Chapter 292 A sudden confrontation at sea! (First update!)

"Sir, this is really a brilliant idea of ​​yours." As soon as he walked out of the room, Meng Fanle couldn't help but give a thumbs up. This arrangement was really perfect.

"No big deal." Cun Yunsheng waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to get too excited.

"Sir, who do you think can offer a higher price?" Meng Fan looked curious.

He was really curious about which one would offer a higher price, Vichy France or Free France.

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng smiled and said.

“Why can’t we eat from both?”

"Ah?" Meng Fanle was stunned for a moment. What the hell?

Take both?

Isn’t this too exciting?

Aren’t you afraid that they will get angry out of shame?
Just stop serving me?

"Don't worry, there are more than 10,000 French troops. Most of the French men are now dead. If these 10,000 people are gone, well, well..." Cun Yunsheng didn't say the rest, but the meaning was very clear.

"Ah? Isn't it just over 10,000 people?" Meng Fanle found it very strange. Isn't it just over 10,000 people?

How much?
In every battle they fought, the number of casualties was always counted in the tens of thousands.

As long as the battle reaches a large scale, the casualties will definitely exceed this number.

What problem could there be with this number of people?
"Almost all the French men died in the last war. If more than 10,000 people are gone, what will happen to the women and children in their country?" Cun Yunsheng said meaningfully.

He remembered that after the victory of the war, France experienced a peak in birth rate for several years.

As for how it came about, we have to ask the US military.

After all, they know what's going on.

"Okay, almost ten minutes have passed. Let's go find Henry. He will agree to our request." As he said that, Cun Yunsheng pushed open the door of the room again.

At this moment, Henry in the room had long lost his previous spirit.

"Special Envoy Henry, Special Envoy Bernard just agreed to our conditions..." Looking at Special Envoy Henry, Cun Yunsheng said with a smile.

"Please leave now..."

Before he could finish, Envoy Henry suddenly panicked.

"Bernard can't possibly agree to this. This condition is too harsh."

During the time that Cun Yunsheng was away, Henry weighed the pros and cons for a long time, and finally felt that he could only accept half of it, and he would never agree to the other conditions.

result?

Now tell him that the people of Free France actually accepted it?

How could this be possible?

Can you give me a 10,000-ton hydraulic press?

Are those people in Free France crazy?
Where did they get the 10,000-ton hydraulic press?
In addition, there are various oil refining equipment.

And related supporting facilities, including dock equipment, etc.

It is obvious that the other party is heading for the industrial system.

Currently, there are only a few countries in the world that have industrial systems.

"Why is it impossible to agree? There are tens of thousands of people here, and a large number of naval soldiers, including Special Envoy Henry. Free France is very short of troops now. Compared with these people, what are some equipments?" Cun Yunsheng said meaningfully.

Hearing this, Special Envoy Henry took a deep breath, looked at Cun Yunsheng, and then spoke again.

"You are right, but the price is too high. Some of the equipment is confidential and cannot be sold."

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng's heart sank. It turned out that building a complete industrial system was not an easy task.

Compared with the price China paid for establishing its industrial system later, the price we are paying now is already very small.

It turns out that it is impossible to become fat in one go.

Even the Soviet army in the north paid a huge price to build their industrial system.

"I can only give you half at most, but the canal is blocked now, and the equipment can only be transported to the Port of Alexandria at most. You need to find a way to solve the rest yourself." Envoy Henry looked at the silent Cun Yunsheng, thought for a while, and put forward his own conditions.

"This is our bottom line. In fact, if it weren't for those naval soldiers, I would never have paid such a high price. You know what these equipments mean. They will turn an agricultural country into an industrial country in a very short time."

After Henry finished speaking, he spread his hands, indicating that if they didn't agree, he would give up.

In fact, there was one more thing he didn't say, which was that without enough engineers, a large number of workers, and a large amount of electricity supply, it would be a huge joke to want to convert these equipment into strength.

The reason I didn't say anything was that I wanted to laugh at the other person.

Let him know what it means to overestimate one's own abilities and to try to stop a chariot with one's bare hands.

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng couldn't help but take a deep breath. He knew that this should be the other party's bottom line.

"Okay, but we can only give you half of the soldiers."

