Chapter 2021 British and French Naval Battle (2)

"The Rise of the Emperor of Europe ()"

What Edward Howard didn't know was that on the French warship at this time, the commander of the French fleet, Pregent Bidous, was also looking forward to the direction of Plymouth in the north, full of ambition, and expected to do something great.

You know, France is the largest country in Western Europe, and it is definitely the largest in Western Europe in terms of population and area. Moreover, France's agricultural area is still the largest in Western Europe. In this era of farming, if someone owns a field, they are cattle.

And France, whose cavalry is extremely powerful, is even more feared by all Western European countries, and it is almost invincible on land in Europe (provided that Bidus does not know that Marin is a dog). The Italian war also made Bidus see the strength of the French.

Although France's two conquests of Italy ended in failure, Bidus believes that the first time France failed because of the plague. The second time, it was because he was not used to the Spanish musket tactics. In terms of population and war potential, France still has the upper hand. What's more, the French have also begun to install muskets in the army, and the advantages of the Spaniards will gradually be offset. In the end, it was France who won. When France annexes Italy, even parts of Italy, its strength will surpass that of Europe.

If he can help France defeat the English fleet and make history, the French will never treat him badly. A hereditary title and a good fief cannot escape. If France annexed Italy, they would get a piece of back cover in their hometown Italy and return home in fine clothes, thinking of it would be very happy...

But these are all premised on defeating the English fleet. I just hope that the English are underestimated enough to not send too many warships. Otherwise, even if he has advanced tactics, he will have to flee. After all, too many ants can kill an elephant.

Slowly, the fleets of both sides are approaching each other. The opponent's mast appears first to the sailor watching from the top of the mast. Then, there's the hull...

After seeing the French warship, the English sailor in charge of the post almost laughed happily, and he shouted cheerfully:

"Master Edward, there are indeed only 6 ships on the opposite side! Moreover, they are all galleys with a very low freeboard!"

"What? The freeboard is very low?" Edward Howard stood up from his seat in surprise.

"Confirm, the freeboard is low!" the sailor replied loudly.

"That's great, God bless England! In this battle, the Frenchman will be beaten and cried again!" Edward Howard laughed happily, feeling complacent for a while.

why? Because the low freeboard means that in the battle of the jumping gang, it is easy for the opponent to jump on the deck. Conversely, the freeboard is lower than that of the opponent's warship, and the difficulty for sailors to climb onto the opponent's warship also increases exponentially.

Therefore, for the English sailors who are accustomed to jumping ship gangs, the French warships with low freeboards are almost fat meat brought to their mouths...

Even Edward Howard himself is a master of the jumping ship gang, and he likes to lead the jumping ship gang to kill enemies. Although he was born in the honorable Howard family, but because he is a side descendant, he will have no future if he does not work hard. Therefore, he also practiced martial arts hard since he was a child, and slowly rose from the grassroots. Of course, the so-called grassroots here refers to grassroots officers, not ordinary sailors. After all, he is a member of the Howard family, and he started as an officer, so there is nothing wrong with him. Just like the later Duke of Wellington, he also started as a lieutenant, that is, at the level of deputy company commander. Later, I went to the Indian colonial army and donated a major directly...

But to be able to become the commander of the English navy, it is not enough to have a good background. Otherwise, the commander of the navy would not be Edward Howard, a branch of the Howard family, but a direct nobleman. Therefore, his ability cannot be ignored.

However, limited by his knowledge, this big brother with the same name as the king only knew that he led a group of fierce English sailors (pirates) to go up in a wave, brandished his blade, and slashed at the devil... no, it was the Frenchman who slashed on the head go……

As for tactics? Oh, I still know that it is the traditional way to seize the upper air and surround and kill French warships.

Since it is a siege, it is natural to have more warships, more and more fierce sailors...

There's nothing wrong with that in itself, nor is it wrong in this day and age. But the problem is, he meets Mr. Biddoth who has epoch-making dirty tactics.

Mr. Biddus' tactic, in the words of later generations, is to fly a kite. This trick has been tried and tested in the game. As long as it's wretched enough and moves around enough, no matter how powerful the monster is, it will be given away. Unfortunately, Mr. Edward Howard, who is as brave as Fengxian, is the monster who was kited this time...

...

On the opposite side, after seeing the whole picture of the English fleet, Pregent Biedus also showed a smile:

"I knew that the English would underestimate the enemy. This battle is stable!"

There are only 12 warships on the opposite side, which looks like a lot, but it is still much less than the usual forty or fifty warships. If forty or fifty British warships really come, and then a fan-shaped encirclement, Bidusi will have to flee no matter how good his tactics are.

