Off the coast of Cape Town.

On the 'calm sea', a broken Western-style sail merchant ship slowly approached the port of Cape Town at a speed of less than three knots. The British flag on the mast was so rotten that it was almost unrecognizable.

The lookout was curious to discover the tragic situation on the Western-style sailing ship, and with the consent of the captain, the two small flying scissors warships quickly approached.

Since Chen Han's South African Expeditionary Force captured the port of Cape Town, although the main force went east to the port of Durban, part of the expeditionary force's land and sea forces were still stationed in Cape Town. This place, which has been in the hands of Europeans for three hundred years, flies the red flag of the East all day long.

An hour later, the Port of Cape Town brought back 'exciting' news. Although this good news was only for the Chinese, it was uncompromising news for the British merchant ships still in Cape Town, with a mixed fleet of French, Spanish and Dutch troops appearing on the west coast of South Africa.

In fact, this is not only bad news for the British, but also alarming news for Chen Han.

Not long ago, an ocean-going merchant ship flying the British flag sailed from Indy to the British mainland, and encountered a broken British merchant ship, the Augustus, about 300 nautical miles south of the port of Cape Town.

The Cape of Good Hope, not far east of Cape Town, faces the rough Atlantic Ocean all year round, and for a small half of the 365 days a year, the wind roars and the waves are raging. Even on the calmest days, the waves are 2 meters high; When the wind is high and the waves are strong, the big waves that rush to the sky can even be more than 15 meters.

Although the warm and cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet at the Cape of Good Hope, it forms a wonderful scene of ever-changing weather. The blue sky, the deep sea, the yellow reef, the white waves, the pleasant sea breeze, the bright sunshine, and the seabirds soaring in the sky make up a beautiful picture of tranquility and magnificence. But in fact, the beautiful Cape of Good Hope is a ghost gate in the history of navigation between the East and the West, and it is unknown how many merchant ships have sunk there for more than 200 years.

The British merchant ship had been delayed for a few days east of the Cape of Good Hope because of bad weather, otherwise it would probably have gone north with the Augustus.

The galleon Augustus, which had returned to the British mainland first, was attacked by a Spanish warship while supplying fresh water in the northern Namibian region, and finally escaped. But they also learned the shocking news that the route north from Cape Town had now been blocked by a combined Franco-Spanish-Dutch fleet.

Although no one believed that the combined navy of the three countries would be able to block the Namibian route all the time, it undoubtedly increased the danger of British ships navigating for a long time.

And just as the British ocean-going merchant ship was delivering supplies to the damaged Augustus, a three-masted schooner with the Dutch flag appeared.

The British ocean-going merchant ships could not carry a regular three-masted warship, but the good English merchant ship fell prey to the Dutch, and the damaged Augustus escaped with his life.

It should have been that the Dutch battleship had already decided that the Augustus was a boiled duck.

Now the Augustus had to return to Cape Town to repair the ship, which had been cut by shells on both sides of its side and had a secondary mast broken. Fortunately, when the mast fell, the sail rope was cut in time, otherwise, if the Augustus had been entangled on the spot, there would have been no need to mention the fate. Now the Augustus can only return to Cape Town for repairs.

Otherwise, with its tattered appearance, it can't even pass the Cape of Good Hope, which is 'calm and calm'.

Cai Lian, who led a detachment of a detachment to garrison Cape Town, immediately received the news. The enemy was no more than 300 nautical miles from Cape Town, and 300 nautical miles was a two-day journey at most for a sail ship.

Since following Zhu Lian through a series of wars in the Mediterranean, the injured Cai Lian was transferred to the port of Aden to recuperate, and when the South African Expeditionary Force arrived in Aden, he became the commander of the Expeditionary Force's sailors.

Now Cai held a third-class sail battleship and a fourth-class sail battleship, and then as many as four small flying shear bow warships. The guns above the deck of the latter have been fully converted with hexagonal guns.

After the secret of the rocket was revealed, the Flying Shear Bow was given a new lease of life thanks to the hexagonal cannon. It's a pity that this hexagonal cannon is not unique to Chen Han, and the British and French must have also thought of installing a hexagonal cannon on the fast-sailing flying shear bow warship.

In front of Cai Lian was a large nautical chart, on which several coordinates were marked with small red flags.

The first is where the Augustus meets the Spanish ships, the second is where two British merchant ships meet the Dutch ships, and then the territory of the British in Namibia.

"It's been four days since the Augustus was first intercepted, and two days ago it was the second ......"

Before the accident, the Augustus could run at least 150 nautical miles a day, but it certainly did not run with sails wide all the time, and the injured Augustus could run at most 100 nautical miles a day, and the speed was getting slower and slower.

The first marked coordinates are only about 250 nautical miles from Cape Town, and the second coordinates are less than 200 nautical miles from Cape Town. This also shows that the Augustus was not very fast at the beginning.

Sailing at full speed all the time is good energy and threatening. Isn't the current sail merchant ship a steamship?

The closest port to Cape Town for the British is in the middle of Namibia, a full 500 nautical miles.

"Commander Cai. Are we looking for two small warships in such a large area? All they have to do is turn a corner, and we'll run for nothing. ”

Qiu Lianggong, the pipe band of the third-class sail battleship Li Mu in Cape Town, said to Cai Lian.

