I want to be emperor

Chapter 590 Westward and Southward

The Navy of the Great Chu Empire, Commander of the Indian Ocean Escort Task Force, Vice Admiral Zhong Lianggong, was on the command platform at the stern of the ship, pointing forward with a large monocular telescope dedicated to watchmen.

At this time, the fleet is already at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, so you must be very careful when sailing here.

Because here is no longer a vast sea, but a narrow strait, especially there are many islands at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, which makes this sea area more complicated.

Looking at the looming island and the land in the north, Lieutenant General Zhong Lianggong frowned slightly: "It seems that there is still a need to build a base here, otherwise it would be too unsafe to enter and exit the strait."

"Once we break into the strait, and the enemy's fleet blocks us here, we will never return!"

Rear Admiral Wei Yuanqing, the chief of staff of the fleet beside him, also said: "This place is indeed very important, especially the Singapore Strait in front, which is extremely narrow. The width of the strait is not even [-] kilometers. At the same time, there are many islands around, and the sea area is extremely complicated. In such a small place, the mobility and combat of the large fleet will also be affected to a certain extent, but the galleys can play a big role!"

"When I was in the Strategy Department, I submitted the corresponding report. Let's not talk about other places in Nanyang, but the Strait of Malacca must be controlled, and to control the Strait of Malacca, you must first control the Strait of Singapore."

"And to control the Singapore Strait, we must control these places. One is the easternmost point in the direction of the Malay Peninsula in the northeast of us, which is Singapore City. Although this place is inconspicuous now, it has an extremely important strategic role."

"In addition to Singapore, in order to ensure complete control of the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, the enemy must interfere with the Strait of Singapore, or prevent the enemy from bypassing the Strait of Singapore and entering and exiting the Strait of Malacca from other channels, so this place also needs to be controlled here."

Wei Yuanqing pointed to Batam Island on the opposite bank of Singapore Island on the map and said, "This island and several surrounding islands are as important as Singapore Island to the north!"

"If the empire wants to control the Strait of Malacca, it must take this area, not just one or two of the islands, but all the islands at the eastern end of the strait!"

Looking at the area drawn by Admiral Wei Yuan on the map, Fleet Commander Zhong Lianggong was a little speechless... Damn, people who don't know heard what you said and thought you were talking about a few small broken islands, but... Nima, the area you mentioned This place is almost the only remaining territory of the Kingdom of Johor!
The Kingdom of Johor is quite capable in the area of ​​the Strait. Although it was defeated by the Portuguese before and was forced to retreat to the eastern end of the Malay Peninsula and the Liau Islands, it has been able to survive under the eyes of the Portuguese and the Dutch until now, and has a strong control. The Singapore Strait has also launched several counterattacks against Malacca over the past few years...

Not to mention how strong it is, but it is somewhat capable.

At least if the Great Chu Empire Navy, which came from afar, wants to rely on this fleet to launch a war, the result will be terrible...

Besides, the Kingdom of Johor will also look for allies... The Dutch who control the southern Java Island and the eastern part of Sumatra are the natural allies of the Kingdom of Johor!

Before the Dutch wanted to pull the Kingdom of Johor to launch a counterattack against the Portuguese in Malacca...but they were resisted by the Portuguese.

If the Great Chu Empire wants to control all the areas east of the Strait of Malacca, it will basically take over the entire Johor Kingdom... and the Dutch will never sit idly by.

Besides, with the current ability of the Great Chu Empire to project overseas troops, if there is no supply base in the middle, it is not easy to go all the way south from the mainland and then play landing operations!

Lieutenant General Zhong Lianggong glanced at Wei Yuanqing, and couldn't help but sighed. These people who came from the ranks of staff officers were all like this, and each of them spoke very loudly, and would destroy other people's countries at every turn.

However, he did not object to Wei Yuanqing's words, but said: "The Strait of Malacca must be under full control, but it also needs a process. , then we can continue to send more troops to the strait in the future... At that time, it will not be difficult to control the strait!"

Lieutenant General Zhong Lianggong also belongs to the staunch southward expansion faction in China, firmly supports the capture and control of the Strait of Malacca, expands the empire's sphere of influence in the Nanyang region, and uses this as a basis to enter the Indian Ocean, set foot in the Indian Peninsula, West Asia and even the east coast of Africa trade.

It's just that his idea is to take it step by step, first to plan for a foothold, and then gradually expand the control area, and finally take the whole of Malacca into his pocket.

Instead of launching a large-scale war directly in a short period of time to destroy the Johor Kingdom, and even fight with the Dutch!
The situation in the Nanyang region is relatively complicated, and the empire's overseas troop projection is also limited. It is difficult to engage in a battle to determine Quankun, so you have to take your time.

In other words, not only Lieutenant General Zhong Lianggong, but most of the high-level navy support the southward movement.

