Ming Zuo

Chapter 1637 Balance Is King
In all fairness, although they have received reinforcements, the strength of the Allied Fleet is still inferior to the Parliamentary Fleet.

The reason for the brilliant victory in the end is simply because...

It's better to come early than to come by coincidence.

If the fleet led by Thomas Rodri had appeared from the very beginning, it would at most only cause some trouble for the parliamentary fleet.

With the sheer number of ships in the parliamentary fleet, Robert Blake can arrange the layout calmly without affecting anything.

However, the battle has already entered a fierce state. This new force suddenly appeared, and the parliamentary fleet was no longer capable of mobilizing troops to deal with it.

Moreover, this new fleet suddenly appeared in front of the eyes close to the coastline and around the peninsula, without giving the parliamentary fleet any time to react.

When it appeared, it entered the battle, and gave it fierce artillery fire from behind.

Otherwise, with the slow speed of sailing ships in this era, even coming from afar, they could be spotted early by the parliamentary fleet.

Everything was such a coincidence, but it created a victory that turned things around.

On land, Parliamentary forces had defeated the Allies and were about to march into Scotland.

What the disastrous Allied forces need most is time to regroup and recover.The parliamentary army is pressing every step of the way, obviously not intending to give them this chance.

This is undoubtedly a disaster for Charles II and the allied forces.

As a result, at the critical moment, it was the navy that made the most extraordinary achievements.

After defeating Robert Blake, Marton Tropp was full of spirits and immediately ordered the mighty fleet to push towards the mouth of the Thames River.

He intends to attack London and knock the mountain to shake the tiger.

If they can take the opportunity to completely wipe out the British fleet, the Dutch will become the most powerful force in the entire North Atlantic.

"Commander, the Dutch cannot be made bigger."

On the side of the Imperial Fleet, someone quietly reminded Kong Zhiguang.

The empire came from as far away as Europe, though the primary target was England.But obviously we don't want to see a powerful unipolar power emerge in Europe and cultivate a powerful overlord.

In this regard, Kong Zhiguang is full of confidence.

"Don't worry, London can't be taken."

Although he has not gone deep into the interior of England, he has already made a judgment based on the current map.

In his eyes, the location of London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is unique.

With excellent ports, sea trade can flourish.But there is a certain distance from the ocean, so that the enemy at sea will not stick to the face and attack.

If the enemy wanted to attack London from the sea, he had to capture the many military forts along the Thames.

With the strength of the Allied fleet, can it be done?
A day later, the rested Allied fleet began to attack.

Mainly the Dutch and Scots were in high spirits.

At the military meeting, Kong Zhiguang clearly raised his objections.But because of the addition of six new Tier [-] battleships, Marton Tropp's voice has greatly increased.

He decided to use this battle to gain prestige and realize the ambition of the Netherlands to dominate the North Atlantic.

He excluded the Imperial fleet from the order of battle.

The Imperial Fleet was naturally very happy, cruising leisurely and leisurely in the open sea, protecting the Allied Fleet.

The mouth of the Thames River is not very wide.

One of the benefits of this is that tight and solid defenses can be deployed on both sides of the strait to effectively block the enemy.

Marton Tropp commanded six third-class battleships to slowly approach the Isle of Sheppey on the south coast.It is planned to capture this place as the base for the next advance.

The British troops on the shore had already been ready for battle, and when the Dutch warship approached, they immediately fired back.

After this fight, the Dutch fleet suffered heavy losses.

The third-tier battleship is of course the king of naval warfare in this era, and there are almost no opponents.The Dutchman's operation has no problem, and the linear array can exert the maximum firepower very well.

But the problem is, they are attacking land now!

In this era, warships from other countries could not beat Tier [-] battleships. That was because the sea was too stormy and the range and accuracy of the front-mounted artillery were greatly affected.

It must be approached within 300 meters in order to carry out effective strikes.

Tier [-] battleships can take advantage of this advantage to bully the enemy wantonly and win easily.

However, the parliamentary army has fixed forts on Sheppey Island.

As we all know, the range and accuracy of cannons on smooth land are much higher than those on the sea.

Especially the turrets on Sheppey Island, in order to defend against large warships, are equipped with heavy guns weighing more than [-] pounds.

They could fire from 1000 meters away, far and accurately, and severely damaged the Allied fleet on the spot.

But the bronze artillery on the third-tier battleship hit it, and the weak firepower could hardly cause any damage to the fort.

The artillery battle lasted for an hour, and half of the six third-tier battleships were shot, and they were scarred, and more than 100 soldiers were killed or injured.

Seven of the remaining warships were sunk and four were seriously injured.

The Scots quit first and retreated one after another.

The Royal Fleet did not dare to throw their limited property here, and also withdrew from the battlefield.

When Marton Tropp saw it, his old face was red and white, but he could only end the performance in a disheartened manner.

So far, the Allied fleet has reached a consensus.

With their strength, there is no possibility of capturing London from the sea.

They simply controlled the mouth of the Thames River and blocked the remaining power of the parliamentary fleet inside.

In the future, the Allied forces will no longer have to worry about attacks and harassment from the sea by the parliamentary forces.

Three days later, the Portuguese fleet also came to join.

Knowing that Portsmouth Harbor was burned by the Portuguese, the haze in everyone's hearts finally dissipated.

News on land is always faster than at sea.

Charles II, who was in Edinburgh, was very firm in the face of the temptations of the Irish and Welsh envoys.

He has lost Scotland and cannot afford to lose Ireland and Wales.Otherwise, what's the point of this king?
Just when he sternly rejected the attitude of the representatives of the two parties to seek independence, news of the failure of the land battle came.

Hearing that the army of [-] was defeated and the parliamentary army was about to enter Scotland, Charles II and others were completely panicked.

Looking around, Scotland is big, but where can it go?
Charles II panicked like a drowning man, just wanting to hold on to all hope.

Without saying a word, he agreed to the conditions of the Irish and Welsh, and agreed to the independence of the two places in exchange for their sending troops.

So far, although he, the British king, is still nominally the co-lord of the four British islands, he is only in name.

Scotland, Ireland, and Wales have all obtained independent administrative powers, not to mention paying taxes to the British government and performing any obligations.

And on the second day after the signing of the tripartite agreement, the news of the victory of the naval battle came in a hurry.

Charles II was dumbfounded, only felt a fishy smell stuck in his throat, and passed out on the spot.

He was so stupid that he gave up Ireland and Wales in a good manner.

(End of this chapter)