Princess Henrietta of England has been the Duke of Orleans for ten years, and when the wedding was held, Charles II was still a puppet king who was constrained by Parliament and the Protestants, although he tried hard, but Princess Henrietta's dowry was still shabby, and in order to appease the dissatisfaction of the French, Charles II proposed to bring to France the thirty Calais ships ordered by his father Charles I from the Venetians as a dowry.

These thirty Calais, to be precise, should be the Calais Sai, that is, an enhanced version of the Calais.

The Calais was originally only a commercial galley built in the Republic of Venice to carry goods, and since it was built to carry goods, this kind of ship must pursue the maximum cargo capacity, so the Calais ship was short and wide. In the 16th century, when the Venetians and the Turks were at war with the Turks, and there were many battles on the calm waterways, so the Venetians converted the vacant Calais ships into warships, which could move freely in windless conditions, so it can be said to be a victorious general in the closed waters of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.

The problem is that after the use of hot weapons in naval warfare gradually surpassed cold weapons, and the shipping lanes fought by various countries began to shift from the inland sea to the open sea, and even no longer near the sea, but the deep sea, the Calais ship revealed its two biggest disadvantages - First: because its power comes more from oarsmen than from sails, the three-three-one system, which has been inherited from the Greco-Persian Wars, has thirty seat boards fixed on each side of the bottom barn, and each seat board has three oarsmen, and the three oarsmen are responsible for one oar, that is, excluding the sailors and soldiers, there are one hundred and eighty oarsmen alone, even in the later period, these oarsmen are either hard laborers or heretics, and the captain must provide enough food to ensure that they have the strength to paddle, so in order to ensure supplies, the Calais ships can only sail and fight along the coast; After the artillery was transferred from land to ships, the original method of broadside warfare became a thing of the past, and even pirates used artillery more often to destroy the power system of merchant ships, and then plundered them - the tall Spanish galleons in naval battles, that is, the Galen ships equipped with heavy guns, were like a giant teasing several gnomes when fighting the Calais.

But the builders of the Calais (mainly the Venetians) did not stop there, and in the late 16th and early 17th centuries they built a Calais race modelled on the Calais, but larger and heavier than the Calais, which was a galleon with mixed propeller and oars. The bow and stern of the ship could carry up to forty guns, or hundreds or thousands of sailors and soldiers.

Its sheer size and frightening weight are also one of the killer features, and in naval battles, the Calais ships will first bombard with artillery, and then use the huge metal ramming angles to ram the hull of the opponent's ship, and if they are still defeated, then they can still use the traditional tactics of broadside engagement.

Of course, when Princess Henrietta was about to become the Duchess of Orleans, the ships of Calais that Charles I had ordered from the Venetians were also on the verge of obsolescence, so Charles II was akin to a scoundrel (he was determined not to take money out of his own pocket to make Princess Henrietta's dowry look better). and the ambassador of France, who, though the gentleman did not quite understand why Louis XIV had taken over the hot potato, finally agreed to the transfer of the thirty Calais ships to France as a dowry for Princess Henrietta.

In fact, there were not a few Englishmen who laughed at the French for their eyes shining at the sight of the ship, and they even looked at the king with a sense of pity, thinking that he was mad at the weak French navy.

Pitiful, of course pitiful, before Louis came to power, the national navy created by Cardinal Richelieu only had a military budget of 500,000 livres a year, and the ships were decayed and could not be repaired, and after Louis was in power, France only had thirty barely able to move warships, of which only three were equipped with more than sixty guns - in the war of conquest of the Netherlands, the size and strength of the French fleet can also be seen, no one knows, Louis XIV's real killer is not in Dunkirk or Calais, but in Nantes.

Princess Henrietta's dowry, the thirty Calais Race ships, which were not sold or used as merchant ships after the deep disappointment of the King of France, had been dismantled at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard a few years earlier, and the king needed its keels, centerline trusses, beams, decks, and outboards—the secret agent rewarded the Venetians with the finest oak and teak for the hull keels and beams, and the decks and facades of beech, and above all, none of which had to be reprocessed and treated.

The Calais ships made by the Venetians had a displacement of about 1,000 tons, high broad, wide hull, and deep draft, and for the English or the Spaniards, this overly large warship was more ornamental than practical, but it was exactly what Louis XIV wished—the wider the hull, the smoother the voyage, the higher the accuracy of the guns, the deeper the draft, the more suitable for the installation of paddle wheels, and the high broadside, Louis XIV was preparing to move the firing ports of his guns upwards, so as not to repeat the mistakes of the English warships— The French admiral Victor Marie de Estrés carefully observed the state of the battle between the two sides (Anglo-Dutch), and in his report he submitted that the British, in order to load more guns on their ships, lowered the bottom firing ports to less than four feet above the sea, which often made it impossible for the guns on this level to fire, and Louis XIV certainly learned this lesson, although his ships were also pre-equipped with three layers of guns, but the bottom of the guns was at least six feet above the sea.

After all the above advantages, there is the biggest disadvantage, after installing iron plates about three inches thick on the outer plate that is more than one foot thick, this ship ...... As some suspect, it is simply not something that can be driven by human power and wind alone...... Of course, the reason why that Mr. Denis Pappin was able to participate in this monumental project as a Huguenot was not because he built a pressure cooker capable of cooking delicious food (although it is true).

A priest had already prayed for an hour on his knees at the bow with two aco-priests, and had touched all the masts, sails, and other important places with his hands, and sprinkled holy water on every corner, except for the heart of the great ship, the boiler room, where the eight boilers would provide the giant with abundant power, and the king exercised this power on his behalf, after all, at the time of the coronation, the Holy Spirit became one with the king, and then they raised the flag of the king and France, and then asked the king to name it.

