Zhu Zhanji and the Ming fleet set off in the first month of the fifteenth year of Yongle, although almost two years have passed now, but it is only October of the sixteenth year of Yongle.

The sixteenth year of Yongle, that is, the year 1418 of the Western calendar.

Today's Europe is still desperately tossing in the quagmire of the Middle Ages, the three masters of the Renaissance have not yet been born, and the Age of Discovery in Europe has not yet begun.

The third phase of the Hundred Years' War between the British and the French had just begun, and although they had gathered 1,500 ships to attack Le Havre in France, the largest ship could only hold sixty horses, compared to the ships of the Ming Dynasty, theirs was a small sampan.

Uthman was beaten by the state of Timur, and even King Bayezid I was robbed. Now several princes are vying for power and profit, and there is endless infighting.

They did not dare to face the Timurid state in the east, so they could only focus on the Europeans in the west, and the bullying Europe complained bitterly.

It was in such an era that the Ming Dynasty came to Europe, and in Europe, there was no opponent who could oppose the Ming Dynasty.

The only thing that could stop the Ming was the supply difficulties and diseases caused by the long distance.

The Ming Dynasty is not a backward Europe, not a nomadic people who have no idea of founding a country at all, and does not need to use slaughter to show their greatness.

What Daming is best at is convincing people with virtue.

Therefore, when Zhu Zhanji asked the Ming scholars to come up with a set of strategies that could effectively restrict the development of European countries and show the cultural, economic, and political advantages of the Ming Dynasty.

After integrating the cultural, economic, and military strength of European countries, the Ming courtiers represented by Jin Chun and Xie Jin were willing to help the Ottoman Empire open the door to attack Europe.

This gate was Constantinople.

Putting the Ottoman Empire into Europe is like a catfish entering a fishpond, under the pressure of the Ottoman Empire, the Ming Dynasty does not need to bother, and there will be countries that voluntarily form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, Daming took the initiative.

However, the Ming Dynasty must not take the initiative to participate in the struggle between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, which is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty choosing a side.

Therefore, Zheng He's suggestion was to start from the Mamluk dynasty, through cooperation with the Mamluk dynasty, to legally occupy Suez, use Suez as a stronghold, and strengthen the strength of the Mamluk dynasty and the Ottoman Empire through trade.

Although this is tantamount to going around in a big circle and returning to the starting point, this is on the basis of the Ming Dynasty already understanding the situation in Europe, which is better than when he didn't know anything before.

Zhu Zhanji knows very well that this is Zheng He's selfishness, and he always has a better impression of the big cannibal.

Whether it is Marin being bullied by the Portuguese, or whether the Kingdom of Granada is now crumbling under the encirclement and suppression of Castile, Zheng He is still very willing to do it under the condition that he can not harm the interests of the Ming Dynasty and help them.

With their inspiration, Zhu Zhanji thought of the cases of the five rogue states in later generations who provoked wars around the world.

They sell arms, provoke wars, sell well on both sides, and reap the profits.

Although today's Ming Dynasty cannot be said to be a monopoly, there are only a few countries that can oppose the Ming Dynasty.

In terms of military strength, population and resources, the Ming Dynasty is high.

But it's not just military strength and population that affect war.

Today's scientific and technological development is still very lagging behind, and the Ming Dynasty can't even suppress the northwest militarily, and the long distance makes the area that the central royal power can cover is very small.

From Yingtianfu to the northwest, it stretches for thousands of kilometers, and a single march takes several months, and a large amount of material transportation is required in the middle. Therefore, even if Da Ming's strength is far greater than that of Yi Li, it is difficult to destroy the other party.

The Ming Dynasty can now reach Europe by navigation, but it is difficult for the Ming Dynasty to subdue the northwest.

Therefore, Daming has strength, but lacks the means to turn strength into advantage.

This kind of strength advantage is also difficult to reflect on the battlefield, and it is even more difficult to give play to it on the battlefield.

Therefore, strategies and means are more needed.

At the beginning, Zhu Zhanji wanted to provoke contradictions between European countries and between Europe and the Ottoman Empire, but this was only a strategic idea.

If you want to enrich the details and bring this strategy into play, you need people like Zheng He and Jin Chun to perfect the tactics.

After much communication, it was decided to conditionally supply iron to the Mamluks and Marin.

