Chapter 21: Not Built in Germany

Melville lit a cigar, took a deep drag: "So the conclusion is: six 20,000‑ton battleships need steel, propulsion, guns, shipyards, workers… all these factors show no abnormality within Germany. Yet they did appear, and yesterday they were still sailing in the Mediterranean."

"There's only one explanation, sir." The young analyst Charles Brent, sitting in the corner, spoke. He was a newly transferred math genius, skilled at finding patterns in chaotic data.

"Speak."

"These ships weren't built in Germany." Brent stood up and walked to the world map on the wall. "At least, the major components weren't. The Germans might be assemblers, not manufacturers."

Melville narrowed his eyes: "Continue."

"I analyzed Germany's import‑export data for the past three years." Brent spoke quickly, "There are three anomalies: first, the amount of alloy metals such as nickel and chromium imported from Sweden increased by forty percent, far exceeding domestic military‑industry demand growth; second, exports of machine tools to the Osman Diguo, Persia and other Middle Eastern regions surged, but those areas lack corresponding industrial receiving capacity; third, the volume of special cargo transshipped via Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands—labeled 'agricultural machinery'—tripled in the past eighteen months, while the final destination was mostly… Indian Ocean ports."

He picked up a pointer and pointed at the map: "If we connect these anomalous data points, we get a route: special alloys from Sweden to Germany, machine tools from Germany to the Middle East, then large quantities of unidentified cargo from Europe via Rotterdam to the Indian Ocean. And the six battleships suddenly appeared in the Suez Canal."

Colonel Hol snapped his head up: "You're saying the battleships were built outside Europe? Parts made separately, shipped to some location for assembly?"

"Or there could be a complete shipbuilding industry in some place we don't know about." Brent said, "A place capable of building the world's most advanced battleship, yet absent from our intelligence network."

Melville stood up, walked to the map, and moved his finger along the Indian Ocean coastline: "What does a place need to build a 20,000‑ton battleship? A deep‑water port, large shipyards, steel mills, skilled workers…"

His finger suddenly stopped at the southern shore of the Persian Gulf.

"Here. Oman? No…… this is marked as 'Trucial Oman', nominally under Osman Diguo but actually a tribal area."

"But over the past three years, something unusual has happened here." Brent pulled a report from the file stack: "The intelligence station in Bombay sent back a briefing last year: large numbers of Chinese laborers from Singapore, Penang, Batavia and elsewhere have disappeared, rumored to have gone to 'the Western desert'. Estimated numbers exceed one hundred thousand."

"Chinese? Laborers?" Melville frowned.

"And this." Hol also found a document: "A trade report forwarded by the Viceroy of India: over the past two years, from an unmarked port on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, large amounts of refined copper, crude steel ingots, and even… chemical products have been exported to India. The exporter is named 'Lanfang Trading Company'."

"Lanfang…" Melville muttered this unfamiliar name, "What does it mean?"

Brent had already opened the Encyclopædia Britannica and found the entry: "The Lanfang Republic, a Chinese state that existed in Borneo from 1777 to 1884, was later annexed by the Dutch East India Company. Remnant forces fled to the South Ocean."

He lifted his head, eyes flashing with the excitement of discovering a key puzzle piece: "Sir, if these Chinese are remnants of the Lanfang Republic, if they have gathered on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf, if they possess industrial capacity…"

"Then the Germans' battleships could have come from there." Melville concluded the thought: "A Chinese‑founded entity with advanced shipbuilding capacity… a quasi‑state."

The room fell silent. This inference was astonishing, fantastical, yet it was the only logical chain that could explain all the anomalies.

After a long while, Melville stubbed out his cigar: "I need concrete evidence. Photos, eyewitness reports, at least one reliable field observation by an informant."

"We have no intelligence network there." Hol said helplessly, "The southern shore of the Persian Gulf has never been a priority area. The nearest intelligence post is in Basra, at least five hundred miles away."

"Then let's establish one." Melville gave the decisive order: "Hol, detach two officers who speak Arabic or Persian from Naval Intelligence, to enter the region posing as merchants. Brent, you continue analyzing the data; I need to know the scale, industrial capacity, and leadership information of this 'Lanfang'. Also…" he paused, "find out who else, besides Germany, is doing business with them."

"Yes, sir."

"Finally," Melville's voice turned cold, "this matter is confined to this room for now. Before obtaining concrete evidence, no one may report speculative conclusions to the Admiralty or the Cabinet. Understood?"

Everyone nodded. They all knew that if they reported the speculation "German battleships might be Chinese‑made," it would be dismissed as fantasy and damage the intelligence department's credibility.

After the meeting ended, Melville remained alone in the room. He relit his cigar and stared at the fuzzy corner of the Persian Gulf on the map.

"Lanfang…" he muttered to himself, "Who exactly are you? What do you want?"

Then he recalled what Fisher had said yesterday at the Admiralty: "This competition has only just begun."

But now it seems the competitors in this race may be far more numerous than anyone imagined.

And the most frightening part is that one participant, while nobody was watching, had already quietly built a gun and sold it to the highest bidder.

Melville stubbed out his cigar, decided to personally draft a top‑secret memorandum and send it directly to First Sea Lord Baron Fisher.

The title he had already devised:

"Preliminary Assessment of a Possible Chinese Political Entity with Advanced Shipbuilding Capacity on the Southern Shore of the Persian Gulf"

This could be the boldest report of his career—and possibly the most important.

Outside, London still slept, but in this basement a new intelligence war had already ignited.

London, 10 Downing Street Cabinet Room

Walnut‑long tables filled both sides of the room. Tobacco smoke rolled in the sunlight, like the lingering smoke of a battlefield.

Sir Henry Campbell‑Bannerman, Prime Minister, tapped his knuckles on the tabletop: "Gentlemen, let's begin. Baron Fisher, please give your briefing first."

First Sea Lord John Fisher rose, his uniform immaculate without a single crease. He walked to the massive North Sea chart on the wall and picked up the pointer.

"Three days ago, six new German battleships passed through the Suez Canal." His voice sounded like a blade scraping glass, "This is the comparison chart produced by the Photo Analysis Department."

The assistant drew back the curtain; two side‑by‑side line diagrams appeared on the blackboard. On the left was the Royal Navy's newest "Edward VII"‑class battleship; on the right was the projected outline of the German "Westfalen"‑class.

"Comparison data as follows." Fisher's pointing stick tapped the diagram, "Captain: we are 525 feet, they are 560 feet. Displacement: we 16500 tons, they at least 18000 tons. Main Gun: we have four 12-inch main guns plus four 9.2-inch secondary main guns, they have ten 12-inch main guns, all uniform caliber. Speed: we 18.5 knots, they not less than 21 knots."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Herbert Henry Asquith took off his glasses and wiped them: "Are you sure these data are accurate? Not the Germans bluffing?"

"The photos were taken by the Suez Canal dispatcher in person, measurements based on the canal width and water gauge markings." Fisher said coldly, "If Mr. Asquith doubts the capability of the Royal Navy's technical department, he can go verify the calculations himself."