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The enemy of my enemy is my friend. This is a simple truth. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and Dutch military commander Vernadine both understood it, so they quickly became friends.
The Mughal Empire, which was at its peak, had a considerable number of naval warships and also bought a lot of artillery from the British. As for its combat effectiveness, it is hard to say.
In addition, the Mughal navy was full of talented people, and they had many unique and wonderful ideas for naval battles.
For example, there was a general named Herasindi who once suggested to the Mochener Emperor Shah Jahan that elephants should be strictly trained and then loaded onto ships for use in naval battles.
According to General Herasindi's repeated calculations, in close combat, as long as three elephants stretched out their trunks at the same time, they could overturn a warship with a displacement of 100 to 200 tons, causing devastating damage to the enemy.
The Mughal Navy, which had such wonderful creativity, and the Dutch Navy, which had rich experience in naval warfare, joined forces. You really didn't know whether their fighting power would increase exponentially.
Imagine that in actual combat, you would probably be stunned by the Mughal Navy's weird ideas first, and then be unaware of the Dutch Navy's sneak attack from behind.
In the end, you will be defeated and routed in a shock similar to "God is a girl".
Anyway, Ke Chenshu was very troubled. Vernado avoided fighting, and the Dutch fleet with twenty or thirty warships and dozens of armed merchant ships seemed to have disappeared out of thin air. Now the Mughal fleet also came to disrupt the situation.
In the spacious command cabin of the treasure ship, Ke Chenshu, Du Jianshi Ren Zhong, naval guerrilla Hua Yingnan, Li Mu and other generals were discussing the next plan based on the map.
Li Mu said: "Now the number of Qin merchant ships traveling to India has further increased. If our main force goes north to Ceylon and the east coast of the Indian mainland, the waterway here in Ceylon will be difficult to control. We have been looking for so long, but we can't find Vernado. This is becoming more and more unusual."
Hua Yingnan continued, "During this season, the monsoon currents are unpredictable. The Dutch are much more familiar with the sea conditions in this area than we are. In comparison, this is very disadvantageous to us."
The monsoon and ocean currents in the Indian Ocean are different in summer and winter. Generally speaking, in winter (October to April), the north wind and northeast wind blow from the Asian continent to the ocean, forming a counterclockwise circulation in the northern winter.
In the southern half of the Indian Ocean, the direction of the ocean current is relatively stable. The South Equatorial Current crosses the Indian Ocean from east to west and reaches the vicinity of Madagascar. A part of it bypasses the island from the north and flows south through the Mozambique Channel, which is called the Mozambique Current.
The other part is blocked and flows directly south along the island of Madagascar, which is called the Madagascar Current.
After the two warm currents converge southwest of Madagascar Island, they continue to flow south along the coast of Africa until near Cape Agulhas. This section of the ocean current is called the Agulhas Current.
The Agulhas Current is swept into the westerly drift of the South Indian Ocean, and often flows eastward with a turbulent momentum from near the southern tip of Africa all the way into the South Pacific.
Of course, this is just a general trend. Specific sea areas often form certain microclimates and rapids due to differences in sea conditions. If you are not careful, it is enough to destroy a fleet.
Especially in this season, when the winter and summer monsoons intersect, the monsoon currents often alternate and become more complicated. Hua Yingnan frowned as he spoke of this.
Seeing him frown, Ke Chenshu suddenly felt a little wary. Hang gliders have an overwhelming advantage in naval battles, and the navy, from generals to soldiers, have unconsciously developed a sense of dependence on hang gliders.
In this season of unpredictable monsoon, there are few opportunities for hang gliders to take off and fight. Perhaps this is the real reason why Hua Yingnan frowned.
"Everyone, whether the hang glider can be used in combat depends too much on luck. We must not pin all our hopes of victory on the hang glider. We must be prepared to fight a tough battle at any time."
Just as Ke Chenshu finished speaking, a series of golden gong sounds suddenly rang out outside. This was the alarm sounded by the lookout on the mast. Ke Chenshu and others stood up and walked towards the porthole.
At this time, the staff officer Wu Jianzhu rushed in and said loudly: "General Ke, we found two Dutch warships. They turned around and fled to the northwest."
