Chapter 280： Saltpetre is still missing

When the French attacked the Calais fortress, King Henry VII panicked. However, considering the strength of the Calais fortress, Henry VII did not lose hope. Then, he dispatched his men to various places, wanting to mobilize thousands more, and transported by sea to Calais fortress to help resist the French attack.

However, unexpectedly, a few days later, Henry VII learned that the British army had only a few hundred people left and fled Calais in a boat on the dock. The Calais Fortress naturally fell into the hands of the French.

Hearing this news, Henry VII vomited on the spot with an old blood, and then fainted faintly ...

After waking up, Henry VII hurriedly told the minister:

"Quick, quick! Command the Navy to immediately enter a state of full preparation. Seeing the French fleet, be sure to sink!"

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Navy Secretary Johnson was puzzled.

"The French have mastered the way to easily break through the Oak City Gate. Now that London is empty, it is also the Oak City Gate. If the French army landed across the sea and surrounded London, Britain would be dead!"

Johnson thought about it, and it really was the case. So he suggested:

"Or, let's withdraw our troops in Ireland?"

"No, it's not necessary. This is a great opportunity to eliminate Edward. There is no room for loss. The French army is strong, but the premise is that the French fleet can beat the British fleet and control the English Channel. Otherwise, they will not be able to pass. So, I demanded that the British fleet be fully prepared. As long as our fleet can control the strait, the French will not be able to survive. "Henry VII said firmly.

"Your Majesty is wise!" After that, Johnson quickly mobilized the warships and guarded the English Channel.

"So, your majesty, what about the invasion of Scotland?" Thomas Stanley, Henry VII's stepfather, asked anxiously. After discovering that Henry VII showed no signs of withdrawing troops, Scotland ’s 10,000-strong army had already broken through the Hadrian ’s Wall and began to sack some towns in northern England. The soldiers pointed at Newcastle.

"Scottish Army ..." Henry VII frowned ... for a long time, he sighed and said:

"Let him go, there are guards in northern England, and Newcastle also has 1500 guards. I hope they can hold on ..."

"Then it doesn't matter?"

"Why? What do I take care of? The main force of the army went to Ireland. How could I allow him to run away? As long as Edward dies, my throne will sit back and relax. As for the Scottish army, I will fight at one and a half. Do n’t come to London. Do n’t forget, there are so many counties in England, and there are troops in every county. Before Scotland came over town after town, the war in Ireland had long ended. A few days ago, Richard sent a letter Well, they said they had arrived near Dublin, ready to siege, and I do n’t know if they succeeded ... "

"What if the Scottish army came to London?"

"Do n’t be afraid, the Scottish army has only 10,000 people. Even if it hits London, it will consume a lot of soldiers and horses. By the time of London, it will be good to have 8,000 remaining. There are also four or five thousand soldiers in the city They are all regular troops and can withstand them. When Richard ’s army comes back, it will wipe out the Scottish army, and then go north to annex you Scotland! ”Henry VII said cruelly.

"What if Scotland also used artillery to bombard the city gates? We might not be able to support the return of troops ..."

"This ... I will send people to collect iron materials in Sussex, and cast a few iron doors to replace the oak doors ..."

Sussex is the iron smelting center in England. There are many blacksmith shops, and there is no shortage of iron. It is no problem to collect iron materials here and make dozens of large iron doors.

...

In fact, Marin was also entangled at this time. Intelligence from the British side is constantly being sent to his own hands. At this time, Marin suddenly discovered that there is now an opportunity to destroy Britain ...

What opportunity? That is, Marin can send a fleet and destroy the British fleet. As long as the British fleet was eliminated, the French could safely cross the sea, and then surrounded London to destroy the United Kingdom. At least, killing Henry VII is not a problem.

At present, the British look like a total of 120 warships, most of which are commercial ships of the "Five Ports Alliance". Moreover, they are all classic Kirk sailboats with relatively thin sides. The side of this kind of ship can't help being attacked by the guns of the Marin warship.

Now, there are more than 23 warships under Marin. Previously, it was 8 battleships plus 15 250-class armed merchant ships. But with the passage of time, the number of 250-class armed merchant ships has increased to 25, and the number of warships has increased to 10. In other words, Marin now has 35 warships.

Of course, even with 35 warships, Marin ’s navy could not shake. Why? Enough ships and guns, but gunpowder is not enough ...

Because of the large number of artillery and the large caliber of naval battles, the consumption of gunpowder is also very alarming. A volley of 20 18-pound guns on a battleship consumed 120 pounds of gunpowder on the spot. Artillery fired on average every two minutes during naval battles. If the guns are fired nonstop within an hour and 30 rounds are fired, then the gunpowder consumption is 3600 pounds ... If it is a day, well, let ’s fire a 5 hour gun, which is 18,000 pounds, which is 8.16 tons of gunpowder. 10 warships cost 81.6 tons of gunpowder ...

There are 25 armed merchant ships, the number of artillery is halved, but it also costs dozens of tons of gunpowder ...

In other words, after a sea battle, the consumption of gunpowder is hundreds of tons. What's special, Marin felt again-gunpowder is not enough! Or to be more precise-saltpeter is not enough ...

I am afraid that only by developing the saltpetre mine in Chile can naval warships be fired at random ...

So ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Marin is more interested in the development of Panama. As long as you have a firm foothold in Panama, you can go to Mexico in the north, the Inca Empire in Peru in the south, or dig the saltpetre in the desert of northern Chile further south ...

However, the desert in northern Chile is too dry and it has not rained for hundreds of years. Probably, only this kind of climate can preserve the saltpetre, which is easily soluble in water. Otherwise, the saltpeter has been dissolved into the underground by the rainwater ...

Malin wants to mine saltpetre, but the desert climate, who adapts?

"By the way, the Arabs and the Berbers of North Africa seem to be quite adapted to this climate. Their homes are also arid deserts ... Maybe, you can go to Morocco to get some Berber slaves and take camels to northern Chile. Saltpetre mining in the desert ... "Marin was in deep thought ...

Marin remembers mentioning it in a novel that used Arabs to dig saltpetre in the desert of northern Chile. The novel says that there is too much saltpetre in the Chilean desert, which is of great value. Therefore, confidentiality is required. Otherwise, it is known that hundreds of millions of tons of saltpetre are randomly picked up on the ground, and it is estimated that they will be robbed by groups. Therefore, the big way is to let the Chinese manage the Arabs to mine Chile's saltpetre. In this way, it is not easy to leak ...

Marin quickly wrote down this method. Although it is not necessary to use the Chinese, it is necessary to use the most loyal subordinates. As for mining saltpetre in the desert, either Arabs or Berbers are OK ...

In addition, Chile has many copper and silver mines in addition to saltpeter. It seems that there is a silver mine near the capital of Santiago, Chile ... Of course, when it comes to silver, who can compare with Peru and Mexico? For Marin, the most needed is Chile's saltpeter. Owning Chile's saltpeter is equivalent to having unlimited firepower ...