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Chapter 940: Must Be Prevented
Specifically for the Burmese campaign, destroying the Arakanese navy was also a good move. Given the location of Thanlyin Port, an attack from land would require crossing the Irrawaddy River first, which would require a large number of ships.

The Kingdom of Toungoo did not have a strong naval force, so the only solution was to borrow or rent it from the Kingdom of Arakan. Would the Kingdom of Arakan agree to rent the navy? Most likely, because they had a common enemy, and the previous grievances could be put aside for the time being.

That’s right, the Ming forces occupied the port of Thanlyin, which on the surface seemed to be a blow to the Kingdom of Toungoo, but in fact it also cut off the Arakan Kingdom’s attempt to move south.

In the past, they supported the Portuguese to occupy the port of Thanlyin only to test the waters and explore the possibility of going south. But when Philip showed his intention to monopolize the port of Thanlyin, they immediately turned against him.

Facing the Portuguese mercenaries, the Arakan Kingdom had an absolute advantage, so it dared to use them. But the Ming Empire was different. The overall strength of the two sides was very different. If the Ming army was allowed to gain a foothold in Shalian Port, the Arakan Kingdom would never be able to move south, and even its homeland would face the risk of being invaded.

As the ancients said, choose the lesser of two evils. It is true that the Arakan Kingdom and the Toungoo Kingdom were enemies, but they also did not want to see the Ming Empire extend its hand into Myanmar. If they had to choose one, most people who could become kings would choose the former and deal with the latter together.

Now Huang Nanping raided three Arakan coastal ports including Chittagong, sank and burned more than 200 warships, captured more than 100 ships, and arrested more than 400 sailors, severely damaging the Arakan Kingdom's maritime power and making it unable to recover in the short term.

In this way, the threat from the sea was basically eliminated for the port of Thanlyin, and it only needed to concentrate on dealing with the land attack of the Kingdom of Toungoo, which greatly eased the pressure on the navy's defense and supply. Not only was it meritorious, but it was also a great merit, which could be promoted to the first-level honor.

"Sundib Island... Hooghly City... This has stirred up two hornet's nests..."

However, everything has two sides. In order to consolidate the defense of Shalian Port, Huang Nanping took the initiative to attack the Arakanese navy, including Chittagong. As a result, he not only offended the Arakan Kingdom, but also aroused the vigilance of two other forces, one was the Portuguese and the other was the Mughal Empire.

There is a bunch of broken islands outside Chittagong, one of which is called Sundipu Island, which has a Portuguese community and trading post, a bit like Macau.

When Huang Nanping attacked Chittagong, he encountered a ship flying the Portuguese flag. However, he did not act recklessly. Instead, he sent a warship to guard it and released it after the war.

However, when they came back to check, they found that there were five Portuguese among the captured Arakan sailors. After a brief interrogation, they learned that they were employed by the Arakan Navy and specialized in teaching artillery technology.

According to the description of these Portuguese mercenaries, there was a larger Portuguese settlement called Hughly to the west, and the raid on Jeddah Port would definitely attract the attention of the Mughal Empire and even retaliation.

Why did a small port like Chittagong attract the attention of Arakan, Portugal and Mughal? It is understandable that the interests of the first two would be damaged, but it has nothing to do with the Mughal Empire!
The Portuguese mercenaries said that Chittagong was the most important trading port on the east side of the Indian peninsula. Not only the Portuguese had long coveted it, but the Mughal Empire was also eyeing it. Moreover, this port was occupied by the Bengalis at one time and recaptured by the Arakanese at another time. It is really impossible to arbitrarily say who it belongs to.

Now that the Kingdom of Bengal has been annexed by the Mughal Empire, it is impossible for them not to be tempted by such an important port, and they will come to rob it sooner or later. In the past, they only needed to defeat the Kingdom of Arakan, but now that the Ming Empire has suddenly appeared, they will definitely be wary.

"Your Majesty, I failed to discipline my students and caused great trouble. I am willing to take the blame!" "Your Majesty, I was negligent in disciplining them and I cannot escape the blame!"

When Admiral Wang Sheng and Navy Chief of Staff Zhu Haiou were summoned to the palace and saw Huang Nanping's battle report, their black faces suddenly turned pale with fear, and they lay on the carpet like pigs waiting for a knife. As for how they cursed Huang Nanping in their hearts, it was probably not pleasant to hear. If he could escape, they would smash him to pieces!
"Since you two say so, then forget about the credit. It just saves two salaries. I can't tell whether I have done good or bad. I am indeed guilty. Now I punish you two to immediately draw up two battle plans to deal with possible changes."

Hong Tao was not happy about the good attitude of confession, but frowned. Strictly speaking, confession without even understanding the actual situation is also a manifestation of lazy governance.

As a senior officer, even if a subordinate is suspected of making a mistake, he should not abandon him so arbitrarily. He should at least argue with him. Otherwise, who will work diligently in the future? Over time, he will become a lazy person who would rather do nothing than do more.

"Huh? Battle plan...with whom?"

Seeing that the emperor really had no intention of blaming him, Zhu Haiou immediately stood up and asked. If Wang Mian had not knelt so quickly just now, he would not have knelt as well. It seems that it is better not to learn those so-called official experience from him in the future, as it is not very useful.

"It's all written there, figure it out yourself... I think it's time to build an Indian Ocean Fleet. The South China Sea Fleet has too much jurisdiction and unclear responsibilities. The East China Sea Fleet has a lighter mission now, and there are no rivals in the South China Sea except the Dutch. We can consider focusing our forces on the Indian Ocean."

He knocked on the table, signaling Zhu Haiou to read the battle report himself. If he couldn't find a possible target from Huang Nanping's battle report, then he was not qualified to be the chief of staff of the navy, not even a captain.

But considering that he was his student, Hong Tao still cheated and deliberately mentioned the idea of ​​establishing an Indian Ocean fleet to remind Zhu Haiou that the target of combat was in the Indian Ocean.

"Your Majesty, are you going to guard against the Mughal Empire and the Kingdom of Arakan?" Wang Mian was the type of person who always knew how to act early. He had been silently studying the war reports and had actually seen some clues in advance.

"The Arakan Kingdom's navy has been destroyed by Huang Nanping. Even if they are in good shape, there is no need to deliberately target them!"

But Zhu Haiou disagreed with Wang Mian's statement. The naval strength of the Mughal Empire was not very clear at present. It could be said that the Arakan Kingdom had no virtue or ability to become a rival of the Ming Navy!

A galley with a maximum displacement of less than 100 tons? So what if there are a lot of them! They can only operate in the coastal waters. There is no need to fight in the ocean. If there is a storm, there will be only a few left. Not to mention the naval guns, the recoil can shake the hull apart.

(End of this chapter)