After coming out of the house and meeting with Lai San'er, Li Jingting, Meng Wei, Meng Hu, Zhang Xiao, and Chen Jing, they went directly to Weihaiwei.

On November 8, Qin Shuhuai boarded a battleship and sailed south with 20,000 other elite army officers.

Halfway through, I met ten British East India Company clippers, and waved a flag on the opposite side, saying that they were here to pick up the goods.

The so-called goods, of course, refer to those weapons.

Zheng Zhilong's communication was very smooth, and the British quickly agreed to help deliver supplies, and these ten clippers were sent by them.

So at sea, a large number of weapons were transported directly to the British East India Company clipper, disguised as ordinary cargo, and then sped south.

This batch of weapons is enough to arm nearly 10,000 people, and it means a lot to the rebel groups in the Ava region - a rebel with weapons is called a rebel army, and a rebel without weapons is a mob at best.

Qin Shuhuai's fleet was not in a hurry, slowing down and sailing slowly, leaving time for the British to deliver weapons to the Ava region.

According to the plan, the best way is for the Ming army to start fighting in the south, and the Shan people in the Ava region will "revolt" at the same time, so that he will fall into a situation of internal and external troubles.

Once this momentum picks up, Qin Shuhuai believes that the long-standing ethnic contradictions in Myanmar will continue to escalate, and then a spark can start a prairie fire, and when the whole country is in turmoil, it will be very easy to defeat Tharong and support a new regime.

On December 12, after more than a month of unhurried sailing, the fleet arrived in Manraka.

Manraka is the famous Malacca, which is home to one of the most important straits in the world.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Strait of Malacca was under the control of the Manchurian state, and Manraka was a loyal fan of the Ming Dynasty, and paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty every year, and even based on the importance of this strait, the Ming army had garrisoned here.

However, in 1511, after two wars, the Francois (Portuguese) finally conquered the kingdom of Manraka and thus took control of the Strait of Malacca.

It must be said that this conquest was probably one of the most important and cost-effective military operations of the Portuguese in the Far East, because the strait held the key point of sea communication between the East and the West, and the annual tax collected was worth more than half of all Portuguese profits in the Far East.

Because of the importance of this place, the Portuguese stationed 2,000 troops here, and requisitioned 7,000 mercenaries in the area, for a total of 9,000 soldiers.

At the same time, a total of 180 large shore defense guns were set up on both sides of the strait, and a medium-sized fleet of 30 warships was set up on both sides of the strait.

It can be said that the Portuguese raised the Strait of Malacca to a strategic height, so even the strongest Dutch in the Far East did not dare to covet Malacca.

At this time, Zheng Zhihu's vanguard fleet, a total of 20 battleships and more than 30 clippers, took the lead in approaching the strait, and the Portuguese stationed in Malacca suddenly became nervous.

Looking at so many battleships like hills, their scalps are numb, not to mention that the Ming fleet is "infamous", and recently they have beaten the Dutch to the ground, and it is impossible for the Portuguese not to know.

Now that the Ming fleet has suddenly appeared in Mangara, the Portuguese do not think that they have come to occupy this east-west sea route!

Soon after, Nelson, the Portuguese governor in Mangara, sent a fleet to block the entrance to Manraka, and then sent a small boat carrying an envoy to meet Zheng Zhihu.

The envoy boarded Zheng Zhihu's flagship, and after seeing Zheng Zhihu, he asked straight to the point, "Dear General Zheng, on behalf of Governor Nelson, I would like to extend my highest greetings to you. At the same time, we would like to know the purpose of your fleet's voyage here, so that we may provide the necessary assistance to your fleet and demonstrate our friendship with your country. ”

The general officer translated this to Zheng Zhihu, and Zheng Zhihu smiled after hearing it.

said, "You think too much, this fleet just wants to pass through the Manraka Strait (at that time, the Ming Dynasty did not have the name of the strait, but Qin Shuhuai called this the strait, then the people below called it the strait), as long as you open the waterway and put away the guns on the shore, we will not commit any crimes." ”

When the messenger heard this, his face was sad.

