The first round of fire did not accurately hit the battery, but it also startled them, and the frequency of artillery fire was significantly reduced. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Taking advantage of this opportunity, the whaling ship finally turned around and dragged the broken mast out of enemy range. When Hong Tao's fleet moved forward a few hundred meters, dropped anchor seven or eight hundred meters away from the fort and began to aim and shoot, the four forts hidden in the highland woods were quickly wiped out, and they were named one by one by more than 30 Qizu guns on nine battleships. This is the sad thing about shore artillery, no matter how powerful it is, if it can't move, it will become a live target.

The four forts at the mouth of the river were leveled, and the sailboats in the river that were ready to sink themselves were gone, and all that could run was gone. Hong Tao left two Virginia-class warships and the wounded whaling ship cruising at the mouth of the river to prevent any more people from blocking the river, and he slowly drilled into the river with the remaining ten ships, led by another whaling ship.

After about twenty kilometers in the river, no more forts were found on either side. No wonder this place is called lowland, the terrain is indeed low enough, the two small high slopes on the estuary just now are already considered commanding heights, in the range of twenty kilometers, there is no longer a higher altitude than them, and it makes no sense to build a fort unless it is piled up by manpower dozens of meters high soil slopes.

"Stop advancing and land on the north shore, they all seem to be waiting for us in front." To Hong Tao's surprise, the lookout reported that a large number of sailing boats had been found more than 10 kilometers away, and it seemed that they were the same boats that had escaped yesterday. Why didn't they swim a little farther upstream? Are you planning to fight yourself to the death here, or is there some other conspiracy? Hong Tao couldn't think clearly, so he just didn't think about it, no matter what they planned, as long as they did their own thing, they wouldn't have much chance.

The two armed cargo ships received Hong Tao's order, slowly approached the north shore, then lowered their sails and anchored, and began to lower the dinghy one by one. Two hundred army soldiers finally came in handy, and one after another boarded the dinghy and rowed to the shore. When the first soldiers landed on the shore, they immediately took their shotguns out of tarpaulin, sorted them out, divided them into four or five squads, and began to search around the landing site. After it was determined that the vicinity was safe, the large forces and their equipment began to come ashore one after another.

As soon as the army landed, a dhow sailed on the river in the distance, and the gunner did not ask Hong Tao's opinion at all, and directly began to aim, because Hong Tao had already given the order to shoot freely, as long as it was not his own person, he could fire when he saw it, and now Hong Tao had no intention of changing the order. Although the other party is a small boat, what if it has explosives in it? The Qizu cannon has a minimum firing range, and once it is too close to the opponent, it will not be able to shoot.

"Don't fire yet, it's here to negotiate...... Maybe it's the Earl of Nassau himself, give him a chance to explain. If it's inconvenient for you, I'll talk to them! Karl couldn't bear to see his fellow nobles being targeted by these Indian soldiers, and made a request to Hong Tao. Hong Tao's habit Carl is very clear, he never takes the risk to negotiate with the enemy, the only time he made an exception was when he talked with the Great Song Emperor, and he didn't expect Hong Tao to make an exception this time.

"I'm really not very convenient, but you can't go either. This has nothing to do with you, you can't come forward. Let's go to the bilge first, and I'll deal with them. Don't worry, since I promised to negotiate, I won't touch them, am I such a virtuous person? Sure enough, Hong Tao really didn't plan to make an exception, but he didn't allow Carl to go, the reason was very simple, it was to avoid suspicion.

"Can you let me hear your terms first?" Carl didn't want to hide, but thinking about his wife, children, and cousin, he had to hide. Hong Tao is right, this matter can't be directly related to himself, William, and Jiang Zhuyi, otherwise he won't be able to mix in Europe. It's one thing to know in my heart, it's another thing to have evidence for, but he's not reassured.

"My request is simple! Burn all the ports and these ships, give me all the craftsmen, and find a nobleman with a black pot to take me prisoner, and I can not go any further. Don't just find a baron with a name and no fief to fool me, just use his son, I don't know anyone else. Give me all the people in charge of shipbuilding and command, or I'll kill all the living creatures I can see here, and not a single one will be left!" Hong Tao broke his fingers and said his conditions one by one, there are really not many, just a few.

"Isn't there nothing to talk about, this is no different from unconditional surrender......" Carl was very helpless, the conditions proposed by Hong Tao were very unlikely that the other party could agree.

