In the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, the East India Company of the four countries of England, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Denmark, after seeing their prey, their armed merchant ships felt that there was an opportunity to take advantage of them. As soon as they changed their flags, they immediately turned into pirates...<

/p>

Of course, trading companies in the Chu Empire also did this kind of thing, and Nanyang Trading Company was the leader among them!

This situation itself is the norm in the Age of Discovery. When going to sea, people are either robbed or robbed...

This is also the reason why the Dachu Empire Navy vigorously attacked pirates in the Nanyang Sea, dispatched naval warships to conduct fixed cruises, and maintained the safety of fixed routes.

It is because if piracy activities are too rampant, the scale of overseas trade will be reduced, which will affect the scale of overseas trade of the Dachu Empire.

What the Da Chu Empire wants is not the Li Lan on the route, nor does it care about the Li Lan who robbed a few merchant ships. What the Da Chu Empire wants is the market and raw materials.

Therefore, the Dachu Empire is different from other countries. The Dachu Empire always tries its best to maintain maritime security. For this reason, it does not hesitate to send a large number of warships to maintain maritime security in the Nanyang waters and combat pirates.

The large number of frigates are the key force used by the Da Chu Empire Navy to maintain maritime security.

Because the number is large enough, regular patrols can be carried out on multiple routes to deter pirates and potential pirates from putting their little thoughts aside.

Because a cruiser leads a patrol fleet of two or three frigates, which is enough to put great pressure on any pirate ship or armed merchant ship, forcing them not to act rashly.

This is also the reason why the Dachu Empire built so many frigates that seemed to be of no use in fleet battles. They were mainly used to escort ships and maintain maritime security.

As for fighting the main fleet of the enemy navy... that is the task of the battleship, even the hi cruiser has to step aside!

If a frigate with a small body like a frigate rushes up to engage in a bombardment with the enemy's battleship, it's like a cannon-sinking thing!

Based on these realities, it is also the reason why the Da Chu Empire Navy simply canceled the small number of 130 mm naval guns on the frigates... The early equipment of 130 mm naval guns was because it planned to use these frigates with the Zheng Zhilong Fleet, the Dongli Fleet and even the Netherlands.

The human fleet conducts operations.

When later battleships and a large number of cruisers enter service, frigates will no longer need to undertake the main combat mission, so these 130mm naval guns will simply be replaced by 115mm naval guns.

Anyway, to fight pirates and arm merchant ships, the 115mm naval gun is sufficient.

The large number of capital ships in the first fleet can be regarded as concentrating most of the strength of the Great Chu Empire Navy. Even so, the Great Chu Empire Navy was not at ease, so it recruited a large number of armed merchant ships to serve as auxiliary forces.

These are all to cover the landing fleet operations, defeat the Kingdom of Johor in one fell swoop and directly control the Strait of Malacca. They are also to intercept possible subsequent Dutch counterattacks, completely block the Strait of Malacca, and deter the indigenous maritime forces of other countries in Southeast Asia.

Well, by the way, this operation is also used to conduct a large-scale live-fire training for ocean combat.

After all, it is very expensive to conduct such large-scale ocean-going training in normal times. Now that in the name of war, military expenditures are borne by the cabinet, the Navy naturally wants to take the opportunity to engage in some ocean-going training subjects that it usually does not give up.

…

Since the Dachu Empire organized such a huge fleet operation, it was naturally impossible to hide the news!

After all, the Nanyang Sea is not the inland sea of ​​the Chu Empire. There are also a large number of ships from various countries sailing. In particular, Guangzhou, as the main foreign trade port of the Chu Empire, has a large number of foreign ships entering and exiting.

Of course, the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company are indispensable!

When they discovered that the Chu Empire had gathered a large number of ships to sail southward, they were also shocked. Unfortunately, there was no wireless telegraphy these days.

Even if these Dutch ships at sea discovered any changes in the Chu Empire's navy, they would not be able to report the news to Batavia in time.

By the time these Dutch ships returned to Batavia and reported the news to the colonial authorities of the Dutch East India Company, it was estimated that the landing fleet of the Chu Empire Navy had already reached the Malay Peninsula and started landing.

The delay in message transmission has certainly brought a lot of trouble to the expedition fleet of the Dachu Empire, but it has also brought a lot of benefits. At least there is no need to worry that the enemy will be prepared in advance...

In March of the 15th year of Chengshun, the main fleet of the First Fleet of the Dachu Empire arrived at the Cam Ranh Bay military base, and carried out rest and replenishment. It also joined the 3rd Marine Regiment of the Navy that had been well prepared at the Cam Ranh Bay base.

After the Third Marine Regiment joined the fleet, the First Fleet set sail from Cam Ranh Bay on March 18, the 15th year of Chengshun, and continued southward.

While the First Fleet was resting in Cam Ranh Bay, the Combined Transport Fleet, which was composed of armed merchant ships from various trading companies and some naval warship escort ships, directly crossed Cam Ranh Bay to the Beijia area, and

Dock at Patani Port.

More than 10,000 soldiers of the 14th Division, as well as a large amount of weapons and equipment, ammunition, food and other combat supplies began to be unloaded.

