The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 437 The Weight of a World Empire

June 1779.

Gibraltar, Europe.

In fact, the Kingdom of Spain was willing to participate in the war and fight against the British together with France, and the close relationship between the kings of France and Spain played only a small role.

There are two biggest reasons. One is that Spain’s colonies in North America and the connection between the colonies and the mother country were threatened by the increasingly powerful British navy.

The second is Gibraltar, a key place for controlling the Mediterranean, which was occupied by Britain during the War of the Spanish Succession from 1701 to 1715.

This is Spain's biggest pain. If they can regain possession of Gibraltar, they can once again control access to the Mediterranean.

This might alleviate Spain's rapidly declining national fortunes and even allow it to once again exert a strong influence on the Italian states and the Balkans.

Therefore, starting from June, the Franco-Spanish coalition forces surrounded the British fortress of Gibraltar, which was heavily defended, from both land and sea.

At this time, the Franco-Spanish coalition forces had 13,749 people, basically all Spanish troops. It was obviously impossible to capture the Gibraltar fortress with more than 5,000 defenders and a large number of bastions with such a small number of troops.

Therefore, the commander of the coalition forces, Count Mayor of Colomera, did not prepare for a strong attack, but instead took a stupid approach and starved the enemy.

He attempted to rely on both land and sea, especially the tight blockade at sea, to starve the British in Gibraltar into surrender.

At first, Count Colomera's strategy was successful. At one point, he used blockades and artillery to force the British army in Gibraltar into a desperate situation.

At the end of August, the British commander, Major General George Augustus Eltley, Governor of Gibraltar, began to ask London for help.

He claimed that the situation in the Gibraltar fortress had reached the point where bread and bacon were limited and given priority to soldiers, while women and children could only get the minimum amount of food to fill their stomachs every day.

Most importantly, the vegetables and fruits in the city are almost exhausted. If no new aid is received, scurvy will begin to spread rapidly by December of this year at the latest.

In view of the seriousness of the situation, the British government decided to send a large fleet to support Gibraltar.

At the same time, a more brutal war has begun.

Under the promotion of Louis XVI's favorite, Foreign Minister Count Charles Gravier, France and Spain assembled 66 warships and prepared 38,000 land forces in Le Havre and Saint-Malo, France.

Louis XVI planned to occupy the Isle of Wight immediately after the Franco-Spanish fleet destroyed the British Channel Fleet in the English Channel, land on the British Isles in Portsmouth, and directly defeat the British with the army.

In order to conceal its purpose, the Spanish fleet pretended to blockade Gibraltar with all its strength.

But this grand plan did not go smoothly from the beginning.

The commander of the French fleet, Count Ovilliers, who had served as vice admiral under Mozibu and commanded the Battle of Bailongwei Island that destroyed the Qing fleet, arrived at La Coruña, the agreed rendezvous point with the Spanish fleet on June 3, but the Spanish fleet did not arrive on time.

It was not until July 22 that the commander of the Spanish fleet, Cordoba, arrived with 30 warships. The reason given was that the wind direction was not suitable.

This was a terrible situation for the French fleet, because La Coruña was not rich and supplies were relatively difficult. France had more than 36 warships and nearly 20,000 people floating on a small island off the coast of La Coruña.

It was already quite hot in Europe in June. A large number of naval soldiers could only stay on the ship, exposed to the scorching sun and hot weather. They lacked fresh fruits and vegetables, and even clean drinking water was very scarce.

This led to a large number of soldiers becoming ill, and even some epidemics began to spread.

Chen Tianbao climbed up the mast in silence, watching the Spanish fleet, with its blood and gold flags, slowly enter the small port from a distance, cursing loudly:
"Fuck you! If this Spanish commander was Chinese, His Majesty would have chopped off the heads of his entire family!
This idiot is late for such an important raid for fifty days! I'll fucking kill him!

Under the mast, Mo Guanfu was already exhausted from the sun. "It's good that you're here. I really want to leave this shitty sea as soon as possible. If I go any further, I feel like everyone on our ship will start to have diarrhea."

Liang Wengeng, who was next to Mo Guanfu, was about to vomit after hearing what he said. More than 10,000 people were crowded in this small sea area, and all their excrement went directly into the sea. You could at least dig a few toilets on the island!
As a result, with so many people on the boat, if it was a calm day, the sea water in this small port would be like dung soup.

