Gran Canaria, July 10, 1725.

In the evening of the fifth day after the Battle of Cape Verde, Vice Admiral Edmonto Grant of the Royal Navy of England, who was stationed on the former Spanish island of Gran Canaria, received the news. Immediately, he fell into a difficult choice, not knowing whether to continue to stay here, meet the defeated Cape Verdean advance fleet, and then gather all his forces to continue to attack the Qi navy, or abandon the captured islands and retreat to the mainland of England to join the main fleet.

The fast liaison ship that sailed back from Cape Verde reported the arrival of the Qi expeditionary fleet, and its size and number were the same as they estimated, with about 50 ships, of which 35 to 40 warships could be put into battle, and there were also many large ships with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, and their strength should not be underestimated.

Rear Admiral William Fisher, commander of the Royal Navy's advance fleet stationed in Cape Verde, sent him a decisive message that he would attack the Qi Expeditionary Fleet in the early morning of the next day, to find out the reality of the Qi Navy's combat strength for the Royal Navy, and to do his best to consume the Qi Expeditionary Fleet.

With a disparity of 4:1 in strength, and based on the strong combat power of the Qi navy and the superior maneuverability of the sailing ships in the naval battle of Algeciras Bay two months ago, Vice Admiral Grant was not optimistic about the outcome of the advance fleet, and perhaps half of their ships would be sunk or captured by the Qi people.

It is said that after that naval battle, the generals of the Royal Navy came to the unanimous conclusion that it was better not to engage in a confrontation with the Qi fleet in the absence of absolute numerical superiority. Because, the warships of the Qi State are obviously more powerful with artillery, the flowering shells fired are more threatening, and the hull protection performance is also stronger, especially some steam-powered sailing ships also have incomparable mobility advantages.

In the Battle of Algeciras Bay, the Royal Navy of England was unable to completely annihilate the Qi Navy, which had only eight warships, with a three-fold advantage in the number of warships, and also caused the other side to severely damage several of its own ships, which shocked the Royal Navy.

The opponent's flexible positioning, ferocious artillery, overwhelming rockets, and professional and brave officers and men all left a deep impression on the Royal Navy ships participating in the battle.

After the war, a senior admiral suggested that in response to the attack of the Qi navy, the Royal Navy of England should concentrate the main fleet and besiege it with a numerical advantage of 2-3 times, so as to mix up the entire battlefield and fight into a chaotic battle, so as to limit the mobility and firepower superiority of the Qi warships. As long as the Royal Navy invests enough troops, then the Qi warships will not have much room for detours, and can only be forced to engage in artillery bombardment with the Royal Navy closely.

And now, the Qi expeditionary fleet has been slaughtered on a large scale, and the number has reached nearly fifty, among which there must be many sailing ships, so the Royal Navy of England, which meets the enemy with pure sail warships, should be cautious, and cannot easily make mistakes and lose valuable warships.

"Where is Colonel Johnny now?" Lieutenant General Grant asked his adjutant.

"General, the detachment under the command of Colonel Johnny should be near Essaouira and Safi at this time to strike at and destroy the port towns along the Moroccan coast."

"Send a quick liaison ship to inform them that they do not have to return to Canary Island and go directly to Gibraltar to join the Mediterranean fleet after carrying out the task of striking the Moroccan coastal towns."

"Yes, General!"

"Order Colonel Kelly to stop the assault on Tenerife and withdraw all the battleships to the port of Las Palmas."

"Yes, General!"

"Order Lieutenant Colonel Weir to prepare a large number of fires on the islands of Canary and Tula, to burn settlements and farmland, to fill all the wells for water intake, to kill all livestock, to destroy the main defenses," he said.

"Yes, General!"

"Order all the officers and men of the fleet to pack all the things that can be taken from the island into ships and be ready to evacuate at any time."

“…… Yes, General! ”

"Lieutenant General Grant, aren't we going to do anything here?" Rear Admiral Hal Wise, the deputy commander of the fleet, heard a series of orders from Vice Admiral Grant, obviously hearing that the Qi Expeditionary Fleet wanted to leave without a fight after arriving, and a strong sense of military honor immediately felt offended.

"Rear Admiral Wise, do you think that with only the dozen or so warships we currently have, we can stop the advance of the Qi Expeditionary Fleet?"

