monarch

The report of the port director was sent to Paris by a fast horse two hours later. The distance from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Paris, changing the fast horse along the road, could be sent to the Louvre the next morning. It is conceivable that such news It will cause a huge shock in the French court.

The Spanish fleet temporarily settled in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, and the French officials in the city were relieved that the British seemed to respect the neutrality of France for the time being, and did not let their fleet rush into the French port to plow the ground. , but formed a blockade outside the port.Sir Hawkins deliberately chose the largest and best warship to block the entrance of the port, so that the crew on the Spanish fleet and the people in the city could see clearly, like a dharma floating above their heads The sword of Chris is average.

At midnight the next day, the courier from Paris was sent to the city hall, and King Henry II ordered the administrative and military officials of Boulogne-sur-Mer and the province to strictly guard and maintain local security.In fact, there was no need to wait for the king's order. The governor of the province's garrison had already deployed six battalions of troops to the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, filling this small seaside town to the brim.The tragedy of Antwerp being destroyed by the Spaniards is not far behind. For these notorious Spanish soldiers, French officials are naturally very vigilant, for fear that their city will follow in the footsteps of Antwerp and other Dutch cities and become a "Spanish rampage" next victim.

However, in the Paris order, the most important issue was not clearly mentioned-whether the Spanish fleet should leave or stay. In the letter, Shangfeng only ordered local officials to "resolutely maintain a neutral position". The Spaniards had already destroyed the port when they broke into it without permission, and now it's just deception.Obviously, Paris did not make a final decision. They did not want to offend the Britons who had established the victory and were about to dominate the sea, and they did not want to offend the Spaniards who were about to marry.However, history has proved countless times that trying to sit on the wall between the two parties can only reap the common annoyance of both parties.

The Spaniards, who escaped for the time being, began to repair their ships in the port of Boulogne. The merchants in the city and nearby fishermen also rowed boats, shuttled between the warships, sold fresh sea fish and fruits and vegetables, and turned the entire fleet into It became a huge sea market, everyone was noisy from morning to night, and there was no military discipline at all.The Marquis of Santa Cruz repeatedly wanted to suppress it, but all of them were temporarily shelved because of fear of mutiny.

Five days have passed, and the envoys of the British went to the mansion of the Harbor Master to pay a visit every day, and their words became more and more severe each time, but the local government did not intend to expel the Spanish fleet. To drive away these uninvited guests, who knows if these Spaniards will jump the wall in a hurry?Fortunately, the Britons still don't seem to dare to invade the French port directly, otherwise the situation will really get out of hand.

On the night of June [-]th, the port, which had been noisy all day, finally calmed down. The soldiers of the Spanish fleet had dinner and returned to their berths to yawn. The system has long been useless, and any order from a superior officer is no more than a dead letter. Even if the British fleet withdraws from the siege, whether the Spanish fleet will be able to sail to Antwerp will still be marked with a big question mark.

The Marquis of Santa Cruz came out of Admiral Doria's cabin and returned to the deck.Admiral Doria has been bedridden since he was injured a few days ago. In the early summer weather, his wound was unsurprisingly infected, and now he even shows signs of septicemia.In this era without antibiotics, for a person who is not young, such a situation can be regarded as extremely dangerous.

The moonlight peeked out from the gap in the cloud and sprinkled on the dark sea.The Moon today is roughly a half moon, expanding inexorably towards a full moon.The heat of the day is gradually dissipating, and the sea breeze with a salty smell is blowing from outside the harbor. At the entrance of the harbor, a thin layer of mist rises, just like the tulle worn by an Islamic woman. The traces of the British fleet were covered up.

The Marquis of Santa Cruz gently leaned his body against the railing of the ship, and he felt a sudden exhaustion sweeping over his whole body. He rarely felt tired, and whenever tiredness struck, it was as if he was in the desert. Like a rare torrential rain, it will soon turn into a flood.

The rhythm of the past few days was as fast as the shuttle on the loom. The Marquis of Santa Cruz just finished his work mechanically, trying his best to let the fleet find a place to stay on the coast of France. All decisions were made so quickly. was made so that he never had time to reflect on his circumstances and the meaning of the decisions he had made.Until tonight, those thoughts that had been suppressed by his mechanical work were like the night fog on the sea today, wrapping him tightly.

Is there any way out?The marquis's mind was filled with the dying gray and black on Admiral Doria's face.The Spanish fleet had nowhere to go. They had no possibility of passing through the British blockade. They could only linger in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, letting the salty sea water corrode the wood at the bottom of the ship day by day.A fleet trapped in a port is no different from a fleet sunk at the bottom of the sea. Ships are used to conquer the sea, and keeping them in the port is just a useless display.

