Chapter 362 Indian Ocean Fleet

[Today's first shift, there will be a second shift in the evening]

In the spring of the ninth year of Shenwu, the Suez Canal, which was dug by the Suez Canal Company of the Chinese Empire, entered the final stage. Since the Ottoman Turkish Empire was also eager to complete the canal as soon as possible, by the middle and late stages of the canal, the Turkish army drove out the indigenous Egyptians on a large scale and used it to dig the canal.

The aborigines of Egypt were used at all costs as slaves of the Turkish Empire, so that the Suez Canal, which was originally planned to be completed in the tenth year of Shenwu, entered the canal filling date ten months ahead of schedule.

The governor of the Suez Canal, Zhang Fengai, warned the Chinese imperial government as early as last year, saying that the Ottoman Empire might break the treaty and take back the Suez Canal, so he asked the imperial government to quickly send troops to occupy Egypt.

Last year, the imperial government did not take action to send troops into North Africa because of the lack of troops due to the launching of the American War and the South Asian War.

With the revision of the law by the Imperial Government, the new Standing Army Act was introduced, which increased the Imperial Standing Army from 500,000 to 1 million, enabling the Imperial Government to send troops to North Africa to safeguard the Empire's vital interests in the Suez Canal in Egypt.

Although the South Asian War was at a stalemate, the Empire's war in North and South America went smoothly, with the Pacific Fleet wiping out the Spanish-Peruvian fleet, freeing up the Imperial Royal Navy to reinforce the Indian Ocean.

In April of the ninth year of Shenwu, the General Staff, the Admiralty, and the Fleet Command of the Chinese Empire carried out naval work adjustments, and the meeting unanimously agreed that the Imperial Royal Navy had solved the problems of the Pacific waters, and there was no longer a threat to the Imperial Navy in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, the meeting decided to establish the Indian Ocean Fleet on the basis of the existing three major fleets of the Empire, the Home Fleet, and the Pacific North and South Ocean Fleet, as well as the Mediterranean Fleet in the face of threats from the Mediterranean Sea after the opening of the Suez Canal.

The Imperial Royal Navy's Home Fleet is the First Fleet, which still has three sub-fleets in the North Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea, with 12 fourth-class battleships and 60 cruisers. The North Pacific Fleet is the Second Fleet, the South Pacific Fleet is the Third Fleet, and the Pacific Fleet has 102 main battleships and more than 150 warships below the cruiser and frigate. The Beiyang Fleet controls the North Pacific region and has almost no combat missions, so it is equipped with cruisers and frigates, and is the weakest of the three fleets. The Southern Ocean Fleet was the most powerful, but with the elimination of the Spanish and Peruvian fleets, there was no maritime threat in the South Pacific, so the Imperial Admiralty Tunnel separated some warships from the South Ocean Fleet and incorporated them into the Indian Ocean Fleet as the Fourth Fleet of the Imperial Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy's Fourth Fleet, also known as the Indian Ocean Fleet, includes the battleship Zhenyuan, a total of 20 Sealion-class third-class battleships, which are "Ya" and "Yong", and 30 Beiyun-class fourth-class battleships, which are "Yun", "Lin" and "Ping". The five-size warships were separated from the South Pacific Fleet and formed the main force of the Indian Ocean Fleet, and their strength was equal to that of the South Pacific Fleet. Among them, the Zhenyuan is the flagship of the fleet, and the commander of the fleet is Vice Admiral Shen Yanghao.

The original South Pacific Fleet was still commanded by Shi Jianfei, and the flagship Dingyuan was in charge of the "Hai", "Feng", "Lu", "Fu", and "Chen" brands, and continued to defend the security of the Pacific Ocean.

The Indian Ocean Fleet as a whole is separated from the Pacific Fleet, and there is nothing to worry about in terms of combat power.

The tasks within the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean are relatively heavy, and there are the colonial fleets of the East India Company of Britain and France in the Bay of Bengal, and the colonial warships of various countries in the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the eastern coastal areas of Africa, and there are countless colonial warships of various countries, and the possibility of escalation of the conflict is extremely great.

There are three stations of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire, one is in the south sea port of Visakpaat in the east of the Indian subcontinent, which is a port town on the east coast of India, 600 kilometers away from Kolkata in the northeast and Madras in the southwest, it is a natural deep-water port, facing the Bay of Bengal, the terrain is hidden, and the strategic location is important.

