"Allow me to introduce you, Mr. Barr," said the Duke of Vendôme, smiling, "this is Mr. William Payne, whose name you may have heard at school, after all, his father, William Penn the Elder, is now Admiral Charles II, or perhaps the Commander of the Fleet." ”

Barr couldn't help but look surprised, the information collected by the king's agents would also be sorted out and distributed to the military academy, some of their teachers and classmates even got along, worked with or were hostile to him, William Payne the elder was quite talented, but also a royalist, the problem was that the only time he commanded the fleet independently was because of the infighting with the army commander, which led to defeat and disgrace, so his reputation was not obvious.

But his name was also familiar to the students and teachers of the Royal Military Academy of France, because after the Duke of York was imprisoned in the Tower of London, his henchmen were affected and suspicious, which made the old William stand out, he was the captain of the Duke of York's fleet, and had participated in the previous war against the Netherlands, and it was entirely possible that he would take over the authority of the Duke of York.

But this little Mr. William ......

But they all said he had lived here for more than a decade. Barr said.

"Well, I think he went incognito and went to Cromwell's army to be a soldier. "The Duke of Vendôme said that in this era when military exploits could be distinguished and climbed, the children of noble families also refused their parents' arrangements and ran to the army to be an ordinary soldier, and at this time they could become a soldier at the age of fourteen, so that little Mr. William may have come to Dunkirk at the age of sixteen, but he probably did not expect that things would turn out like that- Cromwell, Lord Protector, was killed, then Charles II was restored, and then Charles II sold Dunkirk to King Louis XIV of France.

"I've heard that an Englishman has come to him. "You should have been able to go back to London with your family," Barr analyzed, "and William Sr. should not have been unable to pay the ransom," Barr said, "but you refused—just for today, sir, you are a spy." "This is a crime far greater than that of a thug or an enemy, whether English or French, who caught a spy and hung them from a tree to dry.

Jack, no, it should be said, Mr. William Jr. could not help but look slightly changed, but soon he straightened his back and showed a fearless expression: "I am an Englishman," he said, "and my companions, if it were not for the soft bones, your king should have killed us, or exiled us, and not left us in Dunkirk." ”

"It is not surprising to me that some ungrateful people are always unable to grasp what kind of tolerance they have received," said the Duke of Vendôme, who, having fought against Louis XIII and Bishop Richelieu, knew the king all too well, and asked him to say that Louis XIV might not have been a good man, but he was a good king, and that if you were willing to owe allegiance to him, or even without allegiance, as long as you were willing to obey his laws and rules, you could live in peace and security under the light of the Sun King— The English who did not want to take part in the rebellion also had the same idea, and what they had received from the Lord Protector, the Sun King could also give, "It is like if you sprinkle holy water on the body of an angel, he will laugh, but if you sprinkle it on the devil, he will jump in pain." ”

"Don't talk about the devil or anything," said William Payne the Younger, sarcastically, "don't you know that your king is called the second Solomon?"

"We regard it as an honor," said the Duke of Vendôme, "but the name of the Sun King will eventually shine in the annals of history as the great king." ”

"It is a pity that your king does not seem to be as wise as King Solomon," William Jr. said with a hint of pleasure, "We have destroyed the warehouses, dockyards, docks, and roads of Dunkirk, and you are now an isolated city." ”

Duke Vendôme smiled, "Okay. He said to Barr, "I know you have doubts about many of my actions, young man, and I am glad that you have maintained your loyalty to the king and the vigilance of a soldier, and that you have shown your talents, and besides, the time has come, at least almost, now," he patted the arm of his chair, and slowly stood up, "let us go to the tower." ”

The Duke of Vendôme is talking about the second huge building built by the king in Dunkirk after the Great Dockyard, the Dunkirk Gray Tower, which was used as a lighthouse, a fortress and a lookout, and was originally intended to be named after the king, or called the King's Tower, but Louis XIV said that there are now many such as "King's Bread", "King's Road", "King's Hairstyle", "King's Underwear"...... This tower is honestly named after the location, so it is called the Dunkirk Tower, because the main structure is made of cement bricks, and people also call it the Gray Tower.

It was three hundred feet high, almost as tall as a thirty-story building now, and it was almost impossible for a man of the Duke of Vendôme's age to climb it on his legs, and Mr. William Jr. was full of suspicion that their men could not approach the lighthouse, and it was the first time he had seen the interior of this magnificent building—the base of the lighthouse was like a medieval fortress, and there was almost nothing but the regular revolving escalator...... And so on, he was brought to the door of a small room, which he had thought was reserved for the tower keepers, but the Duke of Vendôme walked in first, followed by William the Younger, the two officers who watched over him, and finally Barr.

By this time it was almost impossible to turn around in the small room, and Barr reached out and grabbed the knocker of the small door, pulled it shut, and bolted it tightly.

The Duke of Vendôme, sitting on the only chair in the room, grabbed a rope hanging from a corner, tugged at it, and a bell rang from outside. Then, to the great surprise of Mr. William, little William, the room shook and shook and, though he did not know what was going on, he could still feel it......

"Is it rising!?" he shouted.

"Quite sharp," said the Duke of Vendôme, pausing his staff, "it's just a small device, don't worry too much." "I couldn't tell that he had tightened his back to the point where he almost sprained it on his first ride.

The simplest of elevators, like many of the equipment at the Nantes shipyard, was powered by steam, and the steam room was on the side of the lighthouse, but few people noticed it, as there were usually such storage rooms along the lighthouse. It allows people to quickly get up and down the lighthouse, as well as to serve an elderly man like the Duke of Vendôme, or a scholar who is in poor health.

