Texas, USA. The largest state in the United States, it is the state with the largest cotton and cattle production in the United States. Guangxu also knows that Texas is also the state with the largest oil production in the United States.

"Aren't you thinking again?" Adams, the state tax collector, kindly reminded the young man in front of him: "It's just a barren wood, and there's no oil." ”

"Thank you for the reminder, but I think I've thought it through. Now I just want to get the deal as soon as possible. The young man nodded affirmatively.

Adams reluctantly accepted $10,000 and signed a contract to buy him a large piece of vacant land around Rusk. However, a month later, he anxiously rushed to the place where the bird called Rusk did not pull to death.

"Damn the weather, damn the place, damn the Jews." Adams touched his sweat and wrung the towel and put on his hat before stepping out of the car. The courtyard of the eye gate is Blake? Engels' home. A month ago, it was this Jew who bought the vast pine forest for $10,000 and said he wanted to explore it for oil. Adams's well-meaning reminder that Blake should carefully think about it again, but the result is that they still don't give face. To Adams' surprise, the agreement had just been signed, and Blake had actually brought in a group of people's equipment.

A week ago, a photograph of Blake standing next to a skyrocketing black liquid appeared in an American newspaper with a caption: East Texas has discovered a super-large oil field with more than 500 million tons of storage. As newspaper after newspaper spread among people, in just one week. From Wall Street, to the mines of the remote West, from the bustling cities of the Atlantic coast. To the fledgling western towns, almost everyone is talking about the discovery.

"East Texas, where miracles are born!"

"East Texas, where dreams take off!"

"East Texas, where you can make your fortune!"

As a result, countless journalists, countless businessmen trying to get a piece of the pie, and Wall Street bankers with a keen sense of smell like a hound, came to East Texas. Loans for the purchase of land. It almost stomped down his little office. Many people even rushed straight into the oil field, hoping to see this great discovery with their own eyes!

As the tax collector of a state. Adams was keenly aware of how much revenue this huge oil field would bring to Texas, and the sale of land alone was a huge amount of money. So Adams immediately stopped all trading, and he came to see Blake this time? Engels, it was to understand the actual situation. It is good to set an accurate price. The atmosphere of the meeting was friendly and warm, and after visiting the expanding oil fields, Adams thought he had a clear understanding of the situation and could set an accurate land price. However, at such a moment, another even more hot news came to the United States, although it was not good news.

The fleet of old ships stationed at Cape Delaware was suddenly destroyed by a surprise attack by the Spanish fleet. Then the Spanish fleet launched a heavy artillery bombardment on Boston, and then Portland also suffered heavy losses. For a time, the whole United States was shaken, and it was only then that the Americans remembered that they were still at war in Spain. Spain took the opportunity to tell the United States that although Spain is not as good as it used to be, it is still one of the great powers. It's not something that the United States can provoke. and demanded that the United States withdraw from Cuba immediately, otherwise the Spanish Armada would attack New York.

The U.S. Congress came under great pressure and ordered the mobilization of all fleets to defend New York north. At the same time, a telegram questioning Sampson arrived in his possession, asking him how he was defending America.

When Montojo sailed from Cape Verde, Sampson received the news that he immediately made plans to meet the enemy in San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, where he believed that the Spanish fleet would surely enter the port to refuel. But he was wrong, Montojo was guided by the most efficient robbery country in the world's most fierce maritime war, and how could he do such an unwise act as Puerto Rico. The key is that he knew that there were several Qing ocean transport ships in the Atlantic Ocean at this time, and these ships were loaded with the coal needed by the warships.

Sampson had been locked down for more than half a month along the coasts of Cuba and Puerto Rico and had not waited for Montojo to arrive. What awaited the destruction of the Cape Delaware fleet and the heavy shelling of Boston and Portland were awaited. Sampson, who received the order, together with the fast fleet assembled in Norfolk and commanded by General Schleigh, went north to find and annihilate the fleet. However, Sampson and others did not get their wish, and Montojo got rid of the appearance of the United States in Havana. When sending away Bora Vicia and Peña, he also shelled the American ** team with heavy guns on the ship, which greatly boosted the morale of the Spanish army, and then Montojo turned around and bombed Key West into ruins.

Residents of the entire Florida coastline are crazy at the moment, and they have not even had time to pack up their valuables before they frantically flee to the interior, and the entire Florida economy has come to a standstill or even regressed. However, what the residents of Florida did not expect was that the Spanish Armada seemed to have disappeared again, and even Sampson had not heard of the Spanish fleet when he marched to Havana with the main fleet in an umbrella. So the enraged Sampson took his anger out on the Spanish army in Havana. But the decision made in anger turned out to be not so ideal, the gunboat "Lost" in Sampson's main fleet was sunk by Spanish shore artillery, and the first class armored cruiser "Brooklinger" was wounded. However, when Sampson returned to the United States with the fleet, a piece of news broke him: just as the American Rapid Fleet was stopping to defend New York, the Spanish Armada attacked again while he was shelling Havana, causing a large number of Spanish soldiers to be killed and wounded

The city on the coast of the United States, Norfolk, where the former Rapid Fleet was stationed, was destroyed by artillery fire.

