In March, the average temperature is around 20 degrees. For Captain Anto Alwos from Ireland, such spring does not have the taste of spring. He has been away from his hometown for more than 9 months. He missed the misty rain and missed the voices, appearances and smiles of his relatives. According to the Irish military's foreign dispatch regulations, he can return to China unconditionally after the one-year dispatch period expires. Captain Alwos has already made up his mind on whether to go or stay.

After more than half a year in Mexico, Al Wuss consciously gained a lot. Not to mention the special treatment of three times his daily salary, as a Catholic, being able to travel across the ocean to help the Catholics in Mexico fight for religious freedom was a sacred baptism of his personal beliefs and a wonderful journey to sublimate the soul. In addition, the long-term warfare allowed him to accumulate a lot of practical experience in the fields of mountain guerrilla warfare, plain mobile warfare, and fortress defense warfare, and he realized it from it.

Tactical skills are difficult to obtain in daily training and military exercises. Based on these experiences and personal insights, many military academic articles he wrote have been published in internal journals of the Irish Army and have been valued by senior Irish Army leaders. He was also awarded the Irish Free Combat Medal and was included in the waiting list of school-level officers. This means that after returning to China, he can be successfully promoted to the army major and enter the ranks of intermediate officers as long as he receives another three months of military further study.

On the night of March 19, 1929, Elwoos led more than 200 Christian soldiers and a team of empty-loaded baggage vehicles to the Lapusca Pier. The middle and lower reaches of the Almagrare River flowing into the Gulf of Mexico through Lapusca were navigable, but the river section was less than five meters deep, and no matter the tide, cruiser-level warships could not enter. In February and March, the Mexican government forces organized gunboats to go upstream twice to attack the Lapusca Fortress built by the Christian army. They were defeated and returned. After that, they imposed a strict blockade on the estuary of the Almagra River. Ordinary boats could no longer enter the Almagra River, and even the fishing boats of Mexican fishermen were blocked. The Christian troops in Lapusca and nearby areas could only secretly transport supplies by land, and the situation was becoming increasingly difficult.

There was no moon that night, and the sparse starlight reflected on the river surface, and the red beacon lights rose and fell with the waves. As midnight approached, there was finally movement outside the river port. A submarine in a semi-floating state followed the guidance of the beacon lights and passed through the anchor thunder array in the river and slowly sailed into Lapuska. The submarine, which did not fly a flag and wiped the emblem of the boat, came from Ireland. It was not to help the Mexican Christian Army deal with the Mexican government forces' ships, but to perform a simple transportation mission. It set off from the Azores controlled by the German army, and used night cover and submersible skills to cross the Mexican government forces' maritime blockade, transporting precious arms ammunition, equipment and medicines to the Mexican Christian Army who were standing on the front.

After the submarine was docked at the dock, the Mexican soldiers commanded by Alwos quickly unloaded the cargo. The appearance of the Irish submarine in front of him is not significantly different from that of ordinary medium-sized combat submarines, but its command tower has a set of large sealed hatches in front and behind, and the cargo is unloaded much faster than expected. In a conversation with the officers on the boat, Alwos learned that this was a mine-bracing submarine, equipped with fewer weapons and crew than conventional submarines, and can be used to perform mine-braking missions in wartime, and can also be transported underwater when necessary, and can carry up to 32 mines or 40 tons of supplies in one way.

Mexican cigars are the best gift for Irish officers who have performed special tasks so far. Although Lapuska was blocked by the Mexican government forces, Alwos still found a way to get a box of cigars and two boxes of tequila for his colleagues in China. This also reflects from one aspect the current domestic situation in Mexico. The radical policies of the Kalesian government in religion and other aspects are unpopular. Many people are secretly supporting the resistance of the Christian army. Most of the most elite soldiers of the Mexican government forces were consumed in the early combat operations. The backward and inefficient military aircraft were slow to produce blood, but the Christian soldiers were tempering the war.

China grew rapidly. The Mexican government forces seemed to be in control, but in fact they were at the end of their strength and had to rely on the US military to fight against the Mexican Christian Rebels supported by European Catholic countries. If time went back half a year and the Mexican government could make decisive concessions on religious policies, the civil war could still stop it. However, now the Christian army has the strength to challenge the Mexican government, and the leaders are planning to establish a new national regime. If the Mexican government cannot show enough sincerity to negotiate, the civil war will probably end with a complete failure of one side.

After receiving these gifts, an officer of the captain of the Irish submarine of the same age as Alwos reminded with kindness: "I heard that the United States has transferred a strong fleet and may launch an attack on the fortresses here in the near future. The supplies we shipped are far from enough to help the Mexicans resist the attacks of modern battleships. You'd better be careful."

"I did hear some," Elwoth responded. "The troops I commanded were stationed on the periphery of the fortress, and the situation might be better."

The captain said without comment: "It's better to do it anyway!"