To tell the truth, if the Ming fleet just wanted to pass, they would definitely not stop it, and even provide convenience, after all, no one would dare to provoke the big shark of the Ming army's sailors now.

But if the people really rushed to occupy Manchuria, then once their fleet entered the strait and suddenly opened fire, wouldn't it be passively beaten?

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Your Excellency, may I ask where your fleet is going after passing through the strait? As far as I know, your fleet had no need for expeditions before, and there were no ports of your country outside the strait, and now that such a large fleet is going to pass through here, our governor is very uneasy. ”

Zheng Zhihu snorted coldly after hearing this, "Hmph, where is my Da Ming Water Master going, do I still have to report to you red-haired ghosts?" ”

Of course, Zheng Zhihu would not say where the fleet was going, this was not only a matter of face, but also a requirement of secrecy - until now, the people of Dongwu did not know that such a large fleet was heading towards them.

When the messenger heard this, he became more and more disturbed, and asked, "Then, Your Excellency, can you provide the number and list of warships that your fleet is going to pass?"

Zheng Zhihu said, "How can you be so verbose." Seventy battleships, fifty junks, eight Galens, more than ninety large merchant ships, and more than two hundred and thirty small and medium-sized clippers. ”

The messenger translated this to the messenger as it was.

The messenger almost sat on the ground after hearing this.

Cold sweat broke out on his back.

Oh my God, what kind of fleet is this? Is it an Asian version of the Armada? No, it's stronger than the Armada!

Originally, he thought that the fleet in Zheng Zhihu's hands was going to pass, and they were already facing a great enemy.

I didn't expect that this was only a small part, and there were several times as many battleships in the back!

When did Ming come out with such a huge fleet?

Shouldn't such a fleet take at least ten years to build?

It is no wonder that he was shocked that if such a fleet were placed in any country in Europe, it might not be possible to build it within ten years.

But don't forget, the territory of the Ming Dynasty is larger than that of Europe, the GDP is higher than that of the whole of Europe, and the shipbuilding technology is ahead of Europe, in other words, the Ming Dynasty wants to build a fleet with the strength of the whole country, just like the whole of Europe uniting to build a fleet, is this speed comparable to a European power?

If such a large fleet passed through the Straits of Manraka, it would be strange that the Governor could sleep!

The messenger did not dare to stay even longer for a moment, and hurriedly took his leave in the name of reporting to the governor.

Zheng Zhihu couldn't help laughing when he saw the messenger's panicked appearance.

Manraka was originally the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and this time the Nanyang and Beiyang naval divisions concentrated so many warships, how could they not take it back?

According to Qin Shuhuai's plan, that is, first through intimidation, he deceived Francois to open the entrance to the strait and allow the Ming fleet to pass. Immediately after the fleet entered the strait in its entirety, it opened fire on the shore defense batteries on both sides of the strait.

If this plan succeeded, then with the firepower of the Ming fleet in an instant, it would be easy to kill the Portuguese shore defense guns of one or two hundred in seconds.

After destroying the battery, the army carried out a landing operation.

With the support of the fleet's artillery fire, the army will have to take Malacca.

If you control Malacca, you control everything. As for integrity or something, hehe, are you talking to a bunch of royally certified pirates about this?

After the messenger went back and reported the news to Governor Nelson, the old governor, who was over half a hundred years old, could not say a word for a long time.

If you want him to say, this country called "Ming" is too unreasonable, how can it build so many warships at once, this is completely leaving no way for other countries to live!

The warships built by this "Ming Kingdom" in a year or two may not be able to fight all the warships of the whole of Portugal together!

Nelson pondered for a long time, and finally said to the messenger, "Tell them that we can allow the passage of the fleet, as long as the fleet passes in batches, with no more than five large ships and no more than ten small ships in each batch, and the muzzles are stowed." In addition, there is no navigation tax. ”

The messenger cautiously asked, "What if they won't?"

Nelson's eyes suddenly revealed a fierce gleam, and he shouted, "No, they will obediently drift outside the strait! This is Manraka, and this is the territory of my big Franco! When we got this place from the Ming people, we didn't plan to return the ripe fruits to them after a few decades! Damn, they will attack if they have the guts!"