1635 Han style rises again

Mombasa, June 1684, 6.

In 1643, the already declining Portuguese were first driven out of the Arabian Peninsula by the emerging Oman Yaruba Dynasty.Immediately afterwards, in 1652, Oman Sultan Saif I led dozens of warships and more than 150 soldiers to attack Portuguese Zanzibar. With the cooperation of the local Shinto people, he conquered it within half a year.The Omanis executed most of the colonists, including Governor Augustus, and expelled the Portuguese forces from the two islands of San and Ben, ending Portugal's [-]-year colonial rule there.

Some of the Portuguese who escaped by chance went south to Portuguese Mozambique to avoid the attack of the Omanis, and some Portuguese fled to the Portuguese Mombasa island less than [-] kilometers away from Zanzibar Island, lingering on their last days, in constant fear .

Perhaps it was because the Omanis were satisfied with the large profits from the local ivory, rhino horn, gold, tortoise shell, and slave trade, or perhaps it was the regional affairs on the Arabian Peninsula that temporarily tied their hands and feet. The settlers did not continue to pursue the weakened Portuguese, allowing them to continue their colonial career on the nearby island of Mombasa.

In November 1682, Oman Sultan Saif I, who had finished taking care of domestic affairs, finally set his sights on Mombasa Island, planning to completely drive the Portuguese out of East Africa, so as to completely eliminate the threat of the Portuguese behind them. At the same time, it shows the power of the empire and the sultan.

In order to prevent the invasion of the Oman Empire, the Portuguese have continuously heightened and reinforced Fort Jesus on the island in the past 30 years, and successively purchased more than 100 artillery pieces from Qi State, striving to build the fort into a A "City of God" that never falls.The fortress is in the shape of "big", more than 80 meters long and 15 meters wide. The city wall is built on coral rock, 2.4 meters high and 10 meters thick. The gate is covered with spikes about [-] centimeters long to prevent war elephants crash.

In order to conquer Mombasa Island, the Omanis dispatched more than 60 large and small ships and more than 18 troops to besiege the island for [-] months.Facing the attack of the Omanis, the brave Portuguese launched a desperate resistance. With their fierce artillery and strong fortresses, they inflicted a large number of casualties on the Omanis. drop.

When being besieged by the Omanis, the Portuguese on Mombasa kept sending envoys to ask for help from the Portuguese colony of Mozambique and Guang'anbao (now Djibouti) occupied by the Qi State.

However, the reinforcements sent by the Portuguese colony of Mozambique were repulsed by the Omanis, who lost two galleys and more than 100 armed personnel, and their strength was greatly reduced.At the same time, the local colonial officials feared that the Omanis would mobilize more forces to attack Mozambique, so they did not dare to send reinforcements.For the Portuguese, Mozambique is a key link in the chain between Goa and Lisbon, far more important than Mombasa, and nothing can be lost.

However, the Qi people did not respond positively to the Portuguese's request for help, and chose to sit on the sidelines.Gein, a few years ago, the people of Qi State proposed to the Portuguese that they hoped to obtain Portuguese Mogadishu or Lamu Island through purchase, so as to make up for the lack of Qi State's lack of supply points in East Africa.

However, this proposal was rejected by the Portuguese, which really made the people of Qi lose face, and they became dissatisfied and worried about it.

When they saw the Omanis besieging Mombasa Island, the people of Qi were gloating and seeing the Portuguese suffocated, how could they come to the rescue.In addition, the island faces the Indian Ocean to the east and is backed by a fertile plateau inland. Qi's navy has long coveted it and is ready to seize it, but it is only limited by the friendly relationship between Portugal and it is too embarrassing to start.

Now that the Omanis are besieging Mombasa Island, the Qi people naturally hope that they will lose both sides in the fight with the Portuguese, so that they can reap the benefits of the fisherman.As the maritime overlord in the Indian Ocean region, Qi was happy to see the continued decline of the Portuguese power in the region, but it was also wary of the increasingly aggressive Oman Yaruba dynasty.

Although the Indian Ocean is vast and boundless, it cannot accommodate a second maritime power. Whether it is a colonial power from Europe or a rising kingdom in this region, it will be ruthlessly suppressed and weakened by Qi.

When the Omanis were cheering for the capture of Mombasa Island, three powerful professional warships of the State of Qi, under the pretext of supporting and carrying out piracy by the Yaruba Dynasty of Oman, near Xuanling Island (now Socotra Island, Yemen) The sea area continuously intercepted and inspected several Omani ships passing by, and detained two suspected pirate ships among them, provoking a sea conflict between the two sides.

