Chapter 1546?(·???????)? Hunting the Armada

beyond the Strait of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea.

A large three-masted square-sail wide-body ship, which is the favorite of the Dutch sea coachmen and specially built for tax evasion, basically has no armed capabilities, is slow, has a small deck, and a fat hull. beyond the Strait of Gibraltar.

And in the distance of that ship, in the narrowest strait a few nautical miles between the port of Seville and Ceuta, there are hundreds of Spanish warships gathering and cruising across the sea visible to the naked eye. Above, and conducted a brutal check of all ships that wanted to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.

At this time, a lot of merchant ships or warships from various countries gathered in and outside the Strait of Gibraltar. However, most people just dared not speak out against the Spanish's arrogance, or waited in line honestly and insisted on passing through , or can only walk away in frustration.

But the large three-masted square-sail wide-body ship, the kind of large cargo ship manufactured by the Dutch in order to take advantage of the current regulations on collecting taxes based on the width of the deck in various ports, did not queue up, nor did it leave, it was just that far away. Moored on the distant sea, observing the situation in the Strait of Gibraltar.

"oops!"

"The big thing is not good!"

"It seems that the rumors are true. The admiral of the squadron of the Li Huamei Chamber of Commerce is really a bastard. He even dared to provoke the Spaniards. Now look, there are at least a hundred warships here, right?"

"my God!"

"What did they do? How could they make such a big fuss?"

"Camille, take a look, look at the desperate posture of the Spaniards, I'm afraid they won't sink their ship, and then catch all their crew and sailors to the pier in Seville to hang themselves Death will never give up, right?"

On the narrow deck of this large three-masted square-sail wide-body ship, the leader of the Dutch private chamber of commerce, Lilu Agot, who is cheerful and optimistic, can understand the pain of others, can do business, and has a long history. After seeing the behavior and formation of the Spanish fleet in the distance, the young and beautiful female leader of the chamber of commerce and the admiral of the fleet couldn't help exclaiming with emotion while commenting.

They had heard about what another fleet of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce had done in the Spicy Islands, the Indian Ocean, Africa, and the Mediterranean in the North Sea. They felt a little unbelievable, so they set off from Amsterdam in the North Sea and drove this A large three-masted square-sail broad-bodied ship, filled with a load of woolen goods, came here under the guise of coming to the Mediterranean for business.

Then as expected, she found that the matter seemed to be a little more serious than the rumors?

Anyway,

Before coming to the Strait of Gibraltar, they went to the port of Lisbon to dock and supply supplies. Then, there they learned that the Li Family Chamber of Commerce's Grand Admiral Anne Hasta and the five giant warships from Ming led by the other party were in Madeira. And what Seville has done, and not long ago, I saw the current situation of the Port of Seville with my own eyes!

"It's over!"

"The Li Family Chamber of Commerce, as well as Huamei Li, will definitely be severely attacked by the Spaniards. I don't know if they will be arrested by that Esconte in the New World?"

"Really..."

"It's not good for them to provoke anyone, but they still provoke the Spaniards. Don't they know that the most powerful fleet in Europe is the Spaniards and their Armada?"

Looking at the forest-like battleship masts and densely packed white sails on the inland sea of ​​the strait in the distance, Lilu Argot didn't know what to say.

"It's over, it's over..."

"Camille, they are really dead this time!"

"They will definitely be hanged in the port by the Spaniards!!"

To be honest, Lilu was really worried about those ignorant and fearless members of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce.

She can already start to imagine, perhaps, after the things here in the Mediterranean are passed on to the New World by merchant ships or messengers, Huamei Li and the others who are exploring the New World at this time will definitely be caught by that lower-ranking noble who is also Spaniard, cruel The conqueror Diogo de Esconte was captured and escorted back to the Mediterranean, where she would see him in a few months, tortured and hanged on the rocks in the port of Seville Show it to the public, and let those seagulls and crows peck at it.

After a year, on those gallows, maybe there will only be some scorched, foul-smelling, moldy corpses left in the end?

Presumably, it must be like that, right?

"alright."

"Lilu, it's useless to be anxious, the opponent is the Spanish Armada, we can't help you..."

"Our Argot Chamber of Commerce has less than ten ships in total, and there are only two armed merchant ships. Most of the others are this kind of large three-masted square-sailed wide-body ships, but now the Spanish Armada here in the Strait of Gibraltar, gathered The number is probably more than one hundred, so what can we do?"

"besides!"

