The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 465: I'm the Master of the Vast Ocean
June 1780, 6, the fourth year of Guangzhong in the Yu Dynasty, the forty-fifth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and the thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month.

The northeast wind was blowing hard in the Indian Ocean, and a huge fleet had just sailed out of the Strait of Malacca when it successfully caught this monsoon.

Lieutenant General Souffran was very happy. At that time, Europeans were more superstitious than the Chinese, or in other words, anyone involved in the ocean-going industry would be superstitious.

After all, the vast and deep ocean and the changeable weather are too easy to make people associate.

"Full sail, full speed ahead. The Loyalty goes to the front and pays attention to the wind direction. Don't let us be blown to Africa."

Lieutenant General Sufran gave loud orders, which was different from the traditional impression that after leaving Malacca, one should go northwest to Myanmar and then directly into the Bay of Bengal.

The sea route actually goes through the Great Strait between Sumatra and Nicobar Islands.

This is also an important reason why it is difficult for Chinese sailing ships to leave Southeast Asia.

There are numerous islands, reefs, and undercurrents in the Great Strait, and the wind direction patterns must be mastered. However, the nautical charts and information about these are monopolized by countries such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, and will not be easily leaked.

After catching the northeast monsoon in the Indian Ocean, continue sailing west for 1,130 nautical miles, or about 2,100 kilometers, and you will reach the vicinity of Ceylon.

At this time, sailing with the wind could reach a speed of almost seventy nautical miles per day. Vice Admiral Suffren also roughly judged the position based on this speed, and began to lower the sails and slow down on the fourteenth day.

Because according to the sailing distance of 1,130 nautical miles, they will arrive near Ceylon Island at around two or three o'clock in the middle of the night on the sixteenth day.

Since the northeast monsoon from India does not blow in a standard straight line after leaving the Great Strait, the fleet's route is in a ⌒ shape.

After this monsoon reaches Ceylon, due to the obstruction of the island, a weak wind will form that goes directly downward.

This weak wind roughly coincides with the equatorial countercurrent passing through the southeast of Ceylon, so if you arrive near Ceylon in the middle of the night, you will most likely be sent to the equatorial countercurrent by this wind.

That would be a big trouble. When you wake up in the morning, the fleet will have already headed towards West Asia and the east coast of Africa, and you won't be able to turn back.

Therefore, when the voyage is about to end, it is necessary to lower the sails and slow down, and try to reach the coast of Ceylon during the day so that the direction can be adjusted.

On July 7, the first day of the sixth lunar month, the fleet adjusted its direction and headed straight for Jaffna, an important port town in the north of Ceylon.

Well, fourteen years ago in 1766, which was also at the end of June and the beginning of July, after Mozibu sent the French rescued from Burma back to local governance, he led his fleet to Jaffna, and under the banner of the French, he severely cheated the Dutch on the island of Ceylon.

However, unlike fourteen years ago when there were only a bunch of armed merchant ships and a little over two thousand soldiers and sailors, the fleet that came this time was very powerful.

Including four third-level battleships: Prince Ningjing, Prince Yanping, Zhang Huangyan, and Mu Tianbo.

Four fourth-level battleships: Xia Wanchun, Chen Zilong, Chen Zizhuang, and Liu Wenxiu.

There were also nine fifth-level sailing cruise ships, including the Zhongzhen and Guo Zhiqi, as well as a large number of armed merchant ships, for a total of 43 ships.

Among them, there are eight battleships, nine cruisers, five fast frigates of more than 200 tons, sixteen armed merchant ships, and five large transport ships.

There were a total of 1,180 naval guns, a total tonnage of 39,000 tons, and 23,000 sailors and soldiers.

It can be said that this is the largest expedition of the Chinese Navy after ten years of construction.

Except for the three third-level battleships, King Xu, Mo Zhongjian and the Friendship sent to Europe, the Chinese Navy has been deployed in full force.

