Six, five, seven give them a big surprise!

Everyone in the General Staff stood up suddenly, and the three pieces of information that arrived almost at the same second made everyone feel as if they were in a fog, and there was a sense of unreality. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

"The gold of Skagerrak."

Li Mo couldn't help but think of this name, this is a name that everyone in later generations is familiar with, when the author writes that longing and crazy text in his memories, he may not think that on the other side of time and space, a person not only brought a different Skagerrak, but also really brought gold!

After five years of secret planning, tens of millions of dollars, and the sacrifice of as many as 131 informants and sleeper soldiers, the best of the Romanov dynasty's wealth was stuffed into a train and disappeared from the world's sight.

The train was custom-built in Switzerland before the war, with two locomotives and bulletproof armor on the sides, but even then who could guarantee that they would come back safely? Even the people in the General Staff who planned Operation Qiming at this moment did not know where the train would go, how it would return, or whether it would never return, like the tsar's treasures that disappeared from history.

Russia is too big, and the inefficient railway network means that even if everything goes well, it will take them half a month to enter the protection area of the Chinese army, and no one knows whether there will be any accidents.

Such a major matter cannot be controlled by himself, and that kind of anxiety and waiting is unimaginable to ordinary people, just like the Skagerrak Strait on the other side of the gold at this moment, although Li Mo knew that Wu Yingke had boarded the battleship Bavaria as an observer, and he was next to Scheer, and in the entire fleet, he also arranged more than a dozen non-commissioned officers with cameras to prepare to record the whole naval battle in the name of watching the battle, but the German high seas fleet was not its own fleet after all, Scheer will not allow any radio signals to appear around before the start of the battle, and will never send back real-time battle reports.

Skagerrak's gold was the beginning of his fascination with the BB era, just because of the author's later sentence.

"The era of artillery aiming radar, carrier-based aviation has arrived, the huge steel fortress once symbolized the high achievements of industrial civilization, but today it has been replaced by small electrical blocks and buttons, today the high development of science and technology, the human spirit has gradually lost its sustenance, Jutland left a lot of regrets to that era, and left to this era is infinite imagination."

He came back, whether it was the original time and space, but he had made up for the regrets of the BB era for the country, and now he had single-handedly brought it into the aviation age, although this is progress, but few people know that in fact, he is still a multi-turret admirer in his bones, so after the advent of the aircraft carrier era, he gritted his teeth and built four battleships that will be delivered at the end of the year.

From the day he returned, he pinched his fingers and imagined this haunting naval battle, but when it did, he found that he could only face the duel table written on the blackboard.

Great Britain, a total of 30 capital ships, all 127 warships!

2 Giant-class battleships, Giant, Hercules.

3 St. Vincent-class battleships, USS Collingwood, USS St. Vincent, USS Avantgarde.

4 Orion-class battleships, INS Conquistador, USS Sovereign, USS Orion, USS Thor.

4 King George V-class battleships, HMS George V, HMS Centurion, HMS Audacity, HMS Ajax.

4 Iron Duke-class battleships, Iron Duke, Marlborough, Ben Bau, Queen of India.

4 Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Warweary, HMS Baham, HMS Warrior.

2 Sharp Avenger-class battleships, the Avenger, the Ramie, and the last four have been launched and outfitted, but they have not been delivered in time.

3 Lion-class battlecruisers, Lion, Princess, Queen Mary.

4 Tiger-class battlecruisers, Tiger, Leopard, Black King, Reckless.

Germany, 26 capital ships, 101 warships in all!

4 Nassau-class battleships, USS Nassau, USS West**, USS Rhineland, USS Bōsen.

4 battleships of the Helgoland class, HMS Helgoland, USS Ostfrisland, USS Thuringia, USS Oldenburg. (Full text reading, all in. (.i. Want. Wen. Learning Network)

5 Caesar-class battleships, USS Caesar, USS Frederick the Great, USS Catherine, USS King Albert, USS Regent Louis Bōrd.

4 King-class battleships, HMS King, HMS Emperor Candidate, HMS Governor, HMS Crown Prince.

4 Bavaria-class battleships, Bagoria, Baden, Saxony, Württemberg, and the fifth Westphalia were not delivered in time.

5 battleship cruisers, Von de Tann, Ach class, Sedlitz class, Sedlitz class, Dwringer, D. Fleeter, Lützov.

This is a hair-spinning number, and because of its appearance, Germany has been able to close the number of battle cruisers, but it will have to deal with four Tiger-class battlecruisers second only to the prestige and Hood class that will be delivered soon.

In addition to the battle cruise, Bavaria will be expected to deal with the queen and the Avengers, and countless later generations have said that if the German Bavarian-class battleships catch up with Jutland, the result will be a different situation.

Are you sure?

Li Mo actually has no way to answer, although he has already helped Germany give birth to the Bavarian class, which is considered to be the best in World War I in history, and even now it is second only to the Guam class, but the battleship is always a weapon, and its power depends on the brain that commands him!