The Marquis of Santa Cruz felt a dull pain in the back of his brain. In the past 48 hours, he had only slept a few hours.Boundless tiredness enveloped him, making his eyelids begin to sink.

He turned his gaze to the entrance of the port again. The night fog had become as thick as milk, and it was difficult to see the traces of the British fleet.

He looked at the crew members lying on the deck in disorder. They rested their heads on gun mounts, ammunition boxes, or any protrusions that could be regarded as pillows. The clothes covered as quilts were already stained with blood. and cannon fodder stained taupe.

Seeing such a military appearance, the Marquis was rather disheartened. He sighed, walked up the stairs leading to the cabin again, and returned to his own cabin.He didn't ask his servant to change his clothes, but lay down on his bed with all his clothes on, and was sucked into a deep dreamland by the boundless tiredness not long after.

The Marquis slept very restlessly, and his mind was filled with all kinds of strange dreams. Sometimes it was the king talking to him, sometimes it was a gunner he had once met who was loading the cannon, and sometimes it was himself. wife, sitting at her dresser, putting pearl earrings on herself.Unanimously, their eyes turned into two big black holes, and blood-colored teardrops flowed out from the holes.

After an unknown amount of time, the Marquis woke up from his dream. He was awakened by the noise and explosions from outside the cabin. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his hand, enduring the nausea from his throat. , sat up on the bed.

He pressed his temples, trying to distinguish whether he was in reality or deep in a dream, until the vibration from under him after an explosion convinced him that it was the former.

It was as if an ominous premonition gripped the Marquis' heart, and he squeezed it hard a few times.He jumped up from the bed and hurried out the door, smelling a pungent smell of smoke as soon as he entered the corridor.The corridors were dimly lit and filled with panicked crew members, running mindlessly from cabin to cabin like ants scurrying about when an ant nest is being flooded.

The Marquis forcefully pushed away the obstacles blocking the way, and followed the direction in his memory to the cabin of Admiral Doreia. He opened the door, but there was no one in the room, and an oil lamp that was about to burn out was lit on the table. It turned blood red, like the color of the sun about to set.

He walked to the bed, bent down, and breathed Admiral Doria's breath.

The general has died.

The Marquis jumped back in horror until his back was against the wall.

He supported the wall with his hands, as if he was afraid of the corpse on the bed, and slowly moved out of the room, breathing in the air full of smoke, until he was interrupted by a piercing cough.

The Marquis slowly ascended the stairs leading to the upper deck. The exit at the end of the stairs was shrouded in bright firelight, and it looked like day had fallen again.

The same choking smoke filled the deck, even more pungent than below deck, and the sailors ran hurriedly on the deck, bailing water from the sea to extinguish the flames on the deck.The fire on the ship where the Marquis was on had been basically extinguished, but the remaining black on the deck indicated that it had been licked relentlessly by the flames.

But for the rest of the warships, their situation is not as lucky as the flagship. Many warships have been burned to a collapsing empty frame, and the towering masts are burning like torches. It was burned into a ball of black charcoal before it broke.Most of the warships that were lucky enough to extinguish the fire also lost their sails and cables, and the black hull that had just been scorched was still emitting smoke and white gas.

Among the densely packed Spanish warships, several English fireships were throwing ignited stone bombs with trebuchets at the Spanish warships on both sides. Turn the entire ship into a huge sea of ​​flames and rush towards the nearest Spanish warship.But they jumped into the sea and swam towards the shore. Naturally, the French soldiers on the shore would not embarrass them, but temporarily detained them in a good manner, and believed that they would be sent back to Britain soon.

Those Spanish warships that hadn't been ignited quickly cut off the anchor cable and tried to escape in a panic. Many warships collided together in a mess, and the icy seawater immediately poured into the cabin, immobilizing the warship, and the crew had to abandon the ship and escape. .By the light of the fire, the Marquis noticed that the beach, which was crowded with tourists during the day, was now full of escaped Spanish sailors, who were breathing on their backs on the beach, while the French in the city were watching from the balcony of their rooms Watching this good show dumbfounded.If the Spanish Empire still retained any dignity before, then at least from this moment on, these so-called dignity and honors have disappeared like a punctured bubble.

The Marquis turned around dejectedly, and he saw the captain, whose face had been smoked into a hearth color, walking towards him across the deck.

"Do you have any orders, Your Excellency?" The captain's voice was hoarse, and it was hard to say whether it was due to emotion or smoked by fireworks.

