a large piece of cloth from the hull of the ship and stick it on it, and the original light blue "Amphitrite" immediately became dark blue, and of course, the name of the ship became "Thetis".

Just as in Greek mythology, Thetis and Poseidon's queen Amphitrite were sisters, so were the "Thetis" and "Amphitrite" sisters. They were the same type of bulk carrier that was purchased at the same time. Except for the color of the paint and the name of the ship sprayed, they were exactly the same everywhere.

"Well done, boys!" Captain Haddock said to the sailors who had just finished renovating the ship, "Let those English fools go all over the ocean to find the Amphitrite!" These pig brains! Hahaha! ”

From Captain Haddock's triumphant laughter, it's not hard to know that the idea was probably the brains of the old fritters.

……

Almost at the same time, another ship, now known as the Thetis, docked at the pier in Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. French Guiana borders Brazil and is backed by the Amazon jungle, which is rich in a variety of woods, such as the famous Brazilian mahogany. The boat departed from Boston, where she loaded a batch of Brazilian mahogany and other woods before heading to Madagascar.

"Captain, are you loading these logs to go to Europe?" Port Officer Bernard said to Drogba, the captain of the "Thetis".

"Ah, no, let's go to Madagascar." Captain Drogba replied.

"Oh my God, is there something wrong with you? I don't remember that there would be a shortage of wood in Madagascar. The rosewood produced there is a very good wood. "Obviously, Bernard is familiar with all kinds of wood.

"Oh, it's none of our business, it's an order over there. We're just going to bring it to them, and maybe they'll buy it in India or even China as soon as they change hands. It's not something I need to think about anyway. Captain Drogba said, spreading his hands.

"Oh, I heard that in the East, there are people who use our wood to make fake antiques or something. Maybe these are the people who ordered these things. Bernard made up a plausible reason for this.

"Ah, probably, but it's not our turn. We don't care what they do with this wood, even if they use this to make cannons, it doesn't matter to us. Captain Drogba said with a smile.

"Well, as long as there is money to be made. What do you care so much for? Bernard also laughed.

The next day, the ship left French Guiana, then changed its skin in the Atlantic, became the "Amphitrite", and sailed towards the Cape of Good Hope.

……

"Guys, we got information that those Boers had ordered a batch of heavy weapons from the damned Yankees. If these things were really delivered to the Boers, it would have been even more difficult for the British Empire to get its hands on the gold mines. There's these things on it, so most of them don't go through the canal, but here, on the Cape of Good Hope. So the order was to find the boat, stop her, and detain her. Do you understand? Lieutenant Colonel Chris said very sternly to the officers in the room.

"Sir, rest assured, there is no path through the Cape of Good Hope where an eight-thousand-ton cargo ship can sneak through. We already knew the name of the boat, and with the pictures of the boat, we couldn't have let her slip through. An officer replied.

"Don't overdo it, Bill, if I were the captain of this ship, I would have chosen a stormy day to cross the Cape of Good Hope. Are you really sure you can catch every boat in such weather? You know, the odds of bad weather at the Cape of Good Hope are not small. ”

"Good Hope in this weather, unless he's crazy." The officer, Bill, muttered.

"For that kind of outlaw, as long as they have money, what would they not dare? What's more, he doesn't really need to take much risk, the largest ship here is only 2,000 tons, and the seafaring performance, especially in high sea conditions, is probably not comparable to the 8,000-ton cargo. In seas that are unnavigable for us, they may be able to barely make their way forward. So, it's not that simple! However, these Yankees certainly could not have imagined that the Royal Navy would dare to go to sea at any time. Therefore, we must deal with it seriously, and maybe we will need to go out to sea in strong winds and waves. Bill, you must take good care of your boat, and don't have problems in the wind and waves. At that time, it will be difficult to let those Yankees slip through like this. Lieutenant Colonel Chris said seriously.

"Don't worry, Lieutenant Colonel, there is no problem with my ship, as long as there is enough coal, she can keep sailing on the sea until the end of the world!"

"In terms of time, in a few days, the ship should be around here. Everybody's eyes are a little brighter. ”

……

However, things did not seem to be as complicated as Lieutenant Colonel Chris had thought, for only four days later he received a message from the patrolling cruiser on a rare sunny day:

"The freighter Amphitrite has been spotted and is approaching."

"Great!" Lieutenant Colonel Chris couldn't help but shout. Catching this boat is definitely a great achievement. He originally thought that he would retire with the rank of lieutenant colonel at most in his life, but now it seems that he still has a chance to be promoted to colonel before retirement.