s: Make up for yesterday’s, sorry 10 a.m. on July 19, 1919, AD 2760, in the port of Santa Maria, Spain.
Puerto Santa Maria is located on the Guadalete River and is a port city in Spain on the Atlantic Ocean.
At this time, Spain was no longer the world's hegemon.
In the Great Battle between Britain and Spain in 1558, the Spanish "Invincible Fleet" was almost completely destroyed, while only more than 100 people in the British fleet died in the battle.
The foundations of the Spanish Empire were shaken from then on, and then they were defeated again by the Dutch in the Battle of the Downs in 1639.
Spain lost its position as maritime hegemony and has been in decline ever since.
Its position was gradually replaced by emerging countries such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
After entering the 20th century, Spain declined more and more, almost losing all its colonies, and completely reduced to a third-rate country.
It became a close friend of Portugal next door.
However, they still knew that they were not good enough, so after the European War broke out, they immediately declared neutrality and would not participate in any party.
But no matter how declining they are, they are still an industrial country.
Relying on the east wind of the European War and their status as a neutral country, they have made a lot of war fortune by selling supplies to both sides in the past few years.
In particular, their specialty tungsten ore is selling very well.
Since the invention of high-speed steel tungsten chromium steel at the end of the 19th century, the emergence of this steel marked a major technological progress in the field of metal cutting and processing, and it soon became an extremely important tool.
Industrial cutting tools are in great demand in various industrial countries.
Naturally, the demand for tungsten, an important component of it, has also increased significantly.
The tungsten extraction industry has developed rapidly since then.
After Xingke Company invented the tungsten filament light bulb in 1906, the consumption of tungsten increased even more.
At present, the main tungsten producing countries in the world are the United States, Spain, Austria-Hungary and Portugal.
Tungsten mines in other countries have not been discovered or have little mining value.
For example, in China, the survey results they announced are that only Jiangxi has a little tungsten ore, which is not enough for itself.
It imports a lot of tungsten concentrate every year, and Spain is an important seller.
Well, of course there are other things besides tungsten ore.
Spain still has other industrial products.
Although most of the products are not very good, their sales were still very good during the war years.
At this time, as long as they are useful, it will be good. , then you are still in the mood to be picky.
For example, both warring parties need a large amount of leather products, and leather products are Spain's traditional strength.
They only make money by selling leather boots, leather shoes, armed belts, holsters and other leather products to the warring countries.
The dishes are full and the bowls are full.
Of course, as more things are sold, domestic raw materials will not be enough, and we need to import them from foreign countries.
In recent years, Spain has been importing a large amount of leather raw materials from South America and Africa every year.
The Port of Santa Maria is an important import port, and most of the leather imported from South America and Africa is disembarked here.
"Chu, chu, chu" an engine sound sounded, and the Spanish Navy's frigate Jelia sailed out of the port.
This is a Wuchang-class frigate imported from China.
Although the combat effectiveness of this thousand-ton frigate cannot be compared with that of large warships, it is enough for a country like Spain.
They have long since stopped thinking about conquering the oceans.
A warship like this that is multi-purpose, easy to maintain, cheap and cost-effective is most suitable for them.
In order to make a name for itself, China's emerging arms dealer sells very conscientious products, especially warships, which are much better than Niu Niu who likes to deceive people.
The most important thing is that the price is cheap and affordable, and the price-performance ratio is high.
Although the products of another emerging power, the Yankees, are more conscientious, they are more expensive.
Moreover, Chinese warships have gone through many actual combat tests, and buyers rate them highly.
So Spain, which made a fortune during the war, was also ready to upgrade its poor navy, so it chose China as its main procurement target.
In October 1917, the Spanish government placed an order for a fleet in China, including 4 Wuchang-class frigates, 8 Type 901 submarines, 10 anti-submarine patrol boats, and 30 torpedo boats.
The Jelia frigate was the first batch handed over to Spain in August last year.
Currently, this frigate is mainly responsible for security patrols in Spain's offshore waters.
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The Yelia made a circle in the offshore as usual, and it was normal today, without any incident.
Because it was a neutral country, neither warring party would cause them trouble.