Everyone felt a sense of empathy for Mo Guanfu's words. This might be the only thing that made the Friendship-class battleship sent from the East far superior to other French battleships.

The Chinese Navy has extremely strict requirements for hygiene. Even the cooks on board have to meet strict hygiene standards. Otherwise, they would have been infected with epidemic diseases just like the officers and soldiers on other French warships.

Count Ovilliers was also speechless, but after all, they were allies, not his subordinates, so he could only pretend that they were welcome to come.

On July 25, the Franco-Spanish fleet set sail, but encountered headwinds and swayed all the way, barely sailing towards Portsmouth.

On August 16, the fleet arrived near Plymouth, southwest of the British Isles.

Although the fleet was very large, with forty-six battleships, twenty frigates and cruisers, and more than thirty fast warships converted from various supply ships and armed merchant ships, the disease did not ease after leaving the vicinity of La Coruña, but instead became more and more serious.

At this time, the Friendship, the French frigates Junot and Temperance, and a twelve-gun armed supply ship were floating on the southwest sea as a squadron covering the fleet's flank.

As usual, it was Mo Guanfu's turn to observe the enemy situation from the high bow of the ship. Just when he was drowsy, he suddenly discovered two huge warships appearing in the direction of Plymouth. They did not look like ships of the Franco-Spanish joint fleet at all.

At this time, the seventy-four-gun British third-tier battleships HMS Marlborough and HMS Ardent, with sixty-four guns, also saw the fleet in the distance.

Captain Philip Beauté of the Ardente and the captain of the Marlborough were unaware that the Franco-Spanish fleet had crossed the Channel, and even the whole of Britain was unaware of their arrival.

The Ardent immediately sent out a flag signal to ask who the other party was.

I am!

Mo Guanfu broke out in a cold sweat, and was so nervous that sweat covered his forehead, but he quickly made a decision because the Franco-Spanish fleet had deciphered the flag signals of the British fleet.

"Prepare for battle, there is a high possibility of British warships appearing one nautical mile away!"

Mo Guanfu shouted to the captain below, Brigadier General Charles Marini, who was specifically here to guide them in the battle.

While shouting, Mo Guanfu had already waved the flag signal, "Our people, go to number six (Plymouth)"

Brigadier General Marini nodded appreciatively at Mo Guanfu and gave him a thumbs up. "Get ready for battle, Mo. You're doing a good job."

Mo Guanfu was overjoyed, and a smug smile appeared on his sunburned face.

"But you made the decision without my consent as the supreme commander. You will be the one cleaning the deck after today's battle."

Mo Guanfu's face fell as he was about to help her, while the others burst into laughter.

One nautical mile away, the Ardent received the correct flag signal response and completely trusted the other party. However, since the flag signal could only express a limited meaning, the Ardent and Marlborough communicated and decided to approach the three warships to find out what specific mission they were carrying out.

The Ardent and the Marlborough then approached the Friendship, one in front and one behind, with a distance of about five lengths between them.

Coincidentally, a northwest wind blew at this time, and the Ardent and Marlborough came towards it at a very fast speed.

Friendship, Juno, and Temperance pretended to avoid the headwind, made a small circle, and headed towards it.

But in reality, they were going to turn their broadside towards the Ardent, the ship in front.

One nautical mile, eight chains, five chains, three chains.

Suddenly, at a command from Commodore Marini, the Friendship suddenly raised the small gold fleur-de-lis flag on a white background, which symbolized the French Navy, and the two-deck guns on one side suddenly stretched out from the gun port.

The Ardent, in the front, was caught off guard, and the six guns on the Friendship that could reach it suddenly opened fire.

One of the shots hit the deck of the Ardent very accurately and fiercely, and the ricocheting shell then hit its foremost mast.

Although it did not break, the mast made a heart-wrenching creaking sound, which meant that it was likely unable to withstand the maximum wind speed and the sail could not be fully raised.

Captain Philip Beutler of the Ardent realized that he had been tricked. Just as he was about to order a counterattack, he heard a burst of screams. He looked up and saw that the Marlborough, with its seventy-four guns, had actually run away.

"Boom!" Another burst of gunfire was heard. The French frigate Juno also circled to the other side and began to fire at the stern of the Ardent.

"Captain Botler, the enemy ship has completed its full sideways movement. We are doomed!" A trainee officer cried out in fear.

