Chapter Forty-Six: The Beginning of the Age of Sail. sequence
The city of Puron was 20 years and 20 January.
February 20, 1187 A.D.
King William II of England laid siege to Edinburgh with a newly formed legion, 20,000 of the 30,000 troops were forcibly enslaved by the local Scots, and the other part was taken prisoners of war and slaves.
On that day, the walls of Edinburgh were filled with the sound of fighting, the sky was dark, and the ground was full of blood. The walls of Edinburgh are bright red like a dazzling ruby. However, for the mountains of bones and the Scots who were more than half killed and wounded, Edinburgh is neither a place of refuge from danger nor a place of hope for salvation.
It's been a week without any supplies, and the city has basically run out of food. In addition, this winter is extraordinarily long, and the heavy snow that should have subsided in February in previous years has persisted.
Without food, there was no strength, and the soldiers' bodies and spirits were greatly tested. Coupled with the fact that the English were constantly pressing forward and winning one after another, their morale and the will of the army had reached the peak of the war. In contrast, the Scots are like old men in their twilight years, huddled behind the city walls, waiting for an unknown tomorrow.
If this continues, it is only a matter of time before the Scots are destroyed and Edinburgh falls.
By the time the English captured Edinburgh, they had occupied more than two-thirds of the British Isles, with a land of nearly two million people, a reserve of more than 100,000 men, and a regular army of 50,000 men.
Wilhelm II will inevitably increase greatly after acquiring the land of Scotland, and he will take this opportunity to pressure France to recognize his legitimate rights in England and including Normandy, otherwise France will have to face the challenge of a new power, especially after the army of this country has just finished a great victory, both in terms of morale and combat effectiveness.
The French would not blindly declare war on England for the sake of the Scots, and the King of France was also seriously considering that if William II did unite the British Isles, then France would have to face the fact that a powerful country would have to show off its might over its head.
However, there is still a wide sea between France and England, and it is obviously unrealistic for both sides to attack each other's hinterland and send troops on a large scale.
However, things were not so simple for the royal city of Pleon, which was almost an inch away from the English......
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The harbor city of Pandora - a maritime military port.
In the early morning, when the sun first appeared, many people had already gathered in the harbor. The workers, dressed in uniform white with sails emblazoned on their backs, were craftsmen from the Maritime Military Bureau of the Princely City of Puren. Today, they gathered here for nothing else, precisely to witness the glorious moment when the first sea ship of the royal city of Pleon was launched.
At this time, a light rain began to fall in the sky.
There is a faint mist in the air, and the humid air has the characteristic smell of the sea. Drak Dchar, the king of Pullen, led a group of people to stand on the tower in front of the harbor, looking at the behemoth slowly sailing out of the enclosed shipyard.
Because of the mist, King Prun's eyes narrowed slightly, and through the gap in the mist, he saw a huge black shadow, with his head held high like a proud warrior, and a pair of huge wings slowly spread out to the left and right behind his back, and there were shield-like objects on its left and right sides.
On the log laid by the workers, the huge black shadow moved forward quickly and orderly. The moment its body passed by the harbor tower, everyone could clearly see that it was a large ship covered in pitch black, full of the brilliance of the next era, fierce and majestic.
Standing on a huge mast of fifty meters of hull, in the middle is a huge white curtain twelve meters long and six meters wide, with a small guide curtain in front of it, and a small spinnaker at the stern.
In addition, two wheels were installed and reinforced on both sides of the hull according to the local climate, and a total of 16 gears were connected to each other on each wheel, and 24 stirring pieces were formed. Compared with ordinary human rowing and wind power, the speed of this ship can reach five ~ six times the speed of the fastest ship in this era at the moment of starting the pulley drive, and there is no need to be afraid of the ten-meter wind and waves, because its own weight and special triangular hull design can effectively maintain balance in the wind and waves.
It's just that the biggest disadvantage of this ship is that it is too heavy, and the steering aspect is not at all as agile as the ships of the era.
But in any case, this is the first ocean warship of this era to adopt a multi-mast design, and it is also the largest ocean warship in the world. With a maximum capacity of 460 people, it can partner with armed transport ships and can also take on the task of coastal defense and long-distance navigation.
In terms of armament, a total of six death ballasts are set on both sides of the hull, and a layer of masks is created at the bow of the ship with iron sheets, which are specially used for impact use. Nothing else, there was no ship of the same era that could withstand a single impact from this behemoth.
Even if a fleet formed a long snake formation, the largest and strongest warship in the Puron King City would be able to crash into the flying debris of the enemy ships in one breath with double acceleration!
And the name of this ship is "Time", which means that the design of marine ships in this era will enter a new level from now on, and Time is the leading ship of this era!
With a bang, the big ship sailed into the sea and turned up layers of white waves, leaving a long ripple in the blue sea.
It was like a razor-sharp iron plough that cut through the waves of the icy sea, and the ice-capped shores and crowded bays brushed past it and retreated.
Under the watchful eyes of King Pullen and the other workers with tears in their eyes, the Age, a first-class battleship of Pullen, was like a steel steed, chopping through the waves and rushing into the distance.
The roar of the Age startled flocks of waterfowl, who spread their wings and skimmed the water in flocks, and then flew off into the distance, like a white puffy cloud, floating upward, which was very beautiful.
"It took nearly six months and almost 3,000 workers and 57 shipwrights from construction to launch, and finally the first naval warship of the city of Pulen was built. This time, it is really hard work for you workers of the Pulon Maritime Military Bureau, and Wang Cheng will remember your contributions. “
The last sentence was King Pullen's strong intuition for the head of the Poolen Maritime Bureau, Calas, who was standing behind him with tears on his face, the oldest shipbuilder in the city of Pullen, who was already almost sensitive to ships, and made him gain the trust of King Pullen in just two months, and took on the position of chief designer of the kingdom's fleet and head of the Oceanic Bureau.
"I didn't dare to do it, but I thought that it was a pity that the spinnaker design that Wang said could not be used on this Time in the end. However, in the subsequent frigate program, we will adopt this design and further improve it. After all, the era is a heavy ...... in the king's positioning Quota supply ships and motherships. And it is the frigate that really acts as a spear and shield. Kalas said with a low and respectful voice.
After a long time, the young king had become more and more mature, and the long shoulder-length black hair standing on the tower was flying wantonly under the blowing of the sea breeze. Those cold and indifferent eyes looked at themselves without a trace of emotion, giving people a cold and rational feeling.
However, it may be because the king is really happy at this time, so his indifferent face seems to have a layer of nonchalant smile, and it looks much kinder