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Chapter 1678 Privateer War

Dunkirk, here is the gathering place of Spanish pirate ships. Every time a war breaks out, the Spanish king will issue privateer licenses to a large number of armed merchant ships, allowing them to rob merchant ships of hostile countries.This is what Spain learned from Queen Elizabeth of England.

Although the continental European countries once regarded England as pirates, they found that the guerrilla tactics of privateers could defeat the strong by the weak, and they could also achieve the purpose of making the other party submit by threatening the other party’s maritime commercial activities. Spain, the Netherlands, and France also Gradually learned privateer tactics.

Hundreds of large and small privateers gathered in Dunkirk. The large ships weighed hundreds of tons, while the small ones only weighed tens of tons.

A big man was smoking a roll of tobacco from North America, sparking from the cigarette butt, leading hundreds of Spanish sailors aboard a sailing warship.

De Hawkes, a general of the Armada, took Spanish armed merchant ships and embarked on a journey to attack the English Channel pretending to be a privateer: "Boys, His Majesty the King has declared war on the Queen of England, and we have the support of the entire European continent behind us." Let's plunder the merchant ships of the English and Chinese as much as we want!"

"Yes!" The Spanish sailors were enthusiastic.

They finally don't have to fight alone this time, but with the European countries as backup, they can declare war on England and China without any scruples!

This Spanish armed galleon set out to hunt, and behind it was followed by other privateers of Spanish nationality, capturing Chinese merchants and English merchant ships in the English Channel.

The sea is undoubtedly very vast, and the narrowest part of the English Channel is 34 kilometers. From the perspective of sailing ships in this era, it is very difficult to catch a fixed ship in the English Channel. The difference between privateers and merchant ships A game of cat-and-mouse can only be played in the English Channel, all by luck.

"An English merchant ship is spotted ahead!"

Not long after De Hawkes set off, he was lucky to catch the trace of an English merchant ship in the English Channel.

"Go forward at full speed, seize the English merchant ship, and take hostages for ransom!" De Hawkes excitedly threw the tobacco between his fingers into the sea.

The Spanish privateers put out their sails, and skilled sailors operated the rudder, and pursued the English merchant ship that appeared.

English merchant ships also found themselves being targeted by privateers, desperately trying to escape to their own territorial waters.

The fierce competition unfolded in the English Channel. The Spanish privateers gradually caught up with the heavy merchant ships, and the solid bullets poured on the hulls of the English merchant ships, smashing holes one by one.

The English merchant ships fought back with the few artillery pieces on board, but the firepower was far inferior to the privateers disguised as warships. Many English sailors were killed by solid bullets.

The frightened captain of England saw that the merchant ship was moving more and more slowly under the attack of the opponent's artillery.

As the privateers approached, Spanish sailors jumped onto the merchant ships with muskets or swords one by one, and captured a ship of merchants and sailors.

"The goods are all for you, don't kill me, I am willing to use a ransom to redeem myself." The captain of England obviously knew the way, knowing that the Spanish pirates would not kill themselves, and would release them if there was a ransom.

This is a tacit understanding between privateers of various countries. If a ship is killed at will, it will be resisted by merchants in all kingdoms, even merchants in their own country will oppose this behavior, because they are afraid that the privateers of the other party will also Copy this desperate practice.

"Send this merchant ship back to Dunkirk, and we continue hunting!" De Hawkes let some Spanish sailors take control of the English merchant ship, while others remained on the privateer.

English merchant ships continued to be attacked by privateers from Dunkirk in the English Channel, and these attacks were reported back to the City of London.

Not only the English Channel, but also English merchant ships and Portuguese merchant ships active in the Atlantic Ocean, and Danish ships active in the North Sea were all attacked by privateers from the European Union.

Chu Yun came to visit Europe, accompanied by fifty ships other than the merchant ships of Western companies.

A merchant ship driven by a Chinese merchant was attacked by a Spanish privateer while it was operating along the southwestern coast of England. The seriously injured merchant ship fled to Portsmouth, and another merchant ship was also hijacked in the waters near Dunkirk.

The news of the attack on the two Chinese merchant ships that went to sea spread to the city of London, and the other Chinese merchant ships that did not go to sea couldn't help feeling scared for a while.

These Chinese businessmen who came to the West for the first time were full of curiosity about this place, so they sometimes left the city of London to explore the English Channel.But these Chinese merchants lack experience in sailing here, and they don't know which sea area privateers are rampant, so they are easy to encounter privateers.

A large number of Chinese merchants gathered in the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce Hall, and they began to worry about their safety in the West.

"Our companion's merchant ship was captured by the Spaniards, and they were also captured. We must ask the Spaniards to give us an explanation!"

"The Western countries are so chaotic, have they been fighting all the time? Isn't there a unified country that can manage the order here?"

"If the Western Ocean is still in such a state of war, it will be difficult for us to carry out trade here. The cost of traveling thousands of miles to transport goods to the Western Ocean is already high. If there is still the risk of being attacked by privateers, who would want to come to the Western Ocean in the future? Doing business? Our local business is much more stable than here.”

The Chinese merchants talked a lot, all worried about their safety in the West.

Merchants seek profit, but the existence of privateers will threaten their profits and even their personal safety. They begin to doubt whether it is more profitable to trade in the West than in the mainland.

This is contrary to Chu Yun's original expectations. Chu Yun has worked so hard to become an enemy of most of Europe, just to open up the world's market and let merchants trade in various places. If the merchants retreat back to their homeland, then The Atlantic Ocean, a market of hundreds of millions of people, was lost.

In this critical situation, Zheng Zhibao came out on behalf of the Admiralty to quell the fears of the merchants: "Spain and England are planning to go to war now, so don't leave the city of London for the time being. You can only go to safe sea areas after the war is over and safety is ensured." Sailing. As for the captured merchants, we will negotiate with the other party as soon as possible to ensure the safety of all captives. If the war wins the lost goods, we will use the other party’s compensation to make up for it.”

(End of this chapter)