A beautiful carriage, escorted by a group of cavalry, rushed into the city district of Southwater Port and then stopped in front of the city hall.
The political officials and tax officials who had been waiting there, upon seeing the man who emerged from the carriage, immediately greeted him with respect, "Lord Earl! You have finally returned!"
"How are things?" Earl Augustine Reibert, looking wan with fatigue, entered through the main entrance first, asked without looking back.
His voice echoed in the spacious corridor, accompanied by the sound of a line of people's leather boots striking the marble floor.
The mayor answered with a face full of ease, starting with the suddenly good news, "Yesterday... Two enemy warships in the open sea suddenly left."
"Lord Earl truly commands awe on all sides. No sooner had you returned than the enemy fled on their own!" The tax official quickly offered flattery, with a sycophantic expression, congratulating him.
"Left?" The Earl paused in his step, his expression growing grave. Nevertheless, he did not continue speaking and resumed walking forward.
Personally opening the door to his own office for the Earl, the mayor bowed slightly, "Yes, they left. After bombarding our harbor and crippling our docks, they left."
The Earl hung his cloak on the coat rack and asked with great displeasure, "They broke through to the harbor?"
He had not expected his base, Southwater Port, to suffer such severe damage. Nor had he anticipated that on his way back, enemy warships would suddenly intrude into Southwater Port.
Under normal circumstances, navy warships do not rashly cause havoc inside a harbor, for they would face harassment from the shore batteries, and risk unnecessary losses.
Only if they had a very clear advantage, or if they were indeed preparing to destroy a port for a subsequent landing, would they choose to attack a port, heedless of losses.
Who could have imagined that the enemy would be bold enough to break into the harbor and inflict massive damage on his Southwater Port?
The mayor had an embarrassed look on his face; he too had not expected the enemy to smash his docks before leaving, so he said gloomily, "Yes, our batteries were completely ineffective at stopping their assault. The enemy brazenly rushed in, fired around 20 rounds, and then rampaged out again."
Reibert was not in a blaming mood, as he knew that the troubles of the day were all enticed by his own greed.
So, after returning to his desk, he simply asked, "Is the damage to the docks severe?"
"Not particularly, only the sunken ships are troublesome; they need to be cleared." The mayor immediately responded, "I've already sent people to deal with it."
"How many days will it take to repair?" Reibert asked anxiously, because on his trip back, he had already understood the loss to Southwater Port—in gold and silver for every day.
What was more terrifying was that once his factories stopped, the national machinery would slow down, and His Majesty the King's earnestly sought-after expansion abroad would be indefinitely postponed, which was even more unbearable for him!
Many merchant fleets traveling south from Southwater Port had lost everything, countless metals, and gold coins had sunk to the bottom of the sea, becoming his loss.
Such losses were countless and had greatly exceeded his estimates—this was already totally immeasurable in terms of gold coins.
The mayor's face became even more embarrassed, stammering out an answer, "Perhaps seven or eight days, maybe a dozen days..."
"Do you know why those two warships left?" Earl Reibert fell silent for a few seconds, finally moving on from the port damage issue, then asked again.
Everyone shook their heads, and the mayor had no choice but to explain once more, "We don't know, we can't confirm. The other side did not intend to communicate with us. They just sent that note."
"..." Reibert remained silent, clearly growing angry.
So, the mayor hastily introduced some good news, "To defend the port, we've already called up 1,000 soldiers from the surrounding regions, but it seems the enemy has no intention of landing."
"Two warships, how many men could they have on board? They probably couldn't land, but we can't afford to have our port blockaded either," Reibert snorted derisively, unimpressed with the mayor's explanation.
After thinking for a few seconds, he continued to ask another question that made everyone uncomfortable, "Tell me, how many ships have we lost these days?"
"Lord Earl, we have done a rough estimate: around 270 various merchant and transport ships, including armed merchantmen..." the mayor, feeling helpless, continued his reply.
Reibert was astonished, staring at the mayor and exclaiming, "That many?"
"It's hard to say," the mayor answered in a low voice, head down.
"What do you mean?" Reibert was on the verge of losing his temper, and he pressed the question sternly.
The mayor hurriedly explained, "We can only roughly calculate the number of ships that should have returned by now. But none of the ships that were supposed to return did, so we can only speculate that they must have been sunk."