"The King's Power. Louie said.

A few minutes later, all the members of the royal family except Louis disembarked, and they were led by the Duke of Orleans to the heights, from which the workers could be seen running from everywhere, the fixtures of the hull were removed, and there was a loud crashing sound, and the eldest princess looked worriedly at her father, who was still on the ship, and turned her head to look at the Duke of Orleans.

"Don't be afraid, child," said the Duke of Orleans, stroking the eldest princess's hair, "and you should be proud, Your Highness, for your father and king." ”

Louis took the golden cup presented by the Marquis de Seenera, and the bright red wine in it shook as the behemoth moved, at first it was slow, so slow that it was almost invisible, but as if in an instant, the bow of the ship in which the king was located suddenly moved from the shadow of the roof to the dazzling sunlight, and the king only had time to hold the cup, when he felt a violent vibration, and he was pushed first to the rear, and then to be tossed high, and in the exclamation of Bontang, the king actually remembered to drink the wine in the golden cup, and then tossed it into the air。

Before the golden cup landed, the "King's Power" that rushed to the sea along the lowered slipway had completely shaken off the shackles of the founder, and the scorching light suddenly wrapped the king tightly, and the terrible inertia pushed him to the ground, Bang Tang grabbed the rope that hung down from somewhere, and staggered to help the king, but saw the king turn over, lying on his back on the deck, happy and laughing without manners!

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According to tradition, the fallen golden cup was snatched by someone, so almost the entire shipyard workers came, even Mr. Papin was a little moved to see it, this golden cup weighed at least two pounds, it almost fell into the water, it was a brave lad desperate to pounce on it, and at the risk of being almost smashed by the ship, Senele looked at his ecstatic look and the envious and jealous eyes of the people around him, and his heart moved, and he walked over and bought the gold cup for three times the price.

The Duke of Orleans looked at him and smiled, worthy of being the son of the cunning Korbel, and he would be displeased if the king knew that the golden cup he had thrown down to bless the ship had brought death to the fortunate ones. "We have prepared a boat," he said, "and allow me to send you to the Throne, Your Highness." ”

In fact, the only one who could stay with the king on the Crown was the Duke of Orleans, because the ensuing drill was dangerous, and the children just had to watch it from a distance.

"It's not pretty. "Lord of the Great Princess.

"I think it's beautiful. The Grand Duke presided over the objections, and the boys agreed, and of course the ironclad ships could never be compared with the wooden ships in terms of beauty, and in addition to the original color and texture of the wood, there was also the fact that the warships at this time were decorated with beautiful carvings, and sometimes plastered with gold and silver foil— Although the armor plates of the ironclad ship have not yet had time to rust, they cannot be described as beautiful in terms of color and shape, and because they are all connected and fixed by riveting, it looks like a large ship with leprosy.

But the Celestia and the boys saw it differently, in their eyes, it was like a strong knight in heavy armor, a helmet, a heavy riding spear, and even the horse under him was wrapped in chain mail, so majestic that they watched it slowly move forward to the vast sea, and as a strange smoke rushed into the sky, it went faster and faster...... "How many knots do we have now?" asked the Duke of Colonna.

"There are six verses. The captain replied.

"Not the fastest. Little Eugen said intently, the telescope seemed to be glued to his face, and he couldn't move it at all.

"But it's dangerous. "The captain of this ship, who is also a naval officer, can certainly see at a glance how dangerous this great ship is, it may not be as fast as a light ship, but its weight and volume are an impassable mountain—think, such a towering mountain rushing straight towards you......

The Kingship was indeed rushing towards a target ship, which was also a Calais, only a third smaller than the Kingpower, but before the Kingpower's black iron rammed into the horns, it was as fragile as a toy ship made of thick paper - the Kingship rode directly through its wreckage, although the Kingship was also violently bumped for a while, and the hull was also full of scars, but the feeling of crushing the enemy directly into the sea made everyone on board cheer.

The children were also shouting loudly, and even the Grand Princesse did not think that the dark and heavy ship was ugly.

The king then ordered the Throne to bombard another target ship, which was even more miserable than his companions, and after a fierce and intensive bombardment, the sea was covered with blackened pieces of wood and rags, and if this was a real battlefield, then there should have been sharks to follow—the torn bodies and blood stained the sea red.

"What is this?" asked the Duke of Orleans, curious, the aftermath of his excitement not yet passing from his eyes, but he could not understand why a cannonball should be brought to the king.

"You'll find out later. Louis said mildly.

The third target ship appeared, and the gunner loaded the shell into the gun and fired it, this time there may have been only eight or nine shells, but none of them were solid, and as soon as they landed on the mast or the stern, the deck, there was a small explosion, and dozens of white smoke dragged their long tails into the air, and wherever they landed, a fire would ignite.

"What's that?" asked the Duke of Orleans, stunned.

"White phosphorus. Louis replied, and in fact the Duke of Orleans had thought of it, and he put down his binoculars and asked with some hesitation, "Yes......"

"It's not. Louis said, "It's Charles II." ”

The Duke of Orleans was silent for a moment: "Oh," he turned to the big ship, which had been turned into torches, "It's the British." ”

"The British, the artisans, the scholars and their wizards. ”

"Hell yes!"

The Duke of Orleans' childish reply made Louis laugh: "You can't just let me use wizards, any king, as long as he has such a heart and courage, can use everyone he is willing to use and willing to use for him." ”

The Duke of Orleans took a deep breath: "Our enemies will become even more intractable. ”

"Although this is not what I was hoping for," Louis looked at the burning ship, the fire in his eyes, "but there is only one way to defeat the enemy." ”

"It's about making yourself stronger, and always stronger. ”