The fact that the African exploration fleet of the Dachu Empire's navy landed and set up a port in Pemba (later the northern coast of Mozambique) was not discovered at first, but it didn't take long for the Portuguese on the island of Mozambique in the south to learn about it.
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This made the Portuguese very angry, and in addition to their anger, they were even more frightened.

The anger is because it is well known that East Africa is the territory of the Portuguese. From Somalia all the way south to South Africa, it used to be the sphere of influence of the Portuguese.

They controlled many coastal ports in East Africa and made huge commercial profits.

Among them, 60,000 ounces (1.7 tons) of gold are exported from Quelimane, Mozambique alone, every year.

Among them, Mozambique Island, which is only more than 200 kilometers away from Pemba, is the core colony of the Portuguese in East Africa. It is also the commercial and political center of Portuguese East Africa, and it was also the rear area for the Portuguese colonization of India, Southeast Asia and other places.
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But now, the damn Chu people have actually established a military base in Pemba Port, more than 200 kilometers to the north.

How can this not make the Portuguese angry?

This kind of thing posed a challenge and threat to the Portuguese, just like the challenge and threat to the Chu Empire when colonial countries came to establish colonies on the Malacca Peninsula.

This is absolutely intolerable!

However, anger is anger... They are still extremely panicked.

Because the people who went to Pemba Port to establish a military base were not the Dutch, not the English, nor the French who had just tried to colonize the Indian Ocean region, but the damn Chu people.

The powerful military power possessed by the Chu people is not comparable to that of the Dutch, the English, and even the French... It can even be said that the colonial power of all countries in the entire European region combined is not enough to make the country more powerful.

The Chu Empire was filled with teeth.

This has been proven in previous Indian wars.

The Da Chu Empire singled out European colonists from the Netherlands, Portugal, England, Denmark, Sweden, France and other countries, and then balanced all the way. In just half a year, they defeated all European colonists on the Indian Peninsula and seized the

established colonies of various countries on the Indian peninsula.

The Portuguese themselves were among the losers, and their fighting power in defending Goa once again fought against the Chu army... The result was no surprise, and they could not be defeated again... During the entire confrontation, the Portuguese did not even try to fight back.

No strength at all.

It was precisely because of such a clean defeat that the Portuguese signed the armistice agreement and formally ceded all the colonies in the Indian Peninsula to the Chu Empire in exchange for the captives, especially the high-level Portuguese colonial officials.

Safe.

If we add in the previous visits to Macau and Malacca in Nanyang, the Portuguese have been beaten by the Chu people every few years and three times in a row.

Every time they were defeated miserably... the most important thing is that the Portuguese found that every time they lost, they were more and more desperate.

In the Battle of Macau more than 20 years ago, although the Portuguese were defeated, there was actually no difference in equipment level between the two armies. In the Portuguese's view, the Chu people only took back Macau with their large numbers.

Therefore, after losing Macau, the Portuguese were very unconvinced, so they united with the Dutch and even the Spanish to launch a long-term coastal blockade and battle abroad.

But by the time of the Battle of Malacca, the Portuguese discovered that the Chu army on the opposite side was completely different. The level of guns and artillery greatly exceeded the Portuguese, especially the flintlock guns and a large number of wooden/metal disc fuzes used by the Chu army.

Grenades caused the Portuguese to suffer even more.

It was also at that time that the Portuguese began to focus on the research of flintlock guns. Well, they mainly imitated the flintlock guns of Chu. Not only the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and other countries that had more contact with the Chu Empire, but also

At that time, they began to imitate the Chu Empire in mass production and equipment of flintlock muskets, and at the same time began to gradually use line tactics.

It's just that their basic industrial level is not very good, and the performance of the imitation flintlock guns is not good. Until now, the all-weather firing rate has not exceeded 70%.

Of course, the performance is a bit poor, but it can still be used to some extent. There have been some small-scale wars in Europe where organized fusiliers formed a line to fight.

The Portuguese army on the Indian Peninsula was actually equipped with a lot of flintlock muskets, but at this time, the Chu people were already using percussion cap guns... and the performance of percussion cap percussion guns was far beyond

Flintlock guns, especially the crucial firing rate, are not products of the same level at all.

The most important thing is that the Chu army didn't even give them a chance to engage in line combat. The infantry on both sides had a chance to shoot at each other... They just pulled a huge number of artillery and overwhelmed them.

As for grenades, they are more difficult to imitate than flintlock guns... If the imitation flintlock guns are just worse in performance but still usable, then grenades will be too difficult, limited by industrial technology.

They were lagging behind, and the grenades they produced had very little power after explosion... As a last resort, they could only produce them manually on a small scale.

However, this greatly limits production and cost.

This is also the reason why European countries have actually noticed the grenades of the Chu Empire for a long time, but they know that there is no large-scale mass production of equipment... It's not that they don't want to do it, but they can't do it.

Not only grenades, but also the artillery itself, they are lagging behind in all aspects... For twelve-pounder/115mm field guns of the same specification, the effective range of European twelve-pounder artillery is generally only a few hundred meters longer.

