When Fang Lang boarded the House early the next morning, his head was still groggy when he left Okinawa. Fortunately, the waters off Okinawa are now the territory of the Allied Forces, and the Japanese are not something he can encounter if he wants to.
In fact, the straight-line distance between Okinawa and Hangzhou Bay is only about 900 kilometers. If the House goes directly to Hangzhou Bay at the maximum speed of 35 knots, it will only take less than 20 hours to arrive.
Of course, ships cannot travel at top speed all the time. Therefore, the House kept sailing westward at a speed of twenty knots. Fang Lang's target was not the mainland, because if he got too close to the land, he would be within the attack range of Japanese aviation.
Although Japan is currently short of fuel, it still has oil reserves in the country. The Japanese are now trying to find ways to transport strategic materials such as fuel to Japan.
These transport ships were Fang Lang's attack targets. It's not that Fang Lang doesn't want to attack Japan directly, but if he foolishly sails a ship and attacks Japan alone, he will basically end up like Don Quixote.
War is not a street fight, and you cannot act recklessly. Fang Lang ordered the Hope to take the lead in cruising in the middle of the route from Shanghai to Nagasaki. He was searching for ships in the East China Sea that might be heading from Taiwan to Japan.
I don’t know if the Japanese navy was really beaten down. For three days, the two warships found nothing. This made Fang Lang very angry. He secretly came late and it seemed that Little Japan was really beaten down.
After asking for instructions from the Fifth Aircraft Carrier Fleet, Fang Lang began to shift targets. The Hope was ordered to proceed directly to the Korean Strait and attack ships traveling between North Korea and Japan near Tsushima Island.
Fang Lang himself followed the House and began to test forward in the direction of Shanghai, hoping to test whether the Japanese Army Aviation would send military planes to attack him for his warship.
Because the Fletcher-class destroyer's air radar has a maximum detection range of 120 kilometers. Therefore, on July 12, Fang Lang directly led the House into a distance of less than a hundred nautical miles from Shanghai.
But let alone Japanese planes, not even a Japanese ship was encountered. This made Fang Lang very angry. I traveled thousands of miles to fight with you, but you didn't show up. This made me very embarrassed.
On July 13, Fang Lang's House simply broke into a distance of about fifty kilometers from Shanghai in order to attract the enemy to attack at close range.
But Fang Lang did not dare to enter within a distance of fifty kilometers, because this is the longest range of the Japanese Type 90 240mm heavy cannon.
If they were hit by Japanese heavy artillery, the gain would outweigh the losses. After all, Shanghai was not Japan, and it was impossible for Fang Lang to attack Shanghai. The firepower of the Fang Lang destroyer could not reach the Japanese.
The result was unexpected. The Japanese seemed to be blind and indifferent to the approach of the House. Just when Fang Lang was yelling at the Japanese for being cowardly on the House.
The Hope brought good news from the Korean Strait, sinking a transport ship bound for Japan from North Korea. And got in touch with the American submarine that was performing a blockade mission in the Korean Strait, and played the wolf pack tactic invented by the Germans.
This made Fang Lang very hurt. For the first time, he sincerely wanted to own an aircraft carrier, so that embarrassing situations like now would not occur.
Similarly, Fang Lang also saw the weakness of the Japanese from this situation. Fang Lang never imagined that the Japanese would let the House approach such a close distance without doing anything.
Fang Lang simply refused to do anything and began to blockade the sea outside Shanghai, not believing that the Japanese really did not escape.
Just when Fang Lang was furious because he punched cotton and couldn't find an enemy, Global Steel and Global Shipbuilding in the United States finally completed their acquisition and integration.
It owns steel companies and shipyards across the United States, Britain, Germany, and Italy. Although, the scale of steel plants and shipyards in each country is not large.
Even the factories in the United States are research institutes, but it cannot be denied that the two companies officially have the qualifications to enter the steel market and shipbuilding market.
The company's first key task after completing the integration is to officially start joint venture negotiations with the Brazilian Oriental Group, and plans to invest in establishing a steel plant and shipyard in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
This project has received great attention from the Brazilian government, the Brazilian military, and the Sao Paulo city government. For the first time, the Brazilian Circle Group has appeared in the eyes of Brazilian politicians and the Brazilian people.
