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Chapter 1682 Dunkirk Fortress
The Zheng He was sailing on the English Channel, the Qinglong flag hanging on the mast fluttered with the wind, and the waves splashed onto the deck as the bow shuttled through the big waves.

There are four other ships beside the Zheng He, and they form a squadron of five ships to counterattack the Spanish privateers. They receive orders to capture privateers and merchant ships of the European Continental Allies that appear in the English Channel. , occupying command of the sea.

Zheng Zhihu led the squadron, and his warship was a 24-gun sail frigate.

"The English say that there are 1000 Spanish privateers active in Dunkirk. They are like a school of sharks. Once a war breaks out between the King of Spain and other countries, the King of Spain will grant them a privateer license. They will go out and attack An enemy against the king." Hannah and Zheng Chenggong stood side by side on the deck.

"Private ships are really a disgusting tactic. The sea is so vast, privateers come and go, and it is very difficult to completely eliminate their threat to merchant ships. Even steam ships do not have the energy to catch so many privateers." Zheng Chenggong used Looking through the binoculars at the still rough sea, the hull under his feet heaved up and down with the wind and waves, and the size of the Zheng He was not big enough for them to walk on flat ground.

Privateer tactics are generally adopted by the weak when they face the strong and cannot organize a powerful navy to confront. The fundamental reason is to make up for the lack of national naval power.The royal family uses the privateer license as a national tool to strengthen the navy, allowing the country to have an extra sea force capable of attacking enemy merchant ships without increasing the budget.

The once powerful Spanish colonial empire did not bother to adopt privateer tactics, but as Spain's treasure ships were continuously attacked by privateers from England, France and other countries, and the decline of the Armada, Spain organized a war in Dunkirk. A group of privateers used to raid enemy merchant ships.

This time Zheng Chenggong and the others attacked the enemies against these privateers.

The Zheng He and four other wooden sailing ships with a small number of guns formed a squadron deep into the English Channel, while the main force of the steam ironclads went to attack Dunkirk, where privateers gathered.

A Spanish privateer was also hunting merchant ships in the English Channel.

"The English have become shrewd. There are fewer and fewer merchant ships coming from the city of London or the east. They may use land to transport goods from other outlets." A Spanish sailor was observing the sea.

Suddenly several black dots appeared in his field of vision.

"An English merchant ship!?" cried the Spanish sailor.

"Four, no, five."

The Spanish general De Hawkes and other sailors looked at the ships that appeared in sight. Compared with the single merchant ships, this seemed to be a fleet.

"It's not a merchant ship, it should be an enemy. Temporarily evacuate here!" Seeing the menacing approach of the other party, De Hawkes knew that the coming was not good, so he ordered to retreat.

The five ships that appeared were the squadron led by Zheng Zhihu and the others to deal with Spanish privateers.

When they saw the target this time, they immediately raised their sails and used the wind direction to quickly approach this privateer.

The two sides began to chase in the English Channel. Under the command of Zheng Zhihu, the squadron was divided into two, trying to outflank the privateers from the left and right sides.

"Shoot them to stop them from approaching," De Hawkes ordered.

The guns on the stern of the Spanish privateer began to fire furiously, and pellets whizzed down on the pursuing squadron.

The sea is really too vast, and the solid bullets fell on the sea surface, just splashing the waves.

The five warships chasing the privateers also opened fire one after another, and the sea was filled with the sound of scattered artillery and the sound of solid bullets hitting the waves and splashing water.

The squadron and the privateers followed one another, and it was obvious that De Hawkes did not want to be surrounded, and withdrew towards Dunkirk.

Dunkirk, where the Spanish privateers were located, a large number of privateers gathered here.

However, at this time, a large number of warships blocked the bay. Five steam ironclad ships were patrolling outside the port, and the large-caliber artillery destroyed the privateers who did not escape into the port in time.

In addition to the five terrifying-looking steam ironclad ships, there are also a large number of Chinese and English galleons patrolling the periphery, their flags waving!
Dunkirk itself was an important fortress, controlled by the Spaniards, with forts, and the privateers moored in the port tried to prevent the steam ironclads from breaking into the port with the artillery on their ships and the artillery of the fortress.

In fact, with the draft of a steam ironclad ship, it is easy to run aground or run aground when it breaks into the port.They use unimaginably large-caliber artillery on the periphery to try to destroy coastal forts and privateers hiding inside through long-range bombardment.

From time to time, shells fell on the fortress of Dunkirk, and the Spanish guard was worried about the menacing Holy Alliance forces. He didn't understand why the opponent's large ships were not afraid of the artillery of the fortress, and they could shoot at it from a long range. Fire heavy solid bullets into the fortress.

He checked the weight of the solid bullet, and it turned out to be more than 100 pounds. It was hard to imagine what kind of damage would be caused if an ordinary wooden sailboat was hit by a solid bullet of this weight.

"Ask for help from the Dutch and the French. The strategic position of our Dunkirk fortress is dangerous and we must not lose it!" the Spanish guard ordered.

The sea was blocked, and the Spanish defenders had to send messengers on horseback to Paris and Amsterdam for help.

"Go ahead and ask for help. It would be best to have both the French Fleet and the Netherlands Fleet come here." Nelson stood on the deck of the Weiqing, but he wanted to lure the snake out of the hole.

On the surface, it seemed that the fleet was going to encircle the fortress of Dunkirk and attack this important fortress, but in fact it was not.

The Dunkirk fortress is something that will be taken sooner or later, but not now. The goal now is to destroy the viable sea power of the European Continental Alliance.

It will take at least five years for a threatening sea force to develop.After destroying the fleet of the Continental Confederation, they have enough time to project the army and encircle the Dunkirk fortress.

The Holy Alliance fleet made a gesture of attacking the Dunkirk fortress, which alarmed the Netherlands and France, which were still preparing for war.

Dunkirk is the bridgehead of the European continent. After occupying Dunkirk, the English army can easily set foot on the European continent. Neither the Netherlands nor France are willing to see such a situation.

In addition to sending the army to support Dunkirk, they also mobilized their respective fleets.

Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire and other European allies learned that the two sides were about to confront each other in the fortress of Dunkirk, and planned to encircle Wei and save Zhao. They declared war on Denmark, which had joined the Holy Allies.

(End of this chapter)