In the early 17th century, the English navy, even with its glorious record in 1588, was still essentially a weak maritime force with more than a dozen small and medium-sized warships. Its opponent, the Kingdom of Spain, was actually in a period of historical growth after 1588 when its naval strength continued unabated.

The so-called "England defeated the Spanish Armada" in later generations actually carried too many subjective positions, and set a historical node for the rise of the British Empire's navy. In fact, from the point of view of pure naval warfare, the bad ending of the Spanish Armada in 1588 had nothing to do with the combat effectiveness of the English navy. Because the biggest reliance of the English Navy in that naval battle was the convenience of supply, and the Spanish Navy was so unlucky that most of the main forces were drowned in the storm, and England enjoyed a European version of the "kamikaze". As for tactics, the Spanish Navy was actually more specialized than the English Navy.

If there is a reason for the decline of the Spanish navy since the 17th century, it is also the huge expenditure and corruption of the Spanish royal family and nobility, which led to the halt and neglect of the construction of the navy during the Thirty Years' War.

……

At the beginning of April 1635, the Kingdom of Spain and England were officially at war.

After careful preparations, the Spanish fleet commanded by the Marquis de Santa Cruz, consisting of more than 40 large and small warships and more than 100 transports, sailed through the Bay of Guò Biscay into the Celtic Sea in southern Ireland to land from County Cork in the province of Munster, Ireland.

It was a war that was not supposed to be fought in history, and it was probably a rare opportunity for the Kingdom of Spain to regain its place since the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The first Marquis of Santa Cruz missed the naval battle of 1588 after his death, and now his grandson, Admiral Albert of the Kingdom of Spain and the third Marquis of Santa Cruz, intends to reclaim the honor of the Spanish Kingdom and his family.

Correspondingly, the English navy met it with sincere fear. Nearly every battleship of the English Navy was filled with a large number of prisoners, beggars or pirates assigned to service. Blake, George. Meng Ke and the others were just a few unknown young people at this time. But England also has its traditional strengths. There are so many pirates, and all of them are counting on their predecessors, the great pirate Drake, who is loyal to the royal family and turns into a phoenix.

Faced with the sheer strength of the Spanish fleet, the English navy, in addition to constantly recruiting domestic armed ships and recruiting pirates, also adopted harassment tactics to buy as much time as possible to prepare.

On 21 April, the Spanish fleet met a small English fleet off the coast of the Celtic Sea in County Cork, Ireland. Admiral Chad. Dean led 10 small and medium-sized warships to launch a harassing assault on the main Spanish fleet under the command of the Marquis of Santa Cruz.

Inspired by the Chinese Navy, the Marquis of Santa Cruz had long since abandoned the fleet porter tactics inherited from his ancestors, and instead used the heavy naval guns imported from China to play line artillery warfare tactics. Although the English sailors, composed of vagabonds, criminals and pirates, the English fleet, which had the upper hand, suffered considerable losses because its firepower was far inferior to that of its opponents. Dean's attempt to distract the other side and thus hit the convoy failed. Had to retreat.

Alberton, Marquis de Santa Cruz, who had won a small naval battle, was so confident that he immediately sent a detachment to blockade St. George's Strait (the sea route between Ireland and England) and then continued his main force towards Ireland. On 24 April, the Spanish fleet landed in the small town of Kinsale, at the mouth of the Bandon River, less than 30 kilometers south of Cork, and more than 9,000 Spanish troops disembarked, along with several Irish independence nobles who had returned to their homeland.

The Marquis de Santa Cruz was enthusiastically courted by the local Irish aristocracy and Catholics, and a few days later, the Spanish Army, which had gone north, routed a small English army near the village of Brownsmeyer, less than 2 kilometers north of the port of Kinsale. It has made a good start to land operations. Kinsale seemed to have become a sacred place for the Kingdom of Spain to save Ireland, and a large number of young Irish people from the nearby countryside began to join the Spanish army.

Soon, however, bad luck came one after another.

May 1. Cruising at the southern end of the St. George's Strait, the Spanish detachment was attracted by several English pirate fleets, and as a result, the pursuit to Bristol Bay was besieged by a large number of pirate ships. The English pirates, who were well versed in the hydrology around the British Peninsula, fought in their own backyard and caught the Spanish detachment by surprise. Of the 8 large and small warships of the Spanish detachment, 1 was burned on the spot, 2 were captured, and the rest fled to the open sea in disgrace.

Evening on May 10. The main Spanish fleet, which was unable to set sail from Kinsell to blockade the St. George's Strait because of bad winds, was attacked by the English fleet. More than a dozen small fire-attacking boats loaded with fire-oil, sulfur, gunpowder and other ignitions rushed into the port of Kinsale in the southwest wind, lighting the sky lantern of the Spanish convoy moored at the mouth of the Bandon River, more than 50 transport ships and countless logistical baggage that had not yet been brought ashore were wiped out in this fire, many of the main warships of the Spanish Navy were burned, and even the Marquis of Santa Cruz himself was seriously injured in the battle.

