Ambassador Erie walked out of the Olive Hall. An Ottoman officer was already waiting for two. He was surrounded by several guards from the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and although the royal palaces in the west were not very strict, there were still some security considerations.

When the officer arrived at Abu Sultan, he immediately stepped on his feet to meet him: "The latest news from the Egyptian side, the Portuguese fleet has appeared, and they are trying to attack Port Abu Sudan The officer told the news from Cairo like a cannon, and Elli frowned, listened carefully, and then said: "You mean, the Ming army has arrived in Port Abu Sudan?" ”

"Yes, according to the agreement signed between His Majesty the Sultan and the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army has sent an army of 2,000 troops to station an army of 2,000 men in Port Abu Sultan in the province of Suez, and the Portuguese raided Abu Sultan, which happened to clash with the Ming army, and their landing force suffered heavy losses, but the Portuguese fleet did not return to sail, but rested on Piez Island on the north coast of Egypt, and robbed many of our merchant ships."

Eli had a plan in his heart and waved his hand: "You stand down first." ”

"Yes." The officer saluted, and then left the Sicilian palace under the supervision of the palace guards.

Standing on the tree-lined path outside the Olive Hall, Aili thought for a while, and sneered, Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan as early as two hundred years ago, and has always belonged to the extension of the Ottoman Empire to Africa, and now he has given some benefits to the Ming Dynasty, and ceded Gaza and Suez provinces to the Han people, in fact, he also has the idea of being the shopkeeper, after all, the Ottomans in the enclave of Egypt have the heart and strength to manage, and the riots are intensifying, so they simply give away the land of the two provinces to obtain the military support of the Ming Dynasty. Let Daming help the Ottomans to manage the security near Egypt, they have secretly signed a secret agreement with Daming, Daming is now having a good reputation, presumably he will not turn his face, and now the Portuguese raided Egypt, but did not return, this is not looking for a draw?

Alley thought about it, then turned back to the Olive Hall, the nobles and officers of the Anti-Dutch Alliance in the Olive Hall were already slightly drunk, the happy event was present, everyone was a smiling face, Elli went straight to the King of Sicily and whispered a few words in his ear, the King of Sicily was in a particularly good mood, after all, throughout Europe, countries attacked each other, and the Kingdom of Sicily wisely chose neutrality, so that the local area avoided war, and now the victory of the Anti-Dutch Alliance is in sight, The King of Sicily suddenly stood on the side of the Anti-Dutch Alliance by virtue of his relationship with the Anti-Dutch Alliance, and did not suffer losses when he fought, but the time to share the cake was approaching, isn't it because of his catty, the king's credit? Now that he heard Eli's words, the King of Sicily immediately became excited, and cried out, "Please be quiet

Three days later, the huge combined fleet finally went to sea, since the purchase of warships from the Ming Dynasty, all the new ships are going to the Italian Peninsula in the Mediterranean, and the countries sent sailors to arrive here to receive, a full three or four times, the anti-Dutch alliance has purchased one hundred and fifty large new ships from the Ming Dynasty, more than five hundred small and medium-sized warships, these warships have never experienced war, brand new and still, this expedition, is the first time the combined fleet went to sea to fight, the commander of the coalition Count John St. Rig watched with great interest as the fleet he had carefully trained slowly sailed away from the shore. Naturally, I was inexplicably excited.

Count Rig was originally a British naval officer, after the establishment of the anti-Dutch fleet, because the British were good at naval warfare, especially after defeating the Invincible Armada, the military theory of the navy was even more advanced, therefore, the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet was naturally led by the British, and the commanders of the rest of the countries were all deputies.

After calming down his excitement, Rig began to give orders to the first mate behind him: "The fleet is heading to the southeast, and the target is Egypt,

Pierce Island is located in the southeast of the Mediterranean, thirty nautical miles away from Egypt's Abu Sultan Port, fifty-four nautical miles away from Alexandria, Egypt's route into the Atlantic Ocean passes through here, there was not much population here, especially after the Ottomans occupied here, most of the islanders here are Christians, Christians and Muslims have hated each other for thousands of years, slaughtering each other, Pierce Island was originally exiled Greek remnants, as early as a few centuries ago, Greece was part of the Eastern Roman Empire centered on Constantinople. The Eastern Romans fended off centuries of attacks from the East and the West, until Constantinople finally fell and the Ottomans gradually conquered all of Greece. Most of the Greeks believed in Orthodox Christianity, and the Ottoman Empire at that time did not massacre Christians, but allowed the Greeks to believe in Christianity, but after all, Audi was an empire composed of Islamists, and the Muslim religion was still in the Ottoman orthodox land, and the empire did not use drastic means, but it built mosques in Greece, which made the local Christians in Greece feel insulted. Settlement between Greece on the island of Pies.

More than a century ago, when the Ottomans conquered Egypt and took control of the island of Pies, the Greeks who had fled Ottoman rule in Greece were immediately furious, and they slaughtered the Greeks on the island of Pies, and made the island an island of pagan suffering, and no one was allowed to stay.

Now the Ottoman navy has long been much worse than before, the control of the island of Pies is gradually weakened, and people have begun to settle on the island, but the number is not large, and at this moment, on the beach to the west of the island, dozens of large and small Portuguese warships are running aground in the shallow water, the landing Portuguese here have built simple huts, set up tents, and lit a bonfire, under the tide, it seems to be very free.

Admiral Bobby and several officers climbed the mountain peak on the island with great interest under the guidance of the locals, stopped to watch the terrain of the island, yesterday, Bobby received a secret letter from Portugal, he was relieved, at least the Portuguese authorities did not blame him, presumably the defeat of this war will not make him face the threat of military trial, and the Admiralty of Portugal and the Netherlands have also formulated a careful battle plan, aiming to eliminate all the anti-Dutch United Nations horns before the arrival of the Daming Naval Division. The plans are indeed out of the self-esteem! Curled hair. It can be said that the two rings of heaven are linked to one ring.