Because, Bidusi's tactics need to go around in circles, go around to the side of the enemy ship, and then use the basilisk gun at the bow to fire 50-pound stone ball shells, smashing the weak side of the enemy ship, in order to destroy the side of the enemy ship. Smashed and leaked, and sank as a result.

If there are not many enemy ships, and there is no fan-shaped encirclement, and there is enough space to maneuver, it will be more confident. If there are all enemy ships around and there is no room for maneuver, kite tactics will be impossible to fight.

Fortunately, this General Edward Howard was very face-saving, and only dispatched 12 warships, giving the French Calais ship room to maneuver.

In fact, Edward was also helpless. Because time was tight when receiving the information, it was too late to recruit more warships. Therefore, he can only temporarily recruit large armed merchant ships in the port from the Plymouth Naval Port.

Going to other ports to recruit warships is not impossible to recruit, but it will delay the fighters. After all, the French have already deployed a large number of forts outside the port of Brest. In the case that it is impossible to storm into the port of Brest, every opportunity for an enemy ship to "suffer" out of the port is very precious. Coupled with his super confidence in his own strength, Edward Howard hastily recruited 12 warships and came. Moreover, he was also afraid that he would bring too many ships, and the French would turn around and run away after seeing them.

As everyone knows, the tactic of the French is to run away with one shot, no matter how many people you have, so his calculations are superfluous...

"Here we come!" The French naval officers around Pregent Biedus became excited. As for Pregent Biedus himself, he looked calm on the surface, but his palms were actually sweating.

This is a truth he has summed up after many years of directing naval battles - in the face of a great battle, as a coach, even if you feel panicked, you must pretend to be calm, so that your subordinates will mistakenly think that he is very confident...

After feeling that it was almost done, Pregent Biddus ordered loudly:

"Open the cover, the basilisk cannon is ready to fire!"

He spoke Italian, which was understood immediately by half the Italian sailors on board. The other half of the French people also received instructions under the loud dissemination of the translators. Subsequently, these instructions were passed on to the five Calais ships by the loud "heralds"...

And why are these basilisk cannons covered with a cloth in the first place? It was not to mislead the Italian businessman in Brest Port who passed information to the British. In order to confuse the British, the six Calais ships of Pregent Biddoth only practiced normal kite tactics when they went to sea for training. While in Brest Bay, traditional jumping gangs were trained to confuse the British.

Now, the British warships have basically entered the range, so there is no need to cover up. Moreover, the basilisk guns on the bows of the six ships had already been loaded with gunpowder and stone bombs, and they were just waiting to be fired. It was covered with a drape before, not only for covering reasons, but also for preventing rain and moisture.

"Listen to my order, the oarsmen are fully engaged! Sailing to the northeast, and then, focus on shooting the most forward British ship!"

Immediately, the oarsmen on the boat, who were resting and accumulating energy before, all stood in front of the huge wooden oars and began to paddle hard. And the six Italian captains who have been following Biddus also followed the usual training step by step, commanding the ship to sail northeast, so as to get around the side of the British warship sailing south...

They are very proficient at this method. After all, in the past few months, in addition to training half of the French sailors on board, they have been practicing this tactic at sea.

Therefore, after the order was issued, the six Calais ships all burst out with strong maneuvering power, and suddenly increased their speed from about 3 knots to 7 knots.

On the opposite side, the British commander Edward Howard was first startled by the opponent's sudden speed increase. But seeing the direction of their maneuvering, I feel relieved...

"Oh, I thought they were going to run away with their tails between their legs again. Unexpectedly, they dared to maneuver to our side! An order was sent to let the Mary Rose take a boat and rush towards the enemy ship. I will kill some Frenchmen myself!" Edward Howard He took off the silk robe that symbolized his nobility, and only wore a sailor suit that was good for fighting. Mainly, this is conducive to jumping ship gangs to chop people. If you are wearing a robe, it will be in the way when you jump the boat, and you may trip yourself.

And the Mary Rose was also his ship in this naval battle and the flagship of the English fleet. Although this ship was also conscripted, it was actually a merchant ship of the Howard family. Usually, this ship will be responsible for the freight between Plymouth and Dublin, making a profit. But once the war starts, it will become Edward Howard's command ship. The sailors on the ship are also servants of the Howard family. They are very loyal, and most of them are veteran swordsmen with strong combat effectiveness.

But Edward Howard didn't know, it was because he wanted to kill a few Frenchmen to play with himself, which cost him a great price, and also made England pay a great price...

Just as the Mary Rose voluntarily broke away from the fleet group and rushed eastward, the six French Calais ships gradually arrived at their predetermined positions, turned their heads in unison, and pointed their bows at the easternmost ship of the English fleet. warship...