I Am Louis XIV

   Chapter 528 Palermo (Part 2)

Alberto was picked up by Milady, and after a bunch of rude sailors rushed over where they were shouting, Alberto felt that he was floating first, then flying, he went over the side of the ship and faced the deep blue The nearly black sea water - it approached the boy's face as if it were falling, then stopped abruptly, and caught him firmly with both hands.

He was put on a small boat, which Alberto recognized at a glance was originally a boat hanging from the Sultan's boat, painted vermilion and gilded with gold, to greet guests at sea and to carry goods at the dock So, two men dressed as Ottoman sailors sat on it, one grabbed him behind him, and when he heard a shout, he saw one of the sailors hit the oars directly on the hull of the big ship, and they flew away. As if rushed out.

This small boat is unreasonable. Alberto is the son of a nobleman in northern Sicily. The southern part of Sicily is mainly agricultural, rich in wheat, olives, wine and citrus, and the northern part is mainly fishery and commerce. Of course, even if he is a Brazilian The youngest son of the Lemo family also got on the boat. He pulled his soul back into his body, and he was used to and skillfully estimated their current speed—a boat with only oars and two oarsmen. Chopping through the waves, he actually had a more amazing speed than the sloop with its sails raised. His body was bumpy and his face was cut by a fine knife. The man who caught him was covering his face with a coat, but Al Beto still raised his head stubbornly.

   It's not that he was playing with his temper at an inopportune time, but other than this time, he probably won't have such an experience in his life.

  The ironclad ships that once made Louis XIV and his children, ministers and generals of France, and countless people shocked and inexplicable were coming to them.

Alberto's boat is a typical inland boat. The black ironclad may be fifty times as tall and a hundred times as long. The ratio between them is like a giant and a baby. It is not even one that comes towards them. It was two boats, they were running side by side, like two strong seahorses, people couldn't help but be dazzled when they saw them. They might be far away from Alberto, but the waves they stirred up made the boat seem to have encountered a hurricane.

No, even far enough away, the steam-driven ironclads rival the three-masted galleys of good winds and hundreds of paddlers, and they remind Alberto of the puppet drama that prevailed in Palermo—though It was outlawed after the Ottomans came, because in the former beliefs, idols were not allowed - those puppet plays also showed naval battles, or sailing, when ships moved on turquoise cloth, Just like now, in a blink of an eye, or a flash, they arrive in an instant.

   "Steering!" Alberto shouted in a sharp, unchanging voice, "We're going to collide!"

The sailors on the small boat seemed to not care at all whether the boat they were on would be overturned or pulled into the bottom of the boat. When Mrs. Rydy was said to be a witch and ruled over a number of terrifying demon apostles, their boat seemed to be held up by a huge invisible arm - an indescribable feeling, as if from a turbulence. The small boat suddenly returned to the bed in the bedroom, and the tension, anxiety and discomfort disappeared. Alberto was like in a fantasy, watching his boat slip lightly through the gap between the two ironclad ships.

  It wasn't until it fell back into the water that Alberto could react. He looked at the person beside him with a dazed expression, and the sailor - or the wizard, just touched his head. The oarsmen had already sat down and started paddling unhurriedly. They didn't seem to care about the danger of being on the battlefield and being affected again. Alberto looked back and saw a pair of white wounds on the sea. Ironclad.

As we all know, Louis XIV had at least 30 ironclads converted from the ships of Grand Calais. They were divided into three or four forces. They won a great name for France in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Leopold I to Mohammer King De IV promised to contain them in the Atlantic Ocean, and King Mohammed IV also believed it to be true because he encountered only weak resistance when he attacked Sicily, but now it seems that Louis XIV may... An irritable mood flooded the boy Because he suddenly realized that Sicily was both a bait and a secondary cage, just like a hunter to deal with those cunning beasts, the Sun King sacrificed Sicily in order to ensure that Muhammad IV could completely step into the trap .

   He was sitting in a small boat, and he could see that three ironclads were surrounding the Sultan's fleet, and there might be more giant ships on the opposite side—fire and smoke had risen from the sea.

Although Muhammad IV's fleet was huge, the ironclad ships he single-mindedly wanted were still under construction. His flagship, and the most impeccable ship in the fleet, was the Spanish galley, known as Galen. The warship, the large ship named Suleiman I, has a tonnage of over 800 tons and has a fort-like forecastle, and because of this, when Alberto was caught on deck by Milady, No one noticed - it carried eighty guns, and fifteen hundred combatants.

