Chapter 1843： Anglo-French maritime conflict

Not to mention other countries, even the Portuguese involved, did not understand the intention of Malin's high-profile fortification. After all, Marin has not yet started. He has neither attacked the Baron of Silva nor sent a pirate to attack the Portuguese spice ship.

Probably, only after Marin starts, the Portuguese talent will react-Nima, the fortress of the North Sea country is actually aimed at us! Moreover, it has already been laid out ...

By that time, everything made sense. However, Portugal will also be caught in a dilemma-if you want to teach the other party a meal, the other party has already repaired the battery and prepared for the battle. No lesson, it seems to damage the face of Brother ...

Malinke doesn't care what the Portuguese think. Right now, he is busy buying saltpetre in Europe. The reason is that hundreds of heavy guns were deployed at the two forts at the Ames estuary, which required a lot of gunpowder reserves.

In fact, Marin was covering the preparations for returning from Chile's cloud powder. After all, in the case where the saltpetre of India is divided by Spain and Portugal, the source of saltpeter of Marin is very limited. When the artillery battles come together, everyone will wonder-So many saltpeters in Beihai?

In addition, the agreement to collect feces previously signed in the city of Rome is also being implemented. A large amount of excrement, after being barreled, is transported out of the sea by special ships through the Rhine and other large rivers, and is transported to the direction of Iceland to extract soil nitrate.

After this series of big moves, the saltpetre shipped from Chile will not be noticeable. After all, Marin had "buried saltpetre" before.

At the same time, it also put pressure on Portugal-people already have enough saltpeter, and gunpowder is definitely not lacking. Should we fight this battle?

...

The movements of Marin's series of movements are not small, but some people's movements are greater than him-Britain and France have begun to conflict again ...

Since England reoccupied the fortress of Calais, British-French relations have deteriorated sharply. From the previous state of "face and heart disharmony", the two countries directly advanced to the state of tearing their faces.

The French began to build a wall similar to the Great Wall outside the Calais fortress as a defense against England. At the same time, it also began to develop the navy secretly, intending to rise again.

Francois I had realized that if France could not be restricted at sea, France could not capture the Calais fortress. Because the Strait of Calais is so wide, it is too convenient for England to reinforce the Calais fortress!

Therefore, Francois I also began to be cruel, continue Louis XII's policy, quietly develop the navy, intending to one day be able to defeat the British at sea.

But the problem is that England has not relaxed its surveillance of France. In addition, Marin is also helping to monitor, the French navy is really difficult to develop.

For example, Francois I secretly obtained a large amount of wood this year, and built eight warships of two to three hundred tons in Nantes, intended to be used against England.

These eight warships, like the North Sea, are specialized warships, not the kind of temporary conscription from merchant ships in England.

As for the sailors on board, the French were trained secretly long ago. Without actual boat training, the French used the means of stealing from Marin at first—using large rectangular planks similar to a swing, swaying left and right to simulate the swaying situation on the deck of a marine vessel. Then, compete on it.

In this way, the French trained thousands of swordsmen to adapt to the fighting swordsmen on the shaking deck!

But it is a pity that when these eight ships were quietly training in the sea, Marin, who had long been informed of the news, sent someone to secretly notify the English ...

As a result, these eight French warships fell badly!

Thousands of well-trained swordsmen on these 8 warships are not false, but they are only trained on swaying wooden boards, and are not familiar with real sea ships and naval warfare. This is the first time to go to sea for practical training. It was originally adapted to the situation at sea. If it takes time, these thousands of swordsmen will surely become powerful naval masters. At least, it's a master in the side-by-side battle!

However, they have no chance ...

After the fleet went to sea, there was no problem. But as soon as the fleet entered Brest, it was immediately blocked by the English fleet ...

England dispatched a total of 20 warships this time to encircle the new French fleet. These 20 ships are all large-scale commercial ships of about 200 tons, Kirk sailboats, recruited from the people. Among them, there are 2,000 veteran sailors who are good at fighting, obviously a good number, and deliberately aimed at the French sailors.

Perhaps in Marin's opinion, these Kirk sailboats are backward ship types. But in this era of popular side-by-side battles, the Kirk sailboat is still the mainstream ship type. As for the defeat of the Indian-Egyptian fleet in the Indian Ocean by Western and Portuguese countries, although it spread, but because of the poor information transmission in this era, many people still do not know.

In addition, ordinary people's ideas cannot be changed so quickly. Moreover, let alone the French, even the traditional maritime power of England has not been able to change its mind for a while. After all, they have been accustomed to side-by-side battles for hundreds of years, and they all changed to artillery battles at once.

In addition, there is another very important issue, that is-artillery battle is too much gunpowder, can not afford to fight!

Europe is too short of saltpetre. Except for Spain, Portugal and the North Sea countries that can obtain saltpetre from overseas, other European countries have no way to purchase saltpetre from overseas. They can only rely on a little frost-like soil from the corners of the toilets and stables of ordinary people in the cold weather. Therefore, saltpeter is expensive and less expensive. Even a powerful country like France can only equip hundreds of artillery, and it is a small cannon of two or three pounds. In addition to the reasons for the high price of copper, the consumption of small-caliber artillery gunpowder is also an important reason.

In the history, until the 17th century, when Charles I's beheaded hapless egg was in power, Britain was extremely deficient in nitrate. To this end, Charles I specially set up a nitrate collector, who was authorized to break into the toilets and stables of people's homes anytime, anywhere, and search for nitrate frost in the corner to supply the army.

It was not until the East India Company of England later found a stable supply of saltpeter in India that the British shortage of nitrite improved. Then, relying on sufficient Indian saltpetre, the British warships opened up the ability to fire fiercely, and gradually grew into a sea dominator.

Therefore, in this era, influenced by traditional ideas and the shortage of saltpeter, the British and French countries still use the side-by-side warfare as the core thinking to form the navy.

Of course, France ’s finances are more generous, and there are more artillery on board. For example, for these 8 new warships, each ship is like the Marlin armed merchant ship on the bright side ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Each ship is equipped with 4 artillery pieces. Two of them are at the bow and two at the stern. Of the four guns, only one of the bows is a 12-pound gun, and the remaining three are 6-pound guns.

The Kirk sailboat in England has relatively few artillery, only one artillery at the bow and one stern, and both are 6-pound guns ...

It is not that they are unwilling to install more artillery. In addition to the problem of insufficient supply of gunpowder, the hull cannot withstand the recoil of too much and too large artillery, which is also a very important reason.

The Kirk sailing ship of this era is still the original ship type, and has not evolved into the later Galen ship. Therefore, the keel structure of this kind of sailing boat is simple, the ribs are thin and sparse, and the sides are relatively thin. Ships with such a structure must be installed like dozens of cannons like the Beihai warships. Once the shelling starts, a row of cannons will be shot down without enemy attacks. Since then, they have been shocked by the powerful recoil ...

As a last resort, on the old warships of this era, artillery can only be arranged as little as possible. Larger artillery will only be installed on the bow and stern where the structure is relatively strong. Sidebars or something, the old ship type is not suitable for installing too many artillery ...

Therefore, this naval battle in Brest Bay, although it also uses artillery, but more importantly, it is actually a side-to-side battle ...