Marin was forced to recruit sailors on a large scale in England. At this time, the Beihai Kingdom actually had tens of thousands of sailors, 90 merchant ships serving the Beihai shipping, and 30 warships.

However, the real sailors were only about 5,400 people on 30 warships. The others were armed merchant ships, and the sailors on them usually ran mainly commercial shipping and did not have much training. To really fight, you still have to rely on the 5,400 sailors who often conduct combat training.

But shipping is also important and is the economic lifeblood of the North Sea countries. Therefore, it is impossible for Marin to stop the operation of merchant ships and go to combat training every day.

If those merchant ships happen to go out to sea for cargo, in the event of a war, the only thing Marin can really count on is those 30 warships. Just like this time, because 10 warships went to the Far East, Marin could only rely on 20 warships and twenty or thirty armed merchant ships at home.

Therefore, Marin made up his mind this time to double the fleet to 60 ships to ensure the safety of the sea.

But the problem was that there were too few fishermen in Germany, and the total number of Frisians was less than 100,000. Counting the non-Frisian Germans who fished, there were more than 100,000 fishermen. Drawing away 10,000 Zhuangding as sailors has already affected the fishing industry of the North Sea Country. So, Marin can no longer draw fishermen from among the Frisian fishermen. Otherwise, there would be no strong men to drive fishing boats. Women are not able to do the heavy work of lifting and lowering the sails of a boat. Therefore, if you want to expand your naval power, you can only think of other ways.

And the English happen to be an ideal recruit......

Perhaps, it was not too wise to recruit infantry in England. After all, the English were not too tough on land. However, the English are a race that is good at running the sea. They are not very prominent on land, but they are like dragons entering the sea at sea, and they become compared to cattle.

Just like the Anglo-French conflict, since the French broke the superiority of the English longbowmen with artillery, the English could not do anything on land. However, when it came to the sea, England was like a divine help, and always beat the French to the ground in search of teeth.

Moreover, England is rainy all year round, and the English people are also well adapted to the humid climate at sea. Even the English peasants, who were not very water-oriented, adapted to life at sea much faster than the German peasants. This point is recorded in Marin's American colonies.

In the American colonies, most of the tens of thousands of English victims who had immigrated were farmers. But later, seeing that fishing in the Newfoundland fishing grounds was very fruitful and that they could eat fish every day, many English farmers changed their careers with the support of the colonial authorities, and they adapted quickly.

Today, the majority of the fishermen who fish in the Newfoundland fishery are English.

It was precisely because of this performance that Marin made up his mind to choose some of the two or three hundred thousand landless peasants in England to serve as sailors.

However, I didn't find an excuse for recruiting soldiers before, after all, recruiting is a big deal, and it is difficult to get permission. Therefore, Marin could only "save the country by curve", borrowing money to buy fishing boats, first dragging those landless peasants in England into the water, and then thinking of recruiting them into the army...... But now, through the conflict with the Portuguese, Marin has an open excuse to recruit sailors. This excuse was something that even Edward could not openly oppose. Why, people guard the country's maritime security, and you also want to stop it?

It is said that it will recruit 5,000 people, but in fact, Marin will recruit about 5,400 people, which is exactly enough to control 30 warships. In this way, the total number of 500-ton warships in the North Sea Kingdom will reach 60. Coupled with the fact that there is enough gunpowder to fire at will, such a strength can definitely crown Europe.

Marin wondered, when the French matter was settled, should he pull the fleet over and abuse the Portuguese, and then snatch the benefits from them?

However, if you beat the Portuguese too hard, it seems that the Spaniards will be cheaper......

Obviously, if Marin crippled Portugal, Spain would definitely take the opportunity to fall into the trap and maybe annex Portugal. At the very least, there would be annexation of Portuguese interests in India. And that's not what Marin would like to see.

If Spain had completely monopolized the windfall profits from India's spice trade, Spain would have gained as much as it had gained from its monopoly on the Americas.

