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Chapter 992 Puzzled

The last time Hong Tao led the fleet to the Cape of Good Hope, he first crossed the equator southward, entered the South Indian Ocean, and then headed west to reach the Cape of Good Hope. Why did he change his direction this time and head westward to the Arabian Sea first?

This is called sailing experience and understanding of sea conditions. The Indian Ocean is divided into two parts, north and south, by the equator. In winter, the northeast monsoon prevails in the northern Indian Ocean. The ocean current flows from east to west to the Arabian Sea, and then turns south along the coast of Africa.

Following the direction of the monsoon and ocean currents not only speeds up the ship, but also minimizes the interference of the equatorial doldrums. It was winter when we first sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, and heading south and then west was not the best route. It was deliberately done to let the sailors see the equatorial doldrums.

But no matter how smooth the sailing was, the communication ship took half a month to complete the voyage, but the support fleet ran day and night for 25 days, and was still more than 500 kilometers away from Enniao Port. According to the speed, it would probably take another one to two days to arrive.

Why is it so slow? Because the flooding waves forbid the fleet to sail at full speed for a long time, especially at night, and the fastest speed can only use two-thirds of the sail. In addition, the distance between the ships must be at least 3 kilometers, and additional lookouts must be sent to observe every ten minutes.

Reinforcements are needed to put out fires. It is obvious that Enniao Port was attacked by a large number of warships. Does that mean Hong Tao is not in a hurry? Definitely not, but war has its own rules, and Hong Tao just followed the rules.

If the sailors were allowed to work in shifts and sail at full speed day and night, they could indeed arrive a few days earlier, but it would also greatly increase the risk to the fleet and reduce its combat effectiveness by several percent.

Compared with the Han-class warships, the Qin-class warships are slimmer and faster, but after all, they are three-masted sailing warships with a full load displacement of more than 300 tons. In wartime, their crew members exceeded 100 people. They can never be compared with single-masted and double-masted communication ships of less than tons. The ships can withstand it, but the sailors cannot.

During these twenty days, Cohen was always under the grace of the emperor. Every day when he went on deck, he would see the man dressed in sailor's shorts, shouting and yelling. Then he would start telling stories about the monarchs of various European countries until lunch.

We couldn't be idle in the afternoon and evening, and we were invited to go fishing and chat together. It was an invitation, but who would dare to refuse? He was the emperor, and he was on a ship sailing far away.

Cohen didn't have much resistance to talking more, but fishing under the hot sun was a bit uncomfortable, but the most uncomfortable thing was the tobacco. The emperor always liked to chat with a finger-thick tobacco in his hand. The smell was too bad, and he couldn't avoid it and couldn't show annoyance.

But it was not all suffering without gain. It was the first time that Cohen heard the topic of America from the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. It was not a general mention, but a very specific inquiry.

For example, how big is New Netherland, the colony of the United Provinces in America, what are its specialties, and its location relationship with the local Indians and the colonies of England and Spain, etc.

There were many times when Cohen felt that the information he knew about the New World was not as rich as that of the emperor, but his reason reminded him again and again that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty had never been to the New World, and he had never even heard of anyone in the Ming Empire having been there.

"Your Majesty, more than 40 days have passed and there has been no news from Enniao Port. Could there be an accident?"

Just after breakfast, the eunuch who always followed the emperor like a shadow came to invite him. Cohen didn't want to passively accept questions anymore, so he took the initiative to ask questions and talked about things he was more concerned about. "Generally speaking, with the Marines here, Enniao Port should be impregnable. Even without a rescue fleet, it can hold out for a long time, so time is not urgent. I just don't understand why the English would act together with the Spanish. Didn't they just have a war a few years ago?"

Hong Tao explained Cohen's concerns easily and truthfully. Enniao Port has been occupied for more than 20 years. In addition to the Marine Guards stationed there all year round, a complete port area artillery and city defense facilities have also been built.

With the current power of weapons, it is difficult to easily destroy the artillery positions and bunkers built with large rocks. However, the more than 5,000 Marines are not made of mud. As long as they are not suppressed by heavy firepower, they can have a great advantage against the infantry of any country.

I dare not say that I can defeat ten enemies with one, but I am confident that I can rely on permanent fortifications to carry out defensive operations, fight against enemies that are several times more skilled, and hold out for half a year.

With the current navigation capabilities of Europeans, it is impossible to send tens of thousands of troops and supplies thousands of kilometers away at one time. Even if England and Spain really formed a coalition, it is estimated that the landing force would not exceed 10,000. It is impossible to attack Enniao Port with such a small number of people.

If we only consider the cost, the support fleet should not go at all. We can first calmly mobilize ships and personnel and wait for three or four months. If the enemy has not left, it will not be too late to go then.

The Enniao Port Fortress is backed by the Enniao City, which is a large city with a permanent population of 50,000 to 60,000. Its trade routes radiate throughout southern Africa, and there are millions of Xhosa tribes nearby.

Over the years, with the help of Ming tools and weapons, they have conquered the east and the west, occupied large tracts of land and population, and defeated their arch-enemies, the Zulus, so that they could not survive and migrated northward early.

The Xhosa people had long regarded Enniao City and Enniao Port, including the Ming army stationed here, as part of their homeland. Although the European army was equipped with muskets and artillery, as long as the number was not large enough, it was likely that they would not be able to defeat the Xhosa warriors using Ming bows and crossbows.

There are two main reasons why Hong Tao personally led the fleet to rush to the rescue:
First, he had not traveled far for ten years, or had not done anything reckless, and he was restless inside, so he conspired with the General Staff on the Aceh Plan, and then used the southern tour as an excuse to run out and relax.

But fighting a group of natives is too unchallenging. It would be very tempting to clash with Spain, which currently has the most powerful navy in the world, and England, an up-and-coming country, on the sea in advance.

Second, it was his nature. He didn't trust anyone. The conclusions that Enniao Port was as solid as a rock were drawn by the General Staff and the Navy Staff through sand table simulations.

No matter how accurate the data is, it is not realistic. Once the war really comes, the specific performance will depend on the on-the-spot performance of the commanders and soldiers on the front line. This thing cannot be deduced, and you have to see it with your own eyes to feel at ease.

As the saying goes, knowing yourself and the enemy is the key to success. Hong Tao carefully studied the map of Enniao Port along the way and indeed found several defensive loopholes that could be exploited by the enemy, but they were not fatal. There was only one thing that puzzled him: why did England get mixed up with its rival Spain?

(End of this chapter)