Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2033 North Sea ([-])

In the middle and late November, the weather in the North Sea is gloomy and the waves are rough.

To be honest, this is not a good time to go to sea.Even during the two Anglo-Dutch naval battles that year, the main fleets of the two sides rarely engaged in large-scale battles in winter and spring (replaced by the active activity of small privateers), because the North Sea is very windy and rough at this time of year. , There is no way to fight at all.

I still remember that year when the fleet of the Dutch East India Company bypassed the British Isles and returned to Amsterdam. The news leaked on the way was intercepted by the British, and they had to stop at the port of Bergen, Norway. In the end, they ventured back to China relying on the bad spring weather in the North Sea, and It is also evident that some merchant ships were lost due to the strong wind and waves.

However, in such bad weather, the East Coast Fleet still departed from the Port of Bruges and patrolled the waters between the United Provinces and England.They even stopped a convoy of East India Company merchant ships returning from Batavia and inspected them before releasing them.In addition, some merchant ships sailing from the United Kingdom to the United Provinces were also randomly inspected by people on the east coast. Although they were finally released, this undoubtedly aroused dissatisfaction between the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

At this time, even the republicans couldn't sit still, and they sent Zeeland Provincial Councilor Van Beveninghe to negotiate with the temporary agency on the east bank of Vlissingen Port, asking the people on the east bank not to "hinder the normal business practice".Van Beverninghe explained this in detail, because their supporters and benefactors are mainly big businessmen, and they really can't stand the behavior of the people on the east coast. People on the east coast refrain, otherwise they will reduce part of the subsidies for the east coast navy to go to sea.

Mo Lieel also felt that this behavior was a bit stupid.William III's German mercenaries were still on standby at the two ports of Hollen and Enkhuizeng in the Netherlands.However, this matter is actually quite contradictory. When William III's men set off, the initiative is actually in his own hands. Make sure you can intercept it successfully when it goes out, as message delivery takes time.What's more, after the other party goes out to sea, only they know what the course is and what the destination is.On the vast sea, if you want to successfully capture William III's fleet, you need luck against the sky.

Therefore, the above reasons have caused the current entanglement of the people on the east coast.They knew that the possibility of intercepting William III on the spot was extremely small, but they were still unwilling to give up this possibility, so they always sent about one-third of the warships to patrol the sea. See if you have any luck and can intercept William III's fleet.You know, the nobles, businessmen, and priests in the UK have long asked him to send troops. William III may leave at any time. I can tell.

The fleet of the people on the east coast can't sail into the Ijsselmeer in the Dutch inland sea to intercept it, right?That would offend many Dutch naval officers and soldiers who are currently neutral!In terms of the current relatively delicate situation, it is unwise!This is not to defend the country. The East Coast Navy does not have the obligation to fight to the death with the Anglo-Dutch Navy for the sake of the republicans, because the only ones who will get cheap in the end will be the French.

When it comes to the French, there is one very interesting thing, that is, although they rejected the East Coast Ambassador Lin Dingzhi’s request not to invade Germany or the Southern Netherlands, after hearing that the East Coast Navy Fleet arrived in Bruges, King Louis XIV of France immediately sent his confidant minister, Minister of War Loire, to the city they once occupied.

The task of Luwa is to persuade the people on the east coast to form an alliance with them and jointly form a fleet to attack the navies of England and the Netherlands. This surprised the commander of the task force, Colonel Moreel.He felt that it was probably because the people on the east coast showed an aggressive attitude towards the Prince of Orange, which made the French mistakenly think that there was room for cooperation?The French themselves gave up sending troops to aid James II - of course James II also refused to send troops to England. After all, he is not the kind of person who can lure wolves into the house for the sake of the throne. This is also the main reason why he was eventually released by William III in history. One, he did not substantially damage England's sovereignty and interests-now he is licking his face and asking for cooperation, what kind of drama is this singing!

After discussing with his subordinates, Moller felt that the French might still feel that their own navy alone might not be able to fight against the alliance of Britain and the Netherlands at the same time, so they wanted to bring people from the east coast together to strengthen their confidence.However, he also learned that the current focus of the French expansion is still on land, and there are indications that their goal this time is the Rhine River Basin, so how can it be possible to use all of its national power to fight against the British and Dutch navies?I'm afraid you don't want to treat the people on the east coast as fools, and use them as cannon fodder to consume each other with the British and Dutch, right?

Out of this consideration, Colonel Moreel suggested that it is not impossible to jointly deal with the British and Dutch navies, but the fleet command of this joint operation must be handed over to him.He even bluntly said that although East and France share certain strategic interests, it is a pity that there is no mutual trust between the two sides, so he must command the navies of the two countries.Obviously, Loire could not accept such conditions, and finally returned to Paris unhappy.

And skip this episode, on November 1688, 11, the East Coast Navy cruiser stopped a British fleet in the waters southeast of Norwich, England's second largest city.When they were observing at sea, they found that this was a merchant fleet. They didn't take it seriously at first, it was just a routine inspection, but these British refused the boarding inspection of the East Coast Navy, and at the same time pushed many artillery pieces away. Come up and start shelling directly.

People on the east coast were a little confused by the decisive reaction of the British.Isn't it just a routine inspection of the ship, is it necessary to resist so fiercely?At the same time, they are also a little excited, grandma is a bear, and she is worried that she has no excuse to find fault with your grandsons, which is good, you actually delivered it to your door.As a result, more than a dozen warships, including the three-deck battleship "Scavenger", swarmed up, sent the two British merchant ships to the bottom of the sea with fierce artillery fire, and captured the last British ship at the same time. A special envoy of the British Parliament, Douglas, a businessman from the Spencer family.

