ps: Watch the exclusive story behind "The Double Eagle Flag" and listen to your more suggestions for the novel. Follow the official account (add friends on WeChat - add official account - enter dd), and tell me quietly!

General Eshkman left the two entourages outside the door and followed Yankel into the cockpit with the Chief.↖

"Well, what the hell is going on? You have to know that the emperor's orders may trigger a war!" Yankel poured Eshkman a cup of coffee, then sat on the sofa and said.

"That's right, the emperor learned through some channels that the Spaniards wanted to transfer the gold from the treasury to Russia. After intelligence confirmation, the Republican government was indeed ready to transfer half of its gold reserves to Russia." Eshkman said.

"So what? That's not our thing anyway." Yankel said.

"And His Majesty the Emperor believes that the Russians will embezzle this huge amount of gold."

"That's just the Spanish business, why should we care about them?"

"The problem is that His Majesty the Emperor doesn't want the Russians to get this gold."

"As for it? We have to risk war for the sake of the Spaniards."

"That's 800 tons of gold and about $200 million in foreign exchange," Eshkman said.

"How many?" Yankel was startled.

“800 tons of gold and about 200 million dollars in foreign exchange cash,” Eshkman said. “A huge sum of money, with a total value of about 800 million dollars.”

"But even if I didn't take it back, wouldn't I be prepared to return it to the Spaniard?" Yankee said.

"Sure, of course, it will be returned to the Spanish people, but it is not now," Eshkman said. "This fund will be temporarily kept by the Empire. It will be returned to the Spanish government in batches when appropriate, and of course, it will deduct all the aid we provide to the National Army now."

"Oh, I understand a little," said Yankel, "but the Russians will certainly not hand over this huge sum easily, we may fight."

"This requires skill. We will force them to the shallow water area first. If they resist, we will find excuses to sink them, and the rest will be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to resolve the rest." Eshkman said. "I brought three photography teams out. We will use film to prove that the Russians fired first, and we were forced to fight back."

"But what if the Russians didn't fight back?"

"This requires your cooperation, laying a few explosives on the warship and lighting them," Eshkman said. "A photography opportunity is arranged in the commander's tower, and there are some lines that you need to practice first."

Eshkman put a few pieces of paper on the table, and Yankel picked it up and read it, which was a bit like a script, and some things he needed to say included: "Push them to the shore, we need to check if they were carrying prohibited items."

"Keep restraint, if the Russians don't fire, we will not use force first!"

"Send them a signal. We need to board the ship to check!"

"Oh my God, are the Russians crazy? How dare they attack us and start fighting back!"

"Let the destroyers rescue the Russians who fell into the water. We don't want to attack them. This is what they ask for. We can only be forced to defend ourselves!"

After reading it, Yankel threw the papers on the table, "You have carefully prepared a scam. But what if the Russians insist on declaring war on us?"

"What's so scary about the Empire? Will the Empire be afraid of the Soviet Union?!" said Eshkman. "If they want to attack us, they must first cross the Don Republic and Ukraine, and their navy will come from the Baltic Sea thousands of miles away. With the strength of the Soviet Union's navy, even if they all go out, you may be able to deal with them all. Besides, Zhuyashvili may not have the courage to go to war with the Empire at the moment."

"Well, for $800 million, we will offend the Russians again, anyway, we have always been enemies," said Yankel.

"Do it well, General, His Majesty the Emperor promised that this money will be allocated temporarily to the Navy for the new period of expansion of military expenditure."

"Well, if this happens, we will do our best. I don't want to be scolded by Marshal Holtie." Yankel said, "But is this news true?"

"We have been sending people to focus on the Spanish Bank in Madrid. Whenever there is any news, we will report it to us immediately." Eshkman said.

The plan has been formulated, but the Austro-Hungarian fleet has been waiting at sea for ten days.

Spain's treasury is indeed in the hands of the republican government. Because Spain did not participate in the European War, it made considerable war money during the European War. It only transported rare strategic metals such as tungsten ore sand to Germany and Austria, and obtained dozens of tons of gold from Germany and Austria. At this time, Spain was the sixth largest gold reserve country in the world, with nearly 1,200 tons of gold in the treasury and more than 300 million US dollars in the treasury.

Due to the outbreak of the civil war, the republican government began to use gold reserves to purchase weapons from abroad. Although the Negrim government decided to transfer half of its gold reserves to the Soviet Union, it was to facilitate the purchase of weapons in the Soviet Union, and on the other hand, it also wanted to ensure the safety of this batch of gold.

However, there are many opposition voices in the government. Some people are worried about the safety of the gold and are worried that the Soviet Union will swallow the gold. However, the Republican government spent several days learning from the Soviet Union's advanced experience and purging these opponents in the name of "counter-revolutionary", so that they did not dare to oppose the government's decision.

Boxes filled with gold coins and foreign exchange were taken out of the national treasury, filled with nearly a hundred trucks, and then transferred to the Soviet Union's only cruiser, the Red Ural. On November 22, 1936, the Red Ural cruiser, along with the Ulyanovsk supply ship, left Santander Port with the Ulyanovsk supply ship.

A worker picketer on duty at the dock inside the port of Santander watched the Soviet warship leave the dock, turned around and said to his friends around him: "Tarias, I forgot to send bread to my home today. You can take it for me for a while, and I will be back soon."

"Okay, hurry up. If you check the post, I can only say that you went to the toilet, but I can't hide it for a while." Tarias said.

At the same time, on a fishing boat outside the port, a man dressed in a common man was fishing on the bow. After seeing the Russian ship leaving the port, he immediately returned to the cabin and said to a person inside: "Send a report to the outside: At 11 a.m. the day after tomorrow, I will send four fishing nets."

After more than ten minutes, a middle-aged man dressed in a businessman quickly walked into the post office and wrote in the telegram: "Food is in short supply, we urgently need four hundred boxes of butter, and we must send it to Santander within 11 days." Then he handed it over to the service desk.

"Please send it to the Ogel Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon."

A telegraph examiner came over, "Where are you from? Sir."

"The Portuguese are the manager of the Spanish office of the Ogel Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon and the importer of food."

The telegram examiner looked at his telegram, then signaled to the waiter to agree to the photo, and said slightly apologetically: "Sir, please understand that this is a necessary measure taken to defend the Republican government. What food does your company have? Can I buy some?"

"It should be no problem. Please leave your home address and I will ask the workers to send it to you."

"Thank you so much. If you need any help in the future, please come to me. There is almost no food on the market at present. The children at home are really pitiful. Thank you so much!" said the telegram examiner.

About half an hour later, the telegram was received on the "Grand Duke of Frederi".

"They came out and left Port Santander at 11 a.m. this morning." Eshkman said, looking at the telegraph.
Chapter completed!