The weather in the North Sea in mid-to-late November is overcast and choppy.

To be honest, it's not a good time to go to sea. Even during the two Anglo-Dutch naval battles of that year, the main fleets of both sides rarely engaged in large-scale battles in the winter and spring (replaced by the activity of small privateers), because the wind and waves in the North Sea were too high to fight at this time of year.

I still remember that year, the fleet of the Dutch East India Company bypassed the British Isles and returned to Amsterdam, but on the way the news was intercepted by the British, and had to dock at the Norwegian port of Bergen, and finally relied on the bad weather in the North Sea spring to venture back home, and also lost some merchant ships due to strong winds and waves, which can be seen.

However, in such bad weather, the East Coast Fleet still sailed from the port of Bruges in the waters between the United Provinces and England. They even halted an East India Company merchant fleet returning from Batavia and inspected it before letting it go. In addition, a number of merchant ships sailing from England to the United Provinces were also inspected by the East Coasters, and although they were eventually allowed to sail, this undoubtedly aroused the discontent of the British and Dutch.

At this time, even the republicans could not sit still, and they sent Van Beverninghe, a member of the Zeeland Provincial Assembly, to the chargé d'affaires on the east coast of the port of Vlissingen to negotiate with the people on the east coast of the east coast not to "interfere with normal business practices". Van Beverninghe explained this in detail, because their supporters, financiers, and so on, are mainly big businessmen, and they can't stand this kind of behavior of the East Coasters, and the Republican parliamentarians can't do it, so they have to come to the door and ask the East Coasters to rein in, otherwise they will reduce part of the subsidies for the East Coast Navy to go to sea.

Mo Lie's eel also felt that this behavior was a bit silly. Wilhelm III's German mercenaries were still on standby in the ports of Horen and Enkhuizen in the province of Holland, and before they set out, it was indeed inappropriate for the people on the east coast to go to sea in such a hurry. However, this is actually quite contradictory, the initiative of when William III's men will leave is actually in his own hands, even if there are countless republican eyes in the vicinity of these two ports, reporting the movement at any time, the people on the east coast can not ensure that they can successfully intercept when they leave, because it takes time for the message to be transmitted. What's more, after the other party goes to sea, only they know what the course will be and what the destination will be. In the vast sea, it takes luck to successfully capture William III's fleet.

Therefore, the above reasons have caused the current entanglement of the East Coasters. They knew that the possibility of intercepting William III on the spot was extremely small, but they were still unwilling to give up this possibility, so they always sent about a third of the warships to cruise the sea, on the one hand, to show off the prestige of force, and on the other hand, to see if they were lucky enough to intercept William III's fleet. You know, the nobles, merchants, and priests of England have long asked him to send troops, and William III may leave at any time, as can be seen from the large number of Dutch ships that have gathered at Horen and Enkhuizen.

The fleet of the people on the east coast can't sail into the Dutch Inland Sea to intercept the IJsselmeer, right? That would offend many of the Dutch naval officers and men who are currently neutral! In view of the current relatively delicate situation, it is very unwise! This is not to defend the country, and the East Coast Navy has no obligation to fight to the death with the Anglo-Dutch Navy for the sake of the Republicans, because then it will only be the French who will be cheaper in the end.

Speaking of the French, there is an interesting thing, that is, although they had previously rejected the proposal of the East Coast Ambassador Lin Dingzhi not to invade Germany or the South Netherlands, after hearing that the East Coast Naval Fleet had arrived in Brug, King Louis XIV of France immediately sent his confidant and Minister of War Lois to the city they had occupied.

Loire's task was to persuade the people on the east coast to form an alliance with them to form a fleet to attack the navies of England and the Netherlands, much to the surprise of the commander of the task force, Colonel Morlie. He thinks that it is probably because the East Coasters have put on an aggressive attitude towards the Prince of Orange, so that the French mistakenly think that there is room for cooperation, right? You French yourself gave up sending troops to help James II - of course James II also refused to allow France to send troops to England, after all, he is not the kind of person who can lead wolves into the house for the sake of the throne, which is one of the main reasons why he was finally let go by William III in history, he did not substantially damage the sovereignty and interests of England - and now lick his face and ask for cooperation, what kind of play is this singing!

