Smuggling Daming

Shenzhou urged the fleet to rush to Belori, the largest port in the Lion Kingdom, trying to block the three escaped warships from Portugal in the port, but the hard work paid off. After three days of full-speed advance, they finally arrived at Beloli. Rory Port, and indeed, as they expected, the Portuguese warships were docked here for maintenance, but when Shen Zhou blocked the Portuguese warships in the port, his expression became very ugly.

There were originally three warships that the Portuguese escaped from, but there was only one warship that was blocked by Shenzhou in the port of Belori. The superstructure of this warship was burned to black, which made Shenzhou recognize it at a glance. The battleship was the one that was the most injured when it escaped from the Strait of Malacca, but apart from this battleship, Da Gama, the flagship and another battleship were missing.

In addition, the battleship left behind not only lost people, but even the hull was dismantled in a mess. Seeing this, Shenzhou could also guess something. The battleship arrived here, but the most seriously injured battleship could no longer be used, so the Portuguese dismantled the battleship, on the one hand, repaired the other two ships with the planks of this battleship, and on the other hand, it was also to prevent God Zhou and the others left any trophies, such as the artillery on this battleship, all of which were dismantled by the Portuguese.

Seeing the dismantled warship with its keel exposed, Shenzhou felt more and more annoyed. After all, he spent a month chasing after him, but in the end he didn't catch anything, not even a single prisoner. Da Gama escaped, which is really hard to swallow.

But no matter how angry Shenzhou is.His fleet still needs to berth in the port.After all, the water on the boat was almost used up.It must be replenished before sailing again, but the Lion Kingdom is already the southernmost point of India. If you go beyond here and go west, it will be the west coast of India, which is the territory of the Portuguese. Although the Portuguese fleet is almost wiped out by Ming now , but several ports on land must still maintain a considerable force, and Shenzhou's fleet had consumed a lot of gunpowder and shells before.He has not been replenished, so he is not sure that he will be able to capture the Portuguese port in one fell swoop, and may even stay in Belori for a long time.

Belori is the largest port of the Lion Kingdom. The Lion Kingdom is actually the later Sri Lanka. Now the entire island is mainly ruled by the Sinhala Kingdom, but the northern part of the island is ruled by the Tamils ​​who migrated from the Indian mainland. , these two ethnic groups are constantly fighting with each other. Although the Sinhala Kingdom has a large population, the Tamils ​​have the support of their fellows on the Indian mainland.So the two sides have fought for hundreds of years, but they still haven't been able to tell the winner.Belori Port is located within the rule of the Sinhala Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Sinhala is a Buddhist country. Buddhism is believed in from top to bottom in the country. It is said that a Buddha bone relic is enshrined here. It may also be the influence of Buddhism, so the people of the Kingdom of Sinhala are relatively peaceful. For example, they were very obedient to the arrival of Shenzhou, the Ming fleet, especially when they knew that this fleet was from the same country as the Sanbao eunuch, the port officials were even more respectful. God week they are very welcome.

In fact, Shenzhou also knew that the reason why the local officials in Belori were so enthusiastic was not only due to the prestige of the Sanbao eunuch, but also because the local officials knew that they were not the opponents of the Ming Fleet, so The purpose of showing such obedience is to hope that the other party will not use force against the port.

Although Shenzhou is very greedy for the gems of the Lion Kingdom, he also knows that his main target this time is the Portuguese, so it is not appropriate to have too much conflict with the surrounding natives, so he also expressed friendship to the officials in Belori , and his friendliness was quickly rewarded. For example, officials in Belori provided them with free food and water supplies, and also gave them a piece of good news.

It turns out that according to the officials in Beloli, the Portuguese came to the port not with three warships, but with only two ships, the largest of which was less damaged by the storm, while the remaining one could not After starting, the Portuguese finally transferred the supplies on the broken ship, briefly replenished food and fresh water, and then left in a hurry.

After hearing the above news, Shenzhou was also very happy. The Portuguese only had two warships coming to Belori Port, that is to say, the other party should have lost one warship in the storm, although this warship was not taken by them. It was sunk directly, but it is also inseparable from their pursuit, so this is also their credit, which finally makes Shen Zhou feel more comfortable, at least their hard work this month has not been in vain.

