It's better to conquer them than to command the steel torrent

Chapter 124｜How can paying be called robbery?
Just as Shank was comforting Sigrid...

Thousands of miles away in the Mediterranean Sea.

On the blue sea east of Malta, a lone cruiser was sailing northwest, leaving behind a long white trail.

This is the Qiongzhou reconnaissance cruiser of the Federal Navy. At this moment, in the bridge, the lieutenant of the observation and communication department walked steadily to the side of the captain.

"Report, according to the call from Qiongzhou No. 2, the target's bearing is 225, and the distance is 78 nautical miles."

Captain Kong Ling glanced at the sea chart and ordered, "Turn around, head towards it, and stop it."

The Qiongzhou was originally a member of the evacuation fleet, but was ordered to leave the fleet yesterday to intercept a Portuguese cargo ship named the Beautiful Namur.

The staff of the Grand Federation's embassy in Portugal learned through the Maritime Administration that there happened to be such a cargo ship loaded with arms on its way to Portugal's African colony.

The Controlling Government subsequently approved the interception operation and ordered the nearest evacuation fleet to find the freighter and force it to turn towards Hungary.

After the unremitting efforts of two seaplanes, the Qiongzhou found the Beautiful Namur and raised the maritime signal flag of "Stop immediately".

The Beautiful Namur was puzzled, but facing eight naval guns, she dared not act rashly and had to stop the ship obediently.

The Qiongzhou launched two transport boats and sent more than ten armed sailors to take control of the cargo ship, which was fully loaded with weapons and equipment.

After a thorough search, the lieutenant in charge glanced through the inventory book and said to the female warrant officer beside him with satisfaction, "Xiao Lan, tell this ship that according to the inventory, this is indeed a shipload of munitions."

The lieutenant then informed the captain: "By order of the Controlling Government, we are requisitioning the cargo on this ship for a fee. You and your men must obey our instructions and sail this ship to the port of Rijeka."

The latter was stunned and stammered in silence.

The first mate protested angrily, "This is robbery! This ship is carrying Portugal's national treasure! This is the Mediterranean!"

The lieutenant snorted coldly and said disdainfully, "How can paying be considered robbery? And what's wrong with the Mediterranean? Even if I really rob you, what does it matter?"

The first mate shouted angrily: "You bunch of robbers! I..."

The first mate's voice died down as a dozen armed sailors stared at him.

Last year, the Portuguese authorities approved the proposal to form four new colonial light infantry brigades in Mocampico, and ordered a large amount of weapons and equipment from FN Herstal, including 6400 rifles and 560 Browning automatic rifles, and from Varland, including 800 second-hand submachine guns.

The Belle Namur was loaded with weapons and equipment for two of the light infantry brigades.

But what no one expected was that this batch of arms was intercepted halfway in the Mediterranean?
After realizing this situation, the captain asked for instructions from the capital. While sending the telegram, he also secretly sent a maritime distress signal in plain text - My ship encountered pirates!
Of course, this little trick did not escape the eyes of the Qiongzhou. The radio monitoring team easily intercepted the distress signal sent by the Beautiful Namur, and the captain scoffed at it.

"Captain, this crew member is dishonest. He lied to us that we are pirates and that there is a British fleet training nearby. I'm afraid they will come looking for us." The gunnery commander was a little unhappy.

"It doesn't matter if there are more people watching the fun." The captain didn't take it seriously.

Does the Royal Navy seem to have a timeless obsession with pirates? It's been like this since ancient times.

The Mediterranean Fleet, which was conducting routine training, immediately dispatched warships to the target sea area after receiving the distress signal.

Half a day later, the heavy cruiser HMS Cornwall and the destroyer HMS Dainty of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet hurried over from the southeast.

Where are the pirates? Isn't this a warship of the Great Unity Federation?

Seeing this scene, Captain Ashiburn of the Cornwall was completely confused.

After a long negotiation on the radio channel, everyone finally understood the whole story.

"What should we do? They will use these weapons against the Ivan Rus people." someone asked.

Everyone knows that the United Kingdom and Ivan Rus have signed a secret agreement and that the two sides are tacit allies.

Lieutenant Colonel Ashburn sighed and said nothing. After a moment, he looked at everyone with a helpless look and said in a deep voice, "There's nothing we can do."

Compared with the Qiongzhou reconnaissance cruiser, which has only four twin 4mm naval guns, the Cornwall heavy cruiser, equipped with four twin 170mm naval guns, has absolute firepower and tonnage advantages.

However, Cornwall's turrets never moved at all.

The Royal Navy sailors had made a wasted trip, watching helplessly as the Qiongzhou 'escorted' the beautiful Namur northward...

It turned out that Shank's words to comfort Sigrid were very correct.

The old Chinese man only appears generous and kind on the surface. If he is really determined to deal with you, you'd better go home and prepare your coffin.

The Grand Federation actually did what it said and made many efforts to curb Ivan Rus. Even Walsindon came under diplomatic pressure from the Grand Federation government and agreed to ban some chemical raw materials.

Shifting stars.

After the ultimatum to surrender was rejected, Ivan Rus's army officially marched towards Budapest.

Along the way, they encountered only light resistance, as the Hunnic army had been ordered to delay rather than defend.

On November 11, Ivan Rus's 3th Army and the Romanian 10th Army arrived at the city gates, and more than 9 troops surrounded Budapest on three sides.

According to Tukhachevsky's deployment, the direct attack on the city was carried out by a mixed combat group, with the following sequence:

｜36th Infantry Corps

｜188th National Rifle Brigade
｜240th National Rifle Brigade
｜22nd Tank Brigade

｜Romanian 9th Army (2 infantry divisions and 1 armored regiment)

The attacking force totaled about 10 people, with a total of 275 tanks and numerous artillery pieces.

The defending Hungarian army consisted of only 4.2 men and a mere 37 tanks.

Gray clouds cover the city!

At dawn, Shang Ke came to the top floor of the Susanna Hotel and picked up the telescope. The enemy troops in the distant suburbs were clearly visible.

With a solemn expression, Shang Ke turned around, looked around, and carefully looked at the current complete scene of Budapest.

He sighed with some nostalgia: "After the war, it will become a ruin..."

A second lieutenant who came with him nervously advised: "Mr. Advisor, this is too dangerous. The enemy may start artillery and air strikes at any time!"

Shang Ke smiled casually and said in Hungarian: "It's okay, my soul is very hard, and the scythe of the god of death can't cut it."

The lieutenant may have a bad mouth.

Something strange happened.

Suddenly, a faint light flashed in the distance, rising and falling from left to right.

"Boom-boom-boom-"

Ten seconds later, shells rained down from the sky, and hundreds of explosion points appeared in the city in an instant!

Shang Ke put his hands on his hips, looked around, turned and walked into the stairwell.

Are you ready to start?
Give you a little shock of the comprehensive city defense system that is ahead of its time!
(End of this chapter)