Expedition to Europe

Armed swimming is a must-train item for all troops in the 21st century.

But in the early 20th century, except for the Lan Fang family, there was really no other training program. Even the French who knew about this training program did not practice it.

The reason is simple, there is no need!

In the early 20th century, there was no such thing as "special operations" for soldiers, let alone "special forces" that specifically performed "special operations missions". If Qin Zhiyuan had not appeared unexpectedly, the combat method of "special operations" would not appear until World War II.

Since there was no such combat method, there was no way to defend it, at least the British in Hankou had no way to defend it.

The British may have thought that the Lan Fang people would come, but the British never thought that the Lan Fang commandos would use armed swimming to sneak in from the Yangtze River.

Just before departure, in order to ensure that everything was foolproof, McTavish also arranged two ships to go to the upper reaches of the British Concession area to make some noise, divert the attention of the British soldiers patrolling on the river, and provide double insurance for the infiltration operation.

Although McTavish looked down on the British's fighting power, when it came to making a battle plan, McTavish was still cautious enough.

This was also Qin Zhiyuan's consistent requirement, to despise the enemy strategically and to pay attention to the enemy tactically.

Eight o'clock in the evening, this was the action time set by McTavish himself.

At 7:30, a flower boat with carved beams and painted buildings came down the river from the upper reaches of the British Concession. It seemed that a wealthy businessman had chartered this flower boat for a candlelight night tour.

The Yangtze River waterway was still extremely busy at this time. Hankou had the largest inland port in the Republic of China. There were many ships coming and going from the south and the north. The port was never idle. Even at night, the river was still full of masts and oars, and the river was busy.

There were actually few honest people on the boat. They were familiar with drinking wine and visiting brothels, and they were naturally familiar with flower boats.

So when the flower boat went down the river, the aroma of wine filled the entire river, and the sound of stringed instruments and laughter was endless, it received a lot of scolding.

This is so hateful. It was dinner time, and the boat captains on the river were all hungry. At this time, a flower boat came out with the aroma of wine, and there were light singing and dancing to cheer up, which really made people feel that life was gloomy.

The boat captain on the flower boat probably drank a little too much. Just when it was about to enter the British Concession, the flower boat suddenly turned a little crooked, and then drove straight towards a grain-carrying barge in the river.

The barge captain was probably sneering. Flower boats look big, but they are actually very light. Barges look a little flat, but they are actually very heavy when they are full of grain. Three or five flower boats may not be as heavy as one barge.

What does the law of conservation of mass say when objects collide?

It is estimated that the laughter of the barge captain has not yet died down, and the flower boat has no hesitation to hit the barge.

Well, who are the most people on the flower boat? It must be women, and they are not very serious women. This is like stirring up a hornet's nest. Screams are heard from the flower boat, and then the people on the flower boat are all jumping into the river like dumplings.

There is no one who is not familiar with the water on the Yangtze River. It is not certain that everyone is a "white shark in the waves", but it is not a problem to swim back and forth in the Yangtze River.

Think about it, a group of women who are dressed up and fall into the river, and they are not very serious women. This attracts a lot of attention. Not to mention the British gunboats upstream, even the French gunboats downstream want to come over to help. Even if they can't get close to them, they can always get some oil and satisfy their desire.

Of course, the British are sincere in saving people, and the French wanting to save people is just a cover.

However, it is estimated that these guys with bad intentions are destined to be disappointed. No matter how many clothes the women who jumped into the water wore, they were like mermaids, and they did not need help from others.

It doesn't matter. This situation is not common. Even if everyone can't get any benefits, it's good to watch the excitement.

On the French gunboat, on the side that the British couldn't see, McTavish was ready.

At this time, McTavish was dressed in black from head to toe, and his face was covered with black paint. If McTavish didn't open his eyes, he would be a little black man. McTavish only had a pistol and a dagger on his body, and no other weapons.

"Are you sure you want to swim over?" Even at this time, Richard was still worried.

"Don't talk nonsense. When we all get off the boat, you can turn around immediately. You don't have to wait for us." McTavish was decisive. Seeing that they were not far from Litai Foreign Trade, McTavish put his hands on the side of the boat and slowly submerged his body in the water. There was not even a splash of water. It was really unnoticed.

Right next to McTavish, more than a dozen commando members also entered the water in the same posture, and then swam silently in the direction of Litai Foreign Trade.

