While the Britons were there recording the salvage process, in the distance, a few people in civilian clothes were watching them. From their every move, it can be seen that these men are all from military backgrounds, and in fact they are also sent by the nearby garrison to spy on the British.

But while it was clear what the British were doing, they had no intention of doing anything. Because the task given to them by their superiors was only to spy on the British, and did not let them do anything.

These soldiers were somewhat puzzled by this kind of order. But an order is an order, and they don't intend to question their superiors, so they didn't arrest anyone, even though the Englishmen had been around for a long time.

Otherwise, even if these British were hiding in the mountains, they would not be able to hide from the eyes of the garrison, let alone follow them all the way to the special bureau in Shandong.

The reason why they tolerate these British people walking around the neighborhood is just that they feel that there is nothing to avoid, after all, there is no secret in the affairs of Longkou Bay. It's like the 'Kongo' battle cruiser, wasn't it made by the British for the Japanese themselves, and the British know more about this warship than anyone else. And since there is nothing to shy away from, there is naturally no need to make a fuss.

What's more, taking advantage of this opportunity, you can also take the opportunity to show your strength―――――― although it is just fishing boats, but these ships are fished out and repaired, won't they become the combat power of the National Defense Navy...

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At the pier, I watched the battleship "Hanoi" gradually floating from the bottom of the sea. A group of Navy soldiers who had been preparing for a long time picked up their tools and waited for the salvage man to get the boat to the dock or nearby.

Thankfully, the boats were mostly sunk in the bay. Therefore, it is very easy to salvage, but if it is in the deep sea, I am afraid that the trouble will be much greater.

However, the Navy soldiers standing near the dock did not seem to be happy, to be exact, the expressions of these soldiers were mixed, some happy and some ...

Before an officer named Ren Jiang could interpret the expressions of his subordinates, he saw one of his subordinates walk up to him and say.

"Sir. Just now, a signal came from the ship, and the ship was injured more severely, and it was not very convenient to move. Let's get over..."

"Since that's the case, then let's go over...", but now even Ren Jiang's expression became a little complicated.

Signaling his subordinates to follow, Ren Jiang came to a small boat docked on the dock. Immediately after that, several more soldiers jumped up.

The boat is huge. can accommodate more than twenty people under it. Of course, it is not very convenient to row such a large boat, but as an officer, this kind of thing obviously does not need to be worried about by Ren Jiang.

Coming over, and when everyone had jumped up, a few soldiers quickly grabbed the oars and rowed slowly.

And looking at the 'Hanoi' battleship that was getting closer and closer, the expressions of Ren Jiang and the other soldiers became more and more complicated.

At this time, the 'Hanoi' was already on the surface. From the boat, it is clear that there are two huge gaps in the hull of the Hanoi.

"This battleship was probably sunk by these two gaps..."Looking at the huge gap that could easily burrow into an elephant, a soldier next to Ren Jiang muttered.

Ren Jiang has seen many similar scenes these days. The only difference is that some of them were completely blown up by torpedoes. And some, such as the one in front of you, at least have some potential to be saved.

If this were not the case, the Admiralty would not have chosen the ship for salvage.

Although the navy guarding Longkou Bay this time can be said to be guarding a treasure trove, in fact, the number of ships that can be salvaged and worth salvaging is not particularly large. But at least there is one in front of me.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense..."Interrupting the muttering of his subordinates, Ren Jiang, whose face was not very good-looking, spoke. Let's get on board..."

Hearing Ren Jiang say this, the faces of the soldiers on the ship became ugly.

Still, on command, they boarded the battleship. Such a large warship, of course, could not be only in charge of Ren Jiang and his group, in other directions, there were more than a dozen small boats also docked around the battleship, roughly counted, I am afraid that there are no less than 200 people.

I can just see that the expressions of these people are the same as Ren Jiang and them...

Although Ren Jiang's face was ugly, the person in charge of salvage on the ship was very happy to see them.

"Hurry up, I'll be waiting for you," said one of them, even waving at them.

"Damn...", a soldier next to Ren Jiang couldn't help but say. It's not your responsibility..."

Next to him, the other soldiers said the same, but those on the boat didn't seem to care.

After boarding the battleship, Ren Jiang and some other officers from the small boat first gathered on the deck, where an officer had already boarded the ship and was waiting for them at this time. When everyone had arrived, the officer first instructed the position of each team in charge, and then hurriedly stepped off the ship, as if he did not want to stay for a moment, leaving only Ren Jiang and them still standing on the deck.

"Okay, the official is gone, it's time for us to do our work next..."

Seeing that the officer had already left, Ren Jiang clapped his palms and said.

It can be seen that Ren Jiang also has some prestige here, and the others all nodded after looking at him, but they didn't seem to be in the mood to speak. So after nodding their heads, the teams left.

