1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3701

Compared with the Persian Gulf that the fleet had previously visited, the Red Sea is much larger and the waters are narrower and longer. From the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the south to the Port of Suez in the north, the distance is more than 4,000 miles, and the widest part of the east and west banks is 600 to 700 miles.

As early as the first century AD, the Greeks who crossed the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt managed to open up a sea route from the Red Sea to the Indian Peninsula. Since then, this trade route from the Mediterranean Sea through the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean has become the first choice for many multinational traders.

However, the disadvantages of this "shortcut" are also obvious. Not all merchants and goods from any country can smoothly cross the hundreds of miles of land route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. For example, Portugal, which is good at navigation, has not yet obtained this privilege.

Given the Portuguese style, they would certainly not sit idly by and allow this situation to continue. In the first twenty years of the last century, Portugal had been trying to control some ports along the coast of East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula outside the Red Sea in order to exert influence on the waterways in and out of the Red Sea.

But as the Ottoman Empire annexed the Mamluk dynasty that ruled Egypt, Suez and most of the Red Sea region were also incorporated into the Ottoman territory.

For Portugal, which had a bad relationship with the Ottoman Empire at that time, the Red Sea almost became a restricted area. This was definitely not a result that the Portuguese, who wanted to open up the Mediterranean-Indian Ocean route, were willing to accept, so sending troops to occupy the key areas of the Red Sea seemed to be their final choice.

As early as 1541, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama sent troops to attack the port of Suez in an attempt to gain control of the Red Sea. The leader of the troops was Estevo da Gama, the son of the great navigator Vasco da Gama.

After the ambitious Vasco da Gama took office as the Governor-General of India in Goa, he immediately set his sights on the Port of Suez, thousands of miles away.

To ensure victory, Da Gama assembled 2,000 Portuguese soldiers and more than 3,000 Indian sailors, with nine galleons, one caravel and two Galleons forming the main attack force, and another 60 to 70 small galleys as auxiliary ships. Finally, there were two old-fashioned carrick sailing ships, which were specially used to carry supplies for the fleet.

However, Vasco da Gama's mixed fleet was not stable. After encountering bad weather in the Red Sea, some ships, including two main warships, chose to evacuate early, which greatly affected the morale of the expeditionary fleet.

In order to boost morale, Vasco da Gama made another stupid move and ordered the fleet to attack the Sultanate's Suakin port, which was not the target of the operation, trying to reward his soldiers with the looted wealth.

Although the attack was successful and a large amount of spoils were obtained from the local area, the spoils overloaded the small ships that carried them, making it difficult for them to continue moving forward with the combat fleet.

So Vasco da Gama was forced to divert the fleet again, with some troops staying on standby, while he himself led fifteen ships and hundreds of soldiers to continue heading towards his destination, the Port of Suez.

However, the news of the Portuguese actions had leaked out long ago, and before they sailed into the Red Sea, the Ottoman garrison in the port of Suez had already taken precautions.

Waiting for the Portuguese in the port of Suez were not only multiples of warships, but also two thousand Arab cavalry on the shore.

Although the Portuguese had more advanced weapons and equipment, which gave them a certain advantage in the battle, they were fighting away from home after all, and their own strength had been greatly reduced during the expedition, so they ultimately failed to break through the port of Suez. After several days of fighting, the Portuguese fleet's supplies were almost exhausted. Da Gama knew that he could not achieve his goal, so he had to order a retreat and return home.

Perhaps Portugal's failure served as a warning to other countries. Since this brief expedition, no military force from Europe has attacked the Port of Suez. The Portuguese, who coveted the Port of Suez, have since become the targets of the Port of Suez.

Even though the Portuguese later helped the Ottoman Empire in the Persian Gulf and assisted it in defeating its old rival Persia, thereby gaining the privilege of entering Basra, the relationship between the two countries was not truly eased, and most areas of the Red Sea are still off-limits to the Portuguese.

After listening to Qian Tiandun's story, the people accompanying him were all deeply moved. They never thought that more than a hundred years ago, the Red Sea had already become a target of contention among various forces.

Li Yuande said: "Sir, since so many countries have been eyeing the Red Sea for a long time, wouldn't our intervention become a target of public criticism?"

Qian Tiandun said: "It's not as serious as being the target of public criticism. At most, only the Ottoman Empire will keep a closer eye on us. As for other countries, they are probably just watching the fun."

After Qian Tiandun finished speaking, he told everyone that most of the Red Sea coast was now under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire. Only on the East African side of the west coast, there was a coastline of about a thousand miles long, which belonged to some local tribes and small countries.

In other words, within the Red Sea, the only opponent that has the real strength to compete with Hai Han is the Ottoman Empire.

Dong Shangyi summarized: "If our country wants to dig a canal and open up a shipping route between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, we must use Port Suez as the starting point of the canal. But if we want to control Port Suez, we must first find a way to snatch this place from the Ottoman Empire... It seems that we have to fight hard to achieve our goal."

Qian Tiandun said: "If there is an option of not fighting, that would definitely be our first choice. Unless it is absolutely necessary, I don't want to go to war with a big guy like the Ottoman Empire. This is not the small country we beat up in East Asia before. Even the Mediterranean Sea where we want to go, most of the coastal areas are Ottoman territory."

"The Ottoman Empire's territory spans Asia, Africa, and Europe, which is much larger than the territory of the Ming Dynasty. You can imagine how many troops are needed to conquer such a large country. We may not lose if we go to war with the Ottoman Empire, but it will be very difficult to win."

"The most likely scenario is that they will do what the Portuguese did a hundred years ago, until they have exhausted their own resources and failed to achieve their goal of conquering the enemy, and finally have no choice but to give up."

Everyone present had followed Qian Tiandun for a long or short time, but this was the first time they heard him say that it was possible that they could not defeat their opponent. This showed how much Qian Tiandun valued the Ottoman Empire as his opponent.

But everyone knows that since Qian Tiandun has set a goal, he will definitely try to achieve it. The only difference is the method. Although the Ottoman Empire is vast and difficult to conquer, if Hai Han's goal is just to gain some local advantages, it is not impossible.