In order to gather more aid, the Portuguese king-in-exile, Antonio, landed in England, hoping to be helped by England's new navy.

It's just that at this moment, the anxious Elizabeth has no choice.

Because the Governor of Ireland, Earl Grey, did not want to make himself appear too incompetent, and it was not until this year that the English royal family knew that there was a war in Ireland, and Sean O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, who had submitted to the English royal family in the past, changed his name to Zhu Xiaoen, claiming to be King Ming Alan, led his strong army to the north, and drove the nobles who were still subject to England to flee into Dublin.

The news of the repeated routs at the front line spread along with the remnants of the defeated soldiers and bandits and robbers who wandered through the forests, and the nobles from all over the country rose up.

Thanks to the blessings of the Ming merchants, the legend of King Ailan spread from south to north on the island, and it was said that when an army marched with the dragon banner high, they would be invincible.

In just one month, three rebellions by the southern Celtic nobility reached the outskirts of Dublin, and their armies were vulnerable to the English knights and elite retainers, but the defenders were overwhelmed.

The situation became more and more serious for the Chief Secretary of British Ireland.

When the parliamentary aristocracy in London wanted to settle accounts with merchants from the Ming Dynasty, they had already gone without a trace with the iron ore they had purchased at a high price, but several mines of Alan Guotailong were in full swing.

Although Zhu Xiaoen, the king of Ailan, wanted to imitate the system of the three major weapons bureaus of the Ming Dynasty to form a state-owned weapons manufacturing factory, the iron ore of the Ailan Kingdom was scarce, and there were a lot of copper mines, on the other hand, these minerals belonged to the Ming Dynasty, so he could not open his own factory.

Even so, seven iron mills were established in the western harbor village of Donigal, and merchants from Makino occupied the seven-month round-trip route, bringing in the ingots, axes, spearheads, and a small amount of armor and thousands of pounds of gunpowder, sometimes accompanied by food.

The large ships of fortune have become a symbol of hope here, and each ship can bring weapons to the kingdom of Ailan that can easily arm 800 to 1,000 farmers and herdsmen.

Compared to the pre-planned actions of the Oriental military government in this land, the Kingdom of England was slow and careless, and despite Drake's civil lobbying, he was only a maritime leader who did not even have a title, and could not make the English nobles make up their minds to fight to the death for Ireland.

It was a useless land.

When Zhu Xiaoen was fully prepared for the lion to fight the rabbit, England sent a fleet of more than 20 nobles and recruited people to reinforce Dublin in three times in six months of the tenth year of Wanli, but that's all, they did not plan to do anything more.

The result was evident, of course, that within six months half of these nobles had died, in the course of quelling the rebellion of the native nobles of the south...... Not to die in the regular army fighting, the regular army fighting they could not lose.

If the Mongol army led by Genghis Khan came from the 13th century with a complete system, it is possible to defeat the army of the 16th century with the same number of troops by virtue of tactics such as the relative advantage of food shortage; But in the 16th century, how did the southern Irish nobles, who were still more backward than the Norman knights, defeat the 16th-century army with a chaotic charge that was more backward than the Norman knights, and who were armed with a mix of weapons in the 13th century?

Only by attacking, attacking when the enemy is lax, it will be possible to take out the nobles from England.

They were weaker than the English nobility, but more numerous than the English, and the English nobility could only hold back in the castles around Dublin, watching the letters for help from the north fly back like snowflakes, and they presented them to the Governor, Earl Grey, for transfer to London.

At this juncture, I met Antonio, who had a glimmer of hope for Portugal to recover, not to mention how much headache the court had.

On the one hand, there was an alliance treaty between England and Portugal, for which England had to send troops; On the other hand, it is to completely tear the face with Spain, and there is also assistance from the Ming Dynasty from afar.

Whether to send troops or not, Elizabeth had a hard time deciding.

Just as the newly crowned Queen of England faced with the worrisome question of whether to choose Catholicism or Protestantism in a religiously divided country, that feeling seems to be coming back.

John Hawkins, the navy's financial supply officer, who was entrusted by the queen to be trusted, tried his best to lead the battle, but when the queen asked him if England's new navy was ready for a big war, Hawkins could only shake his head: "We only have twelve warships of more than 100 tons, but if the court gives orders to merchants and nobles, I estimate that we can raise sixty armed merchant ships." ”

"Then why is England still involved in this war? I can send one warship and six armed merchant ships to support Antonio, are you optimistic about the war that Antonio started for the restoration of the country? ”

Elizabeth, who was wearing a wig, frowned, leaned back, raised her hand holding Makino Smoke and said: "I trust you very much, but sending troops will definitely provoke Philip of Habsburg, that is a madman, once he has the opportunity to spare no effort to attack England, we can't stop him." ”

"Queen, I agree with you." John Hawkins nodded in agreement, but then stepped forward and said, "But if we dispatch one warship and six merchant ships, won't we provoke Philip?" Spain is far richer than England. ”

"Philip owns the silver mines of the New World, as well as the trade of the Ming Dynasty, which in recent years has sold silk and porcelain, and even velvet, wool, cotton and linen cloth, as well as Wanli arquebuses from the Ming Dynasty, and our merchants could not buy enough wool from Spain, and the woolen workshops closed down in large numbers."

"I heard that every year, Spain from the Great East, the Ming called the Atlantic Ocean the Great East, Spain from the Ming West trade to make a lot of profits, after the annexation of Portugal, the domestic shipbuilding industry prospered, Lisbon last year there were twelve large Galen ships on the shore began to build, as well as Spanish warships, those ships were originally intended to be used against the Ming Dynasty, they started construction a few years ago, in the last year they had seven warships launched, all more than 100 tons."

"Our war with Spain has long been inevitable, and now we try to provoke them as little as possible, and only let the war drag on." Hawkins spread his hands as he spoke, "But what better situation could be a better opportunity to send troops than now?" The exiled army of the Portuguese, the French army with the support of Catherine also intended to send troops, and the Dutch Netherlands army against Spain, I think. ”

"The best time to delay the war is now, lobbying France and the Netherlands to send troops to defeat the Mingxi Combined Fleet on the Great Eastern Ocean, so that Portugal can become a battlefield for many countries to compete, so that we can rely on the advantage of the island, away from the center of the war, to send trade to them, in exchange for wealth to strengthen the military power at sea."

"At the same time, if we win, the problem of Ireland can be solved, the Ming fleet will be defeated, and then we will have time to clear the rebels for the next war."

The cigarette was crushed in Elizabeth's hand, and she leaned back again, taking a deep breath: "War, is it inevitable?" ”

"Inevitably."