"..." Reibert's chest heaved, at a loss for what to say.
The mayor chose his words carefully and continued, "However, it is possible that some fleets did not return on time for some reason, or perhaps they returned to other ports..."
After glancing at Reibert, he tactfully closed his mouth.
Reibert's face darkened, his voice biting as he questioned, "You mean to say that in less than a month, we've lost nearly one-third of our merchant ships, lost control of the seas, and had over a dozen warships sunk?"
The mayor's response this time was straightforward, as the sinking of the 12 warships had nothing to do with him: "Yes, my lord, according to the news from Osa Port, they indeed dispatched 12 warships southward to at Southwater... However, the enemy has destroyed that fleet."
"12 warships... plus the 2 we left at Southwater... it really is infuriating enough to set one's teeth on edge." Reibert thought about how he only owed the Great Tang Group a hundred thousand Gold Coins and felt a tingling irritation in his teeth.
Wouldn't it be fine if he simply paid back 120,000 Gold Coins, including the interest? Was there really a need to make such a big fuss?
As he was considering whether he should find someone to settle the debt and save face for the Great Tang Group by offering 200,000 Gold Coins, an officer spoke up, his voice carrying a forced courage, "Marquis, my lord."
"Hmm?" He looked towards the officer with the bandaged arm, waiting for him to continue.
The timid officer handed over a sheet of paper recording several issues, saying, "There's another report here that says..."
"Just say it! What is it?" Marquis Reibert didn't even reach out to take the paper, instead asking impatiently.
"On the northern coast of the port, fishermen have seen black smoke on the sea surface..." the officer ventured carefully, seeming to hope that the Marquis would grasp the significance.
Augustine Reibert was not a fool; upon hearing this report, he immediately latched onto the significance of "northern."
"Yes, the north," the officer visibly relaxed, nodding and repeating.
"Osa... damn it!" Indeed, Augustine Reibert realized that something was terribly wrong. He jumped to his feet as if electrified.
The next second, he pointed toward the door, barking orders loudly, "Quick! Quick! Send someone to Osa! On the fastest horse! Send the message with utmost speed! Warn the Navy in Osa Port!
Tell them to leave immediately!"
He definitely did not want the fleet arranged at Osa to be trapped by two enemy ships and then be completely annihilated in the harbor!
After all, this was one of the few maritime forces of the Poplar Kingdom that could be mobilized directly along its extensive coastline!
If this fleet was sunk by the enemy, the long coastline, including Southwater Port, would practically be undefended, left bare.
Therefore, he had to make sure the fleet left Osa Port immediately, hiding away and waiting for a more critical moment to engage in naval battles to turn the tide of the war.
The mayor, still not fully comprehending the urgency, asked with a puzzled look, "Leave Osa? But where should they go after leaving Osa?"
Marquis Reibert couldn't contain his roar any longer. He slapped the table and shouted, "Take a wide berth! Head out to the open sea, then south down here!"
"My lord... please, calm down!" the mayor urged cautiously, "Wouldn't His Majesty suspect... that the fleet is being used to threaten... "
In his opinion, without the King's permission, it would be intolerable and a grievous mistake to recall the warships directly to defend Southwater and completely abandon Osa.
But Marquis Reibert could no longer afford to consider the King's feelings as he had had enough of the lack of timely information and the inability to mobilize troops to respond to threats.
So he continued to yell, "Threaten my ass! If they go any further north, our communication with them will take even longer! If we can't send messages fast enough and react in time, the danger will only increase! Quick! Do as I say!"
If the Osa fleet were to be destroyed, he might as well not bother explaining to the King. Looking at those factories that had ceased production, awaiting raw materials, he had already made it impossible for the Kingdom to expand further.
Without restoring such capability, his position as Marquis would be unstable. Faced with instablity either way, he would rather incur the King's suspicion than have the Emperor think him incompetent!
The mayor finally caught on and hurriedly agreed, "Yes! Yes! I understand, my lord. I'll dispatch someone with the orders right away!"
Slumping back into his seat, Marquis Reibert closed his eyes, exhausted, leaning back in his chair, muttering softly, "My son, my son... it's time for you to step up... don't let me down!"