In the deep and slightly white sky, there were still a few stars, and the sea surface was still pitch black. However, at the east sea and sky, a milky white narrow band had been slightly straightened, and then a drunken crimson was dizzy. The star closed his tired and sleepy eyes and finally retreated and disappeared.

"Damn it, it's only less than 5 o'clock, and it's dawn. If it's an hour later, it's even half an hour." McClane, the captain of the Arthur, looked out of the porthole, at the junction of water and sky behind, the day was fighting against the gradually pale night, the night was curling up, and the rose color of dawn was gradually expanding.

But Captain McClaney was unwilling to appreciate the beautiful sunrise scene at this time, because the Arthur was about 20 nautical miles away from the shore. McClaney knew that this was not a safe distance, so she had to order to move forward at full speed.

As the sky gradually became brighter, Arthur gradually accelerated to its maximum speed of 14 knots, and McClane kept praying like God in his heart, hoping to bless his own peace.

But half an hour later, the sailor on the lookout shouted: "Captain, I discovered the ship at 5 o'clock."

McClaney's heart tightened, and quickly picked up his monocular lens and looked back to his side. Sure enough, there were indeed silhouettes of two steamers in the background of half of the orange sky. They were still very blurred at first, but gradually became clearer. The first mate Sam beside him had already screamed: "God, those are two warships."

Moreover, data was also reported from the observation deck. The two warships were about 4,500 meters away from the Arthur and had a speed of about 20 knots. At this speed, it would take about 40 minutes to catch up with the Arthur. Of course, if the warship fired its gun, the distance would be within the range.

McClaney's face was pale and said, "Call those three Japanese and let them know what's going on." After a pause, he said, "Call a few more sailors to come up to prevent the Japanese from bringing us to death together. These yellow-skinned monkeys are all stubborn."

At this time, the lookout said: "Captain, they sent a flag slogan and asked us to slow down and stop the ship and accept their inspection."

McClaney said: "Reply to them, we are British cargo ships, and we only obey British orders and will not accept their inspection."

At this time, only footsteps were heard, and three short Japanese men stepped onto the bridge. One of them said, "Captain, what happened?"

McClaney said: "Three gentlemen, we are now targeted by a warship. You can see for yourself. They have asked us to stop the ship and check. I reply to them that we are British cargo ships, and we only obey British jurisdiction, and do not accept their orders, and only hope to deter them."

While talking, five sailors boarded the bridge. At this time, more than a dozen people had stood on the bridge, which seemed a little crowded. The other party's flag-spoken reply came from the observation deck again: "Stop the ship immediately and accept inspection, otherwise the gun will be fired."

Immediately afterwards, a "boom" sound came from behind, and a water column several meters high rose about 200 meters left of the Arthur. Then the other party sent another flag slogan, "The first time warning shot, stop the ship immediately and be inspected."

McClaney said to the three Japanese: "Gentlemen, according to our agreement, when warships are intercepted, we have the right to give up resistance and surrender to the warships. This is the time."

A Japanese man said, "No, Mr. Captain, we don't..."

Before he could finish his words, the five sailors who had just arrived immediately surrounded him, and the captain, the first mate and the second mate also pressed their hands on the pistol at their waists. When the three Japanese saw this, they knew that using force was useless, so they had to express their obedience to the captain's order.

The Arthur is a sea cargo ship with a displacement of 3,600 tons, with a load of about 1,400 tons, a maximum speed of 14 knots, and a total of 32 crew members. This time, he was hired by the Japanese government to transport supplies to the Korean Peninsula. The ship was loaded with 20,000 rifles, 1.5 million bullets, 200 artillery pieces, 3,000 shells and other military items.

After the Japanese army retreated to the Korean Peninsula, they reorganized their troops and restored their combat effectiveness. The Japanese mainland also tried every means to transport military supplies to the Korean Peninsula. Although the People's Army controlled the maritime power, Japan still sent a large number of ships to smuggle the Tsushima Strait at night to transport supplies to the Korean Peninsula.

However, the People's Army's blockade of sea routes is very tight, and at least one modern warship patrolled the Tsushima Strait. The detection distance of the carrier-based air-to-sea scanning radar is about 50 kilometers, which is more than twice that of the naked eye observation in this era. The observation range of the carrier-based helicopters reaches 200 kilometers, and there is basically no difference during the day and night. Therefore, the People's Army's blockade efficiency is quite high, and most cargo ships are intercepted by the People's Army. And the maximum number of cargo ships that can reach the Korean Peninsula is only 1 out of 10.

After about a month of transportation, Japan lost more than 200,000 tons of cargo ships, and the amount of materials lost reached tens of thousands of tons. There were only 4 cargo ships that successfully arrived on the Korean Peninsula, with a total of about 67,000 tons of materials. In addition to the previous losses, the total loss of Japanese cargo ships was nearly 400,000 tons, accounting for about 400,000 tons of total tonnage of Japanese cargo ships.

