1725, 12 August, Liverpool.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……”

On the Mersey River, more than a dozen Qi warships lined up in a column, anchored in the middle of the river, and began to pour endless shells on the forts, warehouses, and docks on the docks on the other side of the river, as well as the slave trading ships on the shore.

Although the more than ten guns arranged in the dock fort have fixed gun positions, they are relatively stable when firing, and the arc of the shooting is also large, and the gunners have exerted their perseverance and combat courage, but in the face of the bombardment of hundreds of guns of the Qi Expeditionary Fleet, it seems that they are so powerless. The Qi fleet, with its well-trained naval officers and men, overcame many unfavorable conditions with the help of the wind.

When the Qi fleet arrived in the waters near Liverpool, more than a dozen sailing warships quickly rushed into the estuary at a very fast speed, entered the harbor, and boldly anchored in front of the fort, and then launched a large-scale artillery attack.

It may be that Mazu blessed that the light breeze blowing from the sea blew all the smoke towards the other side, making the Qi warships more handy to attack. This may be a rare time in the history of naval warfare in which ship-based artillery is used to suppress a shore-based artillery group with absolutely favorable natural conditions. After a small confrontation, although many warships of the Qi State were hit by countless bullets, the strength of the battery's counterattack became weaker and weaker. Huge solid shells bombarded the fort bunkers, debris flew and exploded, and the bursting shells rose up on the docks with billowing fires and thick smoke, and the lodging corpses were all horrific.

The English on the shore may also have realized that it was unrealistic to deploy too many armed forces on the shore to prevent the landing of the Qi navy under the absolute firepower superiority of the Qi State. They blew up the few remaining shore guns, abandoned the docks, and evacuated everyone to the city of Liverpool.

The city of Liverpool originated in August 1207 when King John issued an edict to establish the town of Liverpool, but until the middle of the 16th century, Liverpool was a small town with a population of just over 500 people. During the English Civil War, there was also a brutal siege that lasted for 18 days, killing and wounding most of the inhabitants and severely destroying the town. It wasn't until after the English Civil War in the 1650s that Liverpool's trade and the number of inhabitants began to grow slowly.

By 1699, Liverpool had become a parish. It was in this year that the first slave fishing ship of Liverpool merchants went to Africa and began to engage in the criminal slave trade. By the 18th century, Liverpool's trade with the West Indies had surpassed trade with Ireland and the rest of Europe, and the city's population began to grow dramatically. The city also prospered rapidly because of the slave trade, and up to now, Liverpool controls 20% of the slave trade in Europe and 60% of the slave trade in Britain, and the population of the town is more than 50,000.

After Qi declared war on the Kingdom of England, Liverpool, as a coastal port, was also worried that it would be attacked by the Qi expeditionary fleet, so it also made some necessary defensive preparations for the entire city, added several coastal defense batteries, urgently trained a group of gunners, recruited and trained a large number of militiamen, and built corresponding parapets and improvised fortresses around the city.

But to be honest, the Liverpool city authorities are still lucky when they are attacking the countrymen. The wealthy and politically significant capital London, the Royal Navy base Portsmouth, the important coal-producing region of Swansea, and even the Scottish capital Edinburgh all look to be more valuable than Liverpool, so they probably don't look at this small city that thrived because of the slave trade, right?

However, the sad thing is that the Qi people have really come to attack Liverpool. When a dense array of warships appeared at the mouth of the Mersey, the entire city was immediately in a panic.

Didn't our Royal Navy gather more than a hundred warships a few months ago and sail out of port in a mighty way, ready to meet the incoming Qi expeditionary fleet? The newspapers also reported that in Gibraltar, Canary and other waters, the Royal Navy had achieved an early and brilliant victory, blocking the Qi people in the port of Ceuta and Tenerife, and conquering their fortified fortresses was just around the corner.

How did it happen that in the blink of an eye, the Qi Navy had reached the mainland of England and blocked their Liverpool doorstep!

Shouldn't they go to Gibraltar, the preset battlefield of the Royal Navy, and engage in a huge naval decisive battle with our English navy?

That's right, after the expeditionary fleet of the Qi Navy arrived in Tangier, Morocco on July 24, some of the ships entered the port to replenish a large amount of food and fresh water, and after staying for only one day, they all left the port and sailed straight in the direction of the strait, as if they were going to Gibraltar.

But who knows, after the Qi expeditionary fleet sailed to the middle of the strait, it turned the bow of the ship and sailed in the northwest direction with a false shot, and soon disappeared into the depths of the vast North Atlantic.