When the news came, Schleier immediately commanded his fast fleet to rush to Norfolk, not seeking to destroy the Spanish Armada, but only using the speed of the voyage to entangle the Spanish Armada and drag it to the main fleet. But he was still disappointed again, the Spanish fleet seemed to be gone, so Schleih had to take the fleet between New York and Norfolk to wait for Sampson's main fleet to arrive.

Sampson finally arrived, and he met with Schleie in Norfolk. After detailed deliberations, it was agreed that the Spanish Armada should be on board at this time. Because even if they brought more coal, they had dried up after a long voyage, and they would not be able to go back if they did not go back to refueling the coal. Sampson relieved himself and began to repair the ship, while handing over command of the fleet to Schleigh. Because he's going back and explaining to Congress.

While Sampson was still speaking to Congress, New York was shelled by the Spanish fleet. Middletown, Brooklyn, was burning, and the Spanish fleet forced its way into New York Harbor, destroying not only the Statue of Liberty built on Liberty Island to commemorate the American Revolutionary War, but also shelling New York and New Jersey.

New York, the commercial, entertainment and financial center of the United States, is also home to the world's largest stock exchange. It can be said that every move in New York affects the world. Because New York was a commercial capital, there were no strong garrisons and shore defense batteries. The Americans, who have always believed that they have two oceans and natural dangers, finally know the cruelty of war. Today, the whole of New York is in shambles. Flames erupted everywhere on Wall Street, and the old exchange was in ruins, with only half of the U.S. stock exchange building remaining. According to the message sent back from the scene. The Spaniards dropped at least a thousand shells on New York this time.

The U.S. Congress was quiet, they no longer had the strength to quarrel, and they were going to take out all their anger on the Spaniards. So Schleigh, who was still repairing ships in Norfolk, couldn't wait for the repair of the Massachusetts, and hurriedly rushed to New York with all the warships. Only Sampson roared loudly and asked, "Where did the Spaniards get so much coal and shells?" ”

The problem of coal burning soon came to fruition. The next day, the Qing envoy to Spain demanded an explanation and compensation for the robbery of China's innocent coal ship by the Spanish Armada at sea. The Spaniards happily made the decision to buy the coal and paid on the same day, but did not apologize, and the whites still maintained their discrimination against the yellow race. But it didn't matter, the Qing minister to Spain who received twice the normal price of coal. None of the farts were released, took the money, turned around and left. As for the artillery shells, the United States asked Qing Guo about it afterwards, and Qing Guo replied that it should meet the needs of Spain when it purchased ships. We even stuffed the sailors' room with shells.

However, the Americans did not gain nothing, although New York did not have a strong military force, there were still a few inshore torpedo boats and gunboats, these small ships did not run away in the face of tens of thousands of tons of battleships, but bravely took advantage of their small and agile ships to resist the Spanish fleet. Although they were completely annihilated, they also inflicted heavy losses on the Spanish fleet. The battleship Longxiao was hit with a torpedo. The speed dropped to 13 knots, and two Roaring-class destroyers sank in New York Bay.

While the Spaniards in Europe were celebrating the shelling of New York. Dewey's Far Eastern Fleet with the bombardment of the Spanish coast. Dewey's actions were as predicted by the Qing General Staff Headquarters, and he resolutely abandoned the wounded warships that were slow, and the flagships "Olympia" and "Baltimore" and "Raleigh" took advantage of the darkness and high speed to break through the cordon of Severa and shell Barcelona and other places at dawn. Although Severa found Dewey, he was used by Dewey to get rid of it.

In Cuba, although it was shelled by the American fleet, Peña still transferred all the Spanish troops scattered around the country back to the vicinity of Havana, and after receiving the soldiers and supplies of Wanyuan Luzon transported by the Qing State, he also launched counterattack operations many times, defeating the Cuban army and the United States several times, although it could not change the decline of Spain in Cuba, but at least stabilized the situation around Havana.

The U.S. and Cuban armies finally met victoriously outside Havana, but the honeymoon period between the two armies soon ended. Most of the Cuban rebels came from poor backgrounds, and they had a strong idea of taking advantage of small advantages, and the Americans suffered a lot in the face of the sneaky abduction and abduction of the wealthy US military Cubans. At the same time, the Cubans are still very wary of the US military and are unwilling to obey the command of the Americans, which has seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the US military. Outside Havana, the ancient American army staged a Cuban version of the National Romance.

This history, which has only lasted more than 100 days, has not seen an end to this four-month war under the agitation of the Qing State.

