open sea

Chapter 880 Captain
The Dutch merchant captain who stopped behind the Jiazi was named Lamb, a middle-aged man with obvious Spanish features.

Seafarers crossing the Atlantic to make a living these days are basically the same, even the captain is not much different. Poverty is not only shown in the patched jacket, and the dirt is not only shown in the sea salt particles stuck in the hair.

He was born in a small fishing village near Amsterdam in the north of the Netherlands. He worked as a sailor when he was a teenager, sailed as far as England on the opposite shore, and worked as a porter on the dock. Until he had some savings in middle age, he opened a small wool spinning workshop outside the city. Spain had the best merino sheep and everything was booming until war came.

To be precise, it was King Philip who changed everything. Bankruptcy in Spain caused great losses to bankers in the Netherlands. Raising the price of wool in order to collect taxes caused many handicraft workshops to go bankrupt one after another, and Lamb's workshop was no exception.

There was no way out to sea, the king forbade the Dutch merchant ships to trade with the New World, and the internal Inquisition further strengthened the persecution of Protestants, there was no other way.

After the petition failed, the iconoclasm movement in the Netherlands, which was called the first bourgeois revolution in the world by later generations, began, but it attracted the Duke of Alva to lead the army into the Netherlands. Up to eight thousand.

Lamb, caught in the chaos, protected his sailors and workers, and could only join the beggars at sea. Sometimes they would attack Spanish transport ships, but most of the time they were just saving their lives.

Lamb, who was fed up with hiding in the sea, finally returned to his hometown after the fighting subsided a little, and continued to transport with the only ship. Restricted by Spanish laws, he could only transport goods and could not buy or sell.

Facing the long pursuit, the sailors who crossed the rough seas in the dangerous sea just dared to stop to take a breath, but in a blink of an eye they were worried because of the negotiations between the French pirates and the warships of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, up to now, they still don't know the origin of these people who fly the pennant of the 'Long Snake' and own a large fleet. can be rescued.

According to common sense, at this time, someone on the big ship should put down the small boat to negotiate with them, but no, the owner of this fleet seems to have not seen them, or is not interested in talking to them at all, and is simply negotiating with the French pirates.

Immediately afterwards, Lamb saw the flag on the big ship swaying a few times, the big drum was rumbled like thunder rolling in a storm, and the rest of the ships with shapes they had never heard of all started to move.

"Captain, they are gaining the upper hand, and they are about to start a fight with the hateful French!" The skinny sailor slid off the sail rope, fell hard on the deck, and got up terrified: "What should we do? !"

How did the Netherlands, a place that is not as big as Shuntian, win a place in the Mediterranean trade dominated by European powers such as Spain, Portugal, France, and England?
It's manufacturing, a thriving shipbuilding industry to be precise.

In the competition between countries, it has always been common sense to rely on the strong to bully the weak. However, defeating a strong enemy with a weak body means that the weak and the strong have already changed their offensive and defensive positions in most cases.

The process of a weak country becoming a strong country is truly against the sky.

The Netherlands was doing it, and the secret of their ability to do so was in this boat that Lamb owned, the Dutch ship.

The shape of the ship is not special. The thinned ship boards are difficult to stop the shelling, but the ultra-light hull can bring faster speed, but there are no artillery on the ship, not even an artillery platform; Except for the necessary water and food, there is nothing superfluous.

Only the cargo they had brought on their freight mission from Amsterdam.

Lamb and his sailors steered such an unsuspecting merchant ship across the North Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, across the dangerous sea area of ​​[-] kilometers infested with pirates, to their destination in Puerto Rico.

Lamb had no choice but to watch the gun ports of the Jiazi ship, which was one man taller than his ship, being opened one after another in the military order, and amidst the incomprehensible shouts on the deck, the black muzzles of the guns were shot down. Push out of the cabin.

At this time, Lamb finally confirmed that this was the Chinese fleet, to be precise, it was a warship of the Ming Dynasty.

This kind of cognition made Lamb think that those French pirates were like fools. Don't they know what kind of monsters are in Ming Dynasty?Two years ago, they were still far away on the other side of the world. Now warships have appeared in the Caribbean Sea. What does this mean?
Not to mention, the French pirates really don’t know. All they know about Ming is that Ming defeated Philip’s army in the Philippines, and that Ming is cooperating with Spain on trade in the New World. negotiation.

Lamb knew about Ming because Spain was at war with Ming when he shipped goods last time. In fact, Spain did not block the news about the defeat in the New World. Philip’s think tank in the court knew that this matter could not be hidden.

They just deliberately ignored the extent of the defeat, and for European countries, a rich China should also be strong, and losing to Ming Dynasty is not a shame for Spain.

What's more, the most eye-catching thing in Europe at this time is that the Portuguese king Sebastiao personally conquered Morocco. The Portuguese king was killed in the Mahazan River, and [-] Portuguese troops were killed. Fifteen thousand Portuguese troops, including nobles and nobles, became Moors. captive.

This war ruined the century-old national fortune of Europe's first high-seas empire. The huge defeat caused Portugal to sell its iron and steel to redeem its family members detained in Morocco. This is much more eye-catching than anything else.

"Stand with the warships of the Ming Dynasty!"

Before the battle started, those shirtless men with weird hairstyles on the Fuchuan showed very unprofessional and worrying business capabilities. When the French centipede ship approached them, almost everyone was busy getting dressed .

This sea area is too hot, and there are no people in the vast sea for three to five days. The soldiers of Kanggulu do not have strict military regulations like the Banner Army. They don’t wear clothes at sea, and some of them don’t even have weapons. take.

Even Lamb didn't expect these people to protect him. He only counted on the warships of the Ming army with countless portholes and thick iron cannons. He believed that only such warships could defeat the huge Spanish Galen ships.

The Calais ship of the French pirates will also not be its opponent.

In the next hour, the gunpowder smoke pervading the sea proved that Lamb had made the most correct choice.

Every sailor on the merchant ship was as convinced as he was that they had the privilege of meeting the bravest warriors who ever lived.

If you just say 'brave', Li Dan also agrees with this.

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)