open sea

Chapter 1507 Heavy Duty
The commander of the Dutch fleet in the North Sea was Count Willem Rodwijk, a young army general.

William of Nassau led the infantry to fight and was the leader in the Netherlands. Because he had many friends and a wealthy family, he commanded troops that were wiped out by the Spaniards three times, and he was able to recruit a fourth time.

Before the alliance of six provinces was formed, the Netherlands did not use the Dutch to fight. The Dutch were all busy being sea superheroes, madly helping people make money by betting darts at sea. The money they earned was invested in the independence of the Netherlands. in the great cause.

Because Amsterdam is in the Netherlands, and this commercial center radiates to the six northern provinces, the commercial rise of the Netherlands is almost inevitable.

In the past, Amsterdam was just a very inconspicuous commercial port of the Hanseatic League, and there was not much manufacturing industry.

However, Duke Alva, the governor of the Netherlands at that time, implemented a high-pressure policy of heavy taxes and terror on the entire Netherlands. Later, when the Spanish Legion mutinied, he looted and burned the commercial center of Ampwert. The commercial center of Tete fell into a slump.

When Alva went to the New World, the Duke of Parma was transferred to the Netherlands. Brabant and Flanders in the south directly became the front lines of the war. After Parma captured the town, the Protestants in the city were allowed to leave peacefully with their families and property.

This policy caused a large number of residents of Antwerp, Ghent, Brussels and other places, the main towns of the Protestant rebellion, to emigrate to the northern province of Holland with their property.

Among them are wealthy merchants and a large number of skilled workers from all walks of life.

This led to the rapid rise of Amsterdam. In the six-provincial alliance, the Netherlands is the richest. Among them, the talents who specialize in combat have long since died in the long war of independence.

The rest are wealthy businessmen, so the second half of the Dutch War of Independence was completely fought by foreigners.

Scotland and Germany are rich in brave warriors; there are also Protestants in England and France, these people not only do not need to pay for employment, but also provide their own weapons and armor, as long as they have enough food, they are complete volunteers.

Now the captain of the Dutch fleet in the North Sea, William of Nassau, is a very good recruiter - he can always attract many poor ghosts who despise their lives from all over the world.

For a person, no matter what he does, it is very important to have the opportunity to start all over again.

When William first led the army to fight, his troops first entered the battle. Due to problems with the formation, they almost didn't fight the Spaniards.

Part of the reason was his bad luck. The first time he went into battle, he ran into a hard nut to crack. The Spanish Flanders Legion, the elite among the elite, was equivalent to the Zhejiang Army of Ming Dynasty.

By the second time, William of Nassau led the troops to fight the whole field, and was the penultimate phalanx that collapsed.

By the third time he went to the battlefield, not only was he not wiped out, but he also reorganized his formation when his friendly forces collapsed, pulling half of the troops out of the battlefield in an orderly manner.

This is a veteran, it's amazing, everyone should take a high look.

This time, he gathered all his troops and originally planned to march south, but Prince Maurice wanted to bring back a batch of valuable goods from the north, fearing that they would be robbed by the Ming army occupying England.

The Ming army captured England. Considering the alliance between Ming and Spain, the entire North Sea is not safe for neighboring countries.

Prince Maurice is the second son of William the Silent, also known as Maurice of Nassau, he is only 16 years old and still studying, but considering his father's prestige, almost everyone hopes that the Orange family can Served as consul of the Netherlands.

The eldest son of Orange was studying in Spain, and was obviously detained by Philip; the younger son was still young, and only Morris was the most suitable.

At this moment, England is gone, France ceded a large area of ​​land to Baishan, and the powerful neighboring countries can't care about the affairs of the Netherlands. This is the best opportunity.

The parliament has put the matter on the agenda, and only waiting for the approval of the six provinces, Morris of Nassau will become the new consul of the Netherlands.

This batch of precious goods that Earl William personally escorted was nothing else. The Netherlands ordered shipbuilding wood from Norway and Denmark; the finished gunpowder purchased from the Kingdom of Sweden weighed more than [-] catties.

Gunpowder, in a sense, is more important than the best wood for shipbuilding.

In fact, right next to them, the Holy Roman Empire in the German region produced gunpowder in large quantities. People would hang nitrate from the walls of the stables, and there were also piles of raw materials specially made in the sheep stables.

The individual output is definitely small, but when it becomes large-scale, it will add up to a few catties a year. It must be enough for normal wars without cannons or with several cannons.

But Shinra will not sell it to the Netherlands.

The western route has been strangled, and there is no way to go to Morocco to buy them. They can only go to Sweden, which has mines at home.

When he came back with the goods, he saw that he would arrive in the Netherlands in two or three days, but he didn't expect to bump into Yang Ce at this juncture.

It wasn't that William wanted the fleet to spread out to surround Yang Ce's fleet, but he wanted to use this method to completely intercept Yang Ce's fleet rushing towards them, let the merchant ships carrying gunpowder leave first, and the ships carrying timber be delayed and leave first. Let's talk about the danger zone.

What is an old Spaniard at sea?
Fire the cannons as you please, and jump to the gang seriously.

After all, Tiaobang saves gunpowder, and the Dutch demand for gunpowder savings is even greater than that of Spain.

Spain uses a lot of gunpowder, but they also have a large population. They can produce some output by building their own nitrate fields, and they are not far from the Sahara. Smugglers can always get saltpeter.

The Netherlands is different. The purchase of gunpowder from Sweden this time is the first time they have bought first-hand gunpowder. They used to buy gunpowder that was resold by others, with tens of catties here and dozens of catties there.

They scraped together a few hundred catties and sent them to the battlefield without even daring to use the cannon. Fifteen musket companies fired five volleys, and they were gone.

It is enough to fight one battle, and the Musketeer will be retired after fighting.

gun?
Forget about guns, they can make the best guns in Europe, but their own infantry phalanx cannot be equipped with one artillery per 1000 people.

Everyone knows that guns are a good thing, how can they be used without gunpowder?
Flying the flags of various countries at sea for a long time has given the Dutch people a lot of useful information.

For example, the Port of Goa in East India occupied by the Portuguese in the past had gunpowder, the Songhai Kingdom in West Africa, and Morocco also had gunpowder. Catholic monks said that Japan had gunpowder, and Ming Dynasty also had gunpowder.

But they can't even get out of the North Sea now.

England, the past gunpowder dealer, is dead.

William of Nassau really felt that God would send him a big responsibility. As long as the four thousand catties of gunpowder can be transported back to Amsterdam, they will be able to take back the city that Spain took in the Lower Netherlands in the next war.

As for the current naval battle?
William of Nassau knocked on the ship's side with his hand, raised his arm and pointed straight ahead: "Surround up, run into them, and fight them on board!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)