The Brazilian Navy and the Brazilian Expeditionary Force directly came forward to support Fangyuan Group. This company, which was just established in Brazil, became a household name in one day and appeared on the front pages of major newspapers in Brazil.
It even shocked the tumultuous Brazilian political scene. Don't think that the author's description is exaggerated. The reason why Brazil became the only country in South America to send troops to participate in the European War.
It was because in the summer of 1940, the Brazilian government simultaneously launched negotiations with the United States and the United States in order to build the earliest modern large-scale steel plant.
In the end, the U.S. government reached an agreement with Brazilian President Vargas to provide an interest-free loan of US$10 million for Brazil to build a steel plant in Rancho Volta.
It marked that Brazil officially abandoned Germany and joined the American camp. This shows how much influence a modern steel plant can have on the Brazilian government.
In fact, to outsiders, the so-called joint venture negotiations seemed to have gone through repeated negotiations, and even attracted major Brazilian capital to take a stake. Unfortunately, they did not know that all this was just a show.
Therefore, the big capital in Brazil is destined to gain nothing.
On July 13, Fangyuan Group officially announced the establishment of a joint venture and began investment negotiations with the government. It plans to invest US$20 million to establish a steel plant and a shipyard in Brazil.
Fang Lang was naturally very happy when he received the news, which relieved the depression he had been feeling for the past few days.
In the early morning of July 14th, the House's radar detected a ship approaching the House. Fang Lang thought that the Japanese were finally going to fight, and quickly ordered the House to turn.
But when the other party entered the visual range of the lookout post, they discovered that it turned out to be a wooden fishing boat. This made the crew of the House decide to be bored, thinking that the Japanese were attacking in wooden fishing boats.
Just as he was about to aim at the opponent and kill him with one shot, Fang Lang suddenly remembered that this time his sixth sense didn't seem to sense any hostility!
Instead, he ordered the boatswain to take ten soldiers in a traffic boat and go up to confirm the situation. Don't wait until the fishermen are at fault.
Soon the boatswain brought back two people dressed like fishermen and reported to Fang Lang that they were intelligence personnel of the national army and hoped to meet the Allied commander.
Fang Lang looked at the two of them carefully for a while and then said:
"What are you doing! What are you doing here!"
When the two of them saw the soldiers who brought them over, including several yellow men and a black man, they felt heartbroken. When I got closer, I saw that the flag on this warship was something I had never seen before, and I was wondering!
I was even more stunned when I heard an officer on the opposite side ask in Chinese. The older man, who looked to be in his late fifties, took the initiative and said:
"Sir, are you an allied force?"
Listening to the other party's voice, it is obvious that he is much younger! This made Fang Lang couldn't help but look at the man opposite him more carefully. He turned around and asked the boatswain in a low voice:
"Have you been searched?"
I thought to myself, don't wait until two Japanese spies come to assassinate me at close range, it will be embarrassing.
The bosun nodded.
Fang Langcai replied:
"We are Allied warships, who are you?"
Hearing Fang Lang's answer, the two of them were obviously relieved. The man who took the initiative to speak continued:
"Sir, you speak Mandarin very well. My name is Zhong Ze, and I am a major intelligence officer at the Shanghai Station of the National Government's Military Intelligence Bureau. Next to me is my translator Qiu Yuyi. I am very happy to meet you."
These two people can be regarded as the first real compatriots Fang Lang saw after returning from rebirth. However, Fang Lang knew very well how powerful the Japanese intelligence agencies were, and he could not trust them easily.
Don't wait until the Japanese take advantage of it, and you'll be in big trouble.
"Do you have evidence?"
Zhong Ze glanced at the soldiers standing around with guns on guard, and pointed to the location of his belt.
Fang Lang understood what he meant. He just shook his head without saying anything. A soldier stepped forward and groped along where the man was pointing. He soon found a hard object. He took it out and inspected it. Then he handed it to Fang Lang.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be an identification document, roughly meaning that the national army sent two personnel from the Military Intelligence Bureau to board the ship to discuss a joint attack on the Japanese army, and hereby certify it.
