monarch

On October 1557, 10, Spain presented an ultimatum to Portugal, requiring Portugal to follow the last wish of King João III, to make King Philip II the regent of Portugal, and to honor Prince Don Carlos as the heir to the Portuguese throne, while expulsing the United Kingdom. Queen Elizabeth, the man-made disaster.In addition, Portugal has to publicly apologize for the damage to the reputation of the Kingdom of Spain and pay the pension of the Spanish ambassador who was unfortunately killed in the coup.

Such a mournful Medton letter with no room for compromise was undoubtedly rejected by the Kingdom of Portugal.In fact, the document was drafted for the Portuguese to reject.When news of Portugal's refusal came, the Kingdom of Spain immediately declared war on Portugal.

Spain's huge war machine began to creak and creak. Although the Duke of Alva felt that Portugal was a tasteless chicken rib, but the matter had come to this point, he could only try his best to make the pace of the war faster.The troops and supplies originally used to invade England were put on the battlefield of the Portuguese Succession War. The Duke of Alva was determined to use this war as a test to find the flaws and deficiencies in the war machine he had personally built.

Before the outbreak of the war, Spain had already begun to lay blockades outside the major ports of Portugal, and after the war began, the number of warships used to perform this task had reached 150.Although this number is large, considering that Portugal has a coastline stretching hundreds of miles from north to south, with ports and fishing villages dotted along the way, it is still very stretched to block this sea area with 150 warships.

Fortunately for Spain, the Portuguese fleet is now completely paralyzed.Years of political struggles and the reduction of funding to the minimum have caused this fleet, which was once famous in both the Eastern and Western worlds, to completely decline.Today, the warships of the Portuguese Navy are in disrepair, and the hearts of the crew are floating. When the news of the war with Spain came, almost half of the sailors fled their posts within three days, and those officers who were dissatisfied with the new regime in Lisbon also rushed Hanging the crown and leaving, Portugal's coastline is now defenseless, which also allows the Spaniards to temporarily blockade various major ports.

As an important port in northern Portugal, Porto is one of the key nodes in the Spanish maritime blockade.Count Don Asania led a fleet of twenty warships to block the mouth of the Douro River, cutting off the city's access to the open sea.

In the early morning of October 28, bells rang continuously over the Spanish fleet moored outside the mouth of the river.In the mist that enveloped the fleet in the morning, bells mingled with prayers, making the entire fleet sound more than twice as large as it actually was.The young sailors sang hymns with their young voices, the priests recited prayers at the bow, and a new day began again.

Count Don Azania received communion from the priest presiding over the morning prayers, and made the sign of the cross on his breast.The birth sun had just torn through the dissipating mist, illuminating the fleet above the sea and the lush hills of the shoreline.Autumn has already painted the jungle with a layer of dazzling gold, and under the sunshine, golden ripples are rippling with the wind.

The fleet is having breakfast, and at the bow and stern, the sailors on board are queuing up to go to the toilet. Some sailors who can't wait have rushed to the bottom store to deal with it first, where the excrement left by humans and the occasional livestock carried Mixed with the stagnant water in the bilge, it formed what people at the time called "the breath of hell and the smell of demons".This stench spread throughout the ship, and only on the uppermost deck, where there was enough sea breeze, could people temporarily forget about this disgusting smell.

Soldiers' breakfast was flour with chickpeas, olive oil, garlic and onions, while officers were given extra meat, cheese and sardines.Since the fleet is operating near the coastline at the moment, the food they obtain is generally fresher, unlike their colleagues who sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, relying on 100-year-old dried meat and moldy bread to survive.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the navigators on night duty on each warship handed over the command of the battleship to the navigator on early duty.This is a sunny autumn day, although the weather has cooled down, but as long as you stay in the sun, you will feel warm.The sea is calm and the waves are calm. If there is no accident, the Spaniards will once again usher in a leisurely and peaceful day.

"This is not a war at all." Count Don Asania chatted with the captain standing beside him while drinking hot rum to dispel the cold, "Those Portuguese warships have rotted into a pile Wooden scum, even if we don't stop them from leaving the port, the waves in the open sea will make them fall apart."

