I would like to say that there is a chance to send warships to the UK recently. Last year, the British drove the "Queen Elizabeth" that had just been in service for less than a month to visit France. Of course, they also took the opportunity to demonstrate to show that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is not easy to mess with.

At that time, Napoleon once commented: "The British are like a pufferfish, trying hard to make themselves puff up, which makes them look a little scary."

Nowadays, the French sent a warship to visit Britain on the grounds of returning visits. Of course, because of Napoleon's stinginess, the warship sent was naturally inconspicuous - it was just an armored cruiser.

If the visit of an armored cruiser was only used as a return visit to the battleship "Queen Elizabeth", it had already shown a high contempt and made the British dissatisfied, the armored cruiser sent out was even more slapped in the face.

The French sent out the armored cruiser "Vicentoli", which was the French cruiser that hit the British cruiser Berkshire not long ago. After this impact, the French not only refused to apologize to the UK for this barbaric act, but instead ordered all the officers and soldiers of the "Vicentoli" to commend them a collective second-class merit. They also gave the "Vicentoli" a banner of honor with a picture of a knight holding a shield high to hit the enemy.

Of course, it would be fine if it was just like this. It was nothing more than the French being shameless at their own home. But the French also drove the ship to Britain for a "friendly visit", which was very much like in another space. The Austro-Hungarian Empire first launched a military exercise with Serbia as the imaginary enemy on the border with Serbia, and then let the crown prince sway in the streets of Sarajevo, full of Serbians.

What's even more hateful is that the French warship actually hung out the banner of honor in Portsmouth Harbor.

Such rude behavior certainly made the British very angry.

The British newspapers criticized the rudeness of the French, and the locals even launched demonstrations against the French. However, something unexpected happened. That was, at around 12 o'clock that night, the cruiser "Vicentoli" exploded, and the ship quickly sank. Fortunately, most of the soldiers lived in some special places on the shore, and there were not many people on the ship, so although Chuan sank, there were no casualties.

When they first learned the news, the British were still a little gloating. They speculated whether the French had been scattered and failed to maintain and manage warships properly, causing the ammunition depot to explode. Some people even said more specifically that the coal in the French coal cabin spontaneously ignited, and the French were not well-disciplined, and the soldiers were not on the ship, but went ashore to find the girl, so that no one noticed the coal cabin fire. Then the fire spread to the ammunition depot, and the ship sank with a rumbling sound.

Of course, this statement is completely unreasonable, because if it were really a rumbling sound of the ammunition depot, the "Vicentoli" would definitely sink rapidly and would not give anyone still on the ship any time to escape.

Fortunately, the ship sank on the berth of the British military port. The water depth is limited, which is convenient for investigation. French Navy people are good at diving and can even dive directly to the sinking position of the ship to check the situation. According to them, there is a large hole on the right side of the bottom of the ship.

This is normal. If a big hole was not blown up, how could the ship sink so quickly? However, another situation is very problematic, that is, the steel plates at the break are all bent inward.

Under normal circumstances, if the explosion occurred inside the ship, the steel plate at the breach must be bent from the inside to the outside. Now this situation only shows that the French warship was sunk by explosives outside!

The French immediately seized this issue and started to work on it. They first accused the British of being responsible for it. They asked the British to hand over the murderer within a specified period, and the French public opinion machine also started together. They claimed that Portsmouth was a military port and was very cautious. Could ordinary people send bombs in? This must have been done by the British government.

In response to this, the British government of course said that this was completely shameless. The British ambassador to France also held a press conference to defy the rumors. He said that there is no need for the British to do such a thing.

"If it was a warship like the 'Engbelado' that would have a decisive impact on the French navy's power, that would have a decisive impact on the power of the French navy, it would be fine. Only by using such means to blow up an armored cruiser like the 'Vicentoli' would have a very small impact on the power of the French navy. In this case, we British are not stupid, how could we do this?"

However, after the reporters returned, the title of their report was as follows:

"The British Ambassador said: Unfortunately, it's not "English-Berrado" and "Caesar" who were sunk!" - The Sun

"Britain's malice against France has reached an undisguised level" - Scientific Truth

...

When the country's propaganda machine started, the truth was actually no longer important. Immediately afterwards, the French government issued an ultimatum to the British government, demanding that the British agree to the French Ministry of Public Security to send personnel to the UK for a comprehensive investigation of the incident. The British government must unconditionally cooperate with the investigators sent by the French Ministry of Public Security.

It is obviously impossible for the British to agree to such a request. Not to mention that Portsmouth is a military port, there are a lot of military secrets in it. If the people from the French Ministry of Public Security come to investigate, it doesn’t mean that the underwear has been exposed? How can that be done! In addition, even if the issue of confidentiality is not considered, it is a public violation of Britain’s judicial sovereignty. Besides, what conclusion will the French come to? It will definitely be a conclusion that is not conducive to Britain. At that time, the French conclude through "investigation" that this matter is organized by the British royal family. Can the king or prince be extradited to the French?

Of course, Britain's refusal did not disappoint Napoleon, because such a request was made to make the British refuse. So after the British formally expressed their refusal to France's unreasonable request, Napoleon immediately delivered a speech at the State Council, demanding that the State Council allow him to declare war on Britain.

