The fact that the African exploration fleet of the Great Chu Empire's navy landed and set up a port in Pemba (later the northern coast of Mozambique) was not discovered at first, but it didn't take long for the Portuguese on the southern Mozambique Island to learn about it.
This made the Portuguese very angry, and in addition to their anger, they were even more frightened.
The anger is because it is well known that East Africa is the territory of the Portuguese. From Somalia all the way south to South Africa, it used to be the sphere of influence of the Portuguese.
They controlled many coastal ports in East Africa and made huge commercial profits.
Among them, 60,000 ounces (1.7 tons) of gold are exported from Quelimane, Mozambique alone, every year.
Among them, Mozambique Island, which is only more than 200 kilometers away from Pemba, is the core colony of the Portuguese in East Africa. It is also the commercial and political center of Portuguese East Africa. It is also the rear area for the Portuguese colonization of India and Southeast Asia.
But now, the damn Chu people actually established a military base in Pemba Port, more than two hundred kilometers to the north.
How can this not make the Portuguese angry?
This kind of thing posed a challenge and threat to the Portuguese, just like the challenge and threat to the Chu Empire when colonial countries established colonies on the Malacca Peninsula.
It is absolutely intolerable!
However, anger is anger... They are also extremely panicked.
Because the people who went to Pemba Port to establish a military base were not the Dutch, not the English, nor the French who had just tried to colonize the Indian Ocean region, but the damn Chu people.
The powerful military power possessed by the Chu people is not comparable to that of the Dutch, English, and even the French... It can even be said that the colonial power of all countries in the entire European region combined is not enough to make the country The Chu Empire was filled with teeth.
This has been proven in previous Indian wars.
The Da Chu Empire singled out European colonists from the Netherlands, Portugal, England, Denmark, Sweden, France and other countries, and then balanced all the way. In just half a year, they defeated all European colonists on the Indian Peninsula and seized the established colonies on the Indian peninsula.
The Portuguese themselves were among the losers, and their fighting power in defending Goa once again fought against the Chu army... The result was no surprise, and they could not be defeated again... During the entire confrontation, the Portuguese did not even try to fight back. No strength at all.
It was precisely because of such a clean defeat that the Portuguese signed the armistice agreement and formally ceded all the colonies in the Indian Peninsula to the Chu Empire in exchange for the captives, especially the high-level Portuguese colonial officials. Safety.
If we add in the previous visits to Macau and Malacca in Nanyang, the Portuguese have been beaten by the Chu people every few years, three times in a row.
Every time, they were defeated miserably... The most important thing is that the Portuguese found that every time they lost, they became more and more desperate.
In the Battle of Macau more than 20 years ago, although the Portuguese were defeated, there was actually no difference in equipment level between the two armies. In the Portuguese's view, the Chu people only regained Macau by relying on their large numbers.
Therefore, after losing Macau, the Portuguese were very unconvinced. For this reason, they united with the Dutch and even the Spanish to carry out a long-term coastal blockade and battle abroad.
But by the time of the Battle of Malacca, the Portuguese discovered that the Chu army on the opposite side was completely different. The level of guns and artillery greatly exceeded the Portuguese, especially the flintlock guns and a large number of wooden/metal disc fuses used by the Chu army. The grenades caused the Portuguese to suffer even more.
It was also at that time that the Portuguese began to focus on the study of flintlock guns. Well, they mainly imitated the flintlock guns of Chu. Not only the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and other countries that had more contact with the Chu Empire, but also At that time, they began to imitate the Chu Empire in mass production and equipment of flintlock guns, and at the same time began to gradually use line tactics.
It's just that their basic industrial level is not very good, the performance of the imitation flintlock guns is not good, and the all-weather firing rate has not exceeded 70% until now.
Of course, the performance is a bit poor, but it can still be used to a certain extent. There have been some small-scale wars in Europe where organized fusiliers formed lines to fight.
