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Chapter 185: The Terrifying "Ice Hammer"
🕑 Added 2025-01-10 22:49:06 +0000 UTCChapter 185: The Terrifying "Ice Hammer"
When the ministers heard the news, they immediately showered the King and Queen with praises, including the Prince as well. They all remembered that it was the Prince who originally proposed this cost-effective plan to combat piracy, and now it was finally showing results.
Joseph, intrigued, took the report from the Marquis de Castries and began to read it. He quickly noticed that the successful ambush was thanks to a piece of intelligence obtained by an American named Charles from Algiers. This information allowed the fleet to carry out the ambush smoothly.
When Joseph read that the intelligence might have come from a former Tunisian Prince named Yunus, he narrowed his eyes.
A former Tunisian "Prince" still had considerable influence in Tunisia? If this were true, perhaps his plans for North Africa would need some adjustments.
Previously, he intended to follow history and first attack the pirate strongholds on the northern coast of Algiers, then proceed to wipe out pirates throughout the entire Algiers region. The Barbary pirates were essentially the naval forces of various North African countries, deeply intertwined with their elites. Once the pirates were eliminated, it would essentially mean turning the entire country upside down.
But now it seemed that Tunisia might offer a better opportunity!
After the cabinet meeting ended, Joseph immediately sought out the Marquis de Castries and instructed him to order the joint fleet to bring this American named Charles to Paris.
Although the Navy Minister was a bit surprised, he agreed without hesitation.
Next, Joseph summoned Fouché, instructing him to expedite the construction of intelligence networks in Algiers and Tunisia.
...
In the central Pacific, two medium-sized sailing ships bearing the name "Twin Stars Trading Company" were seemingly aimlessly navigating the waters.
Their cargo had long since been unloaded in the Far East, and they hadn't purchased anything, so the ships were very light, making them incredibly fast.
After sailing straight westward for a week, they turned southward for over ten nautical miles before heading east again with full sails.
If one were to examine their sailing records over the past month, it would be clear that they were circling the area, seemingly searching for something.
Aboard the armed merchant ship Short Temper, Captain Fraut was drawing on the navigation chart when he looked up at his first mate, frowning. "If we don't find anything another hundred nautical miles south, we'll have to head to Batavia for supplies, then return to Europe."
At that moment, the lookout's excited voice came through the speaking tube, "Land! Land ho! Twenty-five nautical miles to the east-southeast!"
Fraut quickly examined the chart, confirming that there were no known islands in the position the lookout described. He excitedly grabbed his telescope and rushed to the forecastle deck.
Sure enough, it wasn't long before he spotted a dark gray island with patches of green through his telescope.
His heart raced with excitement—His Royal Highness had been right, there was indeed an island here!
Over the next few days, Fraut and his crew found a suitable harbor and established a forward base on the island, raising the fleur-de-lis flag to represent the King of France.
Five days later, they encountered the island's first group of natives. After some challenging hand signals, they managed to hire nearly a hundred natives with small knives and iron pots to start digging the crumbly rocks that were scattered all over the island.
The captain of the Long Organ watched as crew members and natives loaded the rocks into the ship's hold. He asked Fraut, "Are you sure this is the kind of stone the Prince wants?"
Fraut nodded, "This is the only island in this area; it must be the right one."
"Well, alright. At least we discovered a new territory—there should be a decent reward, right?"
"Let's hope so," Fraut said, glancing at the distant sea. "But the island's location was pointed out by the Prince himself. We're just here to confirm it. Oh, he even knew the name of the island, what was it again?"
"I think it was 'Nauru'."
"Yes, Nauru. What a strange name."
With more Nauru natives arriving to help dig, it only took ten days to fill the holds of the two nearly 500-ton armed merchant ships.
Fraut left a dozen sailors to guard the base and ordered the two ships to set sail for Europe.
...
The scorching month of July arrived.
In a small village about 30 miles north of Berry, Gaizka was leaning on the roof, taking a wooden plank from his wife below. He struggled to cover the last hole and then hammered in the nails.
The entire roof was patched together haphazardly, and just buying the wooden planks had cost Gaizka 1 livre and 7 sous.
Gaizka looked over at the chicken coop in the distance, which had partially collapsed. This made him think of the terrifying disaster that had occurred three days earlier.
It had been a sunny day, and he was "attending" to the newly purchased water pump for the parish with his neighbor, Blanche, when he suddenly felt something slam into his shoulder with great force, causing him to grimace in pain. He turned to see that his shoulder was bruised badly.
Thinking one of the village's mischievous children had hit him, he angrily looked around but saw no children. Then he heard Blanche scream, clutching his head and collapsing to the ground.
"What's wrong?!" Gaizka rushed over to help him up, shocked to see a gash on Blanche's forehead. Nearby, there was a fist-sized "glass ball" on the ground with blood on it.
Gaizka picked up the "glass ball," and a chill ran through his hand. He realized it was actually a ball of ice!
Then, heavy thuds began sounding all around them.
Blanche, still half-reclined, pointed to the sky in terror and shouted, "It's falling from the sky! Get inside! These things are falling from the sky!"
Fortunately, a wooden shed had already been built over the water pump, and they quickly scrambled inside.
Soon, the thudding sounds outside became a continuous roar, with the shed's roof echoing with terrifying bangs, as if some demon outside was trying to smash them to death with an iron hammer.
The terrifying "iron hammer" pounded away for nearly 40 minutes before it gradually subsided. Gaizka saw that even the thick wooden boards on the shed's roof had been cracked in several places.
Suddenly, he remembered something and rushed out of the shed, only to be stunned by what he saw.
The lush wheat fields had been flattened. The nearly ripe wheat had been smashed into a pulp by countless fist-sized hailstones, mixing with the ice, mud, and water into a messy slush.
In the distance, half the trees had broken branches and leaves, as if a mad giant had rampaged through, and he could even see the flattened corpses of animals lying in pools of blood.
"No, no, please, Lord have mercy..." Gaizka mumbled in a trembling voice as he stumbled back to his home through the hail-covered ground.
"Annette! Are you all alright?!"
The next moment, his wife, her face covered in blood, emerged from the house, clutching their two terrified children.
(End of Chapter)
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