In the far south of the Burmese province, there are the most famous jadeite mines in later generations, and there is also the outlet of the republic to the sea.

The military port south of Yangon is busy at the moment.

The two ironclad ships had already sailed around the perimeter for the third time, but at this moment, they were about to leave the military port and sail towards the Strait of Malacca. Not only these two ships, but also five improved versions of the Damingfu boats, as well as five Manila galleons.

Originally, it would have taken two or three years to manufacture the materials and parts alone. But Zhang Hongbin bought materials directly from the supermarket, so he only needed to assemble them to be completed, and after using a large number of craftsmen in half a year, he finally assembled the fleet of these twelve ships and officially went to sea.

The naval cadets who had initially trained on the two ironclad ships had already adapted to the sea, and were assigned to the other ten seagoing ships in the form of new ones. This is the first trial voyage of all the old and new navies, and there may not be any military tasks, but it is still necessary to get used to sailing on the sea.

After more than half a year of emergency training, the officers already knew at least how to use charts and compasses for positioning, and also knew how to face storms and artillery battles. The artillerymen were all outstanding personnel recruited from the army artillery battalion, but it took some time and a lot of shells to adapt to the shelling of sea ships and sea.

This time, their mission was not only to reach the Strait of Malacca, but also to mark the exact latitude and longitude of the Strait.

The theodolite is also one of the standard equipment of the navy, but the most important thing is the control of latitude and longitude. The latitude is okay, this is basically fixed and there is nothing to negotiate. But in terms of longitude, Zhang Hongbin naturally would not be cheap foreigners, and directly selected the imperial palace of Chang'an City as the zero degree meridian, that is, the location of the prime meridian.

Not only in the Strait of Malacca, but if it could, this ironclad ship would land directly in Malacca and conduct its first maritime trade there.

As for what the Portuguese who colonized there thought, that is not something that Zhang Hongbin needs to consider. He has clearly given the order that if the other party dares to harm the ship and the crew, then the fleet can bombard Malacca!

Yes, the people of the great republic of heaven and earth are the largest, and the soldiers of the republic are even more sacrosanct.

If you dare to hurt them, then be prepared to accept the wrath of the Republic!

But then again, the possibility of real sea trade this time will not be very high, after all, the ships are carrying a group of rookies, and if they are unlucky to go to sea for 180 nautical miles, maybe they will have to return because there are too many seasick people. In the final analysis, this time one is to complete some simple tasks, and the other is just to let the soldiers adapt to the navigation and combat at sea. The latter is the most important thing, and the first task is nothing more than incidental.

Departing from Motama Bay, the fleet sailed along the traditional shipping lanes on the sea towards the Straits of Malacca. To tell the truth, it will not be too difficult for the fleet to reach the Strait of Malacca, because it only needs to play the shore all the way south to reach the goal. Their voyage this time was indeed based on this basic principle, after all, they also had a third accompanying mission, which was to record the large cities along the coast, as well as the latitude and longitude of the cities.

Interestingly, at least for a long part of the road, it still belongs to the waters of the province of Myanmar.

From Motama Bay, the fleet came to the city of Jere, to the city of Dawei, and then to the city of Bou, and finally to the vicinity of Zedeki Island, before officially leaving the territory of the Republic and beginning to go out into the world.

The sheer size of this fleet also made the local Burmese along the road curious, even a little frightened.

After all, the column of artillery on both sides of the ship gave people a sense of solemnity. Many people didn't even suspect that if this fleet had this idea, their city would be reduced to a pile of ruins in a very short time. They had seen the devilish fire of the Republic, the real flower of death!

Not only them, but also those foreign ships that traveled to and from the Maritime Silk Road were also amazed by such a large fleet. Especially the two ironclad ships, they couldn't even imagine what such iron and sailless branches were powered to sail.

The veteran crew could even see that the speed of the ship could be further increased, but they had to reduce the speed in order to take care of the ten traditional sailing ships behind them. Because of this, they shouted "God", as if they had seen the miracle of God's creation in the world.

Maybe it's also because the size of the fleet is too large, so along the way, you may encounter some unidentified ships cruising around the fleet, but they quickly left. It is very likely that these people are pirates rampant in this area, but when they saw that this fleet was too strong, they changed their original intention of robbery and obediently retreated. This also made the gunners and seamen who originally planned to fight a big fight somewhat regretful.

After three days of sailing, the group came to the vicinity of the port of Malacca.

At this time, a fleet of ships came in front of them. It was a force of more than fifty large galleons (slightly smaller than the fortune ships and galleons) and was supposed to be Portugal's elite goalkeeping fleet in the South Seas. Their responsibility is actually very clear, that is, not to allow the forces of other countries to participate in the colonization game of the South Seas.

There are already Portugal and Spain here, it's messy enough, and the benefits have been divided a lot, and no one else can be allowed to get a piece of the pie.

As is customary, they also made routine cruises, and today they happened to spot a fleet of ships from countries they had never seen before coming to their precinct. Therefore, he came to the front of the fleet of the Republic for the first time.

Soon, they raised the flag: which country's fleet are you?

As a courtesy, the Republic fleet also raised the flag: We are from the Republic of China!

Who knows that the other party doesn't know what country the Republic of China is, and directly replied: Go back! This is the territorial waters of the Kingdom of Portugal, and you are not welcome!

So, what they are waiting for is a reply like this: X your ancestors!

Nanyang has been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times, at least the large and small countries here recognize the identity of the Ming Dynasty's suzerainty, and will also send people to pay tribute. In other words, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a subsidiary territory of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention, this place was destined to become a colony by the Republic from the beginning, and now a barbarian country actually says that this place belongs to them, isn't this a provocation to the authority of the Republic?

The other party quickly replied: If you don't want to be sunk, it's better to surrender obediently! Otherwise, we will attack you!

The flagship of the Huangtu number quickly gave a reply: Looking for death!

As a result, the first naval battle of the republic unfolded in such a somewhat nonsensical atmosphere.