At Temasek Military Port, the towering mast of the battleship "Oceania" rose with crisp white square sails, spinnakers and top sails, and huge winches dragged a large iron anchor weighing more than two tons out of the water, and the huge hull slowly sailed away from the port.

This is the newest and largest sail battleship in the world today, an enhanced version of the "New World" class. Unlike the "New World" class, which has half merchant marine blood, the "Oceania" class is a pure battleship! The huge hull with an unladen displacement of 2,000 tons allowed the battleship to have up to three gun decks, and the number of cannons on the ship reached 108, and all of them were 5-inch guns!

Along with the sail battleship Oceania, more than a dozen 3rd and 4th class warships sailed out of Temasek Naval Harbour. Now the navy of the Ming Empire has graded the warships they have. The "Oceania" class is naturally a first-class battleship, and its main mission is to seize supremacy at sea; The "New World" class is a second-class cruiser, whose main mission is to control the oceans with high speed and range; All types of warships with an unladen displacement of about 1,000 tons are classified as third-class destroyers, whose mission is to drive the enemy out of sea; Battleships with an unladen displacement of 800 to 500 tons were fourth-class frigates, which were responsible for escorting merchant ships and capital ships (including battleships and cruisers); Warships of less than 500 tons are coastal defense ships, which are responsible for coastal defense, port protection, and anti-smuggling and piracy.

This time, the Admiral of the South Seas Fleet, Marquis Wang Shuifei (Wang Lufei's younger brother and one of the twenty-two brothers), decided to visit the Sultanate of the Maldives on the "Oceania" class, which had just been delivered to the fleet battleship and was also the new flagship of the fleet...... Traveling at public expense? Well, if there are no special circumstances. It's a costly tour.

Sitting in the spacious and luxurious admiral's room of the "Oceania", the military uniform is neat and the hat is worn. Wang Lufei, who couldn't stop sweating on his forehead, sighed.

"Master Hou, do you still have any dissatisfaction with this battleship?" One had just graduated from the Naval Staff College. The staff officer, who had the rank of lieutenant colonel and had the title of viscount, was leaning over to look at the charts, and when he heard Wang Lufei's sigh, he raised his head and asked with a smile.

"Wengui, how can I be dissatisfied with this battleship?" Wang Shuifei took out a cotton handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead, shook his head and smiled, "It's not for your prince brother?" ”

"Admiral, you're making fun of me again." The man who was called "Wengui" was a tall man of twenty-seven or eighteen years old, and the military attache was upright. The skin is tanned by the sun and is red, and at a glance, you can tell that it is an old navy who has been adrift at sea all year round. He is also a member of the Anfeng Chen clan, with the name Deshun, and Wengui is his name. Theoretically, it can be regarded as the younger brother of Chen Defang and Chen Dexing.

However, Anfeng Chen is a big family, not counting the dolls born in these years, there are hundreds of adult Chen children alone. If you count it further, there are tens of thousands of children of Jiangzhou Yimen Chen. Theoretically, they are all brothers of the same race. But in reality, there is no light.

According to the "Ming Imperial Family Regulations", only Chen Dexing's parents, brothers, sisters, and children are considered royal. And it is not an eternal royal family, unless Chen Dexing's descendants have the title of marquis or above, the royal status can only be maintained for one generation (that is, the generation without a lord). As for the children of Chen Dexing's daughters. Unless their mother becomes a king (empress, queen, archduchess, princess), they do not have royal status.

Note: Chen Dexing's parents are Chen Huai'an and Guo Fu'er! In other words, Chen Huaiqing and Chen Defang, father and son, are not the Ming royal family! Unless Chen Dexing will posthumously crown his ancestors as emperors in the future. In order to make Chen Huaiqing and Chen Dexing become the Ming royal family.

However, Chen Dexing had little interest in posthumously sealing his ancestors - because his monarchy and divine power were identical, and his legitimacy came from the incarnation of the Ming King and the Taiyi God. It has nothing to do with the ancestors of the Chen family. Of course, it is not bad to fight for the ancestor Chen Dexing. Jiangzhou Yimen Chen came from the Chen Dynasty of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and was a genuine descendant of the emperor Miao.

