The water in Palk Strait is not very deep, and there are many places where you can anchor.
Two large steam-auxiliary sailing ships were anchored in a shallow sea far away from the main channel.
A large number of dhows suddenly appeared on the calm sea.
These small boats surrounded the two merchant ships like a school of fish.
Such pirate ships often appear in this strait.
They belong to the Tamil people, and they usually do some offshore shipping or fishing.
But once someone discovers prey, these people will gather under the call of certain people.
Form a pirate team like a wolf pack.
Those sloops with the help of oars can run much faster than merchant ships.
They usually ignore the output of self-defense weapons on merchant ships, surround them and take advantage of their numerical advantage to eat the merchant ships they are interested in, including their people and cargo.
But things are a little weird today.
The two sailing ships with steam-assisted power were still anchored there, not caring about the pirates who were surrounding them.
It was dusk at this time, and the sky was gradually getting dark.
The sunset over the Indian Ocean is uniquely beautiful.
Even the sea seemed to become a little quieter with the arrival of dusk.
The sea seems to be alive and has to rest even at night.
Zhang Deshuai placed a deck chair on the deck of the merchant ship.
He was wearing a sleeveless white cotton shirt embroidered with flowers, his arms were resting on the armrests of the recliner, and his fingers were tapping the armrests of the recliner rhythmically.
His left leg was on a wooden barrel, very relaxed and comfortable.
The sailors around him walked around him, as if they didn't want to get close to this man.
Most of the faces on the boat are Chinese, and they speak with Fujian and Cantonese accents. They rarely communicate with each other in Mandarin. It can be seen that most of the sailors on the boat are from the same hometown.
The captain was a Portuguese man with a big beard.
"Dear boss, are you sure these dark Tamils here are not pirates? I think their formation looks like pirates!" Antonio ran to Zhang Deshuai with some worry and asked.
As the captain of the Peony, Antonio is very dedicated.
His boss is actually a shipping company affiliated with China's eastern Guangdong region.
It was this company that took Antonio in when he went bankrupt and lived in Macau.
Since then, Antonio has been serving the company.
The Peony and the merchant ship Narcissus next to it are both new ships that were launched just over a year ago.
They came from the Chicken Coop Shipyard built by the Renaissance Army in cooperation with the French.
These are two 3,500-ton steam-auxiliary powered sailing ships.
It specializes in European routes, transports Chinese specialties to the Indian Ocean coast and Europe, and then brings back local specialties.
Antonio has been sailing the Indian Ocean route for the first half of his life, so he is very familiar with the Tamil pirates here.
These Tamil pirates are not very strong, but they know how to seize the opportunity.
And they are also very united and can gather a large number of boats in a short time.
As long as the prey is chosen by them, it will be difficult to escape from their clutches.
Portugal was the first country to colonize India.
Hundreds of years ago, Vasco da Gama opened a route from Europe to India, and the Portuguese fought against the kingdom established by the Tamils.
So Antonio doesn't have a good impression of these Tamils.
"Mr. Captain, you have to learn to trust others. Apart from God, do you have to doubt other people's words? Wouldn't your life be too tiring?" Zhang Deshuai said.
Zhang Deshuai does look a bit handsome. He is the director of the India Department of the Ministry of Intelligence.
However, with his typical Chinese appearance, he could not travel unimpeded in the Indian region. Therefore, he had been hanging out on merchant ships traveling to the Indian region all year round.
Zhang Deshuai also had his intelligence headquarters in India, but it was in Goa under Portuguese control.
At the same time, the Renaissance Army also set up a representative office in Goa. Therefore, many Chinese people gathered here.
If Zhang Deshuai wants to carry out intelligence work in India, he must recruit a group of local Indians.
In other places, the British control is very strict and it is difficult to find opportunities.
It was also difficult for the Indian natives under the British rule to guarantee their loyalty.
So Kong Deshuai recruited these Catholic Indians in Goa to serve him.
Then they are deployed to various places in India through commercial activities.
This meeting with Tamil people was not the first. This was the line that Zhang Deshuai finally got in touch with.
Although Tamil people in southwestern India generally have dark skin and short stature.
But they were very unruly. The most intense resistance to the British was here.
In order to connect with these senior Tamil people.
Zhang Deshuai actually deliberately led a merchant ship to be robbed by the other party.
After being robbed, Zhang Deshuai introduced himself to his family and finally met Puwekili, the leader of the Tamil resistance.
This Puwekili was a high-caste noble general. His men commanded tens of thousands of Tamil warriors.
The areas of tropical rainforest that the British could not control were all under his control.
The British's control over the tropical regions of southern India was never very secure.
The climate here is hot and diseases are rampant. It is difficult for the British to adapt to fighting here.
Each battle will cause a large number of non-combat casualties.
Therefore, the British colonial authorities indirectly supported some local kings to control this place.
The Tuwang supported by the British was no match for the local forces.
They could only rely on British support to control some major coastal ports.
These Tamil pirates were actually controlled by the rebels.
They are the pocketbook of Puwili and the hub of communication with the outside world.
This was how the first meeting between Zhang Deshuai and Puwekili was achieved.
On board that ship were various weapons that the Tamils desperately needed.
All of them were given to the Tamil people by Zhang Deshuai as meeting gifts.
Later, Zhang Deshuai delivered a large amount of weapons to the Tamils through smuggling at sea.
Puweili was pretty good at it, always using gold or ivory to pay the price to Zhang Deshuai.