This time, the joint transport fleet not only brought the personnel, livestock, and weapons and equipment of the 14th Division, but also brought all kinds of materials necessary for 30 to 40 thousand people to sustain operations for more than half a year.

We brought everything from weapons and equipment, tents and clothing, medicines and even building materials.

The arrival of these supplies is enough to meet the needs of the 5th Division and the 14th Division for half a year!

The reason why I bring so many is because the speed of maritime navigation is too slow these days. A round trip from Guangzhou to Nanyang often takes more than several months.

If this doesn't work, if there is a shortage of supplies on the front line and the corresponding supplies cannot be collected locally, the trouble will be big.

The distance and navigation difficulties all caused the Chu Empire to launch a large-scale sea crossing and landing operation, and could only transport all the troops and supplies needed in the first few months in one go.

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This is also the reason why the Chu Empire recruited armed merchant ships on a large scale.

Such a huge transportation volume simply cannot be achieved by relying solely on the navy's own warships and transport fleets.

The joint transport fleet arrived in Bei Nian... No, to be precise, it caused a shock in the Southeast Asia as soon as it entered the Gulf of Siam!

This is a huge fleet of hundreds of ships, and they are all moving together...

This is definitely not a normal merchant fleet. Any fool will know that the Chu army is engaging in a large-scale military operation, just like the one that landed in the Kingdom of Siam a few years ago.

…

At that time, the Chu Empire also sent hundreds of ships over at once and directly robbed the capital of the Kingdom of Siam!

Now, what do these Chu people want to do?

All the indigenous countries in Southeast Asia, as well as the Dutch and Portuguese, who heard the news were extremely panicked.

And the next actions of the Dachu Empire made these people even more worried!

After the joint transport fleet arrived in Beinian and unloaded personnel and supplies, it did not return directly, but went to several ports to evacuate overseas Chinese.

The scope of evacuation is very large!

Including the Kingdom of Johor, the Kingdom of Aceh, Malacca City, Batavia controlled by the Dutch and other areas.

In fact, these evacuations were not officially led by the government, but were spontaneous actions by the trading companies and requested the navy's cooperation and permission.

Because of these trading companies, many port cities in the above-mentioned areas have set up various offices, commercial stations, etc., and dispatched personnel to be stationed all year round.

Now the Chu Empire is going to launch operations in the above-mentioned areas, and it is preparing for a big war. The battlefield may spread from the Malay Peninsula to a large number of Indonesian islands and even other areas.

Naturally, these trading companies want to bring their own families back from these places.

As for business, it's not too late to continue it after the war is over. There is no need to stay where you are and take risks now... not to mention the small matter of death, but the large amount of money and goods stored locally cannot be lost.

If a fight breaks out and these indigenous or Dutch people get mad and directly seize assets on a large scale, they will cry their eyes out!

Therefore, they will take advantage of the military's official launch of military operations to withdraw their personnel and money from the war zone.

And such a large-scale evacuation of overseas Chinese and investment has made countries even more panicked.

The Dutch sent envoys to Beinian Port on fast ships, trying to get the detailed situation from the Chu Empire's plenipotentiary representative in the Nanyang region, that is, the Nanyang governor, or simply saying that they wanted to ask the Chu Empire, what do you want?

What are you doing, do you want to start a war?

It is a pity that the envoy of the Dutch East India Company did not even see the governor of Nanyang, but only an official under the Nanyang Patrol Yamen.

This Dachu Empire official told them, don't think too much, we have no intention of provoking a war. There may seem to be many recent actions, but that is just a large-scale exercise we are conducting.

Why should we evacuate overseas Chinese?

Because the drill content includes rescue and evacuation of natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

Because our domestic scientists say that there are many earthquakes and tsunamis in the Nanyang region, which makes it more prone to various natural disasters. In order to prepare for these natural disasters and in line with the attitude of being responsible for the safety of the lives and assets of our expatriates, we held this event

evacuation drill.

All in all, it’s just serious nonsense!

As for the effect?

Of course no one believes it!

Everyone is not stupid. When they saw more than a hundred ships carrying more than 10,000 soldiers and countless supplies arriving at Beinian Port, they all knew that the Chu Empire was going to play a big game.

The only question now is, who does the Chu Empire want to kill?

…

April 26, the 15th year of Chengshun, Java Island under Indian control, Batavia Port.

Several Dutch people looked at the merchant ships in the distant port preparing to leave a large number of Chu people, and their faces were all ugly.

One of the bearded ones said: "Do you want us to stay here by force?"

"They are not just leaving, but also taking a large amount of money and goods with them. If we force them to stay, we can confiscate at least two million yuan!"

But another person said: "Don't be stupid. Forcing them to stay here is tantamount to directly declaring war on those Chu people!"

"And whether to declare war or not is not something you and I can decide. This needs to be decided by the company's senior management, or even the domestic senior management!"

"Chu people are not uncivilized aborigines!"

"We must not easily start a war with them before we make the firmest determination!"

"Moreover, we judge that the target of these Chu people should not be our Batavia, but the Malay Peninsula!"

“I just don’t know whether their target is the Kingdom of Aceh or the Kingdom of Siam.”

"Both the Kingdom of Siam and the Kingdom of Aceh are not our territory. The Chu people's invasion of these places has no direct conflict of interest with us!"
To be continued...