dhibooks Chapter 241 Closing the Net
Chapter 241 Closing the Net
The morning mist still lingered off the coast of Xiamen.
The Japanese minesweeper crept slowly forward, its mast adorned with a search and rescue flag, looking quite professional. Several sailors ran back and forth on the deck, rangefinders and binoculars in hand, glancing at buoys and the sea surface, clearly not there to rescue anyone, but to measure the distance.
Inside the coastal observation station, Zhao Xiaoman's eyes were pressed tightly against his glasses, his palms sweating profusely. "Squad Leader Zhou, it moved again!"
Zhou Desheng snatched the record board, snorted, and said, "Good. The more you move, the clearer you remember. Report!"
"Minehunter, bearing 63 degrees southeast of east. 1100 meters from buoy number one. Speed reduced to four knots. Two turns, possibly measuring buoy spacing..."
Before Zhao Xiaoman could finish speaking, a muffled "bang" suddenly sounded on the sea.
A smoke warning grenade landed a few dozen meters in front of the minehunter, causing the seawater to churn up half a meter high, followed by a column of gray-white smoke that looked like a giant hand slapping its nose.
The shells didn't hit the ship, not even grazed the deck, but as soon as the smoke rolled by, the minehunter's course became completely obscured.
Several Japanese sailors on deck were startled at first, then hurriedly dodged backward. One of them slipped and almost fell onto the deck. The sentry on the ship shouted a few words, his voice carrying across the sea breeze, shrill as if he had been choked by smoke.
Zhao Xiaoman's heart skipped a beat, and she blurted out, "Did it hit?"
"What a load of crap."
Zhou Desheng slapped him on the back of the head. "That's called greeting someone in the face. The young marshal said, 'Don't damage the ship, just obstruct the course.' Remember that!"
On the other side of the sea, before the smoke had even cleared, the second order had already been sent out via radio. Several buoys on the outer edge of the warning zone lit up one after another in the morning mist, one after another, as if drawing a border around the previously invisible threshold for everyone at sea.
At the same time, a plaintext telegram was also sent out.
"A Japanese minesweeper has approached our minesweeping warning zone off the coast of Fujian Province under the pretext of search and rescue. It is currently positioned outside the No. 1 to No. 3 warning buoys, and smoke warning flares have been fired ahead. Merchant ships of all countries are advised to give way and to carefully examine its probing activities."
This telegram felt more like a slap in the face than any flight tracking report from yesterday.
This time, it wasn't just Chen's army saying that Japan was dangerous; it was the Japanese ship flying the search and rescue flag that stood beside the lit buoy, letting everyone see what it was doing.
On the flagship Iwami, when Shinichi Terauchi saw the copied telegram, his face turned frighteningly pale.
"Baka!"
He slammed the telegram on the table, making the teacup jump. "They actually turned on the lights! They dared to light up the warning buoys for the merchant ships to see!"
Lieutenant Commander Kobayashi stood to the side, his Adam's apple bobbing, before he spoke in a low voice, "Commander, if the minehunter retreats now, people will say it was scared back by the Chinese warning flares. If it continues forward, with the light lines, buoys, and telegrams still in place, it won't be a search and rescue operation anymore; it'll be minesweeping, which is a military action..."
Terauchi Shinichi suddenly turned his head, "Then let the main force push forward!"
Kobayashi didn't reply immediately, but instead handed over a copy of the latest report on merchant ships at sea. It clearly stated that several British, American, and Southeast Asian merchant ships had begun to bypass the minesweeper's area based on Chen Jiajun's telegram and were requesting further guidance on safe routes.
This is not a military report.
This is the account.
Kobayashi lowered his voice even further, "Commander, if the main force advances further, the coordinates, gun positions, and speeds of the Iwami and the two light cruisers will be released again immediately. The insurance company was already changing rates yesterday, and if another public record of 'main force covering minehunters' is released today, Far Eastern merchant ships will be even less likely to approach the waters we control tomorrow."