Little Mr. William pressed his body against the wall like many first-time elevator riders, and he was like an animal in a cage, with unkempt hair and a pale complexion, and his previous composure was gone, but fortunately the elevator was not very slow, and after a few minutes, with a terrible shaking, it stopped, and Barr opened the door.

They were in a sealed space before stepping into the elevator, with only the light cast by the high windows, but here, as soon as Barr opened the door, the bright light stung the defenseless eyes of little Mr. William, and his tears flowed uncontrollably, and he raised his hand to cover his face, feeling a fierce wind rush towards him like an invisible bull, and almost pushed him back into the hut.

An arm grabbed him just in time, and he said thank you and lowered his arm.

He saw a pale turquoise blue, with a rich indigo underneath it, and this was the English Channel, which the French called the Strait of La Manche.

From here to the British mainland, about sixty nautical miles, you can see a snow-white coastline, because from Dover to Plymouth, the coast is covered with chalk, which is the white coast that haunts Mr. William Jr. and other Englishmen.

Seeing this scene - in the past ten years, William Payne Jr., who deliberately reminded himself of his relatives and friends in his homeland, couldn't help but take two steps forward.

Barr also walked to the battlement, the sea breeze was fierce, but brought cold and fresh air, he could not help taking a deep breath, the young man was also shaken by the sight before him, but his eyes were different from that of Mr. William Jr., who instinctively looked at the harbor on the other side, and of course could not see clearly with human eyes, but his face suddenly changed: "What is that?!" he cried.

As a descendant of pirates, Barr was all too familiar with the ship, and whether it was large or small, passing by or still in his field of vision, he saw it at a glance - the Duke of Vendôme drew his telescope from his side and handed it to him as he looked anxiously, and he immediately put it in his face, while little Mr. William, who stood beside him, smiled with relief and expectation.

"Do you want to see it too, Mr. William?" said the Duke of Vendôme, to his surprise, and the officer beside him drew a telescope and gave it to William the Younger.

As soon as little William got his hands on it, he knew that this kind of telescope was not the kind that could be circulated among the people, it was about one and a half to two feet, the diameter of the lens was about two inches, and the barrel body should be brass silver-plated, protected by velvet, when he took it to his hand for debugging, it was estimated that there were at least five lenses inlaid in it, and when he aimed it at his eyes, there was a moment of discomfort, because it pulled the scene directly in front of him in an instant, and he squinted his eyes and carefully adjusted.

Looking through William and Barr Jr.'s telescope, he could see the fleet passing through the English Channel, and Barr quickly counted them, and in tonnage they numbered more than the fingers of two hands, even though they all had tricolours on their masts—orange, white, and blue—the so-called Prince of Orange flag. But Barr immediately sighed in his heart, everyone knew that the Dutch fleet was divided after losing its last commander, and they were either seized by the merchants, or reduced to privateers, or confiscated by the Dutch government-in-exile, but the latter may have only four or five, after all, there are not many stupid people.

Twelve ships in all, the Dutch, or the House of Orange could not have come up with them in any way, except that, as Louis XIV had predicted, their old enemies, their temporary allies, the damned Englishmen, had finally torn off their masks and gone to war with France once again!

Little William did not hide his proud smile at all, he refused to leave Dunkirk in order to be able to see this day, although he did not expect this moment to come so late, he began to move the telescope after looking at the beautiful three-deck warships for a while, the attitude of the Duke of Vendôme made him uneasy, he wanted to see if there would be any unexpected changes?

He saw a little brown dot on his right-hand side, oh, he saw it, it could be Calais in that direction, and it seemed that the French were not so stupid as not to be alert, they said that they were sailing the ship to Calais, but in fact they played a little trick— Mr. William the Younger was not surprised how they knew when the ravens of the wizards were about to become popular in the army, but if he were to say, no, it was over, their naval commanders did not know how to fight at sea, and the wind was now in favor of the British Navy, not the French Navy, and they had no way to seize the T-position, and their defeat was already evident.

Barr also sensed that if he were to take command, in order to jump out of the current disadvantage, he might order the fleet to go around and see if he could go around and kick the British in the ass, but that would expose Dunkirk to enemy fire, and that the British could send another fleet to fight the previous fleet in front of and behind - and there was also the problem that there were bloated Calais among the ships coming from the direction of Calais.

This made him suddenly frown, and he remembered...... These Calais ships should also come from England, and the shameless Charles II, because he could not get the dowry of Princess Henrietta (the Duchess of Orleans), had the audacity to send most of the thirty Calais ships that had almost been eliminated as a dowry to France, and then these thirty huge ships were like stones falling into the sea, completely silent, and he also heard his uncles laugh at the young king— Of course, they did not deny that he was a good king, but he knew too little about the sea and ships, or had a wrong idea, and these ships could be considered obsolete anyway, unless the king sent them to the colony to be used as merchant ships.

At the time, Barr had guessed that Louis XIV had done so, but now he had seen at least five Calais ships in the French fleet—their size was too obvious!

But Barr soon realized that something was wrong, for the Calais ships were actually passing over the battleships that were supposed to outpace them in speed!

He suppressed an excited cry in his throat, pressed the telescope desperately against his eye sockets, pressed it until his eyebrow bones and cheekbones hurt and did not let go, and he didn't even know when the Duke of Vendôme would come to him and hold the telescope together.

It's getting closer! It's getting closer! they're all racing as hard as they can, fighting for the most important position!