The Portuguese's previous army on the Indian Peninsula was actually equipped with a lot of flintlock muskets, but at this time, the Chu people were already using percussion cap guns... and the performance of percussion cap percussion guns far exceeded that of flintlock guns. When it comes to firing guns, especially the crucial firing rate, the two are not products of the same level at all.
The most important thing is that the Chu army didn't even give them a chance to engage in line combat. The infantry on both sides fired at each other... They just pulled a huge number of artillery and overwhelmed them.
As for grenades, they are more difficult to imitate than flintlock guns... If the imitation flintlock guns are only inferior in performance but still usable, then grenades will be too difficult, limited by the backwardness of industrial technology. , the grenade they produced has very little power after explosion... As a last resort, they can only produce it manually on a small scale.
However, this greatly limits production and cost.
This is also the reason why European countries have actually noticed the grenades of the Dachu Empire for a long time, but they know that there is no large-scale mass production equipment... It's not that they don't want to do it, but they can't do it.
Not only grenades, but also the artillery itself, they are lagging behind in all aspects... For twelve-pounder/115mm field guns of the same specifications, the effective range of European twelve-pounder artillery is generally only a few hundred meters longer. By that time, the Chu army's 115mm field artillery and solid bullets had already reached an effective range of 1,500 meters.
The performance gap here is even bigger!
Although they are all bronze smoothbore cannons, the performance of the bronze smoothbore cannons of the Great Chu Empire is not comparable to the bronze smoothbore cannons produced by primitive means in handicraft workshops in European countries.
The Battle of Goa completely made the Portuguese realize that the gap in armaments between them and the Chu people was so great that they could not catch up.
What's even more terrible is that in addition to being far ahead in weapons and equipment, the Chu people are also numerous in number!
In a battle on the Indian Peninsula, the Chu army had more than 50,000 ground troops. However, the combined ground troops of the European colonists on the Indian Peninsula did not have that many.
Facing more than 50,000 people, the Chu army dispatched tens of thousands of troops in a random battle. This made the European colonists who were used to fighting on a scale of hundreds or thousands of people not even used to it. They themselves feel that they are just as petty as the small landowners in the countryside.
Facing the Chu army with dual advantages in quality and quantity, the Portuguese were defeated simply and swiftly, and at the last moment they gritted their teeth and launched an all-out push into the Indian Peninsula.
However, not long after withdrawing from the Indian Peninsula, these damn Chu people came to East Africa again.
What do they want to do?
What do these damn Chu people want to do?
Do they still want East Africa?
After this possibility emerged in the minds of the Portuguese, their anger turned into panic... If the Chu people really attacked, this East Africa would probably change from the Portuguese East Africa to the Chu people's East Africa. .
what to do?
A group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island of Mozambique looked worried for several days, and then decided to send an envoy over to test the situation.
Let's see what these Chu people want to do.
What if... they just passed by temporarily and went ashore to rest, and left on their own after a while.
Although this possibility is very small, it is not impossible!
Today's Portuguese people still have luck in their hearts.
Whenever possible, they are unwilling to continue fighting with the Chu people.
Unfortunately, their wish came true.
The envoy sent by the Portuguese went to Pemba cautiously, and the Chu people did not embarrass the envoy, so the envoy successfully met Commodore Gao Yingfan, the commander of the African Exploration Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy.
Faced with the Portuguese's careful inquiries, Commodore Gao Yingfan naturally could not say that we are here to attack the front line, and we will take the entire East African colony into our hands in the future.
This is not a question of shamelessness, but it can be delayed for a while. After all, the colonial fleet at the rear is not ready yet. The strategic focus of the Dachu Empire's external expansion is still on the Indian Peninsula.
For colonial operations in Africa, we are currently only conducting preliminary exploration and establishing necessary military bases and supply depots.
Therefore, large-scale colonial operations in Africa will probably take three or four years.
During this period, it would also be a good thing if a direct war with the Portuguese could be avoided.
Therefore, Gao Yingfan's statement is that our fleet is exploring trade routes to Europe to establish supply stations in East Africa.