"Don't tell people that we have friendship with the Li family merchants, that we have business contacts with them and that we want to order ships for them!"

After walking to the edge of the boat and looking at the grand occasion of the Strait of Gibraltar in the distance, Camille Malinus Offensy, the childhood sweetheart who grew up with Lilu, sighed and patted Lilu's scent Shoulder, while comforting, while not forgetting to warn.

"hateful!"

"The Spaniards actually blocked the strait directly. In this way, the members of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce must have no way to escape except to abandon the ship and go ashore?"

"I hope they know that Alexandria is the closest place to the Red Sea. If they abandon the ship and go ashore from there, they can reach the Red Sea in less than two months, and then spend a little money to buy a boat or two to go to the Persian Gulf. Then go to the Indian Ocean, or even go back to the distant Eastern Ming Empire?"

While talking, Lilu Argot suddenly felt that it was an excellent way.

"Hello!"

"Camille, how about we send people to the Mediterranean Sea to find them, explain the situation to them, and then we lead our fleet to the Gulf of Suez to wait for them, and then send them directly back to the east?"

"When the time comes..."

"Let's bring back several boats of tea, silk and porcelain from the east, and then we will get rich!"

"what do you think?"

"Exactly!"

"The civilian battleship ordered by their chamber of commerce is almost finished, why don't we just send it to them together, and at the same time open up trade routes in the Far East and break the Portuguese monopoly?"

Lilu, who is cheerful and optimistic, thinks more and more that it is feasible, and firmly believes that it will be a mutually beneficial thing for her to make another move and help the development fleet of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, and it will definitely make her another windfall .

Especially after providing help to the members of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, they will definitely be able to use this as an excuse to break into the Eastern market in one fell swoop, expand their business from the Agot Chamber of Commerce to the distant and ancient Eastern Ming Empire, and obtain the most valuable resources in Europe. In-demand, most popular items!

"this……"

"Lilu, I advise you to stop meddling in other people's business."

"If you really want to do this, once those Spaniards get the news, our Argot Chamber of Commerce and even the whole of the Netherlands will be in bad luck!"

"Don't be fooled!!"

Camille frowned and thought about it for a while, then looked at the huge armada in the distance that was under strict guard at the Strait of Gibraltar, and then thought about the situation of the Governor of Java in Jakarta, the East India Company and the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in the Cape of Good Hope, and finally he After a pause, he still firmly stopped him.

In his view, the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, especially the Li Family Pioneering Fleet with five giant warships, is undoubtedly the strongest competitor of their Agote Chamber of Commerce and even the entire Netherlands. Now they choose to watch and let the Spaniards Going to teach the other party a profound lesson first, so that the other party can get rid of the boring idea of ​​​​dominating the oceans and even the world, maybe it is the best choice for the Dutch at present?

"That's right!"

"Miss Agot, we'd better take a look at this matter, but we must not participate in it!"

At this time, Hedram Joachim Bergstone of the Swedish Navy also came from the side.

But, he is no longer the admiral of the Swedish Navy, because he cooperated with the Malay Governor Dole Arte Lopez de Preyla in the Java Islands to fight against the Li Family Fleet of Ming Dynasty, which led to the annihilation of the entire fleet. After losing all his naval ships, he was jailed and stripped of his admiralship as soon as he returned to Sweden.

Later, after investigating the cause of the matter and learning of the great achievements of the Li family's pioneering fleet in Java, the Indian Ocean, Africa and the Mediterranean Sea, the Swedish Navy Headquarters also seemed to feel that the responsibility was entirely on him. Joachim Bergstone seems a bit unreasonable?

Then, under the mediation and lobbying of his teacher, he was reluctantly released.

However, although he was released, he is no longer a member of the Swedish Navy. He was expelled from the rank of admiral of the navy and became an ordinary person. For the time being, he only conducts trade in Stockholm and Riga in Northern Europe, and soon got acquainted with the Argot Chamber of Commerce, which also conducts trade in Northern Europe. After hearing that Lilu planned to come to the Mediterranean Sea to check the situation, he also followed with a cheeky look Look at the excitement.

And this is the main reason why he appeared on this ship.

"??"

"Why?"

"Mr. Bergstone, do you, like Camille, think that what I just did was wrong?"

Seeing that her childhood sweetheart and the respected Admiral Bergstone both opposed the wonderful idea she had just thought of, Lilu Aggot couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"Yes!"

"Lilu, we'd better remain neutral on this matter!"

