PS: Make up for yesterday's, sorry......

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July 19, 2760 (1919) at 10 a.m., Puerto Santa Maria, Spain.

Located on the banks of the Guadalette River, Puerto Santa Maria is a port city in Spain bordering the Atlantic Ocean.

At this time, Spain was no longer the world hegemon, and in the Anglo-Spanish naval battle of 1558, the Spanish "Invincible Armada" was almost completely wiped out, and the English fleet only had more than 100 people killed in total. The foundations of the Spanish Empire were shaken, and then in 1639, at the Battle of the Dons, they suffered another crushing defeat to the Dutch. Spain lost its position as the supremacy of the sea, and since then it has been in a state of decline, and its position has been gradually replaced by emerging countries such as Britain and the Netherlands.

After entering the 20th century, Spain declined more and more, almost lost its colonies, and completely reduced to a third-rate country, and became a difficult brother to Portugal next door. However, they are still self-aware and know that they can't do it, so immediately after the outbreak of the European war, they declared neutrality and did not participate in either side.

But no matter how weak they are, they are still an industrial country, relying on the east wind of the European war and the identity of a neutral country, they have sold materials on both sides in recent years, and they have also made a lot of war money.

Since the invention of high-speed steel (tungsten chrome steel) at the end of the 19th century, the emergence of this steel marked a major technological progress in the field of metal cutting processing, and it soon became an extremely important industrial cutting tool, which was in high demand in various industrial countries. As an important ingredient, tungsten naturally needs to increase in quantity, and the tungsten extraction industry has developed rapidly, and after the invention of tungsten filament bulb by Xingke Company in 1906, the consumption of tungsten has increased significantly.

At present, the world's main tungsten producing areas are the United States, Spain, Austria-Hungary and Portugal, and tungsten ore in other countries has not been discovered or rarely has no mining value. For example, in China, the results of their own exploration are that only Jiangxi has a little tungsten ore, which is not enough for itself, and they have to import a lot of tungsten concentrate every year, and Spain is an important seller.

Well, of course, there are other things besides tungsten ore, and there are other industrial products in Spain, although most of the products are not very good, but they sold very well during the war years, and at this time as long as they are useful, it is good, then there is still the mood to pick and choose.

For example, leather products were needed by both warring sides, and leather goods were a traditional strength of Spain, and they made a lot of money just by selling leather boots, leather shoes, armed belts, gun holsters and other leather goods to the belligerents. Of course, if things are sold too much, there will be less raw materials in the country, and they need to be imported from foreign countries. In recent years, Spain has to import a large amount of leather raw materials from South America and Africa every year, and the port of Santa Maria is an important import port, where most of the leather imported from South America and Africa is disembarked.

"Suddenly" there was a sound of engines, and the frigate Yelia of the Spanish Navy sailed out of the harbor.

This is a Wuchang-class frigate imported from China. This kind of thousand-ton frigate, although its combat effectiveness cannot be compared with large warships, is enough for a country like Spain. They have long lost the mind to dominate the ocean, and a warship like this multi-purpose, easy to maintain, cheap, and cost-effective is the most suitable for them.

In order to make a name for themselves, China's new arms dealers sell things with a conscience, especially warships, which are much better than Niu Niu, who likes to trick people. The most important thing is that the price is cheap and affordable, and the value for money is very high. Although the Yankees, another emerging power, also have a more conscientious thing, it is more expensive. Moreover, China's warships have been tested in a lot of actual combat, and buyers have a high evaluation. So Spain, which had made a fortune in the war, was also ready to upgrade its poor navy, so it chose China as the main procurement object.

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 Yelia frigate was the first to be handed over to Spain in August last year, and is currently mainly responsible for security patrols in Spanish coastal waters.

