Chapter 309: Dark War
Not long after Henry VII's order was issued, one of the palace guards returned home from work that night, and quietly sent a piece of information to the designated place and handed it to a shopkeeper who sold grain. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info
And this shop actually belonged to the private property of the Countess of Salisbury, the Margaret Lord of the York family. It can be said that the existence of this grain store is even the husband of Margaret, Lord Margaret. Pol didn't know either.
Although, Richard. Pol has been monitoring the flow of his family's funds. However, after Marin's North Sea Chamber of Commerce contacted the Margaret County Lord, the North Sea Chamber of Commerce secretly funded the Margaret County Lord with a large sum of money. Moreover, in the grain trade with the Beihai Chamber of Commerce, the lord of Margaret also manipulated, withheld a lot of money, and concealed the transaction volume. As a grain supplier, the Beihai Chamber of Commerce also actively cooperated with Lord Margaret.
In this way, now the Margaret County Lord, every year in the grain trade, the private income has reached 100,000 gold coins. Most of this money, Lord Margaret used, to buy off some personnel from key departments to obtain various information about Henry VII's court.
The palace guard, who was on duty today and heard the results of the discussion between Henry VII and the ministers, was smashed down by the lord of Margaret with 3,000 gold coins.
Moreover, the palace guard didn't know that the other party was Lord Margaret, and he thought that he was just an ordinary nobleman who inquired about the movements of the court. After all, no matter what country you are in, there are many people who are keen to inquire about the secrets of the imperial court. Because, having this information is very beneficial for both being an official and doing business. It's just that the guard brother didn't know that Lord Margaret had this information in order to overthrow the court of Henry VII. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the courage to cooperate with Lord Margaret...... Of course, he didn't know that the object of cooperation was Lord Margaret......
After the grain store owner got the information, he quickly contacted one of Margaret's cronies and quietly sent the information to the Margaret lord......
Speaking of which, because of Earl Edward's flight and rebellion, Lord Margaret is now also the focus of Henry VII's surveillance. If it weren't for his subordinate Richard. Pol's face, Henry VII may have killed Lord Margaret earlier.
So, now Lord Margaret is acting very carefully. In her residence, the only people who really trusted her were two maids and a few old loyal servants. Others, whether it was Henry VII's men or Richard's men. Pol's people are all spying on Lord Margaret.
Fortunately, Lord Margaret is a very scheming woman. Moreover, the contact between the Beihai Chamber of Commerce and her at the beginning also taught her a lot of knowledge about underground work. And this knowledge is actually the knowledge of the two knives that Ma Lin learned from watching those spy war movies in his previous life. But in this era, it definitely belongs to the advanced concept......
Margaret, who has been instructed by the intelligence officers of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce, is becoming more and more like a qualified female spy. When she got the information, she was taken aback. She knew very well that if her brother's army ran out of food, there was only one way to die. So, she hurriedly sent her maid out, and in the name of procurement, in a shop on the street, she quietly stuffed the information to the spies of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce......
After the people of the Beihai Chamber of Commerce got this information, they also felt that the matter was very important. So, at once, he sent a boat, first in the direction of Denmark, then turned south, and sent it to East Friesland, where it was handed over to Marin......
"Shhh Seeing the intelligence, Marin broke out in a cold sweat.
You must know that the area under the control of Earl Edward, including the direct territories of the British Crown, the Kingdom of Kildare, and the territory of the MacMarrow dynasty, has a population of about 70,000 or 80,000. Counting the army of 10,000, and the citizens of Dublin, it is estimated to be close to 100,000. And if the British destroy all the crops and kill all the livestock, these nearly 100,000 people will fall into a food crisis. Earl Edward's army was fine, as Marin brought him 6 million pounds of rye, which would last Dublin for a long time. However, if the 70,000 or 80,000 people outside the city were left without food, the whole territory would be in chaos.
Now that the British had just destroyed the crops and slaughtered all the livestock, the honest Irish civilians didn't think much of it. When the British are gone, they will run out of food, and there will be serious social problems.
That is, even if the British left, before leaving, they dug a huge pit for Count Edward. If one is not handled well, the 10,000 army of Earl Edward will be mired in seventy or eighty thousand starving people, and there will be no energy to compete with Henry VII for any hegemony. Because, the hungry people will be thinking about the food in Dublin. When the time comes, civil strife can easily occur. When the civil strife is over, it will be much easier for the British to clean up the mess......
This is not counting, the British army left Ireland and landed in Liverpool, if the Scots did not know, the British moved north, and a careless one could cut off the retreat of the 10,000-strong army in Scotland. If the Scottish army is cut off, there is only one way to die. After all, the British army still has 18,000 troops left. In addition, more than 6,000 of them are longbowmen with strong attack power. If the Scottish army is intercepted, it is easy to destroy the Scottish army.
If Scotland's 10,000-strong army is wiped out, the kingdom of Scotland will be finished. As long as the British eliminated the main force of the Scottish army, they could take advantage of the situation to go north, eliminate the Kingdom of Scotland, and unify Great Britain......
Marin immediately felt the seriousness of the situation, so he immediately sent a ship to report to King James IV of Scotland in the name of the "North Sea Chamber of Commerce", so as to prevent the Scottish army from being intercepted by the main force of the British army.
Moreover, in the letter, Marin advised the Scottish army to abandon the siege of York, and first rush to Liverpool, destroying all the docks in the port of Liverpool, making it difficult for the main British army to land. Then, turn your head and retreat when it's time to learn Thomas. Stanley's poisonous plan, all the way, destroyed the crops of the English people and killed all the cattle and sheep of the English people......
As a result, when the Scots withdrew to their home countries, the northern regions of England such as Merseyside, Yorkshire, Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland along the way were basically plunged into severe famine. This move is definitely a heavy blow to England.
Moreover, in the letter, Marin strongly advised the Scottish army to turn south on the way north and harm Thomas. Derbyshire, Stanley's fiefdom, let this old taste the bitter fruit of his poisonous scheme......
As long as the port of Liverpool is destroyed, the landing of British troops will definitely be delayed. And, now, the British probably have only received the order to begin to plague Ireland. The Scottish army had plenty of time to plague the north of England when they received the order.
When the northern part of England is scooped up by the Scottish army and there is no food to eat, there will be a large number of displaced people, and then go south, becoming a factor of social instability in England. When the time comes, there will be a headache for Henry VII.
It's just that after the scourge of Ireland, Earl Edward had a headache. Suddenly, Marin remembered the details of the intelligence - Henry VII had ordered people to monitor the coastal ports of Scotland, but did not say anything about blocking the northern side of the channel between Ireland and England. Can you send a ship around the north of Scotland and quietly deliver some more food to Earl Edward......
In addition, Marin sent a message to the North Sea Chamber of Commerce's intelligence officers in London, asking them to inform Lord Margaret and ask him to kill the palace guard who delivered the news. Otherwise, it is easy to be found on the head of Margaret County. After all, this time he used this information to turn England into an army, which could easily cause the wrath of Henry VII. If the investigation had been carried out strictly, the guard would have been exposed. If Margaret's intelligence network is exposed, Lord Margaret will not want to live. Even, it may implicate the intelligence organization of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in London......