The sky is blue and the beach is beautiful.

In the shipyard at the port of Flisingen, hundreds of Dutch workers were busy. They were drilling at the bottom of the ship and using various tools to clean up plankton that affected their speed. After cleaning up one piece, they used baskets to transport all these things away.

It has to be said that this is a huge project. The fleet sent by the East Coast people in Europe is huge and they have been going to sea for a long time to perform missions. The number of plankton attached to the bottom of the ship is very large. It is time to have to be carefully cleaned up, otherwise the speed will not be guaranteed. After all, due to financial factors, not the bottom of each ship is covered with thin copper plates like the "Executive Committee" level.

Fortunately, Flissinen is an important commercial port in Zeland Province. It has several professional shipyards and has strong maintenance capabilities. Therefore, after the Navy departments in Amsterdam and Delft jointly paid the maintenance fee, Flissinen's captain vacated a portion of the dry dock to allow warships on the east coast to come in for repairs.

During maintenance, the East Coast Navy will of course send people to supervise to ensure that the Netherlands will not cause any damage to the hull or simply steal some technology. But to be honest, there is actually not much need. United Province is currently an ally of the East Coast Republic. Zeland Province, which has a strong commercial atmosphere, has always been the base camp of the Republicans. The owners and workers of the shipyards have neither the motivation nor the need to destroy the East Coast people's warships.

As for stealing technology, it is actually not that easy. Europeans have generally known the principles of propeller propulsion systems, because it is not difficult and can be understood at the surface. But at present, they are stumped by the details, one is the problem of underwater sealing, and the other is the processing accuracy of mechanical parts.

The former is easier to solve, because you only need to get the physical propellers produced on the East Coast to study it. Over the past few decades, Europeans have already had many large and small East-made propellers on hand. If you compare them carefully, it is not a problem to imitate them. The most important thing is that the reliability and service life are almost the same. The latter is because this design reaches the level of basic industries, and it requires the domestic metal smelting, processing and other industries to reach a suitable level as a whole, which is difficult for Europeans to achieve in the short term.

So, there is really nothing to be particularly careful about. Otherwise, wouldn’t you just repair the ships in Europe and do everything by yourself? This is obviously unrealistic.

"Dutch workers are quite quick." said Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun, who had just come out of the dock.

"It's okay, after all, it's an old naval power, and its shipbuilding foundation is the best in Europe. We have done maintenance at the famous Saldan Shipyard in Amsterdam. The quality is indeed very good and the speed is very fast, but the price is a little higher. Of course, we don't need to worry about this." Navy Lieutenant Colonel Ding Zhen said.

"Can all be completed before the end of August?" The two of them walked forward along the stone road in front of the shipyard and gradually came to the beach. Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun smoked a cigarette and lit it, looking at the puffins flying on the sea, and asked.

His question was actually meaningful. Because the United Province was involved in an armed conflict recently, the people of the East Coast realized the seriousness of the matter, so they began to vigorously renovate the ships so that they could maintain a good ship condition in the next six months to one year. At the same time, the Portuguese garrison troops that had already arrived in the United Province also needed to be mobilized to deal with emergencies at any time, which undoubtedly required the assistance of the navy.

The conflict between the Dutch people was actually very simple, which was triggered by the aggressive war against the German region launched by King Louis XIV of France. A few months ago, because the Cologne area launched an action against Cardinal Forstenberg, the French, regardless of international morality, directly sent a regiment of infantry into Cologne, killed many innocent citizens, and thoroughly planned the situation.

Speaking of this Forstenberg, we must mention the dispute over the election of the Cologne after Cardinal Ferdinand's death a few years ago. At that time, Louis XIV strongly recommended that Forstenberg, who was once imprisoned by the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold, did not hesitate to spend money in Cologne and create public opinion. Forstenberg also secretly appointed an official and made a wish, and was finally elected with a high vote at the regional priesthood meeting.

However, the votes were sufficient but not enough to allow Forstenberg to ascend to the throne of the Elector of Cologne. Because according to the procedures, the Pope needed to stamp the "Fisherman" seal on the bishop's jurisdiction with the Pope's ring, which was also a seal. It was named after the engraved pictures of St. Peter's fishing, and then signed and confirmed that Forstenberg's election was legal.

Of course the Pope would not stamp it! Because of Louis XIV's arrogance and rudeness, the Roman Catholic Church was once seriously insulted, and the festival between the two sides was very deep. Therefore, the Pope refused to recognize the election of Forstenberg and refused to issue documents to the diocese. As for the imperial emperor Leopold, it was even more impossible for him to sign and confirm. Even though he knew that Forstenberg was Louis XIV's man, he gave the throne of the electoral of Cologne. Isn't this a brainless person?

As a result, Fustenberg's situation was very embarrassing. He was unable to get double confirmation from the Holy See and the Empire after bribery. Those who oppose him inside were secretly happy and began to contact Rome and Vienna, wanting to get Fustenberg away. The pope and the emperor also secretly communicated, and finally decided to send the brothers of the late former Elector Ferdinand to take over, but this was rejected by Fustenberg and Louis XIV.

