Strong sunlight shines into the room through the glass windows. The strong yellow light cuts through the darkness in the room. Some dust is floating in the light. The dust that is usually invisible is the most real reflection of the world.
Lying on the bed, Lawrence watched for a long time the light moving slowly, almost imperceptibly but at the same time unstoppably in the room, and finally moving to Dahom's legs. Looking at his legs, looking at his body, Lawrence's eyes were full of love. This was his lover, his beloved, his everything... I'm going to take Yuwen out right away.
His eyes traveled over his body, then to his hands, and then, unable to stop himself, he kissed them.
…
When everything was over, Lawrence looked at the sweaty Dahom with eyes full of pity. He stood up from the wide bed calmly. He was powerless to enjoy this peaceful life. He needed to work - in the past few years, he and the intelligence agency he organized had successfully infiltrated the Ming Empire.
"Just a little bit..."
With a slight smile, Lawrence's tone was full of helplessness, time was passing.
But his mood seemed a little heavy.
Half an hour later, Lawrence walked into the office with only one window on the third floor of the British Embassy and locked the door. He opened the letter he had just received, ready to get some information from it.
Secrecy is the first element of intelligence work. Locking a door and collecting the required information from the collected intelligence is a reliable approach that he firmly believes in.
At this time, Lawrence, as usual, was wearing ordinary clothes. If he was in London, he might wear a well-made officer's uniform with the rank of lieutenant colonel on his shoulders, but here, he always wore civilian clothes. He chose this career that combines the triple identities of soldier, diplomat and spy, driven by two motives: one is a clear patriotism, and the other is vague, for...
For what?
Maybe it’s the excitement of this business!
A few hours later, in an open-air cafe on the Foreign Ministry Street, Lawrence looked at Perkins in front of him. His eyes were red and he obviously had not slept well either.
"Want a smoke?"
Perkins asked,
"No!"
Shaking his head, Lawrence refused.
"I want to know what you think!"
"Is it the Dreadnought?"
Lawrence knew why he didn't sleep well. Now all the naval attachés and intelligence personnel in Zhongdu couldn't sleep well because the "dreadnought" produced by the Ming Empire shocked all countries overnight and even eliminated the warships of other countries.
"Why do you think we didn't have any news before this?"
Perkins asked.
"Because from the beginning the Ming Empire tried every means to conceal it. Even until it was launched, we didn't know it was a battleship."
Lawrence said bluntly.
"In the Ming Empire, all combat ships are named after "a province", all of them!"
After taking a sip of coffee, he continued.
"But 'Fearless'? What is it? It is neither the name of a province nor a city. It... seems to be an insignificant auxiliary warship, although we have received intelligence before that the Ming Empire is designing and building a new type of warship. But... who knew that 'Fearless' is actually a battleship?"
"Damn it, we fell for their trick."
Perkins said bluntly.
"Now it looks like we are just a bunch of idiots, right? All of us are a bunch of idiots."
Of course, he didn't know that this name was given by Emperor Zhu himself. After all, in another world, fearlessness is an era.
"That's about it."
Lawrence said depressedly.
"But they also gave us a lesson on what to do if we want to keep it secret."
"Yes, we are just a bunch of amateurs when it comes to intelligence."
Perkins asked again after agreeing.
"Lawrence, do you have any other intelligence? Perhaps we should share it."
"intelligence?"
Lawrence shook his head and said.
"My target has no other intelligence, otherwise London wouldn't be so annoyed."
How could London not be annoyed?
It takes at least three years to build a warship, but in the past three years, they have no information about that warship. In the past three years, how many warships has the British Empire built? How much money has been wasted to build many warships that have become obsolete as soon as they are put into service or even launched?
Ultimately, it’s because their intelligence work was not done well and they did not obtain this kind of intelligence.
"It's the same in Washington, where we've spent a lot of money over the past few years."
Perkins shook his head helplessly and said.
"So many warships have now become a pile of useless scrap metal. I swear in the name of God that in future naval battles, whoever owns the dreadnought will win the naval battle."
Perkins was so sure because he was a naval officer and was well aware of the changes in the sea that the unseen had brought.
"It's a full-gun battleship, with 14-inch cannons and eight-inch thick armor. Although it's a little thin, its speed is amazing - 26 knots. God, can you imagine that there is such a powerful battleship in the world?"
While expressing his emotion, he said.
"So, the ocean of the future belongs to him, and no one can deny that."
As an army officer, Lawrence did not understand the revolutionary changes that the sea would bring. But he knew very well what the 14-inch gun meant.
It means great power, which means he is likely to be the king of the ocean in the future.
"Lawrence, my friend, we need to speed up our work on this!"
Staring at Lawrence, Perkins said.
"We can't keep making mistakes like we are doing now, otherwise, even I won't be able to forgive myself. God can testify that every one of us knows very well that the Ming Empire is preparing for a war with us, with us!"
Perkins said, his eyes fixed on Lawrence.
"A war with every one of us Androsaxons! If we lose this war, all of us will most likely die without a burial place. They will destroy everything we have, just like the barbarians who invaded Rome in history. They will destroy our civilization and turn all of us into slaves..."
When talking about this future, Perkins' eyes were filled with fear...fear of the future! Of course, he was even more afraid that he would unfortunately come true.
What is the most frightening thing?
It means that you can clearly see the dangerous future, but you are powerless to stop it from happening!
In Perkins' view, if we can't stop this, then that terrible future will definitely happen.
The only question is - can they stop it from happening?
Perkins didn't have much confidence in this, otherwise he wouldn't be so scared.
"Become a slave?"
Lawrence thought about it, then said.
"Let's just do the current things first!"
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