Xinshun 1730

Chapter 1285 Death and Vengeance ([-])

John Mordaunt conceived the curtain call of the siege of Gibraltar, and put it in words, to the adjutant, asking him to forward it to the best writer in their circle, Horace Walpole.The youngest son of the former Prime Minister, the founder of Gothic novels, and one of the sharp pens of the Anti-Patriot Party after the split of the Whig Party.

British gothic romantics, like strange things: ghosts, ghosts, withered castles, the last sad descendants of the once grand family, see raging torrents, terrible cliffs, roadless forests, big Thunderstorms, sea storms, and generally useless, destructive, violent things...

This final melancholy and stormy romance would embellish the essence of the Siege of Gibraltar—the end of European expansion, the ferocity of a mobilization from afar, the melancholy and sense of doom of decline.

But John Mordaunt didn't wait for the real ending in reality, he pulled out a pistol, put it in his mouth, pulled the trigger, and ended his life.

Because he knows that reality and imagined romance are always different.

The realistic ending, if you look at it further, you will see confusion, cowardice, kneeling, surrender, etc., etc., which are far from the reality of romantic imagination.

His life was fixed at the moment when he imagined that the Dashun army fired shells at the besieged British army, and the British army would rather die than surrender.

But in fact, shortly after his death, the besieged British surrendered.

Instead of spitting at Dashun's army, they used the dirty language of the English countryside to say "eat shit, heretics."

Nor did they stick to their formation and sing "Let's Rule!"Britannia until the body was shattered by a shell.

On the contrary, after Dashun pushed the heavy artillery used for the siege to a distance of 200 steps from the British phalanx, and the engineers quickly deployed the artillery positions, the British army was completely out of the control of the officers after only one round of shelling. Flock to surrender.

Dashun's first round of bombardment directly disintegrated the British army's phalanx.

From the 6-pound regiment artillery to the 24-pound heavy artillery, solid bullets can go from penetrating three people to smashing through the phalanx, stringing out the most terrifying bright red candied haws.

From the exploding shells of the portable magic-changed tiger squatting guns to the incendiary grenades mixed with oil and rubber thrown into the crowd, the dense formation became a living target for testing.

After the 1980 soldiers who could still form the phalanx were swept away by the first round of shelling, only 1500 remained.Those who died or were seriously injured all looked horrible.

The disintegration of the phalanx was instantaneous. Even though the officers were still shouting for the glory of Britain, these soldiers jumped out of the phalanx in panic when they saw their comrades covered in fire and their partners who were completely smashed by heavy artillery. Throwing down the rifle, like the Spanish soldiers in the battle of Rocroix many years ago, they knelt down at the feet of the Dashun officers, begging for their protection, not to let them be executed by the red-eyed Dashun soldiers.

After the disintegration of the phalanx, the British army in the fortress behind the isthmus also raised the white flag and chose to surrender.

The school officers were guarding John Mordaunt's body. The only condition for surrender was that Dashun could provide a huge wine barrel and about 200 catties of spirits to soak John Mordaunt's body to ensure that it would not rot. transported back to London in the case of the captain and the personal property of officers above the captain.

Dashun readily agreed to the request of the British army. After all, this is Gibraltar, not India, and the Privy Council did not issue an order to screen and shoot.

After clearing the battlefield, Li Yan took a group of officers, together with the acting commander of the French Toulon Fleet de la Crewe, to the small Gibraltar Rock Mountain.

On the stone mountain, blowing the cool breeze of the Mediterranean in November, looking at the autumn scenery in the distance, Li Yan recited two lines of nostalgic poems a little bit maliciously.

Wang Junlou sailed off to Yizhou, and Jinling Wang received sadly.

Chihiro's iron lock sank to the bottom of the river, and a piece of rock came out of it.

In the past few times in the world, Yamagata still feels cold.

Today is the home day of the Four Seas, so we build Xiaoxiaoludiqiu.

When Liu Yuxi wrote this poem, it was about the time when Baiyi Dashi landed here, conquered Andalusia and named this place "Gibraltar".

Poetry, in literal translation, is never recognizable.

The translator translated this nostalgic poem very bluntly, and De la Crewe couldn't understand it at all.

After reading the poem, Chen Qinghai said: "This place is the throat of the Mediterranean Sea, the most dangerous place of Zhenxiong Pass. In such a terrain, the Spaniards have been taken away by others for decades, which shows that the Mediterranean Sea is in decline. It is not worth such a big fight. ..."

"Duke Xingguo told me that a long time ago, the trade in the Mediterranean was prosperous, until the passage to the rich east no longer needed the Silk Road, and this place gradually declined."

"When I go here, I will cherish Yumen, Loulan. Or Hepu, Quanzhou, Yangzhou... all have this intention."

These words also aroused the feelings of the officers in Dashun.

Living in this era, they really felt the drastic changes of the times, not just the things they came into contact with such as weapons and equipment.

Instead, the decline of Guangzhou, the rise of Songsu, and the decline of Yangzhou were accompanied by changes in commercial routes. These all happened within 30 to [-] years, accompanying their growth.

