In the summer and June of the twenty-seventh year of Chengshun, we were in the western Indian Ocean and along the east coast of Africa.
A medium-sized fleet was sailing south, headed by a large warship. Although the ship had huge sails, there was a huge chimney standing in the middle of the hull, and a huge green flag hung on the mast. Green dragon flag with red edge.
According to the official regulations of the Chu Empire, the army uses a black dragon with a black border and a red background as its flag, the navy uses a green dragon with a green border and a red background as its flag, and the Guards uses a blue dragon with a blue border and a red background as its flag. All three flags are red.
The royal family uses a more special yellow-edged and red-bottomed yellow dragon stepping on the wonton sun flag.
Just by looking at this Qinglong flag, you can know that this fleet is the fleet of the Dachu Empire Navy.
This is the African exploration fleet dispatched by the Indian Ocean Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy. It uses the new cruiser Pusan with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons as its flagship. There are also two cruisers of the same class with a full load displacement of more than 1,500 tons, the Liuzhou. , Qingyuan number.
The remaining four ships are the comprehensive supply ship Black Bear with a full load displacement of more than 3,000 tons, the coal supply ship White Tiger with a full load displacement of 1,800 tons, the fully loaded supply ship Willow with a full load displacement of more than 1,500 tons. Chunyan, a troop transport ship with a displacement of more than 1,400 tons.
Various transport ships and supply ships in the Dachu Empire are named after animals and plants.
Battleships in the Great Chu Empire were usually named after provincial capitals, cabinet prefectures, and a few specific prefectures and counties, such as Yingtian and Hantian prefectures, provincial cities such as Suzhou and Hangzhou, Songjiang, Shanghai, and Jinling. Place names with special meaning.
As for why the name of the provincial city is not used alone, the answer is simple... It is purely because the number of provincial cities is limited, and the Dachu Empire has too many battleships... The number of battleships in active service in the Dachu Empire's navy is nearly a hundred, so only the province is chosen. The names of cities and capitals are not enough... so we simply include some big cities.
Cruisers are usually named after state capitals, such as Busan, Liuzhou, and Fengzhou.
Frigates are generally named after counties. For example, the first ship of the Longchuan-class frigate, the Longchuan, is named after Longchuan County, Heyuan Prefecture. The first ship of the new generation of kiloton-class frigates, the Changshu-class, is named after Changshu County, Suzhou Prefecture.
Inland river gunboats usually use the river where the fleet is located plus the grades A, B, C and D and the number to determine the name of the ship. For example, the Changjia 16 gunboat refers to the Yangtze River Fleet Class A (over 100 tons) No. 16 gunboat.
Offshore patrol ships also use the same name, such as the Guangyi No. 8 patrol ship, which is the No. 8 second-class 100-ton patrol ship under the Guangdong Fleet.
Communication ships usually use river names plus numerical designations, such as Dongjiang No. 6 communication ship, which is the sixth Dongjiang-class communication ship.
A large number of various transport ships, including troop transports, coal supply ships, comprehensive supply ships, etc., use animals and plants in general. The single names of animals and plants can be named, such as tiger, white tiger, black tiger, swallow can be called spring swallow, etc.
There are also some other messy chore ships. Basically, their purpose is clearly stated with a numerical designation.
Generally speaking, the rules for naming warships in the Da Chu Empire Navy are very simple, and the requirements are often not very strict... Sometimes cruisers are named after big cities, and battleships are named after ordinary cities.
This is mainly because you can't distinguish between big cities and small cities... For example, Yangzhou is not a provincial capital. In the past, it relied on salt merchants to have a good tertiary industry, but today, twenty-seven years after Chengshun , Yangzhou's economic development under the wave of industry and commerce is actually not good. Today's economy is not as good as Tongzhou next door, which has seized the opportunity to vigorously develop the textile industry.
But I couldn't stand it because of its great reputation... So there was a battleship Yangzhou, which was a first-class battleship with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons.
The name of Tongzhou next door is currently only an old 1,000-ton cruiser.
Therefore, the distinction between the names of battleships and cruisers is actually sometimes not so strict.
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The ocean-going reconnaissance fleet now appearing on the east coast of Africa, consisting of three ocean-going battleships and four supply ships and troop transport ships, is naturally the African exploration fleet of the Great Chu Empire. The reason why this fleet contains supply ships is The number even exceeds that of warships, naturally because the Chu Empire lacks a supply base on the east coast of Africa.
Currently, the westernmost colony in the Chu Empire and also a ship supply base is Hongkou City located at the southern end of the Red Sea.
However, this colonial port has only been developed for a few years. At the same time, because the distance is too far, and the Chu Empire's early colonial focus was also on the Indian Peninsula, the colonization of West Asia and North Africa was not actually of a large scale.