But the problem is that in this time and space, there is no Charles V who has come to squander the gold and silver earned by Spain. Originally, in history, most of the money Spain earned from the Americas was used by Charles V to engage in continental hegemony, and he did not reap much benefit.

But because Marin saved Juan III, Spain in this time and space does not need to throw money into the bottomless pit of continental hegemony. At that time, Spain's financial resources will be extremely strong.

Although Spain also participated in the Italian struggle for hegemony, the Italian hegemony was not as pitiful as Charles V's simultaneous confrontation with France, Turkey, and the German princes, and the cost would be much less.

Without the bottomless pit of European hegemony to throw money at, Spain may continue to strengthen its navy into a force that can threaten the colonies of the North Sea States.

Therefore, Marin thought about it and felt that he could not destroy Portugal, so as not to cheapen Spain. Therefore, the best choice is that when a naval war breaks out between the two countries in the future, the fleet will deliberately release some water and let Portugal a horse on the premise of ensuring victory, so that it can retain its vitality to resist the erosion of Spain.

But it's too early to say that, because Marin isn't that strong yet......

……

At the same time, in the far Far East, a sea battle is about to break out. By this time, Da Gama and the main force of his fleet had returned to Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island, where they were repairing. Then, Da Gama prepared to transfer to the Zhoushan Islands, a little north of the Ming Dynasty, and planned to find an island there as a base to invade the most prosperous coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the Ming Dynasty......

After returning from Tamsui City, da Gama began to prepare to return to Hong Kong Island immediately for repairs. However, after Hu Jianhai caught a down-and-out scholar along the coast and listened to this person's introduction, Da Gama changed his decision and first took the fleet north and went to the Zhoushan Islands.

Of course, the three warships that were injured were first repaired at the temporary base in Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island. Subsequently, the three damaged ships, after a brief repair, would regret a complete overhaul at the port of Malacca. There, the Portuguese established a large shipyard.

In a fortuitous operation along the coast of Hu Jian, Da Gama caught a down-and-out talent named Hong Hengjiu. This person is very uncharacteristic, and after being threatened by the Portuguese, he did not come up with Sun Juren's trick to get through the trick, but simply cooperated with the Portuguese and betrayed the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

Under the guidance of Hong Hengjiu, Da Gama's fleet went directly north to the Zhoushan Islands and conducted an investigation.

At this time, because of the maritime ban policy in the early Ming Dynasty, only Zhoushan Island had tens of thousands of residents and a Changding Haiwei. The other islands of the Zhoushan archipelago, except for a few islands near the main island of Zhoushan Island, were basically not managed by the Ming court and were in a semi-abandoned state. On those islands, there are only one or two small fishing villages that exist illegally, inhabited by fishermen who are secretly fishing.

When Da Gama's fleet arrived on the main island of Zhoushan Island, it was met with strong resistance from Dinghaiwei, who failed to capture the local city. Subsequently, his fleet conducted an expedition to the Zhoushan Islands and found that most of the islands outside of the main island of Zhoushan Island were in an undefended state, which was very suitable for setting up bases.

And, most importantly, it is very close to the silk-rich Suzhou and Hangzhou areas mentioned by Hong Hengjiu. As long as you gain a firm foothold here, you can enter Suzhou and Hangzhou at any time. Even if it can't capture this area, it can greatly deter the Ming Dynasty. Because, the shameless Hong Hengjiu said that the area around Suzhou and Hangzhou is an important financial and tax area of the Ming Empire and belongs to the core area. As long as this place is taken, the core interests of the Ming Kingdom will be touched. When the time comes, they can't afford not to compromise......

After making a plan, da Gama returned to Hong Kong Island with his fleet. Hong Hengjiu, who was already down, followed Da Gama directly with the ship, anyway, he was determined to sell the Ming Dynasty......

The reason why da Gama had to return to the temporary base on Hong Kong Island was because of the accumulation of looted goods here. Since the base has been transferred, these stolen goods will naturally have to be taken with them.

It's just that he didn't expect that it was this stay on Hong Kong Island that caused the Portuguese fleet to suffer a catastrophe......