Chapter 308： England Retreat

The British Isles, at this time can be described as a pot of porridge. Under the city of Dublin, although the British army besieged for a long time, they were unable to win. After all, Count Edward ’s army was very powerful and could withstand the British attack.

However, Count Edward's army did not dare to attack. Why? Because the English Longbowmen chant ...

The English Longbowmen may be useless for siege, but for field operations, they are quite sharp. As long as they are not wearing plate armor all over, as long as they are shot, it will be alright. Although hundreds of longbowmen were lost, there are more than 6,000 longbowmen in England at this time. As long as Count Edward ’s army dares to leave the city, it will surely be shot into a hedgehog by the rain of arrows of these more than six thousand long bowmen.

So you, the two armies are so deadlocked. If the weather is fine, the British army will not dare to attack. Because the firearms and artillery of the Irish army are too lethal. However, siege in the rainy weather is also difficult to work. After all, Count Edward's army is not a decoration. Moreover, what most depresses the British army is that when it rains to attack the city, many soldiers often slip and fall from the ladder when they climb the wall and then fall. Just because it was wet and rainy on rainy days, there were more than three hundred unlucky British soldiers who fell off the siege ladder and even injured a few unlucky eggs.

Richard Ball was very helpless, he already understood-it is basically impossible to force down Dublin. Because there are estimated to be tens of thousands of troops in the city.

Then he took a new approach-siege. Richard Ball believes that since Count Edward ’s army has tens of thousands of people, food consumption must be astronomical. If the other party's food reserves are not enough, then their own opportunity will come. As long as the opponent is hungry and the army soldiers have no energy, as long as they launch a strong attack on a rainy day, they can capture Dublin. Henry VII also agreed with Richard Ball's tactics.

However, Richard Ball waited and waited for a long time, and did not see the garrison of the defenders in the city, and the fragrance of food could be heard from the city every day.

Then Richard Ball was a little difficult to ride a tiger, and told Henry VII the plight ...

Henry VII also felt very difficult, so he called on the ministers to discuss the countermeasures.

The ministers also felt very troublesome, so they discussed:

"Why does Edward have so much food? It shouldn't be ..." John De Ville, Earl of Oxford, was puzzled. You know, it is not so easy to feed the food for tens of thousands of troops for several months. Moreover, the King harvested all the grains harvested last autumn. There has never been much food left in the Kingdom of Ireland.

"Obviously, it was funded by the French and the Scots." Navy Secretary Johnson said affirmatively.

"However, the cost of supporting tens of thousands of troops to eat food for a few months is very high ..." said John De Ville, Earl of Oxford.

Even if a soldier eats only one pound of food per day, the 10,000-strong army consumes 10,000 pounds of food per day. If it is more than three months, it will be 1 million pounds in 100 days.

1 million pounds of rye, at the price of 1.5 pence per pound in England, that's 1.5 million pence. Converted into gold coins, it was 25,000 gold coins. This is not a small amount, and Earl Edward seems to have more than 1 million pounds of food.

"Oh, the French are willing to bleed to make England unlucky," Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland sneered.

"Isn't it Scotland?" Richard Fawkes, Minister of the Seal and Bishop of Winchester, asked back.

"It's impossible. Scotland itself is short of food." Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, retorted. The highlands of Scotland, coupled with the northern location and the relatively poor land, the grain production is not high. It is unlikely that Scotland, which is short of food itself, will support Earl Edward. Only an agricultural country like France can support Count Edward with so much food.

In fact, the British ministers did not know that it was not France but the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in Marin that supported Earl Edward ’s food. Of course, the French also supported part of the grain, but not much. And because Marin had too much food, and hoped to see the British hapless, he supported millions of pounds to Earl Edward. Such generosity moved Edward very much. He promised that once he won the throne, he would give the master of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce "Mr. Edison" a title.

Where does he know that the so-called "Mr. Edison" is the famous Marin Hoffman in Europe, the man who was given a bishopric by the Holy See.

Where does Marin care about a count? What he wants is the turmoil in England. Even, if possible, he wanted to invade England.

"That is to say, Edward's food source is France?" Henry VII asked.

Several other ministers nodded in agreement. Because there is no more reasonable explanation than this.

"If so, I have a way to drag Edward to death." Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland said suddenly.

"Ai Qing quickly!" Henry VII suddenly came to spirit.