This Hongkou City on the coast of the Red Sea was established purely for the purpose of doing business with the Ottoman Empire and to provide a place for our own merchant fleets to stay and provide supplies. Previously, there were only a few hundred troops stationed there.
Such a small port simply cannot provide a large amount of daily supplies for such a large fleet, let alone coal supplies.
This port had no coal reserves before...
After the exploration fleet set off from Bombay, India and headed west, they could no longer obtain coal supplies.
When ships equipped with steam engines go to sea, food and fresh water can be obtained on the spot close to the coast. Whether they are purchased from the indigenous people or robbed by force, they can get as much as they want.
But there is really no way to obtain coal in large quantities in the indigenous places... After all, this is not just a little bit, but hundreds of thousands of tons of coal. Except for the Great Chu Empire, no indigenous people will be in the port these days. There is so much coal stored in the city.
In order to prevent the fleet from encountering any trouble after it goes to sea, there is no coal and it is unable to use steam engine power. Therefore, it has become the practice of the Da Chu Empire Navy to equip the fleet with special coal supply ships.
This time the exploration fleet is heading to South Africa, the voyage will be at least tens of thousands of kilometers, not counting the stops and turns in the middle. During such a long voyage, steam engines will have to be used once there is windless weather. This steam engine burns a lot of coal when it starts up.
Steam engines are also needed to assist when entering and exiting ports along the way. If encountering an enemy battle, steam engines will be indispensable.
For this reason, the exploration fleet does not need to bring anything else, but coal must be brought. This is the survival guarantee for the ship when encountering bad weather and enemy ships.
Otherwise, they can only sail by looking at the sky like those sailboats, and they will not be able to take the initiative when encountering enemies.
The person leading this exploration fleet is Commodore Gao Yingfan, a new-generation naval general who graduated from the eighth phase of the Naval Academy and quickly rose to prominence in previous foreign campaigns.
This time, I was ordered to lead the fleet to explore various situations such as indigenous deployments and European barbarian colonies along the east coast of Africa. More importantly, I was asked to obtain some hydrological conditions along the route.
It provided an important intelligence basis for the Chu Empire's subsequent march into the east coast of Africa.
Gao Yingfan is also a veteran navy. At this time, he is standing on the bridge of the cruiser Busan, looking at the turbulent sea ahead and the looming edge of the continent to the west.
After briefly resting and replenishing supplies in Hongkou City, they sailed from the Gulf of Aden around Somalia, the northeast corner of East Africa, and then passed through the sea between Somalia and Socotra Island. Suizhou entered the vast western Indian Ocean, along the All the way south along the east coast of Africa.
When passing through Socotra Island, Gao Yingfan also sent people to the island and had some exchanges with officials from the Mahri Sultanate, which controls the island, and discussed renting a small area on the island as a trading station. , the possibility of shipping ships to and from the supply port.
After seeing the seven huge warships of the exploration fleet, especially the powerful firepower of the cruiser Busan, the officials of the local sultanate said that the matter could be discussed.
So Gao Yingfan signed a treaty on behalf of the empire and officials of the local sultanate, officially leasing a coastal area on the island as a leased area. Unfortunately, there is no deep-water port suitable for berthing ships on the island, and it is difficult to berth large-tonnage ships. , a vessel with deep draft.
Otherwise, the navy of the Dachu Empire plans to seize this place directly and use it as an unsinkable battleship in the Gulf of Aden.
However, even if there is no deep-water port, it is still possible to berth some small and medium-sized ships with shallow drafts. In addition, the location of this island is too important, so even if the natural conditions are relatively harsh, the navy of the Dachu Empire is also eyeing this Island, I plan to build a military base or something here in the future.
Because this island happens to be stuck at the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, about 250 kilometers from the eastern end of Mali to the west of Solo, and about 380 kilometers from Yemen to the north. Controlling this island will control the entry and exit of the Gulf of Aden and even Not to mention the lifeline of the Red Sea, it can also cover and control the surrounding Arabian Sea and East African waters.
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Of course, the natural conditions of this island are relatively harsh and it lacks a deep-water port. In the future, the Chu Empire Navy will not build a large-scale construction here. In the future, the main military base in this area will still choose a coastal port in Somalia or Yemen. of.
These matters were beyond Gao Yingfan's ability to handle. Anyway, he was just ordered to set up a rental site here while on the way to provide a springboard for subsequent actions.
After leaving the Gulf of Aden, their exploration fleet headed south, but as they continued south, they encountered many European colonists' ports and ships.
The Portuguese, the Dutch and even the English established numerous colonial strongholds on the east coast of Africa. Some were simply large colonies, while others were small trading strongholds and supply ports.