"I can't." Major General Wise shook his head and said, "But we can't just run away like a hyena without firing a shot!" ”

"Rear Admiral Wise, we need to save every valuable warship of the Royal Navy." Vice Admiral Grant said solemnly: "We can't make senseless sacrifices, and we can't send one precious warship after another to the guns of the Qi people. We, the Royal Navy of England, must clench our five fingers apart into a powerful fist, and then look for the most suitable advantageous opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the Qi people. ”

"But leaving without a fight like this will make all officers and soldiers afraid and timid. Over the years, our Royal Navy has defeated one enemy after another, relying on a fearless courage and unwavering perseverance, daring to launch a decisive attack on a formidable enemy. If, in the face of the Qi Navy, we choose to blindly retreat and evade, then the morale of the entire military will become low, become cowering, and then lose confidence in defeating the other side. ”

"No, I'm sure the lads of the Royal Navy won't lose their courage to face the enemy because of a momentary retreat." Lieutenant General Grant said firmly: "In the face of the invasion of the Eastern world, each of us is full of high fighting spirit. For we are defending great England, defending holy Christendom, defending the most devout faith in our hearts. The invasion of the Qi State is no less than another invasion of our Western civilization by the infidels, and each of our lord's subjects has the obligation and courage to guard it, defend it, and then when facing the Qi people, they will burst out with strong combat effectiveness. ”

In the past few months, in order to win the support of European countries, in addition to promising many benefits, the Kingdom of England has also continued to exaggerate the attributes of Qi's oriental civilization, and did not hesitate to portray the war between them and Qi as a war between different civilizations and races, and constantly appealed to European countries that in order to defend the Catholic world and defend Western civilization, they should join hands to jointly resist the invasion of Qi.

Although this propaganda greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of the common people and the army in England to participate in the war, the European countries did not respond to it and watched the war with a cold eye.

Oh, the same Catholic world, the same people of the Lord, so what? This does not prevent the past hundreds of years from fighting each other to the death for territory, wealth, and the desire of the monarch, leaving the whole of Europe with bones and blood flowing.

Even if you are also a Protestant country, it does not prevent you England from secretly attacking the Kingdom of Sweden, and even joining forces with Denmark to attack Sweden, so that the ambitious Karl XII will stop in Norway and be depressed about it.

"Rear Admiral Wise, in order to boost the morale of the Royal Navy's officers and men, we will lead the fleet along the coast of Morocco as we retreat, raiding the country's coastal towns and ports along the way. In this way, it can not only attack and weaken the most important ally of the Qi country, but also maintain the desire of the officers and soldiers to fight. ”

——

Ye Xianghui, the commander of the Qi State Guard on Taihua Island (now Tenerife), held a bloody long knife in his hand, and looked coldly at the Spanish woman who was cowering in the corner of the house, she held her young child tightly and kept crying and trembling, hesitated for a moment, and then turned around and walked out.

The village was filled with scenes of post-slaughter, and in the distant wilderness, sporadic muskets rang out from time to time. Walking past several dilapidated houses, one can faintly hear the suppressed sobs of women and the roars of men's bestiality.

"Who set the fire?" Ye Xianghui stretched out his hand to summon a guard and asked sharply.

"It was the natives of India who set the fire." He Xintang saw the captain's fierce eyes, and immediately threw the pot on those silly Indians, "Most of them didn't grab anything, and they set the house on fire when they were annoyed." ”

"Fucking dead people, don't kick them with big feet!" Ye Xianghui scolded, but seeing that those houses were in flames, there was no hope of rescue, so he couldn't help but shake his head.

Dog's day, it's a pity that this house burned down in vain, and new immigrants came, and it took time and effort to rebuild it.

"Captain, if you kill all these rebellious Spaniards and Berbers, won't you be able to empty all the houses and land?" A stout man came over with a musket, and when he saw Ye Xianghui feeling sorry for the burned houses, he said nonchalantly.

"Okay, let the brothers stop, and the ones who should be killed are almost finished." Ye Xianghui glanced at the other party and greeted loudly: "In the future, farming and building roads on this island will still require population, but don't kill all the people." Otherwise, the governor would have been to blame. ”

Two months earlier, England had sent troops to attack the Canary Islands, first capturing the eastern islands occupied by the Moroccans, and then attacking the core islands of the Qi people. However, after being heavily bombarded by shore defense batteries, England was unable to storm the port, so they blockaded and besieged the island, preparing to slowly try to attack it.

