The Rise of the European Emperor

While the fierce naval battle between Britain and France broke out at sea, there was no idle time on land. It is estimated that the time is almost up. Richard Pohl, a confidant of Henry VII, led 20,000 British troops to the Hastings Port occupied by the French.

At this time, the French had built ten temporary Long Bridge piers in Hastings Harbour. In addition to the dozens of long bridge piers in the Port of Hastings, the Port of Hastings basically has the conditions for the large-scale landing of the French army. However, all this, with the arrival of Richard Bohr's army, became irrelevant...

When Richard Bohr's army of 20,000 arrived in Hastings Harbor, Abel, the French commander who guarded Hastings, was shocked. He quickly withdrew all the French infantry on the pier back into the city, and even the 5,000 French soldiers withdrew into the city to assist in defending the city.

However, although the city walls of Hastings are tall and strong, all four gates were burned down by the original defenders. Abel was very careful and sent people to block the northern, western and eastern gates with stones, but the southern gate was not blocked. After all, the South Gate still needs to go in and out. After the French landed, they also needed to enter and leave the city of Hastings. Therefore, the South Gate was only guarded by heavy troops and a temporary fence was built, but there was no special fortified city gate.

After Richard Bohr led the army to the city, he also found that the north, west and east gates were blocked. So he commanded:

"Send a few cavalry to take a look at the south gate and see what's going on there!"

It didn't take long for a few English hussars to return, reporting to Richard Pohl:

"Sir, the South Gate is not blocked, there are only simple fortifications, but now it is full of French people. If you want to break through the South Gate line of defense, it is estimated that you will lose a lot..."

Abel also knew that the South Gate was a weakness, so he arranged for two thousand of the five thousand soldiers in the city to guard the South Gate. The other 3,000 soldiers brought 5,000 French citizens to the city to frighten the British.

Two thousand elite infantry guards a city gate, plus various obstacles on the other side at the city gate, if you want to break through this city gate, you will definitely pay a huge price...

However, the script did not go as Abel envisioned. After thinking for a while, Richard Bohr directly ordered:

"The whole army went to the south gate of Hastings, and then formed a formation there. Half guarded the French army in the city, and the other half went directly to demolish the pier!"

Then, the 20,000 British troops ignored the French troops on the top of the city and the other three city gates, and went directly to the south gate. Just when Abel thought the British army would launch a siege, the British army stopped directly 100 meters outside the south gate to form an array. Also, it looks like a defensive formation...

At first, Abel was still a little confused, but when he saw the British army behind him on the top of the city were all going to demolish the Long Bridge Pier in Port Hastings, he finally got anxious...

Abel knew very well in his heart that the biggest task of the 5,000 soldiers he led was to stand in front of the main French army. So, the dock is very important. Because, when the French army comes, they will definitely use the pier.

However, if the army is guarded on the dock, it will not work. Because the wharf has no defense facilities, it is easy to be defeated in the face of the impact of the large enemy troops. Therefore, as a last resort, the French army could only rely on the tall and strong city walls of Hastings for self-defense.

Moreover, according to the practice of this era, the opponent should be the first to attack the city. Usually, after winning the city, they go to take over the dock as an auxiliary facility.

However, Richard Bohr had long been instructed by Henry VII and Thomas Stanley to let him demolish the pier as soon as he went to Hastings. Without the dock, even if the French fleet defeated Wallace's fleet, it would not be able to land here. Even if they can forcefully land, Richard Bohr's army of 20,000 is waiting on the shore...

And, in the absence of a pier, at most infantry can forcibly wade to land. As for the knights, they can only take off their plate armor and wading to land on their own. At the same time, neither the warhorse nor the artillery can force the landing without the dock...

As such,

Even if the French army forcibly waded to land, they would still be a living target for the 7,000 English longbowmen brought by Richard Pohl...

Therefore, as long as Richard Bohr demolishes the pier, the main force of the French army on the sea will be in a dilemma - to attack, you can only land by wading alone. Without the impact of the plate knights, those French soldiers who landed in the water would only become the living targets of the British longbowmen.

