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Chapter 1641 Hunting in the Mediterranean

"Those hateful Venetians dare to insult us in letters and even fight us!"

Yusuf Pasha, the son-in-law of the Ottoman emperor, was furious when he received the letter of challenge from the coalition forces.

The Venetians have been intriguing with them for 200 years, know them well, and can easily offend them.

"Our spies found that they had a large number of ships on the beach, and our fleet did not prevent them from landing on Crete because of our cowardice. Our subordinates were worried that our sea supply lines would be cut off by the enemy. Our fresh water and food need to come from Constantinople, the Greek islands are shipped here, and if the sea supply lines are cut off, we will be plunged into famine and plague."

The Ottoman Empire has many outstanding generals, and it is natural for them to be able to keep Europe in fear for a long time.

They realized that with the emergence of the anti-Ottoman alliance, they were not only facing Venetian warships, but half of the Mediterranean navy and a naval blockade from outside the Mediterranean.

Their [-]-strong army that landed on Crete is likely to be trapped on the island.

Thinking of this, Yusuf Pasha couldn't help but shudder.

"The Chinese, the English, it's them again! The last time they entered the Mediterranean, Bar-Ilan Pasha was defeated and executed. Do I want to repeat the same mistakes?!"

Yusuf Pasha and a group of generals of the Ottoman Empire were suddenly at a loss, and the Chinese were their nightmare.

"We don't want to accept their challenge for the time being. We won't fight them until our supplies can't last." Yusuf always had a premonition of not being confident.

Although the generals of the Ottoman Empire wanted to catch all the Venetians and sell them as slaves after receiving the letter of war, their intuition told them that accepting the challenge might be the most willing thing for them to see.

On the other side, a blockade fleet consisting of 2 steam ironclad ships, 17 armed galleons, and 19 galleys came to the island of Tenedos in the Sea of ​​the Sea to guard the Dardanelles.

They easily occupied this island, which did not have many defenders. Opposite Tenedos Island was a coastal defense fort built by the Turks.

If it weren't for these annoying coastal defense forts and galleys active in many islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sun Xu would have directly led the blockade fleet through the Dardanelles and directly attacked Constantinople.

It is not very difficult to block the Dardanelles, you just need to send ships to patrol outside the strait.

The cunning Venetian merchants had spies in Constantinople, and news reached the island at every sign of trouble.

"The scene here is so calm that it doesn't look like a war is going on." Zheng Chenggong came to this island and looked at the blue sky, which was completely different from the flames of war in his imagination.

He had expected the battle at sea to be a nerve-wracking cannon exchange, but in fact the fleet spent most of its time looking for enemies and blocking ports.

The real victory or defeat is often determined in a few days or even a hasty battle.

"We are actually only three or four hundred kilometers away from Constantinople. We pass through the Dardanelles, where the kings of all Europe fear." Hannah was wearing a navy uniform and was observing the nearby sea with binoculars and terrain.

"Is the Ottoman Empire really as powerful as you say? Why do I think their strength is mediocre?" Zheng Chenggong has heard about the Fourth Fleet united with the Royal Fleet and the Knights of the Hospital defeating the Ottoman fleet in the Tunis Strait. See European countries can't help but find it strange that they have blown the Ottoman Empire to the sky.

"It's not that the Ottoman Empire is not strong, but that you are stronger, which is why you have such an illusion. In the past, the Ottoman Empire occupied Asia Minor, the Balkan Peninsula, Greece, Egypt, the Levant, North Africa, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian Peninsula. Almost captured Vienna. I don’t even know why your technology is so advanced, even the Ottoman Empire seems insignificant in front of you.” Hannah said.

"So we are too powerful..." Zheng Chenggong muttered.

Sun Xu, the commander of the blockade fleet, found Zheng Zhihu and gave him an order: "Our mission is to blockade the Dardanelles and prevent Constantinople's reinforcements from entering the Mediterranean. patrol the island, and destroy the other party's warships or merchant ships immediately. We have received intelligence from Venetian spies that a Turkish merchant fleet is operating in the waters of Chios Island. Your team and Colonel Black are going to Chios Island Tracking in the nearby sea."

"Yes!" Zheng Zhihu replied.

The team that went to the waters of Chios Island to track the Turkish merchant ships included 3 sailing warships of the Royal Navy, 4 armed galleons led by Zheng Zhihu, and 7 galleys of the Knights of the Hospital, a total of 14 warships.

"Boys, we are ready to patrol the sea! In this strange sea area, we are hunters, hunters who make the enemy fearful. If we see prey, we will pounce on it and destroy them!" Zheng Zhihu called the 4 people he led The captain and crew of an armed galleon informed them that they were about to go to the waters of Chios Island to track a Turkish merchant fleet.

The eight-nation coalition fleet has launched a hunting game in the Mediterranean Sea with Ottoman warships, merchant ships and ports hidden in various islands.

Steam ironclads, armed galleons, and Venetian galleys cruised around the Mediterranean in the form of squadrons, like hunters looking for prey in the Mediterranean.War is not just about attacking the opponent's warships. Looting the opponent's merchant ships is also a good way to force the opponent to surrender or cause losses to the opponent.

The crew of the Zheng He were overjoyed when they received the mission to track the Turkish merchant fleet, and they all hoped to successfully capture the enemy ship in this tracking mission.

"The group of young people from China are really full of energy, but the battle at sea is not that simple, and if you are too careless, you will pay a heavy price." The officers of the Royal Fleet noticed that almost all of the Zheng He were a group of people under the age of 20. The young crew members of the crew are not very optimistic about this group of little kids.

"I hope you old sailors don't forget the enthusiasm you had when you were young, instead of coming here to take risks for a meager salary." Colonel Black said angrily.

The hunting fleet was sent to patrol the waters of Chios Island, which was considered relatively safe.

All the naval trainees of the Zheng He, including the interim captain Zheng Chenggong, are full of expectations for this patrol mission.

However, they did not know that there was a secret shipyard of the Ottoman Empire on Chios Island, and 93 galleons and galleys were berthing in a port on Chios Island.

(End of this chapter)