Situ Meitang did not continue to ask about the situation in China, but talked about the situation in the United States. He stroked his beard and said, "The U.S. Congress passed the amendment to the Neutrality Act. Do you know?"
Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "Yes, the Americans are already preparing to make war profits. I have already guessed this."
Situ Meitang hummed and said, "Amending this bill opens a loophole in the procedure, but Roosevelt did more than just that. Since the beginning of the war between the German army and Britain and France, Roosevelt has had several closed-door meetings with various financial groups, especially
Those big arms consortiums are moving around each other frequently, and the Americans are playing a big game of chess."
Jiang Cheng asked, "Is there anything strange?"
Situ Meitang raised his finger and said, "Of course there is. The most obvious thing is that in their shipbuilding industry, all the shipyards are expanding, and they are all large shipyards. Although there are no plans to build new warships, they are here.
Make preparations. After all, other weapons production expansions will only take a short time for the United States to complete. Only shipbuilding needs to be prepared in advance."
Due to the agreement of World War I, the U.S. Navy was equal to the British in terms of tonnage. At this time, it had 17 battleships, 8 aircraft carriers, 18 heavy cruisers, 19 light cruisers, and 165 destroyers, with a total tonnage of 1.43 million tons.
It has already surpassed the United Kingdom, but this number was simply a child's strength compared with the warships owned by the United States in World War II. During World War II on the Jiang Cheng plane, the United States produced 26 warships in less than five years.
Large aircraft carriers, 9 light aircraft carriers, 115 escort aircraft carriers, 10 battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 498 frigates, 203 submarines, tens of thousands of various landing ships, and tens of millions of tons of civilian ships,
This kind of shipbuilding power made the United States the only country with a thousand ships after World War II. However, this kind of production capacity was not achieved overnight. It began to increase at the beginning of World War II. Of course, the name of expanding shipyards at this time was for the future.
After all, everyone can see that by building more transport ships, the proportion of European merchant ships on the ocean will be greatly reduced.
Jiang Cheng felt a toothache when he thought about the potential naval strength, but even if China were unified now and started farming and exploding the navy, there would be no hope of competing with the United States in the navy. This is no longer a problem that can be solved by some advanced machinery.
Since he couldn't solve it, he didn't want to think about it anymore. Jiang Cheng asked Situ Meitang, "Is there any news about the French squadron that I reported before?"
Zhang Ye took out a piece of intelligence and said, "This is the information we got. This squadron did not arrive in Canada. After they got the news about the British attack on the French Navy, they stayed on the sea about a hundred nautical miles away from Canada."
, it seems that there was a dispute on the fleet."
When Jiang Cheng heard the news, he immediately let out a long breath. It would be better if he had not arrived in Canada. Although he was not afraid of Canadian officials, after all, there was the United States nearby. Canada was still affiliated with the United Kingdom at this time. Jiang Cheng immediately said, "This is not appropriate."
Chi, if the fleet arrives in Canada or other countries, it will be difficult for us to get them, so we must organize a fleet immediately to accept this fleet!"
Zhang Ye nodded and said, "Our ship is ready, but we don't have much firepower. If they resist, we may not be able to stop them."
Jiang Cheng smiled and said, "If we can sink these ships, we can go directly to attack the Japanese fleet. It doesn't matter. This time we were originally going to Wentei. I hope they can stay for a few more days."
In fact, it was not just this squadron. Due to Britain's undeclared war on the French army, especially after Jiang Cheng's prompting, it returned with a huge defeat, the French navy was extremely resentful of the British. In addition, Hitler specially stated that
The announcement that the French army will not be forced to join the war against Britain has caused French fleets everywhere to become confused about whether to join de Gaulle's Free France to continue fighting Germany. You know, by this time, de Gaulle's Free France has also
There are only 3,000 people, and weapons are scarce. It can be said that it is a real grass-roots team, which does not have much appeal. Although Vice Admiral Misselier announced that he will join the Free France, it is nothing in front of Darlan.
.