Perhaps fearing that the prolonged siege would deplete the island's material reserves, Governor Sui Qingliang ordered the entire island to impose military control, confiscate all the grain stored by the residents, and then distribute it uniformly.

However, this move was opposed by the former Spanish inhabitants and the indigenous Berber people, who believed that the Qi people were depriving them of food in order to carry out a cleansing and genocide, and then violently resisted.

Qi was in the Spanish Succession War period, only to unite with the Kingdom of Morocco to seize the Canary Islands, including Taihua Island, so far, it is only more than ten years, the number of immigrants is less than 1,500 people, and they are stationed in several places, of which the Han is less than 800 people, compared with more than 10,000 Spanish residents and Berbers, it can be said that the strength is weak.

If it weren't for the fact that after occupying this island, the Qi people sent many Spanish colonial government officials, soldiers and family members, and also collected all the muskets and swords in the hands of the original residents, I am afraid that they would not even dare to sleep at night.

When Governor Sui Qingliang heard that the former Spanish inhabitants and Berbers had resisted the order of military control, he immediately dispatched several cavalry convoys to forcibly suppress them, killing a few who had taken the lead in making trouble, and detaining more than a dozen followers, which could be regarded as slightly stabilizing the situation on the island.

But who knows, the English besieged for two months, and from time to time drove the warships to the shore, fired a few shots in the direction of the port, and continued to exert military pressure on the island, trying to force the Qi people. When the Spanish inhabitants and Berbers who were not satisfied with the "kingization" saw that the Qi people were in trouble, their minds became lively again, and they began to secretly join forces, preparing to attack the port forts, cooperate with the English, and seize the port of Zhiyuan (now the port of Santa Cruz in Tenerife).

A few days ago, more than 400 Spanish and Berbers sneaked into the harbor at night, preparing to attack two batteries. However, it was discovered by the officers and soldiers on duty, and a fierce battle began.

After hearing the news, the village guards in Zhiyuan City immediately went out of the city to support, and fought with the naval officers and soldiers stationed in the fort, and routed the rebellious Spaniards.

Fortunately, several English warships hovering outside the harbor did not know the situation on the island, and did not dare to take the opportunity to attack, which relieved the Qi people who always had a heart.

At dawn the next day, Governor Sui Qingliang ordered the convoy to take bloody revenge on the Spanish villages and settlements that had started the riots, following the confessions given by the captives.

Ye Xianghui and more than 60 guards have broken through three villages, and those who dare to resist will be killed, killing and capturing more than 200 people, in addition to young men, there are also women and children, and the methods can be described as cruel.

"According to my will, when my Qi army arrives, we must move all the Spaniards and Berbers on the island out, and solve the problem of resistance here once and for all." The stout man muttered as he beckoned a dozen Indian natives to pile up the dead bodies and prepare to burn them.

"If you move all the people away, who will farm the land, who will build roads and houses?"

"Move people from the mainland, or from Qianzhou. Otherwise, it would be okay to move some people from Qin or Annan, which would be much more reliable than these Spaniards and natives! ”

"To put it lightly, an immigrant costs at least twenty or thirty yuan, who will pay for it? For so many years, we have only been able to enter and leave here, and we have spent a lot of money, all relying on the support of Qianzhou, which has long caused people to complain. ”

"Whew! Those people in Qianzhou have all fallen into the eyes of money. We're here on this island, but we're going to open up the land for me. As long as we hold on to this place firmly, the Yi people of Europe will not be able to kill them in Qianzhou casually! …… Dog day, how many silver dollars a year to support and complain? ”

"Alright, alright, less special nonsense!" Ye Xianghui said impatiently: "How the official family above arranges, let's obey the order." Could it be that you are still asked to be a rough governor and worry about these major affairs of the country? ”

"Isn't Lao Tzu unbalanced? We can't eat or dress well on this broken island, and we have to fight to the death with the English people, but their Qianzhou people are happily digging gold in the back, and they can live a good life of wealth and tranquility. ”

"You're the fucking complaint! Look at the Indian natives and the Japanese samurai, all of them are very satisfied......"

"Da Da Da ......"

While they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of horses' hooves, and in a moment, a cavalry guard rushed to the front with a happy expression on his face.

"What, all the ships of the English have withdrawn?"

"That's right, before noon this day, several lookouts saw the English warships retreating to the east." The guard who reported the news said with a smile: "The naval officers and men of the fort said that it must be our Qi country's expeditionary fleet coming!" ”

(End of chapter)