C255 Mediterranean Enclosure (2/2)
He took out his handkerchief and wiped the blood off his body. Pointing at the merchant, he shouted, ”Use torture to get all the secrets out of his belly... This group of Prussian s are practically stubborn stones … ”
Ten minutes later, all the French warships and merchant ships on the harbor were anchored, and with the latest orders they began to cast nets at the Mediterranean in search of the mysterious Chinese.
In 1866, telegraph line had already started spreading throughout the continental Europe, but they did not connect to the network. Many areas that did not have electric wires installed still relied on the speed of the horses to send messages.
With the port of Sai at the center, a coded message that only the French could understand began to run along the north and south side of the coastline. Almost all French intelligence agencies and garrison troops received this strange message.
When the message was copied, the soldiers outside the door rode their horses to the next telegraph station.
The French lighthouse on the coast kept sending signals to ships of its own on the ocean, with only one message: ”Search the Mediterranean for an Italian merchant ship and capture a fleet of Chinese on it.”
In just two short days, the Mediterranean Sea had exploded. No matter if it was a French warship or civilian merchant ship, as long as they met, they would release lighting signal s and flags language to copy the news.
One was passed to two, and two to four. Three days later, even the British knew of this news, they had even informed the garrison of the Strait of Gibraltar, telling them to guard one of the Italian merchant ships strictly.
The whole Mediterranean coast was in an uproar. No one knew what the French and English were up to, or what the Italian merchant ship had done to them. As for the news of China's mysterious guests, it was even more incredible to all Europeans.
There were more than ten thousand ships in the Mediterranean, and under the mobilization of the French, they soon covered the entire ocean with a huge search network. With the protection of the Strait of Gibraltar, everyone believed that finding these Chinese was just a matter of time.
On the evening of the fourth day after they entered the sea, a small French frigate appeared on the surface of the sea. It sent lighting signal s to merchant ships from far away, requesting them to stop the ship for inspection.
”F * ck, the French are too arrogant. What right does he have to check our Italian ships? This is Sicily, not the French coast …”
”Let's go over there full of sails. Don't give these arrogant roosters any face, ignore them …”
The deck was filled with shouts and curses. The Italian sailors pointed at the frigate and cursed. At this time, Paul, the German intelligence officer and the Italian captain Alexander, who were escorting Xiao Letian and the others, hurried over.
”Guests from China, we are in trouble now, the French are crazy, they actually forced us to stop the boat to inspect, you have to be mentally prepared …” ”Guests from China, we are in trouble now, the French are crazy, they actually forced us to stop the boat to inspect, you have to be mentally prepared …” The captain said anxiously.
At this time, the German intelligence officer Paul also spoke out, ”Respected Prime Minister, please be at ease, we will protect your safety, but I am afraid we will have to inconvenience you. We have two methods, one is to flee in full sail, under the cover of night, we have a seventy percent chance of getting rid of the French battleship … ”
”The second method is a bit more passive. I hope you can hide in the dry fish containers. I don't think these Frenchmen would be crazy enough to open all the boxes …”
Without waiting for Paul to finish speaking, he saw the frigate in the distance suddenly flash with a red light, followed by the sound of gunfire. Soon after, a hundred meters away from the merchant ship, a huge pillar of water soared into the sky.
”The French are firing! Heavens, is this group of bastards crazy? Were Italy and France now at war? ”Madmen, they're all madmen!”
This time, the tone was even more severe. If they did not stop sailing, they would aim and fire at the body of the boat.
Xiao Letian smiled bitterly and said, ”I'm afraid that the only way for us to escape is by running. The French are already prepared to dismantle the boat, do you think that you can deceive us with just a few wood box? ”What are you standing there in a daze for, hurry up and sail away …”
This time, the Italian captains had taken the lives of Prussians and Chinese. Their only mission was to safely send the Chinese to the vicinity of the Marseille and meet up with the support troops. All the sailors were paid three times the normal salary.
After taking their money and getting rid of the calamities, these Italians had business ethics. They charged towards the north as soon as they saw that the situation was not looking good.
”Speed up, we are a triangular clipper, frigate will definitely not be able to catch up with us. Run at night …”
Xiao Letian stood on the deck and shouted out in English, ”Brave sailors, as long as you can complete the mission, I will bestow each of you with a hundred Gold franc!”
”Long live!” Cheers of excitement filled the bow and stern of the ship.