The sinking of a destroyer and a minesweeper was not a big loss, but it dealt a great psychological blow to the officers and men of the empire of the minesweeping detachment. The thought that all the day's work had been in vain made him feel agitated and irritable, and everyone was suffocating a fire in their hearts, and they were eager to find out at once the Parnias, who had destroyed the fruits of their labor, and hang them up and whip them severely.

A little later, General Lucien received bad news from the minesweeping detachment and frowned. The Parnians laid mines overnight, which was indeed unexpected, but how to deal with it?

In the briefing room on the bridge of the Imperial flagship, the Charlemagne, General Lucien summoned his generals to discuss how to solve this small trouble.

The Imperial fleet was large, but it was not large enough to patrol the vast expanse of sea near the harbor day and night. When night falls, the Parnia's navy can always send some nimble boats to find opportunities for minelaying, and it is a joke to try to fortify the wilderness in the vast sea. Since warships patrolling the sea alone could not protect against the pervasive Parniabhus, it was necessary to rely on a wider field of view from the air.

The commander of the Imperial Naval Aviation, Vice Admiral Moreau, first proposed a countermeasure in which naval aviation would assist surface ships in carrying out mine-sweeping tasks.

"During the day, when the light is sufficient, the vulture cavalry flies close to the surface of the water over the minefield, and it is easy to identify the mines tethered in the clear water below, which will greatly improve the mine-clearing efficiency of surface ships." General Moreau confidently said, "Relying on the mine division reports provided by naval aviation not only in a positive sense to know that there are mines in a certain area, but also in a more extensive and less uncertain non-positive sense - where no mines are reported are absolutely safe!" ”

"The Knights of the Navy can indeed help us in our minesweeping work during the day, but I would like to know more about how Mr. Moreau will deal with the Paraniaburs that come out at night." General Lucien asked.

"It's not that hard." General Morrow smiled lightly, "As long as we send two battalions of vulture cavalry, bring aerial bombs and 'dark vision' potions, the night will no longer be an obstacle to the vision of the air force boys, enough to monitor the entire sea area, once we find the Parnia minelayer, immediately dive down and drop bombs, and detonate the minelayer along with the mines, won't the problem be solved?" ”

"Mr. Moreau's countermeasures may be able to solve the problems we are currently experiencing, but in my opinion, this countermeasure is still too passive, and we should not be led by the enemy by the nose and blindly passive."

The Chief of Staff of the Imperial Navy, General Vernave, took off his monocle and continued his topic while wiping it attentively.

"Your Excellency Commander, the Parnia fleet cowering in the depths of the military port is always a hidden danger, tonight they can send a small boat to quietly lay mines, maybe tomorrow night will be dispatched overnight to launch a night attack on our fleet, negligent lions may still die in the mouth of a small poisonous insect, we must not relax our vigilance because the fleet strength occupies an overwhelming advantage, we still have to solve this hidden danger as soon as possible in order to seize the port of Parnia with peace of mind."

"What does Mr. Vernav plan to do with the Parnia's fleet?" General Moreau's face sank, revealing obvious displeasure, "The enemy fleet is hidden in the depths of the military port, and if our fleet wants to attack it, it must first cross a large minefield, and then it will have to withstand the shelling from the shore defense positions, in other words, it is impossible for us to strike the enemy fleet until the minefield is cleared and the batteries are demolished - you see, isn't it all back to square one!" ”

Chief of Staff Werneuve did not rush to respond to General Moreau's questioning, wiped the lenses diligently, put them back on without haste, and then walked over to the wall opposite the conference table with a huge nautical chart, picked up the whip, and drew a circle on the map in the sea near the port of Parnia.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there are two piers in Parnia, the one on the left is the civilian pier, and the one on the right is the military port pier, and each of the two piers has a channel connecting the Golden Horn, and at present these two channels are heavily mined, and they are both under the protection of the shore defense batteries."

"At present, our army's main attack is on the left channel, with the purpose of occupying civilian docks, while the military port on the right is a major hidden danger: it is not cost-effective to storm it, and if it is left unchecked, there is a risk of being attacked from behind the enemy's fleet."

"To sum up, I propose that, on the premise of maintaining the existing combat plan basically unchanged, we should carry out some additional effective blockade of the military port on the right side, block the route of the Parnia Navy from the port, and save our army from being attacked on the back of the enemy."

After a general introduction to his operational thinking, General Vernav then proceeded to the details of the implementation of the blockade. Hearing him explain the whole plan, the conference room resounded with appreciative applause, and even General Moreau, General Wernerf's rival, had to admit that the number one "think tank" of the Navy Command had more ghost ideas in his stomach than others!

In the early morning of April 29, as soon as the fog over the harbor was blown away by the sea breeze, the Imperial Minesweeping Detachment, with the cooperation of the First Naval Aviation Knights, launched a mine-sweeping operation from the surface and air at the same time.

At the same time, the battleship "Empress Teresa", which was commanded by Vice Admiral Verneuve, together with two cruisers and four frigates, turned around and left the harbor and disappeared into the fog.

In the afternoon, Wernave's fleet returned to the harbor, along with six merchant ships flying the Parnia-flagged flag. As soon as these hapless civilian steamers entered the Golden Horn, they were bitten by the hidden Imperial fleet, and after two rounds of deterrent shelling, the merchant ships all hoisted white flags and surrendered.

General Werneuve captured all the men on board and sent two frigates to return them to Coral Harbor. Imperial sailors took over six forcibly requisitioned merchant ships and followed Villeneuve's flagship "Empress Teresa" back to the port of Parnia in a column.

General Verneuve ordered the sailors to approach the right channel in the merchant ships, still flying the Parnia-flagged ones, and to increase their speed as they penetrated into the minefield.

This strange scene immediately attracted the attention of the coastal defense forces, and they hurriedly reported it to Prince Carroll. Carol rushed to the position, saw that the merchant ship was flying its own flag, there were probably innocent passengers on board, and there were also imperial warships behind her, and for a while she hesitated whether to open fire on the merchant ship.

Before he could make up his mind, the two ships that rushed to the front struck a thunderbolt almost simultaneously, and a huge column of water rose into the sky. Shortly thereafter, two more ships were struck by mines and sunk.

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