[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-424":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365352,4632,"Chapter 424: The Great Siege of Gibraltar 20","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-424",424,"\u003Cp>On the night of July 21, 1904, under the furious gaze of British Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour, the Spanish Ambassador to London, William, officially submitted a declaration of war to the British government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the declaration, the Spanish government angrily denounced the British fleet’s act of initiating fire on the Spanish Navy as a barbaric, unannounced attack, and stated that Spain would retaliate against the British government with powerful measures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour had never expected that the Spanish would actually shift the blame onto them. In the Spanish declaration, the responsibility for this war was to be attributed entirely to the British government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was the British Navy that had initiated fire on the Spanish Navy, leading to the conflict between the two sides; Spain had become the avenger, while Britain, the victim, had instead become the culprit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Prime Minister Balfour nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, but in the end, he forcibly held it back. He felt shocked by the shamelessness of the Spanish diplomatic representative and furious at the shameless behavior of the Spanish government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He swore that he would make the Spanish government pay the price for this, even if the British government had to suffer heavy casualties and financial losses; he was determined to do so at all costs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shortly after the Spanish Ambassador to the UK submitted the declaration of war to the British government, the British Ambassador to Spain also submitted a declaration of war to the Spanish government.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The content was largely similar to the Spanish declaration; Britain also condemned Spain for its unannounced sneak attack on its fleet and stated that the British government would certainly take revenge and make Spain pay a bloody price.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regardless of how the two governments reacted to receiving each other's declarations of war, the news that Britain and Spain had declared war on each other shocked all of Europe with extreme speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the two sides exchanged declarations of war, not a single country would have believed that a war could break out between Britain and Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though these two countries already had a certain level of conflict due to the Portuguese civil war, this was a war between two super-powers; could it really break out so easily?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dignitaries of various European countries should be glad they were not Black, otherwise their expressions at this moment would be the classic \"Black guy with a question mark\" face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They would rather believe that a war had broken out between Germany and France or Britain and France than believe that the one at war with Britain was actually Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet the fact was laid out before their eyes, and even if they felt shocked by it, they had to accept the reality that Britain and Spain were already in a state of war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After both sides announced they were in a state of war, this conflict instantly drew the attention of all of Europe, and even the entire world.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A large number of media outlets rushed to London and Madrid, eager to interview the two governments, hoping to learn the truth about the outbreak of the war and secure a big scoop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing interviews from these reporters, the Spanish side produced some photographic evidence. In these photos, one could vaguely identify several Spanish warships that had been hit, as well as scenes of Spanish personnel rescuing soldiers who had fallen into the sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding these photos, Spanish Foreign Minister William said angrily: \"A few hours ago, the fleet dispatched by the British shamelessly attacked our Navy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This attack resulted in two of our battleships being damaged, one cruiser being directly sunk, and hundreds of naval soldiers having to jump into the sea to save their lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although we carried out timely rescues for these soldiers who fell into the sea, more than ten soldiers have already been buried at the bottom of the ocean. Spain absolutely cannot tolerate such provocation; no matter what powerful enemy we face, the Spanish military will bravely take up arms to protect itself, protect Spain, and protect all Spanish citizens.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We will reclaim Gibraltar in this war; the British have no right to occupy Spanish territory, and they will pay a bloody price for their previous acts of aggression!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until we achieve our goal, we will not accept any form of peace talks. From now on, the situation where Britain remains outside of Europe and manipulates the affairs of the European continent no longer exists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This country, which constantly stirs up relations between other nations and attempts to establish a balance of power, is the culprit behind the constant turmoil in the European situation over the past few decades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avenge the sacrificed naval soldiers, and for the future peace and stability of Spain and Europe, we should, and must, defeat Britain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You may convey my original words to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Balfour; such clowns as them will not be able to jump around for much longer. God is always on the side of the righteous, and the British will meet their doomsday.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same moment the declaration of war was submitted, Spain decisively mobilized all troops stationed nationwide and partially mobilized reserve forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Kaluo did not intend to initiate a full national mobilization in Spain, because the strength of the British Army was not enough to make Spain go all out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, the number of Royal Army troops stationed in Spain is around 175,000, plus 15,000 in the Imperial Guard, bringing the total number of troops to just over 190,000.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the addition of partially mobilized reserves, the number of land forces Spain can deploy will exceed 300,000, which is more than enough for defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It is not to underestimate the British Army, but in a situation that requires crossing the sea and landing, even 1 million British troops might not be able to break through the defense of 300,000 Spanish troops.