The best way to annihilate the French fleet was to attack it halfway through the sea. As a result, the French fleet was in the middle of the English Channel, unable to advance or retreat. Whether you go forward or backward, it takes a day, and it's hard to make a choice.

Of course, in order to prevent the enemy fleet from fleeing, Henry VII consulted with his ministers and thought it would be better to bring the French fleet closer. If the French fleet had been closer to the side of England, the retreat would have been more difficult. Moreover, it is easy to be surrounded and annihilated.

However, it is not good if it is too close to the English side. Because, the French could take the opportunity to force a landing. Once the French heavy cavalry and artillery converged with the vanguard on the shore, the opposing side would become a single unit and would be difficult to deal with. After all, the English Army was not confident that it would be able to defeat the French army 100%.

Henry VII mobilized a large number of 20,000 troops, the same number as the French army. The total number of French troops was also 20,000, and if they were to fight each other in formation, the French would have an artillery advantage, and the English army might not be able to win. Therefore, it is better to deal with the heavy cavalry and artillery at the core of the French army at sea.

And to completely solve the French fleet, it is necessary to surround the French fleet. But the French are not fools, and if they saw the British outflanking the large convoy, they might have turned around and ran......

After a heated discussion, Henry VII finally decided to let the 54 large ships rush out of the Southampton Bay first, intercept the French fleet that wanted to land, and entangle each other to the death. Then, taking advantage of the fierce fighting between the two sides, the main force rushed from the side of the Calais, first to the south and then to the west, directly cutting off the retreat of the French fleet, and then taking advantage of the situation to encircle it......

However, the ministers agreed that the 54 English ships alone could not stop the French fleet. The French fleet consisted of 100 large ships as war ships, and other small and medium-sized ships mainly loaded with men, horses, artillery, grain and grass and other materials. Among them, medium-sized ships are the main force of transportation, and war horses and artillery are basically on medium-sized ships. Small ships, on the other hand, mainly transport infantry and grain and grass.

If it was just 54 large warships to intercept a French fleet of hundreds of ships, the French would only have to let 100 large ships come and entangle the 54 large British ships. The rest of the small and medium-sized transport ships can bypass the side and land directly.

In response to this question, Henry VII and Thomas. After discussion, Stanley and others decided to mobilize some small combat ships from near the mouth of the Thames River to go through the Calais Strait for reinforcements.

Whether it was the 54 large ships, or the twenty or thirty small combat ships sent by Henry VII to reinforce them, their task was not to destroy the French fleet, but to drag the French to the death and put the French fleet in a dilemma.

The reason why Henry VII only sent a few small ships to reinforce was to give hope to the French. The 54 big ships, and the other small boats, were meant to send a message to the French that they could still defeat each other if they worked harder......

In this way, the French fleet would not retreat. With confidence, the main fleet of the French will try to defeat the "non-main fleet" in front of them, which seems to be a patchwork of pieces. The convoy of convoys, on the other hand, would stop at the surface of the sea and wait for the battle to be won.

But it will also take time for the French to destroy this "mixed and matched" fleet of 54 large ships and twenty or thirty small ships. In this way, the French fleet would be stranded in the English Channel. And the real main force of Henry VII's fleet will have enough time to kill from the east and outflank the French fleet......

Once the tactics were formulated, Henry VII sent someone to deliver the order. A number of naval officers were also sent to the port of Southampton to take command of the battle. And the person in charge of commanding the 54 large ships in Southampton was none other than Sir Wallace, who had previously led a group of fishing boats to pretend to pursue Kidd......

Sir Wallace actually set off from Plymouth Harbour to Southampton Bay with a dozen small warships that he had brought to Plymouth before Henry VII gave the final battle order. At this time, he did not care about sending the dozen or so small and medium-sized warships to intercept the reconnaissance ships sent by France to the Irish Sea. Because, Wallace knew that the great battle in the middle of the English Channel was the most important. As long as the main French fleet departed, the anomalies in the Irish seas would be nothing if they were discovered......

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On the French side, Louis XII did not send a fleet immediately after the vanguard arrived at the port of Hastings. Because, he intended to give Hastings's vanguard time to build the Long Bridge Pier. After all, the follow-up troops were not infantry, there were a lot of heavy cavalry and artillery, and it was impossible to wade through the landing.

In this way, the French delayed for another three days before the second convoy departed. Combined with the two days it took for the fleet to return to the sea, it was already five days......

It was during these five days that the England fleet completed the final move. Now, Wallace and a dozen or so small warships under his command, as well as twenty or thirty small warships that had come to support from the direction of London, had arrived in Southampton Bay.

The twenty or thirty small warships sent by Henry VII were naturally discovered by French scouts as they passed through the narrow Calais Strait. The French commander of the fortress of Calais immediately sent to the French base camp at the mouth of the Seine to report the incident to Louis XII.

But Louis XII did not care, believing that even if the big ships were diverted, the English would definitely leave some small ships behind. Therefore, for the twenty or thirty small warships that passed through the Strait of Calais, Louis XII thought it was normal. If England didn't react at all, he would feel abnormal. But what is the use of twenty or thirty small warships? In front of 100 large French warships, those twenty or thirty small warships were definitely food deliveries......

So Louis XII once again confidently ascended to the high platform on the seaside, and gave a loud order that the men and horses of the heavy cavalry units of the main force of the French army, as well as the artillery and personnel of the artillery units, as well as a large number of baggage, begin to board the ship......

Unlike the first tentative landings before, with 5,000 infantry and 5,000 strong men, the French could afford to lose. And in this wave, it is not something that can afford to lose. Because most of the commanders, as well as the elite 8,000 heavy cavalry, and a large number of artillery, artillery and other sharp weapons to restrain the English army, are all in this fleet. If this fleet is lost, France will not be able to recover for many years......

Louis XII did not board the ship because he was somewhat apprehensive about naval battles. After all, on land, if the battle is defeated, he, the king, still has a chance to be captured. The king will not be harmed if he is captured, but will only demand a huge ransom. But if you are defeated in the middle of the sea, you may fall into the sea and feed the sharks, whether you are a king or not......

Fearful of the sea, Louis XII stayed in Le Havre, a small fishing village at the mouth of the Seine, to watch the main fleet leave. In his place at the command of the French army was the court count Valgery. Although he was a court count like the Earl of Durt, Valgery was more talented in military affairs. Of course, in terms of the ability to pat on the back, he is a few streets behind Count Durt. However, at a critical time, Louis XII decided to use the more capable Count Valgery to command the army.

In order to weaken the local nobility, Louis XII preferred to use and appoint these newly promoted nobles without fiefs. Because, even if these nobles have military power, it is difficult to threaten the royal family. And those local nobles are very powerful in their own right, and if they are allowed to be the commander-in-chief of the army, then Louis XII will not be able to sleep......

France is now a centralized country, and since it wants to centralize power, it naturally does not want the big nobles with fiefs to sit big. Therefore, the reuse of those court nobles who had no roots was also an important means.

It's just that General Valgery, who had just been promoted to the rank of count, was unfortunate and was about to lead the French army to defeat...... Of course, this old man did not know that the French army was about to fail, and he was full of ambition because he was the commander of the army for the first time......