The Terrifying "Ice Hammer"
Upon hearing this, the ministers immediately showered the King and Queen with compliments, this time also including the Crown Prince.
They all remembered that it was His Crown Prince who proposed this free plan to combat pirates, and now it was indeed showing initial results.
Joseph took the report from the Marquis de Castries with great interest and began to read it. He soon discovered that an United States named Charles had obtained intelligence about the pirates from Algiers, which enabled the ambush to be carried out successfully.
When he saw Charles mention that his intelligence might come from a former Tunisia Pasha named Younis, he narrowed his eyes.
If it's true that a former Tunisia Crown Prince still wields considerable influence in Tunisia, then perhaps my plans for North Africa will have to be revised.
He had previously planned to follow the historical trajectory, first attacking the pirate strongholds on the north coast of Algiers, and then begin to eradicate pirates throughout Algiers. The Barbary Pirates also served as the navy of various North Africa countries, and were deeply intertwined with their nobles. Once the pirates were wiped out, it would be equivalent to turning the entire country upside down.
However, it now seems that Tunisia has a better foothold!
After the Cabinet Meeting ended, Joseph immediately found the Marquis de Castries and asked him to send a message to the Combined Fleet to summon the United States named Charles to Paris.
Although the Minister of the Navy was somewhat surprised, he immediately agreed.
Joseph then approached Fouche and asked him to expedite the construction of intelligence networks in Algiers and Tunisia.
In the central Pacific Ocean, two medium-sized sailboats bearing the words "Gemini Trading Company" are seemingly sailing casually on the sea.
The cargo on board had long been unloaded in the Far East, but nothing was purchased, so the ship was very light, resulting in extremely high speed.
After the two ships sailed straight west for a lap, they turned south and sailed more than ten nautical miles before turning east again and sailing with full sails.
If you look at their navigation logs over the past month or so, you'll find that they've been constantly lingering in the nearby waters, seemingly searching for something.
Onboard the armed merchant ship "Bad Temper," Captain Flaut drew a few lines on the nautical chart and looked at his first mate. "If we still can't find it 100 nautical miles south, we'll have to go to Batavia for supplies and then return to Europe."
Just then, an excited shout came from the lookout's radio, "Land! It's land! 25 nautical miles east-southeast!"
Flaut quickly examined the nautical chart and confirmed that there were no islands at the location the lookout had described. Excitedly, he grabbed his Telescope and ran up to the bow deck.
Sure enough, not long after, a dark gray island with mottled green patches appeared in his Telescope.
He was thrilled. His Crown Prince was right; there really was an island here!
In the following period, Flaut led his crew to a suitable harbor and built a forward base on the island, where they planted the Fleur-de-lis Flag representing the King of France.
Five days later, they found the first group of natives on the island. After some difficult communication using gestures, they hired nearly a hundred natives for one Glass ball per person per month to start digging out the loose, brittle rocks that were everywhere on the island.
The captain of the "Long Harp" watched as the crew and indigenous people carried the rocks into the hold, and asked Flaut, "Are you sure this is the kind of stone the Crown Prince wants?"
The latter nodded. "This is the only island in this area, there's no mistake."
"Alright then. But at least we've discovered some new territory; there should be a hefty reward, right?"
"Let's hope so," Flaut said, gazing at the distant sea. "But the island's location was pointed out by the Crown Prince; we're just here to confirm it. Oh, he even knows the island's name—what's it called again?"
"It seems to be ' Nauru '."
"Yes, it's Nauru. What a strange name."
As more Nauru natives came to dig for stones, it took only a little over ten days for hundreds of natives to fill the cargo holds of two armed merchant ships with Displacement of nearly 500 tons.
Flaut left a dozen or so Sailor to guard the garrison and ordered both ships to raise their sails and return to Europe.
The sweltering month of July has arrived.
In a small village 30 Lieue north of Berry, France.
Gaizika leaned against the roof, took a plank from his wife standing below, laboriously moved it to the last hole, gestured, took out a nail, and hammered it in forcefully.
The entire roof was covered in haphazard patches, and just buying these planks cost Gaizika a full 1 Livre 7 sous.
Gaizika looked at the chicken coop not far away, which was mostly collapsed, reminding him of the horrific disaster that had struck three days earlier.
It was a clear, sunny day when he and Blanche from the same village were "taking care" of the parish's newly purchased Water Pump. Suddenly, he felt something hit his shoulder hard, making him wince in pain. When he turned around, he saw a large bruise on his shoulder.
He assumed it was the work of some naughty children in the village, and immediately glared around angrily. Before he could see any children, Blanche let out a scream and collapsed to the ground, clutching his head.
"What happened to you?" Gaizika rushed over and helped him up, only to be shocked to see a bloody gash on his forehead, and in the soil next to him, a fist-sized "Glass ball" covered in blood.
Gaizika picked up the "Glass ball," and a chill immediately ran into his palm. He then realized that it was actually an ice ball.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground could be heard from the side.
Blanche, who was half-lying back, suddenly pointed to the sky and shouted in alarm, "The sky! Quick, hide! This thing fell from the sky!"
Fortunately, a wooden shed had already been erected over the Water Pump, and the two hurriedly crawled inside.
Soon, the "thump-thump" sounds around them began to merge into one, and the wooden shed above their heads emitted a terrifying "bang-bang" sound, as if a Devil outside was trying to smash them to death with an iron hammer.
The terrifying "hammer" continued to smash for nearly 40 minutes before gradually stopping. Gaizika saw that even the thick wooden planks on the roof of the wooden shed had been smashed into several cracks.
He suddenly remembered something, pushed open the door of the wooden shed, and immediately froze on the spot.
The once lush wheat fields have now been flattened. The nearly ripe Wheat has been smashed to pieces by countless fist-sized hailstones, mixed with ice and mud.
Nearly half of the trees in the distance were covered with broken branches, as if they had been ravaged by a crazed giant, and on the ground, one could even see the flattened carcasses of wild beasts lying in pools of blood.
"No, no, God help me..." Gaizika murmured in a trembling voice, ignoring the ice pucks scattered all over the ground, and stumbled all the way back to his home.
Annette! Are you all alright?!
The next moment, he saw his wife, her face covered in blood, carrying their two children, walking out of the house with a look of fear on her face.
(End of this chapter)
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