The Rise of the European Emperor

The British Isles can be described as a pot of porridge at this time. Under the city of Dublin, although the British army besieged for a long time, they were unable to win. After all, Earl Edward's army was very strong and could fully withstand the attack of the British army.

However, Earl Edward's army did not dare to attack. why? Because of the English longbowmen...

English longbowmen may be useless for sieges, but they are quite sharp for field battles. As long as you don't wear plate armor all over your body, as long as you get shot, you'll be fine. Although hundreds of longbowmen were lost, England still had more than 6,000 longbowmen. As long as Earl Edward's army dared to leave the city, they would definitely be shot into hedgehogs by the rain of arrows from these 6,000 longbowmen.

So you, the two armies are at a stalemate. If the weather was fine, the British would not dare to attack. Because the muskets and artillery of the Irish army are too lethal. However, it is also difficult to siege the city in rainy weather. After all, Earl Edward's army is not a decoration. Moreover, the most depressing thing for the British army was that when it was raining to attack the city, when many soldiers climbed the city wall, they often slipped and fell off the ladder. Just because it was wet and slippery on rainy days, more than 300 hapless British soldiers fell off the siege ladder and were injured, and there were even a few hapless men who fell directly to their deaths.

Richard Boll was very helpless. He had already understood that it was basically impossible to forcibly capture Dublin. Because it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of troops in the city.

Then, he took a new approach - siege. Richard Bohr believes that since Earl Edward's army has tens of thousands of people, the food consumption must be an astronomical figure. If the other party's food reserves are not enough, then your own opportunity will come. As long as the opponent is hungry and the soldiers in the army have no strength, as long as he launches a strong attack on a cloudy and rainy day, he will be able to capture Dublin. And Henry VII also agreed with Richard Bohr's tactics.

It's just that Richard Bohr waited, waited, and waited for a long time, but he didn't see any hunger among the defenders in the city. Every day, the smell of food wafted from the top of the city.

Then, Richard Bohr was a bit stumped, and told Henry VII of the predicament...

Henry VII also felt very difficult, so he called his ministers to discuss countermeasures.

The ministers also felt very troublesome, so there was a lot of discussion:

"Why does Edward have so much food? It shouldn't be..." John de Ville, Earl of Oxford, was a little puzzled. You know, the food to feed tens of thousands of troops for a few months is not so easy to collect. Moreover, the grain harvested last autumn, the King of England has all received. There has always been little food left in the territories directly under the British King of Ireland.

"Clearly funded by the French and Scots," said Admiral Johnson.

"However, the cost of supporting tens of thousands of troops to eat food for a few months is very high..." said John de Ville, Earl of Oxford.

Even if a soldier only eats one pound of grain a day, an army of 10,000 troops will consume 10,000 pounds of grain per day. If it is more than three months, it is 1 million pounds in 100 days.

A million pounds of rye, at 1.5p a pound in England, is 1.5 million pence. Converted into gold coins, that is 25,000 gold coins. This is not a small amount, and it seems that Earl Edward has more than a million pounds of grain.

"Haha, the Frenchman is willing to bleed in order to make England unlucky." Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland sneered.

"Isn't it Scotland?" Richard Fox, Minister of the Seal and Bishop of Winchester, asked rhetorically.

"Impossible, Scotland is still short of food." Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, retorted. Scotland has many highlands, coupled with its northern location and relatively barren land, food production is not high. It is impossible to count on Scotland, which is itself starved of food, to support the Earl of Edward. Only a big agricultural country like France can support Count Edward with so much grain.

In fact, none of the British ministers knew that it was not France that supported Earl Edward's food.

It was the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in Marin. Of course, the French also supported part of the grain, but not much. Marin had too much food, and he hoped to see bad luck in England, so he supported several million pounds to the Earl of Edward. This kind of generosity made Edward very moved, and promised that once he won the throne, he would give "Mr. Edison", the owner of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce, an earl title.

How did he know that the so-called "Mr. Edison" was the famous Marin Hoffman in Europe, the man who was given a bishopric by the Holy See.

Why would Marin care about an earl title? What he wanted was unrest in England. Even, if possible, he wanted to invade England.

"Does that mean that Edward's food comes from France?" Henry VII asked.

Several other ministers nodded in agreement. Because, there is no more reasonable explanation than this.

"If so, I have a way to drag Edward to death." Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland said suddenly.

