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Chapter 1393 The Pessimistic Strategist 3
"...You mean the main force of the Ming Dynasty navy has gone to the west coast of America!?"

As a naval commander, Tropp's sensitivity to naval warfare certainly far exceeded that of land warfare. After only a brief moment of thought, he arrived at a highly probable conclusion based on the existing situation. However, this conclusion was particularly absurd, too risky, and hardly convincing.

"I've always had an idea—no, it shouldn't be called my idea, but rather a bold hypothesis I've made based on the actions of the Ming emperor… Please find the nautical charts of Asia and the Pacific, preferably the East India Company version!"

Cohen glanced at the increasingly thick fog over the sea and breathed a sigh of relief. Under these weather conditions, the European coalition forces landing should be safe.

However, it would take at least two more hours to transport several thousand Flemish Legion soldiers and their supplies onto the beach, which would be a good opportunity to have a detailed chat with a friend about my experiences.

"Look, this is the western entrance to the Strait of Malacca, this is Salim Port, where the Ming Empire built a large naval base. This is the Sunda Strait, Batavia is located inside the strait entrance, and it should now also be a major port for the Ming Navy."

This is Bangladesh and Myanmar, a region characterized by high mountains, dense forests, and a hot climate, lacking large ports. This is also the region encompassing Sumatra, Java, and the Spice Islands, which similarly lack large ports and safe shipping lanes, making them unsuitable for large fleets.

Before the last Battle of the Cape of Good Hope, the Ming emperor personally led his fleet to defeat the Aceh Sultanate, and then rallied various forces on Sumatra Island to unite and destroy this largest Muslim country.

After the Republic withdrew its influence from the Java Islands and the Spice Islands, Sumatra naturally became part of the Ming Empire's sphere of influence. It is said that the Ming navy is building fortifications outside Batavia Port.

If you want to enter the South China Sea from the Indian Ocean, the Straits of Malacca and Sunda are the only passages. With the ports of Salim and Batavia, no ship can pass through freely.

If the Ming Empire had abandoned the Indian Ocean and simultaneously captured the major ports on the west coast of the Americas, the area from the Americas in the east to the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean in the west would have become the Ming Empire's inland sea. Ships from hostile forces would have been unable to find resupply ports, let alone enter them.

Even if they could recapture Colombo and use the Indian subcontinent as a springboard to advance eastward, they would still have to face the Ming navy at Salim. At this point, the European fleet would be on a long and arduous expedition, while the Ming navy would be fighting on its own doorstep; the advantage or disadvantage was obvious.

On the surface, the Ming Empire lost Enbird Port and could no longer control the entry and exit of European ships into Asian waters, but in reality, the loss was not significant. The Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean did not produce high-value goods, and to earn sufficient profits, the Ming Empire's consent was still required to enter the South Seas.

The west coast of the Americas is far richer in resources than southern Africa. For one thing, the silver mines in Mexico and Peru alone could cover all the war expenses of the Ming Empire.

Compared to the Ming Empire with its hundreds of millions of people, all the European countries combined could not compete. Once they established a foothold in the Americas, they could transport hundreds of thousands, even millions, of immigrants there by sea.

In just a few decades, the Americas will become a second Ming Dynasty, and European countries will gain nothing there and will ultimately be driven out of the Americas!

He kept these words to himself for over a year and never told anyone, mainly because it would have been pointless to say them anyway, as no one would have understood. But Cohen felt they were very much in line with the character of the Ming emperor.

As O'Anni said, if you remove the title of emperor, that man is the most rational, daring, and adventurous businessman in the world. He dares to pursue the highest profits and is willing to give up everything except his life, even if everyone thinks it's impossible. "...He wants to occupy the entire Pacific Ocean? If he can effectively resist the attacks of Tsarist Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the north, it is indeed possible!"

Tropp listened attentively, sketching out the map on his pen as Cohen described it, eventually arriving at a vast area that included the Pacific Ocean.

At first, he was skeptical, but after carefully observing the terrain, he had to admit that Cohen's guess was quite accurate. The area looked very large, but there were very few roads that were actually easy to access.

First, let's talk about the land. Starting from the north and moving south, there is first the vast, sparsely populated tundra east of Russia, then the barren Gobi steppes of the Kazakh Khanate and the Bukhara Khanate. To go east, there are only a few steep valleys that are passable.

Let's not even mention the Himalayas. Even if the Ming Empire didn't station troops there, no one would advance eastward through that area; it was simply impassable. Therefore, the Indian subcontinent was of little importance to the Ming Dynasty; it was safe as it was protected by natural barriers.

Further south lies the Strait of Malacca. It doesn't take much; the Salim naval base alone can block the entrance to the strait. It's simply impossible to launch a combined land and sea attack like the siege of Enoch Port.

The island of Sumantra was also full of small states that were dependent on the Ming Empire. The only one that might have turned against the Ming, the Aceh Sultanate, was eliminated in advance. It is hard to say that the Ming emperor did not plan ahead.

Reaching the south, the only passage is the Sunda Strait. Needless to say, Cohen served as governor of Batavia for twenty years and knew the area intimately. The strait is only 6 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, with a large island in the middle. With a few warships and several fortified positions, neither merchant ships nor warships could pass.

Further south is New Holland (Australia), but only the Dutch have been there a few times and have never conducted in-depth exploration. They only know that there are no ports or cities along the coast, no supplies, and the climate and shipping routes are very complicated, making it unsuitable for large fleets to pass through.

No European ships have sailed east of New Holland to this day, and there are no established shipping routes. A few exploration ships might be able to attempt it, but large fleets must rely on intermediate supply ports for long voyages.

The west and south are impassable, so what about the east? The situation is even worse!
Attacking the Ming navy, which had captured ports on the west coast of the Americas, from the sea was a major challenge, because the European fleet had to go around the Drake Passage to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. Even without fighting along the way, a single extreme weather event could result in the loss of more than a third of the ships and personnel.

Attacking the Ming army from land seems difficult, mainly because European countries don't have many troops in the Americas, and many parts of the Americas are still unexplored, let alone roads. You can't just clear roads while marching.

Therefore, Cohen's conjecture is theoretically sound, bold, and potentially lucrative. Tropp believes that if he were to become the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and possess a powerful navy, he would most likely choose to abandon Africa and move eastward to the Americas.

If you calculate it this way, Enbird Port suddenly doesn't seem so appealing anymore. After all that effort to capture it, it might just be bait.

They thought that occupying this place would allow European fleets to roam freely in the Asian waters, but upon closer inspection, they realized they could only wander around in the front yard. All the good stuff was in the back yard, and they would have to keep fighting to get in!
(End of this chapter)