Since we only have half of the equipment, we naturally cannot give it all away. After all, we also have to give an explanation to the Free France side.

"You are provoking the great France..." Finally, Envoy Henry couldn't help but yell.

"Is the France today still the France of the Nazi period? Do you still have any backbone?" Cun Yunsheng mocked unceremoniously.

"If you really have the ability, then come to the Far East. I'll be waiting for you here."

When it comes to Emperor Napoleon, Envoy Henry fell silent for a long time before he spoke.

"Okay, half is half, but we have to give all the navy soldiers to us. This is our bottom line."

"Okay." Cun Yunsheng also knew that the naval battle in the Mediterranean had reached a critical moment.

Currently, the fleets of both sides are testing each other, so there has not been a decisive battle yet.

This was because the German army urgently dispatched a group of fighter jets to Sicily.

It is hoped that Sicily will be used as a radius to provide support to the navy at any time.

The Allies were also constantly deploying warships and fighter planes to strengthen their own strength.

At the same time, I am also waiting for opportunities.

Cun Yunsheng knew that what the Allies were waiting for was the dredging of the canal, and then they would attack from the east and west and inflict heavy damage on the navies of the four countries.

At this time, Vichy France sent people to redeem these prisoners in order to strengthen its own naval strength.

But the other party was very tactful and did not mention those warships, which made Cun Yunsheng feel a little confused.

"They are just some old warships. They are gone, but the great France will never forget this shame," Henry said meaningfully.

Hearing this, Cun Yunsheng chuckled.

"Don't worry, we won't forget it either."

When they returned to Special Envoy Bernard's room, he no longer had his previous spirit and instead looked listless.

Clearly he had messed up.

"Envoy Bernard, I just reached an agreement with Envoy Henry to release some of the prisoners." As soon as he entered the room, Cun Yunsheng told the other party about the agreement. "Some of the prisoners?" Envoy Bernard was stunned, and then his eyes lit up. Does this mean there is still hope?

"Yes, as for the remaining captives, I wonder if Special Envoy Bernard is interested in redeeming them? After all, you are right, we are allies." Cun Yunsheng said with a smile.

"But two hundred thousand pounds is too little. We should add a little more."

Hearing this, Special Envoy Bernard shook his head and said helplessly.

"General Cun, it's not that I don't want to add more, but Free France doesn't have much to offer, and we are also dependent on others. This two hundred thousand pounds is already our bottom line, but I can promise that after the war is won, we will give a certain amount of compensation."

"Oh? Compensation? Can I ask what compensation is? Is it to hand over this colony belonging to Vichy France to us for management?" Cun Yunsheng said with a smile.

"Haha, General Cun, you're joking. This is not something I can decide." Special Envoy Bernard said with a wry smile.

Having said that, there is basically nothing more to talk about.

Cun Yunsheng also knew the other party’s bottom line, so if he wanted to gain management rights for these colonies, he still had to strengthen his own strength.

Without strength, everything is in vain.

When Special Envoy Bernard saw the French prisoners, he was furious.

Wasn't he here just for those navy soldiers?

Otherwise, why would you come all the way here?
The results of it?
This guy actually gave it all to the people of Vichy France.

This made Special Envoy Bernard very angry, and he went to find Cun Yunsheng.

The result was a direct rejection.

Even received ridicule.

You want to exchange so many naval soldiers for just 200,000 pounds?
Is it that Bernard is too naive, or is it that Cun Yunsheng is too stupid.

What really worries Cun Yunsheng at this moment is how to transport those equipment back.

"Let Li Si find a solution?" Meng Fanle's words made Cun Yunsheng's eyes light up.

If the equipment can be transported to the Canaan region, the rest can be transported back using the ant moving tactics.

Thinking of this, Cun Yunsheng immediately decided to send a telegram to Li Si, asking him to complete the task at all costs.

…………

The view switched to the waters of Qiongzhou Island. Sun Guanghua, who had just taken office as the commander of the naval fleet, looked at the flagship of the French Indochina Navy, the cruiser La Mothe-Piquet, and felt relieved. Especially after learning about the performance of the cruiser, he was extremely excited.

Although this light cruiser has the word "light" in its name, it has a full load displacement of 9350 tons and is mainly equipped with 8 155mm naval guns.