The Yelia made a circle off the coast as is customary, and today it is also normal, there are no circumstances. Because they were neutral countries, neither of the belligerents would trouble them, and even after the beginning of the unrestricted submarine warfare of the Germans, they did not lose anything, because they did not send ships to Britain at all. What's more, the German submarines have been pressed back into the nest by the Allied fleet, and their neighbor Portugal has been deployed by the Entente with a large number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft, and the German submarines do not dare to approach at all, and Spain has also been wiped out.

This kind of day without the enemy was very leisurely, the officers and men of the Yelia were lazy, and many sailors were sunbathing on the deck.

"It's another leisurely day, it's great to have a war like this......" Captain Anderson said in a relaxed mood as he looked at the calm sea. He had a tannery at home, and he had made a fortune from the war, which he was very supportive of.

"Oh, I'll go to sleep first, John, and you'll come and see......" Anderson said to the first mate, stretching. He was going back to the captain's room to get some sleep.

“...... Report!" Suddenly, the intercom from the watchtower in the bridge rang. “...... At 10 o'clock, there is a merchant ship that is not normal!"

"Oh!" Anderson's drowsiness was gone all at once, and it was rare to encounter a situation that could be less boring at all. He hurriedly grabbed the binoculars and looked in the direction the lookout had said.

He quickly found the merchant ship that the lookout had said. The merchant ship did not look quite right, because it was running crookedly, or more precisely, it was being pushed by the waves, and it seemed to have lost power completely.

"Looks like we're in trouble, lean over and take a look......" Anderson immediately ordered the Yelia to turn around.

"Captain, there is no response from the merchant ship on the other side......" the communications officer reported. The Yelia had been signaling the merchant ship just now, but the other party had no response.

"What's going on?" Anderson frowned, and he had a faint feeling that something was wrong. Did these unlucky bastards meet pirates?

Anderson quickly put the idea aside, what a joke is the biggest pirate on the planet is the British, and people have long since stopped doing it. Whoever dares to play pirates these days will wait to be approached by the navies of the great powers.

As the distance narrowed, the figure of the merchant ship became clearer, the flag and the ship number could be seen clearly, and the officers and men on the Yelia quickly determined the identity of the other party.

"It is our Spanish merchant ship, the lucky Jeremy, a general cargo ship with a registered tonnage of 11,800 tons, belonging to the Royal Shipping Company, a merchant ship that runs the South African route. Anderson quickly looked up the ship's origin from the ship roster.

"Damn, get over there, they're in trouble!" Anderson immediately tensed. This is the merchant ship of His Majesty the King, and if something goes wrong because of the untimely rescue, he is a little major who cannot afford this responsibility.

As the distance approached, Anderson became more and more uneasy, because until now, the lucky Jeremy had not reacted at all, and there was no one on deck......

The first mate also said with an uneasy face: "Captain, this ship is out of control, and we can't get close to ......."

Anderson frowned and said, "It looks like we can only send the dinghy up, damn it, what the hell happened to them......"

Ten minutes later, the Yelia stopped at a distance of 200 meters from the target and lowered two rubber dinghys. They don't dare to get too close, this kind of runaway ship is very dangerous, if a wave hits, it will be close to each other.

It took some effort for the two dinghys to get to their target, and a dozen sailors with weapons on their backs climbed aboard the merchant ship. After a while, a non-commissioned officer hurriedly ran out and shouted in this direction, his face panicked, as if he had seen a ghost.

"What is he shouting?" Anderson asked.

"The sea breeze is a little strong, I can't hear ...... clearly"

At this time, the non-commissioned officer also reacted and began to make gestures. Fortunately, this guy also learned the flag language and used the flag language to express the meaning.

"What? dead...... The people on the boat are dead......" Anderson read his flag.

After a while, the radio station over there was also connected.

"Captain, Captain, I'm Bliss. We're in the cab now......" resounded over the radio with the voice of the leading officer. "All the people on this ship are dead, all dead! There are 42 people in all, and not a single one is alive!" The voice on the intercom was extremely frightened, and it seemed that the scene on the ship was terrifying.

