1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3697

After passing the easternmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula, the fleet turned southwest.

Compared with the coast of the Persian Gulf, the coastline on the southwest side of the peninsula is even more desolate. Until entering the Gulf of Aden connecting to the Red Sea, there is no decent port along the way for two or three thousand miles.

This situation is not difficult to understand. The desert environment is sparsely populated and lacks an environment for trees to grow, so the shipbuilding industry, which requires a large amount of wood, is not well developed.

It was not until we entered the Gulf of Aden that we gradually began to see the sails of passing ships on the sea.

The Gulf of Aden is located in the northwest of the Indian Ocean, surrounded by the Arabian Peninsula and the Somali Peninsula in Africa. The west side of the Gulf is connected to the Red Sea through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. 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 flagship, Qian Tiandun was explaining the strategic value of the Gulf of Aden to his officers in front of a large hanging map.

"Please look, everyone. The north side of the Gulf of Aden is the Arabian Peninsula, which we must control in the future. The southwest side is adjacent to another continent. According to our country's official name, this continent is called Africa. The black slaves you have seen before came from this African continent."

"All European merchant ships that enter the South China Sea via the Indian Ocean take a route around the southern tip of Africa. I believe you can see from the map how big a detour this route takes. But in fact, there is a better shortcut that connects Europe and the Indian Ocean."

Qian Tiandun pointed to the other side of the Red Sea, where the Arabian Peninsula connects with Africa: "If we open up this place, we can connect the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean through the Red Sea. Merchant ships traveling between the East and the West will no longer have to go around the African continent, and the voyage will be greatly shortened."

"To occupy this key position, we must first control the Red Sea's exit to the Indian Ocean - the Gulf of Aden! Our mission this time is to find a suitable place in the Gulf of Aden to establish a base and port."

Dong Shangyi asked, "But from the map, the northern end of the Red Sea is connected to land, and it's probably hundreds of miles deep. If we want to open up the waterway, we can only dig a canal!"

Qian Tiandun nodded and said, "Your estimate is correct. We need to build a canal of at least four or five hundred miles to connect the two seas. Although the project is large, it will be of great significance after it is completed. Just guarding the canal and collecting tolls will be enough to support a million people!"

Dong Shangyi was shocked and said, "Are there really so many merchant ships passing through this canal?"

Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "There are definitely not that many now, but there will definitely be some in the future."

With Qian Tiandun's knowledge, he certainly knew that the Suez Canal was one of the most important commercial waterways in the time and space before he traveled through time. More than 20,000 ships of various types passed through the canal every year. The Egyptians who guarded the canal and collected fees really counted the money until their hands were tired.

However, at this moment, apart from Hai Han, no other country has the courage and ability to build such a mega project.

Moreover, even if Hai Han cleared all obstacles one day and started building a canal in the local area, the entire construction period would take at least ten to twenty years. Even Qian Tiandun, who was the first to promote this project, might not be able to see the opening of the canal.

But his conception and vision for this project were enough to excite the people present. This was an important transportation hub connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa. Even thousands of years later, this place would still have extremely high strategic value. Such an important place could not fall into the hands of others. It had to be placed under the rule of Hai Han to be at ease.

Qian Tiandun explained the importance of this area to his men in a concise manner. But he forgot one thing, 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, this is the area where pirate activities are most rampant.

There really were some shortsighted pirates who had their eyes on the Hai Han fleet, the "fat sheep" that had come from afar.

Of course, these pirates were not stupid enough to rob the huge Majestic-class warship in broad daylight. The gun muzzles exposed on the side were enough to dissuade these desperate criminals. They targeted the slower supply ships in the fleet and waited patiently until nightfall before quickly approaching, trying to rob them when the moon was dark and the wind was strong.

But even if the Hai Han fleet was not on guard against this beforehand, it was not a target that ordinary pirates could target.

When the two pirate ships approached a supply ship and were about to board it, they were discovered by a troop transport ship nearby. The troop transport ship then released flares, which illuminated the two pirate ships clearly.

The flares immediately triggered a reaction from other warships in the fleet, which quickly gathered around the scene.

The supply ship was not completely unprepared either. The sailors on board realized that something was wrong and immediately grabbed their weapons and went out of the cabin to fight.

The special warfare division had not conducted actual boarding combat for a long time, but fortunately, long-term military training enabled these soldiers to still make correct responses at the first time. Under the command of the officers, they fired close-range volleys at the pirates who were climbing onto the supply ship.

Although the turbulence of the sea waves greatly reduced the accuracy of the shooting, the close-range volleys compensated for the resulting errors to a certain extent, and several pirates who had just climbed up were all killed beside the side of the ship. Several others were shot and fell into the water, and their lives and deaths were unknown.

The weapons used by these pirates were extremely simple, basically iron knives, short spears, fishing nets, wooden sticks and the like. Facing opponents armed with rifles and bayonets, even if they finally got a chance for close combat, they would still be stabbed to the ground by the bayonets in just a few strokes.

After the well-trained soldiers entered combat mode, these pirates who only knew how to launch sneak attacks had no chance. The rest of the people wanted to leave the battlefield, but at this time there were other Hai Han warships surrounding them, so there was no chance for the two pirate ships to escape easily.

An expedition-class warship with a steel ram on its bow directly collided with the fleeing pirate ship, smashing the rear of the ship into pieces. The people on the ship screamed and fell into the water. But at this time, no kind-hearted person would pull them out of the sea.

When the people on the other pirate ship saw this, they knew they could not escape, so they simply surrendered.

After dawn, they counted the results of the battle. Seventeen pirates were captured, eleven were killed on the supply ship, and the number of pirates who fell into the sea and disappeared in the chaos was impossible to count. One pirate ship was destroyed and another was captured, but there was nothing valuable inside or outside the broken ship. After checking it, the soldiers found nothing, so they simply opened the sea valve to release water and sink the ship.

Qian Tiandun had no sympathy for the pirates who made a living by plundering on the sea. What's more, these pirates were from North Africa, East Africa, and the Middle East. They were all foreigners to Hai Han and would not understand even if they begged for mercy. There was no need to consider pardoning them.