On 17 May, perhaps receiving a good news from his own navy, Cromwell led a 6,000-strong regular army of England south from Cork City to defeat the reckless Spanish Army near Barin Hasig, a town 15 kilometers south of Cork City, and forced his opponent back to Kinsale Harbor.

With nearly 1,000 casualties in the army, more than half of the landing materials lost, and the main fleet of the navy suffered heavy losses, the Spanish expeditionary force was dumbfounded. In addition to sending clippers back to report the news, the remaining troops could only hold on to the port of Kinsale and the mouth of the Bandon River, and their morale dropped rapidly.

With a population of just over 1,000, it was difficult to maintain the logistical supply of tens of thousands of troops, and in order to hold on until the next batch of supplies arrived, the Spanish army began to sack the Irish villages around the port of Kinsale, so as to prevent the Irish people welcomed by the "Redemption Army" from falling into hell again. Many of the Irish, who had already joined the Spanish army, scattered in a hurry, and even engaged in large-scale clashes with the Spanish soldiers for supplies, and the port of Kinsale was suddenly ruined.

On May 23rd, Admiral Chad of England. Dean made a comeback, bringing with him more than 40 warships, most of which were conscripted armed merchant ships or pirate ships. The naval battle at the mouth of the Bandon River lasted less than three hours, as the Marquis de Santa Cruz himself was absent due to injury. The main Spanish fleet, which was completely demoralized, was completely defeated, and the remaining convoy was once again bloodbathed.

On May 27, the Marquis de Santa Cruz, who was seriously wounded, resolutely decided to personally lead the army to hold Kinsale, and ordered the remaining main naval force to break through. With strong firepower and the desire of the officers and men to survive, the last 16 Spanish capital warships left behind their commander, nearly 10,000 land and sea troops, and a group of Irish independence nobles, broke through the naval encirclement of the English fleet and returned to the Spanish mainland.

In less than two months, the Spanish expeditionary fleet went from its peak to the valley, and once again repeated the tragedy of the defeat of the Invincible Armada, with tens of millions of Spanish silver dollars in military expenditures wasted, and the Marquis de Santa Cruz and the army were trapped in the port of Kinsale and waiting to die. For a time, the countries of Western Europe were shaken. England's national prestige has been greatly enhanced.

The Kingdom of Spain suffered heavy losses in both land and sea theaters, which naturally made the Netherlands and France secretly ecstatic, and also accelerated their own military preparations, and the footsteps of the fourth phase of the war in Europe were getting closer and closer.

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A Coruña, located in the Bay of A Coruña on the southwest side of the Bay of Biscay. A Coruña has a long history, founded in the Roman period, and the city takes its name from the Roman settlements. Probably the most famous historical monument in A Coruña is the Lighthouse of Hercules, built during the Roman period, which has been used by locals for more than a dozen centuries.

Decades ago. The Spanish Armada set off from Port Filor, near A Coruña, and thus embarked on a bumpy descent of the Spanish Navy. In recent years, A Coruña has become a gathering place for all kinds of industrial and agricultural commodities in the northern part of Spain, with wool, fluorite, iron ore and tin ingots being the largest export raw materials. Every year, the industrial and agricultural raw materials exported from here to China account for more than 40% of Spain's trade exports to China and the United States.

Tuesday, June 5, 1635.

A formidable black and white Chinese fleet was quietly anchored in the Gulf of A Coruña, with all its guns pointed casually at the mouth of the Northern Bay, defending this seaport town, which was vital to both the Kingdom of Spain and the United States.

Since the day before yesterday. One after another, the Spanish naval warships that returned from defeat returned from the north. The Spanish sail warship, full of holes and dried blood stains, struggled to enter the harbor through the waterway on the side of the Chinese warship, and the unkempt and dazed Spanish sailors silently looked at the "allied" battleship not far away. Each looked depressed.

After the Azores exercise, the "Visit Wèn Fleet" under the command of Colonel Sun Yang completed its visit to Seville, and the second stop was the port of A Coruña. Although Princess Maria of Spain had already set foot on the road to the Royal Palace in Vienna at this time, the Chinese diplomatic envoy Swenbo, who visited Wèn with the fleet, was in a sad mood since he left Seville.

"God, how can I save my old and good father! He was supposed to be in Seville listening to Oscar's poems or relaxing in the garden, but now he was trapped in Ireland......"

On board the flagship Princess Xijun, an informal gathering to comfort Swenbo's wife is underway. Shocked to learn that her father was seriously injured and besieged in Ireland, the young woman Anna at this time grabbed a handkerchief with one hand and held Lieutenant Yan Xianping tightly on the shoulder with the other, almost crying into a tearful person.

"It seems worse than we thought, the Englishman is more professional than the Dutch look at playing with fire. It seems that we are right to be on standby in A Coruña. Sun Yang glanced at the sadness in the corner of the officer's cafeteria, and his face was also full of a wry smile, "Shi Wenbo, your wife can't swallow this breath now than you......"