This statement made the Portuguese envoys relax... It would not be good if they just established a supply depot, but it would be better than the Chu people preparing to invade Portuguese East Africa on a large scale.
As for the Chu people to start personally involved in European trade routes, this is inevitable!
As the colonists from various European countries have completely withdrawn from the Indian Peninsula, the current commercial exchanges between the Chu Empire and European regions have been severed except for maintaining only the Spanish.
The Chu Empire lost the opportunity to export goods to Europe, and European countries also lost the opportunity to obtain large quantities of goods from the East.
After the Indian War, colonists from other European countries, including the Portuguese, had entered into armistice negotiations with the Chu people in order to resume trade as soon as possible.
A war is a war, but after business is done, there is still work to be done.
However, during the negotiations, the Chu Empire required European countries, mainly the Portuguese and the Dutch, to open routes to the east and west coasts of Africa, not to attack Chu merchant ships, and to open necessary supply ports.
But the Portuguese and the Dutch did not agree... Well, currently, these two countries control more African colonies. To go from the Indian Peninsula to Europe, you have to detour through South Africa. Therefore, whether the African route can be opened up, these two If this country does not agree, the merchant ships of the Chu Empire will not be able to run directly from the Indian Peninsula to Europe without stopping at the port for supplies.
On the other hand, the French have a relatively relaxed attitude. They have very little profit from trading in Asia, and they also hope to obtain a large amount of goods from the East, so they are ready to agree to open ports on Mauritius and some other islands.
Under such a background, it is normal for the Chu Empire to send an exploratory fleet to explore the coastal routes of Africa.
Although this kind of thing is difficult for the Portuguese to accept, it is still much better than the Chu people directly attacking Portuguese East Africa.
After the Portuguese envoy returned to Mozambique after getting the answer, a group of Portuguese colonial officials on the island were also confused.
How to deal with the current situation?
Sit back and let the Chu people build Pemba Port? This will greatly infringe on the interests of the Portuguese in East Africa.
Direct expulsion would probably cost a lot of money, and it might not be possible to win.
Although the Portuguese occupied a large number of colonies in East Africa, their total military strength was actually not much. If they really had so many troops, they would have sent reinforcements long ago.
This is not an expulsion, and it is not an expulsion... The Portuguese were brain-broken by this. In the end, they had no choice but to report the relevant situation to the country and at the same time actively prepare for war.
Gao Yingfan didn't pay much attention to the Portuguese's reaction... Anyway, if the Portuguese dared to come over, he would dare to let the Portuguese know why the flowers were so red.
If the other party does not attack, then I will be too lazy to do anything else and build the Pemba Port peacefully to gain a real foothold for the empire in East Africa and provide an advance base for the subsequent strategy on the east coast of Africa.
Therefore, after Commodore Ko Young-fan finished dealing with the Portuguese, he continued to focus on building the port. At the same time, he sent a supply ship directly across the Indian Ocean to return to India to report the news, and at the same time requested various follow-up supports.
Whether it is troops, weapons and ammunition, or food, it also requires a large amount of reinforced concrete and other building materials as well as shore defense artillery.
Although his exploration fleet carries a lot of supplies, most of them are coal and ammunition, but there are no ordinary supplies. It also lacks shore defense firepower.
After all, this is just an exploration fleet, not a real colonial fleet, so it needs strong support from the rear.
More than a month later, after receiving the relevant news, the Indian Governor's Office in Colombo on the Island of Ceylon and the Indian Ocean Fleet Headquarters organized a number of warships to escort more than ten transport ships to Pemba, transporting a large amount of various materials, as well as ten Two large-caliber coastal defense guns and more than a thousand army soldiers.
The Da Chu Empire was ready to establish a firm foothold in Pemba.
And when the Chu people opened the Pemba Port in Africa, in the Da Chu Empire, the Da Chu Di newspaper also reported the news of the opening of the Changsha to Hengyang section of the railway, and the opening of this section also meant that from Ningbo on the eastern coast The Southern Railway, one of the two horizontal lines all the way to Hengyang, has been opened to traffic.
