Although Li Xiao was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by the news from Grenada.

The Spanish did not have the courage to fight, but they had the courage to lay mines.

In the waters near Granada, the Spanish and the British deployed thousands of mines in one go.

The navy was somewhat hasty in its approach, and without adequate investigation, five destroyers entered the minefield.

Then, the heaviest loss in the history of the Ming Navy came.

Except for one of the five destroyers, which was seriously damaged, all the others hit mines and sank.

The Ming Dynasty task force retreated back to Algiers after searching for and rescuing those who fell into the water.

When the news came out, the entire Western world was in a state of excitement. Major newspapers reprinted it one after another, and even France, which had been defeated one after another, held a grand parade in Paris.

But on the same day as the parade, the cruise ship St. Orpheus, carrying more than 5,000 people, left the port of Caen and headed for the distant continent of South America.

Li Xiao rubbed his eyebrows, the navy's failure gave him a headache.

As a result, victory on the European battlefield will be delayed for at least half a year.

How much more military expenditure, manpower, material and financial resources will be spent in half a year?

"There is a telegram from the Navy, and my second uncle will come over to apologize to you in person." Li Lin looked at his father helplessly.

Four destroyers were lost at one time, and the other one was basically turned into a scrap. The navy suffered more than 500 casualties. It must be said that this was the most shameful battle for the Ming Navy.

"What's the use of asking for forgiveness? Can the dead soldiers come back to life? If asking for forgiveness is useful, I don't need your second uncle to ask for forgiveness. I'll go and ask for forgiveness from the Lord of Hell.

I will build him a thousand Hell Palaces in the Ming Dynasty, as long as he returns those loyal and brave soldiers of the Ming Dynasty...!"

No one dared to speak, they knew that the commander was extremely unhappy now.

The Ming Navy had never suffered such a disastrous defeat.

Li Lin waved his hand, and all the staff in the command room retreated. Lu Zhu walked behind Li Xiao and helped Li Xiao massage his temples.

Zhao Liangdong quietly pulled Li Lin's sleeve. Li Lin glanced at it hesitantly, turned around and walked out.

"In fact, we should be lucky that the Navy only let destroyers take the lead, and the real troop carriers have not yet rushed to the forefront.

If the troop transport ship also encounters a mine, the consequences will be disastrous. You know, there are thousands of people inside a troop transport ship.

We are also responsible for the fact that the navy is fighting like this. The intelligence work was not done well, and we didn’t know that the Spaniards would lay so many mines." Lu Zhu comforted Li Xiao in a low voice.

"Navy mines existed during the attack on India, and we suffered huge losses at that time.

You are still so careless now! The Navy has developed a minesweeper, why is it not used? Could it be that it was built just for display?

I really don’t know how the second son became the commander of the navy all these years. The more he worked, the more he went back. I think it’s better to find a new commander of the navy.” Li Xiao was still full of anger.

"My commander, even if you want to find another navy commander, you have to find one with the same prestige and qualifications as the second master.

Who do you think can do it in Ming Dynasty?

You can rest assured that after this experience, Mr. Er will definitely be more careful."

"Hey...!" After Lu Zhu carefully kneaded it, Li Xiao let out a long breath.

Things are already like this. The ship has sunk and people have died. No matter how angry people are, they can't survive and the ship can't float up.

"As a result, the war in Europe may have to drag on for half a year.

You don't need to think about it now to know that Gibraltar must be full of mines. Our warships can't sail past it at all, and the mines are very hidden and difficult to remove.

Once it is freed from the shackles of the anchor chain, there is no telling where it will drift with the ocean currents.

Maritime demining is not only dangerous, but also a very time-consuming and labor-intensive job.

The coast between Grenada and North Africa is more than 100 kilometers long. The Strait of Gibraltar is more than 60 kilometers long and only 25 kilometers wide. I am afraid only God knows how many mines have been planted in it.

This has to wait until the Year of the Monkey and the Horse!"

Li Xiao covered his head and wailed. If he couldn't capture Gibraltar quickly, he couldn't get the British to surrender quickly.

If the British do not surrender, things will change on the European continent.

Since the European War, the country with the least losses has not been Germany, but the United Kingdom.

