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Chapter 1146: Comprehensive Blockade 3
"...I hope the Emperor of the Ming Empire is smarter than you say. All right, everyone, go back to the hostel first and don't cause any more trouble for yourself. If anyone wants to take advantage of this opportunity to make some money, you can come to the company office to find me.

The Ming Navy needs more ships to deliver supplies to the front line, and is willing to hire civilian ships at the price of Colombo Port. Believe me, the journey is likely to be safe, and there will be warships escorting.

You only need to load the cargo here and follow the fleet to Faw Harbor to unload the cargo, and you can get the full commission for this voyage. I can use the company's warehouse and ships as collateral!"

After hearing such a well-founded analysis, Greg couldn't help but feel worried for the Emperor of the Ming Empire. But he was still a trustworthy person. Since he had promised to provide help and had received benefits from the Ming Navy, he did not intend to give up halfway and continued to fulfill his obligations.

"Mr. Greg, please forgive me for being blunt. Although there are Portuguese warehouses and mercenaries in Faw Port, it still belongs to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. There should be a lot of Ottoman troops gathered there right now, waiting for someone to come to them."

It was the old captain who responded first. As a Portuguese, he was certainly familiar with the port of Fao, and was full of doubts about this job that sounded to be quite profitable.

"Mr. Amarante, I am only delivering messages for the Ming Empire Navy. I am not part of their group. As for the question you raised, I think the Ming Empire Navy has already thought of it.

Therefore, the merchant ships that accepted the offer would not depart immediately, but would wait until the port of Faao was captured. As you have just seen, the Ming Emperor's flagship has already departed, and if I am not mistaken, it should be heading for the port of Faao.

Since no one can leave the island, why not use this time to make more trips and make up for the losses caused by the delay as much as possible? In fact, my company and I have decided to sign up for the three largest ships to go. "

This time, Greg did not humbly accept the advice. Instead, he explained the employment details in more detail and set an example himself, hoping to gain more support.

"Count me in, Fernando of Portugal, two schooners!"

"Count me in, too. Doon from the Netherlands, a three-masted ocean-going sailing ship!"

"Please include me in the list, Mr. Gregg. Two schooners. If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty loses the war, he might be able to escape back on my ship. Do you think I will give him a title if I send him back to the capital? Baron Amarante, or even Earl!"

All the Europeans who were able to sail to Asia to trade were either criminals, bankrupts or natural adventurers, and they all put life and death aside. War was not the most terrible thing for them, but losses and mediocrity were the real killers.

Faced with an opportunity to watch the excitement and earn money, even if they were forced to do so, they all raised their hands and signed up enthusiastically. Even the old Portuguese captain who was not optimistic about the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty leading the expedition in person joined in, and then made fun of the hardship and imagined a better life in the future.

The Port of Fao is not actually on the seaside, but is built on the south bank of the Shatt al-Arab River, 10 kilometers from the mouth of the river. As the largest port in the northern Persian Gulf, hundreds of ships dock here every day, unloading goods from the East or loading European goods from the Mediterranean.

The docks and the city are crowded with people of different skin colors, languages ​​and beliefs, but most of them are talking about one thing: money!
Compared with the Port of Suez, although both are bridgeheads for communication between the East and the West, the Port of Faw has a geographical advantage. Goods can be transported more conveniently inland with the help of the three water systems of the Shatt al-Arab, Euphrates and Tigris rivers, all the way to the Port of Beirut on the Mediterranean coast, mostly with oases and towns along the way. Since ancient times, this trade route has been an important way to connect commodity trade between Europe and Asia. Before the Safavid dynasty of Persia occupied Baghdad, it was also a very important source of tax revenue for the Ottoman Empire.

Each caravan had to pay a high tax to the Pasha along the way, which was even higher than the purchase price of the goods. However, merchants were still keen to travel on this trade route, because the profits were high.

The high commercial taxes paid are not a problem. As long as the goods can reach the other side safely, they can be sold smoothly after adding all the costs and doubling the price. This journey of more than 1,000 kilometers is the most expensive distance, and the price of most goods will increase by about ten times.

But these days the port has suddenly become quiet. The European ships with tall masts are gone, the rowing boats that moved quickly on the water like centipedes are gone, and the caravans speaking various languages ​​are gone.

Instead, they were replaced by the Guards Corps wearing red hats, bloomers and carrying muskets, and the Sipahi cavalry riding tall horses, wearing chain mail, iron helmets, carrying scimitars on their waists and holding spears.

The news that the Emperor of the Ming Empire would personally lead the army to fight reached here more than twenty days ago. It was not brought by merchants, but was handed over to the Pasha of Fao Port face to face in written form by envoys sent by the Ming Empire.

After learning the news, Murad IV was a little surprised, but he quickly returned to normal. He immediately dispatched 10,000 Sipahi cavalry and 600 artillery members of the Guards Corps to reinforce the port of Fao, and also sent out Grand Vizier Tabar.

However, Murad IV did not fully believe the declaration of war sent by the Ming envoys, and at the same time sent nearly 10,000 reinforcements to ports such as Suez, Aqaba, and Tours.

It had been ten days since Tabar arrived at the port of Fao. Since arriving, he had done only one thing: building artillery positions, digging trenches, and building bunkers near the river bank.

In terms of hot weapons warfare, the Ottoman army was indeed ahead of its time, even surpassing Europe, where musket and artillery manufacturing technology was more advanced.

When attacking a city, the artillerymen of the Guards Corps would fix the artillery in a pit below the ground, and pile soil bags on both sides of the gun barrel. This would protect the artillerymen from direct fire from enemy muskets and artillery, and even if they were hit, the soil bags would greatly reduce the impact of the shells, causing little harm.

In defensive operations, it would be better if there were strong walls, as shooting from a high position would always be more accurate and farther than shooting from above. It didn't matter if there weren't any, the Guards Corps would dig several half-man-deep trenches in front of the artillery positions, which would serve as shelters for the musketeers and block the impact of enemy cavalry.

The port of Fao did not have strong walls, so the people in the city and the caravans, sailors, and ship slaves who did not have time to escape became helpers in digging trenches, working day and night near the dock.

But the Grand Vizier still felt that the progress was too slow, so he sent more than 3000 servants to the construction site and ordered them to dig three trenches before the arrival of the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)