The railway line starts from Ningbo and passes through Suzhou, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yingtian Jinling, Dangtu, Chizhou, Jiujiang, Daye, Hantian Wuchang, Yueyang, Changsha and Hengyang.
It runs through five provinces and two municipalities directly under the Central Government, with a total length of more than 1,700 kilometers.
This is the longest trunk railway built and opened to traffic in the Chu Empire.
At the same time, this railway will also be connected to many railways such as the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway and the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway.
For example, the Beijing-Hangzhou line from Hangzhou to Jinling City has actually been opened to traffic. After all, this place is an economically developed area, and the terrain is flat, so railway construction is relatively rapid.
The Guangdong-Ganxi Railway is an important trunk railway. Currently, the railway has completed the construction of the section from Hukou to Nanchang and then to Ganzhou. The Guangdong side has also completed the construction of the section from Guangzhou to Heyuan, and is currently concentrating manpower and material resources. , to carry out construction on the mountainous railway between Heyuan and Ganzhou, which has the most complex terrain, the highest technical challenges, and the longest time among the Guangdong-Ganxi railway.
This section of the railway is only two to three hundred kilometers in straight line, but it is extremely difficult to construct because it has to cross the Nanling Mountains. In order to bypass those impassable mountains, the railway line had to be built in twists and turns. The siege technology of these days is far inferior to that of later generations. It is impossible to build tunnels and high bridges all the way. The technology is too difficult and the cost is absolutely unacceptable.
This section of the railway line has been under construction for several years, but it is expected to take another two years, that is, it will not be opened to traffic until the 29th year of Chengshun.
Construction is extremely difficult, costly and time-consuming. This is the reality faced by building railways in mountainous areas these days.
If it were not for the support of Guangdong in the south, or to be precise, the economically developed Pearl River Delta, the empire's senior officials would go to the mountains to repair hundreds of kilometers of railways these days when they were full. happy.
This is also the reason why the Chu Empire did not build such trunk railways in other mountainous areas except the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway.
But Guangdong has a Pearl River Delta Economic Belt... Guangdong not only wants to build the Guangdong-Jiangxi Railway, but also wants to build the Guangdong-Chu Railway.
That is to say, build a railway to connect Guangzhou and Hengyang, so that the industry and commerce in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong can radiate to Chunan, and even Hantianfu and Chubei through this railway.
The Railway Corporation is very hesitant about this... The reason for hesitation is naturally that the investment is too large and there are many difficulties... But, you can't stand up to the fact that Guangdong is rich!
People have said that as long as your railway company comes to build the railway, I will provide you with subsidies, tax exemptions, interest-free loans and various financial support.
To put it simply, the Guangdong Governor’s Office is planning to pay for this railway. Will your Railway Corporation do the same?
The Railway Corporation calculated that if there were financial support and subsidies from Guangdong, although the cost of building the Guangdong-Chuzhou Railway would still be a little higher, it would not be unacceptable.
Therefore, the two sides are talking about this matter recently, but if nothing unexpected happens, the Guangdong-Chuzhou Railway is expected to be completely started next year... After all, route surveying and construction cost calculations have already begun.
The railway network of the Da Chu Empire continues to be constructed and improved, which has brought great help to the industrial and commercial economic development of the Da Chu Empire.
This can be seen from the central fiscal revenue budget of the Great Chu Empire in the 27th year of Chengshun.
This year's fiscal revenue budget will reach 600 million, an increase of 16% from last year's 520 million.
Since the large-scale application of high-pressure steam engines and the vigorous promotion of the two major industries of railways and ships, the economic growth rate of the Dachu Empire has maintained an ultra-high level. The ultra-high-level development will eventually be fed back to the central government's fiscal revenue, which will also make the Dachu Empire The Chu Empire's treasury had sufficient central fiscal revenue.
And with more money, you can do more things!
