Chapter 3460
In terms of military strength alone, the armed forces deployed there by Portugal and the Netherlands, which are currently fighting for territory on the island of Ceylon, are certainly no match for the special operations divisions. However, the two countries have colonies that have been established for many years in Goa and Cochin on the west coast of the Indian peninsula. They are much closer to Ceylon than the war divisions.
Moreover, Portugal set foot on the island of Ceylon more than a hundred years ago. Although it has not yet been able to control the entire island, it has built a colonial city with complete facilities like Malacca City in the port of Colombo, the capital of the island, and wants it to give up its business and withdraw from the local area. , that is definitely not something that can be accomplished with words.
Qian Tiandun wanted to use military means to force these European colonial countries to abandon the island of Ceylon. Then the next actions would not only be a matter of special operations divisions, but also likely to involve diplomatic relations and the international situation. Qian Shaobao couldn't help but worry. Will the Executive Committee really support the special warfare division's plan unconditionally?
He looked at the expressionless Takahashi Minami, knowing that Takahashi Minami would never question his father's plan.
It is no exaggeration to say that even if his father asked Takahashi Nan to swim all the way from Phuket to Ceylon, he would definitely carry out the order.
Qian Shaobao had no choice but to ask this doubt on his own: "Father, if we want to start a war with Portugal and the Netherlands, can the executive committee agree?"
Qian Tiandun responded: "The ideal situation is to defeat the enemy without fighting. As long as we send troops to Ceylon Island, let them retreat before the difficulties and actively avoid confrontation with us."
"But our action plan must take into account the possibility of small-scale fighting, and quickly defeat the opponent at the lowest cost to avoid a long-term local confrontation."
"The worst-case scenario is that the Portuguese and Dutch would not hesitate to fight us for their own interests in Ceylon. But this possibility is extremely low, because they cannot afford the consequences of a full-scale war - —That would probably result in them losing all their colonies east of the Strait of Malacca.”
"If the first two scenarios happen, the Executive Committee will definitely support us firmly. After all, seizing control of the Indian Ocean is not just my personal idea, it is also the will of the Executive Committee."
"As for the last extreme situation... once we get to that point, no matter how great the difficulty is, we still have to fight!"
Takahashi Minami also echoed: "Spain, which is known as the strongest in Europe, don't we always hit Spain without fail? Only when we show our determination to fight at all costs can our opponents be afraid!"
Obviously, both Qian Tiandun and Gao Qiaonan have made up their minds to continue to advance this matter regardless of whether it will trigger a new round of war.
Qian Shaobao had to change the question: "Then what is our basic goal? Is it to control an area locally and establish ports and supply points, or is it to completely control the entire island of Ceylon?"
Qian Tiandun said: "The area of Ceylon Island is almost twice the size of Hainan Island. Complete control of this area is not a goal that can be achieved in the short term... Gao Qiaonan, let's talk about the situation you discovered during this trip!"
Takahashi Nan nodded, and then talked about the harvest of this trip to Ceylon Island.
After arriving at the east coast of Ceylon, the reconnaissance fleet he led headed south along the coastline, inspecting several planned targets along the way.
There are no natural harbors with superior conditions on the coastline of this area. Gaoqiao Nan finally chose a place called Hambantota to land. This was also one of Qian Tiandun's designated goals before he set off. .
Gao Qiaonan didn't know why Qian Tiandun, who had never been to Ceylon Island, was sure that there was such a place there, but this kind of miracle had happened countless times in the past thirty years, so when he found this small place according to the map coordinates, I was not particularly surprised when I saw the small bay.
Takahashi Nan led a group of people, disguised as the Haihan caravan, to land in the area near the bay. The area of this bay is almost the same as Yulin Bay in Sanya. It is also wide inside and narrow outside, with only a narrow channel in and out.
There is a seaside fishing village in the bay, with only thirty or forty households, old and young, and almost no young people.
Gao Qiaonan used iron cooking utensils and farm tools to exchange some food from these fishermen, and it didn't take much effort to find out what was going on here.
As the war between the Western colonial armed forces and the indigenous kingdom of Ceylon continued all year round, almost all the young men were requisitioned. Fortunately, Hambantota is located in a very remote location, several hundred miles away from Colombo, the main battlefield, and separated by a large mountainous area, so it was basically not directly affected by the war.
The area near the bay has flat terrain, many large and small lakes, and sufficient water resources, making it suitable for agricultural farming. However, due to a serious lack of young labor, the fishing villages have not cultivated much farmland, and the food crops grown are only enough to satisfy their hunger. .
There are no big cities within a hundred miles, most of the population centers are at the village or town level, and there are very few places with more than a thousand permanent residents.
Both the Portuguese and the Dutch came here, but when they found that there were no valuable properties nearby and there was a lack of human resources for development, they voluntarily abandoned the place.
For them, snatching the already established Colombo area is obviously more realistic than building this small bay from scratch.
The local indigenous people do not have much willingness to resist the appearance of foreign forces. To put it bluntly, they just want to live in peace and have no intention of participating in the fight between various forces.
Of course, it would be better if the rulers who took over this place had the means to fill their bellies.
The engineers under Gao Qiaonan spent three days to complete the local mapping survey and collect local soil, stone and plant samples in preparation for the subsequent development plan.
After leaving Hambantota, Gao Qiaonan continued to explore west along the coastline for a while, but found no similar bays.
In order to avoid alerting the enemy, Gao Qiaonan did not continue to the west coast of Ceylon, where European ships frequently visited, and chose to return home.
After telling this experience, Takahashi Minami used a pushpin to mark the approximate location of Hambantota on the chart.
Qian Shaobao immediately sighed after seeing it: "This location is really good. It is just at the southern end of Ceylon Island. It is more suitable than Colombo as a port for Eastern and Western merchant ships to dock."
Qian Tiandun nodded to express his agreement with his opinion.
But he did not tell Qian Shaobao that in the time and space before the time travel, the re-emerging China chose Hambantota to build a port and tried to build it into a transportation hub and trade transit center in the Indian Ocean.
In the current time and space, it is expected that under the promotion of Qian Tiandun, such ambitions can be realized hundreds of years in advance.