The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 111 Gibraltar
July 1725, 7, Tianmen (now Ceuta, a city in North Africa, Spain).

"News just came from the Moroccans that Shayang (now Melilla, a Spanish North African city) in the east had been captured by the English six days ago. Except for a dozen people who managed to escape to Nador, the officials in the city and all the residents were captured by them." Tan Zhongchang, commander of the 11nd Battalion of the No. [-] Regiment of the Qi Army and Colonel Xuangjie (Major), boarded the Tianmen Mountain (i.e. Mount Hadro in Ceuta) fort and came to the Strait Governor Zhu Yuanxian Behind him, he said softly.

"It's really not easy for Shayang to hold on for more than two months with less than 200 people. Now that it was broken by the English, it was also within our expectations." Zhu Yuanxian put down the telescope, then handed it to the guard beside him, stretched out his fingers Pointing to the sea in the distance, "However, as long as we can firmly guard Tianmen, we can always threaten Gibraltar across the strait, forcing the English Navy to divide its forces and maintain a large-scale fleet in the area to prevent us from blocking the Mediterranean Sea. .By then, when my expedition fleet arrives in Europe, whether it is attacking the English mainland or attacking their Atlantic route, they will be unable to deploy the fleet here to support other places."

"Actually, the best option for our navy is to cooperate with the Spanish and seize Gibraltar. In this way, our expedition fleet can enter and leave the Mediterranean Sea unimpeded. Whether it is to Egypt or the Ottomans, we can obtain sufficient supplies. This will help us maintain the long-term war between us and England." Qiu Hongmo, commander of the Mediterranean Squadron and Lieutenant Zhaoxin (Colonel) standing nearby, took over the words and said confidently.

"The English attacked Tianmen twice and then gave up. Instead, they launched a long-term siege and blockade. What was their purpose?" Tan Zhongchang glanced at Qiu Hongmo and asked.

"It's just a besiege for reinforcements." Qiu Hongmo smiled and said: "The English wanted to win a quick victory to avoid the war becoming protracted and bankrupting their finances. Therefore, they deliberately left Tianmen behind and surrounded it without attacking, just in the hope that we would The expedition fleet came to the rescue in a big way, and then started a decisive sea battle with us near the strait."

"Yes, I guess the English have gathered no less than seventy or eighty warships near the strait, just hoping that our Qi expedition fleet will come to rescue Tianmen. They may not expect to annihilate our fleet in one battle, but most of them hope The purpose of severely damaging and weakening the expedition fleet is to prevent us from threatening their English mainland and Atlantic sea trade routes. If an island country like England loses foreign trade and loses a large amount of material imports, it will not be able to survive for more than two years at most, and it will have to We surrender." Zhu Yuanxian nodded and agreed with Qiu Hongmo's guess.

"I wonder when the Spanish will take action against the English and take back Gibraltar and Menorca, so that the English will have no foothold near the Channel."

"Haha..." Zhu Yuanxian chuckled twice, shook his head and said: "As long as the war between us and England does not have substantive results, they will not end easily. You see, once we severely damage the English navy at sea , or the English weaken Gibraltar's defense, the Spanish will definitely attack them as soon as possible. However, instead of thinking about when the Spanish will attack England, I am now more worried about the attitude of the Moroccans. In the past half month, They have obviously begun to set up various obstacles to our import of grain and other supplies, and the prices have more than tripled."

"In the past two months, the English have attacked Moroccan coastal towns such as Tangier, Asilah, Lara, and Rabat." Tan Zhongchang said: "This has caused a lot of dissent in Morocco, thinking that we, Qi, have involved them. This war resulted in an unreasonable disaster. It is said that the Fez court sent envoys to find the English, intending to take Morocco out of this war and avoid further attacks by the English navy."

"Humph, over the past 40 years, the Moroccans have received millions of dollars in financial and material assistance from our country, how can they just pick themselves out?...Their King Sultan is now old and has already passed away. He no longer has the energy of his prime.”

"I think they may want to use this war to try their best to eliminate the influence of our Qi State. After all, the entire Moroccan economy is almost controlled by our Qi State businessmen, and there are too many spokespersons of our Qi State in the court. In order to For the long-term peace and stability of the kingdom and the survival of the dynasty, they don’t want our Qi family to dominate.” Qiu Hongmo said.

