Blushing, Windsor took the boat back to the shore. When her carriage passed by the fish market, a mess was visible.
This was originally one of the most prosperous markets in Ingeland. Although it is called the fishery market, it is also one of the gathering places for sailors returning from sea voyages. All walks of life have taken root here, and it is the commercial and population center of the nearby area.
.
The current fishery market is in ruins, with flames still burning in some places, wailing everywhere, collapsed houses, damaged markets, and some people trapped in the collapsed ruins.
Windsor couldn't bear to look directly and quickly closed the curtain. At this time, her heart was beating very fast, and she kept thinking about Zhu Zhanzhen. Although she should hate this person, after all, he is the enemy of this country now, but she couldn't help but feel that she seemed special.
I like this bad man. He is beyond the laws of this country. It seems that nothing can restrict him. Just like his title, he is really the king of this sea.
What did he mean by the last words he said to himself? Was he flirting with him intentionally? Did he want to gain himself? Although his words were overbearing, his actions were not overbearing. Did he do it on purpose? Or was he just saying that?
Is he also the kind of bluffing man?
Walking into the castle, Lady Catherine's face was full of anger. When she saw Windsor, she cursed in a sharp and harsh voice: "The Ming people are really rude, Windsor, what is going on today?"
Windsor carefully summarized what happened today as: "Today on the warship, I told the Sea King of the Ming Dynasty the results of yesterday's discussion. I want the Sea King to enter the castle to discuss peace with the king, or to find a place on the coast.
The appropriate local ministers held peace talks with the King of the Sea first, but His Excellency the King of the Sea felt that our king was avoiding him, so he launched an attack in anger."
"And...and..."
"And what?"
Windsor's voice became softer: "Your Majesty the Sea King said that if the King and the Queen Mother do not go to see him, they will launch a full-scale attack on the coast of England in ten days, and land and occupy London."
The whole place was in an uproar, and Lady Catherine was furious: "Look, this is the rude Ming Dynasty. Everything is an excuse. They just want to launch a war against us. He intends to use this to intimidate His Majesty the King to meet with him. He can catch us."
Duke Humphrey, you have the guts to capture our king. Don’t forget what kind of contract we captured the king of France and forced them to sign. If our king is captured, will the throne of our King of England be destroyed?
Give it to the outsider?"
Lady Catherine's attitude was extremely tough, and the imperial ministers had no other options. Moreover, Zhu Zhanzhen had offended Ying Gelan's public anger, so it seemed that this battle had to be fought.
At this time, a minister stood up: "Mrs. Catherine, Duke John has refused your request to return to Ingeland unless you agree to become his wife."
John, the other regent of England, was originally ordered to return to London, but he decided against it. The situation in France was not good, and he did not want to enter this troubled waters now.
Lady Catherine slapped the table angrily again, her hands turning red: "Damn it John."
She was angry at John's shamelessness. She knew that John wanted to get her and the entire Yinggelan, and he was adding insult to injury.
The headstrong Lady Catherine was furious again, and the imperial ministers hurriedly persuaded her: "Madam, what is more important now is how to fight against the Ming army."
"Windsor, how many are there?" Lady Catherine began to ask Windsor.
"There are about six to seven hundred people, maybe a thousand, I can't count." Windsor said vaguely.
"Are these people frightening my Yinggelan man? The arrogant Ming Dynasty actually said that he will attack our Yinggelan coast and land in our city of London in ten days. Then let him come, I
Ying Gelan's man will make him come back forever." Lady Catherine shouted passionately.
The royal ministers were in trouble: "Madam, if you want to send the armies of the surrounding lords to the city of London and transport artillery and other weapons, it will consume a lot of money. The next war will also cost a lot. The funds in the treasury are now empty, can you?
Please Madam, please suspend the construction of Yanghuating Castle first and use this part of the funds for national defense."
The finance minister lowered his head and muttered to himself. Building the luxurious Flower Garden Castle for the Queen Mother cost a lot of money. Before, the war in France was tight, so he wanted to use it first, but Lady Catherine refused. Now if you want to mobilize the army to fight, it will definitely cost a lot.
If you don't move it, you won't have enough money.
Lady Catherine became even more angry, even more angry than before: "You, the Chancellor of the Finance, are really incompetent. You know how poor you are every day. How much compensation did we get from the war in France? Isn't our tax revenue in England these years?"
