For Europe in 1690, almost all of Europe was in unprecedented consternation after the end of the unprecedented naval battle in the English Channel.

The huge Anglo-Dutch forces were not only defeated, but even suffered a devastating blow - they lost almost all their warships, and overnight, Britain and the Netherlands, once maritime powers, lost almost all of their sea power, and their remnants were even inferior to the small Baltic states.

What is even more surprising is that compared with the British and Dutch, the losses of the Celestial Empire are minimal. It can even be said that there are zero losses, after all, except for one cruiser that was burned by the Celestial Fleet because it was heavily damaged, there were almost no losses in the others. Especially after Herbert ordered the surrender, the Western Fleet captured more than 20 warships at once, and not only was its strength not damaged, but even its strength swelled a lot.

However, for the European countries, they are not more concerned about the victory of the naval battle won by the Celestial Empire, after all, the victory is already a fact and has become a thing of the past, at this time, they are more concerned about what the Celestial Empire will do next?

Will the war be carried on, or will there be peace talks?

For the Western Fleet, which had already won the war, the current Britain was like a Western girl who had taken off her skirt, and Britain, having lost its sea power, could not stop the attack from the fleet at all.

For a time the whole of Europe was watching Britain, the doomed Western fleet.

Will the Western Fleet continue to attack? Or do you want to leave it at that? And then began diplomatic mediation, all this is in doubt. But what is certain is that the Western Fleet did not attack immediately, but turned around and escorted thousands of prisoners straight to the Isle of Wight.

When the fleet arrived on the Isle of Wight, the British on the Isle of Wight surrendered the harbor without even firing a single shot, not because they were worried, but because they knew that they had no chance of winning in the face of such a large fleet.

On the day of the outbreak of the Ming and British War, the Isle of Wight fell, becoming the first foreign territory occupied by the Ming in Europe.

"Look, it's from the Celestial Empire!"

Like many of the island's children, Tom's curiosity outweighed his hostility when he saw thousands of Celestial Empire soldiers arriving.

Even if they are a bunch of intruders.

"You see, their appearance is completely different from ours."

"yes, they look so good."

"It's not at all like us,"

While the children were talking word by word, when they were looking at the soldiers of the Celestial Empire.

Like everyone else, Tom had fears, but they seemed to be friendly.

At the dockside, the panicked mayor and priest nervously waited for the summons of the Celestial Empire officers.

"Father Hank, are you sure you can speak the language of the Celestial Empire?"

Again, Mayor Smith asked nervously.

"A simple conversation should be fine."

Hank was also a little nervous, after all, he was about to face a heretic from his own East. Although all the books mention that they are a very civilized people, very different from the barbaric Tatars and Turks, it is always a little reassuring until you have personally come into contact with them.

After all, all that is now known about them is based on hearsay.

At this moment, they saw an officer coming under the nurse of two soldiers, and the two men immediately stood up, because they did not know the etiquette of the Celestial Empire, so they chose the etiquette when the British met the nobles.

"Don't be so polite, I'm not a nobleman."

Compared with Smith and Hank's almost ignorance of the Celestial Empire, Li Degong knew Britain quite well, not only because his teachers at the academy were British naturalized, but also because he had two English concubines, so he not only spoke fluent English, but also knew Britain very well.

"Your Excellency, you speak English, it's so good, I'm the local mayor......"

Smith immediately introduced himself, and at the same time introduced the priest beside him. As for why the priest came, Li Degong also knew that at the European negotiation table, the priest often played the role of God's witness.

"Okay, now that we've all met, let's start negotiating. Mayor Smith, first of all, I need you to know that now that the Isle of Wight is under the occupation of the Ming Dynasty, according to the orders of the Admiral of the Fleet, the British on the island must obey the orders of the occupation authorities, and any resistance will be regarded as an attack on the Ming Dynasty and will be punished by death, do you know this? ”

Li Degong asked Smith slowly, and after saying that, he picked up the tea that had been poured on the table.

"Yes, yes, Your Excellency."

Smith was stunned, frozen, and then said:

"Then it depends on whether Your Excellency the Admiral has received our petition."

"Petition letters? Do you mean the conditions you proposed? ”

Li Degong asked directly and retortingly.

"Do you know the current situation? Now that the Isle of Wight is completely under the occupation of the Ming Western Fleet, what other conditions do you put forward in this case? ”

"But Your Excellency, since we have surrendered according to your orders, and have not fired a single shot at you, and have taken the initiative to surrender without any resistance, in this case, should the Celestial Empire fulfill its duty of protection to us?"

Smith felt compelled to tell the young Celestial officer how Europe was dealing with the occupied side, and Hank felt that he was playing dumb.

"I believe that since we have surrendered, it should be the duty of the Celestial Empire to protect us. In the same way, we deserve to be protected by the Celestial Empire's army. It should not be harmed by the looting and other atrocities of the army, and if similar atrocities occur, it is incumbent upon the Celestial Empire to deal with them and prevent them from happening again. ”

"Oh, you're talking about protection, aren't you?"

Li Degong's expression suddenly realized. Then he took a sip of water from his cup.

"Protect, protect your property, your personal safety, right?"

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"I don't think there's any need to talk about it!"

Li Degong's answer made Smith stunned, and his heart immediately became nervous, could it be that the Celestial Empire was preparing to sack this place?

This group of robbers......

At that moment, he heard the officer in front of him speak.

"Since you have surrendered, then it is natural that you should be protected by us, there is no problem, and the Celestial Empire army has its own military law to regulate the behavior of officers and soldiers, when we enter here, Junzheng will also enter, if any of you are injured by soldiers, you can go to Junzheng to report, and we will punish them according to military law......"