Going south along the coastline, Gao Yingfan found that the east coast of Africa was easier to occupy and had trade profits. At the same time, the ports with good geographical conditions had basically been robbed by the Portuguese, leaving only some corners and corners empty. Uninhabited.
As the fleet goes all the way south, it not only needs to explore, but also needs to confirm future supply ports and military bases. For this reason, they have to go deep into some coastal areas to explore.
In early July, they arrived at a small coastal port city that Portugal had not yet set foot in and was still controlled by the local indigenous people... Calling it a city was too much, and calling it a small fishing village would be more appropriate.
Here he also met the local ignorant and ugly indigenous people.
It's not like Gao Yingfan has never seen dark people. Many indigenous people in India, especially those in the southern peninsula, are also quite dark.
But after he actually arrived in Africa, he discovered that the indigenous people in the southern peninsula of India were brown at best...the African indigenous people in front of him were really black!
The whole body looked dark, except for the teeth that were somewhat recognizable when they opened their mouths...so that Gao Yingfan couldn't tell who these dark natives were for a long time...all of them were black. It's impossible to tell the difference between Huhu and Huhu.
Since he couldn't tell the difference, he didn't bother to tell... He directly let an unsatisfied Marine Corps battalion on the troop carrier disembark and go ashore. There was no need to use any naval guns for bombardment, and no sailors were allowed to disembark for support. They only relied on a few hundred marines. The team and two 60mm light cannons destroyed the group of black natives who were an eyesore.
Then he ordered the remaining ships of the fleet to enter this bend of the river to anchor and rest.
At the same time, let the captured natives build camp forts. If the labor force is not enough, send soldiers to the surrounding areas to capture some.
Yes, he planned to occupy this place and build a military base. He even chose a name, using the transliteration of the local indigenous name for the place: Pemba.
In his opinion, Pemba is a good place. It is a concave port. Inside is a small bay that is seven to eight kilometers wide and more than ten kilometers long. The entrance of the bay is only a little over two kilometers long.
The bay is large enough and deep enough to accommodate a large number of ships.
The eastern entrance is only more than 2,000 meters away and is easy to defend. As long as a fort is deployed at the entrance of the harbor, the enemy can basically be blocked from the harbor.
A proper natural port, in China, it is an excellent port that can be compared with Qingdao and Port Arthur. However, in the barbaric and backward East Africa, it is just a barren land. In this huge bay, there were only Hundreds of indigenous fishermen live here.
In addition, this place is located just in the middle of the east coast of Africa, and can be used as a transit point and supply port for the future colonization of South Africa.
Moreover, it is some distance away from the colonial control area of the Portuguese. The Portuguese have not yet rushed to establish a town here for actual control... This facilitates the Chu army to build a military base here without interference in the early stage.
This is also a major drawback of the sparsely populated European colonial countries such as the Portuguese and the Dutch. They seem to have many overseas territories. There are large tracts of colonies on the map, but in fact there are not many that can be actually controlled. Most of them are along the coast. The occupation mainly focuses on trading at a few ports, and there is no actual control of the local area.
It is very different from the colonial behavior of European countries with large populations such as Spain and the British. The colonies established by the Spanish in the Americas were dominated by large-scale immigration and rule. The British also did the same in Mumbai, India. of.
Because of the sparse local population, the Portuguese were unable to effectively control the large colonies on the east coast of Africa. This is why the Dachu Empire's exploratory fleet was able to successfully lead here, then land and occupy the port.
Even if they are careful, it is still unknown whether the Portuguese will know that the Chu Empire Navy has established a military base in the hinterland of their East African colonies in a few years.
In fact, not only the Chu Empire did this in East Africa, but the Dutch and British would also secretly establish some supply bases in East Africa for supply purposes.
It's just that they won't directly send a fleet over like the Chu Empire, and then directly occupy a harbor with good conditions to build a military base.
The Great Chu Empire is confident, and it is not afraid of the Portuguese discovering... This uninhabited land is here. You Portuguese can use it as a colony, but I, the Great Chu Empire, can't?
Besides, although the ultimate goal of the Chu Empire's African strategy is to occupy South Africa and then dig for gold there... naturally, in this process, it is necessary to gradually occupy and control the east coast of Africa.
The Da Chu Empire would not allow colonies from other countries to exist behind its own back.
It didn't work in the Indian peninsula before, and it doesn't work in East Africa now either.
Sooner or later, they will have to do it. There is no need to give them face, so there is no need to worry about the reaction of these Portuguese people. Build up the military base first.
If the Portuguese say that this place belongs to them, Gao Yingfan will dare to directly lead the fleet to bombard the port under the control of the Portuguese.
Let those Portuguese people know to be careful when speaking and don't say anything.
Talking nonsense will get you slapped!
