There are many unnamed islands in the Atlantic Ocean, which are not located around the golden shipping lanes, and because they are small and have no strategic resources, they are all in a state of uninhabited desertion.

The Zhiyuan is now moored at sea, surrounded by four primitive clippers and two freshly snatched merchant ships, all of which are flown at half-mast. All officers and soldiers, except for those who had to stay behind, landed on the island, and today is the cremation ceremony for all the sacrificed brothers.

The neat formation was solemn and rigorous, and everyone looked sad and angry, and the 36 huge pyres of wood on the beach in front of them had been piled up by cutting down all the trees on the entire island.

Due to the humidity of the firewood, people had to pour large barrels of kerosene on it, and even put a large amount of coal on the pyre.

The remains of the fallen soldiers were simply sorted out, put on brand new military uniforms, and lay on the pyre, their faces were peaceful as if they were asleep, but many of the people who were alive around them had tears in their eyes.

Xiang Ying walked up to each corpse with red eyes, shouted the names of the war dead, and stuffed his proof of sacrifice into an urn, which was the shell casing of the empty six-inch Armstrong rear-loading rifled secondary gun.

"Brother, go all the way, and we will take your ashes home safely...... I won't abandon you, there is a share of your incense in the Ryukyu Temple of War...... Your parents and relatives have a peaceful and prosperous life......"

"Brother, we won't let you die a meaningless death, rest in peace......"

Every time a name was called, there was a low cry in the surrounding military formations, and now all the officers had no time to take care of everyone's military appearance, and they themselves were all bleeding horse urine.

In the end, the low cry became a shameless cry, anyway, this is an uninhabited island, and I am not afraid to spread it out to make people laugh, so everyone will cry openly.

All the Chinese here are Ryukyu recruits after half a long period of military training. We have long established a very close comradeship.

What's more, we also crossed half the world to Europe together, and then studied and lived together in various universities, and the comradeship, classmates, and hometown were entangled together, so that everyone had a deep affection for each other as blood brothers.

Thirty-six brothers could not return home alive, and everyone wailed and cried that they did not know how to deal with the parents and relatives of their dead comrades.

Xiang Ying held a torch in his hand and shouted, "Don't cry! dust to dust, dust to dust, dust to earth...... Let us send our brothers on their last journey......! Stand upright! Salute, fire guns!"

Boom Boom Boom ...... The Zhiyuan on the sea fired nine empty rounds in a row, and other clippers also fired nine cannons, and the soldiers on the island collectively pulled the trigger after saluting, and suddenly the guns rained down and the cannons thundered.

Xiang Ying and the officers at all levels lit the pyre, and thick black smoke came out of the kerosene-soaked firewood, and the flames flew out more than three feet high, and the air was full of crackling sounds.

Chinese's concept of funeral is still different from Westerners, China has not experienced the Age of Discovery, they cannot directly bury their teammates at sea. If it was a European, most of the soldiers who died in naval battles were wrapped in white cloth and thrown directly into the sea.

But Xiang Ying and they are not willing to do this, in the hearts of the Chinese, even if the ashes go home, or even a handful of hair, this can give the soul of the overseas wanderer a dependent sustenance. Although the mountains are thousands of miles away, the soul always has to go home.

The fire burned for more than four hours, and because a lot of coal was added in between, the fire was so intense that it burned until the evening of the same day, when people began to search for ashes in the ashes.

It wasn't until the middle of the moon that the white cloth wrapped in 36 shell shells was held in people's arms, and a cabin was specially cleared out on the Zhiyuan as a temporary storage place for the ashes of the victims.

When Xiang Ying was the last to leave the island in a dinghy, he said quietly, "It's only a third of the way home, God knows how many more people will die......

As the Zhiyuan sailed toward the southern oceans, the telegraph station in Dakar finally resumed communication, and the intelligence agencies in Paris, France, received this unbelievable news late that night.

After the receiver of the intelligence bureau finished translating the code, the whole person was stunned for ten minutes, if it were not for the fact that the message did have the beginning of the encryption of the Governor of Dakar and the intelligence bureau, he really thought it was a prank.

The chief with the coffee stood beside him puzzled, "Hi...... What's the matter? Look in your eyes, do you see a ghost?"

"No...... It's something worse than a ghost!, sir...... Dakar was bombed by unknown warships, attacked by unknown troops, and the whole city was set on fire, and the initial estimate of casualties was at least 10,000 or more......"

Burst...... "What? Are you kidding? Dakar will be attacked?"

On the map, West Africa is not far from Europe, Gibraltar can be reached by driving straight south, this is the first golden shipping route discovered in Europe, and that was discovered by Prince Enrique.

There were no hostile countries around at all, France and Britain were now very close, while Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and other countries had long since weakened, and no one dared to declare war on France.

"If you make such a joke again, I will deduct your salary! There are 5,000 defenders in Dakar, and there are warships and coastal defense batteries, what kind of fleet can cause such a massacre? What a fantasy, what a fantasy!"

The receiver said with a bitter face, "I'm really not kidding, if you want to deduct your salary, please go and detain the Molière knight and the governor of Dakar...... Because this telegram was signed by both of them!"

Now the commander could not be indifferent, he snatched the telegram and read it carefully, and kept muttering to himself: "A pure ironclad battleship whose nationality cannot be identified, an eighty-pound main gun, a soldier with oil paint on his face, an undeclared war, a sneak attack in the middle of the night, ......."

"God! The Molière knight decided that the attacker was Chinese? and the governor judged that it was British? 1,500 soldiers killed and more than 10,000 citizens died?"

"Damn, are these two idiots beaten so badly that you can't even figure out the identity of the enemy? Chinese can't tell what the British look like? Hell...... Hurry up and send a copy to the military department, the cabinet, and His Majesty the Emperor!"

"It's bad, it's bad, it's all bad! His Majesty the Emperor's temper is so terrifying, I hope I won't be asked to state the information......"

In Paris late at night, the carriage with the windlamp of the military department ran over the long street and rampage, and all the police did not dare to stop it, because people saw that the direction of the carriage was Versailles.

That evening, the palace of Versailles resounded with the roar of Napoleon III: "This is a disgrace to the Empire! Shame on the Empire! Send those two wastes back to Paris, and let the Atlantic Fleet be dispatched at once...... Find that damn assailant! immediately! right now!"

Note: Today is the fifteenth day of the first month, let's give you three watches! It's been a long time since there have been three watches, I'm also very embarrassed, sorry!