Chapter 3017
At the beginning of the year 1657 in the Haihan calendar, the Strait of Malacca, which had been relatively calm in recent years, suddenly became unstable.
Merchant ships from multiple countries have been attacked by unknown forces while passing through the northern end of the Strait of Malacca. Banda Aceh, the major port closest to the sea area where the incident occurred, suddenly became the escape destination of the attacked ships.
In the port of Banda Aceh, you can see foreign merchant ships specially coming to seek refuge every three days. Some of the ships even have damage from the fighting.
While some injured sailors were receiving treatment in the city, they also spread the news about their attacks.
It is said that this force has several armed sailing ships and operates in a huge range. The thousands of miles of sea from Banda Aceh to the Malay Peninsula seems to be their hunting ground.
And their attacks don't seem to have a specific target. No matter which country's merchant ship they are, they will become their target as long as they are hit. Moreover, these armed sailing ships were equipped with many guns and artillery. The self-defense weapons on ordinary merchant ships were simply unable to compete with them. They could only try their best to escape to the nearest seaport.
The only good thing is that for some unknown reasons, these attackers seem to have no interest in land targets, never actively approach the coast, and will even give up when the target they are chasing approaches the coast.
But even so, in just half a month, several merchant ships still disappeared in this sea area for no reason, including even Haihan's ship. Obviously, the attackers had no regard for Haihan, who was known for his powerful force. taboo.
As one of the busiest trade routes in Southeast Asia, the Strait of Malacca has not seen such ferocious pirates for a long time. In order to ensure the safety of the waterway, the country of Aceh, which is close to this sea area, began to dispatch naval forces to expand the scope of patrols.
At the initiative of Aceh, the Star Island Mercenary Group stationed in many ports along its coast also began to dispatch ships to assist in patrol and escort missions in the Strait of Malacca.
However, the Acehnese never imagined that these mercenary armed forces who came to help were actually taking the opportunity to collect information about the passing ships, and then passed the information via telegraph to their companions hundreds of miles away who were waiting for their prey to appear.
"Battal Commander, a telegram was sent from Simawei Port. Two Aceh merchant ships have just left the sea area. Their route is to go north across the Myanmar Sea to the Mughal Kingdom's Dhaka Port. They are expected to arrive in our waters one day later. .”
Shao Tianhu marked the target's route on the chart while listening to his men's reports. With the information sent by the Second Battalion of the Mercenary Regiment from several major ports in Aceh, he no longer had to wait and wait, and could formulate a more efficient action plan.
In the first few days of the operation, Shao Tianhu's men could only wander around the sea trying their luck like headless flies. However, only two or three days later, they received news from the Second Battalion, which changed the way they acted.
Almost all merchant ships departing from the ports of Simawei, Meilun, and Sikri, or passing through these places, heading to the waters north of the Strait of Malacca are under the surveillance of the Second Battalion. They only need to provide the course and speed of these ships, and Shao Tianhu can roughly calculate where to intercept these ships.
Of course, it would be easier to start if the target's intended route and destination were indicated in the telegram just now.
With such an intelligence source as a guarantee, Shao Tianhu created one or two attacks almost every day. Coupled with the occasional interception of merchant ships sailing from the Indian Ocean into the Strait of Malacca, in just half a month, they have carried out attacks on at least more than fifty targets. Considering the publicity effect, they only conducted symbolic chases for most of the ships. When they got close, they would fire a burst of guns towards the stern and sides of the ships to heighten the tension. But when it comes to actually killing people and buying goods, they are very rare.
Shao Tianhu sent battle reports back to Xingdao every day, and the headquarters also gave clearer instructions. The current actions of the 1st Battalion must be based on the premise of not revealing their identity and whereabouts. They only need to perform feint attacks. If the opponent does not fight back, they will There is no need to deliberately stop or destroy ships.
So far, the battalion's real plundering record is actually only one British Galen ship. The tonnage of that ship was even slightly larger than the warships of the First Battalion. It did not run away after encountering them. It relied on being equipped with more than a dozen artillery pieces and wanted to compete with them.
When encountering such a tough target, Shao Tianhu was of course not hesitant. He ordered several ships to close the encirclement, and then used the range advantage of the artillery to besiege the Galen ship.
When the exchange of fire really started, the British discovered that the disadvantage of weapons could not be compensated by the tonnage advantage, but it was too late. Soon the Galen ship was shot and caught fire, losing the ability to continue fighting.
As the fire grew stronger, the desperate sailors chose to abandon the ship and jump into the sea to escape. In the end, only about 20 people were fished out under Shao Tianhu's order, while the rest perished with the ship.
At present, these captured sailors have not been executed, and they are all detained in the temporary station of the First Battalion on Phuket Island. According to the command's instructions, a supply ship will arrive in Phuket in two days to transport all the materials they need and at the same time secretly bring these captured personnel back to Star Island for disposal.
At this stage of the operation, although the Star Island Command has still not explained its true purpose, Shao Tianhu has become increasingly certain that his previous guess was correct, that is, Haihan needs to create a chaos with a large enough impact in this area. In order to have sufficient reasons to send troops to intervene.
The actual situation is just as he guessed. The Sing Tao authorities have begun to respond to the chaos in the waters at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca.
Roger sent letters to the Portuguese colonial governor of Malacca City and the King of Aceh, feeling very angry about the recent "frequent attacks" on Haihan merchant ships in the northern waters of the Strait of Malacca. In view of the fact that the situation of rampant piracy continues to worsen, Haihan cannot stand by and watch this happen, so he plans to send troops to the area in the near future to eliminate pirate organizations that are frequently active in the area.
As soon as this news was announced, it naturally caused quite a shock in the outside world.
No one would doubt Haihan's ability to suppress pirates, but the northern end of the Malacca Strait has always been the sphere of influence of Aceh, Portugal, and Siam. Haihan rarely publicly participates in security affairs in this region, even against Aceh. Military assistance is also provided in a roundabout way through mercenary groups.
But now Roger suddenly claims to send troops to eliminate pirates in the area, which means that the balance of the past few years will be broken. The leaders of all parties are not fools, and they will naturally think of the far-reaching impact this will have.
(End of chapter)