Except for the loss of 50,000 to 60,000 troops on the center line, the British Expeditionary Force actually suffered very little losses.

This is due to the fact that they send very few troops, and the number of the entire expeditionary force is generally maintained at around 100,000 people.

Moreover, at the end of the war, they were very thieves and withdrew first.

Of course, the British have very good reasons.

Their army must defend Gibraltar. As long as Gibraltar falls, the entire Atlantic coast of Europe and even the Nordic countries will not be spared.

Even if the naval forces of the entire Europe were gathered together, they would not be able to compete with the Ming Navy.

Therefore, even if Britain did not send many troops, no one in European countries would criticize them harshly.

"Now it seems that there is really no way to attack Gibraltar.

But fortunately, the Germans are almost defeating the French. Napoleon is trying his best to fight the Germans to the end in Paris." Luzhu was also a little frustrated.

"What France lacks now is not manpower, but war materials. The two years of Russian war have thinned France.

They can still gather a million troops, but they have no way to provide weapons, ammunition, food, military uniforms, uniforms, etc. for these more than one million people.

The Grand Paris Fortress, with Napoleon's ability, would have no problem holding it.

But unfortunately, their armaments are no longer available."

"You mean... Napoleon can't hold Paris at all?"

"Yes!" Li Xiao nodded.

"Then tell me, when will our plan against the Germans begin to be implemented?"

"Of course the plan to break up Germany cannot be implemented now.

The Germans only occupied Paris, and they would continue to occupy all of France.

No matter how fast they go, it will still take three months.

Besides, Ashi wrote a book. The book states that if you want to occupy a country, you must not only defeat the country's army, but also station a certain number of troops in the country to ensure the control of the country. rule."

"Is that what he said? So, after the Germans defeat the French, they will station a certain number of troops in France to maintain their rule in France?"

"Yes! So, it is not a bad thing to let them occupy France. I am also going to ask Zheng Sen to discuss with Axi to see if they are interested in Spain. If so, they can also enter the Iberian Peninsula."

"If you put it this way, will the Germans become suspicious? After all, the benefits we transferred are too great?"

"This failure is a good reason why we cannot attack the Iberian Peninsula now.

As long as the Germans are willing to march, they just need to leave a channel for us to attack Gibraltar overland."

"Will the Germans agree?" Luzhu shook her head. She felt that Axi was not that stupid.

"We'll find out if we agree or not by talking. Anyway, talking about it won't waste anything besides wasting some saliva." Li Xiao opened his eyes and looked at the map helplessly.

There are no flowers growing on the map, and attacking Gibraltar from the land route is actually not a good move.

The terrain of that place is simply too dangerous.

As he watched, Li Xiao suddenly stood up and gestured at the map.

Lu Zhu didn't dare to speak. She knew that Li Xiao must have a new way.

After a long time, Li Xiao stretched out his hand.

Luzhu looked at him puzzled!

"Cigar!" Li Xiao shouted irritably.

Lu Zhu quickly took out a cigar from the box, then quickly cut it with cigar pliers and handed it to Li Xiao's hand.

Li Xiao lit the cigar with a match struck with green beads, took two puffs, and smiled on his face.

"Commander, you are...!"

"We have a solution. We don't need to attack Gibraltar. Let Gibraltar go to hell!" Li Xiao took a long puff of cigar, and then puffed out a puff of smoke from his nose.

"Really?" Luzhu's eyes showed admiration. She really liked Li Xiao's way of always finding a solution.

"Algiers to Marrakech!" Li Xiao gestured on the map with his hand.

"This journey is more than a thousand kilometers long.

Our marines now number 300,000 in Algiers.

We can completely ignore the Iberian Peninsula and go directly to Marrakesh.

Then, build a military port in Marrakech to supply our European fleet!

The Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, in addition to leaving some warships to continue to maintain sea power in the Mediterranean.

The rest of the fleet took the Suez Canal, then went all the way south around the Cape of Good Hope. Then it circled the entire African continent and arrived in Marrakesh for supplies and rest.

In this way, we can bypass the Strait of Gibraltar and directly attack the British mainland. As long as the British surrender, we are afraid that Gibraltar will continue to resist.

Don't forget, the mines trapped us and prevented us from moving forward. They also trapped Gibraltar with no way to get out.
To be continued...