Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 867 – Dead Before the Ship Even Sinks
1558 AD, Ming Dynasty famous person Tang Shunzhi wrote a book known as Wubian. This book recorded the structure and way of arranging the underwater mines to be used to hit the pirates that affected China’s ocean regions.
These were the earliest made, man controlled, mechanism-fired mine anchors. The wooden boxes were used as the shell while putty was used to seal the black gunpowder inside. The firing mechanism was a long rope that one used to ignite.
There were three iron anchors below the wooden boxes that controlled the depth of the mine in water.
1590 AD, China invented the earliest floating mines – the Underwater Dragon King Cannons, which was ignited using incense. Nine years later, Wang Minghe invented touch mines using ropes as ignition known as the underwater lightning.
1621 AD, activable floating mines were created; these were exploded from contact and also self-ignited.
Only in the 18th century did the Europeans start to experiment with using ocean mines. In the North America battle for independence, the North Americans made use of beer crates as ocean mines to attack the Delaware River.
In the middle of the 19th century, Russians invented an electrolyte trigger anchor mine. In the 1854 to 1856 Battle of Crimea, the Tsarist Russia used it in their defense of the bay.
After which, various different types of ocean mines were modified, improved, and used widely. In the north and south Battle of the Americas in 1905 and the Japan-Russia war, ocean mines obtained great results.
Since then, the various countries started to pay attention to ocean mine warfare and threw in large amounts of resources to build and develop more of them. In World War I, both sides used 310 thousand mines, destroying 148 warships, 54 submarines, and 586 merchant ships.
In modern day ocean warfare, ocean mines are a much needed weapon. An old ocean mine that did not cost much could destroy a modern day warship that was worth hundreds of millions.
The Mediterranean Squadron had placed the Underwater Dragon King Cannon and the underwater lighting in the Gibraltar Straits. They had placed a total of thousands of them, emptying the armory of the Combat Logistics Department.
The ocean mine crafting technology belonged to the Ming Dynasty firearm making technique. After the No.7 Research Institute modified it, the explosiveness was much stronger, and it was much more flexible in its ignition.
Such a hidden weapon was one that Shanhai City kept a secret and did not use. First, they had not fought any large scale ocean battles. Secondly, they needed to keep it a secret as it was a strategic weapon.
During the country war against Morocco, due to the complicated situation in the Mediterranean, Ouyang Shuo decided to reveal the Underwater Dragon King Cannon to the world.
Although the western technology tree was more advanced than the eastern one, it was a level worse in terms of ocean mines. Hence, be it Casillas or Alexander Farnese, they did not expect to face ocean mines.
This misjudgment or arrogance had hurt them badly.
Although Alexander Farnese ordered the warships to stop, how could the Man O’ War warships stop so easily?
Exploding sounds filled the ears.
Large amounts of warships were hit by the ocean mines, and the ships that were badly damaged had already started sinking.
To make matters worse, in this short amount of time, the two divisions of the Mediterranean Squadron had quickly crowded over. They had formed up and started to fire at the Spanish Invincible Squadron.
The two divisions were going all out, one north and one south. They aimed at the sails, cannon openings, poles, and other key structures. Their first goal was to make the ships lose their traveling ability.
It was mentioned that when Man O’ War warships shot one another, it was hard to get a decisive result in a short time. The only way would be to strike and break the mast.
The warships without their masts and sails were like tigers without teeth.
Alexander Farnese was not an inexperienced person. He quickly calmed down and commanded the troops to strike back. On a narrow road, the brave wins. The Invincible Squadron held the numerical advantage, so they had a way to fight back.
However, the Mediterranean Squadron held the formation advantage, and they pincered the Spanish from both sides. It was like two versus one. Even if the Spanish Invincible Squadron were not wiped out, they would be badly damaged.
The change happened with Casillas. Looking out, around 30 main warships were sunk in the blink of an eye.
This lost caused Casillas’s face to turn ashen white.
