"What are these guys doing? Why aren't they attacking?" A young man in a black uniform asked on the front deck of the "Little Oriole" quick contact ship outside Barcelona, ​​"Is it a chance for the Spaniards to be so dragged and dragged?"

The Little Oriole has been following the British-Dutch Combined Fleet for some time. At the beginning, the British came to ask, but the East Coast people said they were field observers and had no malice. They just wanted to observe the upcoming war.

This answer made the British frown. The commander-in-chief of the fleet, Churchill, Duke of Marbal, once asked the East Coast ships to leave immediately, but the "Little Oriole" was unmoved and always followed, and threatened that if they dared to drive them away by force, they would "bear the consequences". The furious Duke of Marbal directly broke several cups, and finally had no choice but to give up his original idea. He couldn't afford to offend him, so he said goodbye. He liked the battlefield observer, but not everyone could be the one. The East Coast people were naturally not afraid of the English people.

From then on, the English ignored the psoriasis that was stubbornly following them and sailed wholeheartedly. The East Coast people were also happy. After arriving at the destination, two officials of the State Intelligence Administration bravely climbed the top mast lookout compartment, raised their telescopes to observe the battle situation, and carefully recorded it.

After the arrival of the joint fleet, dozens of warships were organized to form a long snake formation, and bombarded the cannons near the scheduled landing ground with side guns, and successfully eliminated the resistance. But strangely, they did not take the next move, as if they were waiting for something.

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Just when the East Coast observers were puzzled, a newly arrived army was fighting with the defenders in a land defense fortress near the dock. These people were not wearing any military uniforms, all of them were civilian clothing, but they all had flintlock rifles in their hands, and their firepower was extremely fierce. Unpredictable, the defenders of the fort suffered a great loss, and they rushed in directly and started a hand-to-hand combat.

It was at this time that the combined fleet that had been silent for a long time moved! A large number of small boats were put down from the transport ship, and the fully armed English army soldiers climbed down the net rope and jumped onto the small boat. Every time the small boat was about 20 people, they began to row and rushed to the shore. Some naval guns also began to shell the shells at this time, covering the charge of these small boats, and the landing operation was finally officially launched!

"The raid on the shore is also the Spanish?" said another officer in a naval uniform. "According to information, the Catalans have been very restless recently. Someone should have contacted them. With the leaking situation in Spain, it is not difficult for the British to do this. From this point of view, at least the nobles in Barcelona are sure that the rebellion is undoubtedly. The only suspense now is probably how many people have participated, which directly determines the end of the battle."

"No, the end of this battle was long ago destined." Intelligence officials said: "Churchill has proved his courage and command ability in the South Netherlands. No Spanish general can match him. Moreover, the English Army is not an incompetent person. On the contrary, it is quite combative. The Spanish Army is not an opponent at all, even if they have a defensive geographical advantage. What's more, now that the nobles of Barcelona are backwards, this battle is nothing to be noticed, and the English will win."

Yes, a pillar of smoke has risen in the bustling city center in the distance, indicating that a riot is underway. The Spanish army, which is attacked from both sides, has basically only collapsed and defeated. After their defeat in Barcelona, ​​other parts of Catalonia were even more untenable. Countless nobles, citizens and merchants who hated Madrid would attack in groups, kill local officials and soldiers loyal to Philip V, and welcome the English into the city.

Churchill, he really chose a wonderful landing base!

At this time, they also remembered that according to some plausible news, the English seemed to have planned to land in Gibraltar at first because the enemy's defense was relatively weak there, which allowed them to safely survive the dangerous early stage of landing. However, later the East Coast people rushed to the ground and actually led their troops to occupy this excellent harbor and attracted a considerable number of Spanish troops to deploy here, which eventually led to the death of this plan.

But now it seems that Barcelona also seems to be a good choice. At least the people here are very opposed to the Madrid central government and have been inclined to independence for many years. In addition, the local Spanish garrison was drawn to the north and then destroyed in the northern Italian Federation, making the defense of the entire Catalonia very empty, greatly facilitating the future siege.

The British's luck and planning are indeed good!

"It's really nothing to notice." The naval officer put away his telescope, sighed, and said, "The French were about to take down the Austrians' nest, but were intercepted by the coalition forces who rushed back to death. Now the English have opened up a second battlefield in Spain to attack their most important allies. Louis XIV will have a headache."