At the beginning of this year, Ferdinand's brother was attacked by unidentified armed people when he first entered the parish of Cologne and died in a bad life. This suddenly ignited the anger of the officers and citizens in the city who opposed Fustenberg. They began to connect and planned to use force to oust him. Anyway, he did not have legal procedures, and the electorate was not justified.

However, Forstenberg was not a good person. Under Louis XIV's instigation, he directly led the French army into the city, and then searched for people who opposed him, killing people for a while, and public opinion was in an uproar, which caused a very bad influence among the German princes who believed in Protestantism. At this time, people also related to Louis XIV's persecuted the Huguenots in recent years. The Protestants were immediately in danger and felt the threat of their lives.

Of course, because of Louis XIV's stupidity and cruelty, not only was the Protestant areas afraid of him, but even many Catholic areas were very afraid of Louis XIV because of the threat of reality. Although they (such as the Italians) were not convenient to stand up and fight him directly, they were destined to make secret trouble and sabotage. At this point, Louis XIV finally offended all those he could offend. Catholics and Protestants opposed him, and the monarchs of various countries also realized the possibility of war breaking out and began to expand their arms to prepare for war, preparing for the French invasion.

In March, Austrian envoys came to The Hague and confirmed the validity of the 1687 alliance agreement to Van Boyningen, the Speaker of the Third-level Parliament of the United Provinces. This agreement was signed during the reign of Prince Orange. Due to the change of the Dutch government, the alliance countries urgently needed to find out the attitude of the Van Boyningen government, so Austria finally sent people to The Hague to confirm it.

The new Dutch government is still brainy. Although the republicans have traditionally hated Britain and were close to France, Louis XIV's rebellious actions have aroused the disgust of many European countries over the years, and the republican governments are also very worried about this. What's more, the French had just invaded the United Provinces ten years ago, and the Dutch repelled the enemy by digging ditches and letting water. In my memory, no one would have a good impression of the French. Therefore, after the Austrian envoy arrived, the Van Boyningen government immediately confirmed the effectiveness of the alliance treaty, saying that once the war broke out, they would join the war without hesitation and fight the French to death.

The Dutch also informed the people of the East Coast that they knew. After receiving the news, the envoy of Gowen Gowen to Cadiz met with Van Boyningen in The Hague and discussed the matter together. Gowen Gowen suggested to the Dutch that if the French did not choose to attack the South Netherlands and instead headed towards the Rhine, then the Dutch would better not send the army to the war, but only send the navy to attack the French fleet.

His suggestion was also based on facts. Because of the departure of Prince Orange and the new Dutch government just rectified the army, the Dutch army now does not have too strong combat capabilities and is not very morale. Therefore, in this case, if you barely send troops to fight, you may not gain victory, but shame. Not to mention that the army fights for 50,000 people and 100,000 people, and the battle is likely to be long-term, which will cost far more than sea combat, and the financial pressure will be greater.

Therefore, Gao Wengang suggested that the Netherlands play its advantages and use its powerful navy to suppress the French, attack their foreign trade, and weaken its national strength. In addition, if you are still worried, you can provide financial assistance to the army powers such as Austria, Prussia, Sweden, etc., and let them fight face to face with the French. This effect is much better than that of the Dutch themselves.

Van Boyningen agreed with Gao Wengang's suggestion. However, he also asked the East Coast people to send more instructors to the Netherlands to help them train the army. Not sending the army abroad does not mean that they don't want the army. The Dutch who learned the lessons of the French-Dutch War in the last French-Dutch War understood that it is still necessary to have a well-trained army, otherwise the scene of the Dutch army fleeing without a single shot in the early stage of the last war will reappear. Will it be digging another dam to release water this time?

Just when Gauveng was secretly discussing with the Dutch in The Hague, the direction of the French attack finally came to light: the Rhine! As expected by most people, in early April, Louis XIV dispatched an army of 200,000 to cross the Rhine and launched a military attack on the German region under the pretext that his wife's Duke of Orleans demanded the inheritance of the Paladin electorate as an excuse.

The French army's offensive was unstoppable. Fort Philip, Mannheim, Trier and other important cities surrendered one by one after symbolic resistance. This is actually good. Cities such as Mainz and Heidelberg even opened the city gates in panic when the French army was just at the city.

It is July now, and the latest news has come. More than ten cities, including Bonn, fell, and Golden Lily Citi rose above every occupied German city. The arrogant French army extorted excessively, burned, killed, looted, but no one dared to resist. The Germans learned from the painful experiences in the previous wars that once they could not meet the requirements of the French occupation forces and rose up to resist, what awaited them would be the fate of the massacre.

The Van Boyningen government of the Netherlands has now received requests from allies to send troops to the Southern Netherlands and attack the northeastern region of France. In addition, their navy must also be dispatched to launch a strangle war against the French from the sea to weaken their war potential.

After fierce quarrels and debates, the third-level parliament finally rejected the proposal to attack the French mainland by land (they were afraid of angering Louis XIV and attracted firepower to themselves...), and instead appointed two admirals to command a fleet respectively, and at the same time attacked French merchant ships or warships in the Atlantic and Mediterraneans to give full play to the advantages of the Dutch.
Chapter completed!