open sea

Chapter 608 Journey

The battle at sea did not affect the Santa Caterina off the coast of Mogadishu. This big black ship with four masts did not raise its huge sails and sail south until the Lina, which was emitting black smoke, fled from the sea. A little bit of revenge for the Yinyu.

"Mogadishu is not safe. Call the shore sailors on board and we sail west to Malindi."

The aristocratic captain on the bow corridor was named Jiaao, who had a surname that he could not remember dating back to the Roman rule. Accompanied by his order, the nimble young watchman quickly climbed up to the top-mast watchtower, blowing a small Waving the flag belonging to the captain.

The red cross is painted on the square flag on a white background. Their captain belongs to the Portuguese Avis Knights, but it is different from those monks and knights similar to the Jesuits.

Although Canada's surname is very long, the noble origin of the captain of this huge warship is not as pure as his name. His family does not belong to the traditional Iberian Peninsula nobles. Tracing back to the tradition, his ancestors hundreds of years ago A group of hired Norman warriors.

Impurity of birth means that the ancestors are rarely reused, and it also means that the descendants have a longer name than other nobles and have to be more self-reliant. In the golden age of sailing, this made risks and opportunities coexist.

Jia’ao’s father and uncle used to colonize Brazil with Da Gama’s fleet, and successively started Brazilian wood and sugar business locally, bringing back wealth for the king, so that Jia’ao’s generation can be reused—in fact, it’s not really reuse, sailing Far more dangerous than land warfare, land warfare is a purposeful reduction of personnel, while sailing does not know when several ships will be damaged.

Just as it was Zhang Juzheng who really held power in the Ming Empire rather than Chen Mu, who was powerful all over the world, the nobles who were really important in the Kingdom of Portugal were those nobles who controlled the overall situation in the country. Captain Na, this is enough to earn him unparalleled respect.

After inquiring about the battle situation of the captain of the Lina, the sailors on the beach ran across the long beach to board the ship with wooden boxes in their hands. In the end, some cargo and sailors were left in the city of Mogadishu. Two warships, one large and one small, headed southwest Set sail along the coastline.

In the captain's cabin decorated with traditional precious ornaments from Brazil and Portugal, Jiaao put on the whole set of laminated plate armor while smoking a pipe under the service of his servants. The light helmet with brims was covered with a layer of black velvet. This set of armor After being built in Milan, it was sent to Lisbon for second decoration, and then it arrived in the hands of Canada and Australia in Brazil. Now it is worn by him across the land of Africa.

His entourage is a Portuguese-North African half-breed, with a chain mail cape over the padded jacket, and a high-topped helmet commonly used by Portuguese junior officers. An epee with a leather sheath is exquisitely crafted, and a dagger is tied around the waist.

The Portuguese mixed blood whose ancestry is not in the Iberian Peninsula, especially the African mixed blood has played an increasingly important role in Portugal’s outward military expansion. Their clothing and equipment are the same as those of their European counterparts who were born in the Iberian Peninsula.

In the expansion strategy of Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula, assimilation and rule of colonies through blood assimilation is their top priority for hundreds or even hundreds of years. Under such a decision, some North African Portuguese have even become military leaders. Senior commander, occupying an increasingly important position in East Africa and Brazil.

After putting on the armor, Jiaao looked at the black coat with the Knights' coat of arms in the closet. The coat was supposed to be worn outside the armor, but the hot weather forced him to give up this idea.

Then, he covered the books on the table with his thick hairy hands. It was a copy of the situation in Asia reported to the king by the Jesuits and the Governor General of Goa. It was personally revised one by one by Canada and Australia. Completed into a book, it covers most of the information from the Tuen Mun naval battle to Chen Mu's voyage to Nanyang.

"The book prepared by your lord can be used this time." The Portuguese-African squire Salmen stood by with a sword, with a reserved smile on his face, he didn't seem to care about the naval battle that cost them a frigate before, and said: " Ming people are here."

Jiaao's thin Norman blood gave him a thick beard. Hearing this, he smiled, Su Rong shook his head and said: "I don't want to meet Ming people in this way, I never thought that I would meet in Morocco Gadisha meets the army of the Ming monarch.”

"Military, what the Silverfish and Lina encountered seems to be just a ship of Eastern pirates? If it's the Santa Caterina, they can be easily repelled."

Jiaao sighed, and pointed out to his subordinates: "In the letter written by Bishop Carneiro of Macau to the Governor of Goa last year, he mentioned that if you encounter pirates from the Ming Dynasty, don't doubt that there must be more behind him." There are many Ming troops. Their pirates must rely on General Chen to survive, and the pirates have arrived here, which means that the Ming army is not far away."

"From Manila to Malacca, they have been accelerating their expansion, but the nobles in the country think that they only need to monopolize the oriental spice market to avoid conflicts with the Ming Dynasty—this is impossible."

"The pirates of the Ming Dynasty will harass the commercial stations in Africa. When the warships of the Ming Dynasty sail in the Indian Ocean in the east, their merchants can trade in this sea area. When their merchants come, we will slowly withdraw from this area. All the trade in the sea, even though the spices would still go to Lisbon, the high cost of trade would make it unprofitable."

The fast sailing of the warship made the cabin shake slightly, Salmon knew little about all this, he just nodded in agreement: "Then the sugar factory in Brazil will become more and more important to His Royal Highness, it doesn't seem to be a bad thing. "

"You don't understand, everything looks like this at the beginning, but in the end it must end in war."

Jia'ao didn't say any more, and walked out of the captain's cabin with his heavy sword in his hand, and heard the young lookout under the top-sail shout loudly: "Captain, there is a ship following us, it's blue, it's hard to find!"

Blue ship!
"Ignore him, keep going, we'll be safe in Malindi!"

Having said that, Jiaao still walked towards the open-air corridor at the stern with firm and unflustered steps, and looked back. He could vaguely see a blue shadow that seemed to be connected with the sea and sky from a very long distance.

According to the captain of the Lina, the blue open ship sailed very fast. Although it was very similar in length to the Santa Caterina, the shape of the ship was much narrower, unlike the Clark ship which had a keel as its axis. become circular.

The battle-tested knight had a guess about the purpose of the blue open ship, and the other party was following, apparently waiting for help, which meant that his judgment was accurate, and there were indeed other ships nearby.

"Boys cheer up, this will be an exhausting journey, let the Lina go first, and let the defenders of Malindi prepare for battle!"

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)