The Rise of the European Emperor

It was indeed force majeure. After Francois I heard the news, although he was extremely angry, he didn't dare to turn his face. Because France has just experienced a change of monarch at this time, and the domestic situation is unstable, so it is not appropriate to go to war. What's more, the French and the Spaniards are fighting at this time. It would be unwise to provoke England at the same time. Therefore, Francois I intends to endure it for the time being, and prepares to settle the matter when he has a chance in the future.

Obviously, Francois I made the right choice. Not only he thought so, but also the French courtiers. After all, it is really unwise to provoke the two great powers at the same time. What's more, the Habsburg family did not deal with France.

But it’s okay not to express it at all. After all, the face of the most powerful country in Europe is still important. So, Francis I sent an envoy to London to express his anger.

Of course, they can only attack thousands of city guards who were poisoned to death. As for the matter of Margaret's mother and child, it is not easy to publicly question England.

Thousands of soldiers were killed, this is not a trivial matter, it is completely enough to provoke a national war. But France cannot fight on two fronts at this time, so even if it is extremely angry, it must endure it. Otherwise, the consequences will be unpredictable.

If England faces France alone, it can only rely on the Channel to protect itself. However, the main force of France is now at war with Spain. Therefore, the threat of the English is much greater.

In fact, the purpose of the French ruling and opposition parties is very simple-to send envoys to argue with England first and delay time. Moreover, seek compensation from England. For example, a compensation of 300,000 gold coins or something, 300 gold coins per person, can also give an explanation to the family of the deceased, and France can also regain a lot of face.

Unfortunately, this idea is doomed to fail. Edward is not a local tyrant like Marin. After years of wars, and England has not yet set foot in ocean trade at this time, the country is very poor. How can there be so much money for compensation? Besides, the poisoning was not done by the English...

Therefore, Edward said-the poisoning has nothing to do with England, we will not lose money, and we do not need to apologize.

What Edward said was actually the truth, but the French didn't believe it. The French insisted that it was England who did it.

Then, the two countries began a long wrangling. At the same time, the angry François I ordered to start secretly manufacturing warships and train sailors with Marin's method of suspending super-large planks, preparing to crusade against the hateful British one day...

In order to avoid being attacked by the English navy, the French built ships and trained sailors this time, all in the inland river. Wait until the training is complete, and then pull it to the English Channel to fight...

...

Originally, the plan was classified. But unfortunately,

Francois I didn't know that he had a trusted nobleman, John Lafite, who was a hidden enemy spy.

Therefore, this plan has been leaked from the beginning. On the third day, Marin got a detailed plan for France to build ships and train sailors in the inland river.

"Hey, you learned how to behave this time! Building a ship in an inland river is indeed a bit difficult to attack and destroy..."

This time France intends to set up three shipyards in the middle reaches of the Seine River, the middle reaches of the Loire River flowing through Nantes, and the middle and lower reaches of the Garonne River flowing through Bordeaux (just in Bordeaux) to manufacture 200-ton warships. to cross the English Channel in the future.

Francois I was very ambitious. He knew that if he took the throne, it would be impossible to unite England. If you want to annex England, you can only take it by force.

And if France can win the Italian war and obtain a stable source of volcanic ash, it will have the strength to annex England in a few years. The premise is that there will be enough warships by then!

It is impossible to continue to build ships on the northern or western coasts. The English will definitely destroy them when they see it. It is a waste of effort.

Shipbuilding on the Mediterranean coast is also not possible, and the Spaniards will not sit idly by. They may follow the example of the British and destroy the shipbuilding centers along the Mediterranean coast. Even the great river Rhone, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea, cannot set up shipyards. Because, even if a ship is built on the Rhone River, it cannot escape the siege of Spanish warships when sailing into the Mediterranean Sea. Even if they were lucky enough to go to sea without being discovered, it would be difficult to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar and reach the northern coast. After all, the Strait of Gibraltar is too narrow, and it is easy for the Spaniards to block the strait.

Therefore, Francois I only built three shipyards on the Seine River that flows into the English Channel and the Loire River and Garonne River that flow into the Atlantic Ocean, in order to avoid the English attack while still having the opportunity to drive the ship out to The northern coast to start a war.

...

Obviously, the English did not know the plans of the three shipyards because of the concealment and confidentiality of their locations. Even if they knew it, they couldn't break into the inland river to destroy the shipyard. After all, the inland river couldn't accommodate too many warships, and the French sent heavy troops to protect them, and planned to set up forts to guard the shipyard. In this way, even if the British knew about it, they could not destroy the shipyard.

But Marin already knew that, for the safety of his son's union with England in the future, Marin felt that he should do something...

If you want to destroy the ship, the best way is to get more shipworms to eat the ship. But this time the French shipyards cannot use shipworms in the inland river, so...

"By the way, use termites!" Marin suddenly thought that termites are also a kind of thing that is extremely harmful to wood.

After the boat is launched, it may be difficult for termites to dive to eat the boat. But what about before the ship is built?

Before the ship is built, the wood for shipbuilding must have been piled up on the shore in large quantities. At this time, if there are a large number of termites gnawing on the wood...

"Haha, it seems like a good idea!"

So, Marin called Kohler and arranged for him a task-send people to collect termites secretly in various places and even other countries. Then, they are set up in metal cages and fed with wood.

Then... quietly take it to the three French inland shipyards that have not yet been built...

During the shipbuilding process in France, the North Sea Congress sent spies to sneak into the shipyard where the timber was placed, and released the termites in the cage at night, so that the termites could eat away at the stacked shipbuilding timber.

As long as there are enough termites, the wood piled up by the French must suffer heavy losses.

Shipbuilding timber is difficult to collect. In addition to strict requirements on size, it also needs to be air-dried for at least one or two years before it can be used as shipbuilding timber.

If a large amount of shipbuilding timber is destroyed by termites, it will definitely not be able to be used for shipbuilding. At that time, Francois I will definitely be so angry that he vomits blood. After all, the price of wood for shipbuilding is not low. If it is destroyed by termites, the loss must be an astronomical figure.

Moreover, the French would not have imagined that there are still people in this world who will collect termites and then use termites to deal with their shipyards...