Japan could not afford such a large amount of consumption, and the losses of the cargo ships had greatly affected Japan's shipping. Moreover, the People's Army only intercepted Japanese merchant ships at sea and did not intercept cargo ships from other countries to the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, in desperation, Japan had to rent a ship from the British Swire Shipping Company to transport supplies to the Korean Peninsula.

Although Swire Shipping Company knew that transporting military supplies to Japan was very dangerous, it was greedy for generous freight and felt that it was a British company. The East China government might not dare to intercept its cargo ship. In order to help Japan, the British government also promised Swire that once the People's Army's warships were intercepted, the cargo ship would not resist and surrender to the People's Army. The British government would rescue the crew through diplomatic channels.

Therefore, Swire Company added a clause to the contract signed with the Japanese government that "once it is intercepted by a warship, the captain has the right to surrender, and the redemption of the crew, the cost of the ship, and the losses caused by the Japanese government are borne by the Japanese government." It also stipulates that only cargo is transported but not the person, and each cargo ship can only have three Japanese accompanying him and are not allowed to carry any weapons. This is a lesson learned from the Gaosheng.

At that time, the British captain on the Gaosheng advocated surrendering to Japanese warships, but the Qing army officers and soldiers carried on the ship were unwilling to surrender, and coerced the captain with force and refused to surrender to Japanese warships. As a result, the Japanese warship lost patrol and sank the Gaosheng. Therefore, the Taikoo Company could help Japan transport, but it must retain the power and ability to surrender at any time. In addition, in order to avoid patrols of the People's Army Navy, the Taikoo Company also made careful arrangements in terms of routes and time, choosing to set off from Japan at dusk, using the cover of night to cross the Tsushima Strait, and reach the Korean Peninsula at dawn the next day, which can reduce the chance of encountering the People's Army Navy.

After the two sides reached an agreement, Swire immediately sent cargo ships to help Japan transport supplies to North Korea. Although the cargo ships sent were voluntary, the freight was three times that of usual. The huge profits still moved many captains. The people who came out to run the boat were not cowards, and there were so many safeguards. At the beginning, Swire only sent one ship every day to test the attitude of the People's Army Navy. In five days, they met the People's Army Navy three times, but they did not intercept British cargo ships. So Swire became bolder and started to send extra flights every day, increasing to 2 and 3.

In fact, at the beginning, the People's Army Navy did not intercept cargo ships from other countries to the Korean Peninsula. Because there were not many cargo ships from other countries to North Korea, and now it is a war period, so naturally there are even fewer one. Often, it is difficult to see one in a few days. Therefore, in order to avoid unnecessary international disputes, the cargo ships from other countries are only opened, and there are not many.

However, the frequency of cargo ships from Britain to the Korean Peninsula has increased not only every day, but also developed to more than one ship every day. Such an abnormal phenomenon naturally attracted the attention of the People's Army Navy, so it reported to the Qingdao Military Working Group and requested instructions for the next step.

After the negotiations, the military working group believed that this was very likely that Britain was helping Japan transport supplies, so the People's Army naturally had to stop it. It must not allow Britain and Japan to submit it. Some people proposed to protest to Britain first, but it was denied by the military team because after the protests, the two sides negotiated again. This dragging along the time will only allow the Japanese army on the Korean Peninsula to get more supplies. Moreover, Britain can take the opportunity to put pressure on the East China government, so they will detain the ship first and catch the people back. Then, the people and ships are in their own hands, and then it depends on the British attitude to deal with it.

Therefore, the military working group ordered the navy to conduct a pedal inspection of British cargo ships near the Korean Peninsula. However, three warning shots were made on the cargo ships that refused to undergo inspection, but still did not undergo inspection, they could directly sink. If military-related items were found on the cargo ship, the ship would be seized and brought back to Qingdao for processing together with the crew and cargo.

As a result, the Arthur became the first British cargo ship to be intercepted by the People's Army. After the People's Army's first warning and shooting, Captain McClane wisely chose to slow down. Although the money is easy to make, he still has to spend his life, so he does not have to fight for Japan. Although the three Japanese on the ship were anxious, they were alone and had no weapons, so they could do nothing.

So Arthur immediately slowed down, and more than 10 minutes later, two warships caught up with Arthur, the destroyer of the People's Army Navy, the Jimo, and the three ships leaned on Long. The warship sent soldiers to board the Arthur to inspect and soon found the weapons and ammunition carried. So the soldiers boarded the ship immediately announced that because Arthur transported war materials, the People's Army seized Arthur. McClane also protested symbolically, without any other extreme resistance.
Chapter completed!