After discussing with his subordinates, Mo Liege felt that the French might still feel that their own navy alone might not be able to confront the alliance of Britain and the Netherlands at the same time, so they wanted to join the people on the east coast to strengthen the confidence of their side. However, he also learned that the focus of French expansion was still on land, and there were all indications that this time their goal was the Rhine Valley, so how could they devote their national strength to fighting the British and Dutch navies? Isn't this trying to treat the East Coasters as fools and use them as cannon fodder to consume each other with the British and Dutch?

For this reason, Colonel Moliee proposed that it was not impossible to deal with the British and Dutch navies together, but that the command of the fleet for this joint operation must be placed in his hands. He even bluntly said that although East and France share the same strategic interests, it is a pity that there is no mutual trust between the two sides, so he must command the navies of the two countries. It was clear that Loire could not accept such conditions, and in the end he had to return to Paris in a state of dismay.

Skipping this episode, on November 23, 1688, the East Coast Naval Cruiser stopped an English fleet in the waters southeast of Norwich, Britain's second largest city. When they observed at sea, they found that this was a merchant fleet, which was not taken seriously, but was just a routine inspection, but the British refused to board the ship of the East Coast Navy, and at the same time pushed many artillery pieces up and began shelling directly.

The people on the East Coast were a little confused by the British rejecting reaction. Isn't it just a routine inspection of the ship, and it is necessary to resist so fiercely? At the same time, they are also a little excited, grandma is a bear, and she is worried that she has no excuse to find the stubble of your grandsons, which is good, you actually sent it to the door yourself. As a result, more than a dozen warships, including the three-deck battleship "Scavenger", rushed up and sent two British merchant ships to the bottom of the sea with heavy artillery fire, and at the same time captured the last British ship, and captured on it a special envoy of the British Parliament, Douglas, a merchant from the Spencer family.

Douglas Spencer was a member of the Spencer family, a big London businessman, who ran a paper mill in London. This trip to the Netherlands was to urge William III to send troops as soon as possible, but he was intercepted by the East Coast Navy warships in the open sea, and had no choice but to order three armed merchant ships to open fire, trying to escape by taking advantage of the darkness (it will be easy to escape after nightfall), but in the end it was still a tragic failure, and he was captured by the East Coast Navy.

The captain of the "Scavenger" immediately sent Douglas himself to the port of Bruges for interrogation by the officers of the local General Intelligence Directorate. At the same time, they also issued a warning to Colonel Morree, pointing out that William III could send troops to land in England at any time, and that the navy on the east coast must be more vigilant.

Colonel Moliee also attached great importance to this, and he immediately sent a letter to Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe in Cadiz, to ask him for advice. At the same time, he also sent Navy Lieutenant Commander Zhou Yu to lead a part of the main warships out of the port of Bruges and go to the sea area where the incident occurred to meet together to deal with the possible backlash of the British.

On 30 November, before the British had yet to react formally (most likely not yet available), a group of Portuguese mercenaries had arrived in the port of Vlissingen by boat, and Morree had visited the city for the second time in a month to communicate with the Republican envoy Van Beverninghe.

Van Beferningh had come in keeping with Van Boiningen, and after a few chats about the latest situation in the Netherlands, Colonel Moree again advised the Republicans to hold on to the army and maintain a relatively good relationship with the militia chiefs in the various towns, so that they could have their support in the event of a great change in the situation in the future.

