The Rise of the European Emperor

The reason why Marin recruited sailors on a large scale in England is really helpless. At this time, the North Sea Kingdom actually had tens of thousands of sailors, 90 merchant ships and 30 warships serving the North Sea Shipping.

However, the real sailors are only about 5,400 people on 30 warships. The others are all armed merchant ships, and the sailors on them usually run commercial shipping and do not have much training. The real fight still depends on the 5400 sailors who often conduct combat training.

But shipping is also so important, it is the economic lifeline of the North Sea country. Therefore, it is impossible for Marin to stop the operation of the merchant ships and engage in combat training every day.

If all those merchant ships happened to be shipping goods by sea, in the event of a war, Marin could really count on only those 30 warships. Just like this time, because 10 warships went to the Far East, Marin could only rely on 20 warships and 20 or 30 armed merchant ships at home.

Therefore, Marin made up his mind this time to double the fleet to 60 ships in order to completely ensure the safety of the sea.

But the problem is that there are too few fishermen in the German region, and there are less than 100,000 Frisians in total. Including the non-Friesian Germans who were fishing, there were about 100,000 fishermen. The extraction of tens of thousands of young men as sailors has already affected the fishing industry of Beihai Kingdom. So, Marin can no longer draft fishermen among the Frisian fishermen. Otherwise, there would be no strong men to drive fishing boats. And women can't do the heavy work of raising and lowering sails on boats. Therefore, if you want to expand the naval power, you can only think of other ways.

And the English people just happen to be ideal recruits...

Perhaps, it was not very wise to recruit infantry in England. After all, the English were not too aggressive on land. However, the English are a race that is good at running the sea. They are not very prominent on land, but on the sea they are like dragons entering the sea, and they become cattle.

Just like the Anglo-French conflict, since the French used artillery to break the advantage of the English longbowmen, the English couldn't beat the French on land. However, at sea, England was like a god, always beating the French to the ground.

Moreover, England is always rainy and rainy all year round, and the English are also very adapted to the humid climate at sea. Even the English peasants with poor water adapted to life at sea much faster than the German peasants. In this regard, there are relevant records in the American colonies of Marin.

In the American colonies, most of the tens of thousands of English victims who immigrated to the past were farmers. But later, seeing that fishing in the Newfoundland fishing grounds yielded a lot, and that they could eat fish every day to support themselves, many English farmers changed their careers one after another with the support of the colonial authorities, and they adapted quickly.

Now, the fishermen who fish in the Newfoundland fishing grounds are already the majority of the English.

It is because of this performance that

Only then did Marin make up his mind to choose some of the 200,000 to 300,000 peasants who lost their land in England to be sailors.

However, I didn't find an excuse to recruit soldiers before. After all, recruiting soldiers is a big deal, and it is difficult to get permission. Therefore, Marin can only "curve the country to save the country" and use the method of lending money to buy fishing boats, first dragging those peasants who lost land in England into the water, and then thinking of recruiting them into the army... But now through the conflict with the Portuguese, Marin has An excuse to recruit sailors in an open and aboveboard way. This excuse, even Edward could not openly object to it. Why, people guard the country's maritime security, but you also want to stop it?

It is said to recruit 5,000 people, but in fact, Marin will recruit about 5,400 people, which is just enough to control 30 warships. In this way, the total number of 500-ton warships of Beihai Kingdom will reach 60. Coupled with sufficient gunpowder to be able to fire at will, this kind of strength can definitely surpass Europe.

Marin pondered, when the matter of France is settled, will he pull the fleet over to abuse the Portuguese, and then grab the benefits from them?

However, if you beat the Portuguese too hard, it seems that the Spaniards will be cheaper...

Obviously, if Marin crippled Portugal, Spain would definitely take the opportunity to fall into the trap, and perhaps annex Portugal. At the very least, would annex Portuguese interests in India. And this is not what Marin likes to see.

If Spain completely monopolized the huge profits of the spice trade in India, then the benefits for Spain would be no less than the benefits when it monopolized the Americas in the original history.

