Because of the relationship between the people on the east coast, the speed of the fleet renovation was relatively fast. By September 25, most of the ships had been repaired, and the cost was less than 50,000 yuan. Considering that this is a foreign country, this charge of the Portuguese can really be considered a conscience. After all, they don't produce ship materials, and many ship boards, masts and the like are imported from the Baltic Sea or Portuguese Brazil, and the cost is not low.

During these five days, the three-deck battleship "Milestone" and a number of ships also arrived in the port of Lisbon, much to the great relief of the fleet commander Moliee. These ships are the essence of the navy, and the officers and men are all veterans of training for many years, and once they are lost, it is indeed very heart-wrenching.

Mo Liege counted the ships currently in Hong Kong, and learned that a total of 4 three-deck battleships, 18 frigates, 26 light cruisers, and 8 logistics support ships were in port, and 10 were still in a state of disconnection, so I don't know what the situation was. Although he had the intention to continue to wait here for a while to see if any ships would come to converge, he felt that he could not afford to wait given the relatively delicate and tense situation in the continent at present. Therefore, after much consideration, he finally ordered the whole army to move to Bruges and be ready at any time.

Before leaving, they also hired more than ten Portuguese merchant ships through the embassy connections to transport ammunition and equipment. These ships mainly shuttle between Bruges and Lisbon, both of which are mature routes, and the monsoons and currents are suitable, so if nothing else, there is no problem in transporting some weapons and ammunition.

On October 15, 1688, after the itinerary was delayed again and again, this huge fleet finally sailed to Bruges, the famous commercial port of the South Netherlands, in the midst of the entangled and complicated emotions of the Spaniards, and officially anchored in Diandian, only one step away from the English Channel, and suddenly became a very eye-catching role in the whole European continent.

To be honest, the conditions in the port of Bruges are not as excellent as in Antwerp. The problem was that access to Antwerp was through the Dutch-controlled Scheldt River, which was in the heart of the province of Zeeland and therefore not suitable for the Grand Fleet on the east coast, so Morree chose Bruges, a once prosperous but now declining port.

In the 16th century, Bruges was once the economic and financial center of Europe, the local wool textile industry was developed, there were many handicraftsmen, the nearby towns also had developed military manufacturing, and a large number of American specialty goods were traded here, so the economic level of Bruges was once very developed, and it became the economic center of Central and Western Europe.

However, with the change of the situation and the continuous silting up of the sea off Bruges, the city inevitably and slowly declined. By the 17th century, the threat of France was as unsettling as the sword of Damocles, and trade and the economy were greatly affected, and many wealthy and brilliant men left, either to the Netherlands, England, or even to join France, which further contributed to the decline of Bruges.

The Kingdom of Spain is fucked up, but it's not unthinkable that Bruges and Antwerp will be restored to their former glory, after all, this is an important source of wealth for them. Just a few decades ago, the Kingdom of Spain invested in improving the conditions of the port of Bruges, expanding the harbor where ships were stationed, widening and dredging some of the important shipping lanes that were blocked, which greatly improved the conditions of the port and restored the economy of Bruges, and the local people were all happy.

But the good times didn't last long. Decades later, as the Kingdom of Spain's finances became more and more difficult, so King Louis XIV of France waged one war after another against the Low Countries, the port of Bruges declined at an irrepressible rate, the port facilities that had not been repaired with investment for many years began to deteriorate, and the shipping channels became silted again, which made people feel helpless.

The Spaniards invested in the infrastructure of the port for the last time after the end of the Franco-Dutch War, and although the amount was not too large, it also restored some of the functions of the port and the lanes, and the economy of the city was restored a lot. And these are undoubtedly very beneficial for the entry of the East Coast Grand Fleet, because it means that a lot of costs are saved.

Due to the severe siltation of the outer harbor of Bruges, the East Coast Fleet had to reach the city along the dredging canal, and then moored in a row near the docks along the river. The residents of the South Netherlands have mixed perceptions, believing that the tens of thousands of naval officers and sailors from the east coast are bringing considerable economic benefits to the city because they will buy large quantities of consumer goods on the market and pay fees to the port department, but on the other hand, they are also worried that the arrival of the East Coast Grand Fleet will cause security problems for the city of Bruges.

