As Xu Yifan expected, the Westerners did not rush to the Strait of Malacca within a month, and by the time they arrived at the Strait of Malacca, it was already a month and a half later.

Along the way, the Western army was far from being as smooth as they imagined, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops to launch an expedition in one breath, just the food supply along the way was a problem, and the grain on the transport ship behind was only supported for 20 days, and it was consumed, and in 20 days, the Western army only arrived in North Africa, but fortunately, some countries in North Africa such as Algeria had broken away from the control of the Ottoman Empire, and maintained close economic and trade ties with Western countries, and the two sides got along harmoniously.

The Western coalition army was not polite, and directly took out enough silver taels, added fresh water and food, and the army continued to move forward, basically half a month to twenty days, the Western Fleet had to dock once, and each time it docked, it would take three days, after all, it would take time to buy food from the local area, not to mention that it needed to be transported to merchant ships, and when the Western Fleet arrived in the Persian Gulf, it was already three months, bypassing the entire Black Africa and arriving in the Persian Gulf, however, the Persian Gulf was the area controlled by the Ottoman Empire, Although the Western alliance was not afraid of the Ottoman Empire, they were also unwilling to get involved and collide head-on with the Ottoman Empire at this time.

Moving on, the army finally reached the Indian peninsula, which was the territory of the English, and it was much easier to get things done.

"General Black, now that we have finally arrived in the Indian Peninsula, it will only take a few days to reach from the Indian Peninsula to the South Seas, and the war is coming, but we have overlooked an extremely important issue before we set out on the expedition......"

Troppe said in a deep voice.

Blake was stunned for a moment and asked, "General Trob, what's the problem?" ”

Trope smiled bitterly: "We carried a lot of ammunition, enough to ensure that we finished this war, and the countries behind us will also send a batch of ammunition, but what about food and grass?" This is a big problem, our grain and grass can not also be transported from thirty or forty thousand miles away to the South Seas, such a price is too high, but there is no timely and sufficient food and grass, we are at war with the South Seas at sea, once the food is cut off, it is fatal, after all, no one knows how long this battle will last, and we want to break through the blockade of the Strait of Malacca, it is undoubtedly very difficult, just now, the intelligence officers have said that in more than two years, the Ming Empire has built a very strong military defense line in Malacca, With more than 60 forts built in Malacca and nearly 300 coastal defense guns deployed, there is no doubt that it will be very difficult to take the Strait of Malacca, and it is impossible for us to get enough food from the South Seas, and for now we can only rely on the food of the Indian peninsula......"

Blake suddenly realized that Tlopp's analysis is reasonable, everything can be lacking in a war, but the only thing that cannot be missing is food, and if there is no food, you can starve to death with an army of more than 100,000 people, let alone war.

Pheloc also hurriedly said: "General Blake, now the only one who can afford the food supply of our hundreds of thousands of troops is the Indian Peninsula, after all, there are hundreds of thousands of troops, and more than 10,000 war horses, the daily consumption is too great, and the average small country can't afford to support us at all, I propose to authorize the Kingdom of England to purchase food supplies from India according to the unified pricing of the market, and all the costs will be borne by all countries according to the proportion of troops!" ”

"At market price?"

Blake snorted, "Phelock, are you kidding? This is not 10 tons of grain, 100 tons of grain, 1440,000 troops plus shipwrights, etc., are already close to 160,000 people, and the daily consumption of grain will exceed 100 tons, if we fight fiercely in the South Seas for two months, the grain consumed, it will be tens of thousands of tons, if the consumption in the middle is counted, at least 10,000 tons of grain, do you think this number can be easily made up no matter which country or region? As long as we buy in India, the local grain merchants will definitely sit on the ground and raise the price, and it may even cause a local food shortage! If you want to supply the Indian peninsula with more than 100,000 troops, you have to buy it at twice the market price! ”

Twice?

Tropden was anxious and shouted: "Blake, you are taking advantage of the fire to rob, this time we are on the same front, this is not ordinary trade, such a black heart, absolutely not!" ”

Others also protested, jokes, whose money is not blown by the wind, the market price of a ton of grain is almost six or seven pounds, one or two thousand tons of grain, that is nearly 100,000 pounds, if it is higher than the market price twice the price, it is 300,000 pounds, converted into a Mexican eagle ocean, then one or two million eagle oceans! In addition to food, the army also needs other supplies, all the food, drink and Lazar are the responsibility of the Indian Peninsula, according to this calculation, there are no three or five million eagle oceans will definitely not be able to go down, this price is too great! This is just a logistical supply, in addition to these countries also have to pay for the loss of military spending and weapons and ammunition, warships, warships will still be damaged in the war, and it is estimated that there are not a few, a big war, I am afraid that the price paid by all countries will exceed one or two hundred million Eagle Ocean, it is definitely an astronomical number, for Western countries, even the richest Kingdom of the Netherlands, one or two million Eagle Ocean, is definitely an eye-popping number, even if it is shared by five countries, the pressure is huge.

Of course, this is not counting, whose pockets will go into the end of these logistical supplies, of course, it is the grain merchants of India, and whose hands are the grain merchants of the Indian peninsula? Of course, it was in the hands of the British, and in the end, all this silver went into the pockets of the British, and a fool would agree to buy food at three times the price!

"Okay......"

Everyone is against it, no matter how much Blake wants to make money, he can't force it, and the public is angry, "I give in, double the price, it can't be lower, if it's decreasing, then there really won't be much profit, it's really not good, let's just break up, I made a concession of at least tens of thousands of pounds!" The Kingdom of England is the same as you, and we will pay for this fee! ”

"Not only food, but also other supplies purchased in Peninsular India, including medicines and alcohol, must not exceed double the normal price!"

Trope added, "You Englishmen want to be fat in one bite, absolutely impossible!" ”

(End of chapter)