Chapter 386: Foresight

At the main gate of a French naval port, a German naval officer stood with a smug look on his face.

He was carrying a briefcase in one hand and a French cigarette in the other. Behind him was parked a French car. It was not a luxury car, but it was a case of making do with local resources. Germany’s automobile production was now so large that it was staggering, but it was still unable to meet the almost bottomless demand of the domestic market. The army needed hundreds of thousands of vehicles, and the civilian sector demanded nearly a million. So although the Mercedes-Benz company, under the integration of the White Orchid Group, had already become the world’s largest automobile production company, it was still unable to let all German soldiers drive cars produced by Mercedes-Benz.

And the current production capacity of the BMW company had now been almost completely converted to engine production, providing hundreds of thousands of engines and spare parts for cars, tanks, and airplanes. Although the German mechanized blitzkrieg had achieved astonishing combat results on the front line, the amount of work required to maintain the operation of these units was even more massive. The reserve production of parts, the transportation and distribution of fuel, the replenishment and training of personnel—it was a good thing it was the rigorous Germans. If it had been any other country, Akado had no doubt that just these newly born logistical links would have been enough to make some countries collapse.

This officer handed his identification to the French duty officer at the gate. With a complicated look in the other’s eyes, he smiled and threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stamping it out with his boot. He then pointed to the sentry box on the side and asked with a smile, “Can I go in and wait? Although this place has not yet been handed over to the German Navy, you should at least give me the hospitality I deserve, right?”

He was speaking French, and his speed was not slow. It was clear that he had studied it diligently. Compared to Rein’s stammering, half-baked French, his was more than just a little bit more authentic. But the other party clearly did not have a good impression of him because of his French.

The French duty officer did not answer him but just walked back to the guard post, picked up the phone, and said something into it. He then put down the phone, walked out of the guard post, and, with a reluctant look on his face, waved his hand to signal for the sentries on both sides to open the roadblock and let him pass.

The German officer did not mind. After taking back his own identification, he smiled and touched the brim of his peaked cap with his hand, which could be considered a nod of acknowledgment. Only then did he retreat to the side of his own car, toss the important briefcase onto the back seat, and then get into the passenger seat of the car himself.

The German second lieutenant who was the driver saw his superior get in the car, started the engine, lightly pressed the clutch and put it in gear. The French car began to move forward slowly and, at a not-so-fast speed, drove past the checkpoint and headed toward the military office building of the French port.

The car stopped in front of the building. The officer signaled for his driver to wait in the car, then took out his briefcase and ascended the wide steps in front. The French guards on both sides had clearly been instructed. They were much more orderly than the ones at the checkpoint. Seeing the German officer ascend the steps, they immediately stood at attention and saluted.

The German officer was clearly quite satisfied with the French soldiers’ salute. He nodded with a smile, went up the steps, and ducked into the French Navy’s command headquarters. After passing through the corridor and looking at the French Navy’s several combat command posts and conference rooms as if on a tour, this officer, accompanied by General Darlan’s secretary, finally arrived at General Darlan’s office.

“Good afternoon, General Darlan,” the German officer said. He did not seem to be very restrained. Before Darlan could even speak, he had already greeted him on his own and had sat down on the sofa for guests. He casually threw the briefcase he had brought on the coffee table and casually commanded the sexy French secretary, “General Darlan and I have something to discuss. Would you mind pouring us a cup of coffee?”

“Go ahead. Remember to knock when you come in,” Darlan said, glancing at the somewhat flustered secretary. “I’ll have the usual, no sugar. I just don’t know what special needs this German guest has.”

“I’m an easy-going person. As long as it’s coffee poured by a beautiful woman, any flavor will do,” the German officer said with a smile. After watching the beautiful secretary leave the office, he reached out and opened his briefcase, taking out the documents inside and placing them on the coffee table.

After he had finished, his whole person also became serious. The smile on his face was gone, and the aura on his body became even stronger. “Since the general is also very anxious and wants to know the purpose of my visit this time, then I will not beat around the bush. Shall we begin now?”

“Alright. I am a person who greatly admires the German nation, because their meticulous work ethic makes me admire them very much,” Darlan said with a nod. “Then let’s talk about business first, and then we can chat idly.”

“We have a very important intelligence agent in Britain. This person has provided us with a lot of important intelligence. I’m sure you are not too unfamiliar with this,” the German officer said, pointing to the documents on the coffee table.

“Poison?” Darlan asked with a frown.