Will Hippert continue to lure the enemy, will Scheer dare to enter the decisive battle, will David Betty continue to advance, or will Jericho continue to make mistakes? If there was a way, he would definitely rush over with a hot head.

"Is there any of our warships nearby?" Li Mo crossed his fingers and placed it on the table.

"Vulture, monitoring the Russian Northern Sea Route from 430 nautical miles."

"It's too far." Li Mo had to stretch lazily: "I'll go back first, and tell me as soon as I have the result." "Although he was anxious in his heart, the only thing he could do now was to wait, waiting for two steel fleets made of countless piles of gold to collide in the Skagrak Strait!

Germany, early morning 16 May.

"The report, the U23 report, found two battleships, two cruisers and several destroyers heading southeast." The staff officer, according to the telegram, marked the position on the chart and turned his head to look at Lieutenant General Reinhardscher.

"Keep going!"

Scheer held the armrest and leaned forward slightly, without pausing.

Wu Yingke took two steps back and walked in front of the chart, the narrow Jutland Peninsula made him frown slightly, the curved Skagerrak Strait was a curse, if it wasn't for Germany's desperate efforts to open the Kiel Canal, maybe the country would have no navy at the beginning of the war.

After drilling out of the Kiel Canal, Scheer had two options: to go north to the Skagerrak Strait and strike at the British naval force along the northern part of the British Isles, or simply go south and simply enter the English Channel.

Either way, the outlook is not good.

The British Grand Fleet in Scapa Bay was eyeing the enemy's snipers, whether it was heading north or south, and it was unlikely that they would even return home if they ran too far.

For today, the Germans have not changed the old password that has been leaked a long time ago, until they quietly changed it before departure, because Germany needs to use the old password as a bait, but in fact, Wu Yingke knows that the efficiency of the British intelligence service is not low.

However, he did not remind, and could not remind, that although the emperor never said that he would control the Atlantic in the future, a strong German navy was not in high interest.

Wu Yingke quietly glanced at Scheer, there is no doubt that the British Home Fleet is waiting for him somewhere in the North Sea, whether it is the international situation, or the strategic requirement to defeat Germany as soon as possible, Jericho must have red eyes, drooling like a grinning fighting dog, Britain can accept part of the loss, because they still have at least 12 or more capital ships under construction on the dockyard road, and they have recently dragged back five French battleships that have been built to most of them, while Germany is too much because of the ground consumption, There was only the fifth Bavaria-class battleship and the third Devlinger-class battlecruiser Hindenburg left in the dockyard, so even if he were completely annihilated, he would definitely drag Scheer to hell with him.

In the same way, Schell did not want to wait, the high seas fleet built with the efforts of the whole country, and even affected the important land resources, could not do nothing, when the Far Eastern allies frantically won one naval battle after another, sinking hundreds of enemy ships, if they continued to hide and seek, even if they finally won, the German Navy would be ridiculed!

So Wilhelm II was already very annoyed, and Tirpitz did not want to play hide and seek anymore, they needed a brilliant victory to show the countries of the League that the German navy was equally strong.

"Report, U66, they found eight battleships moving in a northeasterly direction under the escort of several cruisers and destroyers."

"Keep going!"

Scheer glanced at Wu Yingke, who was standing by the porthole, but there was still no change.

"Report, General Hipper reports, he is releasing seaplanes."

Seaplane.

A smile crossed the corner of Wu Yingke's mouth, compared with the domestic start to equip heavy aircraft carriers, whether it is Germany or Britain, it is too weak in terms of aviation power, not that they don't want to, but the technical barriers have not yet broken through, and the important thing is that they lack a leader and promoter who has a penetrating vision of the future like the emperor.

"Wu, I heard that you commanded the naval battle between the Ottomans and Italy before? It was a beautiful fight. ”

"Thank you, Lieutenant General, for the compliment." Wu Yingke looked at Scheer with a smile, this matter could not be hidden from the Germans, so he nodded generously and said: "I relied on the advantage of equipment and launched an offensive unexpectedly, but now this situation," Wu Yingke glanced at the sea surface of the fog valve door outside the window, and the battleships beside him that were sailing one by one, and said with a wry smile: "It's not suitable." ”

"I know." Scheer nodded, he was going to carry out a big battle, which was very different from that naval battle, so he immediately turned his head and said to the officers: "Let General Hipper speed up, go to the sea between England and Norway, where there are quite a few ships circling, let him go there and scratch their creaky nests by the way."

Tell him to keep sending signals with the old cipher along the way, and that if the Brits are attracted to them, then we'll surprise them. ”

"Yes, I also believe that there will be a big surprise!"

As he spoke, a golden sun suddenly jumped out of the sea, and in the mist, Helgoland Island appeared in the distance like a giant beast, and the five battle cruisers led by Hipper accelerated northward with billowing smoke.