"Aiqing, speak quickly!" Henry VII suddenly came to the spirit.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I think that Edward's army is not short of food now. However, there is definitely not much. Therefore, he must be looking forward to the autumn harvest."

"Sir Ball's army, although unable to conquer Dublin, still needs to stay there. The minister's opinion is, simply wait until the autumn harvest, let Sir Ball's army take over the royal domain, Kildare The grain of the country and the area under the control of the McMurrow dynasty has been seized, and not a grain of grain has been left to Earl Edward..."

"In this way, it will not only cut off Edward's possibility of obtaining food supplements, but also provide enough food for the army on the front line!"

"Our army is full of food, but Edward's army has run out of food. At that time, victory will surely belong to us!"

After thinking for a while, Henry VII said happily:

"Sure enough, it's a good idea, Edward has never had much food. This trick will definitely starve him to death!"

"I'm afraid not!" At this moment, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk suddenly retorted.

"Why?" Henry VII asked in dissatisfaction.

"Your Majesty, you seem to have forgotten the Scottish army?" Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk asked rhetorically.

"This... aren't they blocked in Yorkshire?" Henry VII asked suspiciously.

"That's right, but the Scottish army just didn't take York City. The earl of Northumberland reminded me just now that what should we do if the Scottish army is also robbing our wheat during the autumn harvest?"

For a while, everyone was stunned...

In order to ensure the elimination of Edward's rebels, England allowed the Scottish army to traverse the north of England. Newcastle, an important northern town, has been conquered and suffered great losses.

Today, a 10,000-strong Scottish army has moved south and surrounded York City, the capital of Yorkshire, in an attempt to conquer York. Once York is captured, the Scottish army can continue south into the hinterland of England.

Before, everyone thought that as long as the Scottish army didn't take the city, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, they suddenly realized the danger - the Scottish army did not need to capture Yorktown. If they took advantage of the autumn harvest to snatch grain from the countryside, England would have nothing to do at this time.

If too much food was taken from Scotland, it might bring about a great famine in England. Once England triggers a great famine, followed by a few serf riots, coupled with the harassment of the Scottish army, the court may have a big event...

The most frightening thing is that if the autumn harvest is destroyed by the Scottish army, the British finances may cause a huge crisis. If the supply of rations is not enough, it may lead to collapse. By then, it's all over...

Thinking of these serious consequences, the people present suddenly realized that the immediate priority is to drive the Scottish army out of the country before the autumn harvest arrives.

However, where can I find such an army now...

"There is no other way, but to recall Sir Bol's army..." Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derbyshire said heavily.

"But, Edward's side..." Henry VII was a little depressed.

"It's okay, Your Majesty, before we withdraw our troops, we can destroy the crops in Ireland!" Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derbyshire, said viciously.

"You mean..."

"Yes, although we can't insist on the autumn harvest to snatch these grains, but before withdrawing, we can completely destroy these soon-to-ripe crops, so that Edward's little brat will have no harvest!" Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derbyshire, said on his face. said grimly.

"Oh, this strategy is really seconds!" Everyone exclaimed in admiration. If the autumn harvest cannot obtain new food, it will be a tragedy for Earl Edward's army of tens of thousands.

"What if the French and Scots gave Edward new food after the autumn harvest?"

"It's okay, the English fleet is stronger than the French. As long as we don't stop patrolling the waters south of the island of Ireland, the French won't be able to bring in food. As for the Scots, we can send ships to patrol outside Glasgow, their western port, to guard against the Scots. Grab to the island of Ireland!"

"The old earl is brilliant, this trick is too powerful. I think that after a few months, Edward, who has no new food to replenish, will collapse first. As long as France and Scotland are not allowed to deliver food to him, his army of tens of thousands will be destroyed. , there is definitely only one way to go without food.”

"Yes, in order to let them starve to death, the old minister suggested that Richard Ball should be ordered to send troops to destroy those crops. At the same time, kill all the livestock, make jerky, take them away, and leave Edward with nothing. Food. Then our army, withdraw to Liverpool port, to drive out the Scottish army. It would be better if this army could be wiped out..."

"Okay, let's do this!" Henry VII immediately issued an order, ordering Richard Bohr to prepare to retreat. However, before retreating, the British needed to destroy all the rye fields in the area controlled by Earl Edward, and at the same time, kill all the local livestock, and take the meat of those livestock into jerky. After this is done, the troops will be withdrawn back to Liverpool Port to drive out the Scottish invasion...