The British have always implemented a strict arms blockade system against them.
Most other European countries are unwilling to offend the British, so they generally do not sell arms to them.
Only the Baath Army, which wants to cause trouble in India, will deliver weapons to them.
The densely packed single-masted boats surrounded the two merchant ships.
A dark, strong man was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of light yellow trousers, and a hand-width strip of cloth wrapped around his waist.
The cloth strip is tied with a rhino leather belt, and a scimitar without a scabbard is stuck on the edge of the belt.
"Hahaha, nice to meet you, my old friend." When Puweili saw Zhang Deshuai, he laughed and opened his arms to greet Zhang Deshuai.
Zhang Deshuai also changed his lazy look at this time.
He stood up, with a friendly smile on his face, and hugged the Tamil leader, who was half a head shorter than himself and had black curly hair.
Although I can't stand the smell of this Tamil.
But Zhang Deshuai had to do this and do as the Romans do. This was a way for the other party to show friendship.
Think of it as dedicating yourself to your work!
Zhang Deshuai always comforts himself like this in his heart.
"Dear leader, I didn't expect you to come in person. I thought you would send a capable subordinate!" Zhang Deshuai said.
"Old friend, you have already said that you have something important to discuss, so of course I have to come in person. I definitely believe what you say."
"Let me see what you brought me this time first?" Powkili couldn't wait.
This time came two large merchant ships, obviously carrying a lot of stuff.
"Okay, big boss, please come with me." Zhang Deshuai led the way and took Puweili to the back of the deck, where there were some wooden boxes of different sizes.
Zhang Deshuai pried open a long box nearly two meters long, took out a brand new musket filled with gun oil and exuded an industrial atmosphere, and said: "Big boss, please look, this gun is different from the ones sold to you before.
, this is a rifled rifle only equipped by the British army now, with a range of four to five hundred meters, which is much farther than the range of those stupid British flintlock rifles."
Powkili took over the rifle smoothly, held the butt of the gun in one hand and turned the gun upside down, pointing the muzzle at himself.
Then he squinted his eyes and looked at the barrel carefully, and the rifling inside was indeed clearly visible.
He straightened the gun again, put the butt of the gun on his shoulder and made a shooting posture.
"Well, this is a good gun!" Powkili praised.
Zhang Deshuai opened another box, which contained explosive bags tied with linen.
"Big boss, this is an explosive pack. It is very powerful. Just one can blow open the thick city gate. This is for you to attack the city." Zhang Deshuai pointed at the explosive pack and said.
"This place is a fuse. It can be ignited by just pulling it. There is no need to carry a special kind of fire. Such an explosive bag can level the deck of such a large ship with just one jump. And in order to increase the lethality, the explosives
There are also some iron pieces added to the bag. You can also use a trebuchet to deliver it to the enemy's city or battle formation." Zhang Deshuai made an explosion gesture while introducing it.
"Okay, okay, this thing is good!"
The British set up many small forts around the Tamil rebels in an attempt to block the Tamils in the jungle.
Every time they attacked these forts, the Tamils had to pay huge casualties. Now with this kind of explosive bag, as long as it is thrown into the British fort, it is very likely that the entire fort will be cleared at once.
Zhang Deshuai continued to open the box at the back.
"This is a compound crossbow, which is used by Tamil warriors in the jungle. Its sound is very light, and it is especially suitable for killing enemies from ambush."
"This grenade is lightweight, easy to carry, easy to use, and very lethal."
…
"Okay, great, my old friend, Mr. Zhang, you don't need to say anything, we want all these things." Powkili said.
"Big boss, my two ships are full of munitions, enough to fight a large-scale war." Zhang Deshuai said.
"Of course I bought them to use in the war. Are they meant to rust?" Puweili felt that Zhang Deshuai's words seemed to mean that he could not afford so many arms.
"Big boss, these things are prepared for you. And I will only charge you half of the price this time." Zhang Deshuai said.
"Oh, so does Mr. Zhang have any other conditions?" Puweili knew from what Zhang Deshuai said that he had something else to say.
"The conditions are not really conditions. Just like what the big boss said just now, these equipments are bought back to be used for fighting. My condition is that I hope that the big boss can launch a big war against the British as soon as possible.
war on a massive scale.”
"I hope to be able to deliver four more ships of arms to the big boss in Chennai in ten days, and this time we can pay on credit," Zhang Deshuai said.
Chennai was the center of the British-controlled southwest region and was also a holy land for the Tamils.
It is a shipping and economic center. Merchant ships returning from the East Indies usually rest in this port.
Among Indian cities controlled by the British, Chennai ranks among the top five.
Naturally, Purvekili wanted to occupy it. But in the past, their weapons were too poor and they could not attack the city of Chennai, which was guarded by the British army.
But things are different now. With this batch of arms in hand, it is entirely possible for Chennai to win.
But after taking it, how could they withstand the British counterattack?
"Big boss, I understand your concerns. Are you worried about the British counterattack?" Zhang Deshuai seemed to have noticed Powkili's concerns.
"Don't worry, the British are now concentrating all their troops to attack Dhaka, which is on the edge of Calcutta and is much more important than here."
"Moreover, if the commander-in-chief feels that it cannot be defended, he can completely occupy it and transfer the population and wealth to the interior." Zhang Deshuai was like a caring military strategist at this time, helping the Tamils from the bottom of his heart.
People plan.
ps: The first issue will be in 2022. Please support me from readers. Please vote!