But the problem is, in this time and space, there is no one Charles V to squander the gold and silver that Spain earned. In the original history, most of the money Spain earned from the Americas was used by Charles V to engage in European hegemony, and it did not gain much benefit by itself.

But because Marin saved Juan III, Spain in this time and space does not need to throw money into the bottomless pit of Continental Hegemony. By then, Spain will be extremely wealthy.

Although Spain also participated in the Italian hegemony, the Italian hegemony was not as pitiful as that of Charles V against the alliance of French, Turkish and German princes at the same time, and the cost would be much less.

Without the bottomless pit of European hegemony to throw money at, Spain may continue to strengthen its navy and make it a force that can threaten the colonies of the North Sea.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Marin felt that Portugal could not be abolished, so as not to cheap Spain. Therefore, the best option is that when a naval battle breaks out between the two countries in the future, on the premise of ensuring victory, the fleet will deliberately release some water and let Portugal a horse so that it can retain its vitality and resist the erosion of Spain.

But it's too early to say that, because Marin is not that strong yet...

...

Meanwhile, in the far east, a sea battle is about to break out. Dagama and the main force of his fleet have returned to Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island at this time, and repaired here. Then, Dagama was ready to switch to the Zhoushan Islands a little north of Daming, and planned to find an island there as a base to invade the most prosperous coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in Daming...

After returning from Freshwater City, Dagama began to prepare to return to Hong Kong Island immediately for repair. However, after Hu Jian caught a destitute scholar along the coast, after hearing the introduction of this person, Da Jiama changed his decision and first took the fleet north to the Zhoushan Islands.

Of course, the three injured warships went back to the temporary base in Deep Water Bay on Hong Kong Island for repairs. Subsequently, the three damaged ships, after simple repairs, will go back to the port of Malacca for a complete overhaul. There, the Portuguese established a large-scale ship repair factory.

During an accidental operation along the coast of Hu Jian, Dagama caught a down-and-out scholar named Hong Hengjiu. This person is very uncharacteristic. After being threatened by the Portuguese, he did not think of the tricks that Sun Juren could use to get away with it. Instead, he simply cooperated with the Portuguese and betrayed the interests of Daming.

Under the guidance of Hong Hengjiu, Dagama's fleet went directly north to the Zhoushan Islands and conducted a survey.

At this time, due to the sea ban policy in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhoushan Islands only had tens of thousands of residents and one Changding Haiwei. Except for a few islands near the main island of Zhoushan Island, the other islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago are basically in a semi-abandoned state with no one assigned to manage them. On those islands, there are only one or two small illegal fishing villages, inhabited by some fishermen who fish secretly.

After Dagama's fleet arrived on the main island of Zhoushan Island, it was strongly resisted by Dinghaiwei, who failed to capture the local city. Afterwards, his fleet conducted a survey in the Zhoushan Islands and found that most of the islands other than the main island of Zhoushan Island were in an undefended state and were very suitable for setting up bases.

And, most importantly, it is very close to the Suzhou-Hangzhou area that Hong Hengjiu said is rich in silk. As long as you have a firm foothold here, you can push Suzhou and Hangzhou at any time. Even if this area cannot be conquered, it can greatly deter the Ming Dynasty. Because, the shameless Hong Hengjiu said that the area of ​​Suzhou and Hangzhou is the important area of ​​finance and taxation of the Ming Dynasty, and it belongs to the core area. As long as this place is won, the core interests of the Ming Kingdom will be touched. At that time, they can't help but compromise...

After making a plan, Dagama led the fleet back to Hong Kong Island. Hong Hengjiu, who was already in a state of despair, followed Dagama directly with the boat. Anyway, he was determined to sell the Ming Dynasty...

The reason why Dagama wants to return to the temporary base on Hong Kong Island is because a lot of stolen goods are piled up here. Since the base has been transferred, these stolen goods will naturally be taken away together.

However, he did not expect that it was this stay on Hong Kong Island that caused the Portuguese fleet to suffer a disaster...