Joint meeting of the Western Powers

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The Dutch would definitely join the alliance against the White Army. They were the ones who led the organization, and they were the ones who hated the White Army the most. After losing the interests of the Far East, the Dutch were like crazy people who had lost their minds, and they were all determined to seek revenge on the White Army. Under the blinding of hatred, they once again overestimated their abilities.

In fact, the Dutch's losses in the Far East this time were still very huge. They lost an admiral, a lieutenant general, several major generals, more than one hundred large warships, more than ten thousand skilled sailors, and more than ten thousand armed musketeers. The loss of manpower is definitely the most deadly for the Dutch. Because the population of the entire Netherlands is only more than two million people.

It was precisely because of the huge losses that the Dutch could not swallow this breath no matter what. They were still fantasizing about the opportunity to take revenge. Due to the aggressive and pressing step by step by step, the British also felt the danger and finally ordered that British pirates be banned from attacking merchant ships from other countries. A large number of merchant ships from North America were finally completely safe.

In order to build more warships, the Western powers strengthened their plunder of North American land. They plundered the wealth here, plundered the wood here, and plundered all resources here. Europe itself did not have enough wood to build warships, and only cut them from North America. For some time, more than 30% of the merchant ships traveling to and from the Atlantic Ocean were loaded with heavy wood. These woods were converted into warships in the shipyards.

The Dutch's shipbuilding ability was indeed very outstanding. After losing hundreds of warships, they built hundreds of ships, not only making up for the original number, but also a little more than before. At the same time, the displacement of warships was also even larger. The warships recently built by the Dutch were basically mainly battleships with displacement of about 1,500 tons. Such battleships are generally loaded with at least 90 artillery pieces.

In 1633 AD, the Dutch still had eight huge fleets. The number of warships in each fleet was more than fifty. The total tonnage of warships in each fleet was more than 60,000 tons. The number of cannons of various calibers exceeded 4,000. In other words, the total tonnage of warships in the entire Netherlands exceeded 400,000 tons. On average, the displacement of each warship was more than 1,200 tons, and the total tonnage of artillery of various calibers was more than 80.

Such maritime military power is still the most powerful among the Western powers. The second-ranked are Britain and Spain. To talk about the total tonnage of warships, the Spaniards should be slightly better, with a total tonnage of about 350,000 tons. The total tonnage of the British warships should be about 300,000 tons. However, the quality of the British sailors was slightly higher. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the British and Spanish was basically comparable.

At this Amsterdam meeting, the British tried to muddle the water and wash away the image of British pirates that had been left with people. At the same time, the British tried to replace the Dutch and become the leader of the world at this meeting. Therefore, the British were quite active in attending the meeting. The British Navy Minister personally attended the meeting.

If the Dutch and the British were proactive and without hesitation in attending this joint meeting against the White Army, Spain would be much more confused. After receiving the invitation from the Dutch, the top leaders of the Spanish were indeed quite conflicted. Some people agreed to attend the meeting, while others did not. Naturally, they said everything.

To be honest, this time the white-clothed navy suddenly rose and swept across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The Spaniards' interests did suffer great losses. It can be said that the Spaniards' interests in the Far East are negligible. Although Manila is still in the hands of the Spaniards and the port is still the Spanish flag, the merchant ships coming and going are all from the Ming Empire. The Spanish's own merchant ships rarely see one for more than ten days.

In a fair trade environment, without the protection of warships, the Spanish merchant ships could not compete with the Ming Empire's merchant ships. In world trade, the Ming Empire had the advantage of time, place, people, and other countries could not compete at all. Although politically and militaryally, Manila still belonged to the Spanish, in fact, this port was completely controlled by the Ming Empire's commercial trade group in economic terms.

It turns out that the most profitable Black Tide route for the Spanish, with the addition of a large number of Ming Empire merchant ships, has been completely disabled. People all over the world in later generations know that if Chinese people appear in a certain field, and the system can give Chinese people a relatively fair opportunity to compete, without trade barriers, or something. In the end, this field will definitely be occupied by crazy Chinese people. Others will not be able to survive at all. The same is true for the Black Tide route.

The Spanish merchant ships traveled to Mexico and Manila only had more than a dozen a year. However, the merchant ships of the Ming Empire were dozens of merchant ships in a month. Almost the entire Black Tide route was the world of the Ming Empire merchant ships. The Spanish merchant ships transported less than one-tenth of the Ming Empire merchant ships. But the Spanish merchant ships could not use force to protect themselves. How could they be opponents of the Ming Empire merchant ships?