Therefore, Gui Hanbo, General Pingxi, Deputy Minister of the Navy, Vice Admiral Ma Bo (Manuel Bonn), personally came to the Fortune as captain and let the Fortune sail to the front of the fleet.

As a loyal servant of Emperor Mo, Ma Bo knew very well the significance of this fleet to the Chinese Empire.

If they were defeated by the British Indian Fleet in the Indian Ocean, all the efforts of the Chinese Empire over the past ten years would have been in vain.

More importantly, the British will reaffirm their advantage in the South China Sea, and the six Nanyang provinces of Rinan, Xingtang, Taiping, Andai, Jiaqing and Nanji will then face great threats.

The British could attack any city they wanted, at any time they wanted.

Therefore, before the fleet appeared, Mo Zibu only gave secret orders to Ma Bo (Manuel Bonn).

He was allowed to withdraw the main force of the fleet to Southeast Asia in extremely dangerous situations, even if it destroyed France's Indian strategy.

After all, Mo Zibu came to lend a hand, not to risk his entire fortune.

"Captain, the Dutch armed merchant ship Beaver is approaching me, waving all normal and welcome general flags." The midshipman on the Fortune reported loudly from the bow tower.

Ma Bo was originally the captain of the Lucky, a fifth-level sailing cruiser that was also Dayu's first warship, so Ma Bo was back to his old job.

His command and combat capabilities were mediocre, but he was adept at being the captain of a cruiser.

"Notify the fleet to slow down and cruise, waiting for our ship to come aboard and investigate. If the Dutch are being controlled by the English and there is a trap ahead, our ship will light the bow to warn them."

Ma Bo gave the order resolutely. At this time, the fleet was divided into three squadrons for fear of falling into the trap of the British. If Revner had been controlled by the British, it would not be easy for the fleet to get out once it entered the port.

Fort William, Bengal.

The British had long known that the Chinese fleet was likely to come to the Indian Ocean because news had leaked that a French naval officer corps headed by Vice Admiral Suffren was heading to the East.

However, due to the strict restrictions imposed by Dayu on the British in the entire Southeast Asia in the past three years, including mainland China, the British intelligence capabilities in Southeast Asia were greatly weakened.

At the same time, the sudden rebellion of the thirteen North American states greatly disrupted the British deployment in the East, resulting in a significant reduction in their investment in the East.

Not to mention Nanyang, even India's investment has been decreasing. Therefore, without knowing the movements of the Chinese fleet, or even whether it will come.

The British sent two groups of fast cruisers to cruise between Ceylon and Sumatra, hoping to find evidence that the Chinese fleet had entered the Indian Ocean.

But the ocean was too vast and the sailing warships had to maintain speed, so even though they made careful arrangements, they still could not catch any trace of the Chinese fleet.

Of course, with the English's understanding of the ocean, they knew very well that it was a low-probability event for the outpost ship to discover the Chinese fleet, and it was normal if it did not discover it.

So, they anchored a very safe reference, which was the Kingdom of Mysore.

As long as the Kingdom of Mysore launched an attack, it meant that the Chinese fleet would most likely have reached the Indian Ocean.

July 7th is the seventh day of the sixth lunar month.

Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of British India, received a report from John Whitehill, the Governor-General of Madras, that Hyder Ali of the Kingdom of Mysore had launched an attack on British colonies in India.

"The fleet must leave port immediately. I will take advantage of the northeast monsoon and ocean currents to circumnavigate the entire Indian Ocean, returning to the Bay of Bengal every thirty days or so.

If the Chinese fleet attacks Calcutta or Chittagong, Your Excellency, please make sure to light a warning smoke signal along the coast."

Commander of the British Indian Fleet, Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes of England, immediately stood up and spoke.

At this time, the British Indian Fleet had two main warships, namely the Hero, a three-class battleship built in 1759, and the Thunder, a three-class battleship built in 1760.

These two third-level battleships were historically classified as the Hero class. They were sister ships that were built almost at the same time. They had a displacement of 1564 tons, carried 74 guns, and had a crew of 617 people.

