By the port of Barcelona, Paulo Collaris was on the verge of tears.
Since the French left, their independence movement has suffered a major blow.
Facing the pressing pressure of Spanish government forces, the Catalans no longer have much room for maneuver.
Unexpectedly, just when they were about to prepare for street fighting in the city, the National Defense Forces arrived.
After sweeping across the Linzhong Sea, the ocean-going fleet began to reinforce Catalonia according to the established plan.
They will not fight ashore to avoid being dragged into the situation in Spain, but they can provide weapons to the Catalans.
In fact, what the Catalans lack most is weapons.
Regarding the matter of independence, Catalonia can be said to be united and united.
It's just that Catalonia has limited strategic space and lack of resources. No matter how hard it plans, it can't produce too many weapons.
The French would assist them before, but since the French left, the rebels have faced a terrible situation of shortage of weapons.
"There are three thousand muskets and fifty artillery pieces in total. I hope we can help you get out of this predicament."
Xu Jianzhong handed over the weapons to Paul Coralis.
It doesn’t seem like much, but it’s definitely a timely help for the Catalans.
"I am very grateful to the Empire for its support. The Catalans will be the Empire's eternal help."
Coralis burst into tears, looking at the others happily surrounding the weapons, and finally saw hope.
They also knew the movements of the Spanish army.
Of the 50,000 Spanish troops who originally besieged Barcelona, there were now only more than 20,000 left.
The rest of the troops were dispatched to fight fires in various places.
The ocean-going fleet caused huge trouble to Spain. There were beacon smoke everywhere, they were attacked everywhere, and many cities were lost.
The territory of Spain's mainland is actually not large, and no one can guarantee whether the National Defense Forces will land.
After all, it doesn't take much time for the National Defense Forces to land from any place and reach Madrid.
However, the ocean-going fleet was in ships, while the Spanish army was on foot. In the following time, the Spanish army had no choice but to run exhausted and no longer cared about annihilating the Catalan rebels.
Now that Catalonia has received weapon support, they have the confidence to defend Barcelona.
With this thorn stuck, Spain is like a chokehold, with loopholes everywhere.
But the biggest eye of the storm in Europe is still on the British Isles.
After nearly two years of intense preparations for war, Charles II no longer had any patience.
He disliked living in Edinburgh and wanted to return to loyal London.
Especially now that Scotland is independent, living here is more like living in a foreign land.
People here don't respect him either, they just treat him as a guest.
With the training and support of the National Defense Force, the royal army has expanded more than ten times, and its weapons have been greatly enhanced.
Charles II was full of confidence and felt that he could destroy the parliamentary army in one battle.
"That king is very stubborn and turns a deaf ear to our persuasion. The consequences of this battle may be unexpected."
The military attache of the embassy reported to Liao Zhongjian and was worried at the same time.
Compared with him, Liao Zhongjian was much calmer.
"What does it matter who loses and who wins? Our purpose is to weaken Britain and we are not responsible for the outcome of the war."
Liao Zhongjian is very cold-blooded.
Under his auspices, the empire did its best to provide assistance to the royal family. If this is not done, everyone agrees that the royal army will never be able to defeat the parliamentary army.
Under Cromwell's leadership, the Parliamentary Army had completed a thorough reform and evolved into a more modern army.
As for the royal army, because the remnants of the old era are widely present in it, the officers of the empire have been unable to help it achieve transformation despite all their efforts.
The biggest culprit among them is the King of England.
Through training the royal army, everyone also has a deeper understanding of class.
Fortunately, the royal army has weapon bonuses, as well as the help of the National Defense Force and the Dutch Army. The overall situation is good.
In early October, under the orders of Charles II, Ruprecht led the left army to attack Kendal, with the goal of Manchester, to seize the British industrial base.
The Earl of Essex led the army on the right to attack Leeds, with the goal of opening the gateway to London.
Cromwell did not dare to neglect and immediately mobilized all his troops to fight.
In the Yorkshire Dales, soldiers and horses from both sides faced off.
After the previous blow, Ruprecht became much more stable and did not look down on the parliamentary army because his weapons were more advanced.
After capturing Kendal, he quickly sent troops to seize Sedbergh to prevent the parliamentary army from detouring from the valley to sneak attack on his retreat.
Only then did he march to Burton.
It was in the wild outside Burton that the two sides encountered each other.
Compared with the king's army, which had messy clothing and serious malnutrition, the parliamentary army's uniforms were all bright red and their morale was high.
Under the command of Fairfax, the parliamentary army moved quickly and soon formed a three-sided situation against the royal army.
But it’s no use!
That's exactly what Ruprecht wanted.
He curled up his own formation, effectively avoiding the weakness of poor army command, and at the same time hit more firepower.
When the parliamentary army began to press closer, Ruprecht gave an order, and more than 400 artillery pieces began to roar.
The parliamentary army was no longer able to maintain its intact formation due to the bombardment of artillery shells, creating large tracts of blank space.
The ferocious vitality of the Migne rifle made it impossible for the parliamentary army to fight back.
They were all beaten to pieces before they even got within range of our own side, and their formation was sparse.
No matter how brave a soldier is, he cannot persevere in the face of such a terrifying blow.
Ruprecht was overjoyed and quickly launched a counterattack.
Although Fairfax stayed behind and dispatched cavalry in time. But in the face of sharp firearms, the cavalry of the Parliamentary Army had little effect.
Even though they finally blocked the royal army's attack and covered the retreat of the main force, they still paid a heavy price of 3,700 casualties.
After this battle, Fairfax understood deeply that Manchester could no longer defend.
While he was retreating, he wrote to Cromwell, describing in detail the changes in the royal army, and at the same time he was full of pessimism about the subsequent war.
It's a pity that he lacks the necessary understanding of the royal army.
The left army was victorious, but the right army was defeated.
The Parliamentary army under Cromwell's personal command fought a battle with Lord Essex on the outskirts of Darlington. After seeing the terrifying firepower of the royal army, he wisely did not confront the enemy head-on, but withdrew the Parliamentary army.
At the same time, a large number of skirmishers were sent into the surrounding hilly areas, and even sneaked across the Tees River in Middlesbrough at night.
Lord Essex was dazzled by the victory and chased Cromwell fiercely. As a result, the formation of the team was loose and the front and rear were very disjointed.
When the skirmishers of the Parliamentary Army suddenly attacked Darlington and burned the Royal Army's provisions, Lord Essex was shocked and completely lost his bearings.
Cromwell quickly launched a counterattack, chasing the disheartened royal army and massacring it.
Facts have proved that no matter how good the weapon is, it still needs people to use it.
If people are not good enough, weapons can only be given to opponents.
This victory and defeat brought the situation in England back to a state of balance.