Of course, this support does not mean that we support launching an offensive directly from the land to capture places such as Vietnam and Myanmar. That is all about the army and has nothing to do with their navy.

Their navy directly seized several important places in the South China Sea, established a naval base, expanded the scope of the navy's activities, and expanded the interests of the empire in the South China Sea and even the Indian Ocean region. Only in this way can the navy's influence be further expanded.

On the other hand, the army is a staunch westward movement... Dreaming of entering the Western Regions, overthrowing Jungar, taking Kazakhstan, expulsing Tsarist Russia, annexing Mobei Mongolia by the way... and finally dominating Central Asia.

Why?Because this series of operations are all ground wars, the army is the only participant, as for the navy, how far can it go...

The army and the navy, after the reunification of the empire, there has been a huge gap in the interests of each other, so in the past two years, the navy and the army have become more and more displeased with each other...

In the past two years, the army has been tossing about things in the west, established Kangba Province, Kangxi Province, and Qinghai Province, and brought up the surrender of the Heshuo Special Department. With the cooperation of the Heshuo Special Department, it was almost in a peaceful way. Recovered Qingkang plateau area.

Now the army is busy in the Qingkang plateau area, especially the Kham area, in order to completely smash the local chieftain and serfdom system that has lasted for thousands of years, establish a new administrative rule, and fully implement the integration policy.

The Great Chu Empire, or China, has been very good at this kind of integration policy since ancient times. The military estimated that Chengshun could complete a comprehensive and thorough bandit suppression operation in the Qingkang area 13 years ago.

The Ministry of Ethics and Ethics is also very optimistic. Before Chengshun 13 years ago, the entire Qingkang area will complete the basic reform of rites and education.

Well, the reform of ethics and the military's suppression of bandits are basically carried out simultaneously.

Because the troops of the Great Chu Empire went there, Hanfu and Chinese will be promoted there, and the local culture will be thoroughly baptized from the inside to the outside, and the local serfs who have stayed thousands of years ago will be guided to integrate into the industrial civilization of the new era. .

And when the affairs in the Qingkang area are over, it is estimated that the army will consider entering the Yarkand Khanate and directly confronting the Zhungeer Ministry.

The army has its own plan, and the navy naturally can't fall behind... This is why the navy will send an entire fleet to escort the merchant fleet of the Nanyang Trading Company.

Escorting and exploring routes are one aspect, and the navy has other ideas, which is to find a way to find a foothold in Nanyang.

It's not the kind of a trading post in a port controlled by another country, but a foothold that is directly controlled by the Great Chu Empire and can garrison troops, um, or a military base.

But, this kind of thing is not easy!

On the one hand, you want to rob land, whether it is robbing indigenous people or robbing other colonial countries, it will cause strong resistance.

Secondly, all fools know that once the military power of the Great Chu Empire is allowed to gain a military base in Nanyang and gain a firm foothold, it will bring great benefits to all countries, whether they are natives, Dutch, Portuguese, or Spaniards. deadly threat...

Well, in the eyes of outsiders, the Great Chu Empire these days is not a harmless rabbit to humans and animals, but an extremely powerful oriental dragon!
There was no military base before, and no matter how powerful the army of the Great Chu Empire was, it was impossible to run across the entire Nanyang Ocean to play a large-scale cross-sea landing...

But once the Great Chu Empire has a foothold in Nanyang... then it will be completely different.

When the time comes, the Great Chu Empire army that will appear in the Nanyang region will not be a few battleships, but tens of thousands of large-scale corps.

Just thinking about this scene can make the scalps of the Dutch, Portuguese and even a group of indigenous countries tingle!
Under such circumstances, no one would like to see the Great Chu Empire obtain any military bases in the South China Sea, especially in the Straits of Malacca.

If you act rashly, it is likely to cause joint opposition from the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Kingdom of Johor, the Kingdom of Aceh and other countries in the Strait of Malacca!

No... just look at the few Dutch warships following the fleet!

And ahead, the fleet of the Kingdom of Johor is also ready... It is said to escort the fleet of the Great Chu Empire, to prevent those short-sighted pirates from coming to disturb the escort operation of the Great Chu Empire Navy, but in fact it is just in case...

Lieutenant General Zhong Lianggong also expected this, seeing that the Dutch united with the Kingdom of Johor as if they were facing a formidable enemy, he did not intend to provoke them.

"Everyone is ordered to go on, restrain yourself, don't provoke, and pass the Singapore Strait safely!"

This trip is to escort, explore the road by the way, formulate the route chart along the way, collect the terrain, hydrology, military strength and other intelligence data of the target area, as for actually launching a military offensive and occupying a certain foothold, that is the follow-up thing.

You can't bring goods worth several million to fight, no, if something unexpected happens, it's not easy to explain to the country!
Ever since, under the tension of the Dutch and the Kingdom of Johor, the warships of the Great Chu Empire escorted the merchant fleet through the Singapore Strait and continued towards the Malacca port in the middle of the Malacca Strait.

