1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3665

After departing from Hamban Port, the fleet first sailed west around the southernmost tip of Ceylon, then crossed the Laccadive Sea and headed towards the Indian peninsula.

In the past year, the special operations division has basically completed the exploration of the coastal waters from the east coast of the Indian Peninsula to Myanmar, Siam and other countries, so the target of this fleet is the vast area from the west coast of the Indian Peninsula to the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East.

Although Qian Tiandun was not very interested in colonizing the Indian Peninsula, and did not take the Mughal Empire that now ruled the region seriously, he could not turn a blind eye to the Western colonists who had already settled in the Indian Peninsula.

Although the Mughal Empire is now at the peak of its history, for Hai Han, it is merely a regional power. Its influence is limited to the Indian Ocean, and it is far from qualified to be a competitor of Hai Han.

The ubiquitous Western colonists had already established several colonies along the coast of the Indian Peninsula and once controlled the sea routes to the East and West through the Indian Peninsula. The Mughal Empire seemed to have no choice but to accept this. In Qian Tiandun's view, this was the real competitor that would hinder Hai Han's expansion.

Although Hai Han arrived more than a century later than its competitors, the good news is that these competitors are not a monolithic group and their fights against each other are no less fierce than their battles on the European battlefields.

At the beginning of the year, the Special Operations Division sent troops to Colombo, Ceylon, to assist the Portuguese in repelling the offensive from the Dutch, but this was only a small microcosm of the long-term conflict between the two countries in the Indian Ocean.

Although the special warfare division had demonstrated its strength in that operation, Qian Tiandun was not sure whether it had a sufficient deterrent effect on the competitors in the region. He knew that these Europeans would often take risks for their own benefit. So in this trip, he included all the major ports on the west coast of the Indian Ocean in his itinerary.

No matter which side it is, they must attach importance to Hai Han’s presence in the Indian Ocean region and give it due respect, so that Hai Han merchant ships can obtain basic security guarantees when traveling in the Indian Ocean in the future.

The first stop he was going to visit was Cochin Port, where the Dutch retreated to after their defeat in Colombo at the beginning of the year.

Cochin is not a traditional territory of the Dutch. As early as the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese came here and established colonies and ports. In the following hundred years, the Portuguese defeated the offensives of local indigenous kingdoms many times and maintained their rule in Cochin.

It was not until recent years that the Dutch took control of Cochin and stationed a certain size of troops there in an attempt to cut off the connection between the Goa colony on the west coast of the Indian peninsula and the port of Colombo on the island of Ceylon on the east side of the Indian peninsula.

This move by the Dutch had already achieved very good results. If it had not been for the timely intervention of the special operations division, Colombo might have been captured.

But now that the Portuguese feel that they have the help of Hai Han, they are also secretly eager to send troops to retake Cochin.

Under such circumstances, a large armed fleet suddenly appeared outside the port of Cochin, which naturally caused panic among the Dutch in the port. Moreover, the masts of this fleet were hoisted with the red and blue flags, which symbolized extraordinary combat power.

It was too late to temporarily summon the crew and sailors to board the ship and leave the port, so the Dutch decisively chose to defend the city. However, the garrison troops in Cochin Port currently only had more than a thousand people, plus some auxiliary troops formed by local indigenous people. The combat effectiveness was really not very strong, and it was hard to say whether they could defend the small Cochin Castle.

Faced with the armed fleet coming across the sea, the defending generals could only close the city and wait for a long time, only to find that the enemy had stopped on the sea seven or eight miles outside the port and did not rush to land. After careful observation, the defenders found that there were no Portuguese ships in the fleet, proving that it was not the Portuguese who gathered the Hai Han people to attack, and they immediately felt relieved.

According to the agreement between the Netherlands and Hai Han, neither side may attack areas controlled by the other without reason. Although a conflict occurred outside Colombo at the beginning of the year, that was in a third-party area and was not subject to the restrictions of the agreement.

So the Dutch sent a small boat out of the port to contact the Hai Han fleet, only to find out that the fleet was just passing through the port of Cochin and wanted to get supplies here.

Even so, the Dutch officers guarding the place still did not dare to be careless and only allowed Hai Han to send two supply ships to dock at the port, while other ships still had to wait at sea.

Of course, obtaining supplies was just Qian Tiandun's excuse. He had no intention of attacking Cochin, but he wanted to use this as an excuse to let the Dutch see the military strength of Hai Han in this region.

Dong Shangyi volunteered for the mission to go ashore and purchase supplies. He really wanted to see with his own eyes the level of the colonies run by Europeans in this area.

What disappointed Dong Shangyi a little was that although the Dutch allowed landing, they still did not allow Hai Han personnel to enter Cochin Fort, and all transactions could only be completed at the port.

Cochin Fort was built during the Portuguese rule. After the Dutch took over, they repaired and rebuilt the more damaged parts, but there was no major change in the overall scale. The appearance is a typical Southern European-style stone castle, only a few miles in radius.

Most ordinary people lived outside the city, while the city was mainly home to the residences of officers and merchants, as well as military barracks, warehouses, markets, shops, churches and other facilities.

In Dong Shangyi's opinion, the Cochin Castle is not even as big as an ordinary county town in Fujian. It would probably take the special operations division less than half a day to capture it. No wonder the Dutch were so nervous.

The Dutch also tried to inquire about the true purpose of the Hai Han fleet through Dong Shangyi and other landing personnel, but the answer they received was simply that it was a "friendly visit" without any military purpose.

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As to whether this statement can be believed, that is up to the Dutch to figure out.

Perhaps the sense of oppression brought by this fleet at sea was too strong, the Dutch almost met Hai Han’s request to purchase all the materials, and the prices were relatively fair. They did not try to make more profits from these transactions, but were eager to complete the transactions quickly and send the Hai Han people away.

The only thing that made Dong Shangyi not very satisfied was that the two supply ships that entered the port could not carry too much fresh water, and it was very inconvenient to distribute it to other ships in the fleet.

Fortunately, it is only a few hundred miles away from the port controlled by Portugal, so we can wait until the next stop to replenish fresh water. The fleet's current fresh water reserves will not be in short supply, but they are not as fresh.

The Hai Han fleet stayed outside Cochin Harbor until sunset, then set off again to the north. The Dutch on the coast breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the fleet slowly leaving the sea.