"fire!"

Tropp ordered several Dutch warships unwilling to fire a round of bye guns in the direction where the Invincible Fleet was located, and then anchored and left the waterway blocking Towns.

Under the forced mediation of the Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet, Tropp finally gave up the idea of ​​annihilation of the Invincible Fleet at the anchorage of Towns, chose to compromise, and temporarily missed this excellent opportunity to annihilate the Invincible Fleet.

"Sir General, if you delay the fighter's planes like this, you will be suspected by Congress when you return to your country." The adjutant said to Trop.

"Even if the consul personally blames me, it is not worth it. This is the case. If I take the risk of attacking the Invincible Fleet, it will only cause our fleet to suffer heavy losses. After all, this is the territorial waters of the English. Damn, the English are playing with fire and relying on the fleets of other countries to maintain their own territorial waters. Maybe one day they will play with fire and burn themselves." Tropp's face was always gloomy, and he was worried about the opportunity of the Spanish Invincible Fleet that had lost its annihilation.

But what can I do? The Netherlands' navy has now vaguely surpassed the Spanish Empire, the hegemony of the sea, but it does not mean that the sea coachman can deal with the Spanish Invincible Fleet, the Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet at the same time.

After the Netherlands fleet left this area, Sir Pennington sent a naval officer to inform Okundo of the Invincible Fleet: "The Netherlands fleet lifted the blockade of the Towns anchorage as agreed. You should abide by the agreement and leave Towns anchorage immediately and return to Spain."

“We have to make sure the Netherlands are not outside trying to ambush us.”

The cunning Spanish veteran was extremely cautious. Before he could ensure that he was in an absolutely safe situation, he was shameless and leaned on the broken-down ground in England and did not leave.

Then he sent two small boats out for reconnaissance and followed the Dutch warship from afar. After confirming that the Dutch fleet was leaving, Okundo led the Invincible Fleet out of Towns.

"These Spaniards, without seeing the rabbit or showing off their eagles, used the Treaty of Madrid to escape the annihilation of the Netherlands. The Netherlands has begun to rise and they may become a huge naval force in the future." Sir Pennington felt uncomfortable as he watched the Invincible Armada leave.

In the past, the Netherlands was only part of Spain, but after leaving it, it developed better than England, which made the English represented by Pennington feel jealous.

Pennington and others didn't understand the situation in China, so there was no jealousy, but they clearly saw the development of the Netherlands in the English Channel.

The Fourth Fleet came to rescue the siege. The sea battle that should have broken out ended before it even began. The civilians watching the fun on the coast were quite disappointed and did not see the fierce naval battle as imagined. The Royal Fleet and the Fourth Fleet left the Netherlands Fleet and the Spanish Fleet, and returned to Portsmouth together.

A territorial waters sovereignty issue was resolved in this way.

However, Sir Pennington seemed to have been greatly stimulated by this territorial waters crisis. After returning to Portsmouth, he soon stood up and headed for London City to propose to Parliament to strengthen naval construction.

"This time, the Spanish Invincible Fleet broke into the anchorage of our navy, and our navy had only more than 20 ships of all sizes and sizes, and was unable to maintain the security of our territorial waters. In the end, our navy still had to rely on the strength of the Eastern fleet to expel two fleets that were trying to fight in Towns. Yes, the navy could not decide the victory or defeat of the battlefield, but a powerful navy could protect the English Channel and make us invincible. The East was already the territory of the great Eastern rulers, and we could develop into the West Indies and New England with the navy."

Sir Pennington made a proposal to vigorously build the Royal Navy in front of the House of Lords and hundreds of members of the House of Commons. In the past, the Royal Navy generally required increased salaries for naval officers and soldiers, but this time the Navy mainly demanded to improve its own strength.

The incident at the Downs anchorage brought a huge impact on the Royal England Fleet, which had always felt good about itself. They could not imagine that the Netherlands could easily mobilize hundreds of warships and armed merchant ships to join the war. England only had more than 20 ships mobilized.

"Isn't it enough for King Charlie to invest £800,000 in the construction of the Royal Navy?" asked the MP from the House of Commons.

"Indeed, King Charles attaches great importance to the construction of the army and has also worked hard to raise 800,000 pounds for our navy, and even built a giant like the King of the Sea. But firstly, the officials at that time were greedy and the contractors made profits from it, and 800,000 pounds did not invest in our navy as much as possible. Secondly, even if all 800,000 pounds were invested in our navy, it would be a drop in the bucket. The construction of the navy was not only about building ships, but also about hiring sailors, boatmen, training officers, building docks, setting up permanent institutions for management, and logistics agencies for supply. The parliament needed to give us another 1 million pounds, and more funds were given to our navy every year. I think in ten years, England should have 80 warships, most of which were second-deck warships with 60 to 80 artillery pieces," said Sir Pennington.

The MPs looked at each other when they heard the navy asking for a huge military expenditure of 1 million pounds.

In order to raise 800,000 pounds of funds for the Navy, Charles I did not hesitate to increase the shipping taxes nationwide. After the establishment of the new parliament, in order to soothe the people's dissatisfaction with the era of Charles I, the new parliament abolished the ship tax, national protection tax and other taxes collected by Charles I.

Where can I get money to meet the request of the Admiralty? Should I restore the ship tax levied by Charles I? Wouldn't that prove that Charles I's approach is correct?

"At present, England has just recovered from the civil war. The finances are tight, so it is difficult to spend 1 million pounds to build the navy. Moreover, the civil war tells us that it is equally important to establish a standing army." The MPs were in a dilemma.

It’s not that they don’t want to expand their troops to safeguard England’s sovereignty, but that it’s too expensive to build the navy and the army at the same time. Especially the navy, a warship with a second deck costs about 10,000 pounds, and a three-deck giant like the King of the Sea is more than 40,000 pounds!

"But are the Spaniards and the Netherlands not taking us seriously? Even France, which has always despised the navy, began to rise under the leadership of the Archbishop Richelieu of the Cardinal. According to our ambassador in France, Louis XIII spent 3 million livres this year on the construction of the French fleet!" Pennington took out an astonishing data.

The parliamentarians were also shocked by the great efforts of the French king. This was only one year's funding. It seemed that France also had the determination to fight for the ocean.
Chapter completed!