This Celestial Empire is obviously talking nonsense, what to punish them, what to be right, in Smith's opinion, are all coaxing words, but at least he has verbally obtained the consent of the Celestial Empire - to protect the civilians on the Isle of Wight as well, which is exactly what he wants, as for the scattered robbery and other acts that may occur later, it can only be said that those people are unlucky.

Just when Smith breathed a sigh of relief, Li Degong said.

"Alright, your conditions have been raised, now it's my turn, Mayor Smith, according to the order of the Admiral, I have been appointed as the local civil officer, but you still maintain your original position, but you need to cooperate with my work, although it is a time of war, but people's lives always need to go on, you have to arrange for them. Do you understand? ”

"Yes, yes, Your Excellency."

Smith nodded hurriedly and said, he didn't think of refusing at all, after all, this is also an extremely rare opportunity for him now. At least with the cooperation of the Celestial Empire, he can save his life. Of course, you can also keep your property.

"Please rest assured, I will fully cooperate with the work of your army."

When Smith's request was met, Hank on the side asked hesitantly.

"Your Excellency, I am a local priest, and I would like to ask you, can we worship as we have done before?"

"Of course!"

Li Degong replied directly.

"We have different faiths, but we don't interfere with yours, but I need to remind you that if you spread or stir up resistance in the church, the church will be closed, you know?"

Although the threat was extremely uncomfortable for Father Hank, he nodded his head repeatedly, at least for now, much better than he had originally thought.

Just as Smith was about to leave, he heard Li Degong say.

"Smith, there's one thing that we need you to do now, we need to recruit a group of soldiers on the island, how many people are on the island now?"

What to recruit soldiers!

Not only was Smith speechless in surprise, but even Lei Tao was speechless when he heard the Admiral's words.

"Recruit British? Let them go and fight the British? Junmen, this, this is too unrealistic! ”

"Unrealistic, how unrealistic?"

Seeing that Lei Tao was full of doubts, Zheng Ming said with a smile.

"When the Qing captives were in the Kou, didn't they also recruit the green battalion? Even the green battalion is still their main force, since the Qing captives can give money to let the green battalion give them their lives, we can too, and, you look at those British, they are all poor and their eyes are shining, I dare to say, as long as we are willing to spend money, there must be many people who are willing to give us their lives, don't you say that the troops are insufficient, this is just right, and it can help you solve the problem of troops. ”

Solve the problem of troops?

Lei Tao's brows furrowed, and then said.

"The military gate, even if it is recruited here, it is just recruiting hundreds or thousands of fishermen and farmers, and they are not trained, so what is the use?"

"How could it be useless?"

Zheng Ming asked rhetorically.

"At least when we leave, they can help us take care of the family and nursing home here, and now that the Isle of Wight is ours, it is impossible to spit out the meat when it reaches our mouths, and you say, what will happen to those prisoners of war if the soldiers who take care of those captives become the British we recruited?"

With a grin, Zheng Ming said seriously.

"Those nearly 6,000 captives, if they can become our "Green Battalion" soldiers, this battle will basically be won! ”

"Junmen, what do you mean ......"

In an instant, Lei Tao understood the meaning of the military gate, and his face immediately showed joy,

"I see, these people on the Isle of Wight are actually giving the same example to the British as well as the Dutch, like that...... No matter what those people say, they are also trained, and when they go to the battlefield, they will definitely come in handy! ”

Not only can it come in handy, if those people are used well, they can even serve as the main force to attack Britain, at this time, Lei Tao even thought of various possibilities in his mind - in the future, he can continue to capture and recruit new troops, and when the war is over, maybe his command can command an army of tens of thousands of people, of course, maybe at that time, he has already occupied London!

But the only thing that worries people is, will those people be willing to die for Daming?

At the same time that the Ming army entered the Isle of Wight, the captured British and Dutch sailors were also disembarked, and they were placed in a meadow not far from the harbor, where the sailors set up a large temporary prisoner of war camp.

British and Dutch prisoners of war were fenced with barbed wire in a large meadow. More than a dozen gun emplacements were set up on the edge of the prisoner of war camp, and the guns brought down from the British warships were aimed at the prisoners in the prisoner of war camp, and if they made the slightest abnormal move, the sailors would open fire on the prisoners of war.

For the captured British and Dutch sailors, of course, they knew what kind of disaster such an artillery bombardment full of shotguns would bring, so they all seemed very honest, and no one would doubt that if anyone wanted to be a hero, I am afraid that if the sailors of the Ming army did not wait for the Ming army's sailors to do it, they would be knocked to the ground by the people around them, after all, no one wants to be blown to pieces.

The British and Dutch, who were prisoners of war, sat on the ground one by one. Although many people bowed their heads in frustration, many more sat numbly. The lightly wounded soldiers lay on the ground moaning.

Unless, of course, there are soldiers and captured officers. They also tried to maintain the demeanor of officers in the barbed wire fence, they stood there with their chins held up, their chests held high, and of course Herbert and other high-ranking officers were not here, and their rank allowed them to enjoy special treatment, to live in houses, and to be held in solitary confinement. At this time, all the low-level officers were detained, and suddenly they were stunned, and when they looked at the people who appeared by the barbed wire, these prisoners of war all looked at them in surprise, at the British people with weapons.

"Hey, you're all being honest!"

Tom, dressed in military uniform, shouted at the sailors behind the barbed wire with an imperial flintlock pistol on his back.

"You all listen, the Celestial Empire is merciful, and now the Celestial Empire is giving you a chance, as long as you want, you can be like me, become a member of the battalion, and serve the Celestial Empire, of course, you can get a good military salary, not less than pounds per month......"

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