The Mongols invaded the west, the Ming Dynasty came east, and the invincible Granada was wiped out in just a few days, and the huge ships from Seris sailed across the Atlantic with their guns in tow. Europa, which has been silent and closed for many years, has finally ushered in a great change unseen in a thousand years. Even in the remote and almost isolated England, this great change has been felt.

Ships and cannons from the Far East (or the Far West) have now reached the gates of the River Thames, knocking on the gates of the ancient kingdom of England.

"Bang!"

In the Imperial Garden of the Palace of Westminster in London, a huge hole suddenly appeared in a wooden target, broken wood chips were scattered in all directions, and a few sparks appeared on a stone wall dozens of yards behind the wooden target, and a small white dot appeared.

A group of English knights in tweed robes with swords on their belts all exclaimed at the same time, and turned their gaze to a tall man holding a smoking arquebus and an old man in his sixties, wearing a crown, who was also tall.

The man who fired this shot quietly watched his results and did not say a word. The man looked to be about thirty years old, the prime age of a knight. He was of exceptional height, with a rectangular face covered with clouds, and a combative look flashing in his eyes, as if ready to lead his heavy cavalry and longbow infantry to sweep away any enemy who dared to offend him. He is the prince of the present Kingdom of England, Prince Edward of the House of Goldenbirds, and the future monarch of England, Edward I, if nothing has changed.

"It's huge, Edward." The old man with the crown on his head standing beside Prince Edward frowned. "Seems to be more powerful than your yew longbow."

This old man is Henry III. Prince Edward's father, the old king who reigned for more than fifty years. All of Europe knew of his incompetence, but he had produced an outstanding heir, otherwise the history of the Golden Sparrow would have ended in his lifetime.

"No, it's not as powerful as a yew longbow." Prince Edward shook his head slightly, and then handed the arquebus from Castile, which Edward's wife, Princess Eleanor, had received from her brother Alfonso X, to the knight of the chamberlain. "It's very cumbersome to use, it takes a long time to reload, enough for a good longbowman to shoot ten or twelve arrows. But ......"

"But what?" Seeing that his son was about to speak, the old king smiled and asked, "Edward." You seem to be worried? ”

"Yes, I'm very worried...... Although the arquebus is not as powerful as the longbow, the musketeer is easier to train than the longbowman. It only took me a week to get proficient with it. To change to a long bow, you need to practice for at least a few years. Moreover, you have to have a strong enough physique. ”

Prince Edward paused for a moment and said in a gloomy tone, "A strong longbowman can easily take the life of a noble knight. A musketeer who has been training for a week or a month can take the life of a longbowman who has been training for ten years. From this point of view, the arquebus is a very good weapon...... Well, its rate of fire is about the same as that of a crossbow, but its lethality is much higher. No armor could hold off the projectile of the arquebus. And...... I don't know how those who are hit by muskets should be healed? Maybe just wait for death! ”

"Waiting to die? It's horrible! Henry III made a cross on his chest, "The man who invented this weapon must be the devil!" ”

"The devil?" Prince Edward smiled a little mockingly, then took the loaded arquebus from the attendant warrior next to him, "They're already here." Now, we must learn to deal with the devil! Be a servant of the devil first, and then a student of the devil. Wait until we learn the devil's skills......"

The prince raised his musket and did not use a stand. He held up the musket with his strong hands and aimed ahead.

"To be a servant and student of the devil?" Henry III looked at his son solemnly. "What do you want to do? Are you going to give in to the devils who block the mouth of the Thames? Don't you know the will of the nobility and the people of England? If you choose to give in to the devil, the Golden Sparrow Dynasty will be overthrown by them......"

The mouth of the Thames has been blocked, and a fleet of four "New World"-class capital ships and thirty Kirk ships (merchant ships leased by the Governor's Palace of Macau, most of which belong to the Genoese Chamber of Commerce) have reached the mouth of the Thames. It also brought a treaty with the Holy See, requiring the King of England to lease Portsmouth Island and the southern tip of the Gosport Peninsula to the Ming Empire as a naval base and trading staging point.

Such an unreasonable demand naturally aroused the unanimous indignation of the English aristocracy. Portsmouth Island and the southern tip of the Gosport Peninsula are far from remote uninhabited wastelands, less than 100 miles from London and a bustling trading port. It is almost the gateway to England, how can the portal be occupied by outsiders? And these outsiders are not Christians yet!

