The Rise of the European Emperor

Of course, that was the original history. In this time and space, England has undergone earth-shaking changes because of Marin's chaos. Both Henry VII and Henry VIII had already received box lunches. After Edward came to power, he and France were in a state of "face and heart discord" for a long time, and the two countries did not have much conflict.

It wasn't until England reoccupied the fortress of Calais that the two countries broke their faces again and began to fight each other at sea. Before that, the two countries were relatively restrained. Even when England attacked French ships, it was pretending to be pirates. Moreover, the English never attacked a French naval port.

Therefore, the Italian admiral Pregent Biedus, who should have been hired by Louis XII in 1512, was not recommended to the new French king Francois I by Count Charles until 1516 in this time and space. But as in history, this modified galley is still called the "Calais Ship", which shows the determination of the Kingdom of France to recover the Calais Fortress.

After celebrating the "birth" of the "Boat de Calais", everyone's enthusiasm gradually faded. At this moment, John Laffey raised another sharp question to Pregent Biedles:

"Mr. Biddus, what you said before is indeed a good idea to send galleys to attack when the wind is weak or even calm. But my question is—even if the galleys are stronger than England's in this case The Kirk ship. But the question is, how can you guarantee that the Calais ship will be able to defeat the English Kirk ship? You know, the English pirates are very fierce. To fight against them, it is useless to rely on more powerful ships... ..."

Pregent Biedus said with confidence:

"Lord John, don't worry. Apart from maneuverability, I have thought about it. I have already figured out how to attack the English warships. Otherwise, I would not dare to appear in front of Your Majesty!"

"Oh, I don't know how you plan to deal with England's warships?" John Laffey's eyes flashed.

Pregent Biddus said in his own words:

"I am from Italy, and I fought against the Turks for the Venetian fleet. As early as 1499, the Venetian navy and the Turkish navy fought a naval battle of Zocchio."

"In this battle, the powerful Venetian navy was defeated by the Turkish navy. Apart from the fact that the Turks had a large number of ships, it was mainly because the Turks equipped the bow of the largest flagship with two doors capable of launching 150-pound and 200-pound guns. A large stone-shooting cannon for stone bullets."

"This kind of stone-shooting cannon is very powerful. One or two hundred pounds of super-large stones fell down. The Venetian fleet was smashed and sank two warships on the spot. Their morale plummeted, and then they lost the naval battle..."

"After this battle, the Venetians learned from the pain, so they also imitated this bow cannon. Right now, the Venetian warships,

Many ships are equipped with this imitation cannon on the bow, and call it a basilisk. This basilisk cannon weighs around 7,000 pounds and can fire 50-pound stone projectiles. If it can hit the side of the English Kirk ship, there is a high probability that it will break the side of the Kirk ship, causing the English warship to sink..."

"You mean..." Francois I stood up excitedly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I intend to use this basilisk cannon to smash the English warships with 50-pound stone bullets. For this reason, I have specially designed a set of tactics..." Pregent .Bidus said respectfully.

"Tell me quickly..." Francois I couldn't wait.

"Yes, Your Majesty! That's how it is. I plan to import several small warships with 150 oars (displacement of about 200 tons) from Venice. Each ship will be equipped with a basilisk cannon..."

"Wait, why don't you just introduce bigger warships? With our friendly relationship with Venice, Venice shouldn't be stingy, right?" Francois I was a little unhappy. As the monarch of a big country, he likes to use big ones and does not care about small ones.

Pregent Biedus smiled wryly:

"It's not that it can't be introduced, Venice is also willing to give it. The biggest problem is-big ships can't pass through the Strait of Gibraltar..."

The French monarchs and ministers present suddenly remembered the "blocker" of the Strait of Gibraltar...

Because of the existence of the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain used this strait to block the Mediterranean Sea, making it impossible for large warships from France and even Venice to pass through the strait smoothly. Otherwise, if the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean were connected, France would have already become a maritime power.

But the existence of the Strait of Gibraltar directly cut off the French sea power into two parts, each part is not strong, and they have encountered stronger opponents like Spain and the United Kingdom... It is extremely sad...

