Zhang Huai used the telescope in his hand to look at the movement on the distant island. He saw that the pirates fleeing on the island had completely collapsed. It was impossible to make any organized resistance. He immediately ordered in a cold voice: "Send the order."
Land on the island immediately and kill the enemy!"
For those pirates who have been making a living at sea all year round, although they can be considered fierce, when faced with organized officers and soldiers, they are actually like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
No matter how much the pirate leader yelled and yelled in an attempt to organize his men, these pirates had never experienced such brutal bombardment on ordinary days and had already been frightened by the bombardment.
At this moment, following Zhang Huai's order, small boats came towards the island at an extremely fast speed. Soldiers holding firecrackers squatted in front of the boat. As the boat swayed slightly, the boat docked at the edge of the island, and
At this moment, a dozen pirates with red eyes and fierce looks gathered on the shore, howling and waving their weapons, rushed towards them.
bang, bang, bang
Along with a violent sound of firecrackers, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and at least dozens of firecrackers were fired at the top of the dozen or so small boats, and the pirates who rushed up brandishing weapons were seen.
He fell directly to the ground.
As for the remaining pirates, they were surrounded by soldiers who jumped off the ship in the blink of an eye. In just a few breaths, no matter how fierce the pirates were, they could not withstand being surrounded by several times the number of soldiers. In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded by soldiers who jumped off the boat.
He lost his life in between.
As the pirates who dared to fight and kill were eliminated one by one, in just a short time, hundreds of soldiers had all boarded the island and controlled the situation. On the treasure ship, Zhang Huai and other naval generals saw this scene
He couldn't help but nodded secretly, with a look of satisfaction on his face.
But at this moment, a small boat was seen approaching at an extremely fast speed. It was the reconnaissance boat that had been released in advance and scattered around for reconnaissance.
A sentry stood on the bow of the ship and looked up at the treasure ship, which was several stories high. He said loudly: "Sir, a ship is coming from a distance. The flag is that of Zhao Shoubei. Brothers are already leading it.
.”
Zhang Huai couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this, and was slightly surprised. Zhao Kang was left in the Navy Yamen to take charge of him. Normally, if there was no urgent matter, he would not go to sea to look for him.
After all, the sea is not as good as the land. If there is no specific location on this vast sea, it is not an easy task to find someone. In this case, Zhao Kang went to sea in person, which is obviously something important.
.
At this moment, Zhang Huai could vaguely see the small boat flying the navy flag in the distance coming quickly.
Gradually, through the telescope, the situation on the ship could be seen. When Zhang Huai saw a few familiar figures, his expression changed slightly and he exclaimed: "It turned out to be the general."
Now that Li Huan has been conferred the title of Mighty General by the Emperor, and the governor of the three armies, theoretically speaking, Li Huan, the Mighty General, has jurisdiction over all military affairs involving the Ming Dynasty. From this point alone, we can see that the Emperor has great regard for Li Huan.
trust.
Soon the boat approached. When the vertical ladder was lowered, Li Huan and others successfully boarded the treasure ship. Zhang Huai and others immediately stepped forward to salute Li Huan and said: "I will pay my respects to the general!"
Li Huan waved his hands, nodded slightly and said with a smile: "No need to be polite, get up quickly!"
It can be said that most of the naval generals were selected by Li Huan. He was no stranger to Li Huan, but he was not too restrained at this time.
After getting up, Zhang Huai said to Li Huan with a smile on his face: "A few days ago, I heard that the general was conducting an inspection at the Ship Division of Quanzhou City. I never thought that he would be here so soon."
Li Huan looked at the navy soldiers on the island in the distance who were busy gathering the pirates on the island. He glanced at Zhang Huai and others and said, "How is it? How is the training of the navy? Are you ready for a battle?"
Hearing Li Huan's question, Zhang Huaidang looked solemn and said: "General, don't worry, the general will be practicing every day, and the navy officers and soldiers will not dare to slack off. Now they are absolutely capable of fighting against any enemy."
Fight." Li Huan nodded with satisfaction and said: "Yes, it's good to have this confidence. I once boasted to Your Majesty that I would build an invincible maritime fleet for our Ming Dynasty, and you are this one.
The seeds of the Armada, there will be more treasure ships in the future
As well as large and small ships joining the navy, how much combat power the navy can exert will depend on the abilities of you generals who lead the army."
Many people showed excitement on their faces. Since they were selected by Li Huan to join the navy, these generals naturally hope that the strength of the navy will become stronger and stronger.
They had also heard about Li Huan's plan to build a powerful navy. It is said that Li Huan once said that he would build a navy with hundreds of treasure ships and thousands of large and small auxiliary ships within three years.
