Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 797 Go straight to the nest and sign the unequal treaty.

The battle at Sheerness Fort was not intense. Under the repeated bombardment of hundreds of naval guns from the Minghe Navy's mixed fleet, the defensive artillery fire on the fort had no chance to fire and was silenced.

Although Major Pierce of the British Army organized forces to deploy troops on the shore in an attempt to prevent the enemy's landing plan, under the fierce artillery fire from the gunboat, more than [-] British troops suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat to the barracks.

Then hundreds of people from the coalition forces with the Dutch army as the main force landed on the east bank and launched an attack on the remaining British troops. After resisting for less than half an hour, the British commander Pierce was hit by a stray bullet and died on the spot. The remaining more than a hundred British troops Surrender or flee, the battle, which took less than two hours in total, ended smoothly.

During the whole process, the Ming-Dutch allied forces fired more than 100 shells, killed and wounded more than 30 British soldiers, captured more than [-] people, and suffered less than [-] casualties.

After the battle, De Knight and Zheng Zhibao personally boarded the east bank, inspected the results of the battle, and urged the coalition soldiers to move five tons of gold from the underground vault to the ship.

After personally watching the soldiers empty the treasury, Zheng Zhibao greeted De Knight and returned to the "Rage" with his men to rest.

Zheng Zhibao's attitude is very clear: Daming only needs gold, and has no interest in other so-called strategic materials at all.

The location of the Sheerness Fort is very remote, far away from towns and densely populated areas. Although the sound of artillery fire can be heard far away at night, few people are disturbed, and the common people who heard the movement don't understand at all. So, even now In this situation, no one would think that the enemy could hit the mainland of Britain. Therefore, after the artillery fire quieted down, no one of the panicked residents was brave enough to come over overnight to check the situation. This delicate state was maintained like this down.

It was just dawn the next day, and the coalition fleet, which had rested overnight, continued to go up the river and headed straight for the Chatham Dock.

De Knight left ten gunboats and [-] soldiers on the river near Sheerness Fort to guard the supplies and prisoners that could not be taken away temporarily. The main gunboat still followed him and continued northward.

After sailing for half a day, the coalition fleet passed several towns along the way, but no one paid attention to the fleet on the Thames. All the British thought it was their own country's fleet, and the coalition fleet was so majestic. landed near the Chatham Dock.

The coalition fleet had a favorable wind all the way, and the gunboat did not run aground due to the headwind. After seeing the British fort near the Chatham Dock through the telescope, De Knight's heart was finally relieved: God Bless you, you should do this feat yourself. The final success of this [-]/[-] plan is just around the corner. Next, as long as you take down the fort that guards the dock, the entire British Navy base camp will become your spoils of war. This battle will make himself forever in the annals of history!

On the Southley Fort on the Thames near Chatham Dockyard, the Thames just turned a corner here, and the ships heading north on the river headed straight for the fort.

The two soldiers on duty today were chatting indifferently. The topic they were talking about was the outbreak of the Black Death (plague) not far from here in London. There was anxiety and uneasiness in their voices. The family in London is worried.

Two months ago, the Black Death, which ravaged Europe 100 years ago, made a comeback and once again invaded the British mainland. It expanded from the West End of London to the East End. In just a few days, more than 3000 people died in London. And the development momentum of the epidemic has not abated the symptoms in the slightest.

While the two were talking, a soldier glanced inadvertently, and suddenly discovered a fleet appeared on the Thames River. He was taken aback for not being notified by the officer, and then he pushed his companion, who was facing away from the river. cried out, "Charles, look!
What's happening here? !

Why didn't we receive the order to return the fleet? ? "

Charles hurriedly turned back and looked down at the river, only to see the seemingly endless gunboats following the southerly wind and coming upstream along the river, only five or six miles away from them by visual estimation.

"I feel something is wrong!

Sokya, go and report to the officer, I will use the semaphore to contact the other party! "

Sokoya immediately turned around and rushed down the watchtower, and went straight to the commander's room at the bottom of the fort. Charles picked up two small flags, one red and one yellow, from the corner beside him, straightened up and rushed towards the slowly approaching The first ship put up a semaphore.

According to the discipline of the British army, as long as there are gunboats on the river approaching the fort, they must contact the sentinel of the fort within five miles, otherwise they will be hit by the artillery fire of the fort.

Charles had just finished playing the semaphore, and the first ship of the river fleet had a faint flash of fire. Then, a loud noise shook the whole field, and a projectile flew across the sky towards the fort area, and the projectile finally hit the bottom of the fort several times. Ten meters away.

The gunboat responded to Charles' semaphore with the giant guns on the front deck. Obviously, this is not the British fleet, but the enemy.

Immediately after the sound of the cannon, the bell on the fort rang loudly. The British gunners who were resting in the shade, regardless of putting on their uniforms, rushed to their respective artillery positions like a swarm. At this time, the cannon on the river was already ringing. It became one piece, a white sail swelled to the north, the entire fleet accelerated forward, and the main guns on the front deck of each ship fired in turn, and bullets rushed towards the Sosley Fort one after another.

Although the cannon on the turret also fired back, but with the poor hit rate of the smoothbore cannon, to hit the moving battleship, one needs to focus fire, and the other needs luck. Next, the sixteen heavy artillery pieces on the fort were quickly silenced and six of them were silenced. When the coalition fleet rushed towards the fort, a more dense rain of bullets hit the fort than before. Soon they were completely dumbfounded, the corpses of the garrison soldiers were dead and wounded, and there were severed limbs and arms everywhere on the fort.

At two o'clock in the afternoon on the ninth day of July 20, Chongzhen, the Minghe naval formation silenced the defensive firepower of the Southley Fort, and the fleet went straight to the Chatham Dockyard. The 26 British warships under repair and construction or Burned or taken away, and in the battle of the Strait of Dover, the Minnesota-Dutch coalition fleet also had the upper hand in the fierce battle that lasted for half a month, destroying and injuring [-] British warships in total, and losing eleven of its own. Be the first to launch Battlegrounds.

Britain suffered a series of defeats, and the plague in London became uncontrollable. In order to prevent the whole situation from completely getting out of control, the British government had to send a mission to the Netherlands to negotiate a peace.

After nearly a month of negotiations, Ming, the Netherlands, and Britain signed the "Breda Peace Treaty." According to the peace treaty, the United Kingdom relaxed the "Navigation Regulations", gave up its rights and interests in the Dutch East Indies, and transferred the British South Suriname in the Americas was ceded to the Netherlands, and the British West Indies were ceded to the Ming Empire. The British government compensated Ming and the Netherlands with 20 pounds for war losses.

Since then, the "Breda Peace Treaty" has become a disgrace to the whole of Britain. The whole country of Britain is filled with righteous indignation and vows to wash away this national humiliation with victory in the future.

(End of this chapter)