The Invincible Squadron was the property of the entire Spain and must not be wiped out in a single fight.
“No, we cannot continue like this.”
Casillas immediately reacted. If they were badly hurt here, the Gaul Squadron and the Roman Squadron would not give them a second chance.
At that time, there would be the true despair. After all, face matters were small but interests were big.
“Retreat, retreat!”
Casillas found Alexander Farnese and gave the order to retreat.
“What did you say?” Alexander Farnese was speechless.
Who knew that Casillas would shake his head resolutely, “General, at this juncture, protecting the entire squadron is the mission. You do know about the situation in the Mediterranean, right?”
When Alexander Farnese heard that, he understood. Although he did not want to, Alexander Farnese had no choice but to admit that Casillas’s order made sense. He gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s retreat!”
“Retreat!”
Quickly the order was spread down.
Regretfully, the Spanish Invincible Squadron could not bring out all their warships. Be it those that were hit by ocean mines or those whose masts were struck, they all could not leave.
Such warships were 1/3rd of the entire squadron.
Furthermore, the Invincible Squadron had already entered the deep areas of the ocean mine region. To try to turn around was really difficult. In the process, it was unavoidable for them to touch the ocean mines in the ocean.
Bad things truly did not happen alone.
Luckily, the Spanish Squadron was a well-trained navy. All of them, from the commanders to the sailors, were experienced.
Even whilst facing all these problems, they did not panic. Each warship turned beautifully amongst the cannon fire, all of them completing the turn around. Throughout the process, they could still fire back.
The strength of the ancient ocean empire really was not simple.
When Alvaro saw that the enemy wanted to retreat, he naturally would not let them easily do that. He ordered the troops to sail around the mine zone and chase. With the territory specialty of the Great Xia Dynasty, the Mediterranean Squadron was a little faster than the Invincible Squadron.
Cannonballs arced over the sky and landed on the decks, launching people into the air.
This time, be it Casillas or Alexander Farnese, they all had a headache.
“No, we cannot retreat like this. If this continues, the squadron would be crushed.” At the key moment, Alexander Farnese was decisive and ordered 20 warships to turn around once more, their heads and tails connecting to block the chase of the Mediterranean Squadron.
The remaining warships tried their best to escape.
When Alvaro saw that, he sighed; his expression was complicated, “I’ll let you escape this time!” He was from Spain. Although he had a new master, to fight his old home still felt a little bad.
But no matter what, he still had to fight.
…
An hour later, the Spanish Invincible Squadron with a broken arm finally escaped and once again passed the Gibraltar Straits, heading back home.
What a tragic scene.
The entire squadron was covered in a depressed atmosphere. Casillas himself was ashamed. Thinking back to his arrogant words and the way the other Lords looked at him, Casillas could not raise his head to face these allies.
Seeing that the Spanish Squadron had actually lost against two divisions of the Mediterranean Squadron, losing half their ships, these allies were all shocked and their expressions varied.
It seems like the weird Mediterranean situation was about to change once more.
As for Caroline and Rainier, their faces were as dead as ash. They were clearer than anyone that the last hope for Morocco was gone.
Rainier was too emotional, killing himself on the spot and returning to the Reincarnation Hall.
Caroline did not have the courage to do so, and she locked herself in the cabin and did not see anyone. She was just waiting for the moment Morocco falls.
At this very moment, another squadron sailed over. They were the 5th division that was housed in Jidian City. Based on the plan, the 5th division was in charge of intercepting the Invincible Squadron.
Compared to Alexander Farnese, Alvaro was a skill level higher.
With the current Spanish Invincible Squadron, they did not fear the 5th division, and they even had a chance to win. However, Casillas was not willing to fight. He was worried that the other two divisions would chase up to them.
If that happened, they would be pincered from the front and the back. They would be dead.
Hence, when seeing them, Casillas did not even think. He once again used 20 ships to block them off while the remaining escaped.
The arrogant Casillas had been beaten totally soulless by the Mediterranean Squadron.