Now hearing what Li Huan said, how could everyone not be excited? After all, all fools know that such a huge fleet, not to mention other things, at least requires a lot of generals and soldiers.
And as people like them who were valued by Li Huan from the beginning, as long as they can show their abilities now, they will definitely be promoted step by step in the future.
"My subordinates will surely live up to the general's expectations!"
More than a dozen generals bowed to Li Huan, with excited expressions on their faces. The naval fleet returned to the port, and dozens of large and small ships entered the port in an orderly manner. Everything seemed so smooth, which can be seen on weekdays.
It definitely took some training.
As the saying goes, "Knowing the slightest thing", Li Huan could see the training results of the navy just by looking at these, at least it can be regarded as having some combat power.
Naturally, Li Huan came here to check out the training of the navy. After all, he invested a lot of effort in the navy. In order to build a big ship, he spent at least millions of taels of silver. If it comes to the navy officers and soldiers by then,
If it's all a mess, it would be a joke if there are only powerful ships but the navy officers and men are vulnerable.
Nanyang, Sumatra old port
As the hometown of the Ming Dynasty Old Port Xuanwei Division, although the Old Port Xuanwei Division only existed in Nanyang for more than forty years, with the cessation of several large-scale expeditions to the West by the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty established the Old Port on Sumatra Island
The Xuanwei Division was also defeated by Manchu Boyi. So far, the Xuanwei Division in the old port no longer exists. However, because Zheng He went to the West several times to promote the mighty national power of the Ming Dynasty, and the Xuanwei Division in the old port has existed for decades, it can be found in Nanyang.
Said it left a deep mark.
Today, the old port of Sumatra still gathers a large number of Chinese. As an important maritime port, there has always been no shortage of Chinese merchant ships. And this year, with the opening of the sea by the Ming Dynasty, the number of merchant ships heading south can be said to have doubled.
As for the Old Port, this port located near the Strait of Malacca has once again become prosperous.
Hundreds of large and small merchant ships can be seen in the huge port, almost 90% of which are merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty. Many Western-style ships can also be seen.
In the Old Port, in a castle that was obviously somewhat Western-style, several blond men were gathering together, their eyes falling on a companion.
Today's Old Port connects the East and the West, but in this era, the only country that truly entered the Southeast Asia on a large scale was Portugal. As a maritime power that emerged after the Dutch, the coachmen of the sea, Portugal's power at sea was extremely powerful.
Portugal tried its best to open up the eastern route. After many years of hard work, it finally took root in the land of Nanyang. Through a series of overt and covert manipulations, it controlled some small countries in the land of Nanyang to a certain extent.
Compared with Portugal, which was striving to expand externally, the Ming Dynasty has been in a state of contraction since the Yongle Dynasty. If it were not for Li Huan's intrusion, it would not take many years for Malacca, the maritime hub connecting the east and the west, to fall.
into the hands of Westerners.
What followed was that the hegemons in the West, such as Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, who emerged based on the sea, gradually encroached on the East and threatened the maritime security of the East.
Although the Portuguese power in Nanyang has not yet reached its peak, these Portuguese are wary of the sudden increase in the Minghai Business News.
You must know that the number of merchants in the Ming Dynasty has always been so small. Now the sudden increase must mean that the attitude of the Ming Dynasty towards sea trade has undergone earth-shaking changes. This can be confirmed from the information they gathered from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty.
Especially after learning that the Ming Dynasty had relaxed its maritime ban and encouraged maritime merchants to go to sea and exchange goods, these Portuguese people who were extremely thirsty for and favored the Ming Dynasty products did not have that much enthusiasm.
What a joy, but a bit of a crisis.
The people gathered here at this moment are the real powerful figures of Portugal in Nanyang. Although they are not the officially stationed governors of Portugal, these people regard Nanyang as Portuguese territory, and encourage domestic governors to be stationed in Nanyang, especially in Nanyang.
It is the Strait of Malacca, an important transportation channel, that is in our hands.
The Sivens family was born as pirates hundreds of years ago, but now they are earls conferred by the King of Portugal. They are nobles with high status. Among these people, they are the most distinguished and one of the initiators of this gathering. At this time
Count Sivens glanced at the few people present. These people either controlled a fleet or were powerful men wearing pirate skins. Anyway, they were able to come to the land of Nanyang in this era. It can be said that there is absolutely nothing mediocre about these people.
generation.
Xivensi slowly said: "Everyone, the large-scale movement of Ming caravans southward will definitely not be conducive to our control of the Strait of Malacca, a maritime traffic artery, in the long run. Please tell us how we should deal with it?"
