E: 66 words for votes

April 6, Republic 23 (1915), North Atlantic.

This is the North Atlantic Ocean near the Arctic Circle, and although it is already spring, the temperature here is still below 10 degrees Celsius, and it can even drop below freezing at night.

At this time, the sky was overcast and the wind was blowing, and the surrounding sea was empty, and there was not even a shadow of a boat. This is not surprising, given its proximity to Greenland, which is not a major shipping lane, and is not usually visited by merchant ships, except for the occasional fishing boat.

Several seagulls hover in the air, ready to catch fish before dark and go back to feed their mates who are hatching their eggs.

At this time, the seagull noticed that there were several moving objects on the surface of the sea, which looked like hollow trees, and a faint green smoke was still emitting. Something so strange had never been seen before, and a few curious seagulls flew over to take a look, and they found that the thing was as thick as a tree, and it didn't seem to be something that came naturally. The animals are careful, this rare creature is definitely not food and does not look like a predator, but the smell of smoke coming from them is terrible, like the smell of those human ships.

......At this time, there was a sudden burst of rapid exhaust sound and water flow sound under the sea surface where the pipe was located, and the underwater sound was very small when it came to the air, but for the hearing of the seagull, these sounds were still obvious. In the seagulls' memory, the only people who could make this sound were the large creatures of the ocean, and now the sound was far louder than the sound of the largest creature they knew.

It's definitely a dangerous guy The seagulls were frightened and flew away from the place as soon as possible.

"Whirring ......" bubbles appeared on the surface of the sea, stirring up turbulent water waves. Soon, a black-looking, whale-like creature jumped out of the water and slammed into the sea, causing waves several meters high.

There is no doubt that this is a large submarine, and it is much larger than the recent German H-boat, but it does not have any recognizable markings on its exterior. In the sea near it, eight more of its kind soon appeared, three of which were even fatter submarines.

Soon, the hatches of these submarines opened, and out came a group of officers and men, who were wearing Chinese naval uniforms. Why are Chinese submarines running here?

"Whew, I can finally breathe fresh air, even the air in the boat smells of engine oil......" He Bin let out a long breath.

The internal environment of submarines in this era is absolutely not comfortable, and even Chinese submarines that use a lot of later technologies are not much better in terms of habitability. This time it's a top-secret mission again, dozens of big men and a bunch of equipment are crowded inside, or squeezed for dozens of days, and they can't even take a bath, the smell can be imagined how against the sky, the smell of sweat and engine oil is the most common breath, even if there is a snorkel, it can only be said to be slightly better.

"Detachment leader, why are we going to train here?, and avoid everyone's eyes and ears, and we will be like ......thieves along the way," one of the crew members asked puzzled.

He Bin glared at him: "Why do you ask so much? The orders of the superiors must be implemented if they are understood, and if they are not understood, they must deepen their understanding in the implementation......

Then he said: "Okay, now that we have finally arrived at our destination, this is not on the route, you can relax." By the way, hurry up and let the stoker boil the water, and everyone take the opportunity to take a shower. ”

He raised his sleeves and sniffed it, revealing an expression of eating, and scolded: "Grandma's, Lao Tzu's submarines are about to become pits, this is the latest submarine, if those guys know what we look like now, I don't know how to make fun of it......"

"Hehehe......" The officers and soldiers laughed bitterly. This voyage exceeded 10,000 nautical miles, and although there were supply fleets disguised as merchant ships along the way to supply them with food and water, except for the people who received the supplies, no one else could come out to move, and they held back in the sea for more than a month. Even the Chinese submarine officers and men who have undergone arduous training feel that they can't stand it at this time.

This sea area is next to a desert island, where the nine submarines dropped anchor and stayed until the evening. Taking advantage of this rare opportunity, the sailors all took a bath, changed their clothes, and took turns to work overtime to let off steam. The cooking squad also lifted the ban on fires and cooked a sumptuous lunch for the officers and men.