The same is true of everything you see in Europe.

The glorious cities in the past began to decline, and the remote places in the hierarchy rose rapidly because of the trade routes; the land that used to be the throat is now like a chicken rib, tasteless to eat, and it is a pity to discard it.

Under this feeling, there will always be a feeling of nostalgia and sadness inexplicably.

De la Crewe couldn't understand the emotions of the officers in Dashun at this time. After all, there was still a long way to go before the era of great change in France where "the churches were turned into temples of reason, and the skylines were full of public figures".

And the scene like Rochefort, which gradually lost its commercial value due to the failure of the Seven Years War in history, and became a small town with more than [-] people from the most important port, did not appear at this time.

He couldn't understand what these Dashun officers who had witnessed the scene of Yangzhou's bustling to dry grass and ruins were feeling.

Perhaps, in fact, the officers of Dashun didn't know what they were sighing about. They probably felt some sighs when they saw the changes in the world.

De la Crewe didn't feel nostalgic for the past, so he first congratulated the officers of Dashun for capturing Gibraltar, and then talked about some differences between China and France.

Just like this time, the alliances of Sweden, Russia, Austria, and France have their own ideas and purposes.

"Your Highness, your country has already captured Gibraltar, and the entire Mediterranean Sea is completely under the control of the two countries. I wonder if Your Highness is going to Paris? My master will prepare a grand welcome ceremony for His Highness, and at the same time The Duke of Choiseul will discuss further cooperation between the two countries."

Li Yan smiled, and patiently explained some rules of Dashun to De la Crewe.

He is the leader of the army, and he has the awkward identity of "Catholic" added by his mother when he was a child, and he still holds the main force of Dashun's fleet.

Therefore, he will never go to Paris.

The ghost knows if there will be people beeping blindly at the banquet, some cultural barriers between the two countries, and some shitty things will come out, it will be all troubles after returning.

This is a very valid reason.

But in fact, the root cause is that Li Yan didn't want to talk about it, and he couldn't understand it.

People from the Stuart family knew Dashun, and Liu Yu "sent" a boat to this reactionary family.

But the relationship between the little usurper raised by France and France is not very good.

The messy things here, such as mixing in European coups and restorations, could be done when Liu Yu was visiting, but he had better not get involved now that he is holding the army.

Another one is that Dashun doesn't care, doesn't care, and has no interest in things like the restoration of Catholicism and the landing of Scotland.

In fact, when the French Mauritius fleet requested to berth in Ceylon for supplies and repair ships in Temasek, Dashun actually showed its attitude when it was rejected by Dashun.

We each take what we need.

Gibraltar can fight, the Caribbean can help you fight, and North America can help you fight.Landing in Scotland?Then forget it.

France's finances are almost unsustainable.

But Dashun could hold on, and had absolutely no interest in ending the war quickly.

For Dashun, the current situation is not a small blessing, but a great blessing.

Even the fucking ships engaged in the slave triangle trade in West Africa have to pay protection fees to Dashun. If there is no war in Europe, how can such a good thing happen?
Originally, the Mediterranean trade and the Caribbean trade, which Dashun could not intervene at all, have flourished even more.

Of course, this cannot be said too bluntly. Dashun knows very well that the French side is in a hurry because of financial difficulties, and the initiative is in Dashun's hands.

No money?There is no money to borrow, just take things as collateral.

Don't want to borrow money, but want to end the war quickly?Then you can do whatever you want, combine the fleets of Toulon and Brest, and land in Scotland by yourself. The Dashun Navy will not participate, and you won’t be able to fight anyway.

The court of Dashun may not pay for the loan here, but Dashun's commercial capital is still willing to pay the money, as long as France provides suitable collateral.

After denying his proposal to go to Paris, Li Yan once again reiterated Dashun's strategic attitude.

"I'm just a general who leads the army. The premise that I will not accept the orders of the emperor is the change of the battlefield situation. But in terms of strategy, I am a general who does not serve in the Privy Council. I have no right to decide the strategy."

"The emperor ordered that after the capture of Gibraltar, he should counterattack in the Caribbean and North America, or help Spain capture Porto and destroy the trading post of British merchants in Iberia."

"The Privy Council also does not believe that it is the right choice to venture across the Channel and land in Scotland."

Li Yan pointed to the British captives at the foot of the mountain, and said: "The war in Gibraltar has just ended, and our engineers need to be repaired, and we need to wait until next year for replenishment."

"And these British prisoners, we also need to send them back to the UK."

"Fear needs to be told by people who have witnessed it before it can spread. I need to let the British know what kind of enemy they are fighting. Do you think that I bombarded their phalanx with heavy artillery and incendiary grenades just to defeat them? ?”

"You have to know that the Celestial Dynasty does not have any crown and claim of Europe, and it also prohibits the disputes of Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Calvinism as equals."

"You should learn to be an alliance and cooperate, just like you organized a sacrilege alliance, looking for common interests between the two countries, instead of treating us as mercenaries... Besides, you don't pay for it."

(End of this chapter)