After leaving the King, Churchill turned around and came to a restaurant near Parliament, which was famous for its delicious Chinese cuisine and exquisite French cuisine. It was most suitable for the country bumpkins who traveled between the big cities of London and the countryside. Having a meal here is enough to blow for half a year, and the refreshments and cigarettes provided by the restaurant are also attractive enough.

At this time, in a private room, seven middle-aged or elderly men were surrounding an exquisite tea table with black tea on it. One of them was sucking in. After Churchill came in, he was immediately asked to take a seat. Everyone here had a noble status, the lowest was an earl and three dukes, but two years ago, their title was not so high, and there were even no titles. These seven people were the real decision makers in Britain now. They came from two different parties in the parliament, the Whigs and the Tories, and the leaders of the two factions were here, and the seven people had a common title - the Immortal Seven.

It was these seven people who agreed to write the letter that invited William III to come to London to replace James, and after their success, they successfully grasped the core power of the country.

"We failed. I don't know if Heinsius was too smart or the Chinese prince was prepared in advance. The attachment to the rules of war was leaked and the Netherlands refused to join the war. Heinsius also brought the opinions of another important ally Austria, who also disagreed with declaring war on China. On the land battlefield, the Grand Alliance needs Chinese supplies very much............ Churchill introduced, without any concealment.

When Churchill talked about that date, the smoking man put down his cigarette. His name was Edward Russell. The current British Navy Secretary of the Exchequer was the biggest beneficiary after the defeat of the Battle of Beech Point. The command of the British and Dutch naval forces fell into his hands. It was this guy who forced the British and Dutch fleet to fight head-on with the French fleet of Tourville, and ended up in a failure. Although the Battle of Beech Point, the fleets of the two countries lost eleven warships, most of them were Dutch ships, and his competitors were also imprisoned for this.

Russell said: "Since the Chinese prince has designated the war zone, why do you still have to design such a date? It is definitely necessary to make big moves in non-combat areas."

"That Chinese prince is very greedy and very greedy! So I think he must ambush our Smyrna fleet in the British waters, which is very consistent with his style!" said the Duke of Devon.

Every year at the turn of spring and summer, Britain and the Netherlands will organize a fleet to trade in the Levant region in the Eastern Mediterranean. The original trade targets were Ottoman Turkey and neighboring countries. In recent years, there were more Western-Zin and Suez regions in the empire. Therefore, the scale has become larger and larger. Generally speaking, when we go, Britain and the Netherlands will send fleets to escort, but the return is scattered. However, because the Battle of Beech Point failed, the two countries were worried that they would be ambushed by France and returned to the fleet, so they also arranged an escort plan.

"If this is the case, the Chinese prince will be disappointed. The fleet originally set sail on November 10, so we have enough time to notify it of the extension," said another duke.

Russell shook his head slightly: "No, no. I don't think the Chinese prince will ambush our fleet."

"How do you know?"

"Gentlemen! Once the battle of the Breaking war begins, it will not stop. You should be clear that the end of the battle of the Breaking war is later than the end of the war. The reason why the rules set by the Prince of China are recognized by us is that Britain's interests in Europe are not damaged. Once the battle of the Breaking war begins, especially the fleet of more than 200 large ships in the Smyrna fleet is ambushed, the merchants of the entire Britain and the Netherlands will be damaged, which forces the Netherlands to declare war on China.

In order to avoid the Dutch joining, the Prince of China made so much effort. How could he hurt himself because of the Smyrna fleet?” Russell reignited a cigarette and said with great certainty.

Churchill also said: "Yes, as General Russell said, I personally think this will not be the case. Will it be related to France and the deposed king James......"

"No, news from Versailles shows that the tyrant Louis was not ready to attack Britain at all. If it was ready, we are now in a state of war, and Louis's arrogance made the two countries not successful in a alliance," said the duke.

Churchill quickly explained: "No, you misunderstood. My judgment is not that our enemy is going to attack England. I think the Chinese prince may intervene in the war in Ireland."

Several nobles were in deep thought. In their opinion, this was possible. After all, in the past two years, China conquered South America. Such a large-scale operation could be successful, proving that they had considerable military delivery capabilities. There are more than 10,000 troops in Ireland that are still resisting, including the French army and the Irish Legion. Assuming that the Chinese have invested some of the troops in Ireland in an established manner, they can defeat the British army there with the advanced technology and tactics of the Chinese army. You should know that in July, after the decisive Battle of Boni, some troops had returned to England and were preparing to join the mainland battlefield. The battlefield in Ireland went deep into the south where Catholics gathered, and the current army has not been completely wiped out.

Only Russell was still shaking his head. With his years of military experience, he felt that Churchill was too good to be counted. He blitzed into Ireland and defeated the main force of the British army. France would definitely use the power to control the sea to invest troops in Ireland. In this way, China would withdraw calmly, leaving Britain a mess and force Britain to invest its resources in Ireland, rather than North American colonies. This plan is only theoretically feasible and difficult to operate in practice. Russell did not think that the prince of China would choose this way.

But Russell did not express his opinion publicly. He has always been conservative. He was not ready to start more debates when he could not convince the people in front of him. After all, the nobles here belonged to two parties, and any unnecessary debate would worsen the relationship between the two sides. And there was no loss to him when he had a reaction, so Russell took the initiative to say: "Let's send a fleet to the Irish waters."

"Although the news that Versailles came is that the French had no plan to attack Britain, our navy had just experienced a big defeat. How much force can we draw?" asked a marquis.

The Duke of Devon asked for a cigarette from Russell, lit it calmly, and smiled, "Didn't Stockton yell at revenge? It is said that he raised a lot of money from the East India Company, and he also paid all his property and gave him a cruise fleet. What about it? This would save some military expenses, wouldn't it be great?"

