The Rise of the European Emperor

The fortress of Calais is extremely important for both England and France. With the fortress of Calais, England can easily intervene in European affairs, and easily land a large number of troops in the port of Calais, and then harass northern France.

Historically, Henry VIII harassed France like this. Because Henry VIII's first queen was Princess Catherine of Spain, Henry VIII was very cooperative with Spain in the early days. Whenever the French army went south to fight in Italy, England would land their army at Calais and plunder the northern coast of France. When the French reacted and fought back, the English army calmly retreated into the fortress of Calais, and then landed at the Port of Calais to return to England, which made France very temperamental.

The French could not capture the fortress of Calais, nor could they control the English Channel. In addition, the timing of England's dispatch of troops was well chosen. When the main force of France was selected to go south, there was no way for the French to take England.

But since the bloody Mary (Mary I), the daughter of Henry VIII, lost Calais, Britain could no longer easily attack northern France. After all, landing a large army requires a safe landing in the port. The fortress of Calais can not only cover the landing of the British army, but also protect the retreating British army from being chased by the French army. Its function is difficult to replace.

After the French recaptured the fortress of Calais, the northern region was much more stable, and there was no longer any worry that the English army would sack the northern plains. After that, the English could only attack the French ports on a small scale, instead of going deep into the interior to sack France...

Edward is not stupid, he also knows the importance of Calais Fortress. However, he gave up because he was not sure of taking back the fortress of Calais from the French. Now, there is a chance to retake Calais, and Edward does not want to give up.

However, Edward also had his hesitations:

"Even if the city gate is opened, the 5,000 French troops in the city are not easy to provoke. It is said that there are 500 of the most elite French plate infantry in the city. To deal with them, muskets must be used. However, it seems that muskets cannot be used on rainy days... No, the muskets of Beihai Kingdom can be used in rainy days, Earl Marin, do you want to support me?"

Marlin nodded:

"That's fine, I'll support you with 1,000 musketeers. Each of them is equipped with 50 spring-fired carbines, enough to deal with the 500 French plate infantry."

Edward nodded and said:

"That's good. In this battle, I plan to send 20,000 troops, and your Fourth and Fifth Corps will send 10,000 troops, how?"

Marin shook his head:

"I can only send 5,000 troops, and I will never admit that 5,000 people are my people. Your Majesty, my minister is different from you, and the minister's Beihai Kingdom is on the road.

Once the fortress of Calais is lost, the French are unable to cross the sea to find trouble in England, but it is no problem to find trouble in the North Sea. "

"So, this time the minister came here to deliberately pretend to be at odds with you, just to fear that the French would know that I am willing to send troops to help you recover the fortress of Calais. If 10,000 people were dispatched, it would be easy for the French to see through. And 5,000 people were dispatched. , it is relatively easy to conceal. After all, most of the troops are your Majesty. Moreover, after the battle, the troops and horses of the minister will withdraw overnight, not giving the French a chance to inquire about the news..."

"Are you so afraid of the French?" Edward was speechless.

Marin shook his head and said nothing. He has already said this. The North Sea Kingdom is on land, and the French can't take revenge on the British, so they may anger him. So, avoiding suspicion is a must...

In fact, the domestic strength of France is not strong at this time. After all, the main force is Naples. If Marin is ruthless, he can also kill those people in France. However, Marin was worried about being stabbed in the back by the German princes. Moreover, if France really falls, Spain will emerge and become Marin's enemy of life and death. So Marin would rather keep a low profile now than take a risk in the past.

In addition, Marin actually hid a trump card and didn't tell Edward. Of course, this is just a spare. Only when the iron gate of the sewer can not be used, Marin will use the killer...

...

What killer? Marin actually dug a tunnel in Calais, connecting the inside and outside of the city...

However, there is something wrong with this tunnel - water has entered...

In fact, Marin had already sent spies to dig tunnels in Calais. But the French in Calais are very strict, so it is very difficult to dig tunnels. The difficulty lies mainly in how to avoid the eyes of the French and dispose of the soil dug up when digging the tunnel.

Because they wanted to avoid the eyes of the French, the spies only needed to use the carriages entering and leaving the city to spread a layer of dirt on the carriage and quietly carry the dirt out of the city. Then, they dug a well in public, but they took a lot of dirt out in public. Moreover, the exit of the tunnel is on the wall of the well...

This method was actually invented by Marin based on the text "Underground Printing House in Tbilisi" that he had learned in his previous life. After all, no one is willing to go down the well to find any tunnel easily.

However, when the tunnel was dug to the end, there was a big problem - in the part outside the city, the underground river was dug, and a lot of water poured into the tunnel...

Then, the tunnel more than 200 meters long was filled with water. Moreover, the exit outside the city was actually at the bottom of a small river...

After more than two years of hard work, Marin was so angry that he wanted to kill. After blocking the exit hole at the bottom of the river outside the city with stones, the tunnel was temporarily abandoned.

Until a while ago, Marin asked people to get a cylinder and a pump...

Because of the rubber, making the valve becomes simple. Whether it is a water valve or an air valve, it becomes simple.

Marlin showed that people made a pump, laying the groundwork for the future of making rubber tires. Then, he asked the blacksmith to help him make a cylinder similar to the liquefied gas tank of later generations. Originally, Marin wanted to use this cylinder to collect liquefied gas from gasoline refining. After all, it would be too wasteful to let liquefied gas escape directly into the air.

Unexpectedly, Marin had a whim and used a pump to inflate the cylinder, and then gave birth to the oxygen cylinder commonly used in diving in later generations...

It should be pointed out that the cylinders used for diving in later generations are not oxygen at all, but compressed air. Marin used a pump to press into the cylinder, which just happened to form a diving cylinder commonly used in diving in later generations...

Then, Marin naturally thought of "inventing" the matching diving equipment! What diving masks and snorkels, and rubber tubing for ventilation...

The most important thing about these things is that the airtightness is good, and they cannot leak. And with rubber, these things aren't too difficult. After hundreds of failures, a qualified product is made...

...

In this way, the original tunnel for irrigation that failed to be dug will be useful - as long as someone carries a compressed air cylinder and a diving suit, and opens the stone blocking the hole at the bottom of the river, they can follow the underwater channel. Sneak into the city. Then, come out through the well in the city and enter the city...

As long as hundreds of sets of compressed air cylinders and diving suits are prepared, Marin can send hundreds of elite soldiers into the city through this underwater passage, and secretly open the city gate...

This underwater secret passage is a bit like the passage from the ancient tomb sect leading to the outside world in Jin Yong's novel "The Return of the Condor Heroes". However, in the novel, the passage can only be swam through by a person with high martial arts through holding his breath, otherwise he will almost drown like Li Mochou.

But Marin understands science, and also has vulcanized cooked rubber, so he can make a set of diving breathing apparatus calmly, so that ordinary people can pass through this long underwater channel...

Of course, this is just an alternative. Only if the plan of using the iron gate of the sewer fails, will this plan be used as a killer to conquer the fortress of Calais...