"Madrid is worried about the Britons." The captain put his cup on the side of the ship, looking at the horizon in the distance. "It seems that the Portuguese gave Brazil to the British king in exchange for his support."

"Then I think their hopes are about to fail." Count Don Asania drank another sip of rum, and he breathed out contentedly, "The Britons will only take Brazil into their pockets with satisfaction." Among them, as for the so-called aid... as long as there is a slight delay, the recipient of the aid will no longer exist, and then naturally, everything will be over."

"The Britons must at least give them something." The captain said with some disbelief, "otherwise their credibility will be wiped out."

"Maybe." Count Don Asania shrugged his shoulders, "but Portugal has so many ports, who knows where they will go? I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for the British until the end of the war...It is said that Madrid plans to Crush the Portuguese resistance before Christmas, the Duke of Alva is already in command, and I have nothing to worry about with him."

"In any case, we will be at war with the British," replied the captain. "Although the plan to invade Britain has been postponed for a year, it seems to me that the plan will continue. With so many resources, it’s too late to give up halfway.”

"Yes, yes, there is no way to change my mind now, so I can only walk on with my head covered." Speaking of this issue, Count Don Asania's mood became a lot lower, "I don't doubt The talent of the Duke of Alva, but this plan is really risky... I know this may be our only way out now, but what if we lose? We are fighting them off the coast of Britain. If we lose, then It is estimated that not many of the fleet will return to Spain..."

"It will be a disaster." The captain's voice also darkened, "All our enemies will emerge from the earth like poisonous snakes that end their hibernation when spring comes, Dutch, Turks, French People, as well as those Protestants in Germany, these poisonous snakes will spit out blood-red letters and drive us into a corner... It will be an unimaginably huge crisis. If that kind of thing really happens, I will Just praying to God that I die before then."

Count Don Asania sighed, and seemed to be about to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from the lookout on the masthead.

"There is a fleet approaching due north!"

Count Don Asania made a big jump and accidentally dropped the wine glass in his hand into the sea.

"It's so unlucky?" he muttered to himself.

The ship bells on all the battleships rang like crazy, and the crew and gunners on the ship left the half-eaten breakfast where they were, and rushed to their posts.The heavy iron anchor was pulled up from the silt on the bottom of the sea, causing a few cloud-like stains to fill the clear water.

On the horizon in the distance, the ocean and the sky are covered with a layer of light gold gilded by the sun, as if they are fused together.From the watery antenna that only the most keen-eyed sailor could discern, there emerged a few tiny black dots.

The dots slowly grew larger, one became two, and two became four.After about half an hour, the outlines of the warships could be discerned using a telescope, and on the top of the masts of those warships, England's St. George's red cross flag with a white background was flying.

It became very clear that this was the fleet sent by King Edward to transport aid to Portugal, and the destination they chose was the port of Porto.

On the poop of the British flagship, the commander of the fleet, Sir John Hawkins, also observed the opposite Spanish blockade through a telescope. This gadget invented by the Italians has been improved by the Dutch and has now become a naval officer. A must-have accessory for them.

"Eighteen...nineteen...twenty." Sir Hawkins excitedly counted the Spanish warships opposite, "Excellent, exactly twenty."

"Nineteen ships versus twenty ships." The captain next to him was also quite excited, "Basically, we are evenly matched."

"We don't want to defeat them, we just need to hold them back and let the merchant ships enter the port." Sir Hawkins took the binoculars from his eyes and turned to look at the forty merchant ships following the fleet. It is full of arms and supplies requested by the Duke of Braganza.

According to the practice at the time, warships in the fleet usually also served as cargo ships. Spain often used warships to transport supplies and soldiers, and the boundary between warships and merchant ships was not clear. Many merchant ships were equipped with some artillery. Once on the navy flag, it becomes a battleship of the royal family.