"otherwise……"

"Once the Spaniards know that you and I are involved, I'm afraid things will end badly."

"At that time, maybe it will trigger a war between the Netherlands and Spain?"

"And once there is a fight, the Spaniards will definitely block the Mediterranean Sea and the New World. At that time, the shipping routes will be cut off. It will be very difficult for us North Sea countries to go to the New World, Africa or Java for trade."

"Maybe it will be another bloody and chaotic sea privateering war?"

"So, you must think carefully!"

Hedram Joachim Bergstone said quietly, trying his best to use the possible serious consequences to persuade the ignorant and fearless girl navigator in front of him to give up the unrealistic thought.

"Besides..."

"In my opinion, the pioneering fleet of the Li family, the devil admiral Anne Hasta, they don't necessarily need your help?"

"Maybe your thoughts are just wishful thinking?"

As he talked, Hedram Joachim Bergstone, who remembered something, couldn't help supporting the side of the boat, while looking at the invincible Spanish Armada in the distance, he smiled helplessly. With a sigh.

"!!"

"What's the meaning?"

"etc!"

"Mr. Bergstone, don't you mean..."

"The pioneering fleet of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, the devil admiral Anne Hasta, they can defeat the Spanish Armada by themselves, and they can rush out of the Strait of Gibraltar. Don't we need to meddle in our own business?"

"Is that so?"

Staring at those big blue eyes, even Lilu Argot, no matter how cheerful her personality was and how optimistic her thoughts were, could not imagine that such a thing would be possible.

In her opinion, the Second Fleet of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, that is, the development fleet led by the devil admiral is just five ships, even though their ships are all huge warships with fast speed and long range of cannons, However, how could a mere five ships beat the Spanish Armada, which claims to have thousands of warships, and rush out of the Strait of Gibraltar where nearly two hundred large and medium Spanish square-sail warships (Galenian ships) are gathering at this time?

In short, she couldn't imagine such a thing anyway.

"..."

Hedram did not speak, but recalled.

At the beginning, when he was in Java, in the Spice Islands, he and the Malay Governor of Portugal, Dole Artes Lopez de Preyla, led ten warships and dozens of armed forces aggressively. The super fleet composed of merchant ships went to attack the second fleet of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce, and encountered the five giant warships of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce in the open sea around the northern latitude of the spice route in the South Seas east of Brunei. .

But the result...

Hedram has been through it all himself!

The two fleets composed of sixty-seven warships almost failed to formally engage with the warships of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce. Eighteen ships were sunk, twenty-two ships were wounded and captured, and then they were defeated and fled on the spot.

That terrible battle scene, that feeling of powerlessness under the overwhelming shells, still makes him often wake up in his sleep when he thinks about it now.

"Lilu..."

"Sorry, I don't know if they can rush out, but I only know that the rumored information that the Ming Empire has begun to decline is probably wrong, and their orientals still retain the world's most advanced shipbuilding technology and artillery technology!"

"And who can get it, maybe, who can rule and dominate the world?"

Thinking of those giant Li family battleships that are obviously big, but are more resistant to wind and waves, run faster and more stable, and the terrible range that is at least double or even farther than the range of heavy cannons or iron guns commonly used in Europe. Naval guns, Hedram only felt that his heart couldn't help speeding up a few beats.

He also wants to get those things and improve Sweden's shipbuilding and gun-making technology, but he also knows that it is impossible. The reason why the Spaniards are so big and eyeing is obviously self-evident, and certainly not Have the slightest chance of them Swedes!

Of course, the Portuguese, the Dutch, or the British would definitely not have a chance, because now the Spanish Armada has blocked the Li family's second fleet, the devil admiral and her fleet directly in the Mediterranean Sea.

"??"

"Rule the world?"

Blinking, Lilu Agot seemed to be digesting the information Hedram said, but soon she laughed.

"Aha!"

"impossible!"

"Mr. Hedram, I have seen Huamei Li and their large and medium-sized blessing ships. Those ships look average, and some of the cannons are even worse than ours. Otherwise, she So she won’t do everything possible to entrust my Agot Chamber of Commerce to help her get a civilian battleship at a high price.”

"It is absolutely impossible for their second fleet to rush out of the Strait of Gibraltar!"

"That must not be..."

boom! boom! boom!

boom! boom!

"?!"

However, Lilu Argot didn't even finish her sentence, she was only surprised to find that in the distance, a series of cannon shots were heard, and then, there were water jets caused by the shells falling on the sea surface?

"!!"