Historically, the port was founded in 1608 and was built by the British East India Company in 1628. It was occupied by British colonial forces in 1683.

In the eighth year of Shenwu, after the Chinese Empire launched the South Asian War, the British sold it to the imperial government for 700,000 silver dollars in order to strengthen the alliance relationship with the Chinese Empire. The base tunnel became one of the three main bases of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire.

The second base is at the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent, in the northern part of the Kingdom of Ceylon, by the Gulf of Paulke. From the king of Ceylon, a two-meter-high cloisonné was exchanged for ownership of large tracts of land such as Jaffna Peninsula, Paulk Bay, Kudo Island, Delgo Island, etc.

Paulk Bay's wide and deep waters, the proximity of several inshore islands, and the surrounding mountainous and forested terrain make it an ideal location for the construction of a naval base.

The Royal Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet Naval Base at Pauk Bay covers a total area of 4,480 hectares, stretching from the Val Headland in the north to Kudo Island in the south, occupying the Gulf of Pauk and the Pauk Strait, with a coast stretching for 26 kilometers. The site is a natural deep-water port with easy access to and from ships, anchorage and navigation, and the tides do not bring silt to the harbor and do not require dredging. The harbour is close to the sea, less than 1,000 meters from the bay to the Arabian Sea/Indian Ocean, making it possible to strike quickly. Nearby islands can be used to establish maritime outposts, and the mountainous, forested terrain around the bay provides excellent camouflage for shore-based installations. The water depth reaches 12 meters in the core of the anchorage area in the harbor, and 10 meters in a 2-nautical-mile radius. The harbor's natural seawall deep-water wharf juts out into the sea for 420 meters and can accommodate 60,000-ton large ships, and it is said that the locals have the impression that the huge ships of Zheng He's treasure fleet were moored here.

The base has two access routes, the main of which leads directly to the Indian Ocean, with a depth of 12 to 14 meters, allowing even the Nuwa transport carrier to operate unimpeded. The other passage in and out of the port has a water depth of 11 meters, which can pass through large warships such as Dingzhen. This layout of two entry and exit channels has good tactical flexibility in wartime.

Moreover, Ceylon has always admired the Celestial Empire, as an island country hanging on the sea, the king of Ceylon is willing to pay tribute to the Chinese Empire in order to avoid being invaded by Western countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands, as a vassal state of the Chinese Empire.

In this way, the Imperial Navy could safely build a base on the island of Ceylon, stockpiling supplies and troops as a coastal fortress to attack the Indian subcontinent.

The third naval base of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean is on the island of Mumbai. On December 23, 1534, the Portuguese leased these islands from Gujarat, Sultan Bahadur Shah, and built a large port.

Mumbai borders the Arabian Gulf and has a total area of 603 square kilometers. Mumbai Port is located on the east coast of Mumbai Island, is a natural deep-water port, the terrain is hidden, the sea area is wide, the port area is 26 kilometers long, 9.3 kilometers wide, the area of the water city is about 194 square kilometers, most of the water depth of the port city is 10~12 meters, the Portuguese have about 50 berths in the port area, the total length of the wharf is 8 kilometers, the water depth of the front of the wharf is 4 ~ 14 meters, and the ship of 70,000 tons is reliably berthed. As a major port for trade with India, the port of Mumbai, in the hands of the Portuguese, was a joint port for military and commerce, with a naval base in a small part and only a few warships docked.

In the winter of the eighth year of Shenwu, the Chinese Empire reached a military alliance with the Sultan of Gujarat, and the imperial government provided 200,000 silver dollars of free aid to the Sultan of Gujarat. In return, the Gujarat Sultan transferred Mumbai, which was leased to the Portuguese, to the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire as a naval base.

The Portuguese and Spaniards in Mumbai were furious, but they could not stop it, but could only watch as the shameless Marats took the port and then honored it to the Chinese Empire.

There were many colonial warships around the Indian Ocean, but not many of them, and the emergence of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire changed the maritime situation in the region.

The war between the Chinese Empire and the Spanish Empire continued, so that in the Indian Ocean, the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire controlled all shipping routes in the Indian Ocean under the pretext of eliminating Spanish warships and merchant ships. With the exception of the British and French ships that were not subject to inspection, ships from other countries were under inspection control, and even their warships were seized by the Imperial Chinese Navy.