Ren Jiang and his subordinates carried tools and walked towards the cabin that belonged to them.

As they got closer, Ren Jiang's faces became more and more ugly.

"This is it...", pointing to the cabin, Ren Jiang glanced at his subordinates. Let's open it..."

"Yes," he said reluctantly, and several soldiers stepped forward with their tools and tried their best to open the hatch of the ship.

With a 'bang', a large stream of seawater gushed out of the cabin. Immediately after that, there were several corpses that seemed to be about to rot.

Ren Jiang and the others, who had already avoided it a long time ago, looked at these corpses, and they all looked like they were about to vomit. And the soldiers who were in charge of opening the door simply held on to the railing and threw themselves into the sea. When the water came out of the cabin, they were the first to bear the brunt.

If someone were looking from above at this time, they would see that in other positions on the battleship, there were some people who were vomiting like them.

――――――――――――――――――――

After resisting the thought of vomiting and putting on a mask on himself, Ren Jiang and some other soldiers walked into the cabin. As they entered, some soldiers were left behind to carry the corpses that had come out to the deck.

Wait until you walk into the cabin. You can clearly see that along with the seawater, there are many corpses in navy uniforms lying on the ground in the cabin...

From the raid of submarine forces on Longkou Bay to the present. It's been a few full months, even though it's winter and it's cold. However, it was not winter in Longkou Bay, in other words, it had already been soaked for a month or two at that time. After that, the sea became colder in the winter. But the corpses that had been soaked in the sea water for a long time were soaked in the sea, and it is conceivable what these corpses would look like.

This is also the reason why Ren Jiang and the others looked reluctant, and the officer on the deck hurriedly walked.

The Hanoi was sunk during the first wave of raids, and it was early in the morning, so most of the soldiers on board were sleeping in the cabins. As a result, when the ship sank, I don't know how many soldiers were locked in the cabin and sank to the bottom of the bay with the ship...

And Ren Jiang's task is to be responsible for cleaning up the corpses in the boat.

It's something that can't be helped. Because ship repairs can only be handed over to the shipyard, the problem is that you can't always send the soaked corpses with you, right? The workers of those shipyards had never been on the battlefield. Suddenly seeing such a scene, do you think they still have the heart to work? So I had to let the army people get on the ship to clean up the corpse first, and then hand over the empty ship to the shipyard for repair, which was also the only way.

But to be honest, even Ren Jiang, a soldier who had been on the battlefield, couldn't stand it. Didn't you see that the officer also withdrew just now, if you have been on the battlefield, you have usually seen dead people, the problem is that Ren Jiang has not seen this kind of death a few times. And this time almost all of them have caught up, no wonder their faces are so ugly.

However, they had also cleaned a few ships before, and they had some experience, so they didn't spit it out directly like when they first boarded the ship―――――― as soldiers, they had naturally seen a lot of dead people, but they really hadn't seen anything like this.

Therefore, when they learned that a large part of the ships in Longkou Bay could be repaired, both the navy and the officials of the national government were very happy (which meant that the cost of the navy could be reduced), but Ren Jiang and them, although they wanted to be happy, they really couldn't be happy...

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While the salvage work was still continuing, Zhu Erdian's car was not far from Yan Shao's presidential palace.

"President, Minister Zhu Erdian has arrived..."Leaning into Yan Shao's ear, Wu Qianqiu said softly.

"Has it already arrived?" Hearing that Zhu Erdian had arrived, Yan Shao bowed slightly. Let him go to the living room first and wait a while, and I'll go over right away..."

"Yes!"

After changing his clothes, not long after, Yan Shao appeared outside the door of the living room, and through the open door, he could clearly see that Zhu Erdian was sitting on the sofa with his deputy, tasting the black tea that had just been served.

"Mr. President..." Seeing that Yan Shao had arrived, Zhu Erdian and his deputy politely got up from their positions, and then nodded to Yan Shao to say hello.

"You two, please sit...", making a gesture of please sit, Yan Shao walked to his seat.

After motioning to the waiter to get him a glass of juice, Yan Shao looked at Zhu Erdian. "Mr. Minister is here for that, right?"

"Of course," Zhu Erdian said with a light nod, and put the black tea in his hand on the table. At the moment the Entente are at war with the Central Powers for the cause of humanity............... I believe that Mr. President already knows this, although the victory of the Entente is in hand, but the high seas fleet of the Central Powers should not be underestimated, and the purpose of the contemptible people's visit this time is very simple. It is hoped that your country will be able to provide the three dreadnoughts owned by your country to the Entente countries, whether in concessions or transfers. I believe that the Entente will be able to offer you a very good price..."

Before the United States, London was the financial center of the world, and its economy was very strong. The reason why the financial center was ceded to New York was because of this damn World War I.