The British Navy has now divided all such merchant ships into the auxiliary fleet, and the warships in the fleet are all warships specially designed for naval warfare. Since they do not need to carry supplies, the hull can be designed to be more slender, no matter in terms of speed or flexibility. Both have huge advantages.Coupled with the addition of Britain's advanced cannon casting technology, the firepower of this fleet is far superior to their Spanish counterparts.

"Take full sail and sail south-west," ordered Sir John Hawkins, "and we will entangle the Spaniards and let the merchant ships come into port."

The fleets of the two sides moved towards each other, and the distance quickly narrowed.But if there are bystanders watching from the side at this moment, they will definitely feel that the British fleet occupying the windward direction is like a group of orcas riding the waves, while the Spaniards on the opposite side, who unfortunately can only sail against the wind, are at best a group of cumbersome seals.No one should confuse the roles of hunter and hunted.

"They are playing semaphore!" The captain looked at the signal from the opposite Spanish flagship through the binoculars, "British battleship... You have entered the Spanish Navy... blockade area, please leave immediately... Otherwise, we will take decisive measures."

"Leave them alone!" Sir Hawkins laughed. The tension before the battle made him as excited as if he was drunk. "We will continue to advance at full speed."

The Spanish battleship fired two shots as a warning, and the shells fell within a chain of the leading British flagship, splashing two white water jets in the sea.

This was the signal that the British fleet had been waiting for. Sir Hawkins swung his hand to the left, and the entire fleet turned to the left as if directed by his arms, heading towards the coast, leaving white streaks on the sea. arc.

The British fleet blocked the Spaniards' advance, using themselves to separate the Spaniards from the merchant ships sailing towards the mouth of the river.

The Spaniards had already fired the first shots, though only warning shots, but enough as an excuse to open fire.Flames and thick smoke spewed out from the countless black hole muzzles on the side of the British battleship, and the acrid smoke enveloped every British battleship, as if they had all been hit.

Countless cast iron shells screamed across the sky, ripping apart the planks of Spanish warships like tearing white paper. The evil consequences of using timber that has not passed the age of trees to build ships are now finally revealed.Sawdust flew through the cabins of the Spanish frigate, piercing the bodies of the unlucky crew members, causing horrific screams.

The Spanish warships also began to fight back. They twisted their bodies awkwardly so that their side cannons could be aimed. He is good at using the soldiers on board to engage in boarding battles with the opponent.However, since this operation was only a blockade operation, the Spanish warships did not carry soldiers from the army, so this fleet, which was superior in number, was always at a disadvantage from the beginning of the battle.

Several Spanish warships that were hit by concentrated firepower have become more clumsy than before. Obviously, a lot of water has accumulated in their bottom warehouses.Soon the three most seriously injured warships were abandoned by the crew, and the remaining warships were unwilling to fight and began to retreat towards the south.

The British warships did not pursue them fiercely. Sir Hawkins ordered people to board the three Spanish warships, searched for valuables on them, and then scuttled them.These battleships have been battered to the brim, and they are no longer worth using.

Next, the British warship anchored at the mouth of the Douro River, taking over the role of the Spaniards just now. The warships began to receive the wounded and repair the damage left in the previous battle.

"Those merchant ships have a daytime to unload their cargo." Sir Hawkins yawned. "They will use the ebb tide to leave the port at night and meet us. We will go home tonight. Wait until the Spaniards bring reinforcements tomorrow morning." When we came back, we were already tens of nautical miles away."

"This time we caught the Spaniards by surprise." The captain didn't seem to share Sir Hawkins' optimism. "They will definitely strengthen the blockade in the future. I'm afraid we won't be so lucky when we come next time."

"There will be no next time." Sir Hawkins sneered and shook his head. "When the Portuguese can't survive the next wave of aid, we don't have so much supplies to squander on these people. With the forty ships It’s not like we’re too big a lion to exchange supplies for the Brazilian colony. This is the last candy, and the rest is up to them.”

Sir Hawkins yawned again. "I'm going to sleep for a while. Let me know when lunch is served."

As he spoke, he disappeared at the head of the stairs leading to the captain's cabin.