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Chapter 1567 The Appeal of the English Navy
"fire!"

Tropp ordered that several Dutch warships unreconciledly fired a round of empty artillery in the direction of the Armada, and then lifted anchor to leave the waterway blocking Downs.

Under the forced mediation of the Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet, Tropp finally gave up the idea of ​​​​annihilating the Armada at Downs anchorage, chose to compromise, and temporarily let go of this excellent opportunity to annihilate the Armada.

"My lord, if you delay the plane like this, you will be suspected by Congress when you return to China." The adjutant said to Tropp.

"Even if the consul personally blames me, it won't be worth it. This is the current situation. If I take the risk of attacking the Armada, it will only cause heavy losses to our fleet. After all, this is the territorial waters of the English. Damn, the English You are playing with fire, relying on the fleets of other countries to maintain your own country’s territorial waters, and maybe one day in the future, you will play with fire and burn yourself.” Tropp’s face was always gloomy, and he was brooding about the opportunity to lose the annihilated Spanish Armada.

But what can I do?The navy of the Netherlands has grown from scratch, and now it has the momentum to surpass the Spanish Empire, the hegemony of sea power, but it does not mean that the sea coachman can deal with the three fleets of the Spanish Armada, the Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet at the same time.

After the Netherlands fleet left this sea area, Sir Pennington sent a naval officer to inform Ocundo of the Armada: "The Netherlands fleet lifted the blockade of Downs anchorage according to the agreement, and you should abide by the agreement." , immediately leave Downs anchorage and return to mainland Spain."

"We have to make sure that the Dutch are not out there trying to ambush us."

The cunning Spanish veteran was extremely cautious. Before he ensured that he was in an absolutely safe situation, he just stayed at the anchorage in England with the cheek not to leave.

Immediately, he sent two small boats out for reconnaissance, and followed the Dutch battleship far away. After confirming that the Dutch fleet had left, Oquendo led the Armada out of Downs.

"These Spaniards used the "Madrid Treaty" to avoid being annihilated by the Netherlands. The Netherlands has begun to rise, and they may become a huge naval force in the future." Sir Pennington looked The Armada left, feeling uncomfortable.

In the past, the Netherlands was only a part of Spain, and after it broke away, it developed even better than England. This made the English represented by Pennington feel jealous.

Pennington and the others don't understand the situation in China, so they can't talk about jealousy, but they can clearly see the development of the Netherlands in the English Channel.

The Fourth Fleet came to rescue the siege, and the sea battle that was supposed to break out ended before it even started. The civilians watching the excitement on the coast were quite disappointed, and did not see the fierce sea battle as imagined.The Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet returned to Portsmouth together after the Netherlands Fleet and the Spanish Fleet left.

In this way, a territorial sea sovereignty issue was resolved.

However, Sir Pennington seemed to have been greatly stimulated by this territorial sea crisis. After returning to Portsmouth, he soon got up and went to the City of London to propose to Parliament a proposal to strengthen the navy.

"This time the Spanish Armada broke into our navy's anchorage, and our navy only had more than 20 large and small ships, unable to maintain the safety of our territorial waters. In the end, our navy still had to rely on the strength of the Eastern Fleet to send the two ships trying to fight in Downs. It is true that the navy cannot decide the outcome of the battlefield, but a strong navy can guard the English Channel and make us invincible. The East is already the territory of the great Eastern rulers, and we Can reach the West Indies and New England with the Navy."

Sir Pennington put forward a proposal to vigorously build the Royal Navy of England in front of hundreds of members of the House of Lords and House of Commons.In the past, the Royal Navy generally asked for an increase in the salaries of naval officers and soldiers, but this time it was the Navy that mainly asked to improve its own strength.

The incident at the anchorage in Downs had a huge impact on the British Royal Fleet, which always felt good about itself. They could not imagine that the Netherlands could easily mobilize hundreds of warships and armed merchant ships to participate in the war.England mobilized only more than 20 ships.

"King Charles has invested £80 in the Royal Navy, isn't that enough?" asked the MP in the House of Commons.

"It is true that King Charles attached great importance to the construction of the army, and worked hard to raise a huge sum of 80 pounds for our navy, and even built a giant like the King of the Seas. But at that time, the officials were greedy, and various contractors profited from it , 80 pounds have not been invested in our navy. Secondly, even if all 80 pounds are invested in the construction of our navy, it is a drop in the bucket. The construction of the navy is not only to build ships, but also to hire sailors, shipwrights, train officers, and build docks. Set up a permanent body to manage and a logistical body to supply. Parliament needs to give us another £100m and more money for our navy every year. I think in 80 years England should have 60 warships, mostly 80 to A two-decker of eighty guns," said Sir Pennington.

Members of Parliament looked at each other in blank dismay when they heard the navy asking for a huge military expenditure of 100 million pounds.

In order to raise 80 pounds for the navy, Charles I did not hesitate to increase the ship tax throughout the country.After the establishment of the new Congress, in order to appease the public's dissatisfaction with the era of Charles I, the new Congress abolished the ship tax, national protection tax and other taxes levied by Charles I.

Where is the money going now to satisfy the Admiralty's request?Is it necessary to restore the ship tax imposed by Charles I?Wouldn't that prove that Charles I's approach was correct?

"At present, England has just recovered from the civil war, and our finances are tight. I am afraid it will be difficult to spend 100 million pounds to build a navy. And the civil war tells us that it is equally important to establish a standing army." The MPs were very embarrassed.

It's not that they don't want to expand the army to maintain England's sovereignty, but that building the navy and army at the same time is too expensive.Especially in the navy, a two-deck warship costs more than 10000 pounds, and a three-deck giant like the King of the Seas costs more than 40000 pounds!

"But don't the Spaniards and the Netherlands ignore us? Even France, which has always looked down upon the navy, has begun to rise under the leadership of Cardinal Richelieu. According to the report of our ambassador in France, this year Louis XIII spent 300 million livres on the construction of the French fleet!" Pennington came up with an astonishing statistic.

The parliamentarians were also shocked by the generous spending of the King of France. This is only one year's funding. It seems that France also has the determination to fight for ocean hegemony.

Members of Parliament discussed in private: "The Royal Navy is loyal to the king. When Queen Sophia comes back, we will ask her about proposals to strengthen the navy."

(End of this chapter)