Shen Zhou stood at the bow of the ship holding a monocular, carefully examining the sea area in front of him, hoping to find a trace of the three Portuguese warships that escaped, but unfortunately the sea was clean, there was not even a plank, and there was no trace of any ship passing by.

Just a month ago, Shen Zhou cooperated with Qu Lie to annihilate the invading Portuguese fleet in the Strait of Malacca in one fell swoop, but three Portuguese warships rushed out of the encirclement and fled back to the Indian Ocean. Prepare to capture Vasco da Gama and send him to Da Ming for questioning.

Da Gama's flagship and the other two Portuguese battleships were also injured by the Ming Dynasty's artillery fire when they broke out of the encirclement, and one of the battleships was still very seriously injured, at least in Shenzhou's impression, when the Portuguese battleship fled, the upper deck had already emitted a large puff of black smoke, and the sails were also burned, but even if they were so seriously injured, the battleship still escaped, which made Shenzhou feel shameless.

It was also Shen Zhou who knew that Da Gama's three warships were injured, so he chased after him, after all, it was not easy to annihilate most of the forces of Portugal, if he could catch Da Gama again, then he would have made a great contribution, as for surpassing Qu Lie is not a problem, then who would dare to say that he relied on the relationship of his father Shen Ying to sit in his current position?

Speaking of Shen Zhou is also very lucky, originally according to the original history, he should inherit his father Shen Ying's position as the chief soldier, and then was transferred to the capital by Jiang Bin, becoming one of the main generals of the four outer families, and also the righteous son of Zhengde, and later after Zhengde's death, Shen Zhou was implicated by Jiang Bin and was killed together. But now he has met Zhou Chong, which has greatly changed the fate of Shen Zhou. At least he will no longer become Zhengde's righteous son, and he will not be implicated by Jiang Bin later.

Shen Zhou is the youngest son of Shen Ying, and he has several elder brothers, but unfortunately they are either unsuccessful. Either he is a concubine and can't inherit Shen Ying's position at all, so although Shen Zhou is young, because his martial arts and courage are both temporary choices, at least much stronger than his elder brothers, he has always been cultivated by Shen Ying as his heir.

Since Shen Ying came to work under Zhou Chong, Shen Zhou relied on his youth to give up the cavalry combat method he was most familiar with, and instead learned the method of naval warfare from Chang Xiao, and he has learned a lot over the years. Coupled with his father's connections, he was quickly noticed by Zhou, and at a young age he was entrusted with important responsibilities and became the most outstanding admiral of the younger generation in the navy.

It was also Shen Zhou's outstanding performance in the navy, so he was appointed by Zhou Zhong as the commander of the second detachment of the Nanyang Fleet at a young age. The commanders of the other two detachments are Chang Xiao and Qu Lie, both of whom are veteran generals in the navy, and Shen Zhou can be placed alongside them, which will naturally attract a lot of people to be jealous, and some people even secretly slander, saying that Shen Zhou can rise to today's position, all because of the care of his father Shen Ying. Otherwise, with his qualifications, it would be impossible for him to become one of the great commanders of the Nanyang Fleet, and it is precisely because of this that Shen Zhou is not stable in the position of commander of the second fleet.

In fact, in all fairness, Shen Zhou was able to become one of the three commanders of the Nanyang Fleet at the age of about thirty, and he was indeed inextricably linked to his father Shen Ying. But Shen Zhou's promotion was promoted by Zhou Chong, with Zhou Chong's character, if Shen Zhou has no real ability, even if Shen Ying personally pleads with Zhou Chong, I'm afraid Shen Zhou will not want to be reused.

It can be said that Shen Zhou was able to sit in his current position. More than 80% of it is his own efforts, for example, he used to be a cavalry general, and he also has a lot of experience in land warfare, at least he followed his father Shen Ying to fight in the east and west, and made a lot of contributions to the Ming Dynasty.

And Shen Zhou is also very studious, after he joined the navy, he has been following Chang Xiao to learn the navy's tactics, and the result was soon appreciated by Chang Xiao, just a few years, Shen Zhou has successfully set out of the division, and later took a fleet alone, and Li Anliang together with the army to the Wa State, occupying the Edo Bay and Iwami Province of the Wa State, it can be said that the strategy of the Wa State is almost implemented by Shen Yi, and it is by virtue of this merit that Shen Zhou defeated other competitors in one fell swoop and became one of the three commanders of the Nanyang Fleet.