Russell directly chose to refuse: "No. I have another purpose for Count Stockton. The Prince of China clearly wants to attack our colonies in the New World. We cannot fight him head-on, so I decided to send Count Stockton to lead a squadron to the Caribbean Sea to cooperate with pirates and harass the Chinese. If the same force goes to the New World, it can only be a death. If Count Churchill's prediction is accurate, then this squadron will also face the main force of the Chinese Expeditionary Fleet, which is also a death."

"Well, Admiral Russell's plan is very good, and the Earl of Stockton cannot be wasted easily." The Duke of Devon chose to support it.

Churchill took the initiative to say: "We already have a fleet in the Irish waters, and we can send some battleships to support them. Well... how about a few Dutch warships?"

As soon as this statement was made, the whole house applauded. King William had just signed the order to refuse the Netherlands to join the war today, but none of the parties had received it yet. Sending Dutch warships to the front line is best to let the Dutch and the Chinese actually go to war, and perhaps there is still a chance to bring the union to save water.

Southwest of Ireland, Bantry Bay.

As the sun set, the warships of the twenty-nine expeditionary fleets fell silent in the salty and wet sea breeze. Most of the cruise ships had anchors and sails, and nine steam-powered ships had also been shut down. Outside the port, the sailors on six civilian ships were preparing the ship in panic. These people looked like Scots or Anglo-Saxons.

The owners of the six ships were invited to the flagship Zhiyuan. As the commander, Zhao Longcheng had just signed an order to let the six people come in. Zhao Longcheng asked in English: "Gentlemen, can you understand what I said?"

These six people were either British businessmen or Scottish fishermen, and naturally they could understand English. Only one Scottish fisherman seemed a little trouble, but his partner was translating in his ear. Zhao Longcheng said: "We are the Chinese expeditionary fleet. I'm sorry that we have brought you uneasiness in the past four days. Now is the time to end this situation..."

Except for the Iron-clad Fleet that set out in Lisbon, the rest of the Expeditionary Fleet set out from the Cape Verde Islands, the Portuguese colony, or Ceuta, the Imperial New Colony, and came to Scotland all the way to carry out the "Victory Retreat" operation. The purpose of this action is to bring part of the Scottish Legion that still resisted the British army in southern Scotland and loyal to James II out of the battlefield, and then send it to North America to participate in the war. The total number of troops and horses that still resisted in Scotland was more than 14,000. The target of the Expeditionary Fleet was the 4,000 Scottish soldiers under Fitz James.

Therefore, we must not only guard against the obstruction of the British navy and army, but also conceal the French army. Therefore, the expeditionary fleet headed north and controlled all the ships they encountered, allowing these poor merchants and fishermen to follow the fleet for several days in terror.

When they first heard that Zhao Longcheng was about to end, all six people were frightened and panicked. Some knelt down and begged for mercy, while others collapsed on the ground. They thought the Chinese wanted to kill themselves, but Zhao Longcheng's next arrangement was beyond the expectations of these people. Zhao Longcheng not only released them, but also protected the safety of everyone's property. The reason they were asked to come was because some of the goods on these people's ships were forcibly recruited by the expedition fleet, such as fresh fish caught by fishermen, olive oil, salt and beer transported by merchants from the Mediterranean. The fleet that went out to fight had no resistance to fresh food.

Zhao Longcheng asked these people to compensate them for real money and silver. Especially for the two English merchants, the price given by Zhao Longcheng was not the purchase price of the source of the goods but the sale price of the London market, which was very reasonable.

"......We are here to help King James' army. This war is for justice and freedom, and to safeguard the monarchy power granted by the gods to King James, and is a punishment for the betrayer... But all this has nothing to do with you, so I ask you to leave here immediately and go home, and work after the war is over. Believe me, the war will end soon..."

The six people received the money, got off the flagship anxiously, then got on their own ship, and left immediately.

"General, why do we want this?" Su Jing was a little confused and asked Zhao Longcheng.

Zhao Longcheng said: "This is the order of His Highness Yu. At this stage, we have no reason to provoke the group of lunatics in England. If we plunder these six merchant ships, London will definitely react. His Highness Yu has been trying to control the scale of the war, which is beneficial to both sides."

"But we are hindered." Su Jing said.

Zhao Longcheng stared at Su Jing and said, "War is just a continuation of politics. Colonel, obeying orders is the duty of a soldier. It is wrong to doubt the superior, and it is stupid to doubt His Highness Yu."

"Yes, general, I have received teachings." Su Jing quickly lowered his head. He had already discovered that the closer he got to His Highness Yu, the more people could feel the blind obedience of him.

After sitting down, Zhao Longcheng ordered, "My fleet only rested for one day in Cape Verde, and the reinforcements from Ceuta were not very adaptable. I have ordered the crew to go ashore for rest and arranged a warning ship on the periphery. Your ironclad fleet has been resting in Lisbon for a long time, so your fleet is in the third-level combat readiness, so you go ashore for rest in batches."

Su Jing could only nod and asked, "General, how many days will our army stay here?"

"I don't know, according to the plan, we should complete all operations within five days after docking, but things are not going well. There is only one cavalry team of Fitz James in the port of Bantry, which only controls the port. According to the plan, his main force should be stationed here and have prepared supplies for us. So we must be prepared for a long-term battle, and maybe there will be a conflict with the British Navy." Zhao Longcheng did not hide from Su Jing.

Su Jing grinned, looking eager to try: "My warship is already hungry!"

Zhao Longcheng nodded with satisfaction. Su Jing was very motivated, which was very good, much better than his subordinates, but not better than his subordinates, but the captains and commanders under him had been fighting for a year in a row, which had somewhat exhausted his fighting spirit. The addition of Su Jing's catfish can make everyone active.
Chapter completed!