Chapter 3697
After the fleet sailed past the easternmost end of the Arabian Peninsula, it turned southwest.
Compared with the Persian Gulf coast, the coastline on the southwest side of the peninsula is even more desolate until you enter the Gulf of Aden connecting the Red Sea. There is no decent port on the way two or three thousand miles.
This situation is not difficult to understand. The desert environment is sparsely populated and lacks an environment for tree growth, so the shipbuilding industry that requires a large amount of wood is not developed enough.
It was not until I entered the Gulf of Aden that some sails of passing ships could be seen on the sea surface.
The Gulf of Aden is located in the northwest of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by the Arabian Peninsula and the African Somalia Peninsula. The west side of the bay is connected to the Red Sea through the Mande Strait. The area of its sea area is also quite considerable, not smaller than the Persian Gulf that the fleet visited previously.
In the conference room of the fleet's flagship, Qian Tiandun was facing the large hanging map and explaining to his officers the strategic value of the Gulf of Aden to his officers.
"Please look, the north side of the Gulf of Aden is the Arabian Peninsula that we must control in the future. On the southwest side are adjacent to another continent. According to our official name, this continent is called Africa. The black slaves you have seen before are from this African continent."
"All European merchant ships entering the South China Sea through the Indian Ocean take a route to the southern end of Africa. I believe you can see how big this route needs to be. But in fact, there is a better shortcut, connecting Europe and the Indian Ocean."
Qian Tiandun pointed to the other end of the Red Sea, the connection between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa: "If you open up this place, you can connect the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Merchant ships traveling to the East and West worlds no longer need to detour the African continent, and the voyage will be greatly shortened."
"If you want to occupy this key position, you must first control the exit of the Red Sea in the direction of the Indian Ocean - the Gulf of Aden! Our mission on this trip is to find a suitable place in the Gulf of Aden and set up a stronghold and a port." Dong Shangyi asked, "But from the map, the northern end of the Red Sea is connected by land, and I am afraid it is not a depth of hundreds of miles. To open the waterway, you can only dig a canal!" Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "Your estimate is right. At least four or five hundred miles of canal must be built to connect the sea areas on both sides. Although the project is large, it is of great significance after completion. Just guarding the canal and collecting tolls is enough to support a million people!" Dong Shangyi said astonished: "Will so many merchant ships pass through this canal?" Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "There are definitely not so many at the moment, but there will be them in the future."
With Qian Tiandun's knowledge, of course, he knew that the Suez Canal was one of the most important commercial channels in time and space before crossing the canal. There were more than 20,000 ships passing through the canal every year. The Egyptians who guarded the canal to collect money were really ungrateful.
However, at this time, except Hai Han, no other country has the courage and ability to build such a super project.
And even if Hai Han cleared all obstacles one day and started construction of the canal in the local area, the entire construction period would take at least ten or twenty years. Even Qian Tiandun, who was the first to start promoting this project, might not be able to see the opening of the canal.
But his conception and prospects for this project were enough to make the people present excited. This is an important transportation hub connecting Asia, Europe and Africa. Even after a thousand years, this place will have extremely high strategic value. Of course, such an important place cannot be left behind by others. It must be placed under the rule of Hai Han to be at ease.
Qian Tiandun explained the importance of this region to his subordinates in a concise way. But one thing he forgot, that is, the Gulf of Aden is also the most unsafe place in the entire Indian Ocean. From hundreds of years ago to hundreds of years later, it was the most rampant area of pirate activity.
There are really such an eye-opening pirate who has set his sights on the "fat sheep" from the distance from the Haihan Fleet.
Of course, these pirates were not stupid enough to rob the majestic warships with their huge hull in the sky and day. The muzzle exposed on the side was enough to persuade these desperadoes to retreat. They were targeting the slower supply ships in the fleet, and they waited patiently until nightfall before approaching quickly, trying to rob while the moon was dark and the wind was high.
But even the Haihan fleet, which was not wary of this in advance, was not the target of ordinary pirates.
When the two pirate ships approached a supply ship and were about to jump to board the ship, their traces were discovered by a troop transport ship next to them. Then the flares were cast on the troop transport ship to illuminate the two pirate ships clearly.
The flare immediately triggered the reaction of other warships in the fleet and soon surrounded the scene.
The supply ship was not unsuspecting. The sailors on the ship noticed that something was wrong and immediately picked up their weapons and left the cabin to fight.
The Special Warfare Division has not conducted actual combat on the boarding war for a long time, but fortunately, the long-term military training allowed these soldiers to react correctly as soon as possible, and under the command of the officers, they fired close-range volleys on the pirates climbing on the supply ship.
Although the bumps of the sea storm greatly reduced the accuracy of the shooting, the close-range volley also made up for the error caused to a certain extent, killing several pirates who had just climbed up on the side of the ship, and several others were shot and fell into the water, and their lives and deaths were unknown.
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The weapons used by these pirates are extremely simple, basically with iron swords, short spears, fishing nets and wooden sticks. Faced with opponents holding rifles and already bayonets, even if they finally get the opportunity to fight in close combat, they are still stabbed to the ground in a few seconds by the bayonet.
After the well-trained soldiers enter the combat state, these pirates who only know how to attack sneak attacks have no chance. The remaining people wanted to escape from the battlefield, but at this time, other Haihan warships had already surrounded the outside world, so there was no chance of these two pirate ships to escape easily.
A expedition-class warship with a steel angle on the bow of the ship directly hit the pirate ship that was fleeing in a hurry, smashing the back of the ship directly to smash the back of the ship. The people on the ship exclaimed in the water. But at this time, there will be no kind-hearted people to catch them from the sea again.
When the man on another pirate ship saw this, he knew that he could not escape, so he simply surrendered directly.
After dawn, counting the results of the battle, capturing 17 pirates, and eleven pirates killed on the supply ship. As for the number of people missing in the sea during the chaos, it is impossible to count. Destroy a pirate ship and capture one, but there was nothing valuable inside and outside the broken ship. The soldiers checked it without success and opened the sea valve and released the shipwreck to sink.
Qian Tiandun has no mercy on the pirates who plundered at sea for a living. What's more, these pirates are all from North Africa, East Africa and the Middle East. For Hai Han, they are all aliens. Even if they beg for mercy, they don't understand, and there is no need to consider pardoning them.