The British are preparing for war!

Faced with the threat of war, the combined Anglo-Dutch fleet assembled on the Thames began to make final preparations for the arrival of war, and even the army soldiers in the barracks went to the fortresses around the estuary, where they built strong fortifications near the estuary, waiting to meet the invasion of the Celestial Empire.

The barbarians are coming!

In British newspapers, British writers used the term "barbarians" to refer to the Celestial Army, although they were more like barbarians in comparison, and now they are trying to boost morale in this way.

In fact, from the very beginning, the British magnates could not have imagined that "a small opium" and a few "unmentionable" crew members would actually cause a war between the two countries.

In the face of the threat of war, the British government did not flinch, and they naturally used various channels to scandalize their opponents.

As soon as the British government spokes, the army of the Celestial Empire was portrayed as a cruel and barbaric army, just like the Huns and Germans in history, who were ready to wipe out the great and holy Britain with their savage and cruel army.

And the reason for the war was very simple - "in order to be able to continue to poison the British with opium". Although the British royal literati used all their negative language to discredit the Celestial Empire.

However, it is disappointing that they did not awaken people's patriotism, and for British women who have been dreaming of "marrying the Celestial Empire" for many years, the invasion of the Celestial Empire army made them feel so close to their dreams for the first time.

For the poor and hungry English girls who live in poverty, they have always cherished a sweet dream - the dream of marrying the Celestial Empire. It's just that only a very small number of lucky people went to the distant Celestial Empire, in fact, that is, Zhuxia, as the maid of the master's family, and then with their own appearance, they seduced the master's family, and lived a lucky life as a concubine.

Such stories have been staged in the past dozens of years, and people have used all their imagination to imagine the beauty of the Celestial Empire, especially those girls who live in hunger and poverty, which is their hope to get out of the predicament of reality.

Once upon a time, this hope was very slim, but now?

The arrival of the Celestial Empire army made these women see hope, of course, the hope they saw was not that they hoped that Britain would be occupied and then become Celestial Empire people, but that the Celestial Empire army appeared in Britain, and they could seduce them at close range and let them take themselves to the Celestial Empire.

Dreams, sometimes, women's dreams are always so ridiculous.

While the women were praying with such dreams, the great fleet continued to sail towards England on the sea.

The fleet has been sailing for twelve days since its departure, this is the twelfth night, as before, after entering the evening, according to the requirements, the people on the ship have wiped their bodies with wet towels, maintaining hygiene is the premise of avoiding diseases, for many years, whether it is the Ming army or the Ming sailors, have long been accustomed to all this, unlike those sailors of various countries who are known for their dirtiness, the sailors of the Ming Dynasty have always been clean and tidy. It is also because of the prostitutes, as in some European ports, that the prostitutes preferred the sailors of the Celestial Empire.

While the sailors and soldiers were wiping something, Captain Song Qingyun at the stern of the ship was staring at the sea with a cigarette pouch in his mouth, and an old sailor like him could sometimes, even if he didn't need to measure, he could derive his approximate position from the time and speed and heading.

Although Song Qingyun is a native of the Celestial Empire, in the past fifteen years, he has been sailing on the routes of European countries, even Britain has been there more than a dozen times, and he is familiar with this sea area.

"Tomorrow, we will arrive in England."

Unlike previous voyages, this time when he commanded the "Fuxing" to sail out of Ganquan Harbor, his heart was straight. No one can appreciate the cruelty of war unless he has experienced it himself, although he has not experienced it, but as the captain of the first ships to reach Europe, he has led sailors to fight pirates many times, and struggled between death and the desire to survive, at that time, for him, every minute and every second was between life and death.

At that time, they were fighting against pirates, but what about this time? They were going to fight against the fleets of the British, the Dutch. But we're just ordinary sailors!

However, as merchant sailors, they were obliged to accept the drafts of the Navy.

The Fortune Star was called up to join the fleet as part of the attack on Britain, and it is certain that they will be involved in the next naval battle, and perhaps after a naval battle, they will sink forever.

Who knows?

Although the cigarette pouch and pot contained fine tobacco from the New York colony, Song Qingyun still couldn't taste anything, and occasionally he would look at the soldiers, who were not really soldiers, they were just a group of temporary soldiers—a group of temporary soldiers, in the past, their enemies were just barbarians near the colony, and those natives didn't even have decent weapons, just a group of primitive people.

Because of this, war is like a game for them, but where do they know what the enemy they are going to face is like?

Ay......

Song Qingyun sighed, in his opinion, there would be many young people who would die in the future war. What he didn't know, however, was that the soldiers were well aware that the enemy they were about to face was different from the past.

"The British, unlike the natives of the colonies, not only use flintlock guns, but they also march in formation, and they fight like us......"

On the deck at the bow of the ship, Zhang Nanlin, who was sitting cross-legged, pointed to a few lines drawn with chalk on the deck, and explained to the few squad leaders around him the enemy they were about to face.

Growing up in the Xiping colony, he has not experienced any wars, but has had a few conflicts with the natives, other than that, most of them are calm, originally, for Zhang Nanlin, he will leave the defense army this year and become the reserve of the defense army, but the sudden transfer order, so that he and his subordinates have to leave the colony, take a boat to Ganquan Port, to support the operation of the official army.

In the colonies, the Defence Force has always been the most important support force for the officers and soldiers. However, the Defence Force generally had a shortage of troops, and since the shortages of each squadron were generally more than one-third, so, as usual, they supplemented the shortages with domestic slaves when they set out.

"It's nothing, although we haven't fought, but the training is normal, I'm worried about them......"

