living in 16th century england

Chapter 73 Slow-paced War

By the time Matthew figured out what was going on, it was almost dark.

Before Mike came back, seven or eight ships had been parked at the port, most of them were fully loaded, and the goods were even more varied.There are two more crooked spinning in the distance and struggling to drive to the pier.

It's a pity that the dock is rotten and there is no way to unload the cargo.

But this is the job of the dock officials, and Matthew just readily pays for compensation.

Customs revenue belongs to the royal family, and of course it needs to be paid.So soon some Hawkins sneaks up and asks how this should be recorded?

Matthew thought to himself that this was completely unnecessary. He had robbed so many French merchant ships, and he couldn't hide it anyway.

However, the spirit is commendable.

So he had a warm face: "Record it as it is."

The door-to-door son-in-law leaned over and said with a smile, "Matthew... that's ok, I'll retaliate right away and let the Frenchman taste our power."

Matthew: "..."

He raised his hand and hammered the guy's armor with the back of his hand: "You seem to have reminded me...but there are not enough stevedores now, ask the longbowmen if they want to earn some extra money? Once the pier is repaired...it's just a matter of transporting it to the freight yard. simple."

"A shilling each for unloading, no matter how many boats are behind, plus a couple of free kegs of Hawkins. Plus, I think you can have some... private money."

One shilling is of course a high salary, and it also means an extra reward. After all, guarding the port is also a job.

The son-in-law who came to the door was overjoyed, immediately agreed and left excitedly.

Matthew looked around and found the tavern owner who was watching the excitement, so he beckoned.

"Have any captain come back and tell him that trade and vacations are suspended. Resting at Plymouth for the time being."

The French suffered a loss, so they should retaliate, right?But with the efficiency of this era, the ghost knows when they will come.

The tavern owner agreed immediately.

Matthew: "Do you think it's hard work for these sailors to bring the boat back?"

Tavern owner: "If there are 5 people, it will be very tiring."

"What if they stole the loot?"

The tavern owner immediately said: "...can I call more people... search them?"

Then he hesitated, bringing back so much cargo is undoubtedly a huge wealth.So much for a little money...

"Isn't it...not appropriate?"

Matthew looked up: "You're right, it's really inappropriate. So..."

"... I will see Mike later, put him in the cage first."

This matter belongs to the level of chaos, and it is almost inevitable for the sailors to take advantage of it.Hope Mike isn't so stupid as to not even collect the gold coins.No amount of money can hold much in a person's pocket except gold.Does anyone still carry a handful of salt in their pockets?

Well, it is indeed possible.However, there are always some valuables on board, silver tableware and the like are not uncommon.

Matthew doesn't care about money.

It is perfectly fine to make a fortune, but if there is a problem with the distribution of spoils, one bad thing is internal strife.

He was a little helpless.Get the sailors who worked so hard to bring the ship back to search and extract confessions?This also defeats the purpose.

Had to take Mike surgery.

The tavern owner hesitated for a moment, and asked, "... how many days?"

Matthew glanced at him, and the tavern owner immediately shut up.

There was a lot of voices on the pier, and the torches were brightly lit.A group of people are rebuilding the trestle bridge with a big mallet and ramming wooden piles.Mobilizing so many strong men to rush to repair overnight is only a few gold coins.

Looking at the busy labor scene, Matthew was distracted.If you give them a knife and enough gold coins to summon them, they will actually be so motivated, right?

Human attributes are only in the present, not in the past.

No one can decide the present and the future, no matter what he did in the past.

Farmers take up arms, and that's militants.A craftsman who becomes a factory owner is a factory owner.The captain of a merchant ship who only knows how to run away, as long as he goes to rob, he is a pirate.

There are no peasant pirates, no artisan pirates, no merchant pirates.Pirates are pirates.

Strange, why do I feel that origin is important?
Maybe, a capitalist who was born as a shepherd boy will give me a little more sense of justice?The notion of peasant-born aristocrats would make me feel better?

No, at most it's just some bottom line, right?If I have sons, grandchildren.Will they have a bottom line?Is it really useful to have a family background of farming origin?
Matthew took out the smoke pot to fill the shredded tobacco, and a militiaman acting as a night watchman graciously handed over his torch.

Matthew took it: "...Thank you."

Unexpectedly, the militiaman said: "Dear Baron, do we have a chance... to go with them next time?"

Matthew paused, lit the pipe and took a puff, and handed him the torch casually: "...there will be a chance."

The smog was lingering, and then it was blown away without a trace by the sea breeze.

Then Matthew said: "Let him write a self-criticism, at least [-] words, and he is not allowed to leave the room until he finishes writing."

The tavern owner was a little confused: "Review? What is that?"

Matthew smiled: "Self-training."

Tavern owner: "?"

Looking at Matthew's back, the tavern owner expressed deep sympathy for Mike's future encounters.Buy Karma, [-] words?It's better than squatting in a cage.

