Chapter 3021
When Roger said these words, he did not expect that the "next Governor of Malacca" he called was trying to come to meet him.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of this "bandit suppression" operation, Haihan adopted many shady and gray methods in the early stage. Therefore, when sending troops, naturally he would not actively invite allies to send manpower to participate like in past military operations.
For this reason, Roger also specially accelerated the action process. From announcing the dispatch of troops to suppress bandits to the gathering of troops for the expedition, it took only two or three days, and the outside world had no time to react. This caused the Portuguese in Malacca City to be caught off guard, and they did not recover until the Haihan Fleet arrived at their doorstep.
Roger's plan is to cook the rice first. Even if other surrounding countries are dissatisfied with this, it will not be able to change the existing situation.
Among them, the only two countries that really made Roger afraid were Portugal and Aceh.
These two families have been traditional powers in the Malacca Strait region for nearly a hundred years. Even if their military strength is not as good as that of Haihan, a rising star, their influence in this region is still quite strong, and each has deep knowledge with Haihan in certain fields. cooperation. Haihan wants to establish a long-term stronghold or even a port city at the northern end of the Malacca Strait, but he still has to worry about their feelings.
But whether it is Malacca or Banda Aceh, they are the targets that Roger intends to replace. Once the idea of controlling the northern and southern ends of the strait is realized, the trade volume originally belonging to these two places will definitely flow into the ports operated by Haihan.
Not long after the fleet passed the city of Malacca, the flagship received a report from the rear that a Portuguese ship had set off from the port of Malacca and was chasing the fleet at full speed. The flag flying on the ship indicated that it belonged to the Malacca Governor's Palace.
Qian Tiandun joked: "With such a large fleet formation, as long as you are not blind, you will definitely find something is wrong. Isn't it the governor of Malacca who finds something wrong and wants to catch up and confront you?"
Roger's expression remained normal, and obviously this episode did not exceed his expectations: "Malacca Governor Costa is already old and has not left Malacca for several years. Even if he wants to come out in person, the preparations will not be so fast... I It seems that it is probably his successor who has volunteered to find the answer.”
Qian Tiandun said: "Then what are your plans? Do you want to stop and wait for him?"
Roger sneered: "Who is he? What qualifications does he have to ask us to stop and wait? Even if Costa comes in person and doesn't greet us in advance, there is no need to pay attention to it. We just pretend that we don't know about this, so what should we do?" Keep going.”
Qian Tiandun nodded without saying any more words. He knew that Roger actually didn't look down on the other party at all, but he didn't want to cause trouble when the operation was at a critical moment.
As long as the two sides have not met, there is no need to consider the diplomatic impact and the other party's reaction for the time being.
As a logistics fleet, Li Yuande and his group of slower cargo ships were located in the middle and rear of the entire fleet, several hours behind the flagship in front.
Because of this, when Fulifeng's fleet sailed near the port of Malacca, Li Yuande happened to see the governor's ship on which Lopez was sailing out of the port.
It was difficult for Li Yuande not to notice the existence of this ship, because at this time, there were basically no irrelevant ships on the nearby sea. Most of the ships took the initiative to sail into the port or approach the coast, giving Haihan this huge armed force The fleet gave way to the waterway. Only this sailing ship, flying the flag of the Malacca Governor's Palace, sailed out of the silent port alone.
The speed of this Portuguese sailing ship was obviously faster than that of Furifeng's cargo ship. It took just over an hour to catch up with Li Yuande's ship. Looking at this posture, it seems that they are chasing the Haihan fleet. Li Yuande was quite curious and took out his telescope to observe the ship a hundred feet away. He saw that the commander on the ship was a middle-aged man with a serious face. Although he did not recognize the other party, he could tell from the military uniform he was wearing that he was a relatively rare senior general.
During Li Yuande's trading activities in various parts of the South China Sea, he also dealt with many Portuguese, but very few of them included Portuguese officers.
The reason is also very simple. Portugal's garrison in the South China Sea is not large in scale. The commander of a garrison base is usually only a major, which is almost a deputy battalion level in the Haihan Army. However, such officers often have a lot of power, and Portugal controls local military and political affairs. Li Yuande usually dealt with his subordinates more often, and could only occasionally meet these officers face to face.
But the Portuguese officer's military uniform seen through the telescope was slightly different from what Li Yuande usually saw, making him look more luxurious. And he had heard from the Portuguese that the garrison commanders in various places were the garrison generals of Malacca City. This was very consistent with the situation he saw before him.
Li Yuande wanted to find an insider to ask, but the young officers he knew were all in their respective units at this time. No one was on the cargo ship he was on, and there was no one around him to answer his questions. .
"If I had known that I should have followed Mr. Qian to the flagship, I wouldn't have had to guess here!"
Although Li Yuande was a little annoyed, he also knew that it was not appropriate for him to go to the flagship at this time.
When heading south from Cam Ranh Bay, he was able to follow Qian Tiandun because it was not in combat mode at the time and the atmosphere in the fleet was relatively relaxed. But this time starting from Star Island, the entire fleet is already in a wartime state, and officers at all levels must be on standby at any time. Although Li Yuande is not a soldier, he cannot leave his post without authorization and can only command his cargo ship fleet honestly.
The target of the Portuguese sailing ship was obviously not these slower cargo ships. Not long after sailing side by side, it surpassed the cargo ship fleet and continued to chase the warships ahead.
Haihan's fleet has more than 200 ships of various types, and the team stretches for nearly 200 miles, which can be described as majestic. All civilian ships encountered on the way have to give way in advance for fear of being affected.
This was the only Portuguese ship that sailed through the Haihan fleet without any hesitation, hurrying and slowing down, and finally saw the main force of this fleet one day later.
But at this time, a new trouble came that gave Lopez a headache. There were several majestic-class warships on the sea ahead, and the distance between them was extremely far. It was impossible to confirm which one was the real flagship.
Along the way, Lopez tried to get in touch with the nearby Haihan warship and inform him of his intention, but the other party seemed to treat him as transparent, neither blocking nor communicating, and just allowed him to sail freely.
But the target is not far ahead. How can we prevent Haihan from continuing to ignore his existence?
(End of chapter)