Chapter 2023 Low-End Version of the Dover Ship
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Even Pregent Biedus himself didn't know what a brilliant victory he had won in this naval battle. Originally, he just thought that he had won a big victory, but a few days later, after learning that the commander of the British navy, Edward Howard, and Henry Ball, the highest knight in the navy, had been disfigured, the whole of France fell into a carnival.
Francois I personally ordered the celebration in the whole city of Paris, and the curfew was lifted for three days, so that the Parisians could have a good time. Then, in these three days, the sales of alcoholic beverages in Parisian pubs soared to five times the usual amount. Even the ladies and sisters in the special service area in Paris, business is three times better than usual.
As for Pregent Biedus, the greatest hero, Francois I did not hesitate to reward him. Although he only gave him the title of baron, the fiefdom was generously given to two baronies.
But Bidus only accepted one baronie. As for the other baronie, Biedus said—it is better to seal it in his hometown after France annexed Italy...
This flattery was extremely useful to Francois I and the French nobles, because it implied that France's annexation of Italy was a certainty.
After hastily rushing back to Paris to receive the title, Bidus immediately returned to the Brest naval port, and then, taking advantage of the high morale of his soldiers, he continued to attack England.
This time, they took the initiative to attack the port of Plymouth, and sank three English merchant ships on the outskirts of the port. Edward Howard's younger brother Thomas Howard, who was so frightened to stay in Plymouth Harbor, immediately retracted all the ships into the Tamar River.
Because of the threat of the British Koufeilin Long Cannon (Hongyi Cannon) along the coast, Bidous did not dare to go deep into the Taima River. After all, although the six Calais ships under his command have strong firepower, they are also thin-skinned and cannot withstand the bombardment of 18-pound guns.
Therefore, after harassing the Plymouth naval port, he continued to lead the fleet eastward and attacked Hastings, New Romney, Hayes, Dover and Sandwich, which belonged to the Cinque Port Alliance. In these five ports, Biddoth's Calais fleet sank a full 16 English sailing ships.
It was just that when they attacked the newly promoted military port of Southampton, they encountered a hard stubble-the Calais fleet was passing through the Solent Strait between the Isle of Wight and the British Isle, trying to enter Southampton Bay when it was attacked. The fort built by Marin on the island was hit, and two ships were injured...
The Isle of Wight is the fiefdom of Marin, and Southampton is also indirectly controlled by Marin and is Marin's territory. In order to ensure the safety of Southampton Bay, Marin has long built forts at the east and west ends of the Isle of Wight, focusing on the 18-pound Kouflin cannon.
The effective range of the Hongyi cannon is more than 500 meters. After Beihai State improved the granular gunpowder,
Longer range. In addition, the fort is built on the cliff, and the higher the altitude, the longer the range.
The two Calais ships were hit 3 kilometers away. At this time, the shells had insufficient stamina. Otherwise, the two ships would have been destroyed on the spot, not to mention sunk.
Seeing that something was wrong, Bidus led the fleet out of the Solent Strait and returned to Brest Port to repair the ship.
Despite the unfavorable return in the middle, Bidusi's battle results are extremely brilliant. At least, for France. You must know that since the Hundred Years War between Britain and France, France has always played the role of being hanged and beaten at sea. Occasionally, if there is a small victory, it will be beaten back to its original shape immediately.
However, Bidous's tactics made the traditional maritime power England helpless, unable to crack it, and was beaten so hard that he dared not fight back. How to prevent the "weak navy" France from being extremely excited.
At this time, the French nobles had already shouted the slogan "Cross the Strait of La Manche (English Channel) and destroy England"...
...
The opposite of the French is the great fear of the English. The English, who were once proud of their navy, discovered with horror that they had nothing to do with the French tactics. If it weren't for the fact that the French only come when the wind is weak, and the English Channel is always windy, I'm afraid the French would beat them hard every day. If the French develop more Calais ships, the English will end up tragically...
Indeed, after the victory of Francis I, he established the policy of building more Calais ships by himself, intending to build another 100 Calais ships, and then completely control the English Channel, and prepare to fight across the sea and annex England.
It's just that it takes a long time to build so many ships, ten or eight years is just the beginning. Moreover, it will take many years to train so many qualified Calais sailors. So, this can only be a long-term plan. But Francois I can afford to wait, because he is only 22 years old, and he will only be 32 years old after 10 years. He is very young, and the most important thing he lacks is time.
Then, the entire French government and opposition are looking forward to the question of how to divide up the land after the annexation of England...
At this time, England fell into panic, from Edward VI to ordinary sailors. In anxiety, someone suggested——Why don't you go to Beihai Grand Duke Marin for help...
Edward VI was silent, why didn't he know to ask Marin for help. However, he was very unwilling. Because he already relied on Marin a lot on land. If the sea also relies on Marin, wouldn't Marin easily control the entire Kingdom of England? At that time, it will be a matter of time before he is emptied.
You know, the reason why Edward VI was relieved to let the Marin Army intervene in England was because he was confident that England's navy could suppress the North Sea State. Once there is a change, he can use the navy to block the North Sea and consume the 20,000 troops Marin left in England.