"I didn't plan to negotiate at all, I came here to kill people, destroy cities, and kidnap tickets. Since you are negotiating, I respect your choice, but the goal will not change. If they are sensible, I will use peaceful means to achieve the goal, and if they don't give up, then continue to fight! Anyway, if you waste one more shell and kill me alone, the more military expenses you will have, and you will have to be reimbursed from them in the end. "Carl isn't a fool, and he can't be a bastard. A person like Hong Tao can only negotiate when he is not sure, and once he has the upper hand, his nature of unreasonable stirring up three points and not letting people be reasonable will be vividly exposed.

"You go and fetch them yourself, and cover the gun's jacket by the way. If they don't come, then don't talk about it. Karl got out of the bilge, and Hong Tao called the captain over again and sent him to make contact with the other party.

"Shall I find a sailor?" The captain doesn't think there's any need for him to make this trip, just find a sailor to do the work of the signal corps, and he is also the captain anyway!

"The sailor's Latin is not good, the accent is too strong, or you go, how is your Latin grade?" Hong Tao really wanted to slap this captain on the head, and dared to negotiate terms with himself, and it was wartime, if this was placed in the Royal Navy, he would be directly tied to the mast and whipped. It seems that I really have to take Mercy over quickly and train these half-navy for myself.

"Hey...... It's always been excellent, and I'm still teaching Joseph's Latin! The captain finally found a strong point of his own, and instantly burst into laughter. These days, I have only been criticized, and I finally have an opportunity to show my face, and I must seize it.

The captain didn't brag, he had a good conversation with the envoy of the other side, and after a while, three people from the other boat's boat got into his dinghy, and then the sailors on the boat sent the flagship all the normal flags, and the dinghy rowed back with them.

The three people who climbed up from under the side of the ship, one old and two young, looked at the costumes should be nobles, maybe they were their butlers, subordinate officials or something, Hong Tao couldn't figure out how their hierarchy was indicated from their clothes, anyway, they all wore dog-like people. Hong Tao also does not have the habit of pretending to be forced in front of the weak, and he will abide by the politeness he should have, which is not respecting the other party, but respecting himself. Seeing the three of them on deck, he also got up from his fishing chair and prepared to walk over to say hello.

"Your Majesty the Emperor? Are you Emperor Hong? But before Hong Tao could introduce himself, the old man who was about the same age as himself spoke, he seemed to know himself, and directly called out his title and surname.

"I'm sorry, but I'm weak in recognizing people, who are you?" Now that the other party recognized himself, Hong Tao also omitted the procedure of introducing himself, stretched out his hand, and motioned for everyone to sit down in front of the temporary table on the deck and talk slowly.

"I am Henry II, Count of Nassau, Kingdom of Germany, and these are my two sons, Wagram and Otto." Seeing that Hong Tao couldn't remember himself, the old man did not express his displeasure, but introduced himself first, and then introduced the two young people to Hong Tao.

In the European aristocracy, there is an unwritten rule that if you meet on a formal occasion, you cannot introduce yourself, this behavior is very shameless, and you must be introduced indirectly by others. But there is an exception, if the other party is much higher than their status, they can introduce themselves, which is also a kind of respect. Obviously, the Earl of Nassau still has more respect for Hong Tao, or he respects the title of emperor more.

"Earl Henry, Count Karl and I have spoken about you, please take a seat and taste the rum I have brought. This is brewed with the sap of a tree called cactus, which has a special taste. Since others respect themselves, then Hong Tao also put away the scoundrel's face, put the enemy aside first, people are good or bad, and there is still a way to be hospitable.

"Hmm...... Its taste is really special and the color is very good! The bearded earl was not in a hurry to get down to business, but took a sip of the wine glass, tasted it carefully, and began to evaluate the characteristics of the wine, as if he had really brought his son as a guest.

"Since the Count likes it, let's take it as a gift, there is absolutely no such wine on the market, and we will try to make a few barrels there, can we get one?" For the formalized etiquette of European aristocrats, Hong Tao doesn't like or hate it, it all depends on what mood he is in. If he went to ask someone to do something, and the other party was still so unhurried, he would bless his ancestors for eight generations in his heart. But now that someone else is begging for himself, then don't worry, let's consume it slowly. After tasting the wine and cigar smoke, I lit the cigarette and served the same as small biscuits baked with cornmeal and sugar, and French fries made of potatoes.

"If it weren't for the war, I'd love to try the craft of Miss Baroness in Karlburg, the best lady in the world at cooking. His Majesty's cooking skills are even better, and I can't think of what these things are made of. Henry II was really calm, drank and smoked, and ate everything on the table, and then brought out the word war in a roundabout way, waiting for Hong Tao to pick up.

(To be continued.) )