Douglas Spencer was a member of the Spencer family, a large London merchant, who ran a paper mill in London.This trip to the Netherlands was to urge William III to send troops as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, he was intercepted by a naval warship on the east coast in the open sea. Very easy), but in the end it failed tragically, and I was captured by the East Coast Navy.

The captain of the "Scavenger" immediately sent Douglas himself to the Port of Bruges, where he was handed over to officials of the local National Intelligence Agency for interrogation.At the same time, they also issued a warning to Colonel Moreel, pointing out that William III may dispatch troops to land in England at any time, and the East Coast Navy must be more vigilant.

Colonel Moreel also paid more attention to this. He immediately wrote the article and returned to Gao Wengang, the special envoy to Europe in Cadiz, to ask him for advice.At the same time, he also sent Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Yu to lead some of the main warships to leave the port of Bruges and go to the sea area where the incident occurred to meet up, and jointly deal with the possible rebound of the British.

On November 11th, the British had not yet made a formal response (most likely because they had not yet received news), some Portuguese mercenaries had arrived at the port of Vlissingen by boat, and Morley Eel also visited the port for the second time within a month. city, communicated with the republican envoy Van Beveninghe.

Van Beveninghe came here following Van Boyningen's intentions. After the two sides chatted about the latest situation in the Netherlands, Colonel Moreel once again suggested that the republicans hold on to the army and maintain a relatively good relationship with the militia leaders in various towns. relationships in order to have the support of these people should the situation change dramatically in the future.

In addition, the East Coast Army (including various miscellaneous mercenaries) has arrived in Vlissingen one after another, with a total of more than 1500 people.If there are no accidents in the future, more than 4000 soldiers will arrive, but these are far from enough, and more mercenaries are needed to fight against William III.Moreel even asked about the result of the recruiting of mercenaries in Switzerland mentioned by Van Boiningen before. He even said bluntly that if it didn't work, the Southern Netherlands could still recruit a group of mercenaries nearby. to increase their strength.

Van Beverninghe faltered and hawed about this, which made Mo Lieel very confused.No wonder these grandsons can't beat William III. This indecisive style is really deceptive, and they are too obsessed with politics and public opinion.DeWitt's era was still bloody. For example, William III's father wanted to rebel, so he recruited many officers in the name of national righteousness, and then directly surrounded and disarmed the army.DeWitt's brother, Cornelis DeWitt, was an admiral of the Netherlands and had fought the English face to face at sea. The republicans at that time had such lofty aspirations.The result now?It's really not as good as a crab, they are masters who do great things and cherish their lives!

"The German mercenaries in Nijmegen are only 2 people, and the equipment is also very general. We can be responsible for gathering 6000 people to the Netherlands. You only need to pull more than 5000 people from Switzerland. I am sure you can rely on this More than ten thousand people defeated the peasants in the German countryside in Nijmegen. What are you afraid of? William III hired soldiers from Germany to suppress the domestic situation. He broke the rules. I don’t know how many people scolded him. You hired troops from other countries. What can't be done?" Mo Lieel felt that he had to put some pressure on them, and he only heard him say: "Heronymus, please help me tell Speaker Van Boiningen that the three-level parliament is the theory of the United Provinces. The highest authority in the world, he has full power to invite us to station in every important city, and this is exactly what he should do."

"Okay, I'll tell you. In fact, as you said, it's a reasonable thing." Hieronymus van Beveninghe nodded and said, "Don't worry about funding, we We have already raised 1000 million guilders, and we will pay you in a few days. Moreover, the items in the warehouse of war supplies in Flissingen can be borrowed from you for the time being, and they will be deducted from the employment fee in the future. You—be careful Those Prussians and Saxons stationed at Nijmegen, they can do anything."

"Thank you for your reminder. I think our army officers and soldiers will notice this. They are all professional and have just experienced the test of war in the Ukrainian battlefield. Experience is not a problem." Colonel Moreel said with a smile: "In addition, I hope that the three levels of parliament can influence your country's navy so that it will not be hostile to us. We have no malice against your country, we only want to prevent William III from going to England to ascend the throne, and we don't want to fight your country's navy. In other words, you Do you like to wait for William III to leave the Netherlands, and then seize power in the country?"

"No, there is no need. Now domestic public opinion is already very unfavorable to William III, especially after the scandal of his misappropriation of funds was exposed, even the church no longer supports him. He is very bad now, except for going to England There is no other way. Merchants, handicraft guilds, churches, and civic groups all hate him, and we are confident in regaining power and abolishing his ruling position." After hearing this, Van Beverninghe waved his hands repeatedly and said.

Mo Lieel glanced at him and said nothing.In fact, he doubts the words of these republicans, and the opposition of businessmen, craftsmen, churches, and citizens is useless!What is the most critical attitude of the army has been ambiguous so far.Moreel could only be inclined to think that some officers and soldiers opposed the Orange family, while others supported it.Otherwise, the Prince of Orange would not have to hastily dispatch troops from Germany into the Netherlands to deter all parties (nominally to protect the security of the United Provinces).Similarly, if the army really did not support William III at all, it would be impossible for him to mobilize a large number of naval warships and armed merchant ships to help him transport soldiers to England, although many large wholesalers and big bankers supported him.

"I hope it is as optimistic as you said. In the next period of time, the surface of the North Sea will become turbulent, and armed conflicts may break out on the ground of the Seven Provinces Alliance. I sincerely hope that our army will not compete with your country's army. Fighting, whether it is the navy or the army. This point really requires you to worry about it." Colonel Moreel held Van Beverninghe's hand and said: "This is the best opportunity, we must succeed, you guys Understand?"

(End of this chapter)