For the arrogance of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire, coupled with the support of the fleets of the British and French East India Companies, all countries dared to be angry. The East India Company of the Holy Roman Empire had been squeezed out of the Far East by other European countries due to the European War. In particular, the Spanish and Portuguese ships were wantonly looted and seized by the three navies, and suffered heavy losses.

However, the navy of the Spanish Empire was entrusted to Europe by the British, French, and Dutch navies, and could not go far to the East, so they could only watch their ships being bullied by the Chinese Imperial Navy.

European countries were busy with war, so the military vacuum caused by the sharp decline in power in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, traditional spheres of influence, was just in time for the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire to fill in time.

However, the main task of the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Chinese Empire is not to compete for hegemony at sea with other countries, but to defend the interests of the Empire in the Suez Canal.

As the time for the completion of the Suez Canal approached, the Chinese Imperial Government stepped up the pace of sending warships and troops to the Suez Canal.

Since the Suez Canal was a sluice-free channel, the Imperial warships could enter the canal directly from the sea and then use warships for defense. Therefore, the imperial government established the Mediterranean Fleet, known as the Fifth Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

Because the Fifth Fleet had to defend the Suez Canal and establish the naval supremacy of the Chinese Empire in the Mediterranean, the Fifth Fleet was highly valued by the Imperial Government.

To this end, the Admiralty has equipped the Fifth Fleet with five new-type warships, including five Tornado-class second-class battleships that have just been commissioned, which are numbered "Youjia", "Wandering Eagle", "Youjiao", "Youxing", and "Youlang", of which Youjia is the flagship.

Five second-class sail battleships, equipped with eighty-six Shenwu cannons, are powerful. At this time, there were not many second-class sail battleships of the main European maritime powers, and the main force was third- and fourth-class sail battleships, so the deterrent power of the five "You" battleships was already very high. I believe that cruising in the Mediterranean Sea is enough to deter some countries that want to peek at the Suez Canal.

The Imperial Chinese Mediterranean Fleet was stationed directly at the port of Bansai, which was the northern outlet of the Suez Canal. Because Article 2 of the contract signed between the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Empire stipulates that the Ottoman Empire must provide free of charge the land needed for the construction of the Suez Canal, that is, the land required by the Suez Canal Company of the Chinese Empire. According to this regulation, the Chinese Imperial Suez Company owns two ports, the port of Bansai and the Gulf of Suez, as its operating points.

Since the Suez Canal passes through arid desert areas, only the southernmost part of the canal, Suez City, is home to tens of thousands of inhabitants. There are only a few small fishing villages around the port of Bansai, so the Turkish government has not said anything about the large-scale enclosure of the Suez company of the Chinese empire.

Just to be on the safe side, though. The Chinese Imperial Government spent money to send all the inhabitants of Suez City away, and quietly stationed troops in Suez City. In the port of Bansai, in addition to the construction of port management facilities, the imperial government built coastal defense batteries and naval bases in the port of Bansai in the name of defending against pirates.

In order to allow warships to fight on the canal, Zhang Fengai dug a huge lake every five miles in the canal, so that the battleships could rotate in the lake on their own, so that the battleship could defend the canal like a rotating battery.

In fact, although Zhang Fengai's decision delayed the completion of the canal, it was not fully completed until May of the ninth year of Shenwu, which should have been completed in the eighth year of Shenwu. More than a year late, not only did it give the empire a lot of time to prepare, but the additional lakes dug doubled the width of the canal and allowed it to sail in both directions, virtually increasing the transportation capacity.

At the same time, there are already many large lakes in the canal, which can moor a large number of boats. In the large lake near Ismailia, hundreds of warships could be moored. To this end, Zhang Fengai deliberately dug deep into the lake and built a series of docks, nominally as a resting place for ships coming and going, but in fact for the Imperial fleet to be stationed for defense, and the fortress of Ismailia took care of each other, acting as horns for each other.

Zhang Fengai was very well prepared, and secretly arranged 100,000 troops for defense in Suez City, Ismailia and Bansai, including eight infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions. Together with the garrison defense army, the total strength reached 120,000 men.