After more than an hour, the goods transported by the submarine were basically unloaded. At this time, the radio officer on the boat hurriedly reported something to the captain. The Irish naval captain hesitated for a moment and said to Alwooth: "They are here."

Elwooth never feared fighting, but when he thought of his impending fierce bombardment from the US Navy, his face suddenly became much more serious. At the end of the last war, the overall strength of the German Navy was far ahead of the US Navy. In the past decade after the war, Germany's economic development speed was faster than that of the United States. However, the US Navy caught up with the German Navy with an astonishing momentum. From 1918 to 1924, the US Navy ranked first in the world in total tonnage, and the size of the main fleet was slightly higher than that of the German Navy. In recent years, the German Navy's new generation of battleships and battlecruisers have been put into service one after another, and thus it has struggled to regain the number one position in the world. The Treaty of Restricting the Navy signed by Limerick stipulates that the tonnage of the main ships of Germany and the United States is one to one, which is equivalent to formally recognizing the status of the navy of Germany and the United States.

"Will you be involved in the battle somehow?" Al Woos asked unwillingly.

The Irish captain standing in front of him shook his head firmly.

"No matter what, I still have to thank you for shipping this batch of ammunition in time. Maybe we will use the shells here to make the Americans suffer tomorrow." Elwoth said.

The Navy Captain smiled comfortably: "If that were the case, we would open the bottle on the way back to celebrate."

After shaking hands, the two of them returned to their respective positions.

By dawn, the Irish submarine transporting combat supplies had safely left the estuary of the Almagray River, and the Christian soldiers led by Alwos also successfully transported the supplies back to Lapuska Fortress.

It was learned that the US fleet arrived in the waters near the estuary of the Almagray River and two Mexican Christian aircraft took off from a farm near Lapusca. Among the four pilots, two Irish pilots were instructors, and the remaining two were Mexican pilots who were learning flight techniques.

Before the exact whereabouts of the US fleet were captured, the reconnaissance pilot discovered several light ships flying the Mexican flag at the mouth of the Almagray River. In addition to those gunboats that had participated in the first two offensive operations, there were two modern destroyers that obviously did not belong to the Mexican Navy. After Irish pilots identified them, they were determined to belong to the United States' Wex-class destroyer. The first batch of destroyers built by the US Navy based on the situation of the war were

The standard displacement of nearly 1,200 tons and the maximum speed of 35 knots, equipped with a 105mm caliber rapid-fire gun, a 533mm caliber triple torpedo tube and anti-submarine deep-water bomb, the overall performance is superior to any destroyer and large torpedo boat during the war. Compared with the standard destroyer designed and built by the Irish Navy in the early 20s, it is only inferior in terms of firepower, loss of pipes and communication equipment.

Since it was discovered that the Mexican government forces gathered ships at the mouth of the Almagray River more than 20 kilometers away from the Lapusca Fortress, a reconnaissance plane returned to report the situation quickly. Only one reconnaissance plane flew out of the sea to search for the US fleet, but there was no gain. On the second aerial reconnaissance that morning, European pilots who helped the Mexican Christian Army fight observed that Mexican government warships, including two destroyers, began to advance upstream and threw light bombs at them.

Although the two Wicks-class destroyers are most likely to be advance ships of the US Navy, since they were flying the Mexican flag, the commander of the Christ Army ordered the launch of lightning and let them go downstream to attack enemy ships in the river. More than a month ago, this tactic achieved the results of sinking one government gunboat, one minesweeper, and two barges, but this move was not efficient and had great side effects. In the following weeks, six innocent ships were successively slaughtered in the western Gulf of Mexico, one of which was a US cargo ship. The US government used this as a reason to send additional troops into Mexico, and expanded the scope of US military activities from the US-Mexico border to the entire northern Mexico region, and was preparing to march towards the central and eastern regions where the Christ-industry activities in Mexico were the most rampant.

The Almagra River flows slowly and the tide drop is small. It usually takes more than ten hours to float from Lapusca to float to the lower reaches of the river. The Mexican government forces had suffered a great loss before and would take strict precautions. Therefore, the Christian army did not expect that the last dozen thunders would be able to make a profit. Instead, they wanted the opponent to retreat and give up the plan to invade the water again. After all, most of the shells reserved in Lapusca Fortress had been consumed in the early stages of combat. If Ireland had not used a mine-branch submarine to transport a batch in time, those cannons with relatively long range would have been silenced if they could not fire a few shells.

The industrial era of mines has not completely floated on the water. The anchor mines and mines provided by Ireland to the Mexican Christian Army are both advanced models, with good concealment and strong destructive power. At 1:11 pm on March 20, the unlucky Mexican gunboat "Colima" was the first to trigger the mine. The hull of more than 60 tons turned into pieces with a loud bang, and none of the 17 crew members survived. After 9 minutes, the US Navy destroyer "Conway" that had slowed down and tried to retreat suddenly exploded violently, from the bow to the ship of the front main gun.
Chapter completed!