Speaking of which, McTavish's swimming posture is really not good-looking. It is the kind of "dog paddle" style that is so rustic that it falls apart. Although this swimming style is not good-looking, it is silent. If you don't consider the time problem, McTavish and his team can swim more than ten kilometers in this way without any problem.

That is still under the premise of being fully armed. Now it is easier to move forward lightly.

Unless the British used searchlights to stare at this side, they would never be able to find McTavish and his men. McTavish and his men did not swim with all their strength. They paddled once every half a day, and then paddled again when they saw that the forward momentum had completely disappeared. This was a bit slow, but it was really silent, without even a splash, and even the ripples could be ignored.

Less than 300 meters, in fact, it was just a matter of a few minutes. Before the British gunboats that were watching the excitement turned around, McTavish and his men had already touched the outer wall of the Litai Foreign Trade Bank.

It is a bit inaccurate to say that they were at the outer wall. To be precise, they should have reached the bottom of the breakwater on the riverside. They had to climb up more than ten meters along the steps extending into the river to reach the outer wall of the Litai Foreign Trade Bank.

In fact, this distance was the most dangerous, because no one knew if there were any British sentinels on the shore, and no one knew if they would be discovered by the British as soon as they landed.

How clever McTavish was. Although he saw steps extending from the river bank to the river, he did not rush to the shore, but swam a few dozen meters to the side before he finally got close to the shore.

The other commandos did not need McTavish to call them. They followed him like ducklings and could not get lost.

As for the Northeast Army led by Zhang Hanqing, McTavish did not care about them.

McTavish was not the nanny of the Northeast Army. He was not responsible for Zhang Hanqing's life. Whether Zhang Hanqing lived or died had nothing to do with McTavish. Even if Zhang Hanqing died in this operation, Zhang Yuting could not blame McTavish.

Before coming, although Tang Jiading strongly opposed it, Zhang Hanqing still insisted on following the Lanfang commandos to feel it. Even if he encountered an accident during the operation, Zhang Hanqing would not blame anyone.

When he arrived at the riverside, McTavish turned around and made a gesture, and immediately several commandos came over to build a ladder.

The original text is available at # 9 @Book/Bar!

It is not very difficult to build a human ladder in the water. Water itself has buoyancy. The four people competed and threw McTavish onto the nearly two-meter-high breakwater.

McTavish still observed carefully before slowly moving up.

Facts have proved that McTavish was too cautious. Perhaps it was because the long-term peace paralyzed the British. The British were not very vigilant. There were no sentries on the entire river bank, which allowed McTavish and his team to safely reach the outer wall of Litai Foreign Trade.

When we got here, we could see that the British defense was still very tight.

The entire Litai Foreign Trade was probably a four-story brick and stone structure. Judging from the square overall shape, it is estimated that there are many rooms on each floor, which would cause some trouble for McTavish and his team.

At this time, Litai Foreign Trade was of course brightly lit. There were obviously guards at the entrance of the hall and on the roof, holding Lee Enfield rifles in their hands, which was also considered to be a strict guard.

It seems that the British are not careless.

Just behind McTavish, several commando members took out various arrows and bow backs from the waterproof bags they were carrying, and then took out the bowstrings carefully wrapped in oil paper. In just a few minutes, they combined them into recurve bows.

What can I say about the recurve bow? This is definitely a great invention in the history of war. Although it is not as far-reaching and powerful as the compound bow, it is just right for special operations.

Compared with the recurve bow, the compound bow is indeed a bit overpowered. Once someone shot an arrow at a 45-degree angle, the arrow flew out 1,900 meters.

How much power do special forces need? At most 90 meters.

So the recurve bow became the best choice for the Lan Fang special forces.

Just after the special forces had finished the recurve bow, McTavish patted the shoulders of the commandos around him and gestured upwards, which meant that he was ready to break in from the top floor.

So the soldiers who had just finished making bows and arrows put the recurve bows on their backs and prepared to help McTavish climb.

Strictly speaking, a four-story building is not very high, but the houses built by the British who pursue perfection are quite high, so now it looks like there is about 20 meters from the top of the building.

20 meters is really nothing for the special forces. Even without help, McTavish can climb up with his bare hands.

This is also one of the items that Lan Fang soldiers often practice, and its popularity is about the same as armed swimming.

As soon as he said it, McTavish put the dagger back into the scabbard and prepared to start climbing.

Just when McTavish was about to climb up, the searchlight on the British gunboat suddenly swept towards McTavish's hiding place.

Was he discovered?

McTavish was really nervous at this time!