The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 186

Chapter 186: The Terrifying "Ice Hammer"

The ministers, upon hearing the news, once again lavished praise upon the King and Queen, but this time, they included the Crown Prince in their compliments.

They all remembered that it was His Highness the Crown Prince who had originally proposed this cost-free plan to combat piracy, which was now beginning to show results.

Joseph took the report from the Marquis de Castries with great interest and quickly discovered that the successful ambush had been facilitated by intelligence gathered by an American named Charles from Algiers.

When he read that Charles had mentioned his information might have come from a former Tunisian Pasha named Younes, Joseph narrowed his eyes.

A former Crown Prince of Tunisia, who still held significant influence there? If this were true, his North African plans might need to be revised.

Previously, he had intended to follow the historical trajectory—first attacking the pirate strongholds along the northern coast of Algiers, then conducting a sweeping eradication of pirates across Algiers. The Barbary pirates were also the naval forces of the North African states, deeply entangled with their elite classes. Eliminating the pirates would essentially uproot the power structures of the entire region.

However, it now seemed that Tunisia might offer a better starting point!

After the cabinet meeting, Joseph immediately sought out the Marquis de Castries and ordered him to summon the American named Charles to Paris via the combined fleet.

Though slightly surprised, the Minister of the Navy promptly agreed.

Next, Joseph called upon Fouché to accelerate the development of intelligence networks in Algiers and Tunisia.

...

In the central Pacific, two medium-sized sailing ships bearing the words "Gemini Trading Company" appeared to be drifting aimlessly across the sea.

The ships had already offloaded their cargo in the Far East and purchased nothing in return, making them exceptionally light and allowing for high speed.

After a week of sailing directly westward, the ships turned south for more than ten nautical miles before reversing course and sailing eastward at full speed.

A closer look at their navigation records over the past month would reveal a pattern of circling the same sea area, as if searching for something.

On the armed merchant ship Hot Temper, Captain Fraut marked a few lines on the navigation chart, then looked at his first mate with a frown. "If we can’t find it after another hundred nautical miles southward, we’ll have to resupply in Batavia and return to Europe."

At that moment, the communication tube crackled with the lookout’s excited shout: “Land! Land spotted! Twenty-five nautical miles east-southeast!”

Fraut immediately checked the chart for the reported position, confirming there were no known islands in that area. Excitedly, he grabbed his telescope and hurried to the bow deck.

Sure enough, before long, a dark gray island with patches of green appeared in his view.

His heart raced. The Crown Prince was right—there really was an island here!

In the following days, Fraut and his crew located a suitable harbor and established an advance base on the island, planting the Fleur-de-Lis flag of the King of France.

Five days later, they encountered the island’s first group of natives. After some challenging communication using gestures, they managed to hire nearly a hundred natives with small knives, iron pots, and similar items to excavate the island’s soft, crumbly rocks.

The captain of the Long Organ watched as crew members and natives loaded rocks into the ship’s cargo hold and asked Fraut, “Are you sure these are the stones the Crown Prince wants?”

Fraut nodded. “There’s only this island in this part of the sea. It must be.”

“Alright then. At least we’ve discovered new territory—there should be a decent bonus for that, right?”

“Let’s hope so.” Fraut looked out at the distant sea. “But it’s the Crown Prince who pinpointed this island’s location. We’re just here to confirm it. Oh, he even knew its name—what was it again?”

“Nauru, I think.”

“Yes, Nauru. What a strange name.”

As more Nauruan natives arrived to help excavate the rocks, within just over ten days, hundreds of them had filled the cargo holds of the two nearly 500-ton armed merchant ships.

Leaving a dozen sailors to guard the base, Fraut ordered the ships to set sail for Europe.

...

July arrived, bringing sweltering heat.

In a small village 30 leagues north of Berry, Gaizka leaned against the roof, taking a wooden plank from his wife below. With great effort, he positioned it over the last hole and hammered it into place.

The entire roof was a patchwork of mismatched repairs, and just buying the wood had cost Gaizka 1 livre and 7 sous.

He glanced toward the half-collapsed chicken coop nearby, which reminded him of the horrifying disaster three days earlier.

It had been a bright, sunny day, and he and his neighbor Blanche were tending the parish’s recently purchased water pump when he suddenly felt a sharp blow to his shoulder. Grimacing in pain, he turned to find a large bruise forming.

Thinking it was the work of mischievous children, he looked around angrily but saw no one. Then Blanche let out a blood-curdling scream, clutching his head as he collapsed.

“What’s wrong?” Gaizka rushed to help him, only to see a bloody gash on his forehead. Nearby, a fist-sized “glass ball” lay on the ground, stained with blood.

Picking it up, Gaizka felt an icy chill seep into his palm and realized it was a hailstone!

Suddenly, the sound of heavy objects striking the ground began echoing around them.

Half-lifting Blanche, who pointed skyward in terror, he shouted, “Get under cover! It’s falling from the sky!”

Luckily, the water pump had a wooden shelter. They hurried inside just as the relentless thuds turned into a deafening barrage.

For nearly 40 minutes, the shelter’s roof was hammered by hailstones, the noise as if a demon outside was trying to batter them to death.

When it finally stopped, Gaizka pushed open the door, only to freeze in shock.

What was once lush wheat fields had been leveled. The almost-ripe stalks were crushed into a muddy blend of wheat, ice, and dirt.

Half the trees in the distance were stripped of branches, as if ravaged by a giant’s rampage. Even the corpses of wild animals, battered and bloodied, dotted the landscape.

“No… no, please… God save us…” Gaizka murmured, stumbling home through the icy wreckage.

“Annette! Are you alright?!”

The next moment, his bloodied wife emerged, clutching their two children tightly, her face filled with terror.

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