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Chapter 1281 Difficulties in Expedition to the Mediterranean Sea
With the permission of Charles I, the naval soldiers who came across the three oceans and the Far West Dispatched Army can temporarily rest in the dock area of ​​the City of London.

The soldiers who arrived for the first time were full of novelty about foreign countries, and their numbers were so large that they almost occupied the banks of the Thames.

Especially some trainee soldiers looked around.

"The buildings here are really different from ours." Li Dingguo has been floating on the sea for a long time. Originally, the navy soldiers should have short hair, but after a long voyage, they even lost their beards.

The barbers shaved the soldiers' haircuts on the river beach, and the food was brought over in large carriages to supplement vitamins for the soldiers who came from the ocean.In addition, they will be arranged to take a shower to remove the lice from their bodies.

Zheng Zhibao, Sun Chuanting and other military officers can leave the dock area with the special approval of Charles I.

The first teahouse opened by Chinese businessmen in the city of London was temporarily closed after the arrival of the expeditionary army. Many nobles, businessmen and other big figures in London who originally planned to go to the teahouse to discuss matters found that there was no teahouse, and they did not know where to meet good.

"I didn't expect that Westerners would also like to drink tea. I saw a lot of Western nobles gathered outside. I can imagine that your business is booming."

Sun Chuanting and the others were sitting in the teahouse, because it was opened by their own people, so they could easily reserve the teahouse for discussion.

"They lack beverages in daily life, and our tea is undoubtedly the best choice. They like black tea especially in Britain. Black tea is fermented tea, which is not easy to go bad after long-distance transportation, and the tea quality is naturally the best." Teahouse The shopkeeper said.

"Li Jinde, the head of our western company, was captured by the notorious Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. Our Fourth Fleet plans to go to the Mediterranean Sea to ask the pirates for Li Jinde." Sun Xu explained Li Jinde's affairs to the new arrivals in London while drinking tea. , let them know the changes here in time.

Sun Chuanting, Zheng Zhibao and other newly dispatched officers were not surprised by the dispatch of the fleet into the Mediterranean Sea. The Fourth Fleet was stationed in Europe, and to a certain extent had the power to make decisions independently in order to deal with emergencies.

"Currently the situation in Britain has not deteriorated to the point where our Far West Expeditionary Force needs to take action. Our Far West Expeditionary Force can also participate in this operation." Sun Chuanting said.

"If the Far West Dispatch Army wants to participate in this crusade against pirates, then we have to adjust the battle plan. The worst case scenario is that our negotiations with the pirates break down, and the two sides have to fight each other, and our fleet cannot grab the beach To land, you need to rely on your Far West dispatch army to try to storm the pirate's lair. Of course, we don't want the situation to develop to that point, which means that many soldiers will be sacrificed."

"Do you have any accurate information on Algiers? There are still many bastions in the West, and even the use of explosives can only destroy them. Moreover, it is very difficult to launch a strong attack from the sea." Sun Chuanting realized that he called the Far West Dispatch The time must be the time when the battle is most intense.

"The Dutch provided us with a brief defense map. There is a masonry wall in the port, which is very thick. There are forts on it, and the bronze cannons of the Ottoman Empire are mounted on the forts. There are also Dutch and Portuguese. Standard artillery. These artillery were either supported by pirates from the Ottoman Empire, or sold to them by European pirates, or they may have been plundered from armed merchant ships from various countries."

"You can see that this harbor is half-moon-shaped. The mountain castle of Algiers is located on the left side of the half-moon. This is the real pier. There is also a sea breaker built by the locals long ago to block the waves on the Mediterranean Sea for the port. Once the battleship approaches the dock, it will face artillery attacks from castles and city wall forts..."

Sun Xu and other officers of the Fourth Fleet collected information on the port of Algiers from merchants in the Netherlands and the Royal Navy, and used tea cups on the wooden table to indicate the attack and defense of Algiers.

"There may be more than 2 pirates in Algiers. Unlike other places, more than 2 of them are adult men with combat effectiveness. They often struggle in the Mediterranean Sea, so they are familiar with the nearby reefs and currents. There are three difficulties in this operation. First, Algiers has a strict defense system, and the pirates are good at fighting and familiar with the terrain. On the contrary, our intelligence on Algiers only comes from a third party."

"Secondly, this is an expedition. The combined fleet will have to travel thousands of kilometers to reach the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by the Spanish. After crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, it will take another [-] kilometers to sail to Algiers. After arriving in Gibraltar Before the strait, the autumn hurricane on the Atlantic Ocean is likely to tear our fleet apart. Even if we pass through the Strait of Gibraltar and enter the relatively calm Mediterranean Sea, we have no supplies, and we need to complete the battle as soon as possible before the arrival of winter, otherwise we will be in the cold water of the winter It's harder to attack ports."

"The third is that the Ottoman navy located in Constantinople and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean may reinforce Algiers, force us to fight a decisive battle in the waters near Algiers, or try to cut off our retreat. Once the Ottoman navy and our A naval battle breaks out, and the entire Mediterranean region may be in chaos."

Sun Xu pointed out the difficulties of this expedition. Their first expedition in Europe was over [-] kilometers long, with very little information.

"Fortunately, it seems that Constantinople is a thousand kilometers away from Algiers. The Ottoman Empire Navy wants to organize a fleet to fight us. After receiving the intelligence, they need to recruit ships and sailors from the coast, prepare supplies, and leave us enough time spins."

"How many ships can the British Royal Navy support us?"

"Ten ships, of which 2 are sailing battleships, the King of the Sea and the Crown Prince, and 5 smaller two-masted sailing warships, and 3 armed merchant ships as supply ships. They will recruit 2000 soldiers for this purpose. Sailors, this is the limit they can help us, after all, their population is far smaller than ours. In return, our fleet needs to send at least ten warships to assist them when King Charles is in trouble."

"It's a fair deal, isn't it? The purpose of our arrival this time is to intervene in their internal affairs and win some privileges for us. That is to say, we have dispatched an ironclad ship, three sailing battleships, seven Frigates, three supply ships, five armed merchant ships, one coal carrier, two troop carriers, the number of ships in the joint fleet can reach 32 ships!"

(End of this chapter)