After Da Chu's fleet left, both the Dutch and the Johor Kingdom breathed a sigh of relief.

Nima, these big Chu people put too much pressure on people!

Although the merchant fleet of the Great Chu Empire often passed through the Singapore Strait before, there were even cases of warships passing through the Singapore Strait to escort Malacca.

But before the entire fleet did not enter the Singapore Strait!
Because the situation in this area is complicated, in order to avoid over-stimulating the Dutch, the escort of the Great Chu Empire Navy in Nanyang was basically limited to the Nanyang waters, and the escort entering the Strait of Malacca was relatively restrained, often only sending a small number of warships Enter.

But today, this is the first time!
With multiple warships and multiple large armed merchant ships, this level of strength is enough to start a war in this area, and the Dutch can't help being cautious.

But then again, with today's move, the Great Chu Empire has basically written its strategic goal of getting involved in Nanyang directly on its face, and the rest is when to do it and how to do it.

In this regard, the Dutch are worried.

On the contrary, the Portuguese expressed their great welcome to the arrival of the Great Chu Empire, and took the initiative to send warships out of the port to meet them.

Because after the arrival of the fleet of the Great Chu Empire, it brought a large number of various weapons and equipment for trade, from matchlock guns, artillery to plate armor swords and spears, everything that one expects to find.

The current Portuguese defense pressure in Malacca is particularly high. At the same time, they are still fighting the Dutch on the island of Ceylon in the Indian Ocean.

When the Portuguese fought their own war of independence, the Dutch took the opportunity to seize the Portuguese's large overseas colonies. I will not talk about other places, but only the relatively important and important Ceylon Island and Malacca, which are the goals of the Dutch.

It's funny to say that the 30-year war in Europe is now in full swing. The Dutch just fought a war of independence with the Spaniards and gained de facto independent status, but they still haven't been widely recognized.

And the Portuguese are also fighting with the Spaniards and fighting for independence... Similarly, the Portuguese have not gained wide international recognition for their independent status so far.

In other words, they were actually annexed by Spain for a time, and then became independent. They belonged to the suffering brothers in Europe, and occasionally helped each other to relieve their own pressure.

But overseas the Dutch and the Portuguese are fighting each other again...

The reason for the emergence of this nonsense relationship is simply the interests between the native land and the colonies, which are actually inconsistent most of the time!
The colonial war between the Dutch and the Portuguese is not mentioned in other places, but only in India and Southeast Asia. This is actually a war between the Dutch East India Company and the Portuguese East India Company.

Strictly speaking, this is a commercial competition between private companies, but the competition is relatively intense, and the film is directly opened with battleships and guns...

In this commercial war, the Portuguese on the Ceylon Island side were retreating steadily, and the situation on the Malacca side was not much better. The year before last, they had just been attacked by the Dutch and the Kingdom of Johor, but they were defeated. Resisted.

Since the retreat in Macau, the Portuguese have increased their defenses against Malacca, an important stronghold in Southeast Asia. Even after some troops were subsequently deployed to reinforce Ceylon, the city of Malacca still retained a considerable number of troops.

Today, in the city of Malacca, there are still more than 600 Portuguese regular troops stationed. In addition to the local militia and the recruited indigenous troops, it is not a problem to have a force of 2000.

However, it is useless for someone to have weapons and equipment, and more importantly, supplies such as food and ammunition.

The Dutch hunted and killed the Portuguese ships everywhere, and the colonies such as Ceylon Island were also attacked by the Dutch, so the Portuguese in Malacca had no way to get support from the outside world.

In this way, the trade from the Great Chu Empire is particularly important.

You want to ask why the Dutch have gone to war with the Portuguese and blocked Malacca to prevent Portuguese ships from passing through. Why do they still sit and watch the merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire head to Malacca...

Well, this question... the Dutch actually opposed it, but the opposition was invalid!

The Great Chu Empire's policy of opening up the sea clearly stated that the empire is playing free trade... I, the Great Chu Empire, can do business with whoever it wants to do business with, and no one has the right to interfere.

The Dutch sent a letter of protest to Jinling at that time. The minister of counsel on duty glanced at it, and then instructed the Department of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Ethics and Education to reply to the letter. The letter was full of crackling classical Chinese, and the Dutch said they could not understand it... After the translation, I finally understood it, and then my face became ugly...

The meaning of this reply is actually not complicated, that is: if you dare to interfere with the free trade of the empire, the empire will send a fleet to destroy you...

In the words of Yuan Gaofeng, the minister in charge of industrial, commercial and economic affairs, it is: even if the king of heaven comes, I can't interfere with the free trade of the country, let alone the mere Lan barbarians!
(End of this chapter)