In addition, the East Coast Army (including a variety of mercenaries) has arrived in Vlissingen one after another, with a total of more than 1,500 troops. In the future, if nothing else, more than 4,000 soldiers will arrive, but these are far from enough, and more mercenaries will be needed to fight against William III. Moree even asked about the outcome of Van Boiningen's previous mention of going to Switzerland to recruit mercenaries, and he even bluntly said that if it didn't work, South Netherlands could also recruit a group of mercenaries nearby to strengthen them.

Van Beverningh was at a loss for this, which made Moree very big. No wonder these grandsons can't fight William III, this indecisive style is really tricky, and they are too obsessed with politics and public opinion. There is still a trace of blood in the DeWitt era, such as William III's father wanted to rebel back then, and directly gathered many officers in the name of national righteousness, and then directly surrounded and disarmed the army. DeWitt's brother, Cornelius DeWitt, was a Dutch admiral, who fought the English face to face at sea, and the republicans at that time were so ambitious. And now? It's really a crab is not as good as a crab, and Quante is a master who does big things and cherishes his life!

"The German mercenaries in Nijmegen were only 20,000 men, and they were very well equipped. We can take charge of gathering 6,000 men to reach Holland, and you only need to pull 5,000 men from Switzerland, and I am sure that you can defeat the German peasants in Nijmegen with these 10,000 men, what are you afraid of? Wilhelm III hired soldiers from Germany to suppress the domestic situation, and he broke the rules, and I don't know how many people scolded him, so why can't you hire troops from other countries? Moree felt that he had to put some pressure on them, so he said: "Hieronymus, please help me convey to Speaker Van Boiningen that the Estates-General is the theoretical supreme authority of the United Provinces, and that he has full authority to invite us to the important cities, and this is exactly what he should do." ”

"Okay, I'll tell you, in fact, as you said, it's a reasonable thing to do." Hieronymus Van Beverninghe nodded and said, "Please don't worry about the funds, we have raised 10 million guilders, and we will pay you in a few days." Moreover, the contents of Flissingen's war material warehouse can also be lent to you for the time being, and will be deducted from the employment fee in the future. You - beware of the Prussians and Saxons stationed in Nijmegen, who can do anything. ”

"Thank you for the reminder, I think our Army officers and soldiers will take notice. They are all professional, and they have just been tested by the fire on the battlefield in Ukraine, so experience is not a problem. Colonel Moreel smiled and said, "In addition, I hope that the Council of the Third Class will influence your country's navy so that it will not be hostile to us. We have no ill will towards your country, we only want to prevent William III from going to England to ascend the throne, and we do not want to engage your navy. Or do you like to wait for Wilhelm III to leave the Netherlands before seizing power at home? ”

"No, it's not necessary. Now public opinion in the country has become very unfavorable to William III, especially after the scandal of his misappropriation of funds was exposed, even the church no longer supported him. He's not doing well right now, and there's no other way to go but to England. The merchants, the handicraft guilds, the churches, and the civic societies were disgusted with him, and we were confident that we would regain power and abolish his office. Van Bevelningh waved his hand and said.

Mo Liege glanced at him and didn't say anything. In fact, he was very suspicious of the words of the republicans, the opposition of the merchants, the craftsmen, the church, and the townspeople! What is the attitude of the most critical army, this aspect has remained ambiguous to this day. Morrean could only be inclined to think that some officers and soldiers were against the Orange family, and some were in favor of it. Otherwise, the Prince of Orange would not have had to rush into the Netherlands from Germany to intimidate the parties (nominally to secure the United Provinces). In the same way, if the army really did not support William III at all, he could not have mobilized a large number of naval warships and armed merchant ships to help him transport soldiers to England, although this was supported by many large wholesalers and bankers.

"I hope it's as optimistic as you say. In the coming period, the surface of the North Sea will become unpredictable, and armed conflict may break out on the ground of the Seven Provinces Alliance. I sincerely hope that our army will not be at war with your army, whether it is a navy or an army. This is something that you really need to worry about. Colonel Moree shook Van Beverningh's hand and said, "This is the best chance, it must succeed, you know?" ”

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