In the two hours that followed, Marten became more and more skillful, more efficient and more courageous. Relying on the advantage of power and handling, he continued to grab the T position, and knocked three British steamships out of power in one fell swoop - not only the paddle wheel was destroyed, but even the mast was broken by chain bullets fired at close range - the insatiable Marten abandoned these immobile British frigates and went to continue the attack on the remaining warships that could still move - he wanted to leave all the British ships behind in one go.

However, it turns out that it is not a good habit to accept it if you don't know how to see it. Just as Marten was about to make a big victory in one go, a large ship appeared in their sight—it was the third class battleship that had been lagging behind.

As soon as the big ship appeared, the British, who were almost in despair, suddenly became energetic, and they all twined with Marten, desperately trying to protect the wounded warships. And Marten paid attention to the distance between the two sides, he estimated that before the battleship came up, it would be too late to deal with these British, so he scolded fiercely: "What Lao Tzu hates the most is the kind of thing that beats the small and comes to the old." ”

After scolding this sentence, Marten glanced at the approaching British battleship again, and added this sentence in his heart: "What's even more hateful is that we really can't beat this old one." ”

A battleship, even the lowest rank of the third class, had sixty or seventy cannons, and on each side of the ship, there were more than thirty guns, each of which fired heavier, more powerful, and longer range than Marten's cannons. Considering the stability advantage of the battleship itself, the shooting accuracy of each of these cannons is higher than that of Marten. Considering that the battleship's strong defense was simply not something that a 12-pounder gun could gnaw.

Marten estimated that if he had taken a risky move before the battleship arrived, he might still have a chance to sink a British ** ship. However, it can also damage your own ship, and if you are unlucky enough to damage a critical part, you may be in a hurry to explain it here.

In this case, Marten immediately felt that he could no longer waste shells on these British ** ships, and kept the shells to hit those bait, wouldn't it be fragrant to deal with those flying clippers?

"Retreat, we won't play with them anymore!" Marten ordered.

So after the last passing of the British frigate, the Equality did not look back, but sailed at high speed, and soon disappeared into the vast sea.

In this battle, the British did not lose more warships except for bait. Of course, half of the steam frigates were heavily damaged, and the situation of the remaining three was not particularly good. Almost all of these ships had to be towed back by the third-class battleship.

But in this battle, the British did not gain nothing, they consumed a lot of shells and gunpowder in Marten. After completely getting rid of the British ** ship, Major Marten counted his cargo hold, and found that he had consumed almost two-thirds of the chain shells, one-half of the ordinary shells, and one-third of the grapeshot in the battle just now. Considering the amount of spare weight that must be left behind when returning home, there is no ammunition that can be used for hunting!

"If these shells were used on those clippers, how many clippers would have been knocked out! This is really ......," Marten couldn't help but sigh.

The British showed great efficiency in the days that followed, and they realized that their "steamboats" were almost a decade behind their French counterparts. Even in a battle with one more fight, it will not have the upper hand. In the event of adverse weather conditions, the consequences can even be catastrophic.

Moreover, in this battle, the "Equality" was at full speed in the final phase of the attack, and had already demonstrated a high speed that far exceeded that of the British steamers, that is, even in the most difficult situation, the French at least had time to retreat.

This means that the "whaling ship plan" is fundamentally unsuccessful. On the contrary, the bait released may become something for others to eat.

So the British quickly recalled the hunting squads and bait, so that the "Equality" only caught one clipper boat that had not had time to be notified and fled quickly.

Since it could not deal with the steamers of the French, it would mean that the blockade of Ireland had failed completely. So the British, while ordering the British troops in Ireland to be put on full alert, again considered making peace with the French.

This time the terms of peace proposed by the British were much more pragmatic. The British, through the Dutch, again made a peace offer to the French.

The British proposed: peace between England and France should be restored immediately. Britain abandoned the blockade of the French coast and recognized France's special interests in the Netherlands, the Rhine and other regions. France, for its part, should recognize British rule in Ireland and cease its support for the Irish rebels. At the same time, France should also recognize the special interests of the British in Hanover.

