(The new book (Back to the Ming Dynasty to Open a Factory) has been released, ask for support!) )

Reason!

Sometimes, reasons for anticipation come in unexpected ways.

From the beginning of the support of James II, the break between the Ming and London was already doomed. On June 12, 1689, when Wan Zheng and his party stepped on the sailing ship bound for France, they looked at the white sea cliffs in their sight, the steep cliffs were covered with white substance, and they looked pure and holy from a distance.

At this time, Wan Zheng's expression was a little dignified, but Li Ke, who was standing beside him, knew very well that Wan Zheng's heart must be full of ecstasy now.

The day has finally come!

Holding the side of the boat with his hand, Wan Zheng's mood seemed a little excited, and the long-awaited day had finally arrived.

For him, who had been planning for a long time, he was almost so excited that he almost didn't cheer after learning that the crew had been detained.

As the minister to Britain, whether it is for personal or national interests, Wan Zheng has long made a plan to "strategize Britain", but starting a war for no reason will not only be condemned, but also will not get domestic support, for Wan Zheng, who wants to squeeze into the ranks of the nobles with military merits, what he needs is to attack Britain in a fair and honest manner, and support for James II is only based on the need to divide Britain, which is not enough for him to get a suitable excuse to enter Britain.

All along, Wanzheng needs only one reason. Wan Zheng, who had been waiting patiently and even wanted to create an opportunity, did not expect that the British would actually send the opportunity to the door by themselves, and after learning that Liang Mingli and others were detained, he had an idea and felt that the time had come.

So after his normal foreign note, he deliberately spread his remarks in London - Daming will never give up, if the detained crew members are not released and apologize and compensate for the losses, Daming will hold everyone responsible. The British were naturally unhappy with such an arrogant British, and Wan Zheng's arrogant answer angered the British.

"As long as we want, the royal fleet of the Ming Dynasty can appear on the shores of Britain at any time and sink those broken ships of yours to the bottom of the sea!"

During the negotiations, Wan Zheng directly ridiculed the backwardness of Britain and the incompetence of the army in public many times, which of course aroused the anger of the British and made a foreigner so presumptuous here!

Everything that followed was almost doomed, Britain did not make any concessions, and Britain, which was originally ready to release the detainees, chose to be tough in the face of Wan Zheng's ridicule, and they rejected all the demands made by Wan Zheng. Everything turned out to be as he planned - Britain itself chose a path of no return.

And in response to the "rudeness" of Britain, Wan Zheng chose to leave, leaving London and going to France.

"Your Excellency, do you think the fleet will definitely cooperate?"

Again, Li Ke looked at Wan Zheng and asked.

Although he knew that the fleet had the obligation to cooperate with the envoys stationed abroad, it was obviously not the choice of any squadron admiral to start a "war", and Li Ke was already a soldier himself, and he knew that the army of the Ming Dynasty was an extremely disciplined force.

"They'll definitely cooperate!"

Wan Zheng turned his head to look at Li Keji, and said confidently and mysteriously.

"You know, they crave war more than anyone else!"

Longing for war!

Wan Zheng's words made Li Keji's brows jump suddenly, his whole person seemed to understand, at this moment, he understood all the things he didn't understand, and looking at Wan Zheng's gaze also changed, it seemed a little complicated, and after a long time, he said.

"You...... Do you know what will happen if you do this? ”

Looking at Li Keji, who looked solemn, Wan Zheng smiled.

"It's nothing more than war!"

Then Wan Zheng looked at the white sea cliffs in Britain and said with a smile.

"Actually, this war should have broken out a long time ago, we just triggered the war that was bound to break out, it's not a big deal, although we learn from Westerners, and we are also enlightened in our beliefs, in Gui in Zhuxia, we also believe in Catholicism, but fundamentally speaking, Chinese civilization and Western civilization are two completely different civilizations, and the conflict between civilizations will inevitably break out in the form of war, and now ......"

Staring at the sea, the smile on Wan Zheng's face slowly disappeared.

