open sea

Chapter 609
The Portuguese were not as hegemonic in Mogadishu as they said they were. They used trade as an excuse at first, and then they took advantage of it, as they did in Macau.

If you can take it down, you can plunder and rule here, if you can't take it down, you can restore the relationship and trade penetration.

They tried, but the tall stone city of Mogadishu made it impossible for them to succeed, and then built residential and trading stations on the coast as supply points along the way.

But Malindi, thousands of miles south of Mogadishu, is different. It was called Malin Kingdom and Malindi in the Ming Dynasty. In the 13th year of Yongle, it paid tribute to the auspicious unicorn, the giraffe, to Emperor Chengzu, and in the 14th year, it paid tribute to Fangwu.

Until AD 490, Da Gama led the fleet to Manbasa in the further south and was beaten by local Muslims due to trade competition. He sailed north to Marindi, which was in competition with Manbasa. The first military fortress was built by taking advantage of the division and competition among the East African countries, and the famous navigator Ahmad Ibn Majid in the Indian Ocean was found here.

With the help of Ahmed Ibn Majid, Vasco da Gama's fleet crossed the Indian Ocean in just 26 days and arrived in Calicut, the most prosperous port in southwestern India, from East Africa.

Marindi was the first armed fortress established by the Portuguese in East Africa. For a hundred years, they not only monopolized the trade, but also had sufficient local military power to protect the port. The means of commercial trade and military competition deepened their influence over the sea.

Before Lin Feng arrived, the northern part of the Indian Ocean was controlled by the native countries, and the routes near the equator were completely controlled by the Portuguese.

At this moment, they have five coastal fortresses on the East African coast east of the Cape of Good Hope, and have established good relations with the local tribes to obtain tens of thousands of allied troops.

It's just that at this time of year, the armed merchant ships on the coast were already loaded with cargo and set sail for Lisbon, which made Yang Ce's long pursuit look boring.

It is not the tedious voyage that is unbearable, but the spirit of the situation.

But Yang Ce has his own talent for resolving boredom.

Through the blurry binoculars, he saw the sails of the big black ship in front of him rising only a little, and he even found that the other party had removed the bottom sails on the way, which made the eyes of the pirate leader with military experience brighten. In the notes, I tried my best to record this simple and effective sail shape with a brush.

In addition, there are rope ladders for climbing up and down, coastal terrain, and mileage of sailing routes, all of which are recorded by him and put into the inside of the breastplate on his chest that was shot by the gun.

But apart from these self-entertaining things, Yang Ce, who hangs far behind the Santa Caterina at a slow speed, always looks worried when he looks at the big black ship ahead-the Santa Caterina's speed is faster than that of the Santa Caterina. The data he obtained while studying in the Martial Arts Hall was much faster. At this moment, the opponent deliberately slowed down, and the other smaller warship had disappeared. It was obvious that he was going to the front port to notify the defenders.

"It's been four days and thousands of miles, how far is it from the marin land you mentioned?" Sun Liu always seemed to have a bad look on his face, but at this time, this bad feeling was no longer directed at Yang Ce. He said, "The flying shark behind you Even if it goes well, it will take two days to catch up, so let's not rush to the door of other people's houses."

This is what Yang Ce was worried about. He shook his head and said, "If the black ship's purpose is Ma Lindi, and we have to sail like this for three days, if the flying shark can keep up, we can try to snatch it. If we can't keep up, we can only gone back."

After the Battle of the Mugudushu Sea Area, eight additional artillery pieces were added to the Baihu, not counting the two-pound cannon that was smashed by the shell, and the general Zhenshuo cannon, Portuguese bronze cannon, and Franco cannon that can fight have reached Fifteen doors, seventeen pairs of damaged or intact chain mail, six pairs of breastplates, fourteen matchlock guns, hundreds of long and short weapons, and a hand cannon with a strange shape that fired a pound of iron bullets were seized.

The combat ability has directly climbed to a higher level.

But his sailors were greatly reduced, and no one could even use the extra weapons, because more than a dozen men were assigned to control the captured Yinyu to the north to find the flying shark that Lin Afeng left outside to explore the way. Now there is only 29 people under.

Compared with Fuchuan, the more complicated sails bring faster speed, but also require more sailors for warships. A Fuchuan requires seven sailors to sail, while Lin Afeng's Flying Shark requires more sailors. Eighteen people.

This is what makes Yang Ce distressed. His ship can't fight at all now, not to mention winning or losing. He can't even think about it or try it. .

Even if the Flying Shark behind arrived in time, not enough sailors on his boat would make them disadvantageous in distributing the spoils after the victory...Yang Ce didn't want anything, he just wanted the big black boat.

But whether the boat can belong to him is not up to him. If Lin Feng wants to speak and want Lin Feng to give him the big boat, he must make achievements in this battle. Feng and many pirates are convinced.

"I have a solution."

Sun Liu turned his head and saw the idle and bored Yang Ce sticking his dagger in his back, leaving a neat handwriting on the ship's side. Sun Liu, who had been immersed in the disappointment of not being able to get the spoils, asked quickly: "What did you think of? ?”

"We have a lot of grain and cloth on board, and some gold and silver from Puyi." Yang Ce pointed to the smoke rising from the coast not far away, and said, "We often encounter fishing villages on the shore. The sages here said that the common people practiced shooting and practiced archery, and the custom is strong."

"I'll spend some money and hire some strong shooters in every fishing village along the way. When Flying Shark catches up, there may be 80 to [-] people."

Sun Liu sneered: "I still spend money to hire people. The strong men go ashore and take them captive, but they can't understand the language and orders. No matter how many people you take captive, it's useless."

"Always try, maybe they can understand the Portuguese language, and so can I." Yang Ce said, beckoning the helmsman to sail to the fishing village on the shore, and then said to Sun Liu: "We still have to give money and food, so that we can call They worked hard."

Although he said so, Yang Ce didn't think so in his heart. In his opinion, this was a good opportunity for him to recruit some of his cronies with legitimate purposes. If the people here could speak Portuguese, then all the pirates No leader can communicate with them, only himself.

Although he didn't plan to do anything, he couldn't always count on Lin Feng to dispatch pirates for him. In case of accidents in the future, those people would not agree with him.

Thinking of this, Yang Ce's gaze towards the fishing village became even hotter, and he clenched his hands into fists and lightly hammered on the side of the boat.

"What did you engrave?"

"Tang poetry."

Yang Ce turned his head to meet Sun Liu's puzzled gaze, and said, "To the fortress."

(End of this chapter)