By that time, the effective range of the Chu army's 115mm field artillery and solid bullets had already reached 1,500 meters.

The performance gap here is even bigger!

Although they are all bronze smoothbore cannons, the performance of the bronze smoothbore cannons of the Great Chu Empire is not comparable to the bronze smoothbore cannons produced by primitive means in handicraft workshops in European countries.

The Battle of Goa completely made the Portuguese realize that the gap in armaments between them and the Chu people was so great that they could not catch up.

What's even more terrible is that in addition to being far ahead in weapons and equipment, the Chu people are also numerous in number!

In a battle on the Indian Peninsula, the Chu army had more than 50,000 ground troops. However, the combined ground troops of the European colonists on the Indian Peninsula were not that many.

Facing more than 50,000 people, the Chu army dispatched tens of thousands of troops in a random battle. This made the European colonists who were used to fighting on a scale of hundreds or thousands of people not even used to it.

It's because they themselves feel that they are just like the small landowners in the countryside and are too petty.

Facing the Chu army with dual advantages in quality and quantity, the Portuguese were defeated decisively, and at the last moment they gritted their teeth and launched an all-out push into the Indian Peninsula.

However, not long after withdrawing from the Indian Peninsula, these damn Chu people came to East Africa again.

What do they want to do?

What do these damn Chu people want to do?

Do they still want East Africa?

After this possibility emerged in the minds of the Portuguese, their anger turned into panic... If the Chu people really attacked, this East Africa would probably change from the Portuguese East Africa to the Chu people's East Africa.

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What to do?

A group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island of Mozambique looked worried for several days, and then decided to send an envoy over to test the situation.

Let’s see what these Chu people want to do.

What if... they just passed by temporarily and went ashore to rest, and then left on their own after a while.

Although this possibility is very small, it is not impossible!

Today's Portuguese people still have luck in their hearts.

Whenever possible, they are unwilling to continue fighting with the Chu people.

Unfortunately, their wish came true.

The envoy sent by the Portuguese went to Pemba cautiously, and the Chu people did not embarrass the envoy, so the envoy successfully met Commodore Gao Yingfan, the commander of the African Exploration Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy.

Facing the Portuguese's careful inquiries, Commodore Gao Yingfan naturally could not say that we are here to attack the front line, and we will take the entire East African colony into our hands in the future.

This is not a question of shamelessness, but it can be delayed for a while. After all, the colonial fleet at the rear is not ready yet. The strategic focus of the Dachu Empire's external expansion is still on the Indian Peninsula.

For colonial operations in Africa, we are currently only conducting preliminary exploration and establishing necessary military bases and supply depots.

Therefore, large-scale colonial operations in Africa will probably take another three or four years.

During this period, it would be a good thing if a direct war with the Portuguese could be avoided.

Therefore, Gao Yingfan's statement is that our fleet is exploring trade routes to Europe to establish supply stations in East Africa.

This statement made the Portuguese envoys feel relieved... If they just established a supply depot, although it would not be good, it would be better than the Chu people preparing to invade Portuguese East Africa on a large scale.

As for the Chu people to start personally involved in European trade routes, this is inevitable!

As the colonists from various European countries have completely withdrawn from the Indian Peninsula, the current commercial exchanges between the Chu Empire and European regions have been severed except for maintaining only the Spanish.

The Chu Empire lost the opportunity to export goods to Europe, and European countries also lost the opportunity to obtain a large amount of goods from the East.

After the Battle of India, colonists from other European countries, including the Portuguese, had entered into armistice negotiations with the Chu people in order to resume trade as soon as possible.

A war is a war, but after business is done, there are still things to do.

However, during the negotiations, the Chu Empire required European countries, mainly the Portuguese and the Dutch, to open routes to the east and west coasts of Africa, not to attack Chu merchant ships, and to open necessary supply ports.

But the Portuguese and the Dutch did not agree... Well, currently, these two countries control more African colonies. To go from the Indian Peninsula to Europe, you have to detour through South Africa. Therefore, whether the African route can be opened up, these two countries

If this country does not agree, the merchant ships of the Chu Empire will not be able to run directly from the Indian Peninsula to Europe without stopping at the port for supplies.

On the other hand, the French have a relatively relaxed attitude. Their profits from trade in Asia are very small, and they also hope to obtain a large amount of goods from the East, so they are ready to agree to open ports on Mauritius and some other islands.

Under such a background, it is normal for the Chu Empire to send out an exploratory fleet to explore the coastal routes of Africa.

Although this kind of thing is difficult for the Portuguese to accept, it is still much better than the Chu people directly attacking Portuguese East Africa.

After the Portuguese envoy returned to Mozambique after getting the answer, a group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island were also confused.

How to deal with the current situation?

Sit back and let the Chu people build Pemba Port? This will greatly infringe on the interests of the Portuguese in East Africa.

Direct expulsion would probably cost a lot of money, and it may not be possible to win.

Although the Portuguese occupied a large number of colonies in East Africa, their total military strength was actually not that large. If they really had so many troops, they would have sent reinforcements long ago.
To be continued...