Capital Datang

In July of the 18th year of Zhenguan, Li Zhi left Chang'an to start a one-year tour. It was also in July of this year that Li Zhi and Li Yun boarded the ship with [-] troops under Li Yun's arrangement. Depart from Linyi and start to Tianzhu.

On the vast and boundless sea, a group of hundreds of huge ships is advancing forward. Except for a few warships cruising around the periphery of this fleet, the other ships are all troop carriers and baggage ships built by Li Yin. The two types of ships are similar in shape, with huge hulls and relatively deep drafts. The ships run very smoothly, and are also very strong in wind and waves. As long as a ship does not directly encounter a typhoon, it will not have too much risk. , but one kind focuses on transporting people, and the other focuses on transporting various materials.

Li Zhen and Yue Wang and Li Yun's Jiang Wang are also in this fleet, but these two private ships are also filled with various supplies, even in the cabin where Li Zhen and Li Yun live, They all put the muskets they bought from Li Yin.Of course, for more dangerous things like gunpowder and grenades, there are special transport ships, and they usually walk at the tail of the fleet, keeping a clear distance from other ships. If the gunpowder on the ship explodes, it will not hurt other ships.Even the crew members on the ship had written their suicide notes before boarding the ship, and their treatment was several times better than that of the crew members on other ships, which was the same as that of the navy on the outer battleships. sail.

After several days of sailing, the fleet soon reached the main traffic route to Tianzhu, that is, the Strait of Malacca that Li Yin was planning.This strait is located between the Malay Peninsula and Jinzhou, but there are not many natives on the Malay Peninsula, and most of the mangroves grow along the coast.The environment is very harsh, so it is along the Malay Peninsula on the north side of the Strait of Malacca.There has never been a harbor of any kind.

On the south side, Jinzhou is different, in this long and narrow strait.There are many excellent ports on the coast of Jinzhou, especially in the eastern section, where the ports are more concentrated. For example, the capital of the Malacca Kingdom, Malacca City, is located in the eastern section of the Strait of Malacca, across the Strait from the later Singapore. Looking at the east exit of the Strait of Malacca, the geographical location is very important.Capital Datang 514

Li Zhen and Li Yun not only paid attention to all aspects of Tianzhu's intelligence, but also did some homework on the Strait of Malacca.Because they all know that this strait is their logistical lifeline, which is related to their success this time, so when their fleet came to the Strait of Malacca, Li Zhen came to Li Yun's ship and brought several The confidants observe the terrain along the coast of Malacca.

"Your Highnesses, please take a look. The island is called Linga Island. It is just at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca. Its geographical location is very important. However, due to the limited area, there is no way to build a large port on the island, but it can be stationed for a while. A fleet can block the strait at any time." Zhu Chong said, pointing to an island not far from the fleet.In fact, it is not so much an island.Not to mention a group of islands, but the group of islands are all next to each other, and the area is not large.So it's not really an archipelago.

Zhu Chong's father was named Zhu Meng, who used to be Yang Hao's most trusted general.Later, after following Li Yin, Zhu Meng has been serving as the chief of Taiwan's police.Manage the security of the entire Taiwan.And Zhu Chong was young and liked life at sea, so he followed Lu Qing and served as Lu Qing's assistant. He also participated in the battle against the Japanese kingdom. After several years of experience, he was able to lead the army alone. This time it was him In charge of the escort fleet on the periphery, today Li Zhenla came to explain.

Hearing Zhu Chong's words, Li Zhen, Li Yun and the others raised their binoculars and observed the terrain of Linga Island from a distance, only to find that, as Zhu Chong said, the island's terrain is not suitable for building a port. , but stationing a fleet is not a problem.

As their fleet got closer and closer to the Strait of Malacca, more and more ships came and went around. In fact, when they left Linyi, they encountered many fleets from Datang, and those fleets Seeing such a huge fleet of them, they all volunteered to go with them. After all, this journey is not safe. If you can travel with such a huge fleet, you will not be afraid even if you encounter pirates.

Along with these accompanying fleets, Li Zhen and the others also encountered many fleets bound for Datang or Taiwan. Among these fleets were many Han Chinese merchant ships, and there were also many Hu merchant fleets from Western countries. The closer you are to Malacca, the denser the oncoming fleet will be. Even with Linga Island as the boundary, those who enter the strait take the island's north waterway, and those who leave the strait use the island's south waterway.

After the fleet bypassed Linga Island from the northern waterway, Li Zhen and Li Yun immediately saw through the binoculars that there was an extremely prosperous port in the left front direction of their fleet, and countless ships entered and exited from this port.