"What a joke! If we are not allowed to dominate the Qi State, can they exclude our Qi State from Morocco by bringing in the French?" Zhu Yuanxian sneered, shook his head and said: "Barbarians, most of them don't know what it means to be distant friends and close enemies. France is so close to Morocco, so isn’t it afraid that it will lure a wolf into the house and swallow up its territory?”

"The Moroccans are just trying to use barbarians to control barbarians..., oh, no, they want to use the law to control Qi. They want to weaken our influence as much as possible so that it will not be completely tied to our Qi country in the future. Well, for such a small country, such a There is nothing wrong with doing it.”

After Zhu and Qiu heard this, they looked at each other and couldn't help but feel a little weird at the same time.Ordinarily, among the people in the country who have the greatest desire for expansion, apart from those greedy overseas traders, the army is the most powerful.Why, in the words of this army captain, there was a hint of sympathy and understanding for the Moroccans.

By the way, where do you sit? ——
July 7, Gibraltar.

Of all the problems between England and Spain in the past decade, the most important and unavoidable is Gibraltar and Menorca.These two territories, which originally belonged to the Kingdom of Spain, were occupied by England during the War of Succession more than ten years ago.Even after the war, the two sides signed the "Anglo-Spanish Armistice Treaty", but the English still occupied these two territories and refused to return them to the Spanish.

However, the territorial dispute is not the only focus of contention between the two countries. There are other struggles between the two sides on both sides of the Atlantic.In Spain, British merchants and sailors were often tried and plundered by the Inquisition, and were even commonly forcibly conscripted into the army and sent to serve in Spanish America.British ships supplying food to Gibraltar were often intercepted and harassed by Spanish warships.

In the Americas, the two countries quarreled endlessly over spheres of influence and boundaries, fought over timber harvesting rights, and quarreled over other issues; but the most important dispute was the British control of their colonies in Jamaica and The Spanish were furious at the disgusting but lucrative smuggling trade they conducted among their colonies in the Caribbean, illegally usurping commercial interests that originally belonged to them.

Under this situation, it may only be a matter of time before the Anglo-Spanish War breaks out. When the Spaniards can't bear it anymore, they are likely to "cheer up" and launch a counterattack against England.

"Therefore, we must build Gibraltar into a fortress that will never fall before the Spaniards turn their backs, and can withstand any attack from the mainland." Viscount Dylan Sampson, the English Governor of Gibraltar, stood on a towering rock peak On the top, looking in the direction of Spain, he said worriedly: "During the war between us and Qi, the Spanish will not miss this opportunity. Once our Royal Navy is defeated, I believe they will not hesitate. The ground will rush over and tear us into pieces." "No, our Royal Navy will not be defeated." Admiral Nicholas Haddock, commander of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, said firmly: "We will defeat Qi in the Mediterranean. navy, and will achieve a brilliant victory under the watchful eyes of the Spanish. I believe that as long as they defeat Qi's expedition fleet, the Spanish will continue to hide their heads in Iberia and not dare to create any challenges The thoughts of our Kingdom of England.”

"What if the people of Qi don't want to fight us?" Viscount Dylan Sampson shook his head and said with a wry smile: "You know, Qi traveled tens of thousands of miles to Europe, and its combat ships must have been carefully selected. They are also limited and will not compete with us easily. I am very worried that they will break the fleet into pieces and attack our merchant ships and fishing ships sailing in the Mediterranean, North Sea, and even the Atlantic Ocean, in order to cut off our trade and choke off our trade. Cut off our material input channels. Just like our first war with the United Provinces 70 years ago, we accurately cut off the Dutch sea trade routes, causing all their trade to almost come to a standstill. To force them to surrender."

"We are different now from the United Provinces at that time." Admiral Haddock said: "Did you know that half a month ago, the Qi people also declared war on Portugal. From this, we gained a firm ally that can It is very convenient to obtain material supplies at the Portuguese port, thereby more effectively controlling the Strait of Gibraltar and blocking the Qi navy from crossing the Mediterranean. As a result, the Qi expedition fleet can only rely on the barren Morocco to obtain necessary supplies. . In this way, it will be very easy for our main fleet to intercept it and engage in a decisive battle at sea."

