Chapter 1,285 News From Palembang
Chapter 1285 News from Palembang
"Charlie, are you saying that the coal from Pontianak that we originally wanted to transport now has to wait outside the port for a week? This will go bankrupt." Mr. Pierre, the owner of Southeast Asia United Commercial Company, roared into the phone in his hand. road. "Please, aren't you British? The Japanese are occupying Pontianak now. Can you find a way? This batch of goods must be sold quickly."
"What? You have a way to deal with it without landing in Pontianak? God, you are simply my savior!" Mr. Pierre's tone changed. The previous scolding immediately turned into fawning.
"If we can make this deal, I'll give you an agency fee of US$1,000."
"What? You want pounds? Please, look at the current economic situation in the UK. The exchange rate of pounds keeps falling. How about using dollars? The strongest and most valuable currency in this era."
"What? You want 2,000 US dollars? No, absolutely not, then I might as well give you 1,000 pounds, up to 1,500 US dollars! Okay, that's it. After my goods are disposed of, I will pay immediately!" After saying that, Pierre did not Waiting for the other person to answer, he hung up the phone in his hand.
The moment he hung up the phone, the Dutch businessman immediately took off his disguise as a businessman. After closing the doors and windows, he took out a document from the locked safe, and then took out a small bottle with him and carefully wiped it with a cotton ball. Dip some of the liquid in the bottle and apply it to the document.
After the Japanese seized parts of the Dutch East Indies and lost their shares in the Borneo oil fields and the plantation in Marchen, this Dutch businessman was full of hatred for the British and Japanese, so there was no need to think too much about it in the United States. He became a spy for the United States after intelligence agents promised him a business loan for his company. And now, hatred and retribution keep Pierre motivated!
As an old local snake who has been in the Dutch East Indies for at least 20 years, the Southeast Asia United Commercial Company has extended its tentacles to the planting industry, mining industry, industry and even the shipping industry, although it lost more than half of its assets due to the Japanese invasion. assets, but various connections still allow him to obtain considerable information.
Judging from the intelligence gathered so far, it is very abnormal even from the perspective of businessman Pierre! A large amount of supplies began to be concentrated in Pontianak Port. The oil produced in Borneo, the tin mines produced in the Malayan Peninsula, and the raw rubber produced in various plantations, etc., are all shipped to this port, and the demand for coal here has increased significantly, even if it is produced in Sumatra The coal mine is not a good matchmaker. But it was still bought by the Japanese without hesitation.
Pierre knew very well that he, the ship of coal, would eventually think about it. Coal ships are delivered directly to Pontianak Port, where the coal is then distributed directly to the transport fleet. "8,000 tons of coal! The coal I know alone is 8,000 tons, so within these 10 days, the coal throughput here may have reached 15,000 tons.
This is definitely a very large fleet! "Pierre said in his heart. He thought he needed to remind his online team that another wave of transport ships was ready to set off! "It's best to wait for the Pontianak personnel to report before making a decision. "
At this time, intelligence personnel near Pontianak can obtain more detailed information at close range, such as the size of the fleet, the type of cargo transported, and the speed, etc. Here, an American working for Southeast Asia United Commercial Company quickly identified a cargo ship that once belonged to this company.
"I didn't expect our Java to be in such a dilapidated condition. This guy's maximum speed was around 14 knots. I can guarantee that its fastest speed is no more than 12 knots now!" The employee pointed to the side of a ship in the distance to his colleagues. Said the transport ship covered in barnacles.
"And they must have transported a large number of people and horses this time. I heard that a farmer sold at least 400 tons of horse feed. And the Japanese are also purchasing a large amount of green feed." The words of a local next to him aroused the employee of attention.
"If you read it correctly, that ship should be an oil tanker." At this time, on the other side of the port, a German-American said to himself as he looked at a transport ship in the distance. In this era, almost all civilian ships outside the United States are coal-fired, and this ship seems to be transporting heavy oil, so it cannot be used to provide fuel for cars and airplanes that burn light fuel. There is no oil refinery near Pontianak, so it cannot be a transit, so there can only be one result now. These heavy oils are supplied to warships!
Judging from the draft, the ship should be fully loaded now. According to the ship type and the found ship mark, the ship is carrying at least 6,000 tons of heavy oil. "6,000 tons, enough to feed two Fuso-class battleships." As a U.S. Navy intelligence officer, this German is quite familiar with the situation of Japanese battleships.
(The total fuel carrying capacity of the Fuso is naturally impossible to be only 3,000 tons. Because it is a kerosene-burning warship, in addition to the 3,000 tons of fuel, there are also about 4,500 tons of coal)
Soon, after the information collected from many aspects was gathered together and sorted, it was not difficult to see that this time the Allied Powers might have to escort a batch of very important supplies to Europe. And there may be heavy battleship escorts, because judging from the current situation, Japan does not have many heavy oil-burning battleships. Except for 3 new light cruisers and some destroyers, the rest are the fast battleships of the combined fleet.
"It seems that this time, we may have to fight the battleships of the Japanese combined fleet." Three days later, Su Xiong said to Redel with the intelligence just sent.
"From a time point of view, the two Fuso-class battleships that were originally in the Mediterranean have returned. Japan should now provide new battleships to replace the combat power vacuum caused by these two battleships. The Japanese are very likely to let these two battleships provide the fleet with Escort, after all, they have not forgotten our existence." Redel nodded and said.
"If it were the other two Fuso-class battleships, it would probably be very difficult for us. Our same type of ships were suppressed by the Fuso-class battleships in the Mediterranean." Su Xiong said with a gloomy face. One of the principles of breaking diplomatic relations at sea is to try to avoid fighting with warships of the same level as your own. But now, it seems that the opponent's warship may be one level higher than your own!
"If there are battleships to escort, then there will also be destroyers. They will greatly limit the combat capabilities of our submarines. If we cannot surface at night to attack with naval guns, if we want to rely on ambushing and attacking with torpedoes, Then the efficiency will be very low," Colonel Schultz said.
To fight or not to fight is a question worth thinking about.
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