Chapter 333: Surprise at the Bar

Unlike the collapsing rout on the Belgian front, in London, people still maintained a bustling and clamorous prosperity of peace and song. A

Unlike the collapsing rout on the Belgian front, in London, people still maintained a bustling and clamorous prosperity of peace and song. As one of the central cities of Europe, London could be said to be synonymous with both the classic and the avant-garde.

In a small corner of a London street, there was a very popular pub. Because this pub was said to have been opened by a descendant of the soul of the British Navy, Nelson, this pub was a must-visit place for almost all the naval officers who had a home in London for their leisure and entertainment.

Here, one could see almost all of the most outstanding ship commanders in the Royal Navy. Some were from the submarine force, some from a world-famous battleship. If you wanted to know what had recently happened in the British Navy, then coming here was the best choice.

On the walls of the pub hung many photos of battleships, as well as portraits and photos of famous naval generals from various periods. In the very center of these photos was a life-sized portrait of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson.

Many naval officers and even generals, when they came to this small pub, would have to toast the soul of the Royal Navy who was hanging on the wall—this could also be considered one of the pub owner’s ways of making money.

As a group with a relatively high income within the Royal Navy, the submarine commanders had always been regulars at this pub. Even in wartime, these special forces, who spent years on missions at the bottom of the sea, enjoyed a long vacation that other naval officers rarely had.

There was an old man who often drank in this pub, because it seemed this old man was very rich. He had bought half of the shares in this pub and was quietly enjoying his old age. This old man’s name was Greve, and he had a nephew who served in the Royal Navy’s destroyer fleet. And he, because he often took care of the families of the sailors who were guarding their homes alone, was deeply loved by the people nearby.

Now this beloved old man was smiling and listening to several naval officers at the same table, each boasting about their own experiences. These few officers were all old customers, and in addition, there was a half-owner at the table, so the waitress responsible for this table was also working hard to serve tea and wine to the guests at this table.

When a group of soldiers are together, the topic naturally tends to be boasting about their own fantastic battles, and the few guests at this table were no exception. Although the content of their missions was confidential most of the time, this kind of not-so-core confidentiality restriction would naturally be occasionally ignored by people.

Moreover, everyone did not mention any of the core content of their missions, but just took out a few words and phrases to boast about, which could not be considered a leak of secrets. So these naval officers had never rejected this kind of pressure-relieving method of mutual boasting.

At this very moment, an officer was boasting about how his warship had dealt with a German submarine. He was explaining it vividly, which made everyone let out a gasp of surprise from time to time. “That German submarine was very cunning. We had been tracking it for more than ten days. These days, we have had transport ships sunk by it from time to time. We followed the route of its attacks eastward all the way, and it wasn’t until we had gone a considerable distance that we finally trapped it!”

He tapped on the table and then continued, “You have to know, to sink it, we dropped depth charges everywhere and finally confirmed its position! Then we attacked that sea area fiercely and finally sank it! Who would have thought that in the end, it would also sink one of our destroyers? Along the way, we lost a total of more than a hundred thousand tons of transport ships just to sink this one submarine!”

“This is the first German submarine we’ve sunk, isn’t it?” Greve said with a kind smile, chiming in. “They are much more difficult to deal with than they were back then. I am really worried for our navy.”

“To tell you the truth, we are improving some of our equipment. For example, I have heard that Germany is equipped with an advanced device that can detect airplanes. Our navy is also developing it, and I believe we will be able to equip it soon,” an officer in charge of naval technology and equipment research and development said with a smile. “You don’t need to worry about us at all. The British Navy will definitely achieve the final victory!”

“Absolutely right! To the eternal spirit of Admiral Nelson, cheers!” Greve raised his wine glass and said, toasting the portrait of Nelson not far away.

“You cunning old man! You have us toast, and in the end, isn’t it your pub that makes the money?” a few people said, laughing as they also raised their glasses. They drank a glass of wine with a hearty laugh and continued to chat.

The officer from the destroyer fleet wiped the beer from the corner of his mouth and continued to boast, “The war has only just begun for half a month, and more than a hundred of our transport ships have already been sunk. The total tonnage is already close to 1.1 million tons. But we are not to be trifled with either. We have already begun to summarize our combat experience in attacking submarines.”

“Then I congratulate you on being able to defeat the Krauts’ submarines soon. I have heard that the higher-ups have recently been considering rationing afternoon tea. I really can’t imagine how I would live without afternoon tea,” Greve said, shaking his head and sighing.