"But that's just the beginning! We must make Westerners aware of our strength and their own backwardness, and only in this way will they abandon their backward and ignorant civilization and choose to accept the Chinese civilization...... Is it war? No, it's just a clash of civilizations. ”

The clash of civilizations, for Wan Zheng, a high-achieving student who graduated from Nanjing Guozijian, speaking of theory is naturally his strong point, and the "clash of civilizations" is also a "profound theory" that has just been developed in recent years.

"The elimination of backward civilization by advanced civilization is the inevitable development of human history, and it is also the necessity of historical development, and in this process, backward civilization seems to have been damaged, but in fact, this is also the pain that development must bear, perhaps for backward civilization individuals, the process of elimination will have a sense of humiliation such as defeat, but as far as human civilization as a whole is concerned, it is undoubtedly a ...... that has a promoting effect."

When Wan Zheng was talking eloquently there, the kind of high-minded mood that could never understand the people of the "backward civilization" did not need to be understood or considered in his opinion.

In fact, the strong never consider the interests of the weak, and in this world of the jungle, no one will have the slightest pity for the weak.

While Wan Zheng was using the "clash of civilizations" to find a suitable reason for everything that might happen in the future, the Western fleet of the Ming Dynasty was assembling at its station, Ganquan Harbor.

Ganquan Port near the Atlantic Ocean is located on the peninsula near the sea in West Africa, the peninsula is full of desert, the local environment is not suitable for human survival, because of the lack of fresh water, if it were not for the navy's expedition team accidentally found rich underground spring water on the shore, "Ganquan Port" may not become the most important port of the Ming Dynasty in the West, this port that can berth hundreds of ships, is also a bridgehead to Europe.

Early in the morning, when Li Jie woke up from his sleep, feeling the slight shaking of the waves, he slowly got up, through the spacious and bright stern window of the captain's cabin, he could see the ships in the distance, last night, they arrived at Ganquan Port, which is the closest port to Europe in Daming, and it is also the station of the Western Detachment.

In the past half month, the main force of the Western detachment has completed the assembly at Ganquan Harbor, scattered in various places with 17 cruisers and 21 gunboats, of course, the most powerful is probably 6 battleships.

The six battleships, which were the main force of the Western Fleet, ranged in displacement from 4200 to 4500 tons, and were armed with 30 6-inch guns and 20 24-pounder rifled guns. This is not their greatest advantage, their greatest advantage is that they are invariably equipped with steam engines, except for the sails, they all have auxiliary power and also use a horizontal mono-expansion steam engine, with a maximum speed of 11.2-13 knots. In the past three years, these six steam-powered warships have arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, Walvis Bay and Ganquan Harbor, and have become the main force of the Western Fleet.

And now it's the first time they've gathered in the same base.

"What a huge battleship!"

As he walked out of the cabin, Li Jie heard the sailors looking at the "Ganquan" in the distance, where they were amazed at its size.

"4500 tons! It's a big guy. ”

"The top three" Sanshan "is up. ”

"No, we're just a cruiser, it's a battleship, the most powerful battleship in the world......"

Such exclamations were coming from people's mouths, even if they were also navy, they would be surprised by the strength of the battleships, and they would also be full of confidence in the future, in fact, as the ships arrived at Ganquan Harbor, an unprecedented confidence filled everyone's hearts.

When ordinary sailors are full of confidence in the future, in the chief cabin of the "Ganquan", the most powerful warship in the Atlantic, Zheng Ming, who is only forty-three years old, is staring at the chart with a solemn expression, wearing a red official robe, he looks more like a civil official, not a military general, but in fact, he is not only a military general from the first grade, but also a minister, the Marquis of Guide of the Ming Dynasty, but his title is not because of military merits, but because of his father's shadow, the third son of his Fujian King Zheng Chenggong, Although the throne of Min after Zheng Jing's death was inherited by Zheng Cong, Zheng Chenggong's second son, after Xingqian, when posthumously sealing the heroes, Zheng Chenggong's other eight sons, without exception, were all made marquises, since this is to appease the old Zheng family, it is also to tell the world that the Ming Dynasty will never treat loyal ministers harshly.