And it is difficult to go back. Because the main ambush fleet of the English will never let go of the main French fleet...

Therefore, the strategy discussed by Henry VII and Thomas Stanley and others is a surefire strategy. Even if Wallace's fleet failed to hold off the French fleet, it would still be effective as long as Richard Pohl's army demolished the pier in Hastings Harbor.

Although it is not ruled out that the French can find piers elsewhere, it is absolutely impossible to find a pier as large as Hastings in a short period of time. There are not so many long bridge docks, and hundreds of French transport ships can't dock at all. The strength of only landing a few ships is also easily repulsed by the army of Richard Bohr who is following and chasing.

It seemed that he had been prepared for a long time. Richard Pohl separated the ten thousand British soldiers from the pier, and everyone brought a logging axe. The soldiers jumped into the water and began to chop down the wooden stakes that were driven into the water at the long bridge piers like trees...

Many of the Long Bridge Piers of this era were made of wood. That is, under the plank bridge of later generations, a solid wood such as a log is used to drive piles on the seabed to make a sturdy support frame. Its principle is no different from the plank bridges with supporting piles seen in later generations. So, in the same way, as long as the support piles made of logs are cut off, the Long Bridge Pier will collapse directly...

The British soldiers looked at the wooden stakes supporting the wooden long bridge wharf with their logging axes, while Abel, the French commander at the top of the city, was almost angina. However, he had no choice.

Obviously, the British army has 20,000 horses. Even if half of them were to demolish the wharf, there were 10,000 troops guarding them, and the 5,000 French troops in the city did not dare to go out to fight. After all, they were all infantry and could not attack the British formation at all. Perhaps, halfway through the road, they will be shot and killed by the British longbowmen...

Therefore, Abel could only hold his heart and watch helplessly as the British soldiers on the pier happily tear down those long bridge piers...

The long bridge wharf made of wood is still easy to dismantle, as long as the supporting wood piles are cut. But Hastings Port, as one of the five largest ports in the UK, is not only a wooden long bridge wharf. Here, there are also five Yonggu piers built with stones and bricks...

Richard Bohr was very troubled about how to demolish this masonry pier. Because this kind of sturdy dock is too difficult to dismantle. Moreover, there is no time to dismantle it. If the French had defeated Wallace's fleet, it might have arrived soon enough, and the British would not have been allowed to slowly dismantle it.

In the end, a low-ranking officer in the British army who ran a boat at home gave Richard and Bohr an idea-since the pier cannot be demolished, then it is okay to make the pier unable to dock the ship...

The reason why the Long Bridge Pier goes deep into the sea is because the ship needs a certain depth of water to dock, otherwise, if the water is too shallow, the ship will easily run aground. Once a ship of that weight runs aground, it is difficult to handle.

Therefore, the idea given by the officer was to throw stones and bricks on the seabed around the Long Bridge Pier, so that the height of the debris was close to the water surface (not higher than the water surface, otherwise it can also be used as the Long Bridge Pier) ). In this way, as long as the French ships dare to dock, they will run aground on these stones and bricks thrown into the water...

Richard Bol immediately adopted this good suggestion and sent his soldiers to collect stones and bricks around. In order to collect enough stones and bricks for reclamation, Richard Pohl even sent his soldiers to demolish the houses of many residents outside the city to obtain enough bricks.

After there was enough masonry, the water around the five masonry-structured Long Bridge Piers was filled with masonry at a height of about one meter above the water surface. This height makes the boat the most uncomfortable. Moreover, because the masonry is thrown down, the shape of the pile is irregular, which is not suitable for ships to dock. In this way, even if the French fleet came, it would not be able to land...

After the pier was settled, Richard Pohl was in no rush. Anyway, those French troops in the city can't grow wings and fly away, so why rush to attack?

As long as the main force of the French army at sea is solved, these French troops can only surrender in desperation...

As a result, the British army camped directly outside the city and waited for news. For the French army in the city, only people were sent to monitor, to prevent them from fighting beasts...

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