The Atlantic Ocean turned eastward into the Biscay Sea, and more than fifty warships were advancing mightily on the sea. Among them were twenty Ming warships led by Tian Erniu, and the other thirty or so warships were all
Spanish warships.
It has been a few days since they left Portugal. The Portuguese wisely chose to spend money to buy peace. They first paid gold, silver and treasures worth two million taels of silver to the Ming Dynasty and Spain. The later war reparations were adopted.
The form of installment payment is divided into thirty years.
Naturally, Daming had no problems at all and was not afraid that Portugal would not pay back the money. However, Spain was very dissatisfied and finally negotiated.
The Portuguese side used more than 20 warships and agreed to employ the Spanish in exchange for the Spanish side's agreement to make installment payments.
Therefore, the Spaniards, who originally had only a dozen warships, suddenly expanded to more than 30 warships, which continued to be commanded by Almeida and Calster, following Tian Erniu's fleet to attack England and France northward.
When the Triple Alliance attacked Spain, the naval forces of the British and French were responsible for blocking the Bay of Biscay in the north of Spain. At the same time, France blocked the Mediterranean Sea.
When Tian Erniu came, there were fifty-five warships, and they were also divided into two groups. One group attacked Portugal and the north, and the other group entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar.
"There is news from Zhao Houhou. They seem to have encountered a little trouble on the Mediterranean side. The Ottoman Empire does not seem to be friendly to us."
Tian Erniu looked at the distance and Jiang Liang beside him and said.
"The Ottoman Empire is still quite powerful in the Mediterranean. They occupy some areas on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, but they mainly rely on pirates to occupy it."
"The pirates of the Ottoman Empire were very ferocious, comparable to the famous Viking pirates in European history. They even plundered cities along the Mediterranean coast of Spain a few years ago."
"As for the coastal cities in France and Italy, they are almost all slave hunting grounds for Ottoman pirates."
Jiang Liang is very familiar with the situation in Europe. When it comes to the Mediterranean, he can tell the situation almost immediately.
"Then it seems we have to end the war in the north as soon as possible to support the monkeys."
Tian Erniu said with some worry.
"That's not the case. With the strength of our warships, we will definitely have no problem dealing with the pirates of the Ottoman Empire. What's more, we can also get support from the Spanish on the Mediterranean side."
"But it's not easy to get a colony on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The Spanish probably won't allow us to interfere in the affairs here."
Jiang Liang thought for a while and shook his head slightly.
"But occupying a colonial point on the south bank of the Strait of Gibraltar is what Liu Gongzi meant. The Strait of Gibraltar is the intersection of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the throat. Controlling this place is equivalent to controlling the Mediterranean Sea."
Tian Erniu thought for a while and said.
"We can only say that we will try our best. Mr. Liu's layout has always been very long-term."
"We also need to get an island on the British side. Then we can open a gap on the Western European side."
Jiang Liang nodded slightly and said, he may not have thought the Strait of Gibraltar was so important before, but with the rise of maritime colonization and maritime trade, places like the Strait of Gibraltar have become very important, a choke point.
"Dang~dang~"
At this moment, the lookout on the mast sounded the alarm.
"There are enemy ships~There are enemy ships~"
When Tian Erniu and Jiang Liang heard this, they quickly picked up the binoculars and looked over.
In the sea directly ahead, there are three warships cruising leisurely, with British flags and red cross flags hanging on them!
"It's an English pirate!"
Jiang Liang recognized it as soon as he saw the flag hanging on the ship.
"Prepare for battle!"
I have been energetic since the days of Newton. Sailing on this sea was very boring, and now I finally feel alive again.
As Tian Erniu's order was conveyed, the surrounding warships immediately began to move, like a pack of wolves, constantly dispersed on the sea, forming a huge net and surrounding the three English warships.
"Haha, it's an English pirate~"
"Kill them!"
Almeida and Kolster soon received the order and immediately became excited.
The conflict between the Spanish and the British was deep. Spain hated English pirates very much, because many cities along the Spanish coast, treasure ships at sea, etc. were robbed by English pirates.
Especially this year, because the three countries jointly attacked Spain, English pirates became extremely rampant. In the cities and ports along the Bay of Biscay, they were robbed by English pirates every now and then.
"These damn pirates!"
"Send a message to the Ming fleet and tell them not to take action. We will board these pirate warships and tear them all into pieces!"