This is a much lower requirement than it used to be, and there is clearly room for negotiation. And Napoleon, after consulting with his two brothers, also believed that France also needed a period of peace for the time being.

"We need peace now in order to divert more resources to productive activities and to improving the living standards of the people." "In addition, obtaining a peace that is more favorable to France will also help to increase your support in the hearts of the people." In favor of our 'Rome Plan'. However, there are a few principles that must be grasped.

First of all, on the question of Ireland, we cannot give up Ireland, which is our most powerful means of containing the British. Moreover, the Irish themselves are very competitive, very useful and worthy of support. A peace that can be torn apart at any time is too big a value gap between a little brother who can fight.

This is followed by Hanover, which must also be under our control. ”

"Do you still have to say that?" Napoleon shook his head disdainfully and said, "We are the victorious powers, at least the side that has the upper hand." Where is the reason to give in to these places? It's all nonsense! ”

Joseph also ignored him and continued: "In addition to this, we should insist on such rights, which, of course, can be 'equal' and mutually giving. We should demand that Britain and we 'open their doors' to each other, that the markets of Britain and its dependencies be open to us, and that our markets be 'equally' open to them. This market refers not only to ordinary goods, but also to literature and art, and journalism. ”

"Open markets to each other? Well, are you sure we can take advantage? Napoleon asked.

"Of course," said Joseph without hesitation, "what are their steam-powered and hydraulic textiles to fight against our electric textiles?" Of course, they don't know this. I reckon they may be a little resistant to the issue of journalism and access to the art market, after all, during this time, Lucien has done a good job in the Ministry of Truth, beating the feudal scum who oppose us to the ground. The British may be a little worried. We first demanded the reciprocal opening of the press and art markets, and then we exchanged the reciprocal opening of the markets for ordinary commodities.

Well, Lucien, those newspapers of the British, whatever, the level is good. Not only do you have to defend the continent, but you also have to burn the war to England. Well, you're not going to be beaten by the British and run back in a crushed army, right? ”

"How is that possible?" Lucien pouted, "At the level of the British, as long as they don't use violent means against our propaganda, any minister of the Ministry of Truth, with the support of the whole of Europe, can't do the stupid pig-like newspapers of the British, then he should not hesitate to stuff into a large cannon and shoot at the sun at the speed of light!" ”

As a result, the French side sent a delegation headed by Foreign Minister Talleyrand to hold talks in the city hall of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

It was a difficult negotiation, and there were two obstacles in the negotiation. Because of these two problems, everyone has made it seem like they are going to break up and continue to work on it several times.

The first obstacle is the Irish question. The British strongly accused France of its gross trampling on the internal affairs of Britain, and demanded that France immediately cease all contact with the Irish rebels.

The French, on the other hand, said that the essence of Ireland's problems was the shameless plundering of the wealth of the Irish people by the British, and their brutal persecution of Catholics in Ireland. Putting on the posture of a humanist and a devout Catholic, Talleyrand said:

"Respect for sovereignty is, of course, the cornerstone of intercourse between States. However, in accordance with the concept of the Declaration of Human Rights, which is fundamental to the founding of our country, we believe that human rights are a higher standard than sovereignty and the foundation of sovereignty. When human rights are wantonly trampled upon, we do not believe that any country with a sense of justice should remain silent because of the limits of its sovereignty. If the British really want to solve the Irish problem, there is only one way, and that is to honestly respect the natural human rights of the Irish people, and respect the property and religious freedom of the Irish people. In short, the French legislative principle. The foundation of the nation made it impossible for her to remain indifferent to such a humanitarian catastrophe, especially that which had befallen Catholics. ”

The British, of course, also knew that an empty "peace" could not make the French give up their most important bargaining chip. But bargaining, so the British raised the Hanover problem again, and this problem immediately became a new obstacle.

：。 : I want to talk about "The Fox of France" with more like-minded people, pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~