This was done in secret, and by driving out the inhabitants of Suez City, the Imperial military maneuvers were hidden from the eyes of the Turks.

In fact, the Turks are also very clear in their hearts. It's just that they don't want to tear their faces now and immediately break out into war. Because, at this time, the Turkish Empire was again facing strong military pressure from the Russian Empire.

Originally, the Russian Empire already felt tired, but when the Chinese Imperial Department provided weapons support to the Russian Empire, the Russian Imperial Army received a large number of advanced muskets, artillery, and armor equipment, etc., which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Russian Empire.

These were all means of the military department secretary and chief of the general staff, Lin Feng, who obtained a large amount of permission for military spending from the Shenwu Emperor Deng Haonan, which was then used to support the military of the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire was an ally of the Chinese Empire at this time, and after receiving large-scale military assistance from the Chinese Empire, it naturally increased its information and won victories on the battlefield.

This led the Turkish Empire to temporarily tolerate the small actions of the Chinese Empire, and to transfer its forces back to the north to deal with the military invasion of the Russian Empire with all its might.

There must be a cause, and it is precisely because of this that Zhang Fengai was able to spend money to drive out all the residents of Suez City, and was able to build fortifications and naval bases in Suez City and Bansai. If it weren't for the strong military pressure of the Russian Empire, the Turks would never have allowed Zhang Fengai to do that.

The Chinese Empire stationed 120,000 troops in the Suez Canal, which was a serious affront to the sovereignty of the Turkish Empire, but the Turkish Empire chose to tolerate it. Because the Chinese Empire did not start a war against Turkey after all, Turkey's biggest enemy at the moment is not the Chinese Empire, but the newly rising giant bear Russian Empire from the north.

In order not to provoke the Chinese Empire, Turkey reassured the Chinese Empire, saying that it would continue to abide by the terms of the contract, and at the same time would withdraw its troops to Cairo, far from the Suez Canal Zone, to prevent the outbreak of war.

For this reason, the Chinese Empire also said that it would act in accordance with the rules of the contract and would not allow the "security team" to leave the Canal Zone without authorization and infringe on the sovereignty of the Turkish Empire.

Both sides expressed a desire to détente, but the Turkish Empire learned that the advanced firearms of the Russian Empire came from China, so they wanted to import these advanced weapons from the Chinese Empire.

To this, the reply of the Imperial Government of China was that we are studying the Strait of Gibraltar, the throat of the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic.

There are countless ships of all kinds that pass through Guò every day, mainly civilian merchant ships, but also warships from various countries.

There are thriving shipping lanes, and there are pirate gangs that are engaged in robbery, so all the first ships patrol everywhere under the banner of escorting their own merchant ships.

In fact, they are wolves in sheep's clothing, nominally in the name of protecting their country's merchant ships, but in reality they are all legal pirates, pretending to be pirates to rob merchant ships at every opportunity.

The Mediterranean Sea was the backyard of the Spanish Empire, and the Spaniards had been firmly in control of it, and in order to compete with the Ottoman Turkish Empire for a share of maritime trade, the Spanish Navy strictly blocked the Strait of Gibraltar, making it impossible for the Atlantic countries to enter the Mediterranean Sea and trade with the Turkish Empire by sea.

With the rise of Atlantic trade, the Mediterranean was replaced as a center of trade, and the Spaniards relaxed their surveillance of the Mediterranean.

However, when the construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt began by the Chinese Empire, the Spanish sent their navy to re-blockade the Strait of Gibraltar out of fear that Atlantic trade would be replaced by Mediterranean trade, and out of revenge against the Chinese Empire.

Ever since the Philippines and Guam, the only colonies of the Spanish Empire in Asia, were occupied by the Chinese Empire, the Spanish Empire has been obsessed with the war in Europe and has not had time to look east.

With the Spanish Empire's Mexican colonies in North America and Peru in South America under powerful military invasions from the Chinese Empire, the traditional Indian Ocean region was placed under the official position of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire in the Indian Ocean Fleet, and the Spanish Imperial Government had sensed a serious crisis.

Now that there is news that the Suez Canal, which the Chinese Empire is responsible for building, is about to be opened, the Spanish government is even more nervous. Because once the Suez Canal was opened, the fleet of the Chinese Empire would go directly to the Mediterranean, threatening the safety of the Spaniards' back garden. X