But if Marin reached into the English Navy and took control of it, he, the king, would not be able to sleep...
England is different from the European continent. There has long been a tradition of killing kings here. The previous Edward V, Richard III and the most recent Henry VII were all cut down by opponents. If Marin controlled the English navy and easily transported the elite of the North Sea country to London, cutting himself would be as easy as cutting melons and vegetables.
Facing Edward VI's hesitation, Foreign Minister Howard, that is, William Howard, Edward Howard's brother, seemed to have guessed what Edward was thinking:
"Your Majesty, are you worried that the Grand Duke Marin is too powerful in England?"
Edward hesitated, then nodded.
William Howard smiled and said:
"Your Majesty, don't worry. If you're really worried that Duke Marin's people will infiltrate England, we can just have warships and artillery, not people from the North Sea Kingdom. The 20 warships brought by Grand Duke Marin last time are very powerful in my opinion. And, It is said to be thick and more resistant to shelling, and can be bought against French ships."
"In addition, the artillery on the warships of the Beihai State has a large caliber and a long range, and can easily damage the French boats..."
When Edward thought about it, his eyes lit up. But he soon hesitated again:
"Buy a ship, but Ai Qing, as you know, England's financial difficulties, I'm afraid I can't afford to buy a few warships like that..."
Edward is not Marin, he has no economic acumen, he only knows how to farm the land and collect taxes in the wool trade. In addition, it cost a lot to conquer Ireland before, and now the treasury of England is very clean. Where can I buy such a huge ship that is expensive at first sight?
When chatting with Marin last time, Marin said that the total cost of each 500-ton warship, including the artillery, was more than 20,000 gold coins. Then, the personnel expenses and maintenance expenses are also very expensive...
In fact, he didn't know that Marin had lied. The premise of Marin's more than 20,000 gold coins is that the cannons are all made of copper. But in fact, the naval guns of the Beihai Kingdom are basically cast iron, only painted with copper-colored paint on the outside.
But Edward didn't know. After a little calculation, Marin seemed to be right. In fact, the cost does not exceed 10,000 gold coins. However, for the foreign trade version of the artillery, Marin does use copper casting, and the cost is indeed not low.
England itself has also begun to develop iron cast cannons, but the technology is still immature. The blacksmiths in Sussex began to try to cast cannons with molten iron. But because the reverberatory furnace for secondary refining has not yet been produced, and the cooling technology is not good enough, the quality of wrought iron cannons cast in Sussex, England is very poor, and it is easy to explode the chamber. Not as good as a copper cannon.
Edward VI and his men have estimated that at least 20 large gunboats like the North Sea State are needed to fight against the strange ship fleet of the French. The total cost... 400,000 to 500,000 gold coins can't beat it...
Moreover, the key point is that even if you buy that kind of large gunboat, the consumption is extremely alarming. With 40 large-caliber artillery, even if half of the artillery fires in salvo, there will still be tens of pounds of gunpowder in one round. 20 salvos...it's like throwing gold...
What's more, even if you spend so much money to buy gunpowder, you may not be able to buy enough gunpowder. After all, there is such a shortage of saltpeter in Europe, and it is impossible to supply 20 large gunboats to fight for a long time...
The problem of lack of gunpowder is also a problem that plagued Marin early. Before the Indian and Ming routes were launched, Marin could not obtain so much gunpowder to supply the warships. Otherwise, with his capital, there is no pressure to get dozens of gunboats. In the final analysis, there is still not enough artillery, so we can't let go.
That is to say, now that Chilean saltpeter has been developed, and with the saltpeter purchased by the Ming Dynasty and India, the Beihai country has the confidence to play gunboats.
...
But what the English monarchs and ministers didn't know was that Marin had planned for them a long time ago-using the "Dover ship" to deal with the Calais ship.
The Dover ship is actually an improved version of the Calais ship, with enhanced sails and four parallel single-cylinder diesel engines installed at the rear. In this way, the maneuverability surpasses that of the Calais, the firepower is also very strong, and the hull has been strengthened a lot...
It's just that, for now, Marin doesn't plan to take out the Dover ship. After all, he didn't want to make a premature appearance in front of the world with a single-cylinder diesel engine.
However, it is still possible to provide a low-end version of the Dover ship. The so-called low-end version is to dismantle 4 single-cylinder diesel engines and wheel steering wheel system, so that the difference between the Dover ship and the Calais ship is very small, but it is stronger and more resistant to beating than the Calais ship, and the sail power is more powerful. .
This low-profile version of the Dover ship has been produced by Beihai Shipyard for a long time, and 4 ships have been produced, and the test application has begun. As long as England needs it, it can be taken out. Of course, it will definitely not be taken out easily, but to take advantage of the opportunity to get more benefits first...
Strictly speaking, the low-end version of the Dover ship is not much better than the Calais ship. Even if the English got it, they would use it to peck each other with the French. However, this is exactly what Marin wants to see.
In this kind of mutual pecking, Edward's cronies will also be consumed, so that Marin can smoothly control the English Navy in the future.
However, in order to let England feel the fear for a while, Marin was silent at first, and even hid the prepared low-end version of the Dover ship first, waiting for the English to come to their door...
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