As Cai Lian's peers, Qiu Lianggong and Cai Lian sat in the position of the pipe belt of the third-class sail battleship in the same year. It's just that when Zhu Lian led the fleet to Europe, he chose Cai Lian instead of him Qiu Lianggong - who made him not only a native of Tong'an, Fujian, but also follow the path of Ye Tingyang?

Wu Bida, the commander of the Eight Fujian Naval Divisions of the former Qing Dynasty, was a fellow villager, and Ye Tingyang's father Ye Xiangde was Wu Bida's general. Wu Bida's son Wu Xiqun and Ye Xiangde planned the Eight Fujian Water Divisions anyway and made great contributions to Chen Han.

Of course, Zhu Lian would not choose Qiu Lianggong.

And although Cai Lian is also from Fujian, he was assigned to the Beiyang Navy Division after graduation, and he can't get along with Ye Tingyang at all.

Cai led Europe around, and after one battle after another, his official position was immediately promoted. He took a solid step forward and stepped into the level of commander of the detachment.

"The Dutch chased the British merchant ship to the west, and ......," Cai Lian looked at the chart and did not speak. Qiu Lianggong has a point.

This area is indeed too big.

"Qiu Guandao, if you were the captain of the Dutch, which direction would you choose to break away after capturing the results?" The British sailed no faster than a cruiser, and the Dutch were no less seafaring than the British.

Cai Lian knew that Qiu Lianggong was a little unconvinced of himself, so he was unwilling to make friends with Qiu Lianggong, the two of them had been together for half a year, and they still called each other official titles.

"If I were a Dutchman, I would have gone north as soon as I got it." There is a cold current on the west coast of South Africa, which flows from high latitudes to low latitudes. That happened to be the area of Namibia going north. The Dutch's foothold in Namibia, Walvis Bay, was a great place for them to dispose of their loot.

As for whether the British merchant ship, which had a very small chance of escaping, would put up a desperate resistance, it was unlikely. If it was the British Royal Navy, they might have the courage to fight to the last minute, but the British businessmen would certainly not 'die to the death', and both Qiu Lianggong and Cai Lian felt that the British surrendered very likely.

Walvis Bay Harbor, also known as Walvis Bay, is located in the central part of the Namibian region, in 1487 in the Western calendar, the Portuguese Bartholomew Dias led a fleet of ships first sailed here, found that it is a rare excellent harbor on the southern African coast. Before the 18th century, the Dutch who occupied South Africa conducted a human geography survey of it, and the colonists called the bay Walvis Bay because of the large number of whales in the vicinity.

And if the combined navies of France, Spain, and the Netherlands were to block the British routes, it would most likely be where they would land.

There is an old Chinese saying: the heart of defense is indispensable. The so-called: people are harmless to the tiger's heart, and the tiger is harmful.

It stands to reason that China's contradictions with France and Spain have been put on hold, at least not as soon as they meet. But what about the contradictions between China and the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is a vassal state of France, and Spain is also a vassal state of France, and China is an enemy of the Netherlands, which is equivalent to an enemy of France; If China is an enemy of France, it is an enemy of Spain. From this point of view, the combined fleet of the three countries in the north must not be unguarded.

The French had no colonies in Namibia, and the Spanish were weak in this generation, except for the Dutch.

"What does the Commander mean that we can search in the direction of Walvis Bay Harbor Island?"

"Of course, I didn't let Li Mu go. Send two Swordfish-class ships to ......"

Cai Lian made a decision in his heart. "Now it can only be said that that direction is the most likely."

Half an hour later, a bell rang in the port of Cape Town. As the bells rang, two Swordfish-class shear-bow warships, full of sails, raised their anchors and slowly sailed out of Cape Town Harbour. Then it gradually became faster and disappeared into the distance below sea level.

The beautiful flying clipper warship made a beautiful arc on the surface of the sea, heading for Walvis Bay Harbor, a Dutch territory a few hundred nautical miles to the north.

This is not a cat-and-mouse anti-piracy war, but a highly dangerous reconnaissance operation.

Although it is not clear why the navies of the three countries blocked the route, I knew on my heels that the British would definitely respond quickly.

Neither of Britain nor France could expect to live in peace with the other for a long time, Napoleon needed war and victory to consolidate his position, and the British would not willingly implement the terms of the Peace of Amiens.

Napoleon refused to withdraw from the Netherlands, and at the same time he announced to Switzerland that he wanted to introduce a new state system in Switzerland and establish a government friendly with France. In explaining this request, he pointed out that Switzerland was geographically located between France and Italy, to which France belonged, and he sent General Ney to lead 30,000 soldiers to the Swiss border. Switzerland had to give in. At the same time, France also annexed the islands of Elba and Piedmont.

The German states after the Peace of Lunneville were frightened by Napoleon, who took the opportunity to treat them as slaves, and French power in Germany expanded rapidly. Britain cannot tolerate all this in any way, and at the same time it does not want to tolerate it.

Britain's-for-tat response was its refusal to withdraw its troops from Malta.

Although Nelson's fleet retreated from Alexandria, he still took the vital island of Malta. It was a long thorn in Napoleon's heart!