In just one day, the 20,000 English army completed the landing at an extremely fast speed. In fact, these 20,000 people were busy training to land on rafts some time ago. After practicing for so long, this actual combat naturally made perfect.
After the army landed, it quickly surrounded the Calais Fortress and cut off all roads to the French inland. Even the British army sent a large number of soldiers to destroy all bridges to the French inland, and dug many roads to hinder the French reinforcements' path to advance as much as possible.
Then, the army began to attack the city of Calais. In order to divert the attention of the French defenders from the sewer in the northwest corner, the British army did not attack the northwest corner of Calais when launching a feint attack, but instead placed the feint direction on the four city gates, attracting the enemy's attention to the city gate tower.
Then, the British army was just feinting and waiting for it to rain...
According to speculations by London court astronomers, there may be rain near Calais in the next few days. Once it rains, it will be the time to conquer Calais with both inside and outside...
On the side of Paris, France, François I and his ministers quickly calmed down after the initial panic. Because good news came from Calais - the British army did not immediately conquer the Calais Fortress!
For a very strong fortress like Calais Fortress, the most dangerous time is actually at the beginning. Because if you are not prepared for a surprise attack, even the most solid fortress will easily fall.
Also, the monarchs and ministers in Paris were worried that there were secret passages left by the British in the Calais Fortress, or that there were British troops lurking in the city to help open the city gate.
However, two days later, Calais City was still not lost. This shows that the British army did not have a backup plan, and Calais Fortress was still safe.
If there were no secret passages or insiders waiting for a backup plan, the French government and the opposition agreed that the British could not conquer the Calais Fortress in just a few months. So, they began to summon the army with confidence...
The French army is different from other countries. The German army has become mercenaries, and the soldiers are full-time full-time soldiers. The French feudal feudal system is relatively heavy. The 15,000 French knights are not usually served in Paris. The troops stationed in Paris are mainly mercenaries composed of civilians. The knights with fiefs are usually in their own manors. Only when they receive the royal order will they gather in Paris.
If they are fine, they usually like to stay in big cities like Paris. However, it is the spring plowing period. Most of the knights who have their own manors are at home to help or supervise the arable land, and they are basically not in Paris.
Therefore, it took time for François I to summon reinforcements. As for using the Paris garrison to reinforce Calais? It is impossible, the king's life is not important. Ten Calais fortresses cannot match the lives of the kings and ministers in Paris...
Moreover, François I and the ministers generally judged that the Calais Fortress could be held for at least a few months. Therefore, when summoning the knights from all over the country, they did not ask the knights to come immediately, but left a two-week assembly period.
In the eyes of French ministers, the English thieves were by no means the opponents of the powerful French Knights on land. Although the English besieged Calais, as long as the French Knights arrived, they would be able to quickly defeat the English thieves.
This is true. If the English cannot conquer the Fortress of Calais before the French knights arrive, there is only one way to escape. Because the English army is indeed not the opponent of the French knights in the field. The advantages of longbowmen are just decades ago. Since the pig iron ingot technology, the French Knight's plate armor English longbows are difficult to shoot through. After all, the strength of the pig iron plate armor is much higher than that of the sponge plate armor. Moreover, the French army has dozens of cannons that have not been used for use in Paris...
However, that's normal. But now the situation is not ordinary...
Three days later, the rainy day predicted by British court astronomers finally arrived...
In the evening, moderate rain began to fall in Calais. Most of the torches on the top of Paris were extinguished. Only in a covered building like the city gate tower, the torches were not extinguished by heavy rain.
At this time, a few figures came near the corner of the northwest city wall...
They are spies in Beihai Kingdom who are specifically responsible for using aqua regia to corrode the iron gate of the sewer. They brought a gas mask that had just been prepared and prevented from the poisonous gas released during the aqua regia to corrode the iron gate.
This is a second-generation gas mask. The first-generation gas mask is made of soft elephant skin. Although the effect is good, it is not particularly good. The second-generation gas mask is made of vulcanized natural rubber produced in Cuba, and the effect is better.
In the middle of the night, there were indeed no staff on duty on the wall of the military camp dozens of yards away in the nearby military camp responsible for supervising the iron gate of the sewer. After all, they could not even use the torches.
But the French were still wary. About half an hour, the barracks would send people to the walls in the rain. Although they could not be taken care of with torches, they could use their ears to hear if there was any movement at the iron gate of the sewer. If someone smashed the door and picked the lock, there would definitely be a loud noise...
However, they miscalculated...
There were 4 spies sent by Beihai Kingdom this time, including two, who were responsible for corroding the large iron locks of the iron gate with a glass bottled water regia. The other two, one was responsible for holding a large black cloth umbrella to block the rain for the others, and at the same time blocking the light...
After all, two people who are responsible for using water regia to corrode the iron locks cannot be slandered and corroded the iron locks...
But they did not use torches or candles to illuminate it, as it was easy to be discovered by the French army. They used a very precious lighting instrument - Night Pearl...
Although the Night Pearl is very expensive, Marin specially appointed a Night Pearl for this operation to facilitate the spies' operations.
Before departure, the four of them shone the night pearl in front of the candlelight for an hour. Then, the night pearl could remain shiny for several hours.
Although the light is a bit weak and not as bright as the candlelight, it is enough to deal with the big iron lock when covered with black cloth.
Under the black cloth, in front of the sewer iron gate in the northwest corner of Calais City, two Beihai spies sat on small stools. Under the weak light of the night pearl, they carefully opened the glass bottle containing the water regia and slowly locked the water regia...
It should be pointed out that these four guys, whether they are pouring water, holding umbrellas or holding night pearls, all carry second-generation rubber gas masks...
The water of the royal water poured on the iron lock and made a "hissing" corrosive sound. But the sound was very small, and it was raining at night, so even on the top of the city, it could not be heard...
During this process, a team of French patrolmen patrolled and walked by the city wall in the rain. They were guarding against the English people climbing the wall in the middle of the night, but they did not hear the faint "hissing" sound from the iron gate of the sewer under the city...
Chapter completed!