open sea

Chapter 1394 Guilty
Great desperation gripped the English court.

No matter how good the court's intelligence on the Continent was, it could not make up for the fact that they had not heard from Ireland or Cornwall for six months.

It’s not anyone’s idea for Wales to sit on the sidelines. Wales has no king now, and the nobles are trying their best to recruit soldiers, but they can’t recruit more soldiers, especially soldiers who are willing to carry dry bread to support the Queen of England. .

The Welsh people have a strong national identity. Although the two sides signed a joint agreement decades ago, it was based on the strength of England. Now you need our protection. Can we still talk to you?
In fact, not receiving news is already the best news for the English court.

According to the Ming calendar, on the eighth day of the first month of the 12th year of Wanli, London received news from the border.

The news came from a nobleman named Henry, who was called One-Eyed Henry because he won many tournaments and was blinded by sawdust.

One-eyed Henry looked very embarrassed when he entered London. He approached the minister William Cecil and asked to see the Queen immediately. This request was granted in a very short time. The specifications received him.

"I believe that Your Majesty and all the ministers have already learned that the Ming army has been lax in border defense recently, but I want to tell you, don't be careless. The Ming army is creating the illusion of being loose on the outside and tight on the inside."

One-eyed Henry took a shower and changed into new clothes in William Cecil's mansion, his face still had the embarrassment of fleeing six hundred miles, his deep-set eye sockets nervously stared at Yang Gao, who was beside the queen with his eyes closed and his bright face, wrinkled frown.

As if aware of the pause in his speech, Yang Gao, with his eyes tightly closed, shook his head left and right with the calmness of his mouth drooping naturally over the years, and said in the direction of the queen: "Your Majesty, please allow me, old minister!" Take your leave for now."

"No, Mr. Yang Gao is my confidant, you can stand here."

The queen, who was in her fifties, seemed to trust Yang Gao very much. She held the scepter and dressed in heavy makeup to attend, and raised her finger to One-eyed Henry: "Continue talking."

One-eyed Henry sighed. Obviously, this was not something he could decide. He took two steps in the hall and said, "Although it seems that the Ming army has fewer troops stationed on the border and has withdrawn to Puli on a large scale, they are preparing for war. .”

"One and a half months ago, Puli County, sorry Your Majesty, I'm talking about Plymouth. Bulk gunpowder has been sold on the street. I brought some samples in the next book. It is a kind of gunpowder packed in a cardboard shell. gunpowder, but lost it while avoiding the Ming army checkpoint on the way.”

"They also buy live chickens, pigs, cattle and sheep from all over the place. The huge quantity is frightening, and—"

Speaking of this, One-eyed Henry raised his hand, took out something that looked like blueprints from his body, and said: "They made this kind of very fine paper, just like the paper of Makinoyan, the paper shell of gunpowder is also made of This did."

"General Yingming personally ordered to distribute blueprints to every household, and asked people to make a lamp made of red and white paper for them. It is windproof and the light is not easy to be seen from a distance. Night raids were used on a large scale in the fighting."

One-eyed Henry sighed: “Too many lights.”

"The information is very useful. The Earl of Essex sent back information from the front line two days ago. The Ming army conducted a large number of firearms and artillery training at night. It is speculated that they are training a new army. I hope London can allocate more gunpowder."

What the queen said was actually just to calm the hearts of loyal ministers. In fact, even if they got this information, the court would not be able to make any useful decisions.

They can only maintain [-] troops around the castle of Winchester on the front line, but in the rear, there are many registered sailors who lost their jobs due to the destruction of merchant ships. They can strengthen the city defense if they take care of the food.

But to be honest, [-] registered sailors, because the kingdom still needs to reserve funds to mobilize the nobles for war on a large scale, just managing food, can bring huge pressure to the kingdom's finances after losing commercial income.

The war entering the city almost made them helpless, but the court dared not negotiate a peace.

Although their purchase of government bonds from the people did not go smoothly, some of the most loyal nobles and businessmen still contributed money. Now that the military situation has not eased in the slightest, they want to negotiate peace with Daming. No one dares to propose such a proposal.

Once it is mentioned, once it is negotiated, the most loyal people will feel cheated. They are paying for the land of Ireland, not for the royal family.

Now that the fundraising is not going well, it is impossible to form an army for a long-term expedition. If you don't send troops, just surrender?

I am afraid that the nobles will really ask Philip of Spain to be king.

"Then how much do you know about Poole County, the land west of Winchester?"

In fact, this is what the English court is most eager to know. For example, the local rebellion against the rule of the Ming Dynasty, the intermittent rebellion of the nobles, and how many people can be recruited... These information are very important to them.

One-eyed Henry shook his head, and there was a brief silence.

Perhaps from his point of view, his thoughts on that land can be clearly expressed in one word: ritual collapses and music decays.

After the silence, when One-eyed Henry spoke again, he did not use the name Plymouth: "People are migrating to Puli County."

"In Cornwall to the west, nine nobles of the Ming Dynasty led Irish troops to plunder. Knights and jazz from all over the place resisted desperately, but there were few victories and many failures."

"In Ireland, there is an aboriginal savage from the New World named White Tiger. He is a descendant of a tribal savage. The shameless Ming government entrusted him with the mining of Ireland's minerals. He lacks manpower, so he asked the Ming army in Puli County, Send the captives to him."

"Once the army is defeated, the captives will be escorted to Fuyi County by these nobles and soldiers. According to their writing, this pronunciation means happiness. What an ironic name, it is at the mouth of the Fuyi River in Cornwall."

"At the mouth of the river, there was a Daming man named Liu Ruguo who led the people to rebel against the governor in Ireland. He had many subordinates and more than a dozen boats to escort captives to Ireland as slaves for mining. I heard that there were many captives but few boats. They were all suffocated on board."

These words made the queen and a group of ministers frown, and they were in dire straits.

"Then why are people still migrating to Puli County?"

"Because Puli County is different. At the beginning, many people regarded themselves as Puli people. The Ming army was very tolerant to them. Those wealthy nobles and businessmen were still able to do business in Puli County. Many people betrayed their beliefs. , In order to eat at the same table with the businessman of Ming Dynasty, they don't care about anything."

One-eyed Henry had a complicated expression when talking about this matter, and said: "We don't eat blood, but now Puli County is in charge of the old Catholic Joe. After he converted to Daoist Dragon and Tiger of Ming Dynasty, he can eat blood with the Catholic New Testament. To restrain the common people with the viewpoint, the signature restaurant opened by Daming people in Puli County is called Duck Blood Vermicelli Soup.”

The queen narrowed her eyes, squeezed her mouth slightly, looked at the one-eyed Henry and repeated: "Duck blood, vermicelli soup?"

"Well, in order to escape Puli, when I bribed the officers of the Ming Dynasty, I sat with their little flags and ate them."

Speaking of this, One-eyed Henry's expression became more complicated. He swallowed twice, and said righteously, "I'm guilty."

(End of this chapter)