Smuggling Daming

Shenzhou stood at the bow of the ship holding a binoculars, and carefully inspected the sea ahead, hoping to find some traces of the three escaped Portuguese warships, but unfortunately the sea was clean, not even a piece of wood, no Traces of any passing ships.

Just a month ago, Shenzhou and Qu Lie cooperated to annihilate the invading Portuguese fleet in the Strait of Malacca in one fell swoop, but three Portuguese warships rushed out of the encirclement and fled back to the Indian Ocean. It would be fine if they were ordinary warships, the key is to escape One of the battleships was the flagship of Vasco da Gama, the governor of Portugal and India, and Da Gama himself was on the battleship. Naturally, Daming would not let this Portuguese governor who provoked the war without authorization, so Shenzhou personally Leading his Second Nanyang Squadron into the Indian Ocean, preparing to capture Da Gama and send him to Daming for questioning.

Da Gama's flagship and the other two Portuguese warships were also injured by Ming's artillery fire when they rushed out of the encirclement, and one of the warships was seriously injured. At least in Shenzhou's impression, the Portuguese warship was When escaping, there was a large amount of black smoke coming out of the upper deck, and one side of the sail was burned, but even with such serious injuries, the battleship still escaped, which made Shenzhou and the others feel His face was dull.

It was also Shenzhou who knew that all three of Da Gama's warships were injured, so he chased after him. After all, he managed to annihilate most of Portugal's power. If Da Gama can be captured again, Then he has made a great contribution. As for surpassing Qu Lie, it is not a problem. Who will dare to say that he is sitting in his current position because of his father Shenying?

Speaking of which, Shenzhou was also very lucky. Originally, according to the original history, he should inherit his father Shenying's position as the commander-in-chief.Then he was transferred to the capital by Jiang Bin.Become one of the main generals of the four foreign schools.At the same time, he was also Zhengde's adopted son. Later, after Zhengde's death, Shenzhou was implicated by Jiang Bin and was killed together.But now he met Zhou Zhong, which greatly changed Shenzhou's fate. At least he would no longer be Zhengde's adopted son, nor would he be implicated by Jiang Bin later.

Shenzhou is the youngest son of Shenying, and he has a few older brothers, but it is a pity that they are either ineffective.Either he is a concubine, and cannot inherit Shenying's position at all, so although Shenzhou is young, because of his martial arts and courage, he is at least much better than his older brothers, so Shenying has always been regarded as his heir to cultivate.

Since Shenying came to work under Zhou Zhong, Shenzhou took advantage of his youth and gave up the cavalry tactics he was most familiar with, and turned to learn naval warfare from Chang Xiao. He has learned something in these years.Coupled with his father's relationship, he was quickly noticed by Zhou.Yu was entrusted with important tasks at a young age and became the most outstanding general of the younger generation in the navy.

It was also because of Shenzhou's outstanding performance in the navy that he was appointed by Zhou Zhong as the commander of the second squadron of the Nanyang Fleet at a young age, and the commanders of the other two squadrons were Chang Xiao and Qu Lie. Everyone is a veteran general in the navy, and Shenzhou can be ranked with them, which will naturally attract the envy of many people, and some even secretly slander, saying that Shenzhou can be promoted to today's position, all thanks to his father With Shenying's care, otherwise with his qualifications, it would be impossible to become one of the commanders of the Nanyang Fleet. It is precisely because of this that Shenzhou's position as the commander of the Second Squadron is not secure.

In fact, in all fairness, Shenzhou was able to become one of the three commanders of the Nanyang Fleet at the age of 30, and he was indeed closely related to his father Shenying. However, Zhou Zhong single-handedly promoted Shenzhou. Chong's personality, if Shenzhou didn't have real skills, even if Shenying pleaded with Zhou Zhong in person, Shenzhou might not be able to get reused.

It can be said that more than 80.00% of Shenzhou's ability to sit in his current position is due to his own efforts. For example, he used to be a cavalry general, and he also has a lot of experience in land warfare. He has made a lot of contributions, it can be said that in terms of contributions, he is not inferior to Chang Xiao and Qu Lie.

Moreover, Shenzhou is also very studious. After he joined the navy, he has been learning the tactics of the navy from Chang Xiao. As a result, he was quickly appreciated by Chang Xiao. In just a few years, Shenzhou had successfully become a teacher, and later he was alone. With a fleet, together with Li Anliang, he dispatched soldiers to the Wa Kingdom, and occupied the Edo Bay and Iwami Kingdom of the Wa Kingdom. It can be said that the strategy of the Wa Kingdom was almost implemented by Shen Zhou. On Monday, he defeated other competitors in one fell swoop and became one of the three commanders of the Nanyang Fleet.