With the influx of merchant ships from the Youming Empire on the Kuroshima route, Spain's colonies in North America were greatly influenced. The Inca Empire region originally controlled by the Spanish was always famous for producing gold. The Spanish seized a large amount of gold and silver from Mexico every year. According to later research, almost 30% of the silver in the world at that time were produced in the Inca Empire.

The Ming Empire's covetousness of gold was definitely not inferior to the Spanish. The so-called wealth was moving. As long as there was enough wealth, people could take risks. With 300% profit, they would be willing to go to the guillotine. What's more, there was more than 300% profit at all. So, armed caravans appeared one by one. They frantically ran around North America, with the purpose of finding the remaining gold of the Inca Empire.

Faced with the emergence of the armed caravan of the Ming Empire, the Spaniards were of course unwilling to do so. However, they did not have the ability to stop the crazy infiltration of the Ming Empire. Whether it was private conflicts or public challenges, the Spaniards were no match for the Ming Empire at all. A few years have passed, and the areas originally controlled by the Inca Empire have been intervened everywhere by the Ming Empire.

In this way, the Spaniards of course quit. Their interests in the East are gone, and now that the interests in North America are violated, they are of course not happy. No matter who they are, once their core interests are damaged, they will not be able to give up. The Spanish are losing their losses, and the voices of clamoring for war gradually become strong. Many senior Spanish leaders ran around each other, calling on the people to unite and fight with the white-clad army.

For the Spaniards, there is another huge threat. The White Navy appeared in Europe, and the Spanish were the first to be hit. It should be noted that the Las Palmas Islands and the Madeira Islands have a lot to do with the Spaniards. The Mediterranean estuary is also controlled by the Spanish. If the White Navy wants to attack Europe, Spain is undoubtedly the best bridgehead. If the Spaniards do not want to disappear from now on, they can only fight back. Otherwise, they may be destroyed in the hands of the White Navy.

Finally, the Spaniards finally made a choice. They were determined to go to war with the White Navy. As a result, they had just expressed that they would participate in the joint meeting in Amsterdam, and the White Navy had already come to the city of Manila. The Spanish Governor in Manila had long known that this would be the result, so they could only raise their hands and surrender unconditionally.

With the fall of Manila, the Spaniards' interests in the Far East were finally completely lost. However, this was not the most important. The most important thing was that after the two sides broke up, the White Marine Corps officially landed along the Mexican coast. With the intervention of the regular army of the White Army, the Spaniards' interests in North America were already in danger.

At this time, the Spaniards realized how big the mistake they had made. If they had known that such a result would have been, they should have learned from the Portuguese and try their best to maintain their relationship with the White Army. Unfortunately, it is too late to say anything now. The White Army will not give Spain the opportunity to regret and reform. The Spaniards, who were in a difficult situation, had to go to the end.

The French and Italians are actually indifferent roles. The French have no interests in the Far East. They attended this meeting purely to protect Europe. The French have always believed that they are the boss of Europe and the overlord of Europe. Now, with foreign enemies coming, as the boss, of course, they must be proactive in making all the responses.

After the Roman era, the Italians performed a little bad in war. With the demise of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire), the Italians had almost no aura. They attended this meeting purely to dream. Dreaming about returning to the glory of the Roman era. Of course, their interests were indeed greatly lost. Especially in the issue of glass, Italy suffered a great loss and had deep complaints about the white-clothed army.

As for the Germans, they did not have a navy. They did not have any interests to be violated by the White Army. However, the Germans were very aggressive, they were very fighting, and they liked war. They had considerable confidence in their own land forces. Moreover, the Germans always wanted to be the overlords of Europe. In the eyes of the Germans, the arrival of the White Army was like the former Huns and Mongols, which happened to be the opportunity for the Germans to rise.

On the European continent, only the Portuguese did not join the joint meeting. The Portuguese were determined to follow the pace of the White Army and naturally would not go against the White Army. They have always been very low-key, so low-key that European countries have almost forgotten its existence. Such a result is exactly what the Portuguese need. Otherwise, they will be in a dilemma.

Soon, the three-day meeting ended. The countries present unanimously reached an agreement to jointly deal with the White Army. The coalition decided to deploy powerful fleets in ports such as the Madeira Islands, Serbia, etc. to block the White Army's navy from heading north.