At the beginning of June, four warships of the State of Qi arrived in the waters near Mombasa Island, demanding that the Omanis release all the captured Portuguese and stop the retaliatory massacre and persecution of Catholics on the island.

The request of the Qi people was unsurprisingly rejected by the Omanis. In their view, the winner has the right to enjoy everything that the loser has, including the life of the enemy.Furthermore, your country of Qi sent four powerful warships here, showing a kind of threat from Chiguoguo, how can this be accepted by the Omanis who have just won a great victory.

During the few days of armed confrontation, the Omanis may have received news of the unfair treatment their ships suffered in the waters near Xuanling Island, so they showed a strong hostility, and the situation suddenly became tense .

The Qi people accused the Omanis of committing piracy, which was not an unwarranted provocation, let alone wronged it.Oman relies on its long coastline and its location in several important places such as the Red Sea, the Gulf (Persian Gulf), and the Strait of Hormuz to privately connive and allow the country’s pirates to rob passing merchant ships. Bring a lot of wealth, and you can also get a naval force that is worthy of a battle at sea for free.Even the ships of the Yaruba Navy of Oman openly intercepted and attacked those unarmed merchant ships in the surrounding waters.

Although the Omanis are afraid of Qi's powerful sea power and dare not attack those merchant ships flying the flag of Qi, they frequently attack those passing merchant ships from Persia, Arabia, India, and Portugal, which has long aroused concern from neighboring countries. public outrage.

While piracy is a sign of a region's thriving trade, the practice is seen as a large parasite, a group of people who feed off the toil and labor of others, and instead of giving back anything to society as a whole, they contribute to the region. Normal trade activity is causing some disruption.

As the maintainer of maritime order in the Indian Ocean region and the maker of the rules of conduct, Qi State is also an advocate interested in further promoting and enhancing the trade prosperity of the entire region. Naturally, it does not allow the Omanis to wantonly disrupt the maritime security order.

Robbery, what a dishonest act!

More than 100 years ago, the Portuguese broke into the Indian Ocean. With strong ships and guns, they captured countless coastal strongholds and important islands in a very short period of time, and almost established the Portuguese hegemony in the Indian Ocean.But look what the Portuguese did after they established their superiority at sea.Either blocking roads and robbing at sea, or violently plundering local aborigines, and forcing preaching, not only greatly damaged and hindered trade activities in the Indian Ocean region, but also made the people and gods angry with themselves, and they were not welcomed everywhere, so that they were almost defeated by now. I lost my family property.

And Qi State is committed to building a rich and vibrant trade circle around the Indian Ocean. What is needed is a safe and stable trade order led by Qi State. Who dares to jump out and rebel and undermine the security and stability of this region , must be beaten.

On the night of June 6, the Omanis suddenly attacked the Qi warship stationed outside the harbor with several small fire attack ships.

Caught off guard, a warship of the Qi State was ignited. While bombarding with fierce artillery to prevent the Omanis from approaching, they quickly raised their sails and sailed away from the enemy's attack range in embarrassment.Fortunately, the burning ship was finally saved with the joint efforts of all officers and soldiers.But half of the hull was blackened by the smoke, which made the officers and soldiers on the ship both ashamed and annoyed.

In the early morning, after the sky brightened, four Qi warships rushed into the harbor immediately, and launched a retaliatory bombardment on the clustered Oman warships to recover the scene from last night.

Although the Omani warships are small in size and weak in firepower, they are not to be outdone at all. Under the leadership of officers at all ranks, relying on their infinite pious beliefs, they drove smart and fast boats to launch an attack on the warships of Qi State. Wave after wave of desperate attacks.

The fierce battle lasted until noon that day. At the cost of losing more than 20 small boats, the Omanis forced back the warships of Qi State, causing them to withdraw from the battlefield one after another. The naval battle came to an end temporarily.

Just when the Omanis were rejoicing in repelling the Qi people, on June 6, they suddenly received a letter from Zanzibar Island asking for help.The defenders there claimed that five days ago, in the name of chasing pirates, the Qi people first attacked the nearby Pemba Island and seized it.Subsequently, several Qi gunboats began to bombard Zanzibar Island violently in turn, causing serious damage to the port and city, and the whole situation was precarious.

The Omani coach Ali Busaidi stationed on the island of Mombasa immediately sent 40 soldiers on more than [-] large and small ships to rush to rescue Zanzibar Island to prevent it from being captured by the Qi people.You must know that the little prince Majid, whom His Majesty Sultan loves the most, is on the island. If he is accidentally captured by the Qi people, His Majesty Sultan will definitely be furious.