There were many things to do, so Matthew stayed in the tavern for one night.He has a special room.

It was a busy night at the pier.

In the middle of the night, he was woken up by an argument.

Someone yelled, telling the longbowmen to be honest, stealing Lord Baron's goods, one hand should be cut off.The strange thing is that although the longbowmen are numerous and powerful, they dare not resist and refute.In the end, the son-in-law came to visit.

Matthew suddenly understood that if the sailors had a share of this huge wealth, the sailors would have an incentive to protect it.

Although they will still pass by, they will never allow outsiders to pass by.

In the next few days, the French still had no major movements, and they were still huddled in the port of Brittany.

Because the relationship between Spain and France was more tense at this time, or in other words, the relationship between the whole of Western Europe and Italy was tense with France.The so-called Holy Alliance is actually an anti-French alliance.The later anti-French alliances were all simple imitations of history.

It took the French half a month to determine who did it.It was the ship that revealed his identity.

Language cannot be used to determine identity. At this time, Latin was used for cross-regional communication in Europe.A few Latin words are enough to run to a French ship.

Have you ever seen soldiers taking prisoners?Would they still discuss the pronunciation of words with the captives?

Ironically, it is recorded that no dictionaries existed for Latin at this time.Even Catherine of Aragon spoke very difficult Latin when she first arrived in England.It can be said that the pronunciation varies greatly from place to place.

On the other hand, the owners of the robbed ships must first pass the news to Louis XII far away in the direction of Italy through various channels.
In the end, Matthew had no way of knowing that the French were on the defensive.It can be said that there is a fleet.

This is also impossible. The main force of the French army is in the direction of Italy in southern Europe. In this case, they will not take the initiative to attack and wipe out the ships.

Historically, they did nothing until 1512, when they were finally beaten by Edward Howard and almost wiped out.

Such a slow response is really suitable for the era of pirates.

But Matthew was waiting for Henry VIII's reply.In his opinion, since the plan is not as good as changing, it is better to destroy the French Breton navy directly.So I wrote a letter early and sent it to Greenwich.

~He is a merchant marine, how could he fight for his fortune?So you have to shake people.

Although the captain and the servants all thought that with the current ten little donkeys plus other boats, and the twelve boats that Mike had just captured, it was only necessary to temporarily recruit more people to serve as combatants.There is a high probability that the French raised in Brittany are not opponents.

But Matthew doesn't think so. He thinks it's better to let that Edward rush forward to receive this battle merit.Group fights are king.

He believes that paying money is fine, but military exploits are definitely not.

It is definitely not a good thing to lose, and it is not necessarily a good thing to win~ it will seriously affect his ease and great career.He is a businessman and squire.Is it because you like the sea that you order so many boats?

Contrary to Matthew's expectations, Henry VIII's reply was to let him not worry about the French navy and let him wait.In addition to asking how the Earl of Kildare was doing, he also encouraged him to rob the French.

In the end, I revealed my true colors~ Can you support me with so many ships now?He is in a hurry.

~Because England and Spain reached an agreement to transport [-] English troops to the Iberian Peninsula to assist Spain in fighting against France.

This... what kind of weird decision?Is there such a thing in history?Is it to help the father-in-law beat Louis XII violently?
King Ferdinand II of Spain was still an ally with France a few years ago, and he even married Louis XII's niece, but Henry VIII married his daughter Catherine, and his future sister, Princess Mary, married Louis XII as a house fill .This seniority is simply a mess.

So the kinship of European kings is that, and no one really cares.

There are only more than 4 people in England on the books, and 1 is certainly not a small number.

After much deliberation, Matthew could only explain that Henry VIII was implementing a policy of delay.

~Look, I have sent 1 people out, so we can only wait here.

No one would say that he did not work hard in an alliance, let alone ask him to immediately cross the sea to attack France or something.Because there is Scotland to the north.

What's even better is that the battlefield is in the south, which will not attract the main force of France back to the vicinity of the English Channel.In this direction, France is still weak.

Matthew began to think that Henry VIII had an intelligence network?Both the French navy and Scotland are real threats.He is not worried?
However, this slow-paced war made Matthew very uncomfortable.Because he had to keep some ships in the port, and patrol nearby to guard against French sneak attacks.Simply Shet!
As for Henry VIII reaching out for a ship, give it to him.Anyway, except for Caravel and Karak, he didn't like other miscellaneous ships, so he just gave them away.Just pay taxes.

As Matthew expected, the other captains were all jealous when they came back.When patrolling often, there are no people on patrol. Even the illiterate captain dared to run to rob.

A servant came forward, saying that the current situation is obviously caused by your connivance, Mr. Baron.He believes that the future will lead to unpredictable consequences.

What can Matthew do?hang them?

As a last resort, he finally took out his trump card - he built a row of small black houses.

(End of this chapter)