Even after Germany started unrestricted submarine warfare, they suffered no losses because they did not send ships to Britain at all.
What's more, the German submarines have been pushed back to their home base by the Allied fleet.
Their neighbor Portugal has been deployed by the Allied powers with a large number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft.
The German submarines do not dare to approach at all, and Spain has also benefited.
This kind of day without enemies is very leisurely.
The officers and soldiers of the Yelia are lazy, and many sailors are still sunbathing on the deck.
"It's another leisurely day.
This kind of war is really great."
Looking at the calm sea, the captain, Major Anderson, said in a relaxed mood.
His family had a leather factory and made a fortune from the war.
He was very supportive of the war.
"Oh, I'm going to take a nap first, John, come and take a look," Anderson stretched and said to the first mate.
He was going back to the captain's cabin to take a nap.
"Report" Suddenly, the intercom of the watchtower in the bridge rang.
"At 10 o'clock, there is a merchant ship that is not normal."
"Oh."
Anderson's drowsiness suddenly disappeared.
It was a rare situation where he could finally feel less bored.
He quickly grabbed the telescope and looked in the direction the lookout said.
He quickly found the merchant ship the lookout had mentioned.
This merchant ship does not look right, because it is running crookedly.
To be precise, it is being pushed by the waves, and it seems to have completely lost power.
"Looks like we're in trouble, come over and take a look."
Anderson immediately ordered the Yelia to turn around and sail over.
"Captain, there is no response from the merchant ship on the other side," the communications officer reported.
Just now, the Yelia kept sending signals to the merchant ship, but there was no response from the other party.
"What's going on?"
Anderson frowned, feeling something bad.
Have these unlucky guys encountered pirates?
Anderson quickly put this idea aside.
Are you kidding me?
The biggest pirate on earth is a British guy.
He has stopped doing this business a long time ago.
If anyone dares to play piracy these days, just wait until the navies of major powers come to visit you.
As the distance got closer, the figure of the merchant ship became clearer, and the flag and hull number could be seen clearly.
The officers and soldiers on the Yelia quickly determined the identity of the other party.
"It's our Spanish merchant ship, the Lucky Jeremy, a general cargo ship with a registered tonnage of 11,800 tons.
It belongs to the Royal Shipping Company and is a merchant ship running the South African route."
Anderson quickly found out the origin of the ship from the ship roster.
"Damn, get over there quickly, they must be in trouble."
Anderson immediately became nervous.
This is His Majesty the King's merchant ship.
If something goes wrong because the rescue is not timely, he, a young major, cannot bear this responsibility.
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As the distance approached, Anderson became more and more uneasy, because until now, the Lucky Jeremy had not responded at all, and there was no one on the deck.
The first mate also looked uneasy and said: "Captain, this ship is out of control and we can't get closer."
Anderson frowned and said: "It seems that we can only send a small boat to come up.
Damn it, what happened to them?"
Ten minutes later, the Yelia stopped 200 meters away from the target and lowered two rubber dinghies.
They don't dare to get too close.
This kind of out-of-control ship is very dangerous.
If a wave hits, they may have to have close contact.
It took a lot of effort for the two rubber boats to reach the target, and a dozen sailors carrying weapons climbed onto the merchant ship.
After a while, a noncommissioned officer hurried out and shouted in this direction.
His face was panicked, as if he had seen a ghost.
"What was he shouting about?"
Anderson asked.
“The sea breeze is a bit strong and I can’t hear clearly.”
At this time, the noncommissioned officer also reacted and started to make gestures.
Fortunately, this guy also learned semaphore and used semaphore to express his meaning.
"What's dead?
The people on the ship are dead."
Anderson understood his semaphore.
After a while, the radio station over there was also connected.
"Captain, Captain, this is Bliss.
We are now in the cab."
The voice of the leading officer sounded on the radio.
"Everyone on this ship is dead.
A total of 42 people are dead, not a single one is alive."
The voice on the intercom was extremely frightening.
It seemed that the scene on the ship was very scary.
"Damn it, get the ship back under control right now, now" "Okay, Captain, we are checking.