The Ottoman Turkish sailors still retain the so-called Barbarossa style. Like the ancient Romans, they are still not good at and not used to the power of artillery. They still like to get close to the enemy ship and shoot on the springboard with nails. Rush up and fight the enemy face to face, which is why the Ottoman galleys are always packed with soldiers and sailors.

Alberto had never seen how the Ottomans fought at sea, but it was clear that the French did not intend to be short-sighted. Even the decks of their ships were covered with iron plates. Even if the Ottomans could get close, don't even think about it. Secure the springboard, and they hardly get close to enemy ships, the range of French artillery has always been considerable, and they can maintain a hundred and twenty thousand patience even if the huge Galen ship can't be laid in a short time. , a little bit to consume the enemy's will and courage.

In naval battles, no, it should be said that in any battle, when the distance between the two sides cannot be easily shortened, the range and lethality have become the most critical things. The Ottomans found themselves, or their own ammunition, unable to fight When the enemy was able to hit him, let alone how much they collapsed—although they could hold on for a long time, from noon until late at night, on the black sea, there was not even a single ship. sink.

   "Let's break through." The Grand Master said, "Don't bother with those French people."

Mohammed IV was a little unwilling, but he also knew that he couldn't do anything about those Frenchmen. They not only had ironclad ships, but also had ammunition that seemed to never have to worry about lack of ammunition. The sharp red light, he thought it was another cannonball, and couldn't help but look in that direction.

   "Is that... Sicily?!"

  The Grand Master was frightened and rushed to the window. After a while, he was on the deck again.

   Muhammad IV was right. That is indeed the direction of Sicily.

The Grand Master prayed to their god, preferably a ship lying between them and Sicily, not even an Ottoman ship, but as he chanted the prophet's name The fire was lit little by little.

  ———

   From the vast sea, from a distance of dozens of nautical miles, the fire may be the tip of a needle, a point the size of a grain of wheat, but in Sicily, every point is a fire that covers the sky.

Since the Marquis of Lois has followed the king's will, the French army no longer eats at the enemy - if it is not to leave after looting, but to rule for a long time, then this method must be more able to win the trust of the local people, but it is relative. , the king has to pay more and more trouble than simple looting. They have to ensure that the roads are clear, the warehouses are full and safe, so that the soldiers will not lose heart or even mutiny.

Mohammed I also followed this practice, but the sultan, who had to supply a whole army of 200,000 troops, even the weapons and tents, was not as stupid as Louis XIV to carry it all on his own, he just learned To open up and renovate roads - to serve the local people; to build warehouses - the empty ones will of course be filled by the lords and nobles he conquered. Of course, unlike Louis XIV, Muhammad I will not have a son for this. Son.

The wealth of Sicily, and because of the war of succession to the Spanish throne, makes the nobles and commoners on this island rare like a fat sheep without shaved hair. Wheat was originally produced here, and warehouses were built one after another. After they got up, the golden grains of wheat filled them like a river. After calculating, the secretaries of Mohammed IV believed that the harvest of Naples was enough to meet the needs of the army.

If Muhammad IV was a little wary at the beginning, when the Palermo family offered their youngest son, he had already settled down, thinking that these dark-skinned locals had completely obeyed, how to rule , governance and enslavement, the sultans of Ottoman Turkey have passed down their experience for hundreds of years, and Muhammad IV never imagined that things would change - maybe it is the case with anyone, and before the change comes, they will The world is always the same.

  ———

Not only in Palermo, but in major cities in Sicily, as long as there are warehouses built by the Ottomans, there are people who set fires. They not only set fires, but also throw simple clay grenades or lay traps. The prepared soldiers fought head-to-head, and the Ottoman officers wearing tall white hats or luxurious coats yelled in the firelight, but they were helpless.

  Sicily is a very unfamiliar place to them. Those who have burned down their warehouses, as long as they run to the olive groves and the seaside, they will never try to catch people.

   "Wait till tomorrow! Till dawn!" They swore: "I'll put them on poles and hang them on the city walls!"

   There was nothing wrong with the thoughts of these officers, but before they returned to the room, terrible rumors spread in the Ottoman barracks.

  Some people said that their warehouses were burnt down.

  Some say their sultan has fled.

   Others say that their sultan not only escaped, but was captured by the French, or died.

   Some people say that the army still stranded in Naples will return to Sicily, they will run out of wheat, and they will welcome more hungry people, and they may fall into famine.

   It is more likely that they will never get back to Istanbul - because the sultan took all the ships that had sunk in the Ionian Sea.

   (end of this chapter)