However, on June 6, when the reinforcements arrived near the waters northwest of Benba Island, they were successively attacked by eight warships of the State of Qi.After more than two hours of fierce fighting, more than 19 Omani ships were sunk and injured, and the remaining ships fled in all directions immediately after knowing that they were invincible.

On June 6, more than 23 landing troops from Qi State attacked Zanzibar Island under the cover of numerous naval guns.

After experiencing the terrible artillery bombardment of Qi State and knowing that the reinforcements had been cut off, Prince Majid, the governor of Zanzibar, immediately surrendered to the officers and soldiers of Qi State who had landed.

On June 6, the State of Qi moved troops to Mombasa Island, and handed over Prince Majid’s letter of persuasion to capitulate and the ultimatum of the Qi Army to the generals leading the troops on the island, requiring the Omani military and political personnel on the island to abandon their weapons within 26 hours. Surrender, or you will be attacked by the most violent state of Qi.

Ali Busaidi, the general of Oman stationed in Mombasa, rejected the ultimatum of the Qi people. He insisted that the Portuguese built Jesus Fort with high walls, tight defenses, dozens of artillery pieces, and more than [-] defenders in the city. Even if the Qi people are powerful, they may not be able to conquer them in a short time.

As long as we can hold on until November, when the northeast trade wind comes, His Majesty Sultan will definitely send an army to rescue.At that time, the internal and external cooperation may be able to severely injure the Qi people in Mombasa.

On June 6, just after the time for the ultimatum, the deputy commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, commander of the Western Indian Ocean Squadron, and General Guangwei (Major General) Zhu Shanping, who presided over the operation, immediately ordered to fire rockets at Fort Jesus on the island.

In more than two hours, more than ten warships belonging to the fleet fired a total of about 4000 rockets at Mombasa Island. The whole island was suddenly filled with smoke and dust, and the flames shot up into the sky. The violent explosion and the soaring fire almost destroyed Fort Jesus. The buildings inside were razed to the ground.

This large-scale "Sky-Changing Monkey" weapon originated from the Shenhuo Flying Crow in the army of the former Ming Dynasty. After more than 20 years of development in Qi State, its technology has become more mature and its power has become more powerful. In the case of military and civilian casualties, it is the best tactical weapon for the Qi army to cover with firepower.

Although the size of the rocket has been increased and its power has been further enhanced, its launch conditions have not been improved much.Put the rocket at the place where it is ready to launch, set up the tripod, and just ignite and launch it.Experienced soldiers can use a tripod for simple aiming, but compared to artillery, the accuracy of rockets is still a bit worse.Even, sometimes in the case of careless operation, the rocket will fly to its own position after launch.However, when carrying out a covering attack on the enemy's defending city, its accuracy is not emphasized very much, as long as it hits the top of the enemy's head, causing damage to buildings and killing people.

The fire in Fort Jesus burned for a day and a night. During this period, countless defenders and civilians screamed and rushed out of the city.In order to avoid the burning of the fire and the attack of the rockets, they kept jumping into the sea.

On June 6, hundreds of Qi State landing officers and armed soldiers took small boats and tentatively attacked the island. They were not blocked by the Omani army during the whole process.

Just when the troops established a beachhead and received a large number of siege weapons, the defenders in Fort Jesus opened the gates, held up white flags, and surrendered to the Qi landing troops.

According to the Omani military officer who came to negotiate the surrender, yesterday’s rocket attack and the ensuing fire in the city destroyed almost all the buildings in the city, and their food, defense equipment, and quilts were all destroyed.More than [-] officers and soldiers defending the city, including coach Ali Busaidi, were killed in the rocket attack.As for the countless soldiers and civilians who were injured and burned, it was impossible to continue to hold on to the city.

After speaking, the Omani officer put his hands on his chest and kept praying to the true God in a low voice.When looking at the officers and soldiers of Qi State, there was also a hint of fear.

This is a group of demons from hell, who cast hellfire on the true God's people!Pray to Almighty God to punish them and save the poor and helpless people.

"Mombasa, Zanzibar, and Hanping Island (today's Grand Comore Island), which was captured a few years ago, can basically connect many of our sea bases in the western Indian Ocean region." Fleet Commander Zhu Shanping covered his mouth and nose with his hands, stood on the tower of the tall Fort Jesus, looked at the sea in the distance, and looked high-spirited, "Our navy controls the Gulf of Aden in the north and the Mozambique Strait in the south. In addition, the territory of South Africa separates the two oceans. No one can shake its hegemony in the Indian Ocean!"