Chapter 654： Let go of the French leader

Because Switzerland is fighting the invasion of the Habsburgs, Louis XII currently has no Swiss army available. Therefore, in addition to the 8,000 French knights and artillery, the remaining infantry in the 20,000-strong army are all local infantry.

Of course, these infantry soldiers are not as good as Swiss mercenaries. After all, they were selected in the big France. At least, Louis XII believed that the combat effectiveness of these infantry would not be worse than that of the English infantry.

Infantry landings do not require a horse, which is very convenient. As long as they landed and formed a spear formation, they could fully resist the crazy counterattack of the English army.

As long as a foothold was achieved and the French heavy cavalry and artillery landed, the occupation would be doomed. Moreover, according to the information, Edward seems to have issued a poem to condemn Henry VII, making Henry VII angry enough. The Longbowmen who most troubled the French in Britain should be transferred to the north to encircle Edward. Thinking of ... but, what he didn't know is that the seven thousand long archers affiliated with the English royal family were waiting a lot near London ...

As the French began to cross the sea, boats and ships, such as dumplings, generally poured into the English Channel from the inland river. Then, forming a dense formation, slanting towards the direction of Hastings in a majestic manner-according to the previous investigation of the French reconnaissance ship, it seems that the Hastings Pier does not have many ships, only some fishing boats ...

The movement of the French naturally attracted the attention of the British. In fact, at this time, most of the British fishing boats wandering on the English Channel were reconnaissance vessels. Moreover, they are all fast-tracking reconnaissance ships ...

As the French began to cross the sea, those fishing boats turned around and returned ...

The French do not care, because this is a normal reaction-shouldn't the British fishing boat be frightened to escape by seeing the French fleet crossing the sea?

Moreover, even if these fishing boats go back and report the news, the French will not care. Why? Because at this time, even if the British get the news, it should be too late to respond. When the other side reacted, the French had already gained a foothold along the coast of England ... In addition, the fishing boats also ran fast enough and far away, and the French wanted to stop them, but they couldn't do it ...

Those who stayed on the British reconnaissance ship for reconnaissance on the English Channel are experienced scouts. According to the direction of the French fleet, they immediately judged that the French were to land in the port of Hastings. Because, in that direction, Britain has no other ports. Later, the more famous ports such as Brighton did not appear at this time. Only old ports like Hastings that belong to the Five Ports Alliance are more suitable for landing.

So, after the small fishing boat docked, the investigators immediately reported to the messengers waiting on the shore-French, targeting the port of Hastings ... more powerful scouts, inferred from the size of the fleet-may be the first Troops, excluding heavy cavalry and artillery ...

At such an important juncture, the messengers did not care about the horses. The whip waved the horses to London without stopping. And, halfway through, there are replacement horses that have been prepared ...

After changing horses several times, intelligence finally reached the hands of Henry VII in London ...

"Landing in Hastings ... Um ... looks like a good choice ..."

"So, Your Majesty, do we start attacking now?" Asked the Navy Secretary Charlie Johnson.

"Um ... not in a hurry ... Didn't see the information show that the heavy cavalry and artillery of the enemy probably did not come?"

"What does your majesty mean?"

"We are attacking the French this time, of course, we must attack their core strength. Only the heavy cavalry and artillery that hit them hardly will be considered to achieve the goal. So, this wave of landing, the French will take two days. We This wave let them land, and when the second wave of landing begins, our navy will attack again ... "

After all, the English Channel is one or two hundred kilometers wide. At the speed of the current sailboat, the entire fully loaded fleet does take a day or two to cross. Unlike the investigating Clippers, they were on the side close to England and were faster. Therefore, the English have enough reaction time.

"Also, Richard (Richard Ball, the confidant of Henry VII), you lead the army and march to Hastings. When the sea battle starts, you have to attack. However, your army is not To be too close to Hastings, so as not to scare away the French! "

Hastings is 70 to 80 kilometers away from London, and the army marches in two days. Taking advantage of this time, Henry VII decided to drive the army to Hastings, ready to attack.

"Also, let the guards of Hastings retreat. However, before retreating, the gates and walls there must be destroyed to facilitate our counterattack!" Henry VII added after thinking about it. Hastings ’s army must surrender Hastings to lure the French advance troops to land in order to give confidence to the cavalry and artillery behind. However, if the entire city of Hastings was left to the French, that would be it. After all, Hastings, as a member of the "Five Ports League", is richer and the city walls are tall and strong. If they were to fall into the hands of the French army, they might be able to guard for a few months, causing huge casualties to the counterattack British troops. Therefore, Henry VII ordered that the defenders of Hastings must destroy the city gates and walls before withdrawing to facilitate the counterattack of Richard Ball ’s army ...

...

Henry VII was not bad, the French did spend a long time crossing. And, not two days, but three days ...

The reason it took three days was because the French pioneers were very cautious in crossing the sea. Although Louis XII drove away Marin's messenger, there was some drumming in his heart. Therefore, he ordered the leading troops to cross the sea to be careful. If you find something wrong, go back immediately ... So, the crossing that could be completed in two days was stunned for three days. Because the French army has been preparing for the interception of the British fleet while crossing the sea ...

However, nothing happened when the pioneer troops crossed the sea, only a lot of English fishing boats panicked back to report. However, this is also reasonable.

When the French fleet arrived at the port of Hastings, the English fishing boats in the port were frightened to leave the port and ran away, all the way to the east, seemingly to the direction of London.

The French did not care, but sent troops to land in peace with peace of mind (the British side blocked the port). Then the French attacked Hastings City ...

The Hastings defenders had long received orders from Henry VII, so resistance was perfunctory. The huge city of Hastings was easily climbed up by the French death squad ...

Then, the 800 British troops in the city saw a bad situation and abandoned the city in a "grandfather" escape. However, what surprised the French was that before the British evacuated, they burned the four gates of Hastings. Anyway ~ www.novelhall.com ~ The French are also not clear how the British troops who seem to be in a hurry to escape have burned the city gate in a limited escape time. It seems that a lot of sheep oil is used to burn the city gate ...

In this way, the French army successfully occupied the important port city of Hastings in England. Moreover, Hastings City was successfully won. Originally, the reason why the French sent 5,000 infantry as the vanguard was to first siege Hastings. After all, the French are not sure to quickly win the tall and strong city of Hastings. Therefore, they planned to divide their troops to surround Hastings City, as long as the defenders of Hastings City did not interfere with their construction of the Long Bridge Wharf. Unexpectedly, the defenders of Hastings City were so vulnerable that they abandoned the city and ran away ...

Louis XII, who got the news, felt a bit wrong, but the messenger sent back told Louis XII that the people in Hastings were not evacuated, and the warehouse was full of goods. Therefore, the British army abandoned the city and ran away, certainly not premeditated. If it is a strategic abandonment, the materials in the city will definitely not be left to the enemy ...

Henry VII also invested in the capital in order to let the French into the nest. In order to attract the French, he let the Hastings defenders retreat without any belongings, deliberately cheap French. Otherwise, if you evacuate the city of Hastings and leave the French with an empty city, the French may doubt it and dare not continue to cross the sea ...

In the end, Henry VII's plan was successful. Now that he has received a lot of goods in Hastings' warehouse, Louis XII is also very happy. As a result, the second wave of main crossings officially began ...

At the same time, Henry VII also began to order all the warships gathered on the southeast coast of England, including the 54 warships ambushed in Southampton Bay, all prepared for attack. The timing of the attack is naturally when the French cross halfway through the sea ... 8)