Out of containment of France, and vigilance of Venice. That kind of large warship that weighs hundreds of tons at a glance, Spain will definitely obstruct it in every possible way and will not allow it to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar. Just like the Varyag aircraft carrier of later generations, it was trapped in the Turkish Strait for two years. There is no way, the Turkish Strait is stuck in the Black Sea, and if people don't let it pass, there is no way to cross it.

The Strait of Gibraltar is narrower and easier to block than the Turkish Strait. Otherwise, Venice would have rushed out of the Mediterranean Sea to surf the Atlantic Ocean. It is because of the existence of the Strait of Gibraltar that the throats of France and Venice are directly stuck.

Therefore, after the decline of the Spanish Empire, the newly-emerging Britain directly took the opportunity to occupy the Strait of Gibraltar, and it lasted for hundreds of years. Until the 21st century, they refused to return.

...

Obviously, Pregent Biddus is very intelligent. He knew that Spain would not allow an oversized galley to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar even if it was disguised as a civilian merchant ship. And a medium-sized ship of about 200 tons, if it is not loaded, can just meet Spain's psychological requirements and is allowed to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Francois I nodded solemnly and said:

"I understand, Mr. Pregent, I want to ask you, how many refitted galleys can you get from Venice in the fastest time now? Can they form combat power immediately?"

Pregent Biedus said directly:

"I can get 6 refitted galleys, all of which are warships that I commanded when I served in the Venetian Navy Squadron. Not only can I get those 6 ships, but I can also convince all the captains on those ships , sailors and oarsmen, come to seek refuge with Your Majesty. Of course, His Majesty needs to give them higher treatment than in Venice. In addition, the captain and first mate need to be given some incentives..."

Francois I nodded and said:

"I understand, as long as you can defeat the British, even if it is a small victory, I will not be stingy with rewards. Titles, land, money... I can afford them all!"

Pregent Biedus let out a long sigh of relief, and said:

"That's no problem. I can summon them with a letter. As for the ship, I believe Venice will agree to sell it to France."

At this time, John Laffey interjected:

"What about the specific tactics? You haven't said the tactics yet..."

The other nobles present also waited for Pregent Biedus to explain with great interest.

Pregent Biddoth explained:

"In the case of less wind, this kind of Calais can explode faster than the sailing ship. Taking advantage of the speed, I plan to make these 6 Calais quickly approach the enemy fleet. Then, concentrate on With the basilisk guns in the bow, bombard the side of one or two English warships and try to sink them."

"After a round of bombardment succeeded, the ship quickly turned around and fled to avoid being entangled by the English warships and jumping ship gangs."

"In order to avoid being chased by the English warships, we must be located in the downwind, that is, downwind. In this way, it is very convenient for the warships to escape with the wind, so that the enemy cannot catch up..."

"After our basilisk cannons finished loading, the escaped Calais ship turned its head around again relying on the strength of its oarsmen, and bombarded the English warship head-on. After a successful blow, it quickly fled with the wind... ..."

"Back and forth like this, you can avoid the bloodiest battle with the English ship. And the 50-pound lizard cannon balls are so powerful that they can easily sink the English ship."

"In the end, we can sink or damage many English warships without any loss to our own warships, and achieve the goal of victory..."

...

"Okay, if this method is really effective, I will never be stingy with titles, fiefs and money! Sir Pregent, work hard, I am optimistic about you!" After reacting, François I excitedly patted He patted Pregent Biedus on the shoulder and encouraged him.

Originally, in history, it was the Calais and Youdou tactics that Pregent Biddoth came up with, which caused England to suffer for decades. If it weren't for the more windy days in the English Channel and the less time for the Calais ship to play, the French navy might have completely suppressed the English navy...

And the consequence of this tactic is that until the era of sailing warships, the French could not change their habit of being in the downwind, and they were used to running first after a salvo. Because, the downwind is easier to escape. The English Navy, on the other hand, likes to fight desperately on board, so it prefers to grab the wind.

Not to mention the advantages and disadvantages of these two naval warfare ideas, but it is an indisputable fact that England has been suppressing France in the sea. However, this is also related to England's large number of ships and sailors, so it cannot be directly said that this kind of swimming tactics is not good. In fact, in the British-French sea battle in 1588, England also used this trick to deal with the Armada, and it was successful...

In any case, the ship of Calais and the idea of ​​hit-and-run naval warfare have indeed influenced France for hundreds of years in its original history...