Yes, it's a security concern! Many feared that Britain and the Netherlands would be hostile to the existence of this fleet, and that even the neighbouring Kingdom of France would be uneasy. The inhabitants of Bruges feared that the French would find all sorts of excuses to invade the South Netherlands again, and then occupy the port of Bruges and drive the East Coast Fleet out.

It must be said that their fears are unreasonable, but the probability is really low. Because now in the eyes of many people, the East Coast Fleet is actually going to the United Province and England, because the envoys of the East Coast have repeatedly opposed the involvement of the Prince of Orange in England in public, and even more oppose the Anglo-Dutch republics or the merger of countries, no one took this seriously before, but now the situation is obviously different, isn't it?

Whatever the inhabitants of Bruges think, the East Coast Fleet is anchored here and is ready to use it as a base for military operations. In this regard, it can be seen from the large warehouses and warehouses that they bought or rented near the docks, which were used to store important military supplies. The Spanish officials in the city were very enthusiastic about the East Coasters, perhaps because they received orders from Madrid, which undoubtedly disappointed the residents of Bruges, who felt that they had been completely kidnapped by the East Coasters.

"The two batteries near the mouth of the canal are to be taken over completely. Didn't we bring a lot of spare naval guns? Pick and choose and replace some of the old bronze guns on the turret. I've served these Spaniards, these are all old antique guns that have been used for many years, and they haven't been retired yet, and they still insist on using them, how poor they are! As Colonel Molie's right and left man, Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen, former commander of the Caribbean Detachment of the First Fleet, said: "The conditions in the port of Bruges are somewhat special, and to some extent, they are somewhat similar to London. The Dutch could take advantage of the negligence of the British to attack the British fleet anchored on both sides of the Thames at night, and then we have to worry about the recurrence of this kind of thing, so the batteries and lighthouses must be in our hands, and I don't worry about the demoralized waste soldiers in Spain. ”

In other words, Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen, as a soldier, naturally thinks about everything from a military point of view. Perhaps diplomats will think that there is no war with any country on the East Coast now, and there is no reason for others to attack the East Coast Navy, but that is just the idea of diplomats. As a soldier, you can never pin your hopes on others, the port of Bruges is extremely narrow, once the enemy takes advantage of the favorable opportunity of the high tide at night to sneak into the port to prevent fire, the Grand Fleet of the East Coast Navy is afraid that it will suffer unimaginable huge losses, so the forts and lighthouses must be controlled in the first place, regardless of the reluctance of the Spaniards.

In addition, the people on the east coast even planned to properly control the foreign trade of the port of Bruges for a period of time, and reduce the frequency of foreign ships entering and leaving the port, so as not to mix in many suspicious foreign armed ships and cause losses to the people on the east coast. The Spaniards, of course, strongly protested against this, but the East Coast Navy was resolute, and they intended to send warships to patrol the vicinity of the mouth of the canal twenty-four hours a day, inspecting every merchant ship that tried to enter the harbor, and not letting them go until it was confirmed that there was no threat.

Safety always comes first!

"Army soldiers are also stationed in important and sensitive areas. There is no need for much, dozens of people are enough, the main thing is to prevent irrelevant people from coming to make trouble. When you're out and about, you have to be careful, and now that our main fleet is here, we can't afford to take any risk of accidents. Rest assured, the Portuguese merchant ships we hired should be here in the next few days, and in addition to the large quantities of ammunition procured, a group of army soldiers who remained in Viana do Castelo will also arrive here, and we will make sure that the situation is completely under control and that no surprises happen. Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen continued to give orders, only to hear him say: "The Prince of Orange is a ruthless man, he should know what is going on with our Grand Fleet coming to Europe, so if he can't keep it, he will use some indiscriminate sneak attack methods, which we have to guard against." ”

"Well, don't worry too much. Rest well these days and wait for the transport ship from Lisbon. In the end, Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen was waved and commanded.

