The snowflakes in the sky swayed down messily, smearing the earth with snow-white, and the boatmen and soldiers who were busy against the snow also dyed their hair white in the frost, but although the weather was cold, the whole city of Toulon was in full swing, and the small human beings like ants created earth-shaking changes here over the years, completely changing the terrain.

Several mountain basins were completely dug up between the sea, the sea water was submerged for dozens of miles, and the magnificent artificial lake was shoveled out alive by a shovel, and at this time, with the sea breeze blowing, a series of more than 20 battleships with a length of 64 meters and a height of 12 meters, the main battleships of the three-story Hessesen gun bay kept swaying, and the rigging that was frozen crisply made a clanging sound.

"Hey~hey~"

In the sound of the trumpet, thousands of French navy wearing red high hats on their heads and wearing red and white straps pulled ropes, their faces were red from exertion, and a white mist was steaming up on their heads, and with their roars, several heavy warships that had been built at the edge of the dock were dragged to the edge of the sluice gates.

The locks let out a mortal groan and then burst open, and with the rushing water, the warships rushed out like happy dolphins, and threw themselves into the bosom of the sea, next to the military port on the other side of the harbor, and there were more than two hundred warships that had been built like this.

Invest most of Europe's strength to build the main fleet! Compared with this fleet, the Armada of the Spaniards back then was as small as a family.

In a few days, the large-scale shipbuilding operation will come to an end, and at this time, the magnates of various countries will also arrive in the small town of Toulon, and on the edge of this embankment, hundreds of Western nobles in fur and mink jackets will look excitedly into the sea with binoculars.

In particular, Prince Philip of Spain, expedition to England, Spain has made great efforts, not only to avenge the destruction of the Armada by the British pirates in 1590, especially a few months ago, Spain itself also learned the news of the fall of the Mexican colony of New Spain, from the nobles of the upper and lower houses to the Inquisition to the king, all eager to seize the British colonies in the Caribbean to make up for the losses.

Also excited are the Queen Mary of France and the palace minister Mazarin, this expedition, 60,000 French troops will also set foot on the British mainland as the main force, to complete the feat of occupying LinkedIn, more than two hundred years ago, the bloody Anglo-French Hundred Years War, the British army was once about to occupy the whole of France, the appearance of Joan of Arc reversed the decline of the French army, this time, France will be its own way to govern itself.

Moreover, with the help of this war, the intricate political struggles within France will also be cleared at once, and the prestige of the Kingdom of France in the whole of Europe will be pushed to the top.

The rest of Portugal, Italy, Prussia and other countries also had their own small abacus and looked at the vast fleet.

However, at this time, there were still some people who were out of place, and when the royal family admired the battleship group that represented their glory, the Dutch lieutenant consul Old Curt was standing on the edge of the shipyard in a daze, staring at a failed product.

The battleship had completely sunk into the mud of the shipyard, leaving only the bow of the ship to emerge from the water, and it was rusty and frosty, and Curt was staring at the bow with a crutch, and Curt couldn't help but let go.

Why was the Akito's ironclad ship able to sail into the sea, and even defeated the coalition forces as a capital ship, but no matter how they experimented, the iron still couldn't float on the water!

If this problem cannot be solved, even if it succeeds in occupying the British, how will it fight with the Ming Royal Navy in the future? Now that they've arrived in the New World, God knows if they might one day make it to Europe.

But on the contrary, some people don't know the taste of hatred, and when Curt saw it, a goblet suddenly appeared in front of him, and then the strong smell of wine came to his nose, and the half-drunk Prince Philip of Spain curled his tongue and raised his glass at him in tongue-like French.

"Hi my friend, cheers for the great victory to come!"

This guy really drank too much, the Netherlands just came out of independence from the Eighty Years' War with Spain, who is friends with him?

However, the scheming old merchant didn't distinguish with him, he directly raised the wine glass and touched it crisply, and drank it all in an instant, and his face was greatly satisfied.

But before he could leave, his shoulder was held down by Curt.

Wine is not so easy to drink, and when you drink it, you have to pull out some useful information, and you are full of smiles, but Kurt's words go straight to the heart of the proud and indulgent prince.

"I heard that your country lost its Mexican colony......"

"It was the evil Orientals who used trickery to incite those ignorant and damned natives to rebel, so they took advantage of Spain's righteousness and seized our colonies, but the viceroyalties of Peru, Brazil, Argentina and other provinces are ready to fight, and after the end of the expedition against the British, they will immediately take back the Mexican colony!"

Grunting like a drunken cat, after yelling, and muttering long live Spain, this guy carried it and went to the other end again, not knowing to find that lady lover to show off and vent.

These words, but made Curt's mood a little relaxed, the loss of Mexico, so that these Spanish have been ashamed, for a few months, I don't know what the war in the Americas is going on, this is a rare meeting of the king's parliament in front of the important ministers, drunk and spit out the truth, it seems that the Ming army stopped with Mexico, and did not go south.

No one can cross the Atlantic Ocean in the absence of land supplies, and the tropical rainforests of South America are not so easy to conquer, according to this progress, the route from Daming to Europe will not be open for a while and a half, and Western Europe can be stable for a few years or more than ten years.

During this time, it is necessary to get the secret of the Ming army's iron ship! Play hard! Looking at a group of nobles from various countries who were still talking about it, Old Curt made up his mind ruthlessly.

..........

The latitude of Europe is still slightly higher, the latitude of Germany is already equal to the later Jilin, plus it is still at the end of the Xiaoice River period, this snow, until the end of April finally completely stopped, with the spring warm blossoming envoys, in early May, the war in full swing also officially began.

The population of Toulon has skyrocketed to 500,000 in a short period of time, and most of the European magnates, merchants, and landlords have gathered here to see off the fleet, and countless people have drained the crowded waters of the port, and some people have even been crowded and fallen into the water.

It was truly an unprecedented European coalition, with a total of 14 countries committing troops, 110,000 land forces, 30,000 Dutch and Spanish navy, 214 first-class sail capital ships, and thousands of troop carriers and supply ships.

In the escort of the French Guard, the palace minister Mazarin personally pulled his robe for the pope, and under the gaze of hundreds of European nobles, His Majesty the Pope personally smashed a bottle of wine tied to the bumper horn to the bow of the flagship Victory in accordance with tradition, with a crisp sound, the red wine flowed down the bow like blood, and the loud cheers were also lively and extraordinary.

"Conquer the infidels!"

"Bring the splendor of God to that backward and greedy corner!"

"Glory to us!"

The Holy See and the British Protestants have never dealt with each other, but this shout of honor makes people think that this group of fat-brained guys below are going to the battlefield in person! Listening to their cheers, Curt, who was indeed going to go to the battlefield himself, couldn't help but snort heavily, and then moved to the other side of the deck of the Victory with a small crutch.

Today is a good day for the expedition, the sea is calm like a mirror, and flocks of seagulls are also hovering in circles without sorrow, from time to time on the deck to dive and throw a wave of bombs, and the French who have been doused with bird feces have to endure it there with a face full of bleaching for their face.

I don't know if I will survive until the end of the war?

Swinging his crutches, Curt's dizzy old eyes were particularly sharp, at least until he saw God, he wanted to completely remove the danger of this corner of Europe for the Netherlands and his children and grandchildren!

Finally, in Curt's impatience, a group of politicians finally put an end to the nonsense, let the farewell ceremony below come to an end, and as the sailors creaked and pulled up the sails, the mighty fleet of the entire European power was officially marched towards the British Isles, and the most famous and tragic East-West war of the seventeenth century also began.