The Royal Navy Task Force of England, which was a little confused, waited in Gibraltar for two days, and after many investigations, it was finally confirmed that the Qi Expeditionary Fleet was really heading for the depths of the Atlantic. After leaving more than ten ships behind, the main fleet immediately pulled anchor and set sail, and also followed the direction of Qi Guo's departure and chased after it.

Damn the people of Qi, they won't be arrogant and go directly to our England mainland!

"When will the main fleet of the English arrive at the earliest?"

In the operational command room of the flagship "Xingtian", more than a dozen high-ranking generals of the expeditionary fleet and many staff officers gathered here to discuss the upcoming landing battle in Liverpool. The commander-in-chief of the fleet, Admiral (Admiral) of the Navy, Hussar General (Admiral) Wan Botai, stood in front of a huge map with his arms folded, surveying the entire North Atlantic Sea.

"General, my expeditionary fleet has reached this place at maximum speed all the way, and there has been almost no delay on the way. Therefore, according to the normal itinerary, the main fleet of England will be able to catch up with this sea area at least 5-6 days later than us. An intelligence staff officer stretched out his hand to gauge the distance between Gibraltar and England, and said confidently: "But the English navy is pursuing all the way, and they do not know the real target of our expeditionary fleet, and they will most likely sail to Portsmouth or near London, and then send a large number of search ships to find out our location." In this way, if the English fleet heard the news of our attack on Liverpool and gathered ships to intercept us, it would be delayed for at least three to five days. At the most conservative timeframe, we also have seven or eight days to attack Liverpool. ”

"What if the defenders of Liverpool report to London by land that our expeditionary fleet is attacking the area?"

"Liverpool is about 300 kilometers from London, and at the speed of a fast horse, it should be possible to report the news here in two days. London reacted accordingly by notifying and assembling a fleet to attack our expeditionary fleet, which would take at least 3-4 days, and 5-7 days on the way. ”

"You've missed some of the deadliest estimates." Wan Botai shook his head, took two steps forward, walked to the map, and stretched out his hand to the eastern coast of the island of Ireland, "...... Dublin. According to the intelligence of the Blackguards, the English took control of Dublin and nearby areas more than 300 years ago, and became an important support point for their colonization of Ireland. The city had a population of tens of thousands, a sizable garrison, and the area was Ireland's main distribution center for grain and wool, enough to supply a large fleet. Therefore, it is also possible that the main fleet of England will sail into the harbor and wait for news of our expeditionary fleet. In addition, Swansea in Bristol Bay is also a good anchorage for the Grand Fleet, only two or three days away from Liverpool. We cannot fail to take this into account. ”

"If the Commander-in-Chief estimates are the worst, then our landing force will only have 5-6 days to attack." Qi Hengbo, commander-in-chief of the landing force and general (lieutenant general) of the army Zhenguo, frowned and said, "This time is a little tight. ”

"Actually, we don't need to occupy this port city." Wan Botai smiled slightly and said: "There is nothing we need here, and rashly launching a landing operation will cost a lot of valuable army troops." ”

"We are attacking England for the first time, and if we don't occupy it, how can we deter England?"

"If we destroy this city, it will also frighten the English."

"Destroying the whole city?"

"That's right, ruining the city."

"The commander-in-chief is ready to cover the whole of Liverpool with rockets?" The corners of Qi Hengbo's mouth twitched, "There are tens of thousands of English civilians in the city. ”

"It is to make the ordinary people of England aware of the cruelty of this war, and thus to dampen their determination to support the Crown of England in its war." "There are certainly many civilians in the city, but there must also be many criminal slave traders and unscrupulous pirates. Besides, we don't have much time to delay here. Blowing up the city can somewhat infuriate the English navy, so that they are forced to follow us in circles. It would be best if we could draw their main fleet into a division, thus creating an opportunity for us to annihilate their living forces at sea. ”

When the generals present heard this, they all nodded yes. The strategy of this expedition to England was to avoid a decisive battle with the fleet, to accelerate its attrition by constantly raiding and plundering the coastal towns and sea trade routes of England, and eventually to cause internal turmoil, to break their will to fight little by little, and finally to force England to submit.

Over the next two days, the Qi expeditionary fleet launched a sustained artillery bombardment of Liverpool, during which it also fired 8,000 rockets into the city, causing a fire in the city, almost leveling the entire city's buildings and killing more than 1,400 citizens.

While the residents of Liverpool were weeping and mourning, the Qi expeditionary fleet withdrew from the Mersey River one after another, and then turned around and sailed north.

(End of chapter)