“Don’t worry! In a few more weeks, we will be able to sink the Krauts’ submarines by the dozens and hundreds! That submarine thing, in the end, is no match for a surface ship!” the officer from the destroyer fleet said, becoming more and more outrageous, completely disregarding the submarine officer who had been silent all along.

This time, the submarine officer could not take it anymore. He immediately frowned and said, “What do you mean, submarines are no match for you surface ships? We are a very formidable special force! Not only can we win in a frontal battle, but just like the German navy, we can also win by using tactics to assassinate surface ships and make the other side submit!”

“That’s easy for you to say!” the officer from the destroyer fleet said with a sneer and a look of contempt. “I haven’t seen you for the past few days, nor have I heard of you carrying out any decent missions. Don’t tell me you ran off to the German coastline for a sneak attack.”

At this point, the old and decrepit Greve’s eyebrows twitched. He held his wine glass and took a small sip of beer without changing his expression, to cover up the curious look on his face, but he pricked up his ears and listened carefully to what the officers said next.

The submarine officer’s face was flushed, as if he were too choked up to speak. After a long while, he finally pointed to the officer from the destroyer fleet and argued, “I was on a secret operation! It’s a military secret and I can’t tell you the details! But I’m telling you, the operation I participated in this time was much bigger than you can imagine!”

When the naval officer in charge of technology heard the submarine commander say this, he grinned. “You’re just bragging, aren’t you? Although the navy’s several operations have not been successful, their scale has not been small. Just take the failure at Scapa Flow, for example. The navy had over a hundred warships gathered together. You, a single submarine, participating in an operation, how big could it be?”

Hearing that no one believed him, this submarine captain could no longer hold it in. He rolled up his sleeves, as if he were about to fight with them, slammed his beer mug on the table, stretched out his neck, and said in a low voice, “What I’m about to say, you must all keep it secret for me! This is a top secret!”

“Bullshit! You, a single submarine, going out on a mission, how secret can it be?” The officer from the destroyer fleet clearly still did not believe him. He took the submarine commander’s words as a bluff.

“My mission was a direct order from the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Churchill himself, to transport five important intelligence agents to the Dutch coastline!” this submarine commander said carefully in a low voice. “This was a major, important operation!”

Greve heard this in his heart and, without changing his expression, recorded several very important pieces of information: a few days ago, submarine transport to the Dutch coastline, five intelligence personnel. He continued to listen, not expressing any opinion, for fear of missing any important news.

“Just a few spies, what kind of big operation is that? You’re just bragging!” the officer in charge of technology said with a look of disdain. He took a sip of beer and, after swallowing, continued, “If you had transported fifty of them in one go, then I would say you weren’t just bragging.”

“You don’t know shit!” the submarine captain snorted and then continued, “The real bombshell is coming! A few days ago, I got a copy of the German Völkischer Beobachter and discovered that the ones who tried to assassinate that demon king Akado were three of the five people I sent!”

Suddenly, it became very quiet. Greve and the other two officers, who had just had a look of disbelief on their faces, were now looking at him with an expression of surprise. A deep sense of pride welled up in the submarine officer’s heart. See? See? I just wasn’t saying anything! I’ll scare you all to death when I do!

“This kind of thing shouldn’t be said casually!” Greve coughed twice, then broke the awkward atmosphere at the table and waved his hand. “You didn’t say anything, and we didn’t hear anything! Understand?”

“Yes, yes, yes! We didn’t hear anything!” the officer in charge of technology quickly interjected. “Come, come, come! Let’s all toast our hero captain! We didn’t manage to take out Akado this time, but we definitely will next time!”

“Come, come, come! A toast! A toast!” the officer from the destroyer fleet said with an embarrassed look on his face, slamming the table and shouting, “This round is on me! This round is on me! It was me who was not being a good brother! I even made you say such a thing…”

As soon as the topic of a free round was mentioned, the awkward atmosphere disappeared without a trace. Everyone continued to chat and laugh, and the clinking of glasses was a scene of close brotherhood. Soon, the several men were drunk, and they each staggered away.

Greve returned to his apartment near the pub. Humming a little tune, he tossed a shilling to a beggar at the entrance of the building. The beggar tipped his hat and nodded his thanks. Only then did Greve take heavy steps up the stairs. It wasn’t until he had closed the door to his own apartment that the clarity returned to his eyes.

He opened a hidden compartment in the wall, took out a radio set, and spread a codebook on the table. Greve, this “poison” that had been planted in Britain for more than ten years, had today sent out another important piece of intelligence.