"Go to the shore by boat and tell those French officials." The Marquis coughed a few times, "The Britons are violating France's neutrality. Their warships have invaded French ports. France must fulfill her obligations as a neutral country. This shameless act It must stop immediately!"

"I am the captain of this ship, and I cannot leave her at this time." Facing the order of the acting chief, the captain uncharacteristically refused, "My post is here, and your post is on the shore. They will listen to me, but they may be persuaded by you... The boat has been launched, please go ashore!"

The Marquis of Santa Cruz nodded, and he went down the rope ladder to the boat without saying a word, unwilling to look back at the expressions of the sailors on board, he felt extremely ashamed of his behavior of leaving at this time, but his He knew in his heart that this was his only chance to save what was left of the fleet.

There was another violent explosion at the entrance of the port. The Marquis looked in the direction of the explosion. A large group of British warships the size of a hill tore through the night fog and appeared on the stage of the war.The leading ship was the "Britannia", which was called the "Giant Whale of the North Sea" by Spanish sailors. At this moment, all their cannons spewed deadly fireworks, turning the whole ship into a giant floating on the sea. chandelier.

How bold the Britons are!The Marquis felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave. Such a fierce offensive was obviously destined to destroy the dynasty and eradicate the Spanish fleet.Will this determination be changed by the feeble protests and false neutrality of the French?

"Hurry up, hurry up!" He patted the shoulder of the sailor who was rowing irritably.

The boat approached the pier, and the Marquis of Santa Cruz saw the figures of the city's dignitaries crowded on the pier. Those Frenchmen put their cloaks on their pajamas and wore slippers, watching the hell host in confusion and fear. fireworks show.

Under the gaze of countless curious and mocking eyes, the Marquis of Santa Cruz's boat docked at the pier, and he jumped onto it without anyone's support.

"Mr. Mayor!" He walked up to the nearest bald fat man, his voice became a little shrill because of excitement, "Isn't your country a neutral country, isn't this a neutral country's port? Why can the Britons be in the port of France?" Is it like entering the land of no one?"

Although the mayor is usually a kind-hearted fat man, he couldn't help but frowned at the sharp tone of the Spanish commander at this moment, "If you want to talk about violating neutrality, it is your fleet that first violated our country's right to neutrality. You just brought it in."

The Marquis of Santa Cruz realized that he had lost his composure, and he calmed down his tone, "But we are in your port now, and we are guests of France...Does France want to let the robbers stay in their living room? Kill your own guests?"

"I am very sympathetic to your current plight." Seeing that the Marquis was no longer so aggressive, the mayor put on his usual smiling mask again, "But what do you expect us to do? There are no warships in this port, The nearest French fleet is at Le Havre, with less than twenty ships of war, what is that enough? I loathe these islanders as much as you do, and my father died there when King Henry VIII besieged the city During the siege battle! Although I don't want to admit it, I can only say that we have no ability to drive the Britons out of the port."

"You still have a fort..."

"There are only twenty guns in total, and they are made of rammed earth. A single salvo from the largest British warship will collapse it." The mayor refused to budge. "I don't want to anger the Britons. , then our little garrison force can't stop them, and I don't want my city to end up like Antwerp!" He finally stabbed the Marquis intentionally or unintentionally.

"Are you telling me that France is going to sit back and watch her centuries-old enemies violate her neutrality and trample her dignity underfoot?" the Marquis of Santa Cruz couldn't help becoming agitated. At this moment, King Henry II will choose to stand by and let people all over Europe think that France is an insignificant country?"

"I don't know anything about European history, and I don't know what people in other countries think." The smile on the mayor's face froze, "I only know that the order I received is never to shoot the first shot at any party. Now please Go back, your fleet needs you like a dying patient needs a confessor."

As if confirming the mayor's words, there was another explosion in the harbor that broke the Marquis of Santa Cruz's liver and gallbladder.

A British fireship, using its last momentum, collided with the Marquis's flagship "The Cid", which immediately burned like a funeral pyre, and the powder kegs on board burst into flames from time to time. Explodes, throwing splinters and corpses into the air like tennis balls.

The Marquis felt his legs go limp, and before he could react, he was already slumped on the wet wooden planks of the jetty trestle.

"False of falsehood, everything is false." The mayor looked fascinatedly at the flames that burned the sky red. This is the cremation ceremony of the Spanish Empire.He kept repeating this sentence in the "Old Testament" in his mouth. 1000 years ago, at the triumphal ceremony held in Constantinople for the triumphant Belisarius, the captive Vandal King Gehry Moore, the same words are chanting in his mouth.