Of course, the rubber stamp of the State Council immediately approved Napoleon's motion. Napoleon's speech caused many applause in the State Council. Almost every time he finished a sentence, the third-hand parliamentarians of the State Council (Napoleon came to meet everyone, so he quickly went up to shake hands; Napoleon asked everyone to vote, so he raised his hand quickly; Napoleon gave his speech, so he quickly applauded.) They would applaud and cheer.

After obtaining authorization from the State Council, Napoleon first declared war on Britain on behalf of the French Republic.

Immediately afterwards, Napoleon announced in the name of the Roman Emperor that in accordance with the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between the French Republic and the French Republic, when any party is invaded by foreign enemies, the other party of the contract has an obligation to take all necessary means, including sending armed forces, to help allies resist aggression.

Today, France's mobile territory, France's warships, were attacked by the British for no reason. This is France's invasion by Britain. Therefore, according to the "French Republic-Roman Empire Friendship and Mutual Aid Treaty", the Roman Empire followed France and declared war on Britain.

The news that the French declared war on Britain was not beyond the British's expectations, because just two days ago, the main ships of the French Navy left their ports and their whereabouts were unknown.

The whole of Britain was vigilant. The strength of the British navy could no longer keep up with the French at this time, but it was not impossible to fight with the cover of local ports and forts. However, the "Elizabeth" has not yet returned, so the British fleet cannot go out to sea to fight the French fleet for the time being. However, it can still withstand the defense for a while. When Nelson's fleet returns, the British can find an opportunity to have a decisive battle with the French Navy.

However, the French fleet that quickly assembled did not directly pounce on the British mainland, but instead bypassed Britain westward and entered the turbulent Atlantic Ocean.

On the Atlantic Ocean, the Nelson fleet was still sailing slowly at a speed of six knots. They had no radio, so they knew that at this time, they didn't know that Britain and France had declared war on each other.

A little further away, a French cruiser was following far behind.

After discovering the ship, Nelson was not too nervous at the beginning. The French were very clear in their intentions. They were worried that their fleet would suddenly kill a resurgence, so they followed behind. Once they did this, they could use their speed advantage to rush back to report to the Americans.

Of course, it was completely normal for Nelson to make such a conjecture because he didn't know that the French had radio technology.

On the French fleet, Navy Marshal Treville kept receiving messages from the French cruiser "Puyue" and clearly grasped the information of the British Navy.

With the help of staff, Admiral Treville quickly formulated the marching route to ensure that the fleet could appear in front of the British fleet at the most appropriate time.

Relying on the advantage of intelligence, Admiral Treville continued to adjust its speed and route. Now the two fleets are approaching each other quickly, but Admiral Treville knew when and where he would encounter the British fleet; and as for Nelson, he didn't even know that France had declared war on Britain.

According to the arrangement of Marshal Treville, the two sides will encounter in the early morning. This is a very good time. When both sides are still approaching quickly, no one can see the smoke from the chimney due to the cover of the night. As the sun rises, the distance between the two sides has made the battle unavoidable.

Moreover, the positions of the two fleets will be particularly beneficial to the French. The French fleet is in the east, while the British fleet is in the west. In this way, when the sun rises, the British's sight will be disturbed by the sunlight coming from the east.

To be honest, everything was carried out well according to the plan of the Marshal Treville, except for the same weather. Originally, in the plan, the early morning sun would be a great help to cover the French army's operations, but on the last night before the encounter between the two sides, the weather suddenly changed and the sky became cloudy.

This made the sun unable to count on the next morning. However, considering that the French fleet was much stronger than the fleet in Nelson's hands, Marshal Treville decided to continue to move forward as planned and prepare for tomorrow's decisive battle.

Because the weather is gloomy, visibility may not be good even in the morning. Therefore, Marshal Treville also ordered the fleet to slow down slightly.

At around seven o'clock the next morning, a huge fleet appeared in Nelson's sight.

Nelson raised his telescope and looked at the French fleet approaching him. His face was solemn, because he had already recognized the lineup put into the French Navy.

"That is the battleship of the 'Engbelado', and the battleship of the 'Caesar', and then the super cruisers 'Silk Road' and 'Enterprise'. The entire French Navy is almost here!"

If the "Queen Elizabeth" had not been damaged before, Nelson would still have a little confidence in defeating such an enemy, but at this time, his most important battleship could not sail at high speed due to damage, which made him unhappy.

The two sides continued to approach. The French army initially blocked the French army in a horizontal line, but then began to turn and try to seize the T position.

At this time, Nelson knew that the situation was not good, so he quickly ordered the fleet and began to turn to avoid being occupied by the enemy ship.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. When five kilometers apart, the "Engbelado" and "Caesar" in the French fleet first fired at the British army.

This round of shooting did not hit, but the French quickly carried out a volley. This round of volley still failed to hit any target. However, the time spent between these two rounds of artillery attacks was really less.

The "Englando" and "Caesar" both used tube-retreat cannons, which made their shooting speed naturally much faster than the British who were still using the anti-retreatment guns. Although these two rounds of volleys did not get any results, Nelson's face was still very bad.

"Accelerate and rush forward, we must hold back the French battleships, otherwise they will soon wipe out our other ships." Nelson ordered.
Chapter completed!