"How is it possible? The British conquered the Fortress of Calais in 5 days?" Looking at the letter of the country, François, the French King who had just begun to take power, was a little lost.

He had just begun to gradually control the rights of the Kingdom of France, and was currently recovering control of the city defense army of Paris from the Earl of Seske. As for his reputation in the kingdom, it was still under construction. Unexpectedly, in just a few days, the Calais Fortress that the former king Louis XII finally regained was taken away by the English, and he slapped him heavily in the face!

The slap was so fierce that it directly ruined François' reputation. It hadn't been long since he ascended the throne. At the beginning, he lost a strategic location like Calais Fortress, which was simply embarrassing to his grandma's house.

You should know that in this idea, the European monarch is supported by fame. If there is fame, the nobles will submit to you. Without fame, they may be betrayal of their relatives. For example, Emperor Henry IV of Shenluo was extorted by the Pope and had to kneel down and beg the Pope for forgiveness. Because he had already betrayed by everyone at that time...

Of course, François I lost Calais not as severe as Henry IV's extortion. However, this was definitely a major blow to his prestige.

So, François I was furious. He pulled out his sword irritably and chopped around the gorgeous palace. Many precious handicrafts were destroyed under his sword.

At this time, no minister dared to come forward to stop him. Because they were also confused, except for the spy John Rafi...

Of course, John Lafite still pretended to be surprised and very sad. He remembered the secret letter Marin gave him a few days ago, so he stood up and said:

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger. I think the most important thing at the moment is to figure out how the Calais Fortress fell so quickly. Logically, the English did not have the ability to conquer a fortress in five days. Therefore, there must be situations that we do not know. Only by finding out this secret can we deal with it well!"

François I's anger calmed down a lot. He stopped to destroy, his eyes flushed:

"What's the use of this? The Calais Fortress has been lost. I'm going to become a joke in the eyes of the people!"

John Raffie shook his head and said:

"Your Majesty, the matter of Calais Fortress is certainly a bad thing. But what is more important now is how to prevent the enemy from using the same tricks to conquer other cities near Calais Fortress! Only by figuring out their tricks can France's cities be safer in the future!"

In fact, John Lafite had known for a long time that the North Sea spies had the means to destroy the iron gate of the sewer. But he could not say that he could only pretend to be unaware of it, and also guide François I to think about it himself and investigate...

After hearing this, François I finally calmed down. Indeed, it would be safer to figure out the enemy's strange means.

So he ordered John Rafi to be responsible for this matter and to inquire about the secret of the loss of the Calais Fortress. John Rafi also gained more trust from François I through this.

...

Subsequently, the French monarchs and ministers began to discuss how to deal with the harm caused by the loss of the Calais Fortress and the possibility of recapturing the Calais Fortress.

But everyone is not optimistic about the possibility of recapturing the Calais Fortress, because the French were able to conquer the Calais Fortress before because the Calais Fortress did not have an iron gate installed. Now, the French have replaced the Calais Fortress with a thick iron gate. It is harder to break through the city gate than to climb to the sky. They are not Marin and don’t know the recipe of the water rosary, so naturally there is no way to latte the door.

If the ants are used to attack the city, the strength of the Calais Fortress must be filled with the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, and it is possible to capture it. But the worst thing is that the Calais Fortress is only separated from the small strait less than 30 kilometers wide from the English mainland, and the English mainland can calmly support the Calais Fortress. This makes it possible that even if the French are willing to lose the lives of the soldiers, they may not be able to capture the Calais Fortress. Otherwise, the English would not be able to occupy Calais for more than 150 years.

François I had some wax:

"All the ministers, if the British are allowed to occupy the Fortress of Calais, the northeast of France will be unstable in the future. At that time, the British may send troops to harass the northeast of our France at any time! They may even harass Paris!"

Paris is only about 235 kilometers from Calais. If the British army landed, they could reach near Paris in a few days. If it were normal, the British army would definitely not dare to attack Paris. But now France is competing with Spain for Naples, and the main force needs to go south to compete for hegemony. In this way, the British army will have the possibility of taking the opportunity to harass Paris. There is no need to siege Paris, just sweep the area around Paris, which will greatly damage France's vitality.

Basically, the Calais Fortress is like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, which may fall down at any time to give France a ruthless one. If the English Army hadn't had the combat effectiveness of too bad, God would know what serious consequences would have.

Just as the French monarchs and ministers were all frowning, John Lafite stood up again:

"Your Majesty, I have a way to resolve the threat of Calais Fortress!"

François I was shocked and remembered that John Rafi was also a resourceful minister when the previous kings were alive. So he looked at John Rafi with anticipation and said:

"Your dear, please tell me!"

John Raffie bowed and did not immediately express his plan, but asked:

"Does Your Majesty know the Great Wall of Hadrian?"

François I was stunned and then replied:

"Of course I know the Great Wall, but that so-called Great Wall is better than a fence wall, and it cannot stop the enemy at all!"

The Great Wall of Hadrian is indeed not tall. It is only 4.6 meters high, which is about the height of an ordinary room. It is equivalent to the height of an ordinary house's courtyard wall and is easy to climb over. Its width and top width are only 2.1 meters. The soldiers are crowded when standing on it and cannot spread.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Therefore, the Great Wall of Hadrian is more like a border fence of the Roman Empire at that time, rather than a fortification.

But the Great Wall that John Rafi talked about is not a fence wall like Hadrian's Great Wall...

He introduced the Great Wall of China in detail to François I and a group of French ministers, and told François I that China relied on the Great Wall to block the southward of hundreds of thousands of nomadic cavalry on the northern grassland...

After John Raffie introduced the Great Wall, he said generously:

"Your Majesty, as long as we build a tall and strong Great Wall next to the Fortress of Calais, we can limit the British to the walls! So what if they occupy the Fortress of Calais? We surround Calais with walls, even if they have troops landed, they will not be able to get out!"

...

François I and the French ministers were fascinated by hearing this, but they didn't know that this was a pit Marin dug for France on purpose - the Great Wall - building the Great Wall, right? Do you know how much money it costs and how much manpower it will be used?

The Qin Dynasty consumed national strength because of the construction of the Great Wall, which led to the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty and its destruction. The Sui Dynasty also dug a Grand Canal, which was obviously beneficial to the future, but also exhausted national strength and to a certain extent led to the demise of the Sui Dynasty (the other reason was the failure of the expedition to Goryeo).

Although building a Great Wall that surrounds the Calais Fortress is far from being built and digging the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou, France's finances are far from comparable to the Qin and Sui dynasties. At present, France does not have a unified national tax revenue, so how can it consume so much money?
Chapter completed!