While the Eastern Coast Naval Privateer's Fleet was helping the Spaniards fight smuggling in the Caribbean, thousands of miles away in the North Indian Ocean, the East Coast Naval Formation, consisting of a battleship, an armed transport ship, and two expedition ships, was cruising in the Persian Gulf. This small fleet, led by Rear Admiral Guo Zili, went to Persia on a mission called "gunboat diplomacy" - in fact, to gain commercial privileges in Persia, as the British had acquired.

Their fleet set out from Xinhua Port for the northern Indian Ocean in mid-November 1649, but unfortunately the year was unfavorable, and the bad weather encountered not long after departure, and the whole fleet had to return to New China Bay to take shelter from the wind. To make matters worse, one of the masts of the battleship "Free Trade" was blown by strong winds and had to be repaired at the Xinhua Shipyard, which undoubtedly greatly delayed their trip. In this way, by the time I set off again, it was already December.

Perhaps the bad luck had already left, this time their trip was very smooth, the four ships overcame adverse factors such as countercurrents and changeable wind directions, crossed the equator along the lì, entered the North Indian Ocean, and then followed the counterclockwise flow of the North Indian Ocean Circulation, sailed on the vast sea for more than half a month, and finally drifted to a strange sea near the west coast of India. What's more, they even found a European-style castle by the sea, with some artillery on it, but it was completely ignored by the people on the east coast. The largest caliber of the small-caliber bronze guns was similar to the smallest caliber (12 pounds) on the ships on the east coast.

The Europeans stationed at the castle soon came out on a small sailing boat to negotiate with the people on the east coast, and Major Guo Zili, who led the team, realized that the Europeans were actually Portuguese, and this was actually the open sea of Cochin, India. And about the "legendary" city of Cochin. Guo Zili has also admired his name for a long time. Because just over a hundred years ago. A great battle broke out under this castle that shocked the world. The princes of the princely state of Calicut, India, gathered at least 60,000 men, armed with trebuchets and small-caliber artillery (muskets might be more appropriate), and besieged the castle, which was defended by only 140 Portuguese soldiers (and several galleons), supported by more than 200 Arab galleons. The outcome of the battle was jaw-dropping, with the Indians besieging for months before finally abandoning the attack at the cost of nearly 20,000 dead (more than 5,000 of whom died in the battle and the rest died of disease), while the Portuguese did not die a single person in this massacre battle. Almost as mythical.

However, the Portuguese were still more worried about the East coasters, who were better equipped than them, had a more pungent fighting style than them, and were also from the "civilized world". In particular, the dense gun windows on the side of the battleship "Free Trade" made the scalps of the Portuguese defenders on the shore tingle, and this was almost one of the most powerful warships in the Indian Ocean.

Fortunately, the easterners had no interest in capturing their fortress, and after explaining that they were not hostile, the Portuguese sent some supplies to the easterners in small boats, and then demanded that the easterners leave as much as they could. Guo Zili considered that now was not the time to fall out with the Portuguese, so he exchanged gifts with the commander of the other party, and then left the sea area with a cannon salute, adjusted his course and headed straight for Persia.

On their way to Persia, they also encountered a Portuguese fleet. This shows the strength of the Portuguese on the west coast of India. This seafaring nation has been operating in the East for more than a hundred years, although it now seems a little out of control. But emaciated camels are bigger than horses, and in the rich land of India, neither the Dutch nor the British have far less influence than them, as can be seen from the fleets and forts that patrol the coastline.

On February 1, 1650, this small fleet on the east coast appeared near the mouth of the Indus River, and after anchoring in the open sea, Guo Zili personally took some sailors to the shore in small boats. This was the second time in many years that the fleet of the East Coasters appeared near the mouth of the Indus River, following Wang Hammer's "Common Market".

Guo Zili and the others took some fresh fresh water from the shore, and then asked the other party in a friendly manner to buy some melons, fruits, vegetables, and live cattle and sheep. The local natives did not show much hostility towards the easterners, nor did the easterners bully, and the trade was completed in a friendly atmosphere.