"What the hell can't help Adou...... It's only been two months like this! Shi Wenbo also drank the wine in his hand angrily, looking very anxious, "Lao Tzu just supplied them with more than 3,000 tons of military supplies on the front foot, and the mother's back foot was burned by the English in one night, and we can't afford to toss them like this even if we are ATMs!" ”

"Okay, what are you complaining about, your job is to grind your lips and make usury, maybe I'll have to fight hard. In two days, the local logistics fleet will arrive, and I heard that Zhang Chunrui is also coming, and it is not necessary to receive other orders. Sun Yang drank the wine in his hand in a dashing manner and patted Shi Wenbo lightly on the shoulder. walked to his wife, planning to drag out Yan Xianping, who was infected by Anna and shed tears.

……

Two days later, a merchant fleet from the American Concession in the Azores sent Sun Yang 2,000 tons of anthracite, and with the efforts of the Spanish side, the navy's coal reserves in A Coruña now exceeded 10,000 tons. Rear Admiral Zhang Chunrui, chief of the general staff of the Chinese and American Navy, also arrived with the convoy and took over the supreme command of the fleet a few minutes after boarding the Xijun Princess.

At the same time, through the transmission of beautiful information, the Spanish magnates in Seville finally learned of the tragedy that happened in Ireland, and for a time the people of Seville were terrified, and almost no one believed that the remnants of the Spanish army of less than 10,000 led by the Marquis of Santa Cruz would return to Spain alive.

The other end. Under the pretext of changing guards, the first Foreign Legion unit has been assembled in the army base on the outskirts of the American Concession in the Azores, and more main army forces are still grouped on the mainland and waiting for orders.

According to the annual large-scale military exercise plan jointly issued by the Department of Defense and the Army Command, the Chinese and US Army has launched a large-scale, but very low-key military mobilization on the mainland. The Foreign Legion Bison Brigade was redeployed to the Azores, leaving only the Brown Bear Brigade, which was mostly recruits, to garrison the overseas territories and the Governor of Nanshan, some of the native national reserves were re-drafted, and some army units were concentrated early in the outer islands of Mancheng.

The main force of the navy led by Rear Admiral Zhang Chunrui was already on standby in Spain under the pretext of visiting Wèn, and the commander of the fleet continued to be Colonel Sun Yang. The army units on standby on the ground will be personally commanded by Brigadier General He Yu, chief of the army's general staff.

In order to prepare for the intervention in the land war in Ireland at any time, Army Commander Lieutenant General Chen Liwen had to complete the secret reorganization of the ground forces of the European Expeditionary Force in late July.

The first was to use a light brigade of 1,500 men symbolically to enter the war at an opportune time when the war in Ireland was in full swing. "Breaking the problem" for Spain; The second set is to deal with the worst situation, dispatching two army reinforcement brigades with a total of 4,000 luxury troops. However, in the face of political needs, we will never lightly use the army forces unless it is absolutely necessary.

News of the landing of the Spaniards was trapped. While the Congress was heartbroken by the batch of gratuitous aid, there was a big feast in the Army and Navy Command, and a group of idle crossing officers were already eager to try. However, in the eyes of Congress and the Cabinet. Participating in the war like this still seems to be a bit unjustifiable.

……

This year's summer has been particularly hot, with 30-degree heats enveloping most of China's native towns for years, making people sweat and resentful of newspaper reports about England's unjustified taxes on American exports.

Over the past three months, the arrival of industrial and agricultural raw materials by English merchant ships in the Azores has fallen by 50 per cent, while exports of Chinese goods to England have fallen by 80 per cent. In addition to the booming companies in several European countries for their arms orders, many small businesses had to lower their operating rates in order to withstand the impact of the trade war, and the newspapers used almost the greatest verbal violence that the public media could use against the "evils" of the English.

“…… The English are imposing a whimsical tax on every one of our exports, which will leave our goods rotting in the docks and factory warehouses, making our children unable to drink milk and our women unable to wear ......dresses," said Manchester City Weekly.

For ordinary workers' families who work hard in factories and enterprises all day long, the impact of this seemingly distant trade fluctuation on their lives has become more and more obvious, and many old citizens still clearly remember the unpleasant period of "economic depression" from 1629 to 1631: due to the large occupation of ocean shipping capacity by the Far East route, the volume of Atlantic import and export trade has fallen sharply, the vast majority of enterprises have canceled various corporate benefits that have been "prevalent for a long time", and even some small enterprises have seen rare layoffs due to insufficient operation.

Now that the economy has finally recovered, England, the third largest trading partner of the United States, has undergone great changes, and housewives who know nothing about it can't help but feel nervous. In any case, income such as corporate bonuses and benefits already account for at least 20% of many low- and middle-income households, and once the country's import and export trade fluctuates greatly, the chain reaction will be that all walks of life will be implicated, and the final loss will fall on ordinary citizens.

Add to this the atrocities committed by the English in Ireland, which has been reported so often for most of the past six months, and the argument of punishing the English has gradually become a casual subject in the taverns. However, it seems that drunk people do not take these "jokes" seriously, and at a time when the economy is finally ushering in great economic growth, the life of prosperity and stability still does not want to be broken by war, which is especially important for families with sons and husbands serving in the army. (To be continued......)