In the ninth year of Taiping, on September 28,

As the dazzling red sun appeared on the land of India in the east, the sky in the Indian Ocean gradually brightened. Off the coast of Goa, the blue sea is dotted with seagulls and the blue waves are undulating, a peaceful and tranquil scenery. There are a few small fishing boats with spinnakers casting their nets at sea, and the tanned Indian fishermen on board are doing their livelihoods that have been passed down from their ancestors, and at the same time they are curiously looking at the two dozen or so ironclad ships that appeared off the coast of Goa at some unknown time.

What kind of day is it today? When I woke up early in the morning, I found that the originally empty port of Goa was crowded into more than twenty ironclad ships as huge as the water castle! When I left the port of Goa, I saw that there were about 20 large warships wandering in the sea outside the port, and there was a column lined up, and they also aimed their old and coarse barrels at the port of Goa. Is it to shell Goa?

These Indian fishermen wondered in their hearts: "It must be the Portuguese lord in Goa who offended these big warships?" When it hits later, if you can bomb it accurately, it's best to shoot at the good house where the Portuguese old man lives. Don't blow up that tattered Indian slum on the edge of the harbor."

The thoughts of the Indian fishermen, Rear Admiral Zhuge Weidao, who commanded these large warships, would not know. But he really didn't plan to blow up the slums, or even bombard the good houses of the Portuguese colonizers. On the one hand, because the orders of the Admiralty and the Naval Staff did not allow him to enter the territorial waters of India, let alone the territorial waters of Goa, which was ruled by the Portuguese; On the other hand, it is because the Portuguese built two forts that seemed to be door gods on the peninsula jutting out on both sides of the Gulf of Goa, and also erected 240 mm 45 times the diameter of the shore gun produced by Jiangnan Heavy Industry of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Zhuge Weidao now only wants to lay mines on the high seas outside the port of Goa to block the warships of the Royal Indian Navy who do not speak of martial virtues, dare not fight at night, and hide in the neutral port of Portuguese Goa!

This is really annoying, Zhuge pinched his fingers for the Tao and calculated the plan to break the enemy in the night battle for so long, and he actually used one move and thirty-six strategies for the Indians to dodge and break it. really responded to the famous saying of Sun Tzu in the Art of War - you can't be provoked, you can hide!

And Zhuge still has nothing to do with them for the sake of the Tao!

Because his request to lay mines outside the port of Goa was unsurprisingly vetoed by the Admiralty and the Naval Staff.

"Admiral, Portugal is a neutral country, and we have not declared war on the Indian Empire, yesterday's naval battle has been characterized by the imperial court as a border conflict."

"Border conflicts? It turns out that the border between my Ming and India is in the Arabian Sea! ”

"Yes, yes, in the Arabian Sea"

Guo Xiaobao, who was holding a copy of the telegram to explain the situation to Zhuge Weidao, looked at his boss with a blue face, and then said: "The headquarters orders us to continue the mission of occupying the Persian Gulf and not to stay on the coast of India for a long time.

In addition, the telegram from the headquarters also said that the two Hero-class battleships that were heading to Europe would return to the Ming mainland through the Sunda Strait and would not be incorporated into the Persian Gulf Fleet. Admiral, it seems that the imperial court will accept it if it wants to see it again, we are soldiers, and it is natural to obey the orders of the peak."

When Zhuge Weidao heard this, he glanced at Guo Xiaobao and said with a smile: "Baozhi, occupying the Persian Gulf is also my suggestion, this is the most important task, compared to the Persian Gulf, the whole of India is nothing!" ”

Guo Xiaobao breathed a sigh of relief, nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, what the Admiral said is very true, so can we go to the port of Muscat in the Oman Empire?" Omani Empire Speed Said. Root. Sultan is an old friend of our Ming Empire, as long as we have his support, it will not be difficult to occupy the Persian Gulf. ”

"Well, I know, I've heard the Queen Mother say this." Zhuge nodded for Dao and said with a smile, "When I bid farewell to the Empress Dowager before leaving Beijing this time, Empress Dowager Zheng also asked me to bring a generous gift to this Sultan to thank the Oman Empire for its support to the Ming court!" ”

The Ming court is inseparable from the Omani Empire. It sounds a little strange, but since King Zhuge Wuzhong forbade the castration of the people of the Ming Dynasty as eunuchs and adopted the black eunuch system in the Daming Palace, this Omani Empire is the only designated supplier of black eunuchs in the Ming court!