"Damn, you guys immediately let the boat recover, now immediately!"

"Okay, Captain, we're checking, oh, the equipment on board is still working and ready to use......"

After another half an hour of tossing, the ship's engines restarted. The Yelia quickly approached, and Captain Anderson went on board to check it out, also stunned by what was happening on board. Just like the sailors said just now, all the crew members on board are dead, because the temperature is now high, the corpses are stinking, and the whole ship is filled with a rancid smell. The first mate of the merchant ship was probably the last to die, locking himself in the wheelhouse, as if hiding from something, but he was also dead.

Two hours later, the "Lucky Jeremy", which had been taken over by the Spanish naval officers and sailors, returned to the port of Santa Maria under the escort of the frigate Yeria. The port authority, which had been notified for a long time, had set aside a berth, and the director of the port authority was waiting at the wharf with a large number of people.

As soon as the "Lucky Jeremy" approached the dock and lowered the ramp, 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 a row on the dock. Because there was no preparation for clearing the venue in advance, many onlookers who got the news came to watch. Everyone pointed at these corpses and talked about them. These onlookers included foreigners as well as Spanish magnates, and there was no order from above for the police not to chase people away, so they could only maintain order and keep them from getting too close.

"Damn, what the hell is going on? What happened to them?" the director of the port authority asked with an ugly face. An entire shipload of people died and became a ghost ship, a big case that hadn't been seen in years. And the ship is theoretically still the Spanish crown. Although this matter has nothing to do with him directly, the next bunch of is enough for him to be anxious.

"I checked it just now, and there were no obvious external injuries, probably poisoning ......," a sergeant guessed.

At this time, a doctor who was examining the corpse ran over with a pale face and said to the director of the port authority: "Hurry up and block the scene! Hurry up and block the scene! Plague, this is not poisoning, this is the plague!"

"What, the plague?" said the director of the port authority, his face turned white.

"This is the plague! The scene must be cordoned off quickly! Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable!" the doctor cried nervously as he grabbed the director of the port authority.

"Okay, okay, I'll order it right away......" The director also panicked and hurriedly ordered the scene to be blocked. But at this time, it was already a little late, the doctor's voice was too loud, some onlookers also heard it, and some of the quick reactions quickly slipped away while they were not yet blocked.

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Moreover, at this time, Spain lacked experience in dealing with such an emergency, and at first they only blocked the dock, but did not care about the rest of the world. It wasn't until the third day, when medical experts identified it as a virulent infectious disease, that the Spanish government reacted and sent a large number of military police to blockade the entire port.

But it was too late, and this unprecedented influenza was already spreading in this port city. And with the earlier merchant ships, a week later, the disease also appeared in England and France. Then there were the whole of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, and two months later, the cold appeared in the United States.

In the initial period, in addition to the immediate emergency response of the Chinese government, the member states of the People's Revolutionary Union and Belarus and other countries also made preparations under China's reminder. The rest of the governments didn't take it seriously. Especially the warring parties, now they are holding back their opponents, where do they have the kung fu to take care of 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 a mere flu, what's the big deal?

In fact, the first outbreak of this plague was not in Spain, but in Africa, where there were already many cases of symptoms half a month before the "Lucky Jeremy Incident". But the attention of European and American whitekews at this time is not in Africa, and there are not many deaths, and they are mainly, and they are all about their. This may also be the reason why Europe and the United States have begun to pay less attention.

It wasn't until September when the plague began to spread among European countries and there were reports of a large number of deaths that governments realized the seriousness of the situation. But it was too late for this matter, and this plague appeared in all European and American countries, and no one was spared, and all of them were hit.

By November, all countries in the world had been hit, and an unprecedented plague had swept the world. By the end of the year, the death toll had reached a shocking level, and there were a large number of deaths in all countries, and everyone could not sit still.