On the day he received the secret letter, Bobby ordered all the warships to be sailed into the shallow waters, and to run the huge battleships as far as possible near the beach, and all the guns on board were moved around the island, so that the fortifications could be excavated and the entire Pierce Island could be built into a strong fortress.

And what Bobby has to do is wait, according to the instructions in the secret letter, the Portuguese fleet of expeditions to Egypt has now become a very tempting bait on this island of Pies, which is the hinterland of the Mediterranean, not far from Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and these three regions all belong to the territory of the Ottoman Empire, but the Ottoman Empire's naval strength is weak and vulnerable. Bobby was not worried that the Ottomans would have the time to send a fleet to counterattack the island of Pies after being attacked by the two major land powers on land, and the only one with the strength to attack the island was the anti-Dutch fleet in Italy.

"May God spare those damned combined fleets to come quickly, under the blowing of the mountain wind, Admiral Bobby cursed, he spent so much effort, according to the secret letter of the Dutch and Portuguese Admiralty, it is to tempt those combined fleets, the anti-Dutch alliance fleet has been shrinking into the Italian peninsula since its inception, and has never dared to step out of the Italian seas, the Dutch and Portuguese islanders have actually had a headache for a long time, and now if they can be lured out and annihilated in one fell swoop, wouldn't it be an excellent opportunity now, As long as Bobby can lure the anti-Dutch alliance fleet to reach the island of Pierce, then the main fleets of the Netherlands and Portugal will follow, and the so-called praying mantis and cicada catching yellow finch will probably still understand in the future.

"Pass my orders." Bobby suddenly opened his throat and said to the officer behind him: "Scuttle all the warships and block them in the bay." ”

"Your Excellency, Admiral." The officers behind Bobby were all moved, and many even thought they had misheard, and a naval colonel hurriedly said, "What did you just say?" ”

"I said," Bobby was also very determined when he gave this order, if the anti-Dutch fleet really came, such a huge fleet could not be withstood by his seven or eight large warships and a few small and medium-sized warships, he must buy time and hold on to the spot, in this case, then he must ensure the safety of Pies, scuttle the warships, and block the way into the bay of the island, so that he can delay the landing of the anti-Dutch fleet and hold on for one more day, so that the implementation of the strategy can have a little hope:" Sinks all ships. ”

This time the officers heard it clearly, but their faces were only more shocked, the lifeblood of the navy is warships, and without warships, what are these naval officers? Moreover, this is an isolated island in the belly of the Ottomans, and in front of them is the Ottoman territory, and if they have lost their warships, should they be trapped on this isolated island? The colonel, who had questioned him earlier, said: "Your Excellency, I do not think this is a good suggestion, and I hope that you will retract what you have said, and even if you do not retract it, I, as an officer of the Portuguese Navy, have the right not to obey this order." ”

Bobby's face was gloomy, to be honest, this fleet was not big compared to the naval strength of Portugal, but he had also been the commander of this fleet for a few years, and he was not comfortable with this order, he naturally could understand the thoughts of these officers, scuttling the battleship was tantamount to asking the cavalry to kill their horses and let the infantry destroy their muskets, the army is made up of people, and it is also composed of weapons, weapons and people, these two things are less than the same, they cannot be called armies, And the weapons of the Navy are warships,,

However, Admiral Bobby did not intend to tell the secret letter of the Netherlands and Portugal, this secret letter was sealed in top secret, the meaning of the Admiralty is naturally to hope that less people know about it, this will be a very bold military action, but also a great adventure, if it is leaked, then the Dutch and Portuguese fleets will probably suffer the heaviest price, Bobby took a deep breath: "In this case, then Colonel Kentuff, you have been dismissed, after the war, I will despise my superiors and disobey orders, Charges against you for incitement. ”

Bobby's voice was very stern, which immediately deterred the other officers who were about to protest with the colonel, and the colonel also argued: "Whatever you want, you scuttle the battleship, it is a crime." ”

"Guards," Bobby raised his voice.

A few guards at the foot of the mountain didn't know what was going on, and hurried over with breech guns. Bobby pointed at the colonel and said, "Confine him, take him from all his positions, and let his lieutenant take his place." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." The guards were frightened and panicked, in fact, they had never seen His Excellency the Admiral so angry, let alone seen His Excellency the Admiral treat a colonel officer like this, they did not dare to detain the Colonel, they just swallowed and spit, and said to the Colonel with a little unconfidence: "Your Excellency, please cooperate with us,"

The colonel sneered and walked away.

When the other officers saw this scene, they all bit their lower lipes, and they were in a dilemma, scuttling the battleship, they couldn't do it, but the admiral's order,"

"Didn't you hear my commands clearly? I said, "Go back to your posts at once, and order your soldiers to move all the material and money to the shore, and "scuttle all the ships." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency. The officers replied in unison, they were really frightened, not only the admiral's order made them panic, but also the fate of the colonel made them panic, but although they answered, but no one turned back to go down the mountain and returned to their own ship, this kind of order, who dares to carry it out?

"Pavilion, down" Can you name the reason why the battleship had to be scuttled? If you say it, we're here to help. "The Rear Admiral who questioned him was much calmer than the flamboyant Colonel just now. A reason, everyone is waiting for His Excellency Admiral to give a reason.

Bobby sighed, his tone didn't seem to be as stubborn as Fang Cai, he pondered for a moment and said, "This is an order from the Admiralty, I can only say so much, you go and carry it out." ”

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