"Commander, this is the latest instruction, sent from Xinhua Port." In the office of the Djibouti Garrison Command, Navy Captain Liu Jin, who was fanning himself in vain, suddenly received a confidential letter from his adjutant.

The seal of the letter was good, and the fire paint was clear and unmistakable, which meant that no one had opened it and read it. Liu Zhen put down the fan, slowly opened it and looked at it, then carefully put it away and put it back in the file box in the drawer.

"Who is the Dutch East India Company messing with? Good business is good, toss the moth, now stupid, right? Denglai, Ningshao, Macau, India, Djibouti and other places launched together, comprehensively squeezing their activity space, constantly attacking their commercial influence, and still arranging them clearly? Isn't it stupid that a bunch of fools overestimate their own strength and underestimate our influence, and actually impose trade sanctions on us? After slowly lighting a pipe, he smiled as he felt the refreshing aroma of fine Virginia tobacco, "Let them taste the fruit of their own taste now." However, our Djibouti is too small, and it is said that it is a management committee jurisdiction, but it has a population of more than 3,000 people in one town and two townships. ”

The confidential letter that Liu Zhen had just received was written to him by Shao Yaoguang, the captain of the New China Pioneer Brigade, asking them to dispatch their only two warships (a "Star"-class light cruiser and an armed merchant ship) to conduct irregular patrols around the Gulf of Aden to see if any ships of the Dutch East India Company had entered the Red Sea to buy coffee and other specialties there.

You know, this is not an unfounded worry of the East Coast, but a fact. Although the Ottoman Empire had excellent relations with the Eastern Coast Republic, and the influence of the Eastern Coast diplomats in the region was very strong, this did not mean that the country was completely controlled by the Eastern Coast, and in fact it was not possible. Such a large country has a very strong will of its own, and it can see some problems very clearly, so even though the East Coast has become its largest trading partner, their country is still trying its best to attract merchants from other countries to trade, and even the Republic of Venexia, which has fought a war with them for twenty years and caused them heavy casualties, is allowed to come to trade, which is already very telling - people don't want to put all their eggs in one basket!

As a result of this policy, the Ottomans also showed great goodwill to the ships of the Dutch East India Company that went to trade in the Asian part of their country: five or six Dutch ships traded in the ports of Mocha and Jeddah every year, bringing to the Ottomans large quantities of spices such as pepper, cloves, nutmeg skins, etc., as well as many special goods from India, which were sold in the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt. There is no doubt that at least a considerable part of these goods were in conflict with the East Coasters, but the East Coasters could not blame the Ottomans, because they gave themselves more share than the Dutch, which is already a great goodwill, and you can't expect people to risk your market being manipulated and give you a share of all the above goods, right? Although they are green, they are not so stupid - even in the Persian sugar market, where the Dutch were beaten to the brim, about 10% of the market share is still occupied by Indian merchants.

Therefore, it was necessary to strike at the merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company from the Gulf of Aden - of course not to let the Dutch know about it, which meant that such a strike would not be left alive, and the spoils of war would probably be transported to further away places such as South Africa - to cut off their trade with the Ottoman Empire, and to let their income drop even more, adding to their blockage, which was naturally a matter of pleasure for the people of the East Coast.

The only problem is probably that Djibouti has only two ships that can be used for combat in a place where birds don't, and one of the armed merchant ships often has to undertake the task of transporting materials, and the attendance rate is not too high, so the only thing that can really be used to block the Dutch is a light "Star" class light cruiser.

"Okay, okay, let's still point to Xinhuaxia to give us more assistance, and at the same time hope that the four feudatories in the Far East can give us some immigrants, so that we can expand some territory, the current Djibouti County is too tricky. It's so hot, it's so hot, and the only resources besides salt are limestone, marble, or something, which is really desperate. Liu Zhen took a puff of cigarette and said helplessly: "Yes, it seems that this official is still more active, and it just so happens that he hasn't gone to sea with his brothers for a long time to 'hunt', so this time I should take a leisurely look, I hope to have a good harvest." ”

Although Liu Zhen is a captain in the navy, it is impossible to attach more importance to the position of the government, but opening up the territory to the outside world can also be converted into military merits, which is what he urgently needs, so our Captain Liu, Commander Liu, and Director Liu still have a certain impulse to expand abroad.

But it is nothing else that restricts his practical actions, but the meagre population of the Djibouti Management Council. After all, when you have a population of just over 3,000, everything is going to be very difficult. Heading south into the Somali region, even though it is now a barren land, there are still many ignorant and barbaric natives in the area, which cannot be easily shaken by the weak Djibouti Management Committee; Not to mention the north, it was the territory of the Ottoman Empire, even if it was only nominal, it would be inconvenient to expand there; And to the west, it is even worse, there is the Ethiopian plateau, the environment is not bad, the population is large, it is said that there is a legendary "John Elder's State", which believes in Orthodox Christianity, and its organization and combat effectiveness are okay, not to mention that the Djibouti Management Committee can peep.

