Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 225: Trash among the Aboriginals (I)
On the deep blue sea, the British fleet is advancing rapidly.
This was a huge fleet consisting of 60 standard galleons and 30 large troop transports, with a total of 1,200 guns, 25,000 crew members and an army of 20,000 people.
After receiving a series of emergency letters from Henry IV, the British were really anxious this time and immediately put all their assets into it.
"Sir, our fleet has arrived at 43°12'N, 3°04'W. It is less than ten nautical miles away from Bilbao, the Spanish iron smelting center."
"Hmm~~" The commander of this army, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, changed his past cross-dressing attire in the palace and dressed neatly with a serious expression: "Did our reconnaissance ship find anything unusual?"
"Not yet. According to French intelligence, the Spanish Atlantic Fleet is still in the Netherlands, guarding the English Channel."
“Hahahaha…” Clapping his hands happily, Duke George couldn’t help but kiss the expensive velvet collar on his neck. “It seems that the Sons of God are not omnipotent. They think that our navy is gathered in Portsmouth and will be discovered once it is dispatched? Hahahaha, this time we set out from Elport Port. Those in Portsmouth are just disguised merchant ships… Hahahaha, the Sons of God have also been deceived by us.”
"Sir, please issue the order. The land of Bilbao will appear in front of us in a moment."
"Oh, OK, Commander Johnson, I order the entire army to adjust the speed. The troop transports are in front, and the battleships are behind. The battleships will launch suppressive fire on the coast of Bilbao, and all our troop transports will rush to the beach to land!"
"Uh... Your Excellency, shouldn't we conduct a close reconnaissance beforehand?"
"My commander, what do you know?! Now the Spanish fleet is far away in the Netherlands, and the army is trapped in France. There is not much strength in the country. We must seize the time and attack quickly, not giving the other side any time to react. Only in this way can we seize the various craftsmen, factory equipment and various inventories in the city of Bilbao. England does not want to fight with Spain for a long time in this war, we just want to grab what we need."
"Well, as you wish, sir."
The time at this time was January 2, 1614.
On the Franco-Netherlands battlefield, the Spanish had dug trenches to the foundations of the Sedan fortress, and the fall of the fortress was only a matter of time.
The Dutch and Danes suffered heavy losses and are trying hard to lick . They are temporarily unable to launch an offensive against the Western Army of the Netherlands.
In France, as Rudolf gradually transferred his troops from Sedan Fortress to the southern Netherlands, Henry IV's guerrilla warfare fell into a dilemma. Without the pressure of the king, the devout Catholics in France were also ready to make a move. Henry IV had already begun to shrink and concentrate his forces, preparing to return to Paris to put out the fire in the country.
Of course, after more than a month of guerrilla warfare, there were some results: at least the supply of ammunition and medicine for the Western Army in the Netherlands was interrupted. The continuous bombardment of Sedan Fortress was also forced to stop. Otherwise, Sedan might have fallen.
After the Spanish Son of God came to power, he was so strong that he shocked many European princes: On the one hand, they were amazed at the strength of Spain, which could support such an elite army of 100,000 for a long time. On the other hand, they were afraid of the strength of the enemy's firearms, and even the famous Maurice was defeated...
No one is stupid. Everyone knows that if France and Spain hadn't been making trouble in recent years, the Habsburg family would not be as powerful as it is today. Once France falls...
Therefore, the Protestant princes in Germany have already begun to connect. Not only them, but even Sweden in Northern Europe is quietly mobilizing.
As for the Catholic princes in southern Germany and even the Austrian Habsburg family, their feelings were actually very complicated at the moment - once Spain won a complete victory in the war against France, what would they do when facing Spain?
Therefore, even though Spain is showing great strength on the battlefield right now, the international situation is really not good.
The British entered the game under such circumstances, and they went all-in as soon as they entered the game, investing more than 90% of their navy and more than 50% of their army.
"Ding-Dong~Ding-Dong~Ding-Dong~"
Soon after the British fleet appeared on the sea level, the bell towers in the entire city of Bilbao quickly began to sound the alarm: this was one of the core cities in the fiefdom of the current Spanish King Philip when he was the prince. Thanks to Philip's vigorous development of the metallurgical industry, the residents here have been unusually wealthy in recent years, so the residents in the city have long been loyal to His Majesty the King. They knew very well what the appearance of the British warships here meant.
"Damn it! How come these Basque bastards reacted so quickly (Bilbao is also one of the main areas where Basques live). Commander, please quickly deploy your formation and bombard those bastards!"
"As you command, sir."
After a slight nod of greeting, Fleet Commander Johnson turned around and asked: "How long will it take for our warships to fully deploy?"
"It will take about half an hour, sir."
"I can't wait any longer. Order the flagship to take the lead. Open fire as soon as one ship has completed its turn!"
"Aya, Sir."
"Get Ready~~Fire~!"
Following the British commander's order, some of the British ships turned sideways to face the city and began to fire one after another. The thirty large troop transports stretched out countless oars from the gaps in the cabins under the deck, and rushed towards the coastal mudflats of Bilbao with both oars and sails.
At this time in the city of Bilbao, on the tallest church tower.
"Your Majesty, the British are coming."
"Yes~~My Prime Minister, I saw it all."
"Your Majesty, I still stick to my original idea. I will be in charge of the defense of this place. It is too dangerous for you to stay here."
"Hahaha, my Lord Prime Minister, I listened to the British naval guns for a while, the largest one is the 24-pounder, right? Such a cannon has a range of 2,000 meters at most. The place where we are standing is almost 2,000 meters away from the coastline, right? Does the British navy dare to drive the warships to the shore to shoot? "
"Your Majesty, I am not worried about the British naval guns. What I am worried about is their army landing. What if..."
"Hahaha~~ My Prime Minister, the British only have some promise in the navy. Army? One division of my new army can beat them all!"
Philip was actually helpless when he said this: there were too many countries in Europe, and the ethnic composition was too complicated. The Franco-Spanish War had only been going on for more than four months, and the Netherlands, Denmark, and Britain had already joined the war, and more countries were preparing to join the war... Although Spain still had five divisions of new troops, even if he found out that the British had mobilized everything they had (how could Spain not know about such a large-scale mobilization), he could only lead one division of new troops here - the other four divisions had to deal with enemies from other directions.
As the two were talking, the fortress artillery in the city of Bilbao also began to bombard the British on the sea.
The size of the fortress guns did not require as many considerations as the naval guns, so Philip equipped the fortress guns here with 32-pound, 25-caliber cannons.
But Philip decisively stopped the cannon after firing one or two rounds: My Prime Minister, I came here in person, and what I need is not to repel, but to annihilate!