Among the many heirs of the Zheng family, Zheng Ming is the only one who chooses a military position, from the alternate trainee on the ship, to the first mate, to the captain, two years ago he finally became the commander of the detachment, among the many second-generation nobles, he is the highest military general. But even so, there are people who have a little criticism of him - just a guy who rose to prominence by his father's shadow.

Zheng Ming just laughed at this, but deep down in his heart, he was more eager to prove himself than anyone else, but the navy was not as good as the army, unlike the army, which had been fighting in the Western Regions for many years, the navy had not heard of the war for many years and suppressed pirates...... Is it war?

And now, to his relief, the war ...... It's finally erupted!

"Sir, now the main force of the fleet has been assembled, except for the Eleventh Patrol Fleet cruising in the New York colony, and the fleet can ......depart at any time with the addition of twenty-six conscripted merchant ships."

When the words of Wu Minghui, the chief of staff of the fleet, fell, Zheng Ming just said "um", he did not speak, but continued to plan the route on the chart, and after a while, he raised his head and looked at Wu Minghui and said.

"Naruhito, what if the British don't assemble their fleet?"

For Zheng Ming, who had already conducted hundreds of exercises, his only concern now was whether the British would assemble their fleet as he had planned.

"How could they not assemble a fleet?"

Wu Minghui asked rhetorically.

"We have only 44 warships in all, and if we do not include the armed merchant ships, the British navy is more than twice as numerous as ours, and the number of artillery is even four times ours, and if I were Edward Russell, they would have mustered their fleet, and the British could not only mobilize their own fleet, they could even have the support of the Dutch fleet, which numbered more than 100 ships. Therefore, they will certainly send their own fleet, and I am sure that when they learn of the movement of our fleet, they will certainly do everything possible to mobilize all the sea forces at their disposal......"

As the staff officer of the fleet, Wu Minghui also seemed a little excited, he also longed for war, maybe the Ming Dynasty has the most powerful sea power in the world, but this sea power has never carried out large-scale naval battles, just a fleet that relies on national strength and technology.

The Navy needs a large-scale naval battle, so that the technological changes in ships brought about by the technological progress of the past two decades can be put to the test, and the admirals of the Navy need experience in war, as for personal ...... They need the merits of war.

Therefore, whether it was the Admiral, or the Chief of Staff, or the ordinary officers, after receiving the information from the Minister in England, they all responded immediately.

"In the face of our show of force, they will certainly mobilize the fleet, and then ...... The first shot will definitely be fired by them! ”

A show of force?

When Wu Minghui said this, he himself felt a little funny, who would believe that he sent the fleet so far away just to show "national prestige"? Perhaps for the Ming Navy, it was just a voyage, but the British certainly did not think so.

War, as long as the British instigate it first.

Once the British fired the cannon first, and when the court pursued it again, they would have an explanation!

"Hmmm......"

Nodding again, Zheng Ming didn't speak, his eyes were fixed on the map, and it seemed that there was a deduction in his mind, although in the past days, such deductions had been carried out hundreds of times by the staff officers, but it was not superfluous to carry out it again, especially if some of the loopholes needed to be taken into account.

Standing in front of the chart like this, a fierce naval battle was staged in Zheng Ming's mind, the sea was shrouded in the smoke of artillery, and the bloody wind and rain shrouded the entire ocean, in that sea, who would be the final victor?

When Zheng Ming was making the final deduction in his mind, on the shore, the sailors were also busy there, and the carriages carried fresh food to the port, and then transported to the ship through the sampan, because the number of trestles was limited, and the ships that replenished the shells and gunpowder could only get on the trestle, and the trestle was also busy, with the help of wooden wheel cranes, the wooden boxes containing cannonballs were loaded onto the ship, and when loading the bullets, most of the sailors seemed a little excited, because for the vast majority of them, This will be their first expedition.

Expedition to England.

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