You have become greedy. How much money can be spent on building a garden? When will our Yinggelan war money have to be misappropriated from the money spent by women to repair the yard? What a waste."
In a word, the war must be fought, and the money for the Queen Mother's garden must not be touched.
Being criticized like this by Lady Catherine, the Chancellor of the Exchequer had nowhere to vent her resentment. The money she spent to build the Flower Garden Castle was enough to feed an army.
"Do you want to bully us orphans and widowed mothers? Don't think I don't know how much money you have embezzled over the years. You have to deduct women's money when fighting. What use do you have? I don't care what you give me.
Find a way, no matter what, mobilize the army to defend London City, I will fight to the death with the Ming people."
He slapped the table and left again.
The royal ministers sighed, and Windsor was sent home first.
When Windsor returned home, she was shocked by what she saw today. The Ming army's fierce and direct bombardment of the fish market frightened the little girl, and also changed her ordinary cognition.
She usually met many officers and even generals. At the dance, these people were attracted by her and expressed their love and affection. She could use her appearance to walk among them. They all looked gentle and chivalrous.
and the double blessing of gentleman spirit.
However, these generals have been quarreling in the Imperial Council these days because of Zhu Zhanzhen's affairs, and they no longer care about the gentlemanly spirit.
Under Zhu Zhanzhen's bombardment, those officers fled in all directions and even used civilians as shields, losing their spirit of chivalry.
Without their dignity, they were no different from the vagrants who molested women on the street. Only then did she understand that the nobles of Yinggelan turned out to be such a group of people.
Instead, I thought of Zhu Zhanzhen, this handsome highness. His cannon barrels were big and fierce, his battleships drove straight in, and he acted without scruples.
He doesn't pretend to be a gentleman in front of himself like other men. He never deliberately shows his elegance and nobility, and he doesn't need to please himself.
On the contrary, he looked at himself frivolously, as if admiring and playing with a soft kitten. He looked at himself greedily, as if he were a delicious meal on the plate. Windsor couldn't help but blush at the thought of this.
A woman who is usually held high in high places has a different feeling when she is teased wantonly today. When she twists her fingers, it turns out to be the new rain in the empty mountains in the valley. The late autumn is waiting for the fishing boats floating in the lotus pond.
Cut through the water waves.
She looked at the gorgeous dress she had just changed into.
As the saying goes, men are not bad and women are not loving, and the saying is true.
She was not the only woman who was confused. Lady Catherine, who had a big fire at the Council, returned to her garden and complained about today's events with her lover Owen Tudor.
Owen Tudor had no idea about politics, but he was anxious when he heard that the ministers wanted to stop spending money to repair the garden. Fortunately, he later learned that the Queen Mother rejected them.
"Madam, you are right. These people take the royal family's money and eat the royal family's food. When the critical moment comes, they will embarrass the royal family one by one. It would be better if Duke Humphrey is here."
Lady Catherine also sighed. Duke Humphrey had managed the relationship between the royal family and the ministers very well over the years. When he was away, Lady Catherine had to handle the relationship between the ministers by herself, which made her exhausted mentally and physically.
"I'm very angry, please help me relieve my anger."
After removing the fire, Lady Catherine lay down among her favorite flowers. She seemed to feel that she was the most delicate one among the flowers.
"Madam, there is a secret passage in the castle. If an unavoidable situation arises, we can escape from there." Owen Tudor lay on the edge of Lady Catherine's skirt and spoke while wiping the skin care essence.
"You have to make some preparations in advance. People in Ming Dynasty are too unreasonable."
Lady Catherine, who had always advocated war against the Ming Dynasty, refused to spend the money to repair the yard, and was preparing an escape route. From the beginning to the end, her soldiers and her people never appeared in her eyes.
After receiving the order, the lords and generals from various parts of England began to march towards London. The arrival of so many troops was a huge hidden danger to London. Are there not people with ulterior motives?
But under the current situation, let them come after all. After all, the Ming army is too strong and unreasonable. He said he would attack in ten days, so why not come in ten days? What if he comes tomorrow? If he bombs your fishery market today, he will do it again tomorrow.
What if your church is bombed?