De Gaulle is now eager to win a victory against Germany in order to strengthen his influence. He has already begun to make preparations. If a few months pass, this squadron may not hesitate and instead devote itself to de Gaulle and Churchill.
But unfortunately, it will take a few more months.
——More than 100 nautical miles from the port of Halifax, Canada, on the high seas
The weather was pretty good at this time. Although there were some wind and waves, it was a sunny day. The three warships lowered their anchors and parked on the sea. They had been stranded here for almost a week and still had not reached a final decision.
Hill is the commander of this squadron and the captain of the USS Belden. Just like naval hospitals in other countries, the French Navy's food and logistics are also the best among all services. He poured a glass of red wine and stood
On the deck, looking at the moon, I fell into confusion.
Louis, the captain of the "Joan of Arc", came over and said to Hill, "General Hill, are you still hesitating?"
Hill sighed and said, "The British now regard us as enemies. Look at the fate of our compatriots in the UK, and the tragic situation of our comrades in Toulon and North Africa. I am really worried about us going to Canada.
You will be ordered to surrender or sink yourself, and I will never allow such an outcome to happen."
Louis leaned on the railing and said, "But what should we do? We still have so many potatoes on the ship. These potatoes are the wealth of our nation. If we return to France, we will probably be robbed by the Germans. In this way
If we do, everything we do will be in vain.”
The potatoes that Louis said were actually gold. When the British and French armies were retreating steadily, the French government was in chaos, with different opinions on whether to fight or surrender. Seeing the German army coming like a tide, the country was in danger. For the sake of insurance, the French government
A plan was secretly launched to transport the gold reserves in the National Bank overseas. In order to ensure the safety of the gold to the greatest extent, the main route was divided into two. One route was used by 5 warships, transporting more than a thousand tons.
The gold went to Africa. At this time, it had arrived safely at the port of Dahar, the capital of Senegal, and 1,152 tons of gold were dispersed and hidden in the tropical jungle, waiting for the end of the war.
The other way is this squadron. In fact, this fleet has already transported a batch of gold to some neutral countries. This is the second batch of gold. All of it is packed in potato bags in order to hide it from others and is claimed to be potatoes.
Hill actually didn't say a word. In fact, he was more worried about whether the gold would still belong to France when it arrived in Canada. Although Britain was rich and powerful, everyone could see that Britain wanted to win this war without spending huge amounts of money.
The price is impossible. The war is all about logistics. The United States is right next to Canada. It is too convenient to exchange this gold for American weapons. As for international agreements... France has declared war on me and Britain.
What's wrong with using your gold?
"Report! The fleet was found at 14,000 meters! It looks like it should be a merchant ship. Do you want them to leave?" A communications soldier came over and said to Hill.
Hill handed the wine glass to the soldier next to him, took the binoculars and looked at it. He only saw a little fire in the distance. He hummed and said, "Well, it does look like a merchant ship. It shouldn't be a warship. It may be a Canadian."
Or Americans...let them leave."
The communications troops immediately passed on the order. At this time, the sea did not have the high technology of later generations. For ships that were not in the own fleet, they could only use lights and semaphores to convey orders, and they could only use clear codes. Therefore, when Bell saw
The lights on board the aircraft carrier started flashing to convey messages.
Hill walked up to Louis and said, "Actually, I have another idea. Let's just go to the United States. What do you think?"
The United States is a neutral country at this time, and the United States is rich and wealthy, so it will not be greedy for more than two hundred tons of gold, and it can also store the gold in American banks. In history, the last gold was placed on Martinique.
, and then protected by the US military.
"America... It is indeed a good idea, but we people may have to stay in the United States until the war is over." Louis said with some reluctance. In fact, in his heart, he still hoped to join
He went to De Gaulle's Free France, but the actions of Britain made it impossible for him to even say this.
"Report, Commander, that merchant ship wants to meet you." The signal soldier ran over again and said.
Hill asked strangely, "Meet me? They know who we are... Well, I'm afraid the British and Canadians already know that we are here, but our planes are constantly patrolling and cannot attack us."