Philip Beutler saw that the battleship Friendship was about to be almost parallel to the Ardent. In this way, the next time they opened fire, it would not be six guns, but at least thirty guns firing at the same time.

Moreover, on the forecastle deck of the Friendship, a forty-eight-pound howitzer was already loaded and aimed at them.

Philip Butler was so scared that he almost peed himself. This thing must be full of shotgun shells. It's here to wash the deck.

You have to know that a 48-pound howitzer can hold at least 500 shotgun shells. If it is fired at, his only fate will be to be washed into the sea by the sailors.

Because the deck was covered with blood and flesh, it was impossible to collect the bodies.

"Captain, the French are asking us to surrender!" someone shouted, pointing at the flag signals constantly coming from the Friendship.

"Lower the sails and signal with flags that we are willing to surrender!" Philip Butler only thought for a few seconds, and the desire to survive overcame everything.

This was a perfect encounter. The Friendship finally made its debut and captured a large ship that could be considered a third-class battleship with a displacement of 1,383 tons, 64 guns, and a crew of 500 people.

Such a brilliant record made the fleet commander, Count Ovilliers, send a transport boat to the Friendship even though he was at sea to inform the commander of the battle congratulations and commendation.

Two days later, on August 18, the fleet was waiting for orders from Paris whether to attack Plymouth directly and land the army there.

A strong southeast wind blew the fleet to the Isles of Scilly, southwest of the British Isles.

It was truly God's help to the Franco-Spanish fleet, for the British Channel Fleet, which they had been desperately searching for, was taking shelter in the Isles of Scilly.

However, the French and Spanish navies were inferior to the British navy, which made them completely waste this excellent opportunity.

Just as the Earl of Auvilliers led his fleet to attack the British Channel Fleet behind the Isles of Scilly, a thick fog rose on the sea.

The British Channel Fleet, whose command and dispatch capabilities and officers and soldiers were half a level higher than those of the Franco-Spanish Fleet, took advantage of the heavy fog and the advantage of being more familiar with the Scilly Isles than the Franco-Spanish Fleet, and actually jumped out of the encirclement under the command of Sir Charles Hardy.

By the time the Franco-Spanish fleet discovered the situation, the thirty British warships had already run away and only their shadows could be seen. So the Franco-Spanish fleet quickly gave chase, and the two sides played cat and mouse in this small strait for three days.

The bold and careful British fleet commander Charles Hardy successfully led the Franco-Spanish fleet to Portsmouth, and led the fleet to take the opportunity to enter the Solent between the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth.

At that time, Portsmouth was an extremely important port in the UK. There were a large number of coastal defense guns on the Solent coast, and the defense was extremely tight. In addition, there were thirty battleships. The Franco-Spanish fleet did not dare to enter the channel to fight the British fleet.

After six days of stalemate, the Franco-Spanish fleet finally decided to retreat.

The damage caused by this failed operation was enormous, and France and Spain spent a lot of military expenses.

As a result, more than 8,000 sailors died of illness or retired due to illness, accounting for more than a quarter of the entire fleet's crew.

At the same time, in order to carry out this cross-channel operation, a large loophole appeared in the Spanish fleet's blockade of Gibraltar, and the originally shaky British troops in Gibraltar were able to receive supplies soon.

This caused the war situation, which was originally improving, to suddenly undergo huge changes.

But the misfortune was not over yet.

Good fortune never comes alone, and misfortune never comes singly. A month later, the Siege of Savannah launched by the French and American forces in North America also failed.

The commander-in-chief of the allied forces, French Admiral Jean-Baptistin Charles-Henri Hector, Count of Estaing, was seriously injured.

The commander of the American Cavalry, Polish Count Casimir Pulaski, known as the father of the American Cavalry and a freedom fighter, was killed in action.

The coalition suffered 244 deaths, 584 injuries, and 120 captured.

But don't think that this is a small number, because these are not militia or conscripted farmers, but real elite standing army.

As a result, the Franco-American coalition forces of more than 6,000 people could no longer fight after losing nearly 1,000 people.

After the war, the Allied commander, Count d'Estaing, had to return to mainland France to recuperate, and the war in North America also fell into a trough.

I have to say that Britain was really powerful at that time. It was fighting against half of Europe and the newly born United States, and China in the east also put some pressure on them.

In this case, after the initial setback, there were actually signs of a comeback.

This is quite dangerous for France, and of course, it is also a huge threat to Dayu in the east.

(End of this chapter)