"Yes, Your Majesty! It is thought that Edward's army, although there is no shortage of food. But, certainly not too much. So, he must be looking forward to this wave of food in autumn.

"Although Sir Ball ’s army could not conquer Dublin, it was still necessary to stay there. The minister ’s opinion was that, until the autumn harvest, let Sir Ball ’s army take the royal land, Kildareber The food in the areas controlled by the Kingdom and the McMurrow dynasty were all snatched, and no grain was left for Count Edward ... "

"In this way, it not only cut off Edward's possibility of obtaining food supplements, but also provided enough food for the frontline army!"

"Our army has enough food, but Edward's army has run out of food. By that time, victory will definitely belong to us!"

After thinking for a while, Henry VII said happily:

"Sure enough, it's a good idea. Edward's guy has run out of food. This trick can definitely starve him!"

"I'm afraid not!" At this time, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, suddenly retorted.

"Why?" Henry VII asked dissatisfiedly.

"Your Majesty, you seem to have forgotten the army of Scotland?" Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, asked back.

"This ... aren't they blocked in Yorkshire?" Henry VII asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but the Scottish army just failed to capture York City. The words of Earl of Northumberland just reminded me that if the autumn harvest season, the Scottish army is also grabbing our wheat, what should we do?"

For a while, everyone was stunned ...

In order to guarantee the elimination of Edward ’s rebels, England allowed the Scottish army to spread across the north of England. Newcastle, the important northern town, has been conquered and suffered great losses.

Today, a 10,000-strong Scottish army went south and surrounded York City, the capital of Yorkshire, in an attempt to conquer York. Once York was captured, the Scottish army could continue south and enter the hinterland of England.

Before, everyone felt that as long as the Scottish army did not conquer the city, it would be no big deal. However, they suddenly realized the danger-the Scottish army did not have to conquer York City. If they took advantage of the autumn harvest season to grab food from the countryside, England had no choice at this time.

If too much food is taken away by Scotland, it may cause a huge famine in England. Once England caused a famine, and then came a few serf riots, coupled with the attack of the Scottish army, the court may have a big deal ...

The most terrible thing is that if the autumn harvest is destroyed by the Scottish army, the British finances may trigger a huge crisis. If military supplies are not available, it may lead to a collapse. By then, everything is over ...

Thinking of these serious consequences, the people present suddenly discovered that the immediate priority now is to drive the Scottish army out of the country before the autumn is received.

However, where can I find such an army now ...

"No way, I can only recall Sir Bohr's army ..." Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derbyshire said heavily.

"But Edward's side ..." Henry VII was a little depressed.

"It's okay, Your Majesty, we can destroy the Irish crops before we withdraw our troops!" Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derbyshire, said viciously ~ www.novelhall.com ~ You mean ... "

"Yes, although we can't insist on harvesting these grains in the autumn harvest, before we can withdraw, we can completely destroy the crops that are about to mature, leaving the little Edward's little boy harvested!" Thomas Stanley, count of Derbyshire Said viciously.

"Oh, this strategy is really a second!" Everyone exclaimed. If the autumn harvest cannot obtain new food, the tens of thousands of Count Edward's army will be tragic.

"What if the French and Scots give Edward new food after the autumn harvest?"

"It ’s okay, the English fleet is stronger than France. As long as we do n’t stop patrolling the southern waters of the island of Ireland, the French ca n’t transport food in. As for the Scots, we can send ships to patrol outside its western port Glasgow to guard against the Scots. Shipping grain to the Irish island! "

"The old count, Gao Ming, this move is too powerful. I think, after a few months, Edward, who did not have new grain supplements, would collapse first. As long as France and Scotland are not allowed to ship grain to him, his tens of thousands of troops There must be only one way out of grain. "

"Yes, in order to starve them to death, the veteran suggested that Richard Ball be ordered to destroy the crops now. At the same time, kill all the livestock, make the dried meat, take it away, and leave nothing to Edward. Food. Then our army withdrew from Liverpool Port to drive out the Scottish army. It would be better if this army could be eliminated ... "

"Okay, let's do that!" Henry VII issued an order immediately, ordering Richard Ball to prepare to retreat. However, before retreating, the British army needed to destroy all the rye fields in the area controlled by Count Edward, and at the same time, kill all the local livestock and take away the meat of those livestock. After doing this, withdraw troops back to Liverpool Port to drive out the Scottish invasion forces ...