Marin, Mamluk dynasty, etc., are all in North Africa, and although they have a long history, they lack natural resources.

In their country, many soldiers still have bronze weapons in their hands instead of iron weapons. Some of the sickles used to harvest barley and wheat are still bronze.

If it weren't for this reason, how could they tremble at the feet of Osman?

In today's food chain, the Ming and Timurid kingdoms are at the top.

The power of the Ming Dynasty surpassed that of Timur after the possession of muskets and artillery.

But Timur was not much weaker than the Ming Dynasty, they inherited most of the strength of the Meng Yuan, and also inherited their technology. Compared with the previous Ming Dynasty, in addition to the slightly inferior strength at sea, the strength on land can be said to be surpassing.

Compared with the Timurid state, the Ottoman Empire was inferior in population and technology, but they were located in the land of a hundred battles, the people were fierce, and the individual strength was high.

The Ottoman Empire was at the middle end of the food chain, and the countries of Europe are now at the lower end.

A united Europe is terrible, but they cannot unite. In the short term, they are not a threat, but Zhu Zhanji, who has historical experience, knows very well that their potential is the greatest.

Whether it was the Timurid state or the Ottoman Empire, their violence and strength were based on massacres and mobility, and their technological superiority was there, but it was not very large.

They have artillery, and Europe has it, and they have muskets, and Europe has it.

Because of their admiration for force, they have less potential than European countries in terms of culture, including national heritage.

In Zhu Zhanji's heart, neither Timur nor Ottoman was terrible, but Europe was terrible.

It was precisely because Zhu Zhanji mentioned the cultural heritage of Europe that Jin Chun and Xie Jin agreed to take European countries as the main targets of suppression.

In their opinion, both the state of Timur and the Ottomans were warriors and were not worth worrying about. What's more, these two countries are closer to Daming and are easy to hit.

However, European countries have their own unique cultures, which is unacceptable to Confucianists who regard Confucianism as more important than royal power.

In the heart of every Confucian, there is an ideal of carrying forward Confucianism.

This point was exploited by Zhu Zhanji, so they were more passionate about how to conquer Europe.

"Your Highness, the messengers of the King of England, the King of Genoa, and the King of Sicily have arrived today, and have brought with them a great deal of gold and silver. But according to the information they brought back, the so-called Holy Roman Empire still did not receive the envoy we sent. ”

"How do I get the message back?"

"The envoys to Venice were warmly welcomed, but their parliament did not decide on trade with my Ming dynasty. At first, they even wanted to monopolize my Daming's goods, but after seeing the quantity of goods, they dispelled this idea. Yu Kuan was afraid that His Highness would wait for a long time, so he sent a ship to deliver the message to the Sicilian mission. ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "This Holy Roman Empire can be said to be the largest country in Europe today, although this country is only a loose alliance, but because it is loose, it is more difficult to make decisions. What's more, there is still a war going on in their country. Ignore them for the time being, send the message to the past, and let the Xie Zhen period wait patiently. Is there any news coming back from the mission to the East? ”

"The Mamluk kings and the nobles are already raising gold and silver, and the rebels in Jerusalem are willing to trade with me. But the missions to the Ottomans, as well as to the Byzantium, are still at odds with each other. ”

Zhu Zhanji thought for a while and asked, "What time is it today?" ”

"The sixth day of October."

Zhu Zhanji pondered for a while and said: "Since we have reached the signal of trade, the other party has also read our list of goods, and the order has passed, and the four eastern missions will converge, and the commander will make Qian Zhuang the chief officer, and organize to teach the other party a profound lesson." …… However, do not expand the war, at most bombard Constantinople. ”

"Yes!"

The Byzantium and Ottoman brains are now coming out, and the Ming mission is not at the right time, so in the Aegean Sea, it was stopped by the fleets of both sides.

The three parties confronted each other and did not solve the problem, but they also did not let the Ming fleet pass. But they have always been courteous to the strange Ming fleet, so they are deadlocked there.

Zhu Zhanji's patience was not good, and he still wanted to wait for the New Year to return to China with the help of the north wind, although there were still a few months, but if there was a large-scale trade, there would be not enough time at all.

Now is not the afterlife, in a day, a large number of goods can be transported from the inland to the port.

Even with a propensity for trade, many goods had to be procured separately, and it took a month or two before it could be transported to the port through the areas of other lords.