"That is……"

"Li Family's Second Fleet?!"

Hedram Joachim Bergstone immediately picked up his telescope and looked into the Strait of Gibraltar, and then he soon saw that at the sea level on the east side of the strait, there was indeed Five huge ships sailing with the wind appeared, and they were the five warships of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce!

At this time, they were heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar at high speed, while firing in twos and threes from a distance on the sea, as if they were provoking the Spanish Armada that was blocking the strait?

soon!

In response, the Spanish Armada, which was originally moored and cruising on the sea, slowly moved under those desperate orders. They began to pull up the sails with the Spanish flag badges on each side, pull up the anchor, and I can no longer bother to check those passing merchant ships.

Seeing that the Spaniards stopped making things difficult, the ships that were waiting in line at the mouth of the strait saw that the naval battle was about to start here, and they all dispersed in droves, and drove towards places they thought were safe.

"No way?"

"It seems to be the flag of the Li Family Chamber of Commerce..."

At this time, Lilu Agot also saw through the binoculars the five giant ships and the flags that she was familiar with flying on the masts.

"But……"

"Are they crazy?"

"How dare they?!"

Therefore, when she saw that the five ships were really rushing towards the strait recklessly, and after seeing that the Spanish Armada had started to move in sequence and formed formation at the chaotic strait mouth, she couldn't help being a little stunned. exclaimed.

Of course, she just exclaimed, because now, she has nothing to do.

...

At this time, at the sea level on the east side of the strait, on the flagship of the "Xiangfeihu", a certain little girl was also looking through the binoculars at the slightly chaotic mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar.

"..."

(°-°〃)

"cut!"

(ˉ▽￣～)cut~~

"Aren't there a lot of boats?"

()??°

"First officer, send an order: rush up and shoot them a few rounds from a distance, then we turn around and run back, leading their large fleet to the gathering place of the fleet of that bad old man and that muscular man!"

?(?^o^?)?

Glancing at the densely packed Spanish Armada in formation, and then at the more warships rushing out of the ports of Ceuta and Seville, Anne first curled her lips in disdain, and then objected to the The first officer who rushed directly towards the Strait of Gibraltar ordered.

"!!"

"Admiral, do you want to..."

"yes!"

"Follow orders!"

The first officer was startled, and then he quickly understood the specific intention of their chief admiral, so he stood at attention and responded loudly, and then ran to his post to issue orders.

"Annie?"

"You mean to lure those Spanish fleets to the gathering point of the Pashar and Hayreddin's fleets behind, and let them fight?"

"But……"

"What if they don't get fooled and don't fight?"

At this time, Song Yifeng on the side obviously knew what kind of plan Annie was planning, so she hurriedly asked after the first officer left.

"If you don't get fooled, you won't be fooled. Anyway, we run fast. They want to fight or not. If they don't fight, we will fight ourselves. After beating, we will run away!"

(?￣?￣?) Hey!

Those Spaniards had too many warships. Annie just counted them at random. It is estimated that there are at least two or three hundred ships. There are only five of them, and the Mediterranean is so small. They may be completely blocked, and it will be miserable at that time.

Therefore, she intends to let the Ottoman Navy and Hayreddin's fleet follow far behind to fight the Spaniards head-on, block the Spanish warships and fight the enemy head-on, while she and her fleet just stay within the enemy's range It is enough to carry out shelling from a distance.

Of course, she didn't know if it would be successful or not. Anyway, it didn't matter if it didn't succeed. After all, those Spaniards had too many ships. This battle wouldn't be over in three to five days. She had plenty of time to play with them!

"That's good!"

"I just thought you would rush out regardless..."

She patted her small chest in fear, Song Yifeng nodded, and finally heaved a sigh of relief.

"How can someone be so stupid?"

!!!∑(?Д?ノ)ノ

"You underestimate others!"

o('^')o

"Just wait, we will conquer the Mediterranean Sea soon!"

(????-)?

"ah?"

"Conquer here? With our five ships?"

Song Yifeng obviously couldn't believe it.

"certainly!"

o(*ˉ︶ˉ*)o

"..."

In the distance, the female pirate Azitha Nurinahar was standing silently at the bow, looking at the busy sailors on the spacious deck and the two little girls playing on the podium at the stern.

She heard Annie's order, and also heard the conversation between Annie and Song Yifeng. At this time, she didn't want to run away for the time being, because she wanted to see if they could really achieve that level and directly defeat the mighty Europe. people?

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(?ω?)

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