At this time, the veteran Severa made full use of the experience of the veteran. After receiving news that the Americans were buying supplies in Corsica, and after carefully studying the map, he finally found Dewey's fleet in the Mediterranean. Severa commanded a line of cruisers to block Dewey's departure. He personally led the heavy cruiser Tiger to launch a surprise attack from Dewey's right side. Although the Spanish cruiser was no match for the American cruisers, the heavy cruiser Huben with a displacement of 8,000 tons damaged Dewey's flagship "Olympia" as soon as it attacked the American cruiser with a displacement of only 4,000 tons. Dewey was not afraid. He told his fleet that by sinking one more Spanish warship, the United States would suffer one less damage from one warship. So the Americans burst out with great courage, not to flee for their lives, but to sink one more Spanish warship.

The Spaniards were even simpler, after all, this fleet had just shelled the Spanish mainland, which would have been an insult to the Spanish Navy. The Spaniards also burst out with great courage for the glory of the navy. More than six hours after the two fleets fought in the Mediterranean. The fighting has just stopped.

The "Boston" and "Concord" of the US fleet, two warships that had been damaged in the last naval battle, were sunk in this naval battle. The sky-high fire that ignited the "Baltimore" also meant the fate of the final sinking of the warship. The "Olympia" and "Raleigh" were raised under the white flag when Dewey found that they had already failed. Open the sea valve and self-sink. Dewey himself became a prisoner.

The Spaniards were no better. Two of the cruisers were sunk, and the last one could only be broken off as scrap metal. Even the Tiger Heavy Patrol was scarred all over, the superstructure was beaten to pieces, and the warship itself was full of holes left by explosions. The Tiger can no longer participate in the war. But it must have been Spain's victory. When the Tiger barely dragged the badly damaged cruiser back to Valencia, the fleet commander Severa was greeted heroically, and the Spanish government did its best to begin repairing the Tiger. Just when the Spaniards were looking forward to repairing the Tiger Ben and then going to the west coast of the Atlantic to teach the outbreak a lesson, a small event changed the whole situation.

Perhaps because Montojo thought the bombardment of New York had taken too long, he ordered the fleet to take refuge in the open sea. The cannonballs were too much to consume, and although his fleet still had enough to fight a fierce naval battle, he decided to return home first to replenish the shells. But there was a sea on their way. Montojo decided to sail north to get around, as the crew was tired from the long voyage of the fleet. Montojo believed that the crew should be given a good rest so that they could return home in the best mental state to receive their awards. Montojo forgot one thing, the wounded battleship of the Dragon's Roar seriously delayed the speed of the entire fleet.

And the American Schleier is now commanding the fleet through the middle. The Spanish Armada repeatedly shelled the shores of the United States. And the American fleet that avoided every time, it was probably only one that the Spaniards bypassed from the open sea every time. So Schleih was going to do the opposite this time, intercepting the Spaniards from the open sea. He also encountered, and he believed, that Montojo's fleet was on that side.

Sure enough, as Schleigh had expected, it was Montojo's fleet that came upon him as his fleet passed.

Montojo had only four battleships and two heavy cruisers, and one more battleship was seriously damaged. And the US ** ships facing it also have the same number of main combat ships. But there are also a lot of small auxiliary ships. Montoho decisively allowed the damaged Dragonroar to gain time for the main fleet to retreat, but Schleih and Ben ignored the Dragonscream. The fleet went directly around to intercept Montojo's main fleet.

And the consequences of the Spaniards' lack of attention to maintenance were most evident in the Montojo fleet. Although the ship was in the best condition when it set out from Qingguo, after a two-month voyage from Qingguo to Spain, it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain without maintenance and made two round-trips on the east coast of the United States. The accumulation of sea life at the bottom of the ship has severely slowed down, and they are facing a well-maintained American fleet.

The Spaniards, who could not escape, could only turn their guns and fight hard, and thanks to the excellent hull structure and thick armor of the British system, they were the first to achieve the result - the American first-class armored cruiser "New York" was sunk. However, the slower Spanish Armada was bitten by the American fleet, and it still could not escape the fate of annihilation. Two Tiger-class heavy cruisers were sunk, while a battered battleship sank itself after raising the white flag. Once again, the Americans paid a heavy price for their thin-skinned warship design, the heavy cruiser "Texas" was sunk, the battleship "Iowa" was sunk, and the "Indiana" was blown in two by an ammunition depot. The other ships were also wounded, and only six of the sixteen battleships that set out were floating on the sea.

When the two fleets left out of sight, the Dragon Howling simply headed for the mainland on its own, and finally became the only Spanish ship to return from the other side of the Atlantic.

The destruction of the Spanish Armada relieved the people of the United States from danger, but the entire East Coast, the most economically developed region of the United States, was most severely damaged. The fires in the industrial zone have not been extinguished, the port is in ruins, Wall Street, the leader of the US economy, is still cleaning up the rags, and the stock market has closed down across the board, so that the US economy has completely collapsed. The United States won the naval battle, but at a heavy cost. (To be continued)