Chapter 2963
Li Yuande woke up from his sleep because he seemed to hear the command of the morning shift of sailors to change the guard. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, confirming that what he heard was not an illusion, and then yawned and looked out of the porthole.
The fleet was heading north at this time. The cabin where Li Yuande lived was on the starboard side. Outside the porthole, it was directly to the east. You could see that there was light on the sea level in the distance.
Li Yuande has been sailing in the South China Sea all year round, and he immediately judged that it was Mao hour, and the sunrise on the sea was about to begin. He stretched his neck, which was a little stiff from sleeping, and got up to clean up and wash up.
He didn't get up to watch the sunrise, and the navy didn't schedule him for duty. The reason why he got up so early was because he had an important task today.
To be precise, he received an order from Qian Tiandun last night to attend this morning's combat readiness meeting and introduce the situation in Siam to the officers.
This is also the first formal task Li Yuande has received since boarding the Weibang in a few days. It is both a test and an opportunity for him.
Li Yuande lay in bed last night and combed through the information about Siam in his mind several times, but he was still not sure whether the information he had was valuable to Haihanjun.
This feeling of uneasiness made him sleep poorly at night, and he had no appetite for breakfast. After eating something in a hurry, he rushed to wait outside the conference room on the ship.
Li Yuande waited for a long time before the officers who came to the meeting arrived one after another. His civilian clothes were particularly eye-catching here, and the officers who didn't know his origins all asked each other who he was.
Although it was Qian Tiandun's order, the real owner was not present, and Li Yuande did not dare to enter the conference room rashly. He still stood outside the door obediently. It wasn't until Mu Zhennan, who recognized him, arrived that he pulled him into the conference room and took a seat in the back row.
When Qian Tiandun and Gao Qiaonan appeared together, the small conference room was already full. There are more than 20 officers from the Special Operations Division, the Eighth Army Division and the South China Sea Fleet gathered here.
"Today's regular combat readiness meeting will mainly talk about the situation in Siam and the combat readiness tasks of various ministries."
After Qian Tiandun took his seat, he explained the purpose of today's meeting straight to the point. Then he looked at the people present and began to point out: "Li Yuande, please tell me first about the situation in Siam."
Li Yuande stood up and responded: "I only know the people's situation and business situation in Siam, but I know very little about the military situation. If there is not enough detail, I hope you will forgive me!"
Qian Tiandun said: "Just tell us what you know. As for the military situation, the Military Intelligence Bureau will provide additional explanation later."
After Li Yuande calmed down a little, he began to introduce information about Siam.
At this time, the Kingdom of Siam was also called the Ayutthaya Dynasty because its capital was located in the city of Ayutthaya. The king was King Narai who had just ascended the throne last year.
Siam and neighboring Myanmar have been in a state of war all year round. In the last century, Myanmar even captured the city of Ayutthaya and became its vassal state for fifteen years.
However, at the end of the last century, Siam made a comeback, defeated the Burmese army on the battlefield, and regained its independence. It is worth mentioning that Siam is very active in diplomacy and has established formal diplomatic relations with many countries in the East and West. Needless to say, the Ming Dynasty. During the entire reign of the Ming Dynasty, Ayutthaya's envoys were recorded visiting the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred times, and the two countries have always maintained trade exchanges by sea.
Starting from the fifteenth century, with the arrival of Western colonists, Siam also began to have diplomatic exchanges with Western countries. As early as 1516, Siam signed a diplomatic treaty with Portugal, allowing the Portuguese to settle and do business in many cities, including Ayutthaya.
Later, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and France, these Western countries also signed trade agreements with Siam one after another, opened commercial offices in various parts of Siam, and engaged in trading activities.
By the end of the 16th century, Japanese people even arrived in Siam one after another with the help of Western merchant ships. It is said that at that time, there were thousands of Japanese settled in Ayutthaya City alone. This number even far exceeded the Han people who settled there.
A country like Siam, which welcomes all comers, will naturally not reject Haihan, who is rapidly rising in the South China Sea. As early as more than ten years ago, Haihan merchants had gone to Siam to engage in trading activities.
If we follow the normal development process, it will only be a matter of time before Haihan and Siam become friendly diplomatic countries. However, there has always been a huge obstacle between the two countries, and that is Annan.
The war between Siam and Annam has been going on intermittently for many years. During the civil war in Annan, Siam was determined to take advantage of the chaos to attack and seize Annan's territory. However, Annan later gained an ally like Hai Han, and its military strength grew rapidly. Instead of benefiting, Siam was defeated and retreated. Even in the mines of Annan Black Earth Port, there are still many Siamese prisoners of war working in the mines.
Haihan gave Annan great help in the military field. From Siam's perspective, Haihan's behavior indirectly harmed the country's interests.
Based on such international relations, it is difficult for Siam to take the initiative to express friendship to Haihan. Therefore, although the two sides maintain normal trade exchanges, diplomatic relations have been unresolved and diplomatic relations have not been officially established at the official level.
The Haihan fleet's entry into the Gulf of Siam is also the first time in history that the Haihan fleet has visited this sea area. Even with Li Yuande's understanding of Siam, it is difficult to predict how Siam will react to this.
Qian Tiandun greatly appreciated Li Yuande's explanation: "Even Siam's international relations are so clear. It seems that you have a comprehensive understanding. Have you been here many times?"
Li Yuande responded: "I have shipped goods here seven or eight times before, and one of them stayed here for almost two months, so I know something about the situation."
After Li Yuande sat down, Qian Tiandun asked someone from the Military Intelligence Bureau to come out and give additional explanations.
According to the information obtained by the Military Intelligence Bureau, Siam's naval fleet is not large in size, but its equipment is slightly better than that of other countries in the Gulf of Siam. This is due to the good relations that Siam maintains with Western countries, so it can purchase ship-based artillery.
Although these gadgets are outdated and backward old-fashioned weapons in the eyes of the Haihan Army, they are enough for Siam. After all, most of the wars between Siam and its neighboring countries were conducted on land, and naval battles were basically zero. It seemed that there was indeed no need to invest too many resources in building a navy.
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Another reason that restricts the development of Siam's navy is the geographical environment here. Due to the lack of natural harbors, Siam's naval fleet had to be stationed at the inland docks of the Ban Pragong River and the Chao Phraya River, and its armed scale was difficult to pose an actual threat to the Haihan Fleet.
However, in order to ensure safety, the Military Intelligence Bureau still recommends that civilian ships in the fleet stay away from the northern coast of the Gulf of Siam to avoid being implicated in the event of an armed conflict that lacks the ability to protect itself.
(End of chapter)