The big eunuch Black Whirlwind, who had a very good relationship with Zhuge Weidao, was bought by the royal traffickers of the Oman Empire from the slave port of Samba in East Africa, and then sold it monopolly, oh, it should be a tribute to the Ming court.

London, 10 Downing Street.

While the Duke of Wellington was having breakfast in his dedicated dining room, Huck Hucker, the cabinet secretary, walked in with a red wired mobile phone.

Huck stood beside the Duke, then handed him the phone and smiled, "Prime Minister, the number of the Admiralty." ”

"Thank you," the Duke of Wellington smiled, "I guess there must be good news from India." ”

As he spoke, he picked up the phone receiver, "Hey, I'm Arthur. Wellesley. ”

Over there was the Secretary of the Admiralty, George Brown. Yilu's voice: "Duke, I'm George. Yilu has just received good news that the Indian Grand Fleet in the port of Goa has successfully defended the freedom, independence and sovereignty of the Indian Empire by repelling the attempted invasion of the Ming naval formation. After the defeat, the Ming naval formation is fleeing in the northwest direction! ”

"Well, that's good." The Duke of Wellington laughed, "It seems that they can only fail to seize the Persian Gulf!" ”

George. "Yes, they have failed completely! Is the Admiralty going to make a statement to the public about the Battle of Goa? ”

"No, no," said the Duke of Wellington, "it's a border conflict between the Indian Empire and the Ming Empire. It doesn't have much to do with us. ”

"Yes, Prime Minister."

The Duke of Wellington then hung up the phone and said to Huac, "Help me connect to the Grand Trianon." ”

"Yes, Prime Minister." Huck nodded, and immediately dialed the Royal Mail's international terminal center, and in a short time the receiver was once again in the hands of the Duke of Wellington.

"Is His Royal Highness here? I'm Arthur. Wellesley. "I have just received news that your fleet is sailing away from the coast of India!" ”

Zhuge Weijiu's voice came from the telephone receiver: "I also got the news that our fleet is heading for the Persian Gulf, in fact, they were originally going to the Persian Gulf." Rampant piracy in the Persian Gulf has severely affected international trade through the Strait of Hormuc. As the most powerful industrialized country in the world, we in the Ming Empire have an obligation to ensure that international trade can be carried out safely and freely. ”

"Oh," the Duke of Wellington laughed, "you want to defend the Qatar Peninsula and the island of Bahrain, where oysters can be traded freely?" ”

Zhuge Weijiu said seriously: "Oysters are important seafood, and we use them to produce oyster sauce!" Also, the salted fish in Qatar and Bahrain are also very good! There are also Iraqi dates, which are big and sweet. ”

"Really?" "But I regret to inform you that the Royal Navy of the Indian Empire will block the Malacca route until your Persian Gulf fleet leaves the Indian Ocean with oysters, salted fish, and dates!" ”

"Duke, I would like to remind you that the blockade of the Malacca shipping route by the Indian Empire violates the Malacca Joint Development Treaty signed 100 years ago between the Ming Empire and the British Empire. If the Indian Empire does block the straits, we will resume sovereignty over the Malay Peninsula! At that time, the entire Malay Peninsula, including Temasek Island and Malacca City, will return to the Ming Dynasty! ”

Wellington lowered his voice: "Your Royal Highness, if you really dare to attack the Malay Peninsula. Then a full-scale war will break out! Not a total war between you and the Indian Empire, but between you and the British Empire, the Indian Empire, the United States of America, and other British allies! ”

Zhuge Weijiu laughed and said: "As long as the Indians don't block the shipping lane, then there will be no full-scale war, Duke, you better persuade the Indians!" In addition, you can blockade Malacca, and our Persian Gulf fleet can also blockade the Gulf of Aden! ”

(End of chapter)