Oh, the equipment on the ship is still normal and can be used."
After more than half an hour of tossing, the ship's engine started again.
The Yelia quickly approached, and Captain Anderson went on board to check it out in person, and was also shocked by the scene on the ship.
As the sailor said just now, all the crew members on the ship are dead.
Because the temperature is now higher, the bodies are stinking, and the entire ship is filled with a putrid smell.
The first mate of the merchant ship was probably the last one to die.
He locked himself in the cab, as if he was hiding from something, but he also died.
Two hours later, the "Lucky Jeremy", which was taken over by Spanish naval officers, returned to the port of Santa Maria under the escort of the frigate Jelia.
The port authority, which had been notified long ago, had specially vacated a berth, and the director of the port authority was waiting at the pier with many people.
As soon as the "Lucky Jeremy" docked and lowered the gangway, the police and other professionals waiting on the dock ran up.
The stevedores at the dock quickly removed the bodies from the ship and placed them in a row on the dock.
Because there was no preparation to clear the venue or anything in advance, many onlookers who got the news came to watch.
Everyone pointed at these corpses and talked about them.
Among these onlookers were foreigners and Spanish dignitaries.
The police did not dare to chase people away without orders from above.
They could only maintain order and prevent them from getting too close.
"Damn it, what on earth is going on and what happened to them?"
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Looking at this scene, the director of the Port Authority asked with an ugly face.
An entire boatload of people died and turned into a ghost ship.
This is a big case that has not happened for many years.
And this ship is still technically owned by the Spanish royal family.
Although this matter had nothing to do with him directly, a lot of bad things that followed were enough to make him anxious.
"I checked just now.
There is no obvious trauma.
It may be poisoning," a police sergeant guessed.
At this time, a doctor who was examining the corpse ran over with a pale face and said urgently to the director of the Port Authority: "Hurry up and seal off the scene.
Seal the scene quickly.
This is a plague.
This is not poisoning, this is a plague."
"What kind of plague?"
The director of the Port Authority suddenly turned pale.
"This is a plague.
We must seal off the scene quickly or the consequences will be unimaginable."
The doctor grabbed the director of the Port Authority and shouted nervously.
"Okay, okay, I'll give the order right away."
The director also panicked and quickly ordered the scene to be cordoned off.
But it was already a little late at this time.
The doctor's voice was too loud and some onlookers heard it.
Some of those who reacted quickly slipped away before the lockdown.
Moreover, Spain lacked experience in dealing with such emergencies at this time.
They only blocked the dock at first and did not control other places.
It was not until the third day, after medical experts identified this as a severe infectious disease, that the Spanish government responded and sent a large number of military police to blockade the entire port.
But it was already too late.
An unprecedented influenza had already spread in the port city.
And following the merchant ships that had fled earlier, the disease also appeared in Britain and France a week later.
Then came the whole of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and two months later, this cold appeared in the United States.
In the early days, in addition to the Chinese government's immediate emergency response, other countries including the Federation of People's Revolutionaries and Belarus also made preparations under China's reminder.
Other governments didn't take it seriously.
Especially the two warring parties, now they are all focused on holding their cars and flying away from their opponents.
How can they find the time to deal with a "little cold"?
When the Chinese government gave them a formal written reminder in August, they thought the Chinese were making a fuss.
It's just influenza, what's the big deal?
In fact, the first place where the plague broke out was not in Spain, but in Africa.
Half a month before the "Lucky Jeremy incident", many cases of symptoms had already appeared in Africa.
But the attention of the European and American white guys is not on Africa at this time.
Besides, there are not many deaths, and the main ones are black ghosts, which is none of their business.
This may also be the reason why Europe and the United States have begun to pay less attention to it.
It was not until the plague began to spread among European countries in September, and a large number of deaths were reported, that governments realized the seriousness of the matter.
But it is already too late.
This plague has appeared in all European and American countries, and no one has been spared.
They have all been infected.
By November, all countries in the world were affected, and an unprecedented plague swept the world.
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By the end of the year, the death toll reached a shocking level.
A large number of deaths occurred in various countries.
Now everyone could not sit still
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