Han Mingguang asked, "What is the more important question?" ”

Lin Yuan said: "I want to convince Western countries that the Ryukyu Kingdom really has a fleet. ”

Han Mingguang said: "By the way, this is also what I want to ask, the construction of the navy is a very complicated matter, and it has been less than half a year since the founding of the Ryukyus, how can there be a naval fleet?" Lin Yuan glanced at his watch and said, "It's noon time to eat, please go and eat first, and when everyone has eaten, Westerners will believe that there is a navy in the Ryukyus." ”

When everyone saw what Lin Yuan said, they all looked at each other, and they didn't mean to move, Lin Yuan said to Han Mingguang: "Comrade Political Commissar, take everyone to dinner, especially the old experts, you must eat on time." ”

Han Mingguang got up and beckoned everyone to go out, only Lin Yuan was left in the room, he contacted Shen Wanqing and asked, "Do Westerners know the news of the Ryukyu Dispatch Fleet?" ”

Shen Wanqing said: "At noon today, I deliberately had dinner with reporters from several major news agencies, and they all regarded this incident as a joke, and they didn't even believe that there was a fleet in the Ryukyus. ”

Lin Yuan said: "It doesn't matter if they believe each other or not, the important thing is to make those who engage in intelligence believe it." ”

Shen Wanqing said: "How can you make them believe it? Although the Ryukyus are now engaged in free ports and banks, not many Westerners go there, and the special areas set aside by the Ryukyus are not allowed to enter and leave at will. ”

Lin Yuan said: "It is precisely because of this that when they want to inquire about the Ryukyus, it will definitely be too late to send someone over, and the fastest and most convenient way is to use public reports to collect information about the Ryukyus." ”

Public reporting is newspapers, magazines and other publications, using them to collect intelligence on the opponent's side, is an important method on the espionage front, the well-known Israeli intelligence agency "Samod" admits that 65 percent of their intelligence comes from public reports, Shen Wanqing is certainly no stranger to this method, in the spy agency, there are many intelligence analysts, who are responsible for obtaining intelligence from public information, but she is a little unable to figure out what to do.

Lin Yuan said: "The specific way can be like this, you publish some small articles in the newspaper, these articles are about the Ryukyus, put them in the column of exotic anecdotes, and those intelligence officers with ulterior motives will have a great chance of analyzing the results we want after seeing them." ”

Lin Yuan briefly introduced the method to her, Shen Wanqing was originally an expert in this, and she understood it as soon as she heard it, and soon, a copy of the number was sent out.

A copy was soon sent to Major Royce, the intelligence officer of the British Embassy, and as an intelligence officer in the British Empire in charge of analyzing the Qing Dynasty, every newspaper he had to read.

When he got the newspaper, he was overjoyed, and when he heard the news of the Ryukyus sending out a fleet, he was very shocked, and the proud and conceited goal of the British Empire's naval construction was to exceed the size of the second and third powers combined, so you can imagine how they reacted when a newly established small country suddenly appeared with a fleet.

The senior intelligence officer of the British government quickly ordered to find out whether there really was a fleet in Ryukyu, and this task fell on Major Royce, who was worried about this order, Ryukyu was a corner that had been neglected for a long time, and now he suddenly wanted his intelligence, where to get it? It just so happened that Kanto reported an issue of the issue, giving a comprehensive introduction to the customs and customs of the Ryukyus, and he couldn't help but smile lightly, everything in the world of the great thousand worlds is connected to each other, as long as the experience and knowledge are enough, you can always see the connection between the two things that others can't see.

He opened the first edition, and there was an article about the city of Ryukyu, and he read it once, but he didn't find anything valuable, and when he looked at it for the third time, an illustration came into his sight, it was a map of the streets of Ryukyu, and the streets were full of shops, and it had a very Western feel, and he stared at the picture for a long time, and he always felt that there was something wrong in the picture.

A flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, he quickly took out a magnifying glass from the cabinet, looked at the picture, and finally understood that something was wrong, it was the inconspicuous restaurant on the street, and under the name of the store written in Chinese was a line of small German characters!

Royce called in a translator and learned that the line of German meant: Temporarily closed, in Ryukyu kind of place, why would there be restaurants written "temporarily closed" in German, and it should be written in Chinese!

Royce zombie general motionless, this is his favorite way of thinking, and suddenly he understood, this restaurant serves two kinds of people, locals and Germans, what do Germans do in the Ryukyus?

Royce picked up the phone and said to his secretary, "Give me a copy of Germany's overseas trade." ”

Putting down the phone, Royce began to think, there are Germans in the Ryukyus, what are the Germans going to do there? Travel is absolutely impossible, what is there to see in that place where birds don't poop, will it be commercial trade?

Soon the secretary sent the information, because there were no planes, the transoceanic trade in this era only relied on the sea ship, in order to ensure safety, each ship will be registered with the government of the country before departure, or insured in a commercial insurance company, stating the goods they transport, destinations, routes, supply stations and other information, this information is from those places, has a high degree of credibility.

Royce quickly flipped through the information, there were no Germans engaged in trade in the Ryukyus, so there was only one possibility left, these Germans were secretly sent to the Ryukyus to help build a navy, the two major elements of the navy, people and warships, there is already one of them, so will there be another?

Royce continued to look at the pictures, and another street scene caught his attention, a young Ryukyu girl, standing on a hillside, in the distant background, there was a faint peculiar building, several chimneys smoking, and on the chimneys, a few tall erected jars could be faintly seen.

Royce looked at them curiously, his wealth of knowledge allowed him to quickly make a judgment, it was a blast furnace for ironmaking, he knew that the British government had sold a batch of steelmaking equipment to the Ryukyus, but was that steel enough to build a fleet?

Royce asked for the information of the blast furnace and converter sold by the British government at that time, and calculated the steel production of the Ryukyus, from the quantitative point of view alone, these steels were enough to build five or six warships, but there was no way to build warships with steel alone, and there were a large number of components on the warships that needed to be made into various shapes, such as the keel of the ship, which was the connection between the bottom of the ship and the side of the ship, and the steel plate was bent to a certain bend, and the strength and stiffness were also guaranteed, and special equipment was required.

Does the Ryukyus have such equipment? It must have been given to them by the Germans, and the Germans supported them for the purpose of fighting with Japan, and the enemy of the enemy is a friend, and by doing so, Germany is not secretly suppressing our British Empire!

Thinking of this, Royce sent back the news to his superiors: There is a high probability that the Ryukyus have already built a fleet!

These were carefully designed by Lin Yuan and Shen Wanqing, who not only did they manipulate an out-of-the-box issue, but also published such hints in subsequent newspapers one after another, so that the West, led by Britain, firmly believed that the Ryukyus had a fleet.

After a short break at noon, everyone returned to continue the meeting, and Lin Yuan said, "Now let's discuss how to defeat the Japanese fleet. ”