Therefore, the Djibouti Management Committee is still too weak to do anything substantial, and can only be maintained, unless they can get more people and money and materials to replenish - the latter is okay, squeezing is not improvised, but the population really has no choice, can only turn to the four feudatories in the Far East, and reach some private deals with them, so that it is possible to obtain a large amount of supplements.

Dispersing more people from the East Coast to the various world nodes that the East Coasters consider important is something they have been trying to do for decades, especially in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, where they have taken control of Tahiti, Rabaul, Western Australia, Eastern Australia, New China, Djibouti and other places, and at the same time entered New Caledonia, Diu, Oman and Papua New Guinea, where they have built cities, farmed and done business, and have initially gained a foothold. These places, to be honest, are very important choke points, and even if they are unable to control it and become independent in the future, the East Coast will at least have considerable influence in the local area, which is a clear thing, so the East Coast has been trying to expand in these areas for many years, which of course requires a large population.

If the Djibouti side cooperates with the request of the Far East this time and strikes at the Dutch East India Company, perhaps for the sake of their cooperation, they will find a way to privately add a part of the population to them? With the population, the Djibouti Management Committee has much more choice, and Liu Zhen is confident that he will begin to slowly infiltrate the Ethiopian plateau in the inland areas, and expand their sphere of influence step by step, so that he may be promoted to the next level because of this, and when he returns to the navy, he can directly command a powerful detachment.

Therefore, he must contribute this time, and he must make clear arrangements for the ships of the Dutch East India Company to secretly go to the Red Sea for trade! Let the New China Island and the Far East see their efforts! It's September, and it's the time when the Dutch East India Company's merchant ships are returning from the Red Sea to Batavia or even Europe, and if you go out on patrol and patrol, if you're lucky, you can probably catch one or two, and it will be worth the money.

At the end of September 1686, when the Djibouti Authority was notified to block the Dutch East India Company's Red Sea trade, several ships belonging to the Second Fleet were also making final preparations for sailing at the Port Dofan naval base on the New Huaxia Island in the southwest Indian Ocean.

Their destination is the island of Mauritius in the Masculene Islands, an island named after Maurice, a famous figure in the history of the United Provinces. About a week's voyage from the port of Dofan, it was a famous maritime supply point for the Dutch East India Company. Especially after the East Coasters had conquered Dutch South Africa and forced the Dutch to recognize it as part of the East Coast Republic, the East India Company had to make every effort to develop it.

They built a modern port in the northwest of the island: Port Wilhelm II, named after the father of William III, the consul of the United Province. The port was not small, with more than 30 ships berthing at the same time, and had four sub-batteries with a total of more than 60 coastal defense heavy guns, ensuring that no enemy could afford to storm the port from the sea.

There is also a fortress of the same name in Port Wilhelm II. The fortress can garrison more than 3,000 troops (of course, only five or six hundred people are stationed at present), the structure is solid, the whole body is made of cement, stone and thick bricks, for this reason for several years to import a large number of building materials from the new Huaxia Island, in order to fully guarantee the quality of the fortress.

Port Wilhelm II was of such size that it had become almost the most important possession of the Dutch East India Company outside the East Indies, Ceylon, Formosa, and Malacca, the most important intermediate point on their voyage from Amsterdam to Batavia (there was a southwesterly wind that could reach the Sunda Strait), and certainly the most attractive presence of the Second Fleet of the East Coast Navy. Therefore, this time, after the Far Eastern feudatories sent a quick liaison ship to Xinhuaxia Island to report the news, Shao Yaoguang, the leader of the pioneer team, immediately made a decision and arranged for the navy to set off from Duofan Fort and sail all the way to the northeast, and try to go around the waters around the Masklin Islands as much as possible, looking for an opportunity to strike at the merchant ships passing by the Dutch East India Company.

They even had to demonstrate outside the port of Wilhelm II if they could, to show the Dutch that it would be good to anger the people on the east coast, and that they could directly threaten Formosa and their trade with Japan, and at the same time use Timor as a base to harass Batavia and the Spice Islands. Of course, now we have to add Djibouti, which threatens trade in the Red Sea, and the Second Fleet of the Navy on the east coast, which threatens the island of Mauritius.

With such an all-round threat, I don't believe that the Dutch East India Company will not be touched! You know, almost all of their major business interests are now shrouded in the attack of the East Coasters, and once a hot war really breaks out between the two sides, the company's turnover will be reduced by half almost instantly, and it will start to lose a lot of money. At that point, I believe that even if the Committee of Seventeen in Amsterdam was enlightened and supported the actions of the Bataviaan side, it would not be able to hold out for long without dividends and bear a lot of losses, right? You know, a considerable part of the shares of the Dutch East India Company are also issued and circulated in the open market, and it is difficult to imagine what will happen if something happens!

Through this trade war with the Dutch East India Company, several overseas colonies of the East Coast Republic quickly exchanged messages, and then carried out a successful linkage. Facts have proved that after decades of hard work, the power of the East Coast Republic of China in the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific has been very considerable. From now on, it is believed that the people of the East Coast, who have a clearer understanding of their power, will expand more aggressively in these regions, especially in the Indian Ocean, in order to capture the greatest share of them.