"Merchant firms in Tokyo are already complaining that the number of merchant ships arriving in Japan has decreased by 20% recently, and most of them are carrying rice, flour, and cooking oil, which has caused the price of rice in Japan to rise."
Rice prices in Japan...
These words made Terauchi Shinichi's face even uglier.
Because this thing is a taboo in Japan.
Terauchi Shinichi's lips twitched, and the veins on the back of his hand bulged, but he ultimately didn't give the order. He knew very well that this was the most disgusting part of the whole situation.
The Chinese didn't fire a single shot at his ship, but every step they took felt like a gentle cut on his face with a small knife—not much blood, but impossible to dodge.
Back in Fuzhou, after listening to the report from the front lines, Shen Li couldn't help but chuckle. "Young Marshal, once the smoke bomb explodes and the buoy lights up, that ship is like it's being interrogated under a lamp."
Chen Zijun picked up the teacup and blew on it to cool it down.
"That's exactly right. It's not here for search and rescue, it's here to probe the minefield. Since it's here to probe, we have to make it make a sound. Go, send out the second telegram, making sure to emphasize: We did not fire, we only issued a public warning to suspicious vessels approaching the minefield."
He paused, then added, "Copy from the Shanghai Post Office again. The headline will follow yesterday's draft, and we'll add a line: 'The main Japanese fleet sits on the sidelines, risking their own sailors' lives to pave the way for the cannons. The Bushido spirit is so important; it would be a disservice not to praise them.'"
Shen Li's lips twitched as he listened. "Young Marshal, the Japanese are probably going to be so angry they'll grind their teeth to dust this time."
"It's better that it's broken." Chen Zijun put down his teacup and said calmly, "It saves me from always thinking about testing the hardness of other people's front teeth."
Just as the lights were being lit on the sea, the back alley of the old silver shop in Shanghai was also nearing its end.
In the back courtyard of the old silver shop in the International Settlement, a kerosene lamp was dimly lit, its shade covered in a layer of dust, making the corners of the fake dispatch chart on the table appear even dirtier and older.
Lu Shaoting didn't sleep all night, his eyes were bloodshot, but his fingers were pressing the paper tightly, as if he were pressing down on half of his life.
The manager of the Changxi Transportation Station across the street spread out the map, flipped the codebook halfway through, and whispered.
"If this warehouse line is still open, and with the low-priced grain released from Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, we can get the goods in first. By the time the southeast side reacts, we'll have control of the road, warehouse, and price."
Lu Shaoting licked his dry lips.
"I've said it before, no matter how good these people in the Southeast are at putting on an act, they're still warlords at heart. No matter how many rules they follow on the surface, they're still the same at heart. How could they possibly manage everything perfectly at all times? Our National Revolutionary Government doesn't even have that level of competence. When things get messy, the roads get blocked, and the people start rioting, they'll still have to bow their heads. President Chiang's personal approval this time is definitely not wrong."
As he spoke, he handed over the drafted outbound document, saying, "Send it quickly. Send the warehouse line and train schedule on the map together, the sooner the better."
Inside the outer room, a young man who looked like a waiter was wiping a table with his neck hunched over, his movements slow and unremarkable. In the corner of the courtyard, a cigarette vendor leaned against the wall, yawning, as if he had stayed up all night and was feeling very sleepy.
Nobody gave them a second glance.
Lu Shaoting was unaware that these two men had been listening to Su Guiying assign tasks at a teahouse outside the City God Temple last night. One was assigned to the Night Owl line, and the other to the Moranzhi Military Intelligence Bureau's operations line. Tonight, they weren't staying to watch the show; they were waiting to see when these people would willingly stick their heads into the noose.
A short while later, the back door made a soft sound.
When Mo Lanzhi walked in, she was wearing an ordinary cheongsam with a short woolen cape. Her steps were slow, but her eyes were as cold as a knife blade. Su Guiying followed behind her, carrying a small paper bag, which looked like a snack she had bought on the way.
The people in the courtyard were stunned.
Lu Shaoting's face turned pale instantly.
"you……"