Li Xiangtao tapped his chin on a young soldier with slightly curly hair and a slightly dark complexion standing not far away, who was the squadron leader's domestic slave and his attendant.

"Are you worried about these soldiers?"

Zhang Nanlin's brows furrowed slightly.

"The family soldiers are different from us, when we are training, they are doing farm work, and they will only be called up when they are needed, even on the battlefield, these people can only complete auxiliary tasks, pointing to them to fight, it is impossible to ...... at all"

Because of the identity of the family soldier, when he speaks, he inevitably has a sense of superiority.

Regarding Li Xiangtao's worries, Zhang Nanlin nodded slightly, he knew the shortage of soldiers, but what could he do?

"When the time comes, put them on the second line, just like in the past."

Zhang Nanlin said helplessly, in fact, more often, these family soldiers are not so much soldiers as servants, just like this expedition, after getting on the boat, because of the big waves, many people have seasickness and fallen, and the pain of seasickness is indescribable in words. Many of the soldiers fell ill due to seasickness, and it was only by the waiting of the domestic servants that the sick slowly regained their energy, and even now, the soldiers are accustomed to being served by the domestic soldiers, as if they were at home. There were soldiers who washed their clothes and polished their boots, which also gave the soldiers plenty of energy to devote themselves to the upcoming war.

But rely on those soldiers to fight...... They were willing to let them be servants.

When the four squad leaders left, looking at the young master sitting there, Zhang Hu said with some dissatisfaction.

"Young master, we can also fight."

Zhang Hu is only 15 years old and looks less like a native than an Arab, because his father is a European white slave in Morocco and his mother is black, a house slave that their eldest brother bought when he sailed with the ship ten years ago. At that time, it seemed to be quite new, and now in the colony of Xiping, there are more and more black and white domestic slaves, because these families have added a lot of white slaves bought from Morocco and other places.

"When we're at home, it's our ...... to protect the manor"

Listening to Zhang Hu's words, Zhang Nanlin smiled.

"Fighting a war is not the same as protecting the manor, in the manor, at most, people will fight you with firearms, but when you get to the battlefield, the enemy not only has firearms, but also cannons, a cannonball hits, and there are stumps and broken arms everywhere, that is, an arm is smashed in your face, you can't move, and when you get to the battlefield, you will know, this is a war...... It's really not as simple as you think. ”

Stretched out his hand and rubbed it on Zhang Hu's curly head, and then Zhang Nanlin looked towards the sea, looking at the quiet sea, for a while, his whole person fell into silence.

War......

Although he told Zhang Hu about the cruelty on the battlefield, deep down, he was a little nervous, not because of how cruel the battlefield was, but because he was worried that he would not be able to perform well, and in the end it would lead to the defeat of the troops on the battlefield.

After all...... They're just a bunch of defenders.

It's just a bunch of defenders!

Zheng Ming, who was on the flagship, once again sighed to himself that his troops were overstretched, his number of ships was insufficient, and even the number of troops was insufficient, in order to get enough land troops, he even did not hesitate to transfer more than 2,000 defense troops from the Xiping colony - a group of young masters and sons who had never fought a war.

The Colonial Guard, it's okay to fight the natives, and fight the British Army...... Can they make it?

"Lei Tao, the reason why we made a landing plan is because if we don't land, if we don't take advantage of the British defeat at sea to further expand the results of the war, then we are very likely to lose the opportunity to expand the results of the war. In the past, we were far away from Europe, but now we are close to Europe, you see. If we don't teach them enough lessons, Europe will laugh at us for our weakness, and now the tolerance of Europe is a thing of the past. We have to be aggressive and let them, and let all Europeans know what we need to do if we offend. ”

Zheng Ming said without looking back. He bowed forward, looked down at the huge chart on the table, and ignored Lei Tao, the captain of the Ganquangang Marine Corps, even though he was only the squadron leader, but he was the squadron leader of the Ming Dynasty, and this position was naturally higher than that of the commander of the Xiping Colonial Defense Army, and he naturally needed to be responsible for the landing operation. While staring at the chart, Zheng Ming's eyes lit up.

The third son of the Zheng family, the marquis of the Ming Dynasty, has full confidence in the naval battle, and the only thing that worries him is how to expand the results after the naval battle, after all, this task is handed over to a group of unreliable people to complete.

"Admiral, I hope to give me at least 500 more armed sailors, or ......"

Lei Tao stood humbly. He was dressed in a neat Marine uniform, and he seemed very calm on the surface, but inside he was simply terrible, because he knew what kind of troops he was relying on.

Defence Force ...... It's a group of young masters, a group of young masters who ride horses and hunt when they are fine.

When he went to Ganquan Port from China, he had come into contact with those young masters in the Xiping colony, and in general, those people had one thing in common - good marksmanship, good riding skills, and then ...... There was no more, they were accustomed to riding on horses, attacking the natives, and letting such a group of young masters line up to shoot at the British. It's simply not possible.

However, he is a stubborn soldier, and even if he has no confidence, he will do his best to complete the task.

"Otherwise, it will be difficult for me to guarantee that I will get enough comrades, and if there are 500 sailors, at least the backbone of my troops will still exist......"

In Lei Tao's plan, those defenders will just put on a scene on the side, and he will use the marines and armed sailors as the main force, as long as they can maintain the battle line, the entire battle line can be maintained.

But for his request, Zheng Ming just coldly refused.

"I don't have that many people for you, I can only give you 150 people at most, and by then many of my people will be injured, and I have to make sure that there are enough sailors on board."

Then, he looked at Lei Tao and said in a somewhat solemn tone.

"Actually, the possibility of landing is not very likely, after all...... Whether the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet will be dispatched or not is yet a certainty! ”