My British Empire

Chapter 531 Thames Estuary

"Hey Bill, how's your catch?"

At the mouth of the Thames River, the rippling river water slowly flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The mother of the English, irrigated countless good fields on both sides of the river, and welcomed and sent off countless merchant ships. , creating huge economic value.

Although the huge sailboats are driving unscrupulously in the sea, the Thames River is still dominated by a large number of small fishing boats, densely packed, transporting boxes of fish, vegetables, fruits, and meat from Europe. The Thames, exported to the coastal areas.

A small fishing boat of a hundred tons, loaded with sturgeon from the North Sea, lined up and began to prepare to send it to London along the Thames River.

Legs straightened, Bill, as the captain, felt sore all over his body, his body was sticky, his hair was messed up, and he looked extremely embarrassed.

But the hard work of staying up late is worth it. The harvest makes it easy for people to forget the physical fatigue and even feel a little excited.

Hearing the call, Bill turned his head to see that his friend Douglas the Beard was wearing a red hat, standing on a cargo ship that was many times larger than the one he was standing on, with an extremely expression on his face. proud.

Listening to this slightly embarrassing sentence, Bill said loudly with pride:

"Very good, this time the harvest is very good, it seems that I can go to the tavern for a few drinks, and you will come when the time comes, I treat you!"

And the bearded Douglas glanced at the boat that was too small to be smaller, and then looked at the big boat under his feet, compared with it, it was like an ant and an elephant, the gap was too big .

He glanced sideways at the fishing boat returning with a full load, then patted the railing on the boat unconsciously with both hands, and said as if nothing had happened:

"This time! I can buy food from France, and the whole ship is full. I guess this time, I can earn about fifty pounds!"

"After this trip, after more than three months, it has been really hard work since it was finally done!"

Douglas noticed Bill's changing expression, and sighed pretendingly, then glanced at him secretly, and asked in a seemingly inadvertent, 'indirect' way:

"Bill, the income looks good this time!"

"Yeah, let me tell you, you are lucky to meet me today, and I will treat you to a drink later!" Bill heard this, with a smile on his lips, and after seeing many familiar figures gathered around him , Shouting loudly, I got a lot of exclamations.

When Douglas heard the words, his face was as ugly as if he was constipated. Isn't this an indirect explanation that Bill made more money than him?

But after thinking about it, I am a permanent employee of a large company, and my salary is paid every month, while he lives by watching the sea. Such a generous period does not happen every day.

"Hahahaha, then I'll be waiting for you!" After Douglas responded with a polite and slightly awkward smile, he was speechless.

It seems that there has been no one chatting on the sea for a long time. Seeing Bill chatting with other people with laughter, Douglas raised his head in a depressed mood, and looked at the choppy sea, hoping to mediate his mood.

However, besides the endless waves on the sea surface, what appeared in front of his eyes at this time seemed to be a large ship with the Spanish flag flying slowly.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Douglas shook his head, talking to himself in disbelief.

The navy of the United Kingdom is huge, how could the Spaniards appear at the mouth of the Thames River? It must be hallucination.

Although he kept telling himself that this was not true, Douglas still couldn't help taking out a precious telescope from the cabin, and looked at it tentatively:

What caught my eye was a huge armed merchant ship, obviously in the shape of a Galen ship, with at least 600 tons, and an extremely huge body.

And, more importantly, the national flag flying on this ship is a Spanish flag with a white background and two crossed red columns.

The national flag of the United Kingdom consists of the red cross on a white background of Saint George, the patron saint of England, the white cross on a blue background representing Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland, and Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, which is the current British flag.

Instead of the Union Jack, the Spanish flag with crossed red pillars was hung, which really surprised Douglas.

Moreover, the first ship sailed towards this side with the wind and waves, and after that, dozens of armed merchant ships of the same size continued to move forward with their sails bulging by the wind.

"Everyone, everyone, the Spaniards are here!" Douglas tremblingly shouted at the other ship owners who were still chatting loudly.

The people who were awakened turned their eyes and saw that a large number of Spanish armed merchant ships, as if ignoring the United Kingdom Navy, slowly sailed to the Thames Estuary.

"My God!" This word came to everyone's minds at the same time, and then they rushed to set up the boat and used their strength to go upstream from the Thames Estuary, trying to avoid the sudden disaster.

"Look, these Englishmen, seeing our boats, fled one by one, as if we were going to eat them, how ridiculous!"

The commander of the Spanish fleet, wearing a wig and with a sarcastic smile on his face, turned his head and said with a smile to the dignified first officer.

"Your Excellency, as long as we are here, the English fleet is already closely following us, and it is gradually forcing us!"

The first officer looked at the somewhat unresponsive, or proud and complacent commander, and warned in a deep voice.

"Hehe! Okay, let's go back then!" The captain looked back at the closely surrounded English navy with a telescope, with an embarrassed smile on his face.

"Children will get furious if they are provoked!" The first officer squinted his eyes and stared at the careless commander in a bad tone, with no one in his heart.

Originally, His Majesty the King ordered most of the ocean-going armed transport merchant ships, just to intimidate or warn off the coast of England.

Who knows, the commander in front of him, drinking wine, ordered the fleet to go to the Thames Estuary, showing off his might.

Now, seeing the English fleet following closely behind, with countless artillery pieces, which was more than twice as large as his own fleet, the first officer couldn't help but feel chills in his heart.

Although the chief mate was 100% sure that the English would never dare to attack them at present, the situation of staying under the muzzle of the artillery made people tremble.

"Your Excellency, the Spaniards have stopped sailing and seem to be turning around and leaving!"

James Leo Shesley, after the retirement of the former Minister of the Navy, has been promoted to admiral, the Minister of the Navy, and as a baron, he commands the huge United Kingdom Navy.

At this moment, although he was listening to the chief mate's report, his face was as cold as ice for a thousand years, giving the crew a bone-chilling chill that lingered in their hearts and could not go away for a long time.

As Lord of the Admiralty, he was dereliction of duty, and a very serious dereliction of duty, in letting the Spaniards come to the mouth of the Thames.

He knew that His Majesty the King in London had launched a thunderous wrath, and was waiting for him to go back and bear it.

So, at this moment, making up for mistakes is already the top priority.

"Is there any news from London?" James frowned and asked in a deep voice.

(end of this chapter)

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