And this Chen Deshun's rank of lieutenant colonel and the dispatch of the navigation staff officer of the Nanyang Fleet were all made up step by step by himself after entering the naval academy in the year of Jiazi in the Ming Dynasty. Of course, Chen Dexing's light is still somewhat stained with him, otherwise he should be a major now, and a general like Wang Lufei would not be so polite to him.

"It's not the official who is joking, but His Royal Highness the British Prince." Wang Shuifei shook his head, put away his handkerchief, stood up and walked to the porthole inlaid with transparent glass, looking at the bright sky outside.

"Maldives Islands, a place like a tiger's den in Longtan, even twenty-one privateers dare to break in? Although the Sultan of Maldives is loyal to the Ming Dynasty on the surface, he is secretly still a person on the pirate side of the Heavenly Sect! This Oda Sultan is probably a pirate leader himself, otherwise how could he afford to build such a luxurious palace with his little broken territory? ”

"Admiral, since you know that this Oda is not a good thing, why don't we please the little Maldives?"

"Settle what?" Wang Shuifei smiled coldly, "The palm-sized broken island (Male is only 1.6 square kilometers), it is too small to take it down and use it as a fleet stronghold." And there are so many islands in the Maldives, there should always be a local snake in charge, right? Someone is in charge, and our ships will only find a place to replenish fresh water when they get there. If our merchant ships are hijacked, there will be a middleman to ransom them (and vice versa). ”

The Ming Empire has become larger and larger. Just like the British Empire in history, there are interests all over the world that need to be defended by the Ming navy. The Ming Navy is the three major fleets of the Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, and the Atlantic Fleet, plus dozens of naval guards (bases). The total number of combat ships is less than 500, and although the total number of troops has repeatedly swelled, it is more than 200,000.

There is no problem with such strength dominating the ocean, but to control it tightly is to pipe it. And in the years when the Age of Discovery had only begun, there was a lawless place on the ocean, and merchant ships could not sail far without armament - unarmed merchant ships were sent to death!

Historically, until the second half of the 19th century, merchant ships went to sea with cannons or something. The era when unarmed merchant ships could sail the oceans was probably the only time when steam battleships dominated the seas.

Moreover, there is no reason why Han pirates do not rob Han maritime merchants!

As a matter of fact. Maritime merchants and pirates are simply one and the other, two and one. Count on a group with weapons in their hands. It is really imaginative for a man to fight for his life on the sea without the king's law.

Besides. Now there is a war going on in the Little West. The combat missions of the South Sea Fleet are too heavy, where is the spare time to deal with pirates? If Chen Defang hadn't eaten enough to personally direct the robbery this time, Wang Shuifei would not have taken 20 warships of various types to the Maldives for a "tour".

Of course, the purpose of his trip was only to ensure that Chen Defang would not be captured or killed by the pirates of the Tianfang Sect. The South Sea Fleet will not interfere in the matter of robbery. Even, Wang Shuifei didn't plan to let Chen Defang know that he went to the Maldives with the fleet. There is nothing to sell this favor, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is addicted to pirates, can the Nanyang Fleet always help escort him?

"Wengui, is that Lei Batian you contacted reliable?" Wang Shuifei asked in a low voice. "Will they use communication rockets?"

Wang Shuifei didn't plan to show his face in front of Chen Defang, he just wanted to follow from afar. So he asked Chen Deshun to find a privateer who was about to participate in Chen Defang's adventure, called Lei Batian. gave him ten signal rockets and asked him to send a signal for help when Chen Defang was in distress. At that time, the "Oceania" will pass by "exactly......

"Yes, what can't those pirates? It's just that they're not proficient enough. Chen Deshun grinned. I didn't take the current mission seriously.

This is the "Oceania" with 108 5-inch guns! Even if you encounter 100 pirate ships of the Heavenly Sect, you can pack them all!

……

"Look, we have 1,000 ships! Even if that British Prince is riding a 'New World' class, our holy warriors will be able to capture him just as well! ”

The huge "Vostok" oars and sails are used in parallel like a castle floating on the sea, and the thick wood is made of a pointed front and a round back. On the mast there are not only Chinese-style hard sails, but also spinnakers that can adapt to the changing climate of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Many oars, several feet long, protrude from the windows of the oar-seat deck of the hull and paddle incessantly. Move the boat forward with the wind.