While the officers and men at the grassroots level were on vacation, He Bin and other detachments were staring at the communication screen in the telecommunications room.

"Is there a new order?" He Bin couldn't help but ask.

"Not yet, the detachment commander ......," replied the communications non-commissioned officer.

"Well, then you take turns to guard, and notify me as soon as there is news, I'll go make up for the drowsiness first......" He Bin yawned and went back to his cabin.

This mission is very secret, and the previous superiors only let them sneak to the vicinity of this desert island to wait, as for what the next step is, even he, the detachment leader, does not know.

At this time, on the eastern sea, more than six hundred kilometers away from them, a British fleet was approaching in their direction. The fleet was small, with only two cruisers and one coal carrier.

Since Germany began its submarine warfare against the Allied countries, the Allied merchant ships have suffered heavy losses, and by now, 1.5 million tons of Allied merchant ships have been sent to the bottom by submarines. The Entente had to send a large number of warships to escort the merchant fleet, but the number of merchant ships was so large that even if it was organized into a fleet for unified escort, the Entente felt a lot of pressure. There is no way, the number of ships is not enough, even the British Empire, which has the world's largest navy, is now feeling stretched, after all, it is impossible to send all the warships out to escort it.

Against this background, the actions of this fleet at this moment are obviously somewhat strange, neither the main shipping routes, nor the escort of merchant ships. In such a tense situation for the ships, it is possible that Britain is in a panic to let two cruisers run here with a coal carrier to play?

Colonel Houghton was the commander of the small fleet and the captain of the protective cruiser USS Mighty, and this time his mission was to deliver a shipment to Canada. Although Holden now only has two Strong-class protection cruisers with him, he doesn't have to worry about safety because they have no rivals here, at least not in theory.

The main German fleet was honestly staying in its home port, and as for the Austro-Hungarian fleet, they were all stuck in the Mediterranean bathtub and could not get out, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal were firmly in the hands of the British Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet could not rush out at all. The only possible threat was German submarines. However, this is not the main route, and German submarines will not be found here. The Germans also want to talk about profits, and they will not be able to buy and sell money and grain at a loss.

So it seemed that the mission should be easy and safe, but Colonel Houghton was not careless at all. Because his mission this time was to transport gold, yes, the two Strong-class protective cruisers were loaded with 146 tons of gold and 26 tons of silver from the Central Bank of England and the Crown. This huge wealth was to be sent to Canada for storage in order to buy supplies from the United States.

"These greedy Yankees, they don't take pounds, only gold and silver, they must all be devils and those Chinese guys, it's the same......," Colonel Horton cursed in a low voice.

Of course, it will certainly not cost so much gold and silver to buy supplies a few times, but judging from the current situation, the duration of this war may be more than many people estimate. At the beginning of the war, the vast majority of people thought that the war would not last more than half a year, but now it has been almost a year, and there is no end in sight. God knows how long it will take, but Britain's current domestic material reserves have bottomed out, and because of the constant bombing by the Germans, many factories cannot be opened. Those damned Germans were so insidious that some time ago they even threw incendiary bombs into wheat fields and burned large swathes of wheat that were about to ripen.

"In a week, we will be in the port of Montreal, Canada...... "Horton thought to himself, he had run this route before. The voyage has been very dull until now, no thrills, no danger, no time. He thought that by sending this batch of gold and silver to its destination, he could relax a little, although this mission would not be dangerous, but the psychological pressure was very high, no less than fighting with the Germans.

The thought of the large pile of blind gold in the cabin made him feel an irrepressible urge. It was the first time in his life that he had seen so much yellow

"This time it's cheaper," he said indignantly.

What Horton didn't know was that at this time, at an altitude of 30,000 meters, a pair of "eyes" were closely following them. To be precise, before they set sail, these eyes were fixed on them. The whole process of transporting the gold out of the bank and loading it onto the ship fell on these eyes without pulling a bit.

Hankyung, presidential palace.

