As soon as Captain Kidd sailed his fleet into the Irish Sea, he changed his style and began to search for the British ships in a vigorous manner, only to see a direct sinking of them.

But to Kidd's surprise and expectation, there was hardly a single big ship in the Irish Sea at this time, only a few dilapidated ships.

How can you tell it's a warship? Because the St. George's Cross flag representing England and the red and white rose flag representing the Tudor family were hoisted on the ship at the same time. The two flags were hoisted together to represent the Tudor royal family ruling England...... Edward's army did not currently occupy England, so his army only flew the White Rose banner, not the St. George's Cross, which represented England......

However, these two flags are just hanging on those big ships of more than 200 tons, but hanging on dilapidated small ships, how can they not look so right......

However, Kidd didn't care if the boats were real warships, but just opened fire......

Henry VII was originally trying to confuse his opponent this time, so he was also prepared to sink several ships. Therefore, these small boats sent over were not only small, but also dilapidated, and many of them were basically on the verge of falling apart......

For these broken ships, the general way to dispose of them is to dismember them directly. Useful timber is left for shipbuilding (for example, some of the wood inside is rarely corroded and worn and can be recycled), and useless broken planks are dismantled and used as firewood.

And this time, in order to confuse the "French", the ships that Henry VII put on the Irish Sea were almost all old ships ready to be dismantled. The keel part of many ships has been eroded by sea maggots or termites, and it looks like it is about to fall apart......

In general, such ships will be eliminated only if the keel is damaged. Because, if the other parts are broken, it's a big deal to replace the plank. But the keel is damaged, it is very serious, it is easy to fall apart during sailing, and it has to be disassembled.

Therefore, the old ships sent by Henry VII this time are basically broken ships with decayed keels. Even if Captain Kidd led the fleet this time with a Spanish Clark sailing ship, and the caliber of the guns was not large, it was very easy to make a contribution when encountering such a ship that was about to fall apart......

In a few days, more than a dozen "British battleships" in the Irish Sea were sunk. Then there were not many British ships in the Irish Sea.

At this time, the Clark sailboat that had been "going to France" also turned back......

Of course, the ship was not going to France to report the news, but to the mouth of the Shannon River southwest of the island of Ireland to guide a group of cargo ships.

These ships were all arranged there by Marin before, to be used to transport Edward's soldiers. In order not to be noticed by the British, the ships arrived in batches at the mouth of the Shannon River, under Edward's control in the southwest of the island of Ireland, where they were on standby.

Now, the ship has brought the 30 200-ton Kirk galleons moored at the mouth of the Shannon River......

Seeing that there were almost no British ships left in the Irish Sea, Captain Kidd sent 10 ships to escort the 30 Kirk sailing ships north, ready to transport Edward's army. And Captain Kidd himself, with the remaining 20 warships, went to the port of Plymouth on the Cornwall Peninsula, where the English "fleet" temporarily docked, and deliberately provoked.

Since you are acting, you have to play a full set. Marlin's script was - let Kidd and his fleet, posing as French, deliberately seduce the British Navy in pursuit. However, Wallace, the British commander who was cowering in Plymouth Harbour, ignored him.

In fact, Wallace couldn't do it if he wanted to. Because, the real fleet was hidden on the southeast coast. The fleet he brought with him, only a few ships really belonged to the battle sequence. The other ships, all fishing boats and small merchant ships, were not vulnerable at all. So, Wallace could only ignore Kidd's provocation.

At this time, Henry VII also carried out a large-scale tactical fraud. In order to give the French the illusion that "the treacherous plan succeeded", Henry VII specially found a lot of larger fishing boats, forming a huge scale of hundreds of ships.

Then, this fleet, mightily from the southeast coast of England, through the narrow Calais Strait, deliberately made visible to the French.

The Strait of Calais was only 30 kilometres wide, and the British fleet sailed in the middle of the strait, and the French could see with the naked eye that Britain had indeed sent a large number of ships to the west...... Of course, the French could only see with the naked eye, because they did not have binoculars......

After swaggering through the Strait of Calais, this "fleet" of hundreds of large fishing boats continued westward in the middle of the English Channel...... It seemed as if the fleet was actually going to support the Irish Sea Theater......

After listening to the report of the coastal garrison, Louis XII also concluded that this British fleet was indeed going to hunt down the fleet of the Grand Duchy of the North Sea. Although there are no big ships, so many medium-sized "warships" are enough for Marin's fleet to drink a pot......

For Louis XII, however, it was none of his business whether Marin's fleet was good or not. At best, Marin's fleet and the British fleet fought to defeat both. When the time comes, the French will just come out to clean up the pieces......

……

A few days later, the "fleet" arrived at Plymouth Harbor, where Wallace's fleet docked, and joined it. Captain Kidd's fleet, which was provocative outside Plymouth Harbour, saw hundreds of ships coming to support it, and was "frightened" and immediately withdrew to the Irish Sea to the west......

But strangely, this "fleet" that came to reinforce did not pursue, but also docked in Plymouth Harbor, and then all the people on board disembarked and disembarked......

Captain Kidd "knew it in his heart" because Marin's "script" told him - this fleet could be fake. And the so-called "naval battle" between the two sides is also a strange naval battle full of tacit understanding......

Because he was not at ease, Captain Kidd specially sent three more boats over to provoke him. As a result, the British simply did not bother. Now, Captain Kidd was finally relieved - this fleet was indeed a fake. Otherwise, it would have been hunted down a long time ago......

Captain Kidd then left only four ships to monitor the movements of the British near the Cornish peninsula. And he himself, with the main force, went north to escort the transport of Edward's army......

If future generations of fans saw this strange naval battle, they would definitely snort - "Isn't this 'match-fixing'?" ”

Yes, it's a lot like match-fixing in later football. From the beginning to the end, Kidd's fleet sank a dozen small wrecked ships that were about to fall apart in the Irish Sea. Then, there was no real fighting between the two fleets at all. The confrontation near Plymouth Harbour is more like testing and deceiving each other......

However, both sides were triumphant - the British thought they had deceived the "French", while Kidd knew that he had deceived the British......

Of course, the British were not wrong to think that they had deceived the French. For, indeed, the true Frenchman was deceived by the actions of the British. But in fact, Kidd's fleet was not French at all, but of the German Grand Duchy of the North Sea......

Therefore, in this "naval battle" full of tacit understanding, which is similar to match-fixing, both sides are very satisfied, and both think that they have deceived each other. Of course, one party really deceived the other party, while the other party "thought they had deceived the other party"......