Chapter 1040: The British Man (First Update, Please Subscribe)

London wasn’t keeping it a secret!

Almost as soon as officials in London learned about this secret weapon, the London press also learned the news.

Because the military did not ship the torpedoes to London immediately, London sent technicians to the local area as soon as possible and brought the corresponding photos back to London.

Faced with the leak of the news, the British officials had no intention of keeping it secret. Not only did they not deliberately keep it secret, but the British Foreign Office even solemnly notified the Ming Dynasty: "Our fishermen found a bomb that may belong to you in the eastern waters of the Queensland Colony..."

At the same time, newspapers in London and Paris reported on this mysterious underwater self-propelled bomb.

All major newspapers published this news. Faced with the heated situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Empire could no longer remain silent - they hoped that Britain would return the bomb to the Ming Dynasty, as it was the property of the Ming Empire.

But everyone knows that this must be a very ridiculous thing.

"Everything is going as we expected?"

Colonel Cole answered nonchalantly in the First Lord of the Admiralty in London.

"Now the Ming Dynasty has admitted that the bomb belongs to them, and now the whole world knows that they have this bomb."

"Will this help us bring it back?"

The First Lord of the Admiralty, Astley Cooper Key, asked in an aggressive tone.

"Now they are asking us for this bomb. Have we figured out how it works?"

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can have a war of words with them for years on whether to return it. The most important thing is that we can now bring it back openly. Otherwise, God knows what the Ming Dynasty will do."

Then Cole said again.

"The technicians we sent over have already mapped its parts. After preliminary research, they determined that this is a weapon that is launched through a launch tube, uses compressed air to propel the propeller in the water, and uses explosive warheads to attack the position below the waterline of the warship. It is so powerful that only one or two missiles are needed to destroy a battleship."

"Oh my God, who would have thought that Ming Dynasty actually had such a weapon."

The top man in the British Royal Navy pondered for a moment, as if he was considering the next steps. He picked up a stack of stapled papers from the table and handed it to Cole:

"Colonel, this is my plan. I plan to call back two cruisers and use them to transport it back. What do you think?"

Why bring the bomb back?

Of course, in order to further study it, or even copy it.

Cole slowly flipped through the pages of the Navy Secretary's plan, thinking that the plan was very simple. The bomb was to be installed on one of the cruisers, and the two cruisers would carry it through the Suez Canal, and then meet up with the other two cruisers that were originally scheduled to return to Britain in Alexandria, forming a temporary formation and returning to Britain.

This plan seems to be pretty good.

Astley asked, glancing at Cole.

"What do you think?"

"Your Mightiness,"

Cole thought about it, then spoke with more emphasis.

"I think we should send it on a cruise ship."

"If you use a cruise ship, aren't you afraid of it being sabotaged? Anyone can board a cruise ship, but not everyone can board a warship."

Facing the minister's objection, Cole shook his head.

"It is important that nothing happens to the cruise ship."

Astley said, frowning.

"Wait, aren't you saying that the Ming Dynasty might destroy our warships to keep it secret?"

"Who knows what happens at sea? If their spies put a coal mine in the coal bunker of a warship, maybe... maybe there is a high possibility of an accident."

"But, as for the cruise ship..."

Astley hesitated.

"Won't they destroy the cruise ship in the same way?——"

"Your Excellency, those are the lives of thousands of civilians. If something like this happened, they should know that the British Empire will not let it go."

"You mean to use the civilians on the cruise ship to protect the bomb?"

Astley did not speak above his normal volume, and it seemed to him that this was normal.

"That is exactly what I thought, sir."

Cole answered directly.

"Of course, to protect its safety, we will also send some people to escort it on board the ship."

"Um."

Astley nodded, and he moved back in his chair.

“It seems like this is the lowest cost.”

"But it is also the safest..."

"But what if they send someone aboard and just sabotage the bomb?"

Cole answered directly.

"Sir, have you ever heard of the Chinese saying 'repairing the plank road in the open while marching through Chencang in secret?'"

"Explain it to me."

…

Just as the British were deliberately considering how to send the torpedo back to London for further research, Emperor Zhu Da also noticed this matter in the imperial palace in Zhongdu.

The killer weapon leaked.

This is not a good thing.

"So, the secret of the torpedo can no longer be kept?"

Emperor Zhu asked as they strolled through the palace gardens.

"Your Majesty, the structure of the torpedo is not complicated. The most core component of the Type 6 torpedo is the depth setter, but even so, its structure is very simple. Even if we send intelligence personnel to destroy the prototype, the British technicians only need to analyze the photos and measurement drawings, and they can quickly replicate the torpedo. There is no technical problem. After all, the British technology is still very strong."

Lin Yuehu's answer made Emperor Zhu nod slightly. Indeed, Britain was not behind the Ming Dynasty in technology. In fact, there was still a big gap between the Ming Dynasty and Britain in many aspects.

Moreover, in this mechanical age, it is not difficult at all for the great powers to imitate mechanical parts.

"However, judging from the photos provided by the British, the torpedo they got should be the one lost during the training of the navy torpedo boat unit five years ago. It does not have a gyroscope, and the yaw problem is still very serious. Even if the British side gets it, at least in the short term - this may be about 10 years, their torpedo technology is far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty."

“It’s a pity.”

Emperor Zhu sighed and then said.

"So, at present, all they know about are our torpedoes? What about our submarines?"

"Submarines are still classified at present. However, in my opinion, as torpedo technology spreads, Europe and the United States will definitely make breakthroughs in this area in the next few years."

It shouldn’t be a few years!

The historically practical Holland-type submarine was not invented until almost forty years after the invention of the torpedo. In the next few years, they are unlikely to have such a breakthrough.

"So what does the Navy have in mind?"

"Your Majesty, there are about 1,500 Type 6 torpedoes stored in the navy's arsenal. Their technology is old and their performance is poor. They can travel no more than 200 meters in a straight line. Since the spread of torpedo technology is now inevitable, I think we can sell the old torpedoes in stock to friendly countries, of course, including torpedo boats."

In fact, the biggest headache for both the Army and the Navy has always been not the confidentiality of advanced weapons, but the increasing number of "old-fashioned weapons" in stock as new equipment is equipped.

Those so-called "old-fashioned weapons" are advanced weapons that other countries do not have. Seeing them gathering dust in the warehouse is also a headache for them.

After all, they were bought at a high price.

Lin Yuehu said with a smile.

"So, I think we can refurbish and sell the old torpedoes in stock. Not only friendly countries like France and Rome need torpedoes, but also second-rate countries like Italy and the Netherlands. They must also need torpedoes and torpedo boats. We can just expand exports in this area."

This is the business that arms dealers around the world are most happy to do. How many arms dealers are unwilling to refurbish old goods and sell them to others at a high price?

Of course, in this era, arms dealers are honest and will sell any weapons to anyone as long as they have money. But in another world, one principle of developed countries when exporting weapons is that they must be more backward than what they use themselves. Even much more backward.

The Ming Dynasty has always liked to sell its weapons to other countries, just like in history, foreign arms dealers sold obsolete weapons to China.

His words made Emperor Zhu think for a while, then he spoke.

"That's true, but because of this incident, I have another idea!"

(End of this chapter)