And while Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen was taking over the defense in the outer harbor, in a villa in Bruges, Colonel Moliee was negotiating with several leading officers: "According to the plan, we should first contact the Dutch republicans, and then make friendly visits to several of their main ports. Although I don't know if this will be possible, and which ports the Prince of Orange's men control, I feel it is necessary to try it, and a visit to Holland will be a great encouragement to the republicans. They did not approve of William III's entry into London, because it would inevitably harm the interests of the United Provinces, and they did not have many supporters in the Netherlands, and even many of them, after all, people are selfish. Therefore, for this reason, it is best for us to find a way to visit the Netherlands, even if we can't go to Amsterdam, we can also fight for the second-level ports such as Vlissingen. ”

In other words, William III is really desperate to get into London now! Because of the large number of opponents in the country, and even a considerable part of the army that had supported him refused to accompany him to England, William III scratched his head and had to turn to his allies. To that end, he had recently convened a meeting with representatives of allies near and far, including the Governor of the South Netherlands of the Kingdom of Spain, the Electors of Brandenburg, the Electors of Saxony, the Counts of Hesse-Kassel, and the House of Luxembourg. At the meeting, William III agreed with these delegates that an army of 1 to 20,000 men would be formed from the above-mentioned regions, to be hired by the Orange family as a whole, to replace the sentimental officers and soldiers in the Netherlands, and follow William III to the English throne.

In addition to this, these men promised to form another army and secretly arrive in the territory of the United Provinces to enter Nijmegen under the pretext of helping the United Provinces resist the French invasion, but in fact they were under the command of William III, and in the event that the situation was not right, they would immediately suppress those Dutch troops who were showing signs of betraying him, especially after William III left the Netherlands for England, and the status of these troops became even more important, which was tantamount to helping William III guard his lair, because he did not trust many of the Dutch generals under his command at all.

In such a situation, it was all the more necessary for the Grand Fleet of the East Coasters to visit the Netherlands. Especially now that the republicans control the Estates-Generalisation and many local municipal councils, and after this upsurge they have the support of many centrist forces, even the Orange faction, so it seems necessary to support the republicans in various senses by anchoring in some ports of the Seven Provinces Alliance.

They believe that Van Boiningen should not be ambiguous in this matter. Wilhelm III had shamelessly lured foreign troops into the Netherlands in order to secure his position, so couldn't the republicans turn to the outside for military help? Absolutely! Therefore, it is entirely possible that the Eastern Fleet would visit the Netherlands at this time, and give confidence to some people who were lucky and still unwilling to confront Wilhelm III. In addition, if Van Boiningen asked to hire an army from the East Coast to fight each other, then the people on the East Coast would not mind sending the Portuguese garrison troops over, anyway, the matter on the Black Sea side was basically over, and it was not the first time that the East Coast Army had been hired into the Seven Provinces Alliance.

East Coasters basically do what they think of! On the evening of 25 September, they sent messengers to The Hague day and night to confer with Van Boiningen. On 30 September, the extraordinarily efficient emissary sent back the news that the Republicans had agreed to a friendly visit to the port of Vlissingen in Zeeland by the East Coast Fleet, but not on a scale so as not to arouse some bad impressions. At the same time, they were also very interested in hiring the East Coast Army, hoping to hire the famous 7th Mixed Battalion to The Hague to serve as an armed force to defend the Republic together with many of the Dutch native troops they had recruited.

At this time, another group of ships from the east coast that had lost contact with each other also arrived in the port of Bruges. The regiments of ships scattered by the storm during the northward march were largely regrouped, and the easterners lost an escort gunboat, a light cruiser, and an ammunition supply ship in the process, which was acceptable.

The lost ships arrived with a large number of Portuguese merchant ships hired in Lisbon, carrying valuable ammunition supplies and a number of army men. At this point, the East Coast Grand Fleet can be said to be ready for everything, only the east wind is owed!