No one is a fool. Now that they have controlled the Strait of Malacca, they can levy shipping tax on merchant ships passing through the Strait of Malacca. It can be said that they are sitting on a golden mountain.
If it were the past, that would be fine. No matter how unwilling the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were, without the support of the court behind them, they could only pay the money obediently.
But now that a large number of maritime traders are sailing to Southeast Asia, as long as the Ming Dynasty is not blind, sooner or later it will notice Malacca, which blocks the throat of maritime traffic between the East and the West.
Whether Portugal can still control the Strait of Malacca at that time depends on the wishes of the Ming Dynasty.
This is what worries Sivens and the people present. Eugenes, who had a beard on his face and his skin was chapped by the sea breeze, said to Sivens: "Earl Sivens, you invite everyone to come today.
, I guess there is some way to deal with it. In that case, you might as well tell us and discuss it together."
Although the other people did not speak, they all nodded towards Count Sivens.
Count Xivensi's eyes flashed with brilliance and he said: "Now we can either pray that the Ming Dynasty's court will not turn its attention to the Southeast Asian lands. As long as there are people in the country who have a long-term vision, it is absolutely impossible for them to allow such important maritime places as Malacca.
We have it in hand"
A blond woman with a charming face chuckled when she heard this and said: "Count Sivens, what if the people of the Ming Dynasty are really short-sighted? After all, their king strictly prohibited sea trade in the past, so it is impossible for them to really focus their eyes on this place.
"If you ask me, we are just too worried." "Scarlett, I heard that your men have arrested many Chinese women as prostitutes. Aren't you worried that the Ming people will come and cause trouble for you?"
When Scarlett heard this, a cold light flashed in her eyes and she said: "I have never arrested anyone, everything was done voluntarily by them."
Eugenes on the side looked at Scarlett who was showing off her beauty and grinned. A greedy look flashed in his eyes and said: "Don't be afraid, little Scarlett, as long as we are here, those Ming people can't even think of taking her away."
The Strait of Malacca is taken away from us. This is a golden waterway like a golden mountain. Even if we risk our lives, we must keep it for our Kingdom of Portugal. For this reason, we will not hesitate to fight!
Count Sivens glanced at the others calmly and said, "What do you think?"
The one-eyed man with a small skeleton hanging between his neck said in a hoarse voice: "Count Xivensi, you should know that as long as the Ming people do not send a large army, it is not difficult to protect the Strait of Malacca with our strength. As for the
Explain whether the Chinese will send a large army and how to respond when the time comes. That is what the king and the gentlemen in the country have to consider."
Grinning, the one-eyed man said to Earl Sivens: "So it is best for the earl to inform the country in detail about the situation here, and it is best to ask the gentlemen in the country to dispatch a group of warships. After all, it is better to prepare early.
That's right."
Many people had expressions of approval on their faces when they heard this. Now Portugal can be said to be at the peak of its national power, with thousands of ships at sea, and it even signed the Tor Agreement with Spain, which is also a maritime overlord.
The Treaty of Desilias divided the world into two parts, with each family occupying one side.
Perhaps in the eyes of later generations, the combined area of the two countries is not
It is so incredible that a small Western country with an area of over one million square kilometers and a population of only tens of millions has the courage to carve up the world.
However, in this era, regardless of the Ming Dynasty, the oldest empire in the East, and not caring about overseas affairs, looking at the entire world, Spain and Portugal, the two great maritime powers, really have the power to carve up the world.
Even Britain, which was later known as the Empire on which the sun never sets, was trembling when facing Spain or Portugal in this era, unable to fight them. It is precisely because Portugal has such strength at sea that people like Count Sivens can
Even though they knew that Ming Dynasty was a big country in the East, they still wanted to firmly control the Strait of Malacca. In order to prevent Ming Dynasty from competing for control of the Strait of Malacca, they did not hesitate to seek help from the country.
Earl Sivens just pondered for a moment and then nodded: "You are right, I will personally ask for help from the country. I think the king's temperament will definitely support us strongly and will not sit back and watch as our country has spent a lot of effort to control it.
The Strait of Malacca fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty."
Scarlett on the side suddenly said: "While asking for help from His Majesty the King, we can also ask for help from the Governor-General of India, Afonso de Albuquerque. If the Governor-General is willing to send reinforcements, then we can
The strength in Malacca will be greatly increased. Even if the Ming Dynasty wants to compete with our country, it must also measure whether it is our opponent!"
[After staying with me in the hospital for a week, I finally went home. Sorry for the unstable update! 】