However, the war has only lasted half a year now, although Britain has already consumed a huge amount of resources in this war. But the accumulation of hundreds of years cannot be consumed in an instant, so Zhu Erdian is very confident, as long as Yan Shao is willing to lease the three dreadnoughts. Britain can definitely give a price that satisfies Yan Shao.

Even...

"If your country is willing to transfer these three dreadnoughts directly to the Empire, the Empire can guarantee that after the end of the war. It will be resold to your country at half price or even less, and your country can also get the friendship of the Empire..."Juerdian smiled at this, and the beard on his lips curled slightly. "Well, this price should satisfy you, Mr. President, right?"

In fact, it is not only the three dreadnoughts of "Fengyang", "Yunyang" and "Qingyang". Even the 'King Kong' and 'Hanoi' Zhu Erdian, who had just been salvaged, were targeted.

The "Kongo" was made by the British themselves for the Japanese. It is clear how strong the combat power of this warship is. If such a battle cruiser can help, it will definitely be a tiger for the British Grand Fleet.

As for the 'Hanoi', although it is a quasi-dreadnought, it is just a difference in the diameter of the main gun. Although it is certainly not as strong as a dreadnought, it is at least much stronger than the previous dreadnought. What's more, Britain is the most advanced shipbuilding technology in the world, and Zhu Erdian is confident that as long as he gets the ship to the UK, he can definitely solve it easily.

And if all five ships can be sent to Britain, it will definitely increase Britain's advantage over Germany by a large ―――――― which is equivalent to five dreadnoughts.

It's just that at the moment, the 'King Kong' and 'Hanoi' have just come out of the water. It hasn't been fixed yet, and it's almost impossible to get to the UK. Therefore, Zhu Erdian can only temporarily target the three ships of 'Qingyang'―――――― 'Fengyang' and 'Yunyang'. The next 'King Kong' and 'Hanoi' will naturally be much easier.

――――――――――――――――――――

If it were someone else, he would indeed be satisfied, after all, Zhu Erdian had already made it clear that he could provide a satisfactory price. Considering the current shape, the British should not be too stingy with their shots. Moreover, Zhu Erdian also promised that after the end of the war, the battleships would be resold to China at half price or even less, which meant that Yan Shao could get the three dreadnoughts at half the original price, and the price would only be extended for a few years.

However, for Yan Shao...

He's not short of millions of pounds, didn't he just donate three million pounds just for education? This is already a piece more than the price of a newest dreadnought.

What's more, Yan Shao is sure that the government, especially the Ministry of Finance, will absolutely welcome this deal, but the navy will definitely oppose it. If he really agreed to this deal, it is estimated that Sa Zhenbing and they would have the mind to eat them alive.

What if the British detain all three dreadnoughts after the war ended? You could say that the UK is a country of gentlemen and is very respectful of promises. But Yan Shao didn't dare to think so, after all, Britain and France had pitted Poland in history.

And not long ago, Britain seized the battleships ordered by Turkey for no reason, and as a result, Turkey jumped from neutrality to the camp of the Allies in a fit of rage.

The British may not have dared to do this, but what if they did? With China's current strength, it will take at least five years to build a dreadnought. If the British detain the ship, then after the remaining two Japanese "Kongo"-class battlecruisers and two "Fuso'-class battleships are launched", the shape of the sea will be completely reversed, and if the United States and Britain support Japan behind their backs, maybe Japan will really become a big problem, which will be absolutely unfavorable to Yan Shao's next plan...

So Yan Shao could only shake his head. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid my country won't be able to transfer these three warships to your country."

"Why?" Zhu Erdian wondered.

Although he also felt that the possibility of Yan Shao agreeing was very low, he didn't expect that in the face of such generous conditions, Yan Shao would refuse so quickly, which was a bit unexpected.

"No way..."Yan Shao smiled. We had just fought a war with the Japanese, and at this time the Japanese must have been annoyed, wondering when they would get their revenge. Because of the Battle of Shandong, the maritime strength of the two countries is currently equal, but if I transfer these three dreadnoughts to your country, will Japan's maritime strength not be overwhelming our country? In that case, if I use my navy to attack our maritime borders, won't my country be powerless to fight back? ”

If Zhu Erdian wants to see Yan Shao, he will definitely say it in advance, so Yan Shao has already thought of his words.

After hearing Yan Shao's answer, Zhu Erdian's face showed a look of annoyance.

Because judging from the news from Tokyo, the words of the Japanese refusal are almost exactly the same as Yan Shao's, and it can be seen that although the relationship between the two countries is not very good, there is still some tacit understanding on this matter.

On the other side, Yan Shao thought in his heart while refusing.

"Do you want to get a few destroyers? Speaking of which, I remember a destroyer called 'Snow Wind' that seems to have a nice name? Just give this to the British..."

Thinking of a destroyer with a nice name, Yan Shao thought very kindly. (To be continued......)