"Huh, the British are so rich that they actually shipped 1,400 tons of gold and 286 tons of silver to Canada at one time. It's really disgusting," said Wen Dehei, looking at the British gold ship on the screen, touching his chin.

"Mr. Wen, the seals are already in place, just waiting for them. This batch of gold will soon be ours......" Wang Tiehammer laughed beside him.

"Well, the British are really cunning, and they actually specially modified two old cruisers to transport gold and silver. If it weren't for the information sent by [Dracula], we would still be in the dark. Wen Deji nodded and said. "It's easy to sink, but I don't know how many ...... I can pick up."

"Forget it, no matter how much you can scoop up, it's better than a cheap Yankee......"

The "Jingle Bell ......" communicator rings.

He Bin, who was sleeping, immediately woke up and sat up and picked up the intercom.

The captain's voice came from the headset: "Detachment leader, a new order has arrived, you come and ......"

"Okay, I'll come right away......" He Bin hurriedly put on his clothes and ran to the telecommunications room.

Ten minutes later, He Bin gathered the captains and political commissars of each submarine for a meeting.

He Bin said with a smile: "Okay, everyone knows about this mission, right? Just send those three ships to the bottom of the sea, and we can go back......

"Detachment leader, we haven't started a war with the British yet, will there be any impact on using their ships for live-fire training?" asked a political commissar with some concern

He Bin glared at him and reprimanded: "Do you still have to report your name when you start fighting? They don't know who Yu is, there is a fart influence." Besides, this task was issued by the Central Military Commission, and we only need to carry it out, so why do we think about it so much...... Lao Tzu has long been unhappy with the British devils"

"Well, the intelligence says that this fleet is coming at 14 knots, and will arrive at about seven o'clock tomorrow morning. He Bin then discussed the tactics with everyone, and then said: "Everyone will get ready when they go back, in order to prepare for emergencies, they will all enter the snorkel state before dawn tomorrow...... Adjournment"

The next day, the Mighty and Terror approached the waters near the deserted island.

Both of these are Qiangsheng-class protective cruisers in service from 1897 to 186, the Qiangsheng-class is a first-class protection cruiser with a standard displacement of 1,420 tons, equipped with two 2hnm main guns and two 152m secondary guns, with a maximum speed of 2 knots and a range of 706 nautical miles / 14 knots. Although the Qiangsheng class is a protective cruiser, it is comparable to many armored cruisers in terms of tonnage and firepower. Of course, the beginning of the 2nd century was the explosion of naval technology, and under normal circumstances, even the most advanced warships would become obsolete for a few years at most.

By now, it is already the era of super-dreadnought, and the once strong class of bunkers has long been outdated, but it can still be used as an armed transport ship, at least more insurance than merchant ships.

Early this morning, Horton felt a premonition of uneasiness in his heart, but he couldn't say what was going on. In the absence of clues, he had no choice but to order all posts to strengthen their vigilance, especially to pay attention to lookouts.

At this time, at a distance of 10 kilometers from them, a periscope quietly protruded from the water. Now all the Chinese submarines are put away

"Very good, two Qiangsheng-class protective cruisers, a high-speed coal carrier...... The target has been confirmed, that's right" He Bin looked at the prey carefully, and after confirming that it was correct, he immediately ordered: "Order all the seals to prepare to attack, and now assign the target ......"

"The No. 1 to No. 2 torpedo tubes are filled with water, the depth is set at 4 meters, and the maximum speed is ......" He Bin stared at the small fleet closely, and waited for the answer of "ready" from each post, and then waved his hand vigorously.

"Launch"

"Launch"

"Launch"

Six SEAL-class ocean-going attack submarines fired torpedoes, and two 60-mm heavy torpedoes swooped down on the target at a speed of 6 knots.

They are now using the latest type of "Fish 2" torpedo, which is a wire-guided passive acoustic torpedo that can not only track automatically, but also be controlled by human intervention to avoid baiting, or set a low-speed detour to sneak attack so as not to leak the submarine's position. Because it can be controlled by guò wire, there is no need to worry about being like the "fish-L" type, which always likes to get together and engage in repeated attacks.