In addition, Shen Zhou is different from Chang Xiao and Qu Lie, before he became the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, he deliberately participated in the crash course of the Naval Academy, where he learned more about the way of the navy, and also learned astronomy, arithmetic and other knowledge, making him more professional than Chang Xiao and Qu Lie, these old-style admirals.

It is precisely because of Shen Zhou's studious attitude, as well as his talent in naval warfare, so Zhou Chong was able to overcome public opinion and promoted him to one of the three commanders of the most elite Nanyang Fleet, and Chang Xiao and Qu Lie, the two veteran generals, are on an equal footing, and this Battle of Malacca also shows that Zhou Chong did not look at the wrong person, Shen Zhou and Qu Lie cooperated to almost annihilate the invading Portuguese fleet, and Shen Zhou also persevered in chasing into the Indian Ocean, wanting to capture the Portuguese Indian Governor Da Gama, As long as he can make this contribution, then no one will dare to question him in the future.

It's just that there are many good things, although Shen Zhou is determined to catch Da Gama, and in his opinion, the other party's three battleships have been injured, and it should not be a particularly difficult thing to catch the other party. But he ignored one point, that is, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese, was very familiar with the Indian fleet to Malacca, and after they fled into Malacca, they immediately hid in Tibet on this route, especially there were several islands on this route, which was very conducive to the hiding of ships, which made Shen Zhou chase the fleet for a full month, but finally let Da Gama's three warships escape, and now even a shadow can not be found.

"General, further on is the Lion Country, which is famous for its abundance of gemstones, prompting the Lion Country to be at war with the Tamils on the Indian continent, and the country is not very peaceful, so if you want to go there, the general merchant ships have to take a certain risk." Just when Shen Zhou was thinking about his thoughts, suddenly someone came over behind him to report.

The person who spoke was a middle-aged man in his forties, round and chubby, looking like a group of harmony, this person's name was Sheng Kang, he used to be a merchant who ran to the South Seas, the most important thing was to transport goods from Malacca to India, and he was very familiar with the waters in this area, so this time he was recruited by Shen Zhou as the guide of the fleet, and thanks to Sheng Kang's guidance along the way, they did not get lost in this unfamiliar route.

"Sheng Kang, where do you think the Portuguese will flee?" Shen Zhou was still a little unwilling, originally three days ago, under the guidance of Sheng Kang, they had blocked the three Portuguese warships in an archipelago, but unfortunately a sudden storm made them have to temporarily loosen the encirclement, as a result, the Portuguese escaped at the risk of the ship being overturned by the storm, and when the storm stopped, Shen Zhou and they once again lost the trace of Da Gama and others.

"General Qiyu, the first few storms are from the east, the Portuguese rushed into the storm regardless of the danger, they can only be blown to the west by the storm, if their warship is not overturned, then they are likely to blow near the Lion Country, with the Portuguese are familiar with this sea area, they are likely to rush to the Lion to replenish the water, and repair the ship by the way, but I don't know if the other party is still there when we arrive at the Lion Country?" Sheng Kang confidently told his analysis.

Shen Zhou also pondered when he heard this, now it has been a month since the Battle of Malacca, during this period, both sides have no time to stop shore for supplies, and now Shen Zhou is running out of supplies in their fleet, it is estimated that the situation of the Portuguese will only be worse than them, so if da Gama is still alive, he will definitely find the nearest place to replenish water, and their warship was seriously damaged in the previous naval battle, and it has just experienced a storm, and it must be in urgent need of repairs, so no matter what aspect of the analysis, The Portuguese are likely to lead the voyage to shore in the Lion Country.

"The analysis does make sense, but although the Lion Country is an island country, the area is not small, Sheng Kang, where do you think the Portuguese will stop in the Lion Country?" Shen Zhou nodded approvingly, and then asked again.

Regarding this question of Shen Zhou, Sheng Kang replied without thinking about it: "General Qiyu, although the Lion Kingdom is large, they are at war with the Tamils on the Indian continent all the year round, and the country is also very chaotic, and there are very few coastal ports. ”

"Beloli!" Shen Zhou also felt a little familiar when he first heard this name, and when he heard that it was related to the Sanbao eunuch, it made him immediately think that on the "Zheng He Navigation Chart" he had read in the military academy, there seemed to be an introduction to this port, since the treasure ship of the Sanbao eunuch could be docked, then the Portuguese warship could definitely also dock.

Thinking of this, Shen Zhou's spirits perked up, and he immediately opened his mouth and ordered: "The whole army obeys the order, rush to Berori, the lion country, at full speed, and be sure to block the Portuguese warships in the harbor!" ”