Just a surprise attack."
Hill said this because when he left France, he was tracked by British warships. Even in history, when he came to Martinique, the British fleet attacked him, and it was the United States that mediated.
, so that this squadron did not die in vain under the British naval guns and aircraft bombs.
"The merchant ship...could there be any conspiracy?" Louise asked worriedly.
Hill took a sip of red wine and said with a smile, "We have become homeless, so what are we afraid of? If we are afraid of even a merchant ship, then we might as well surrender to the British or the Germans.
"
The speed of the merchant ship was very fast. About an hour later, Hill got the news in the cabin that the people of the merchant ship had boarded the ship. What surprised him even more was that this strange merchant ship was actually Chinese...Chinese?
What are they here for?
Soon, three or four Chinese people walked into the control tower. Hill looked at Jiang Cheng standing in the middle and asked strangely, "Chinese people? Can you understand me?"
Jiang Cheng nodded and said, "Nice to meet you, General Hill. You can call me Jiang."
Hill continued to ask, "So Jiang, I want to know why you want to see me? What do you Chinese want to say to me?"
Hill began to speculate about the role that China might play in this matter. Is it necessary for China to mediate? It is not impossible. After all, to a certain extent, the status of China and France are already very similar, and France is not as good as China.
Well, at least China has persisted for so long without being defeated.
Jiang Cheng looked around and saw that there were more than a dozen people in the command tower, including four sailors and the others were officers. Since they were stranded here, there was no one to command them, they were just needed for duty.
Jiang Cheng smiled at Hill and said, "I'm sorry, I need to talk to you alone. Is it convenient?"
Louis stepped forward and said, "Who are you? Why are you talking to our general in private?"
Jiang Cheng took out a photo from his arms and said, "General Hill, look at it, your daughter is really cute."
Hill felt like he was struck by thunder. He never expected that Jiang Cheng would take out the photos of his home. He shouted angrily, "Who are you? Why do you have things from my home?"
The sailor next to him immediately drew his gun and pointed it at Jiang Cheng, Zhang Ye and the others. Zhang Ye glared at the sailor, but because he had no weapons to resist because of the body search, he could only hold his fist to protect Jiang Cheng's body.
Jiang Cheng smiled and pushed Zhang Ye away, took out a letter and said, "General Hill, please don't be nervous. This is a letter from your daughter and your wife. I am a trustworthy person. I am willing to be a
When people board your battleship, are you still afraid that I will destroy your battleship?" - He can really do it, if necessary.
Hill hurriedly took the letter. Due to time constraints, he did not let his family leave France. What he was most worried about overseas was his family, just because his commander had to hide his soft side. When he saw the letter from home,
Unable to hold back, he immediately started reading. After a while, he burst into tears. He wiped his tears and said to Jiang Cheng, "Thank you, Jiang. My wife told me in the letter that because of you, they all
You have been well taken care of and I would like to express my personal thanks to you. If you are just here to deliver a letter, I would like to treat you to lunch. If you have anything else, I hope you can be here with me and my
Let your subordinates talk together."
Although Hill was excited, he was not stupid. Where are his wife and daughter now? In the hands of the Germans. The Chinese can order the Germans. Naturally, they are on the German side. Most of them are here to represent Germany.
and Vichy France persuaded themselves to surrender.
Jiang Cheng looked at the sailors around him and nodded and said, "Is it possible to keep only senior officers?"
Hill accepted this and asked the sailors to go out. Jiang Cheng took out a document and said, "This is the order given to you by Commander Darlan. Take a look at it first. You can tell me while you look at it."
Darlan's order was very simple. He ordered the squadron to cancel the previous order and return to the French navy. Then he ordered all the navy to retire and join Jiang Cheng's business group as mercenaries. At the same time, the three ships would also be sold.
To Jiang Cheng, so as long as Hill returns to the French Navy, he can directly take the ship and listen to Jiang Cheng's command.
Hill was dumbfounded. If it weren't for the seal and secret message of the Navy Department, he would have suspected that he was reading a novel and that he had been sold???