In history, only the Hero class arrived in India and served as the flagship of the British Indian Fleet, participating in the Battle of Cuddalore between the British and French navies in the Indian Ocean.

But at this time and space, the British were under great pressure in the Indian Ocean, so they also transferred the Hero's sister ship, the Thunder.

Of course, this also saved the lives of all the people on board the Thunder, because in September of this year, the Thunder was sunk by a hurricane in the West Indies, and all 617 people on board were killed.

In addition to the two third-class battleships, HMS Hero and HMS Thunder, the British Indian Fleet also had a fourth-class battleship, HMS Antelope, with a displacement of 684 tons, 54 guns, and a crew of about 400 people.

Then there were all armed merchant ships, about twenty-five in total.

It can be said that the English fleet is at an absolute disadvantage compared to the Chinese fleet, so Vice Admiral Edward Hughes, who is proficient in naval warfare, needs to set sail immediately.

Because navigation at this time depends almost entirely on wind power, it is impossible to rely on human power to change the direction with 100% accuracy.

Then it is possible that the fleet formation will become disorganized, the distance between the front and the back will become too far, or even the fleet will become separated. This is more likely to happen in larger fleets.

The quality of officers and soldiers in the English fleet was much higher than that of France and China. They only had three battleships in total, so they basically had no such worries.

Relying on such advantages, it is entirely possible to find the isolated Chinese fleet and attack it during the continuous voyage.

In addition, in the opinion of Lieutenant General Edward Hughes, the Chinese, who had just started to play with battleships, were definitely inferior to the British in ship operation technology, sea sailing experience, and the officers and soldiers' tolerance of sea sailing life.

If both sides continue to play hide-and-seek in the Indian Ocean for long enough, the Chinese fleet will surely be the first to give in.

By then, a large number of sailors on the ship will be suffering from fatigue or even illness, and their desire to fight will be greatly reduced. This will be the best time to annihilate them.

As for the Chinese fleet attacking Calcutta directly without caring about the British fleet, it was simply seeking death.

By then, your warships will be inconvenient to move after entering the port, and others will blockade you outside the port, and attack you with every ship that comes out. You will have no choice but to take the beating and will not be able to fight back at all.

As for breaking out from the port, if it had been successful once, even if it was the British and French navies, it would have been recorded in history books and would have been a famous battle on Wikipedia and Baidu Encyclopedia in future generations.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Sufran, who had rested in Jaffna for five days, also received news that the Mysore Kingdom had sent troops.

Before this, the Kingdom of Mysore sent people twice to request the delivery of supplies, but Lieutenant General Sufran made excuses for various reasons.

This bad Frenchman knew how to deal with the locals very well. He wanted to wait until the most urgent moment came to Mysore before sending these supplies there.

Vice Admiral Sufran looked at the group of Chinese Navy trainee officers gathered around him and said, "Besides, we can also spread this news now.

Because the English fleet will definitely choose to circle with us in the Indian Ocean, which will be very disadvantageous to us.

The rising young tiger of the Chinese Empire was no match for the old wolf king of England in the back-and-forth fight that required rich experience.

Therefore, we must wait until the English Army on land reaches its most critical moment, and then announce to all of India that we are sending 3,000 flintlock muskets and 20 field guns to the Mysore people. That way, the British fleet will be forced to take the initiative and fight us.

Upon hearing Vice Admiral Sufran's arrangements, a group of people surrounding him, mostly Chinese Navy trainee officers in their twenties, couldn't help but burst into applause.

Most of these people are students from the Quanzhou Xiamen Naval Academy, and they are all very interested in defeating the world's naval hegemon.

"Lieutenant General, if that's the case, then do we not need to circle around the Indian Ocean looking for the English fleet?" After the applause, Cai Qian's eyes lit up and he asked in fluent French.

Lieutenant General Sufran showed a satisfied look and said approvingly, "Cai, you are right. We will set sail for the Maldives now to help Hassan Nuraddin I eliminate the English on the island.

When they come back two months later, the English will have gone through at least two circles and will be extremely tired."

(End of this chapter)