Because of the force of the Ming army, Yinggelan is now in a very tense state, and at this time the Ming army disappeared into the offshore waters of Yinggelan. Although Yinggelan's ships can still see the Ming warships from a distance
, but no one dared to come close.
After Zhu Zhanzhen ordered the warships to leave the offshore sea, he ordered two warships to return quickly to replenish supplies.
The Ming Dynasty and Yinggelan were about to officially go to war. Everyone in London was in danger. At this time, those with powerful families basically began to arrange for the evacuation of their families.
Duchess Humphrey was no exception, but this woman was different from others. She found her daughter and said: "Windsor, there is going to be a war now. Your father must be in trouble. Lady Catherine depends on the situation."
We plan to redeem him, but we cannot give up. Your father is loyal to our family. Once something happens to your father, our family's huge property will be eroded by others, so we still have to save your father."
"But mother, how to go now? How to save?"
The previous negotiations in the name of the country have ended like this, and now they are still saying they want to save people, which is a bit of a dream.
The Duchess held Windsor's shoulders with both hands and said solemnly: "Windsor, we have to rely on ourselves. We have to rely on you."
Reluctant to let go of her daughter, the Duchess is planning to give up her daughter completely. She has no other choice. Once something happens to the Duke, she can imagine the group of Ying Gelan who are full of gentlemanly demeanor and chivalrous spirit.
How nobles treat their families.
"Mother, wuwuwu..." Windsor burst into tears for some reason.
"Windsor, I know I have wronged you, but there is no other way."
"If I go, the other party may not let my father go."
The Duchess looked a little embarrassed: "We can only give it a try. Windsor, you have always been able to control men, and now you only have this chance."
"But how do I get to their warship?"
"I will arrange a boat to take you there." The Duchess had obviously already thought about it.
"And I will go with you." The Duchess was ready to risk her life, and mother and daughter boarded the boat together.
Windsor was shocked and immediately said: "If you can't go, mother, you can't go. Who will stabilize this family if you go?"
"But I don't worry about you and your father."
"Mother, this is the end of the matter. I'm leaving it to fate."
On the sixth day, even though the coastline of Ingeland was under martial law, Windsor still took a boat out to sea. Although Duke Humphrey was captured, the energy of the Duke's family was still there.
As time passed, a warship sent back by Zhu Zhanzhen for the first time to supply supplies had arrived, but what a warship could bring was limited after all.
"Your Highness, do you really want to start a war with Ying Gelan?" Yang Feng asked puzzledly, as if this confrontation was really going to start a war.
"Yang Feng, what do you think our chances of winning are?"
Yang Feng told the truth: "Your Highness, our army has strong ships and cannons, which can tear apart the defense. However, Yinggelan has heavily hoarded troops at this time, and our army has little chance of winning."
"Yes." Zhu Zhanchen nodded.
Yang Feng became even more puzzled, but before Zhu Zhanzhen could give him an answer, a ship slowly approached.
The Ming warship was ready to bombard, but Yang Feng had good eyesight and saw that the sign was the sign of the Humphrey family. He had seen it before, so he ordered them to get closer, and then he saw Windsor standing on the ship.
"Your Highness, this is Miss Windsor."
"What are you doing here now? Are you still thinking of rescuing the Duke?"
Although he was confused, Zhu Zhanyi still let Windsor board the ship. Of course, he only let her board the ship and directly sent people to control the Humphrey family's ship.
"Miss Windsor, your and our armies are still at war, why are you here now?"
Windsor's beautiful eyes looked at Zhu Zhanzhen and said: "Your Highness, can you take a step to speak."
"If you have anything to do, just say it directly."
Windsor said with some embarrassment: "Your Highness Neptune, I am still here to discuss with you whether I can redeem my father."
"Did you know that the two armies are about to fight? Even if I spend more money, I can't get you to redeem it."
"Your Highness, can you not humiliate my father during the battle between the two armies?" Windsor asked cautiously. They knew that once a war started, Zhu Zhanchen would definitely use Duke Humphrey as a shield.
"You are not qualified to negotiate terms with me."
Windsor lowered her head, her face was so red that it seemed she could bleed when pinched, and Zhu Zhechi's principle was activated again. She whispered: "I came to see His Highness today, and I followed what I said before I left His Highness last time."
The girl who was able to move easily among men was unable to use any tricks when faced with the Prince of Ming Dynasty who looked down upon her.