In the next period of time, Shenzhou and his fleet temporarily stationed in the port of Belori. Although the local officials wanted to send the powerful Ming fleet away immediately, they did not dare to urge them, so they could only Putting on a fake smile to entertain, this should be the tragedy of small and weak countries.

The Nanyang Second Squadron led by Shenzhou did not wait too long in Belori. Wang Shouren, who was sitting in the rear, quickly sent the supply fleet over. After the fleet replenished the gunpowder and shells, the soldiers in the fleet also passed by. After a period of rest, the original combat effectiveness was restored, and Shenzhou also received the latest order, that is, to let their second squadron attack Goa, the largest stronghold of the Portuguese in India. This is also the strategy from the court. Target.

After receiving the order, Shenzhou, who wanted to prove himself through military exploits, excitedly called all the captains in the fleet to discuss countermeasures.Speaking of which, Shenzhou was born in a military academy, and he also likes to use admirals who graduated from the military academy, so almost all the captains under him are graduates from the naval academy, and many of them are classmates of the same period as him.

These captains who graduated from the military academy are very young, it can be said that they are all young men in the navy. Like Shenzhou, they are eager to prove themselves with military exploits, so these people heard that the court entrusted them with such an important task At that time, everyone was excited and shouted, wishing to take the fleet to occupy the Portuguese's lair in India immediately.

A few days later, the Nanyang Second Squadron finally left Belori after resupply. This made the local Sinhalese officials very excited. These days, they have been serving these Ming fleets with trepidation, for fear of accidentally getting angry The other party, who in turn brought devastating disaster to Belori, can finally send this big trouble away now.

Goa is located in the central part of the west coast of India. It was originally the accompanying capital of the Jabul Sultanate of India, but later the Portuguese fleet commander Albuquerque brought his fleet to the west coast of India, defeated the earth king Timaya here, and finally won Because Goa has rich rivers, the mouth of the Zuari River is one of the best natural ports on the west coast of India, so the Portuguese built Goa as one of the strongholds to control India Later, the Kingdom of Portugal established the Governor of India, and Goa became the seat of the Governor of Portugal and India.

In addition to Goa, the Portuguese also owned many ports and strongholds on the west coast of India and the east coast of Africa, but those places were regarded by the Portuguese as enclaves of the kingdom, and no immigration and troops were carried out, but here in Goa, The Portuguese regarded it as their overseas territory, and not only migrated a large number of people from the country to live here, but also stationed most of Portugal's troops in India.

When Shenzhou led the fleet to Goa, the local Portuguese did not react at all, especially Vasco da Gama who had just returned to Goa, because he never thought that the Ming fleet would really chase him to his lair .In fact, it is not surprising that da Gama would think so, because almost all the Portuguese think so. Over the years, the Portuguese have used their trade with the East to make their small country a powerful country in Europe, especially overseas. Almost all their fleets attack other people's ports, and no fleet from other countries has ever dared to provoke their ports. Return to their own port, then they will be safe.

It is also because the Portuguese are all holding the above ideas, so they never thought that there will be fleets from other countries coming to their port for a while, so when the fleet of Ming Dynasty arrives, not only Da Gama does not I can't believe it, and the Portuguese immigrants in the port can't believe it either.

But the facts were right in front of our eyes. More than 20 warships brought by Shenzhou were lined up outside the port of Goa, with their black muzzles pointing at the city of Goa, which had just been built not long ago. It seemed that they were ready to bombard the port at any time.Although there are nearly [-] infantry stationed in Goa, although the Portuguese navy is strong, the infantry has always performed poorly. Therefore, if Daming's army invades the city, no one will believe that those infantry alone can fight. back the enemy.

After Shenzhou led the fleet to block the sea off Goa, no ships were allowed to enter the port of Goa. After the Portuguese immigrated to Goa, they forced the residents here to believe in Catholicism, so the aborigines here fled to neighboring lands. The Kingdom of Man has gone, and the port is populated by Portuguese people and soldiers who immigrated from Europe. Naturally, the ships that come in and out are all Portuguese merchant ships. As a result, they are blocked by Shenzhou now, and the Portuguese merchants in the port can just eat. Big loss.

But no one cares about this now, because Shenzhou has sent someone to send a letter to Da Gama in the port, asking them to surrender the city before dawn tomorrow, otherwise he will bombard the city of Goa! (to be continued..)