At the port, the goods are counted and sorted, and the months pass in a flash.

Therefore, Zhu Zhanji didn't want to wait any longer, since the other party didn't give way, then hit them to give way.

What's more, he had planned to weaken the defenses of Constantinople a little at this time and let the Ottomans occupy this gateway.

Back in the main hall, Zhu Zhanji wrote a secret letter and asked the chamberlain to hand over the letter directly to Qian Zhuang together with the herald ship.

There were four missions to the east of the Mediterranean, for forty ships, all of which were first-class battleships of 8,000 stone and second-class warships of more than 4,000 stone.

Each ship has ten side guns and one bow gun, even if the number of ships is much smaller than that of the other side, but when there are no guns on the opponent's warships, the Ming fleet is invincible.

Today's Europe and the Ottomans, they will only make copper cannons with a diameter of less than ten centimeters, this kind of cannon can be said to be very low-level, the power is limited, and they are only used on land, not yet on ships.

Because the power of this bronze cannon is small, but the weight is not light, and the ships on this side of Europe are very small, and it is difficult for the deck to withstand its recoil.

When the artillery was not yet used on the ships, they could only be targets in the face of the Ming fleet.

In the afternoon of the same day, the two small yellow gates carried Zhu Zhanji's secret letter and boarded a herald ship respectively.

They were not escorted by warships, because their ships were very fast, and it was difficult for ordinary ships to catch up. Secondly, the Daming fleet has hundreds of ships cruising everywhere, and there is no fear that anyone will dare to offend the herald ship flying the Daming dragon flag.

The herald boats were flat-bottomed, wide-sailed, and could only accommodate a maximum of thirty people per boat. But speeds can reach up to eight knots per hour, with tailwinds of more than ten knots.

Thirty people are divided into three shifts, taking turns controlling the sails, and can travel day and night.

From Ceuta, it is about 2,000 kilometers from the Aegean Sea and can be reached in about six days.

On the 14th of October, the two herald ships quickly arrived at the predetermined sea area after passing different routes, and joined up with the mission, which had been confronting each other here for half a month.

When the order was delivered, several other herald ships quickly departed and went to the Greek mission, the Jerusalem mission, to gather troops.

Qian Zhuang received Zhu Zhanji's letter, did not dare to slack off, and quickly arranged the task, loosening the outside and tightening the inside, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.

At the beginning, they also often exchanged some materials with each other, such as exchanging a little food for tooth sacrifices, so that the general secretary and each other could communicate frequently.

But now that Zhu Zhanji has decided to hurt the other party first, and then talk, Qian Zhuang didn't dare to leak the preparation information here because of the communication with the other party.

On October 18, the Greek mission arrived first, and two days later, the mission from Jerusalem also arrived without incident.

Four fleets, forty warships, converged at sea and occupied a sea area several miles wide.

At this time, Qian Zhuang sent another messenger, and at the same time issued a final warning to the Byzantium and Ottomans, immediately out of the way of the sea and let the Ming fleet pass.

The Byzantine and Ottoman generals thought that the Ming generals were crazy, and the other side's reinforcements arrived, and they only had forty ships, but each of them had more than 300 ships, and their military strength exceeded that of the other party by more than ten times.

Samsun, the Ottoman commander, also comforted him with "kindness": "I have already sent the letter from your country back to the capital, but those big men will definitely be slower to make decisions, so I think it is wise to continue to wait." ”

However, the generals in charge of the Ottoman side are all Han Chinese and Hui people from the Ming Honglu Temple, and they just know how to speak big food.

Yang Pinxuan, the leader of the general affairs, smiled proudly: "I am the one who is pointing at the blade, and I am indomitable. Previously, he was just waiting for His Highness's order, but since His Highness had already given the order, he would not hesitate to fight. ”

Samson looked at Yang Pinxuan and shook his head and said, "This is the wrong choice. Since you want to fight, then fight, and I will let you know the majesty of my Ottoman Empire. ”

As a red flag was raised on Qian Zhuang's flagship, the Ming warships quickly converged from all sides, much to the surprise of the Ottomans and Byzantines.

Although the Ming fleet seemed to be attacking, why was it still crowded?

(The afternoon train will arrive home at noon tomorrow, and the 6,000-word update will be a little later tomorrow.) ）

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