The "lightness" and "heaviness" of a cruiser is not determined by the size of the hull, but by the caliber of its artillery. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 stipulated that cruisers were divided into two levels: light and heavy. The caliber of light cruiser artillery was below 155 mm, and the caliber of heavy cruiser artillery was between 155 and 203.

If they had this cruiser earlier, why would they let the Japanese destroyers be so arrogant?
In other words, this cruiser is basically invincible unless it encounters a heavy cruiser.

In addition, there is the Siamese flagship, the Thonburi.

In other words, at this moment Sun Guanghua's naval strength is actually not very weak, and it exceeds that of most countries.

The only things missing are heavy cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers.

But he was just thinking about it.

Or at most, the only thing that came to mind was the heavy cruiser.

As for battleships and aircraft carriers, I dare not even dream about them.

"Report to the commander, gunboat No. 2 has spotted an unidentified target, direction 192, distance shown 33 kilometers!" A report came from Sun Guanghua's command room on the flagship.

"Could it be a fishing boat?" Sun Guanghua frowned slightly.

Since fishermen often go out to sea to fish nearby, it is normal to discover unidentified targets.

"It shouldn't be. We are dozens of nautical miles away from the coastline. It's definitely not a fishing boat." The first mate stepped forward and said.

"Never mind, operator, immediately notify gunboats No. 2 and No. 3 to enter level one combat readiness, personnel at each gun position to enter combat position, and the entire ship to enter combat readiness."

"Yes!"

Since this was an escort operation, Sun Guanghua did not dispatch all the warships. After all, Bangkok also needed a navy to monitor the Japanese army's actions at all times.

So the navy dispatched this time includes the flagship - the cruiser Ramot Pict and two 2200-ton "Thonburi" class coastal defense ships.

It was also called a battleship by the Siamese because its firepower was so strong.

Each battleship was equipped with two 2mm twin-mounted naval guns. If the two warships were arranged in formation, the firepower of a salvo could be comparable to that of a heavy cruiser. At that time, Britain and France did not have such powerful firepower in Southeast Asia, so it can be said that such firepower was absolutely overwhelming.

These four naval guns were removed from the Akagi and Kaga aircraft carriers by the Japanese army.

Because previous aircraft carriers were equipped with heavy cruiser-class guns.

In order to avoid waste and to win over Siam, these four naval guns were sold to the Siamese.

But later, Siam had a conflict with the French Indochina colony, one Thonburi was severely damaged and one was stranded. If the Siamese Air Force had not been dispatched, it would probably have been destroyed.

After being repaired, the two Thonburi coastal defense ships are now once again active on the sea.

In addition to these, there were six gunboats that were deployed as frigates, responsible for detecting possible Japanese warships that might appear in the surrounding areas.

At this time, although it was daytime, the fog on the sea surface dissipated very slowly, and it was a little gray in the distance. Anyone who has served as a naval observer knows that the visibility on the sea surface depends on the height you are standing at and the sea conditions and weather at the time.

Gunboats like these with a displacement of a hundred tons have very low observability.

Ten minutes later, the observer reported.

"Report, target found, right in front of us, right there!"

"Report, it's a Japanese destroyer, it's a Japanese destroyer, and it's heading towards our ship."

After receiving the report, Sun Guanghua immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and issued a combat order.

"I am Captain Sun Guanghua. I now order the entire ship to enter combat mode. All personnel are ready to fight! Observers continue to observe and report the type of enemy ship and its firepower configuration."

"Chief Engineer, keep the engine running at high speed. First Officer, turn left at 50 degrees. Go behind the enemy. They should not have discovered us yet."

"Gunboat No. 2, Gunboat No. 3, spread out and don't let them find you."

"Yes!"

"All ships ready. Fire freely once you are in range. Repeat. Fire freely once you are in range."

"Roger that!"

"Roger that!"

"Roger that!"

At this moment, due to heavy fog at sea, the Japanese escort fleet was still sailing leisurely.

This is not the first time that the Japanese Navy has undertaken such an escort mission.

Especially the Mutsuki-class destroyers, their job is to provide escort.

"Can we speed up?" A Japanese colonel, Takei Sohei, came to the command desk and couldn't help asking.

"Not vomiting anymore?" Lieutenant Commander Nagata Taizo, who was in charge of the escort, glanced and said lightly.

(End of this chapter)