The "Fish 2" torpedo is also an oxygen-enriched air torpedo (or semi-oxygen mine), although it cannot be almost completely devoid of track like a pure oxygen mine, but its track is still far lower than that of ordinary thermodynamic torpedoes. If it's not very close, it's not clear to see.

Smith was the lookout of the Mighty Strong, and today the captain ordered them to take a closer look at the sea. Although it should be safe here, Smith did not dare to disobey the captain's orders, and he still looked around with a telescope very responsibly.

Suddenly, he seemed to see several dark shadows flashing under the surface of the sea.

"What's that? so fast?" Smith suddenly perked up, and he quickly rubbed his eyes and looked closely.

When he saw it again, he felt a cold air rush to his head. There were three or four long black shadows, swooping down on their warships at incredible speeds.

"Oh no, it's a torpedo," he shouted, and quickly sounded the alarm. "Starboard 40 degrees, distance 3UU, four torpedoes"

Horton yelled, "Quick, left full rudder"

His reaction was very timely, and if it was an ordinary direct-sailing torpedo, he might have dodged it, but he was faced with a "Yu-2" guided torpedo. "Fish 2" was too fast and discovered too late, and although the Qiangsheng's timely turn avoided two, there were still two that could not be dodged.

"Boom...... Boom ......"

Hearing only two loud thunderous sounds, two thick water columns rose up on the starboard side of the Qiangsheng, and the underwater part of the starboard side of the Qiangsheng was blasted open with two large holes with a diameter of more than 4 meters. And that wasn't the end of it, the two missed torpedoes circled around again, and made two close contact with it, and two of them hit its stern, blowing up the steering gear and propeller. It was nothing more than a protective cruiser, and where could it withstand such a blow, it rolled in less than two minutes and sank at a speed visible to the naked eye.

By this time, the Terror had been "decapitated" by three torpedoes, half of the hull had sunk into the sea, and as for the coal carrier, there was only one mast left on the sea.

"Okay, all the seals and Manatee 1 will leave immediately, and Manatee 2 and 3 will continue your mission......" He Bin did not give the order until the three ships completely disappeared into the sea.

After a while, seven submarines left the scene, and the two Manatee-class transport submarines left behind were responsible for the follow-up salvage mission. Their cargo holds have been specially modified with a hatch at the bottom that can be opened downwards and a lifting device. However, if you rely on people to fish, it is still quite troublesome, but for this robbery, Mr. Wen let them carry a mining machine qì people, with this thing is much more convenient, manatees only need to hover on the bottom of the sea, waiting for the machine qì people to pick up the gold bricks.

That night, the British found themselves in contact with the gold convoy. They used to be in contact several times a day, but since they contacted once in the morning, there has been no news. This is going to kill Niu Niu, Nima, this is 146 tons of gold and 26 tons of silver. Especially the King of England, after learning the news, he was so angry that he was going crazy, half of it belongs to the royal family

So Niu Niu immediately organized a fleet to search for the missing sea area, but to find a fleet in the sea, it was also a needle in a haystack, and the scope was too large. Especially important, they simply didn't know what was going on. Because of the "attacked" telegram sent by Horton, they did not receive it at all. It's not a malfunction, it's the result of being disturbed. How is it possible to do such a thing without electronic interference?

The route was so remote that it would be three days before Britain and Canada found the approximate location of the accident along the route at the same time. After they found nothing, they sent warships to Jingjia and searched up and down the route, until a week later, they found a few dying survivors on a deserted island hundreds of kilometers away.

By the time they learned the truth from the survivors, all the golden eyes had been fished out. Even more unfortunate, during this period, they mobilized a large number of warships to search for the missing gold transport fleet, the escort force was greatly reduced, and dozens of merchant ships that should not have been sunk were sunk by German submarines.

The British, who could not even find the sunken ship, had to put the account on the Germans.