He said that the army had sent troops to select elite troops, forcibly cross the Rhine River, and then defeated the main force of the coalition forces in front of him, and then advanced wildly toward Vienna. The German Emperor, the Grand Duke of Austria, Leopold, panicked and gave up his capital and fled. Fortunately, his ministers and generals were still ashamed and full of courage. Before the arrival of the main force of the French army, they defeated the Bavarian army that was underestimated and advanced, and gained a chance to breathe.

At the same time, Prince Eugen also led tens of thousands of troops to leave the Netherlands, advanced lightly, and ran all the way. Finally, he gathered 10,000 reinforcements sent by Brandenburg-Prussia at the junction of Bavaria and Austria, and started a war with the French.

In this battle, both sides fought very fiercely, with senior generals falling one after another, and the number of soldiers' casualties combined exceeded 60,000. You know, these are all brave men who dare to fight and fight, and elite troops, and they all fell in the cold and wet mountains in the fierce battle.

The final result of the battle was that the French army retreated and Austria turned into danger. However, Prince Eugen, who suffered heavy losses, was unable to pursue it. The two sides finally confronted each other within the Duchy of Bavaria and fell into a boring tug-of-war.

In the Netherlands, because Prince Eugen took away tens of thousands of troops, the French Marshal Duke Vandome took advantage of the situation to launch a counterattack and achieved considerable results. They not only recovered all the lost territory in the South Netherlands, but also counterattacked into the United Provinces and launched a fierce battle with the Dutch army.

The Dutch hated Prince Eugen to the core. Because this man sacrificed the Dutch front in order to save the king, he let the Dutch face the brutal French army alone, and ended up retreating all the way, allowing the guy Vandom to occupy many towns in the provinces of Limburg-Brabant and Utrecht, and suffered huge losses.

Fortunately, the brutality of the French team aroused the patriotic enthusiasm of the Dutch. The militia knew that at a critical moment, they fought to the death, did their best to delay and killed the French army. The third-level parliament of The Hague also issued additional public bonds urgently, and collected a large number of mercenaries from Denmark, Germany and other places. At the same time, the militia in the rear were also training in large numbers and continued to go to the battlefield. In the end, they barely resisted the French army with their number advantage, causing their plan to destroy the United Provinces to fail.

The above are all tragic wars that occurred at the end of last year to the beginning of this year. Hundreds of thousands of troops in France, Bavaria, Cologne, Münster, United Provinces, England, Austria, and Prussia were willing to sacrifice their lives and fought fiercely, but they failed to achieve any decisive results in the end. Instead, they consumed countless supplies and more than 100,000 soldiers' lives.

In order to reverse the unfavorable situation of passive beating and save the precarious Dutch battlefield, the English finally took action. They sent 20,000 troops led by Churchill, Duke of Marbal, to attack Spain with the help of the British and Dutch navies and opened up a second battlefield.

It should be said that their plan was relatively successful. France's ally Bavaria was deposed, Cologne's Elector was dragged down by his old enemy Archbishop Münster, and Savoy was suspected of not working hard. The only reliable one was the Kingdom of Spain. Now that the British team has landed in Barcelona, ​​Louis XIV should have been reasoned and should have drawn troops from other battlefields to reinforce Madrid. Otherwise, once Spain fell, the situation in France would be very dangerous. When Spain was strong, France's most important national policy was to break the semi-encirclement pattern formed by the Habsburg family on France. Now, it has finally made Spain discolored. Francheconte, Alsace, Lorraine and other places have been successively won. How could Louis XIV sit back and wait until it returns to the front of liberation?

The Kingdom of Spain will be saved! This not only concerns the dignity and glory of the Sun King, but also concerns the security of France itself. France cannot accept the geostrategic disadvantages of being surrounded, and Louis XIV will do all his efforts to defeat the enemy's attempt.

"Churchill landed in Barcelona and the Spaniards were unable to resist, which would inevitably cause a series of variables." The intelligence official continued: "Enter Sheng, the situation of this situation, should I really want to see? The security guarantee in Jinghai County seems to be deepening again. Philip V, unless he is confused, he will mobilize a large army to declare war on us at this time. However, the enemy does not declare war. What should we do? Should we watch the Spanish, English, and French fight to the death in Iberia, or should we take the initiative to provoke conflicts and take advantage of the troubled waters? It seems that the choice makes sense."
Chapter completed!