Four hundred and fiftieth chapters fifty-five open
At least the HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier must be scuttled. This was the final decision made by Forbes and others.
Soon, after recovering some of his energy and physical strength, Sir Forbes decided to take action. He took his chief of staff, Adjutant Yu, and two trusted lieutenants to the door of the prisoner's holding room.
"Dong dong dong!" Sir Forbes knocked nervously on the door.
"What's going on?" The Italian major officer, who was transferred to guard Forbes and the others because he knew English, said to Forbes impatiently through the small glass window on the door in his not very fluent English.
The Italian major was already dissatisfied with the fact that he was being held as a prisoner, but now Forbes interrupted him to close his eyes and relax, which made the major even more uneasy.
If he hadn't been assigned to guard the British prisoners here, the major would have been enjoying the wine dinner held to celebrate the victory with his comrades in the ship's restaurant.
On battleships, although flammable and explosive materials such as fine wine have always been strictly prohibited.
However, in the Italian Navy, which loves to enjoy itself, the officers and soldiers of each ship will secretly stash some fine wine to avoid the loose "Italian-style" interrogation and bring these contrabands onto the warship.
Commander Leifer of the Italian Fleet was also well aware of this little move by his men.
However, he will not suppress such minor violations by his subordinates.
Who doesn't have some hobbies? If everyone is not allowed to bring private wine on board, the beer reserves in the bottom storage room will probably be divided up in less than one meal.
And if there is no wine, how to celebrate after victory? How can the officers and soldiers vent their joy?
But now it was better. The major, who had finished drinking the private wine, finally waited for Commander Leifer's order and had a chance to celebrate his victory with a free drink.
As a result, just because he could speak some English, he was recommended to be the top officer responsible for guarding the prisoners.
Perhaps because he saw that the Italian major was not easy to talk to, Forbes didn't say any more nonsense. He took off the gold watch on his wrist and waved it in front of the Italian major.
Then, Forbes said: "Mr. Major, if you are willing to do me a favor, I will give you this gold watch as a thank you gift."
Gold watch?!
The Italian major was still very sensitive to the word gold in the English word. When he heard that he would be rewarded with a gold watch, his attitude immediately changed 180 degrees.
"You say, you say." The major said the word "please" twice in a row using the few English words he knew.
"The matter is very simple. I still have a lot of valuable personal belongings left on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal." Sir Forbes kept smiling as much as possible and slowly deceived: "You know that we are captured now, no
Find a way to escape."
"However, the private accommodation rooms of our British officers and soldiers on the Ark Royal should still be under seal." Forbes paused, and then lowered his voice slightly in an inflammatory tone, but promised that it would be available to everyone.
The Italian Major spoke slowly at an audible decibel level:
"If the Major is willing to help me sneak back to my personal accommodation on the Ark Royal and retrieve some of my personal belongings, then I am also willing to give 30% of the benefit to Mr. Major."
Having said this, Sir Forbes swallowed secretly and stared nervously into the eyes of the Italian major.
To be honest, Forbes rarely deceives people and does not have much experience.
In addition, the lie this time was made up on the fly, so the credibility is inevitably somewhat low.
Success or failure basically depends on the IQ of the Italian major on duty.
"This matter... is a bit troublesome." The Italian major scratched his head, thought for a while and said: "It's not easy to release the prisoners."
Hearing this, Forbes and the adjutant and chief of staff who were eavesdropping by the cabin door couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts.
Returning to the Ark Royal as a prisoner was indeed a bit too much to take for granted.
Just when Sir Forbes sighed and was about to give up, he locked their cabin door, but was opened by the Italian major.
The major stretched out his hand towards Sir Forbes and stared at his gold watch without moving away: "Well, if you promise to give me half of the valuable items, I will find a way to help you get back."
It turns out that the benefits are not enough!
After discovering that the other party said that the matter was difficult to handle, it was not because it couldn't be done, but because the other party was more greedy than expected and wanted more benefits, Forbes and his party relaxed a little.
"Okay, no problem." Sir Forbes readily agreed to the Italian major and took off the gold watch in his hand and said: "Everything is split 50-50, I'll keep half and give you the rest."
"Deal." The Italian major smiled even more happily.
He suddenly discovered that guarding prisoners did not seem to be a bad thing. At least, there was a chance to gain benefits.
With the rank of major, in the two-term Italian military and government where corrupt officials abound, there is almost no chance to get to the front row and benefit from those big corrupt officials.
Although everyone knows that Italian generals often use their power to smuggle and sell various military and civilian supplies to the Germans, making a lot of extra money.
However, many little people can only know.
Their level is not enough to give them the qualifications to contact the Germans, let alone resell supplies.
Therefore, when Sir Forbes used a gleaming gold watch as a bait and claimed to have more valuable items as a cover, the Major, who was in the Italian Navy with a reputation for corruption, accepted this opportunity to make a fortune without even thinking about it.
A God-given opportunity.
"By the way, I have to take a few people with me. The things are too fragmentary and I can't finish them all by myself." After receiving the look from the adjutant, Sir Forbes pretended to be casual and added.
"How many people are you going to bring out?" the Italian major, who had already taken the gold watch from Forbes, asked casually while playing with this exquisite and beautiful watch.
"Not many, just four." Forbes said with a smile.
"Four?" The Italian major was stunned for a moment, then thought for a moment and said, "That's okay, then I'd better bring a few people with me to get my share."
"Of course, of course." Sir Forbes, who confirmed that the other party had been deceived, said with a smile: "Eight people are enough to move all the valuable items in my room."
Forbes was very happy. He did not expect that the Italian major would fall into the scheme proposed to him by his staff so easily.
The Italian major was also very happy. In his opinion, it was the stupid British fleet commander who fell into the trap.
Can you still open things 50-50 when you see them?