In addition, the difference between Shenzhou and Chang Xiao and Qu Lie is that before he became the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, he had specially participated in the crash course of the Naval Military Academy, where he learned more about the way of being a general in the navy, and also learned Knowledge of astronomy and arithmetic made him more professional than the old-style naval generals like Chang Xiao and Qu Lie.

It was precisely because of Shen Zhou's eagerness to learn and his talent in naval battles that Zhou Zhong tried his best to promote him as one of the three most elite commanders of the Nanyang Fleet. The two veteran generals, Lie and Lie, were on equal footing, and this naval battle in Malacca also showed that Zhou Zhong did not misunderstand the person. The cooperation between Shenzhou and Qu Lie nearly wiped out the invading Portuguese fleet, and Shenzhou still persevered Chasing into the Indian Ocean and wanting to capture the Portuguese Governor da Gama in one fell swoop, as long as he can make this contribution, no one will dare to question him in the future.

It's just that things take a long time. Although Shenzhou is determined to catch Da Gama, and in his opinion, the opponent's three warships have been injured, it should not be particularly difficult to catch the opponent.But he overlooked one point, that is, da Gama and the Portuguese are very familiar with the fleet from India to Malacca. After they fled into Malacca, they immediately hid on this route, especially there are still several people on this route. An archipelago is very convenient for ships to hide, which made Shenzhou lead the fleet to chase for a full month, but finally let Da Gama's three warships escape, and now they can't even find their shadows.

"General, further ahead is the Lion Kingdom, which is famous for its rich gemstones. It is the reason why the Lion Kingdom has been at war with the Tamils ​​on the Indian mainland. The country is not peaceful, so if you want to go there, ordinary merchant ships have to risk A certain risk." Just as Shenzhou was thinking about something, someone came up behind him to report.

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was round and fat, and looked friendly. This man was named Sheng Kang. He used to be a businessman in Southeast Asia. The most important thing was to transport goods from Malacca to India. Yes. The sea area in this area can be said to be very familiar, so this time he was recruited by Shenzhou to be the guide of the fleet. Thanks to Sheng Kang's guidance along the way, they did not get lost on this unfamiliar route.

"Sheng Kang, where do you think the Portuguese will flee to?" Shenzhou still asked a little unwillingly. Three days ago, under the guidance of Sheng Kang, they had already captured all three Portuguese warships in an archipelago. It was blocked, but a sudden storm forced them to temporarily loosen the encirclement. As a result, the Portuguese escaped at the risk of their ships being overturned by the storm. After the storm stopped, Shenzhou and the others once again Lost traces of Da Gama and others.

"General Qi, the storms in the first few articles came from the east. The Portuguese rushed into the storm regardless of the danger. They could only be blown to the west by the storm. If their warships were not overturned, then they would probably blow to the lions. Since the Portuguese are familiar with this sea area, they are likely to come to the lion to replenish water and repair the boat, but I don’t know if the other party is still there when we arrive at the lion country?” Sheng Kang said very Expressed his own analysis with confidence.

Shenzhou also became contemplative when he heard this. It has been a month since the Malacca naval battle. During this period, neither side had time to stop for supplies. It will be worse than them, so if Da Gama is still alive, he will definitely find the nearest place to replenish fresh water, and their battleship was severely damaged in the previous naval battle, and they have just experienced a storm. They must be in urgent need of repairs, so no matter from Whichever way you analyze it, the Portuguese are likely to lead the way to the Lion Country.

"The analysis is indeed reasonable, but although the Lion Country is an island country, its area is not too small. Sheng Kang, where do you think the Portuguese will stop in the Lion Country?" Shenzhou nodded approvingly, and then asked again.

Regarding this question from Shenzhou, Sheng Kang replied without thinking: "General Qi, although the lion country is big, they have been fighting with the Tamils ​​in mainland India all the year round, and the country is also very chaotic. Very few, with the size of the Portuguese warships, the only place where they can dock, supply and repair is the largest port in the Lion Kingdom, Belori. It is said that when the Sanbao eunuch went to the West, he once docked in Belori !"

"Bie Luoli!" Shenzhou also felt a little familiar when he heard the name. When he heard that it was related to the Sanbao eunuch, it immediately reminded him of the "Zheng He Navigation Chart" he had read in the military academy. , it seems that there is an introduction to this port. Since the treasure ship of the Sanbao eunuch can dock, the Portuguese warship must also dock.

Thinking of this, Shenzhou cheered up, and immediately ordered: "The whole army obeys the order, and rush to the Lion Country at full speed to Luoli, and make sure to block the Portuguese warships in the port!" (To be continued...)