Kolster thought for a while and said.
"Yes, tear these English pirates to pieces!"
When Almeida heard this, she nodded solemnly, full of hatred for the English pirates.
On the other side of the sea, three English pirate ships had just finished plundering a port city in the Bay of Biscay, Spain, plundering a large amount of supplies. At the same time, they captured and tied up a large number of Spaniards, preparing to be sold as slaves to the Mediterranean.
.
I heard that the price of slaves in the Mediterranean is rising rapidly, especially the price of white slaves. There are merchants in the Mamluk Kingdom of Egypt who are willing to pay high prices to harvest white slaves.
After the English pirates learned the news, they also specially captured Spanish people and sold them to the Mediterranean. A white slave could be worth nearly twenty-two Ming silver dollars, which was a very valuable transaction.
If you log in casually once, you can capture hundreds of people. If you capture a woman, it will be more valuable. Calculating, if you capture a slave just once, you can earn nearly tens of thousands of Ming Dynasty silver dollars.
"Haha, I made a fortune this time. I caught hundreds of Spanish women. I don't need to sell them to the Mediterranean. If I sell them to the Portuguese, I can sell them for more than twenty taels of silver each."
"Isn't that right? The money from the sale can still allow us to enjoy it and enjoy it. This transaction is okay."
On the three warships, the English pirates were laughing wantonly, and women's screams could be heard from time to time.
But soon, the sound of sirens broke the tranquility on the ship.
"Not good~"
"It's a Spanish warship~"
On the 'Royal Wanderer', Hawkins, who was in charge of commanding these three warships, immediately roared angrily.
He opened his eyes wide and looked at the sea ahead. He saw warships flying the Spanish flag approaching him menacingly. There were more than thirty warships.
Behind these more than thirty warships, there were twenty huge warships flying the Ming Dynasty dragon flag.
"Where did Spain get its warships?"
"And those warships, are they the warships of the Ming Dynasty?"
Hawkins rubbed his eyes, a little unbelievable.
The war has been going on for more than a year, and the Spanish warships have basically been used up. This is why they can land and plunder Spanish port cities.
But now, looking at the mighty warships coming over the sea, the flags hanging on them cannot be deceiving.
"Escape~"
Almost without thinking or hesitating, Hawkins gave the order to escape.
You definitely can't fight. The difference in strength is too great, so you can only escape.
However, it was loaded with cargo plundered from the port and many captured slaves, and there was a headwind, so the escape speed was very slow, while the Spanish warships were all light and fast warships and were faster.
"Fire!"
As the distance between them got closer and closer, when they could finally see each other's appearance clearly, Almeida gave the order.
"Boom~"
As billowing white smoke rose from the warship, projectiles flew towards each other. At the same time, the sailors on the warship were all crowded together, waving the hooks in their hands, waiting for the one who would pick up the string.
moment.
"shit~"
"Kill these Spanish traitors~"
Hawkins luckily escaped the attack of a cannonball, but when he saw that he couldn't escape, he roared angrily.
The two sides went back and forth, attacking each other with cannonballs. Soon, the ships on both sides were getting closer and closer. On the Spanish warships, hooks and claws quickly grabbed the three British warships.
The battle was about to break out, with each other's muskets spraying back and forth, bows and arrows shooting back and forth, like monkeys swinging onto the opponent's warship, swords shaking like shadows, blood dripping on the deck, and from time to time someone fell into the water.
There was not much suspense in the battle. The English pirates had too few ships and too few people, so they were quickly defeated by the Spanish. A large number of people were killed, but many people also took the initiative to attack the Spanish.
"Why are these British people dressed in rags like beggars?"
Tian Erniu, who was watching from the side, looked at these British people and couldn't help but say.
"The British are indeed relatively poor. They are far inferior to the Portuguese and Spanish, otherwise they would not be pirates."
"However, if these people fall into the hands of the Spanish, they will probably die."
Jiang Liang smiled and said.
On the three English battlefields, the Spaniards were playing a game, tying up all the surrendered Englishmen and throwing them one by one into the cold sea.
Every time a person was thrown away, the Spaniards on the surrounding boats would shout excitedly, while the British who were about to be thrown into the sea were struggling in fear.
This game is one of the favorite games of pirates, and it is also one of the cruelest punishments on the sea, being drowned alive or freezing to death in the sea.