And after seeing that the attitude of the natives here - I can't tell what race they were, but they should not be barbarians - towards the people of the East Coast was acceptable, Guo Zili also seriously considered setting up a trading post here after returning to the country, or the New China Pioneer Team. This area had close trade ties with the Punjab region of northwestern India, and it was possible to import wild silk from there through the hands of these natives. Although the wild silk of Punjab is coarser than that of Persian and Chinese silk, it is extremely tough and has a great use in the textile industry. Besides, the East Coast Merchants' Merchant House can also sell other things, such as high-quality metal utensils, medicines, steel bars, and high-end textiles. Of course, all of this is premised on the permission of the Indian officials who rule the region - but it shouldn't be too difficult.

After escaping the bad weather in the nearby ocean, on February 10, Guo Zili beckoned Jiwen and others to pull anchor and set sail, left the mouth of the Indus River, sailed west along the coastline, and drew charts as he went, and at the end of February, he again arrived at the island of Hormuz off the coast of Bandar Abbas.

Outside the island, which had just been recaptured by the Persians from Portugal, the fleet of the people on the eastern shore was stopped. The leader of the Persian garrison on the island, aboard a small Arab-style galleon, asked the people from the east coast in a sinister tone where they came from, and demanded that they leave immediately, or else they would be attacked.

Guo Zili looked at the seven or eight so-called "cannons" on the island with pipes and bamboo poles about the same thickness, and he was a little reluctant to explain to the Persian officials that they were the fleet of the Republic of East China and had already come once last year under the leadership of Mr. Smith of the British East India Company, and had also purchased 70 quintals of raw silk in Bandar Abbas.

They came with a friendly and candid attitude, without any ill will, and were eager to establish close commercial ties with the mighty Persian kingdom. In order to show their sincerity, they also carried a large number of army weapons with them on board, which could be supplied to the elite Persian "Gehulan" troops and the Turkmen cavalry of the princes at a discounted price, so that they could have sufficient combat power to deal with the threat of the powerful Ottomans, the brave Uzbek cavalry, and the ignorant Mughal army.

The Persian officials were skeptical, but he decided to report the situation back and let his superiors take care of it. However, before the order of his superiors came down, he asked Guo Zili and the others to stop trying to disappoint the Persian coast, because this would cause misunderstanding. In order to appease the people on the east coast, the official decided to provide the people on the east coast with some fresh water, vegetables and fruits for free, so as not to completely anger the group of people with powerful warships.

The caution of Persian officials was not unreasonable. In the Indian Ocean of this era, warships from the West showed their strength again and again: in the Battle of Hormuz in 1507, the Portuguese sank dozens of Persian warships with only six Karak galleons and more than 400 sailors, killing 3,000 Persians and wounding thousands, while the Portuguese suffered no casualties; In the Battle of Malacca in 1513, the Portuguese wiped out about 200 ships and tens of thousands of soldiers on the Malacca side with 12 ships of various sizes and 350 sailors, and they did not suffer any casualties. There were also two naval battles of Aceh, one when the Portuguese had only 1 ship, but sank 40 ships of the opponent and eliminated thousands of people, and the other was 7 ships, which sank 70 ships of the opponent and eliminated nearly 5,000 people, and the Portuguese side of these two battles combined, only 8 people were killed and 77 people were wounded; In the Battle of Mombasa in 1589, the Portuguese even forced down an Ottoman fleet, which was shocking.

All in all, the powerful Western galleons in the Indian Ocean in this era are simply a nightmare for various countries or forces, and they are the objects that must not be provoked lightly. You see, the island of Hormuz held the exit of the Persian Gulf, and the huge Persian army was able to recover Bandar Abbas, but could not recover the island of Hormuz, which was across the ocean, so that people occupied it for hundreds of years, and the reason was that the Portuguese warships were too powerful. Later, they were able to recover this key island not by themselves, but by bribing the British East India Company and convincing them to help deal with the Portuguese ships, so that they could land and occupy the whole island.

Although Persia is now "covered" by the British East India Company, there is no need to be too afraid of warships from the West. But you must know that the British and them are only a cooperative relationship, once the enemy is too strong, then it is difficult to say whether the British in Persia will help the Persian kingdom to defend against the enemy. After all, they were all businessmen, and it would be foolish not to take their own lives to help the Persians.

And the ships on the east coast anchored on the outskirts of Hormuz Island in front of them undoubtedly deserve the title of "powerful". This criterion is actually very intuitive, you only need to count the number of guns on the opposing ship, and then look at the thickness of the barrels. The flagship of the East Coast people, the "Free Trade", had dense gun windows on both sides, and the barrels were thick and long, which was undoubtedly extremely powerful in the perception of the Persians. (To be continued......)