Whitehall, in the British Navy command building, is full of figures.

The Grand Fleet has already set off secretly with the operation, just like the Battle of Trafalgar a hundred years ago, which will decide the fate of Britain and even the whole world in the next ten hours.

At this moment, the whole building seemed to be a little strange, the fingers on the typewriter were careless, the confidential secretary slowed down, the pen was dripping with ink, and many people were even absent-minded.

Did the German Navy set off?

Many people know it's going to be today, but it's a vague concept, is it early morning, noon, or night? Or is this time just fake news released by Germany?!

The intelligence needs to be confirmed one more time!

"Oliver, has the plane departed?" Vice Admiral Rederick Hamilton looked up at his Chief of Naval Intelligence with anticipation in his blue eyes.

"Yes, it has already departed, and it is expected to arrive in an hour to reconnoiter over the ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven." Oliver continued: "In addition, Room 40 is listening to the German Navy's calls. ”

Room 40!

Lieutenant General Redrick Hamilton turned his head and looked at the end of the hallway.

In front of an office in a secluded corner of the hallway, two guards stood guard at the door with the word 40 written above their heads.

"Room 40."

This is what everyone calls this mysterious office, but it is also known by another name, the Royal Naval Intelligence Service, the Radio Monitoring and Codebreaking Office.

Inside the room, Larson and Melkin, who are experts in cryptography from the private sector, are researching a coded telegram when they find it completely different from the one they had intercepted before, which alarms them.

Is it a mistake? By chance, or, Germany found out about the problem and changed the password ?!

Having accidentally obtained the German cipher manual from Russia, the British Navy treated it as highly secret, deciphering countless minor messages over the years, but with no noticeable reaction, except for the occasional important notification to the troops.

Because this thing is so important, once the Germans know that if they change the password, it is equivalent to years of hard work are wasted.

But now, a signal that appeared in the Kiel Canal in the early hours of this morning made the two of them a little worried, could it be that at the critical moment, Germany changed the codebook?! If that's the case, it's terrible, it means that Germany actually knew about the password leak before, and they deliberately continued to make mistakes until they set a big trap at a critical time!

What is the critical time?

Today!

"Mel, do you want to report it?"

"Yes, it needs to be reported, but we need a second signal of the same kind, otherwise no one will believe it."

"But."

While the two civilian codebreakers were muttering, Captain Jackson suddenly walked into the room with a cold face, and when he saw this top boss, Larson and Melkin looked bad, because this guy was a bureaucrat, he despised all civil scholars and decoders, and even accused them of reporting indiscriminately.

Jackson didn't want to look at these guys who didn't understand anything at all, and asked directly: "Where is the call code of the flagship of the German fleet now?" ”

"At the Brook Anchorage."

"Good."

Jackson turned to leave, he didn't want to stay with these guys who didn't know anything, but when he was about to step out of the door, Melgin suddenly gritted his teeth and stopped him.

"What's the matter?"

Melgin glanced at Larson beside him, pulled out the telegram from the table, and reported head-on: "Captain, this is a telegram that we intercepted in the early hours of this morning, and when we first analyzed it, we found that it used a different cipher, which could not be cracked, and. ”

"Different passwords?!" Although Captain Jackson didn't like these non-professionals, it didn't mean that he didn't know the importance, and immediately asked, "How many are there?" ”

"One."

"One?! Ridiculous, do you think that such a large fleet, hundreds of warships are mobilized and set off, and one signal is enough? Maybe it was some radio amateur's toy, or a German plot to trick us into sending a fleet to check it out, or maybe it was just a miscellaneous! Second Lieutenant Jackson said coldly: "Next time, please make sure to tell me that I'm busy." ”

"Okay, Captain."

Looking at Jackson's angry back, Melgin and Larson glanced at each other, both smiled wryly and shook their heads, a signal is indeed impossible to rely on, maybe they are really too suspicious, but if Germany really uses a password, then what should be done?!

Ensign Jackson sat in his office, looking at the telegram Melgin had spoken of repeatedly, and although he had just denied everything, he was ready to look again, trying to find something suspicious in the messy text, but after a few glances, the office door was hurriedly knocked open.

"Jackson, Commissioner Oliver, and Lieutenant General Redrick Hamilton are waiting for your answer." Colonel Ewing, the head of room 40, walked in.

Jackson then glanced at the telegram that had not yet been analyzed, pressed it under the thick paper, and reported: "It has been confirmed, the call code of the German flagship is still in the Biyu anchorage." ”

"Okay."

Colonel Ewing flew away, he needed to report the news immediately, and then send it to Lieutenant General Jericho, who was anxiously waiting. Of course, he didn't know that at this moment, there were only a few warships left in the Wilhelmshaven anchorage in Germany.

The Rhine, which had been purchased from China, was parked in a corner, the flagship flag on the mast was particularly prominent, and the German destroyers and submarines cruising the sea in Bōro were calling to it.

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