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this war between Britain and Spain, the outcome of the land war is actually not important. Whoever can achieve victory in the subsequent naval battle will win the advantage in this war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Kaluo still had a lot of confidence in his navy; after all, just a few dreadnoughts alone already gave Spain the capital to be invincible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless the British could also obtain data on dreadnoughts in advance like he did, and then spend a massive amount of funds and time with the power of the whole nation to research dreadnoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As long as they could not do that, they could not resist Spain's dreadnoughts. Before dreadnought-class battleships, all previous types of battleships were like scrap metal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although not completely without combat effectiveness, in general circumstances, the role of one dreadnought-class battleship is enough to rival several ordinary battleships.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although both sides were clear that the naval battle was the most important battlefield, for the time being, no large-scale naval battle would break out in the short term.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The British were not fools; before the support fleet arrived, the Mediterranean Fleet trapped in the Mediterranean could not act rashly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Mediterranean Fleet was also a very powerful naval fleet, there was a certain gap between it and the Spanish home fleet in terms of the number of both battleships and cruisers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the two sides met, the Mediterranean Fleet would likely not be a match for the Spanish home fleet. The British did not want the Mediterranean Fleet to suffer heavy losses before the real decisive naval battle broke out; properly preserving strength was the most important thing at the moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was precisely because of this that the first battle after both sides issued their declarations of war broke out on land at Gibraltar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Spanish side had been prepared for a long time, shortly after the formal declaration of war, the Spanish Army had already marched toward Gibraltar in a grand manner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to capture Gibraltar in a timely manner, Spain dispatched three infantry divisions and one artillery division, with a total number of nearly 40,000 people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The garrison at Gibraltar, however, only had a few thousand people; the gap in numbers between the two sides was already approaching tenfold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this did not mean that Spain could easily capture Gibraltar, because Gibraltar and the Iberian Peninsula were connected by only a very small area, with a width not even reaching 1 kilometer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a width greatly limited the scale of the army Spain could commit to the battlefield; the number of troops that could actually be committed to combat was probably only a few thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news was that the length of Gibraltar was only 7 kilometers, and apart from the area in the north connecting to the Iberian Peninsula, all other areas were surrounded by the sea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were no Spaniards living in the whole of Gibraltar, so the Spanish army naturally would not be polite about it. Spain would certainly not use manpower to capture such a sturdy fortress; before soldiers were committed to the battlefield, they would definitely use artillery to ravage the fortress first.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the early morning of July 22 to 8:00 AM, an entire artillery division with more than two hundred cannons wantonly vented their fire north of Gibraltar, pouring out tens of thousands of shells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of these shells landed accurately on the fortress and the British military residential area behind it, causing great chaos for the British troops on Gibraltar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The person responsible for serving as the commander of this offensive was Kaman Esposito, who could also be considered an old acquaintance of Yu Kaluo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yu Kaluo had become acquainted with him at the Royal Military Academy in Turin, Italy, and he had followed Yu Kaluo to Spain, always working diligently and steadily accumulating his own merits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the scale of the Spanish Army grew larger and larger, old hands like Kaman Esposito also gained more opportunities to showcase themselves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During Spain's second round of military expansion, Kaman Esposito was appointed as the commander of the Third Artillery Division and granted the rank of Major General.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two years ago, Yu Kaluo had just promoted him to the rank of Lieutenant General, elevating him to Deputy Commander of the Royal Army.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This attack on Gibraltar was a test given to him by Yu Kaluo. If he could complete it successfully, he would have high hopes for future positions, whether it be Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Army, Deputy Minister of Defense, or Chief of the General Staff.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he could not complete it, he would only be able to retire from the position of Deputy Commander of the Army. After all, these positions in the Ministry of Defense were all limited, and even if Kaman Esposito was his absolute confidant, if his ability was insufficient, Yu Kaluo would not let him serve in the high levels of the Ministry of Defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After experiencing 8 hours of shelling, Kaman Esposito finally ordered the army to launch an attack to test the situation of the British soldiers in Gibraltar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, the British soldiers in the fortress had not reacted; they had become numb to the long-term bombardment by the Spanish artillery and had even grown accustomed to the sound of explosions constantly ringing in their ears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When these bombardment sounds suddenly stopped, the vast majority of the British soldiers were stunned; they did not know what had happened on the battlefield, and they did not even know what their current state was, as they were completely dazed by the bombing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When a small number of British soldiers noticed the Spanish soldiers in the distance constantly approaching, their exclamations finally woke up the others who were in a daze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The Spanish have launched an attack! Counterattack! Counterattack! Don't let them get close to our fortress, drive them back!\" Only then did the British commander hurriedly issue orders, and messengers constantly relayed the commander's orders to the ears of every soldier.\u003C\u002Fp>",1994,"2026-06-25T09:27:15.200Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","57585bca12b2ce2b0af1dfc86ed93e1c3de549a80318e9c9ee3381a2aa3de6be","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-425","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-423",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]