With the issuance of orders from various countries, a large number of naval warships and pirate warships began to gather in the waters near the Madeira Islands, preparing to fight the White-Clothed Navy here. For a time, near the Madeira Islands, warships were overwhelming and the atmosphere was tense. Warships of all sizes gathered together, crowded like dumplings from steamers.

At the same time, all countries announced the increase in the number of standing troops so that if the navy was defeated, they could fight on land with the white-clothed army. They all knew very well that if the white-clothed army wanted to conquer Europe, it was not possible to rely solely on the navy, and they had to dispatch the army. With experience in fighting against the Huns and Mongols, the Western powers were not very panicked.

The most active Germans announced that they would increase their standing army from 100,000 to 300,000 in one breath. The French did not show any weakness and announced that they would increase the standing army from the original 200,000 to 350,000. The Swedish King Gustav even announced that the number of standing army from 150,000 to 500,000 was increased by a full double!

"What is Gustav going to do?"

"This madman? Where did he get so much military expenditure?"

Faced with the Swedes' crazy military expansion plan, all the Europeans were shocked.

It should be noted that Europe at that time had not had a large population and even less army. The standing army of a country was basically between 100,000 and 200,000. Gustav, a madman, expanded the number of troops to 500,000 in one go, which was simply terrifying. Where did Gustav get the military expenses to support them for a 500,000 army?

However, the Germans had no time to think and announced that they would increase the number of standing troops to 500,000. Obviously, the Germans did not want the Swedes to steal their limelight. In fact, the Swedes and the Germans have always been enemies. It was not a matter of one or two days for Gustav to covet the Germanic land. If there was a chance, Gustav would not mind at all, and eat up Germany before the White Army arrived.

Undercurrents flow quietly between Sweden and Germany.

Of course, no one at this moment realized that the contradiction between Sweden and Germany would seriously affect the future war process. Their eyes were all focused on the white-clothed army and on the golden dragon dance sword flag.

...

When the Western powers were holding a meeting, a special person came to the White Army Navy. His name was Xu Canxu, whose courtesy name was Shaoan.

Except for the fleet commander Chen Zhan, no one knows the true origin of Xu Canxu.

Xu Canxu, who was only seventeen years old, came to the fourth navy fleet for internship as a second lieutenant of the Navy. The internship position was the deck officer of the fourth fleet flagship "Zhan Zhao". The name of the fourth fleet flagship was Xu Xingxia personally named it. The origin of the name was of course Zhan Zhao, the imperial guard beside Bao Zheng, Kaifeng Prefecture in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the composition of sea warships, the deck officer seems to be a job that is good at playing. Usually, there seems to be nothing else to do except handle various materials on the deck. In fact, this position is definitely the most important thing. Because this position is mobile and may be transferred to other key positions at any time. For example, during hand-to-hand combat, the deck officer himself is a forward. If a position is short of people, he will have to reinforce a certain position. Therefore, he must master some basic skills in each position on the battleship.

Obviously, Xu Canxu was very curious about everything on the warship. His eagerness to learn surprised many people. Of course, he was just surprised and would not pay much attention. There were many young people in the White Army Navy, and Xu Canxu was not the youngest. There were more seamen younger than him. The youngest seamen in the Fourth Fleet of the White Army Navy were only less than sixteen years old. Therefore, Xu Canxu did not seem very eye-catching.

"Xu Canxu, I have something to do tonight, so I will help me with the shift." A naval lieutenant named Zhang Daniu said to Xu Canxu with a smile, throwing him a bottle of roma. This is the rule of the navy. For ordinary shifts, the reward is a bottle of flat roma.

"Have you told me about it?" Xu Canxu nodded and said cautiously.

"I said it. Lao Gao said it. As long as you agree, there will be no problem with him." Zhang Daniu said.

"Okay, I agree." Xu Canxu had no objection. He casually unscrewed the bottle of roma and skillfully poured it into his mouth. Although he was young, his qualifications for drinking had been quite long. Almost since he was three or four years old, he learned to drink alcohol. He basically had no major reaction after drinking a bottle of flat roma.

His mother was a woman on the prairie and would not obey the general prohibition. Moreover, his status was special, and others would not really make things difficult for him. After he joined the navy, the prohibition was in name only. Because everyone knew that if he sailed to the sea, it would be very sad to live without drinking a little wine.

Zhang Daniu was looking out, mainly monitoring the movements around at the top of the mast. When it was time to change shifts, Xu Canxu came to the bottom of the mast, and Navy Captain Gao Rusong was already supervising the handover. He did not have any objection to the transfer of the two. Of course, it was still very necessary to remind people of the usual reminder. After all, this is the gateway of Europe, and war will come at any time. As the sender of the alarm, the look out cannot be taken lightly.