"The Portuguese must be full of unwillingness and resentment for being forced to be involved in this war." Viscount Dylan Sampson sighed and said: "Their many overseas colonial territories will inevitably be attacked by all. The Chinese attack. Moreover, there is a high probability that India, Mozambique, and Angola will be lost. In order to defend their Portuguese mainland and the nearby Madeira Islands and Azores Islands, the Portuguese refused to hand over their fleet to our command. At the same time, They also asked us for emergency assistance from England of 100 million to 150 pounds to recruit and arm more troops to deal with the possible invasion of the Qi people. However, the royal government encountered difficulties in raising funds for the war. The first phase of 200 million The special pound sterling bond was given short shrift by the market, with less than £60 raised. Oh, God, this war has only begun less than four months ago!"

"Lord Sampson, as long as our Royal Navy wins a victory on the battlefield, I believe that the financiers in London will actively snap up war bonds." Admiral Haddock said with confidence: "We are now encountering All difficulties are temporary. We in the Kingdom of England have survived the most difficult moments more than 60 years ago, such as the Great Fire of London and the Dutch invasion of the Thames. God will bless us and we will definitely defeat Qi!"

"General, news of the advance fleet came from Canary Island." A naval lieutenant commander hurriedly climbed to the rock peak and handed the battle report brought back by the liaison clipper to Admiral Haddock.

"...The advance fleet of the Royal Navy stationed in Cape Verde launched an attack on the Qi Navy expedition fleet that arrived in the sea area in the early morning of July 7. After two hours of fierce fighting, the advance fleet effectively killed and wounded the Qi Navy along the way. Defeated and retreated to Canary Island. In this battle, 5 battleships of the Royal Navy were lost, and 7 were seriously damaged and sank at sea during the voyage. The commander of the fleet, General Fisher, and more than 3 officers and men below were killed in the battle. The Royal Navy stationed on Canary Island After completely destroying the island's ancillary facilities, the support fleet evacuated under the leadership of General Grant on July 7 and will soon come to Gibraltar to join the main fleet."

"The Qi people are coming!" Admiral Haddock handed the battle report to Viscount Sampson, then turned and walked towards Yanfeng.

In the following days, two squadrons arrived from the Canary Islands and Lisbon, bringing the number of English Royal Navy warships gathered in Gibraltar to [-], of which more than [-] ships were capable of being put into battle, large and small. Small warships almost covered the entire Bay of Algeciras, with dots of sails and a flourishing military appearance.

The small Port of Gibraltar also saw an influx of more than [-] navy, army, and logistical support personnel in a short period of time, causing complaints from more than a thousand local residents.

During this period, European countries, including Britain, did not have the tradition of establishing military camps for soldiers. Before officially entering the war, officers and soldiers usually lived with local residents, which made the people extremely dissatisfied with this and their attitude towards these soldiers. Very bad too.

Of course, soldiers with a complex composition are not good people. While living in civilian houses, they harassed housewives, stole chickens and dogs, damaged houses and furniture, got into fights and other bad behaviors.

In order to prevent Spain from attacking Gibraltar during the war, the British mobilized another [-] army soldiers from the mainland to garrison here and began to build various fortresses and fortifications.However, the morale of these soldiers did not seem to be high. Their makeshift camp was overcrowded, sanitary, and the conditions were extremely unpleasant.

In addition, the soldiers' military pay was already very low, but when they were mobilized and transferred to Gibraltar, they were still in arrears for more than two months, which made the soldiers complain.To make their stay in a poor camp more comfortable, they have to pay for some of their own meals, accommodation and facilities.Since there are more than [-] land and sea officers and soldiers gathered here, each soldier should be given a very small ration, usually dry and hard moldy bread, a small amount of cheese, meat or animal fat, and very little red wine or beer. .

If you look at the entire Gibraltar from a high place, you will find that it is like a huge refugee camp, with soldiers wearing rags everywhere (at this time, European countries generally rarely equipped soldiers with uniforms), and the buildings are messy. shacks and wooden houses, as well as deep trenches dug one after another.

On July 7, several reconnaissance speedboats sent back information from the front. The Qi expedition fleet had arrived at Tangier Port in Morocco, just a stone's throw away from Gibraltar.

The curtain of the war slowly opened.

(End of this chapter)