“Yes, Poison!” the German officer nodded. “If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have had to come and deliver it myself.”

Darlan stood up, walked to the side of the coffee table, bent down and picked up the documents, and began to read them with a solemn expression. If one were to say that the intelligence provided by the Germans was a mix of true and false, and that this mix of true and false intelligence was both important and secondary, then this intelligence from “Poison,” even if it were fake, was enough for him, Darlan, to personally take a look at it.

“That is to say, the British Navy has gone out to sea today and has already begun an operation against this French fleet of mine?” Darlan asked with a frown.

“I’m sorry, at my level, I don’t have the authority for intelligence analysis,” the German officer said with a wave of his hand in refusal. “It’s just that because of my special status, I can ensure that this document can be delivered here secretly. After you have read it, I will take this document and leave.”

He paused, looked at Darlan, who had a grave expression, and continued, “And after you have read this document, I must take it away myself. These papers cannot leave my sight until I have delivered them back to Berlin, or until I am dead.”

“It seems that ‘Poison’ is really highly regarded,” Darlan said with a sigh.

“The Führer once said to my father that every intelligence officer is the greatest hero of the Reich. Although they are destined to be nameless, they are all worthy of every German soldier risking their lives to protect,” the officer said with a smile.

Darlan was taken aback for a moment, then nodded in admiration. “Your Führer has spoken well. It seems we did not lose in vain. You mentioned your father. It seems your family background must be extraordinary. May I ask, who is your father?”

“It’s no secret. If you want to check, you can probably find out the result tomorrow,” the German officer said dismissively. “I am just a nobody in the Reich High Command’s intelligence department. My father, however, you certainly know. His name is Gascoigne.”

“Ding-ling, ding-ling.” Darlan pressed the electric bell on his desk. His adjutant and secretary both walked in after hearing the bell. The secretary was also holding a tray with two cups of coffee and a coffee pot.

“Immediately sound the battle alarm. All personnel are to return to their posts. The port’s anti-aircraft weapons must be in a state of alert. Ready ammunition for all calibers of guns on the warships!” Darlan did not shy away from anything and, in front of the young Gascoigne, gave the combat order. “Have the warships’ power systems keep running. I want to see who dares to touch my fleet!”

“General, are the Germans… about to make a move?” Darlan’s adjutant asked, glancing at the German officer who was sitting on the sofa and bracing himself to speak.

“Not the Germans…” Darlan’s mood was extremely complicated. He sighed again before he said with a complex expression, “This time, it’s likely that bastard British gang is about to make a move.”

Under the shocked gazes of his adjutant and secretary, Gascoigne’s son collected the documents on the coffee table. After ensuring that none of the documents had been left behind, he picked up his briefcase and slowly stood up, walking to the door of the office. “Then I won’t disturb you any longer. The German Navy will have an operation later. It all depends on how the French Navy responds this time. By the way, your secretary is a real beauty.”

“Mansa, see this officer to his car. When he tells you to come back, you will report back here,” Darlan commanded his secretary.

“Alright, General,” the female secretary, who had been secretly casting amorous glances at the handsome German officer, immediately said with a nod. She put down the tray and coffee in her hand and followed the German officer out of the office, leaving the busy Darlan and the adjutant behind.

“General, are you just going to let Mansa go with that German bastard?” Darlan’s adjutant asked with a frown when only the two of them were left in the room.

“The situation is forcing my hand. What can I do?” Darlan had already sighed countless times today. He said helplessly, “The intelligence the Germans have sent this time is too important. I dare not treat it as a fake. Rather than being passive then, it’s better to make a gesture now. Being a little brother is being a little brother, it’s just a matter of choosing a backer.”

Gascoigne’s son, with his arm around the French female secretary, got into the car. As he was getting handsy in the back seat, the car had already driven out of the French port. While waiting at the checkpoint, to everyone’s surprise, the German officer, who had just been groping, actually had the French female secretary get out of the car herself.

In the shocked eyes of the female secretary, the car drove out of the checkpoint and merged into the convoy that was escorting this car—four French cars leading the way, with two trucks full of soldiers following behind. This formation, was it escorting the intelligence or the young German officer in the car?

Just off the French coast, the British fleet was forming up for battle. This time, they were going to take out the French Navy in one fell swoop and to extinguish the Germans’ idea of annexing the French fleet. The fighter planes had already taken off. Everything seemed to be going very smoothly.

And not far away, on the surface of the sea, another massive naval fleet was quietly arriving, fulfilling the old Chinese saying: “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.”

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