Ke Chenshu made a prompt decision and said, "Order the two warships of Dijing Zhenshou and Yu Zhongnan to chase after them immediately and try to intercept the enemy ship."
“Yes.”
"The rest of the warships, follow my flagship and turn the rudder to chase."
“Yes!”
Ren Zhong, the deputy commander, pondered and said, "General Ke, the Dutch have been hiding so well recently, and now two warships suddenly appear here. This is quite intriguing."
Guerrillas Nan Yinghua and Li Mu had hurriedly returned to their warships on a small boat. At this time, only Ke Chen, Ren Zhong, and a group of staff were left in the huge command cabin.
Among them, the staff officer Zhuge Chengcang could not help but say: "General Ke, the wind is blowing from the northwest at sea right now. As soon as the enemy showed up, they fled to the northwest. I think they are very familiar with the characteristics of our clipper battleships.
If it was a tailwind, their speed would be nearly half of ours, and they would be caught up by our army in no time. However, sailing against the wind, the clipper ships could not use most of their sails, and their speed advantage was not obvious. According to my analysis, the two Dutch warships' escape to the northwest must have been a carefully planned action. "
Zhuge Chengcang's words were clear enough. According to his conclusion, the two Dutch warships were simply intended to lure the enemy and it was definitely not an accidental collision.
During this period, in order to prevent the Dutch from fleeing to the sea east of Ceylon to plunder the merchant ships of Daqin, the ocean-going fleet needed to defend the north-south shipping lanes of Ceylon.
The entire fleet was actually divided into two, with one treasure ship and twelve clippers cruising around the Palk Strait, while the remaining two treasure ships and twenty-two clippers patrolled south of Gaolangbu Port.
Ke Chenshu said calmly: "What is coming will always come. We may not be able to choose where to fight, but I think we can choose where not to fight."
Ke Chenshu was so confident because he felt that with the speed of their ship, it should not be difficult to escape the battle even if they were at a disadvantage.
Ren Zhong was still a little worried, and said cautiously: "General Ke, if this is really the enemy's strategy to lure the enemy, Vernado has avoided us for so long, and came out at this time, which means he has made all the preparations. We still have to be careful, otherwise we may be forced into a decisive battle that we don't want."
Ke Chenshu nodded and once again ordered the four clipper warships to speed up the pushing of the wells, responsible for reconnaissance of the enemy situation and exploration of ocean currents and sea conditions to avoid being ambushed by the enemy.
The rough sea was vast and boundless, the sky was clear and blue, the sea breeze was blowing the black sails, making them bulge, the waves were three to four feet high, and the hull was rising and falling with them.
The two huge treasure ships and twenty-two clipper warships were sailing against the wind. Although they kept zigzagging, their ship paths were like sharp blades, quickly cutting through the waves.
Ke Chenshu was holding a telescope, standing in front of the command cabin on the top floor, looking at the two Dutch warships fleeing in front of him. Since they were quite far away, he could only see two blurry shadows of the ships through the telescope.
Where was Vernado hiding at this moment? What kind of trap had he set, waiting for him to rush into it
The Dutch could not afford to lose this battle. Once they lost, they would have to withdraw from the Indian Ocean. Ke Chenshu could not afford to lose either. If they lost, the blade of the Qin Dynasty would be broken, and the ministers in the court would question the policy of vigorously developing the navy. Ke Chenshu was not sure whether the Qin Dynasty could make a comeback, but his personal future would be ruined.
The two Dutch warships fled desperately, and the time of their appearance was obviously carefully calculated. Ke Chenshu and his men chased them for thirty miles. When they were about to catch up, the sun in the west began to sink into the sea. Only a red glow remained in the sky, and the light on the sea began to dim.
Night has fallen.
Perhaps Vernado had already calculated accurately that he might have to fight an unprecedented night battle.
Shu Chenshu hesitated for a moment. Did he really have to fight a night battle with the enemy? ... ... ..
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ps: Dear friends, I'm sorry. I've been in a bad state these days. I got up very early, but I've only written one chapter so far. Sorry, sorry. Okay, I'll continue to work hard on writing... ... ... (To be continued...)
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