I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France Chapter 282: Revised - 282 Fleet

A week later, the 105th Regint finally set off.

Due to Wells’s efforts and the green light from the Minister of the Navy, Shire’s reinforcent fleet was quite luxurious.

The fleet consisted of five transport ships, two of which carried troops, and the other three carried supplies, including two respectively loaded with landing craft and amphibious landing ships.

Additionally, there were three destroyers and two Q-ships escorting them.

The so-called Q-ships are ard ships disguised as rchant ships, an invention by the British to deal with submarines.

They had ard ships masquerade as solitary rchant ships at sea.

German submarines encountering these "rchant ships" usually wouldn’t sink them directly with torpedoes, choosing instead a more economical thod: surfacing for a close-range attack, at which point the Q-ships would suddenly counterattack the submarines.

But these ships were not very effective in actual combat. After suffering losses once or twice, the Germans no longer fell for such tricks, especially since mass-produced Q-ships all looked quite similar.

Shire was aboard the "Henry" transport ship, and Tijani was also on this ship.

This was Tijani’s suggestion. Before setting sail, he asked Shire with a requesting tone: "Colonel, typically, you should be on the flagship ’Adventure’, a destroyer which is faster and safer. But..."

Before he could finish, Shire understood his aning: "You want to train the soldiers with you?"

"Yes." Tijani nodded: "They are army troops, many of whom have never been on a ship before, or even seen the sea, yet they now have to conduct landing operations. The journey to our destination will take five days. I hope to use this ti to get the soldiers accustod to landing craft operations."

"No problem." Shire agreed: "I will be on that ship."

Tijani chose the "Henry" because it was the transport ship carrying the landing crafts.

Before departure, Tijani had already made preparations, placing two landing crafts on the deck. The soldiers practiced in the landing crafts in batches.

But the problem was...

The fleet soon encountered rough seas after setting out, and Shire imdiately felt unwell.

Shire had a private room, though it was only a few square ters in size, it had a bed and a desk, with a fixed lamp on the desk, making it a relatively nice environnt for a crowded transport ship.

But Shire felt he needed a bucket more.

He never knew what it was like to be on a ship.

Storm clouds gathered and winds howled, making the entire world seem to spin, tilting here and there, with the ship veering at such angles that it seed it could capsize at any mont.

In his heart, Shire repeatedly told himself:

It’s okay, Shire does not get seasick, Shire cannot get seasick!

But he still couldn’t hold it in, and with a loud "wa" sound, vomited on the floor.

Hearing the noise, his steward Adrian knocked on the door and entered. Seeing the vomit on the floor and slling the sour stench in the air, he imdiately understood.

"One mont, Colonel." He comforted: "It’s alright!"

In no ti, Adrian brought a cloth and a wooden bucket, with a small amount of water in the bucket, seemingly to prevent it from spilling.

Shire was incredulous, he asked Adrian with difficulty: "You can clean under these conditions?"

"Of course, Colonel." Adrian answered calmly, busy with his hands while speaking: "Perhaps you don’t know, I am the child of a fisherman, used to life on the ship since I was young. To , all ships are the sa."

Suddenly, Shire felt Adrian’s image beco grander.

He was feeling awful, while Adrian could still clean the floor.

Moreover, his actions were very skilled, quickly cleaning up the vomit. Shortly after leaving, he returned carrying the cleaned wooden bucket, placing it by Shire’s bedside, and whispered: "Don’t worry, Colonel, I will keep this a secret for you."

Shire gave a bitter smile: "They will find out eventually, I think it’ll take at least a few days."

"The key is not to fight it." Adrian appeared as a sage: "Relax, feel its rhythm, then tell yourself: I know you’re going this way, I know you’re going that way... you’ll adapt quickly."

Shire tried what Adrian said, and indeed felt a bit better.

Seasickness is essentially a psychological fear.

Additionally, it’s the habit of being on solid ground for a long ti; the large sway of the ship becos difficult to adapt to.

Tijani lived opposite Shire.

Shire believed he knew about this, but he never ca out to check. This was another of Tijani’s strengths; he understood human relationships well.

A sleepless night passed, and it wasn’t until the next morning when the seas cald that Shire began to feel a bit better.

After experiencing a storm, Shire found that slight rocking was nothing, but he still had no appetite for food.

He was exhausted and unknowingly fell asleep.

...

What Shire didn’t know was that while he was on his way to the Dardanelles Strait, a French fleet had already arrived there.

This fleet was dispatched by Xia Fei, carrying two landing crafts converted from coal ships, commanded by Major General Onore, with a regint of about four thousand infantry.

Upon arriving at the Dardanelles Strait, Major General Onore couldn’t wait to submit a combat application to Major General Gephardt: "I hope to engage in battle as soon as possible, General. We can help the British capture V Beach."

Major General Gephardt was a bit uncertain: "Perhaps you should wait for Shire. He will be here in just a few days, and then we can study the landing plan..."

"No, General." Major General Onore insisted on landing imdiately: "We should strike the enemy unexpectedly. Everyone knows Shire is on the way now, the Ottomans and the Germans know too."

This was true; when Shire departed, there were even reporters taking photos at the port and many people ca to send him off.

But this was Jas’s plan. He wanted to launch an attack and achieve victory before Shire arrived.

Because Jas worried that once Shire arrived at the Dardanelles Strait and took control of the French fleet’s advisory authority, he would quickly discover the "Clyde" and "Sedir" landing ships.

If these two landing ships were used by Shire, his inventions would pave the way for Shire’s success, sothing he didn’t want to see.

Major General Gephardt couldn’t make a decision on his own, so he sought Major General Robek’s opinion.

But there was no need to ask. Major General Robek was British, and if the French wanted to fight, how could Major General Robek disagree?

He waved his hand, imdiately agreeing to Major General Onore’s request, even praising him and using this act of "proactive initiative" to call for others to follow suit.