The Admiral's lounge on the ship, covered with a thick Persian cashmere blanket, burned with a strong smell of Indian incense. On a black banner was embroidered with white thread the words "All things are not God, but the true God" - this is the holy war flag given by the al-Hakim Caliph.

On the desk in the middle of the cabin. Grapes, dates, grilled meats and cheeses are on display, and the aroma of coffee fills the air.

Maher, Isfahan. Yusuf and several other pirate chieftains from the Mediterranean or Indian Ocean were drinking coffee. While talking about the engagement that was about to begin.

"1,000 ships, I bet it's the largest fleet ever built. Perhaps more than the total number of ships in the entire Ming Navy! ”

A certain pirate from the Indian Ocean is not wrong, and now sailing in the Arabian Sea, covering almost the entire ocean, the huge fleet is twice as numerous as the Ming Navy!

Of course, this is compared to the number of ships, if it is compared to artillery, then the advantage of the Ming Navy is too great.

"Even if they have artillery, it's useless, we have too many ships, as long as they rush up, they can solve the battle with hand-to-hand combat."

"In hand-to-hand combat on the sea, we are the strongest, and no Kafile is our opponent!"

A pirate from the Mediterranean said a lot of things, as if he had forgotten Venice and Genoa......

"Maher, why do you keep frowning, is there anything you don't worry about?" Isfahan. With an elegant smile on his face, Yusuf asked as he looked at Maher with a sad face.

"Reassured? I think you know who we're fighting against? And......" Maher stole a glance at the empty main seat. The Admiral of the Combined Fleet of the Celestial Sect was seasick, this guy was a Kipchak, and his ancestors had probably never seen the sea in eighteen generations. Before the expedition, he was still in good spirits, and the ship had vomited up all the overnight food in less than an hour. Now he is lying in his cabin and waiting for a slave girl to recuperate.

"There's nothing to worry about," Isfahan. Youssef shrugged, "Even if we don't win, we won't have much to lose, because no one is more familiar with the waters around the Maldives than we are." ”

"That's just as well." Maher took a sip of his coffee, "There's nothing to worry about...... God will always bless us! ”

"Yes, the true God is with us!"

……

"King Ming came to the world? That's a lie, my brother and I were born by the same mother, not fell from the sky. ”

In the luxurious cabin of a large fortune ship with a load of about 4,000 stones, Tran Duc Fong was resting his head on a very strong wheat-colored thigh, half-squinting his eyes and his little lover Goodett. Solomon said bad things about Chen Dexing.

"My younger brother has been dishonest since he was a child, loves to lie, doesn't work hard in reading, and is lazy in martial arts. When I was seventeen or eighteen years old, I often went to the Qinglou with those two silly boys, oh, it was running in the brothel. There's a little bit of a saint there. Later, the adults really had no choice, so they had to send him to Yangzhou to join the army. I didn't expect it to come out......"

Goodit. Solomon giggled, "My master, are you jealous of your brother?" He was the greatest conqueror of all time, founding a nation larger than the Great Mongol Empire. And it is very likely that he will become the ruler of the whole world. ”

"That's the suffering of the whole world's human life, let him rule......" Chen Defang shook his head again and again.

"But my life is good, I know a master like you." Goodit. Solomon gently stroked Tran's handsome face. "My father always said that he would find me a fierce husband and beat me every day, but you never beat me once, I am so happy."

Chen Defang frowned, and said in his heart, what kind of father is this? Is there such a father?

"Goodit, don't worry, follow me in the future, no one will dare to bully you." Chen Defang patted his chest and said, "I am the crown prince of the Great Britain, and when my father is the king, the British Kingdom will be my biggest." When the time comes, I will let you be a side concubine and spoil you every day. ”

Goodit. Solomon smiled gratefully at Chen Defang: "But I still have to make money for your master, there is still half of Africa's slaves waiting for me to sell, that's a lot of money!" ”

"How many?" Chen Defang shook his head and sneered, "How much can a slave trader earn?" I'm the future king, and I still need you to make money for me? (To be continued......)