At this time, Zhu Chong also pointed to the port and said: "Your Highness, please look, that port is Malacca's largest port, Malacca City. Although the management of this city is a bit messy and it is not safe, But in the Strait of Malacca, it is much stronger than some other small ports, and there are many ships coming and going, so most of the fleet will berth here to replenish the supplies on board, and there are also businessmen here. transactional."

At this time, Li Zhen and Li Yun also saw through the binoculars that there were many ships waiting to enter the port on the periphery of the port of Mo Luoyou. However, due to various reasons, the passages entering and leaving the port were blocked. The boats couldn't get out, and the boats outside couldn't get in, which made many passing ships sigh at the port.

Seeing this situation, some fleets out of the strait guessed that the supplies on the fleet could last for a few more days, so they didn't enter the port at all, and went directly to Linyi by bypassing Linga Island.It’s just a pity for those fleets entering the strait. Although they still have a lot of supplies on board, they still need to sail for a long time after leaving the strait, so they must be replenished in the strait. However, in the Strait of Malacca, except for the last Luoyou port, other small ports have worse conditions than here, even if they are not careful, they may be robbed in the port, so they weighed it over and over again and could only wait outside the port of Mo Luoyou.

As soon as Li Zhen's huge fleet appeared, it immediately attracted the attention of Mo Luoyou Port. The officials in the port were very familiar with ships from various countries, so they could tell at a glance that this was a fleet from Datang. , and what shocked them even more was that there were more than a dozen warships cruising on the periphery of this fleet, and they could tell they had official backgrounds at a glance.

The Kingdom of Malacca used to be the overlord of the Straits of Malacca. It not only imposed heavy taxes on passing ships, but also threatened them with force at every turn, even the ships of the Tang Dynasty. However, since Li Min stationed a fleet in Linyi, And from time to time, they would take a tour of Malacca. As a result, when the visitors saw the tall warships, and then looked at the small warships in their hands, they were completely different, so they made various concessions wisely. Not only has the tax rate on Han Chinese merchant ships been reduced a lot, but the attitude has also improved significantly.

For Li Zhen and their huge fleet, Mo Luoyou was very vigilant at the beginning, first sent people to negotiate, and even asked to board the ship, but Zhu Chong refused very arrogantly, and also ordered He told the officials of Mo Luoyou in a calm tone, let them prepare food and fresh water as soon as possible, and let the supply ships in their fleet replenish. As for other ships, they will not enter the port!

In fact, Zhu Chong was also very helpless, because he knew the size of the port of Mo Luo You City, and now the port was full of all kinds of ships, and the hundreds of huge ships in their fleet couldn't get in at all.In addition, Li Zhen and Li Yun's actions this time are confidential. If the fleet enters the port, the soldiers on board may be exposed, so it is better to stay outside the port and just let the supply ship go in.

Although Zhu Chong's attitude was very tough, the officials of Mo Luoyou were relieved when they heard that the other party's fleet would not enter the port, but only let a few ships resupply and then leave.They had been frightened by the fleet in Li Yin's hands before, but today they saw so many ships coming at once, and the big ships in the middle had a deep draft, and occasionally there would be soldiers in armor walking around, which scared them all After a jump, they thought that these were the fleet sent by Datang to attack them, and now they are finally relieved.

However, it was precisely this kind of worry that greatly improved the efficiency of Mo Luoyou's officials. They quickly cleared the congested port, and then prioritized the supply ships in Li Zhen's fleet to enter the port, and then organized manpower to move them as quickly as possible. All kinds of supplies, as a result, the supplies of the fleet were quickly replenished, and Zhu Chong also kept his promise and set sail directly outside the port.

"General Zhu, the Strait of Malacca is so important. Could it be that Sixth Brother just let these natives manage it?" Just as the fleet had just set sail, Li Zhen asked suddenly, and a gleam flashed in Mo Luoyou's eyes. .

But Zhu Chong smiled after hearing this, looked around and saw no one around, and then said in a low voice: "The two highnesses don't know, your highness has decided to bring the Strait of Malacca into the rule, but your highness just annexed Luzon and Lin Yi, the power in his hands is limited, so he does not want to conquer by force!"

"Oh?" Li Yun's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he even asked impatiently, "How is Sixth Brother going to control this place? Although the officials at Mo Luoyou were very respectful to us just now, if Sixth Brother If you want them to obediently hand over this golden waterway, I'm afraid there is no other way besides force?" Capital Datang 514

"Hey, I really don't know the specific method." Zhu Chong said with a smile. In fact, he didn't know, but he couldn't disclose it because of military discipline, but he also got Li Yin before. He can tell Li Zhen and Li Yun a little bit about his instructions, so he then pointed to the Malay Peninsula facing Mo Luoyou and said, "Although I don't know His Highness's specific plan, I do know, The key is still there!"