So the Parliament of England unanimously passed a resolution asking the king to refuse to cede the land and gather an army to expel the invading invading army of Seris!

Of course, no one expected King Henry III to take on the obligation to drive back the invaders. This king's ability to fight wars with his soldiers made the whole of Europe a laughing stock, almost as incompetent as John, the "landless king" before him. Fortunately, it is the young and promising Prince Edward who is proficient in military affairs who now holds power in England.

Now all of England is counting on Prince Edward to show superhuman military talent!

But the prince seemed to have little confidence.

"Okay...... Resistance is a must, and we cannot afford the shame of surrendering without a fight. "Prince Edward's expression was calm, as if he was talking about something from another country." We should show the indomitability, bravery and resourcefulness of the English...... And then surrender! I want these demons to realize that the Kingdom of England has an army that is relatively strong in Europa, and that it should be beneficial to obtain better terms of surrender. ”

"Or do you want to surrender?" Henry III was a little dissatisfied, "Edward, is there no better way out for England than to surrender?" ”

"A way out? Yes! Prince Edward nodded seriously, "First be a servant of the devil, then be a student of the devil, and when we learn the skills of the devil, there will be a way out ......"

With that, Prince Edward jerked the trigger.

"Bang!"

There was another roar, and sawdust flew on the target in front of him.

This time, instead of handing the musket to his squire knight, the prince held it sideways and looked at his father, "Father, this is a miraculous thing...... It will usher in a whole new era. He tapped the lower barrel lightly, and the barrel made a crisp soft sound, "With it, a farmer who can only use a dung fork, after a few months of training, we can also let him go to battle and make him part of a large army...... Let him use it to kill the greatest knights! It's an even more ideal weapon than the longbow, and it will soon end the age of knights! And England must be the first in all of Europe to master it! Only then will England become a great country and live forever! Compared to this goal, Portsmouth Island is nothing at all, and being a servant of the Seris is nothing for the time being! ”

……

On the banks of the River Thames, Gracetown. On the afternoon of April 12 in the fifth year of the Heavenly Dao.

At the same time that Prince Edward was chanting the surrender in front of Henry III, the gunshots rang out sporadically around the town, and there was no time to stop. On the nearby River Thames, it was the scene of a large army coming to land. A fleet of dozens of large and small sailing ships is unloading military supplies. The port was completely under the control of the invading army. It was a coalition army consisting of the 1st Musket Regiment, the 1st Swiss Infantry Regiment, the Field Artillery Battalion of the Doge's Palace, and the Genoese Naval Crossbowmen, as well as a small number of Portuguese and Castilian attendant knights. It's just 53,400 people. After drifting at sea for almost a month, I arrived at the Thames from Macau.

This time, they are coming for Hong Kong and Kowloon – Portsmouth Island will be named "Hong Kong" and the Gosport Peninsula will be called "Kowloon", both of which will fall under the jurisdiction of the Ming Governor-General's Office of Hong Kong.

Like Macau, Hong Kong is also subject to the control of the Atlantic Governor's Office. The Atlantic Governor's Office is located on the Macao Peninsula and is located in the same place as the Macao Governor's Palace. The Viceroy of Macao would serve as the Vice-Governor of the Atlantic, presiding over the colonial affairs of the Atlantic during his absence from Macao. Similarly, when the Governor of Macau leaves Macau, the Governor of the Atlantic will also serve as the Governor of Macau. The one who came with the troops this time was Chen Chongguan, the governor of Macao, who was born as an officer, and Liang Chongru stayed in Macao.

Chen Chongguan and Admiral Lin Shilong of the Atlantic Fleet had also landed, and they personally commanded the army to land on the dock.

The Atlantic mercenaries had begun to assemble and occupy the town of Grace, and had sent troops to clear the perimeter, control the main communication routes, and establish fortified positions. There were no British troops in the town - there were not many standing armies in England at this time, and they were concentrated around London. However, some nearby nobles organized knights and militias to harass and harass the Atlantic Army, which sent Swiss pikemen and Aztec musketeers into battle, and fired guns everywhere to scare the natives of England.

Obviously, the native king of England ignored the papal edict and was determined to resist the Ming king by force! (To be continued......)