Soon, Xu Canxu quickly climbed up to the top of the mast and took the telescope for the viewing post. The viewing post has a dedicated position, which is made of interwoven vines. When you are free, you can sit for a while. Of course, it is definitely not the time to sit. When the two armies face each other, a war will break out at any time. The viewing post dare not be negligent at all. Otherwise, it is not only the one who dies, but also all the comrades in the entire fleet.

This is not the first time Xu Canxu has come up to the top of the mast. When he was fifteen years old, he had already received basic training in the navy. This was specially arranged by his father. During the previous training, he had come up to the top of the mast of the warship many times to serve as a lookout post. As a deck officer, he just works so he has to know a little bit of everything. However, this is the first time Xu Canxu has officially carried out a warning mission.

The sea surface around was dark.

In this era, naval wars were basically not held at night.

In other words, at night, all warships are basically safe.

Unless God deliberately arranged two fleets to meet in the darkness and fire.

However, such things basically do not exist. Night battles have almost no results and are easy to hurt their own people. Therefore, no matter how powerful the fleet is, they will try to avoid night battles. For example, tonight, the Fourth Fleet of the White Army Navy is far away from the Madeira Islands, and obviously there is no intention to start a war.

Xu Canxu once heard his father say that in the days to come, the human naked eyes will gradually lose their effect in naval battles. Instead, it will be advanced instruments such as radar. This means that night battles will no longer be the forbidden area for naval battles. Xu Canxu is not very able to understand radars, even if his father specifically explained it. But to be honest, Xu Canxu feels that his brain is not particularly smart. It is indeed a bit difficult to understand his father's words at once.

"A Xu, do you miss home?"

Suddenly, the companion below suddenly asked.

His voice seemed very lonely on the quiet night.

The one who carried out the mission with Xu Canxu was another naval lieutenant named Wang Yunfei.

Generally speaking, the navy's observation posts are carried out separately, and only during the war period will two people be arranged. Now, it is the war period.

"I think, but I don't."

Xu Canxu nodded, shook her head again, and answered unconsciously.

I guess he didn't know what he was thinking when he heard these words.

"Why do you say that?"

Wang Yunfei put down his telescope and asked in confusion.

"I miss my mother. The last time I saw my mother was more than eight months ago. But I don't miss my father very much. At home... I have several families, including Ningxia Town, Xi'an Prefecture, and Leizhou Prefecture. I don't know which one to think of."

Xu Canxu said slowly with a telescope.

"What? You have a bad relationship with your father?"

Wang Yunfei stood up with a beam and asked strangely.

"No, it's because he's too busy and has no time to pay attention to us. The last time I saw him was in Leizhou Prefecture. We were worried that he would study our homework and dare not appear in front of him easily."

Xu Canxu said slowly.

"Did your father also serve in the army?"

Wang Yunfei asked curiously.

"That's right."

Xu Canxu answered unconsciously.

"Then where is your father serving now?"

Wang Yunfei has a lot of topics. There is no way, it is actually quite boring to be on duty at night. If you don’t talk or chat, time will pass really slowly. After changing shifts, they have to hold on until dawn before someone will come to take over. At this time, there are at least three hours before dawn. It’s really a long night!

"Tianzhu."

Xu Canxu's short answer.

Wang Yunfei smiled and said, "I am also serving in India. He is the squadron leader of the Shooting Army. By the way, what is your father's rank now? What unit is his army? Army? Navy? Or Marine? My father is now a second-level captain."

Xu Canxu smiled and said, "My father, there is no military rank, nor a clear army."

Wang Yunfei nodded and said thoughtfully: "Oh, is he a civilian cadre who manages logistics? That's not bad, you don't have to go directly to the battlefield, be safe and leisurely."

Xu Canxu smiled, shook her head, thought for a while, and said to herself: "After you said this, my father seems to have really not been to the battlefield for a long time... He used to be very good at fighting. His archery skills were very powerful. Of course, it was the same now. Unfortunately, there was no chance to take action. When his hands were itchy, he at most had time to find a place to practice."

Wang Yunfei smiled and said, "It's a good thing not to go to the battlefield directly. On the battlefield, no one can tell when the danger will come. However, the military achievements may be gone."

Xu Canxu smiled and said, "My father...it doesn't seem to be anyone who can promote him."
To be continued...