On the vast Indian Ocean, dozens of large ships sailed on the sea, their sails were swollen by the wind, and the flags of the Ming Empire and the Ming Empire Army were hung high on the masts.
A knowledgeable person will immediately know at a glance that this is a unit belonging to the Ming Army.
Rows of Ming soldiers in military uniforms stood upright on the ship. They were all tall and straight, with resolute eyes and a hint of pride.
They are the army of the Ming Dynasty, a powerful army that spans the world. They punched the grassland people, kicked the South Sea monkeys, slaughtered the Ottoman Empire, and taught European pirates a lesson. Wherever their military flags went, they were all Han people, spreading the glory of the Ming Dynasty.
, spreading the five thousand years of Chinese civilization and fire.
This time, there are 20,000 Ming soldiers on dozens of large ships in front of them. They will go to the Red Sea area and be responsible for protecting the interests of the Ming Empire in this area.
Twenty thousand army soldiers, plus five thousand navy soldiers, equipped with twenty battleships, will form the Ming Red Navy and the Ming Red Sea Fleet.
They will become Ming's most powerful force in this region!
"How long does it take to reach the Red Sea area?"
Mao Lun looked at the endless sea with a telescope and seemed a little irritable. After more than three months of sailing from Tianjin, he was already eager to reach the Red Sea area as soon as possible. The days at sea were really too hard.
It's harder than training every day.
"General, according to the voyage calculation, we only need two days to reach the Red Sea area."
Beside Mao Lun, his adjutant Yang Zhen quickly replied.
"Two more days~"
Mao Lun nodded slightly, finally reaching the Red Sea.
"Get a map of the Red Sea area."
After thinking for a while, Mao Lun ordered again. Soon a soldier took out a map of the Red Sea area, and Mao Lun looked at it carefully.
"Yang Zhen, where do you think it is more appropriate to set up our military base?"
Mao Lun looked at the map and thought deeply.
"General, I believe that the choke point of the Indian Ocean between the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, is the most suitable."
"We only need to set up a military base here. Our army can go north to the Arabian Peninsula or Egypt at any time, and south to all parts of East Africa to support vassal states and colonies in various places."
"Our navy only needs to block this choke point to control this important route."
Yang Zhen drew a circle on the map and said.
"Hmm~"
Mao Lun nodded in agreement. This time when he came to the Red Sea, his mission was to establish a military base and military port, and at the same time he was responsible for protecting the Ming Dynasty's interests in the Red Sea, the Middle East, and East Africa.
The choice of this military base is very critical.
"Is there any news from Jinyiwei?"
After thinking about it, Mao Lun asked again.
"The last time we stayed in Ningguo, Jin Yiwei had already given us detailed information about this area."
"According to Jin Yiwei's information, this area has a tropical desert climate, with hot temperatures all year round, scanty precipitation, and few rivers around. Only this place called Djibouti has sufficient water sources. At the same time, the geographical location is very important, and
There are also excellent ports that can meet our various needs for establishing a military base."
Yang Zhen once again circled a small place on the map.
"Djibouti?"
"Which country does it belong to now?"
Mao Lun looked at the place Djibouti on the map. The geographical location is indeed very good. It just depends on the natural conditions of this place.
However, Jinyiwei's information has always been very accurate. Today's Jinyiwei is divided into two parts. One part is mainly responsible for monitoring domestic officials and various places as before, and the other part is mainly for the collection and analysis of overseas intelligence to assist the Ming army in
Overseas operations.
With his excellent intelligence capabilities, he repeatedly made great contributions in the Ming Dynasty's external expansion wars, transmitting intelligence from all over the world to the Ming army very accurately.
"Djibouti now belongs to the Sultanate of Adal~"
"The current Adal Sultanate is not a friendly country to us Ming people, especially since our Ming Dynasty vassal Chu State required all people in Chu State to convert to Buddhism, the Adal Sultanate has repeatedly
Attack the Chu State, and let the pirates and bandits in the country rob the merchant ships passing by our Ming Dynasty."
"If we want to set up a military base here, I'm afraid we will still have to fight a war."
Yang Zhen also quickly told the situation in Djibouti.
"snort!"
"We want to fight a good battle, and if we don't teach them a lesson, they really don't know how high the sky is. They even dare to bully our Ming vassals, and even dare to rob our Ming ships."
When Mao Lun heard this, he couldn't help but snorted coldly.
After thinking for a while, he said: "Give me the order to let everyone have a good rest these two days and prepare for battle."
"Our first battle in the Red Sea region will be against the Adal Sultanate!"
"Yes~"
…
Two days later, the Port of Djibouti was originally just a small port. This port was gradually formed by Arab merchants and Persian merchants from the north who came here to do business.
Arab merchants immigrated here and mixed and intermarried with the nomadic Somalis, Isa and Afar people here, and gradually formed a society where Somali culture and Arab culture were mixed.
In recent years, with the rise of the Ming Dynasty and the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Europe, Djibouti, which is located in a strategic location, has also become an important transportation hub. A large number of Ming Dynasty ships choose to stop here for rest, which also makes this place gradually
development and prosperity.
In the early morning, with the slightest sea breeze, Djibouti Port ushered in a new day.
The climate here is a tropical desert climate, with hot weather and sparse rainfall. It is very hot every day, and only the early morning is the coolest time of the day.
Therefore, a large number of people will come to the beach to enjoy the rare coolness, and the same is true in the port of Djibouti. The tax collector Oberke in the port stretches himself, looking forward to the arrival of a large number of ships.
What he hates most are the merchants from Tianzhu, but in recent years, there have been fewer and fewer merchants in Tianzhu. I heard that it seems that it is because Tianzhu is almost occupied by the Ming Dynasty.
Tianzhu merchants are extremely stingy, and they like to care about everything. The key is that they lack credit and never want to pay taxes. They even want you to give them some money. They think that they sell goods here and prosper Djibouti.
We should collect taxes from them and even thank them.
"Damn Tianzhu people, you deserve to be taken over by the Ming people."
Thinking of the Tianzhu merchants, Oberke couldn't help but spit and curse. One can imagine what a bad impression those Tianzhu merchants left on him.
In contrast, his favorite was the Ming merchants. The Ming merchants were very willing to pay taxes, and whenever a Ming merchant arrived, these Ming merchants would be very polite and give him a small gift as a tax collector.
.
His home was filled with small gifts from Ming merchants, silks, glass products, porcelain, etc. from Ming Dynasty, which made him, a tax collector, quickly become rich.
So now, when he saw the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, he couldn't help but want to extort money. His appetite was getting bigger and bigger, and he was no longer satisfied with the small gifts given by the merchants of the Ming Dynasty.
To be honest, he actually didn't understand the merchants of the Ming Dynasty. The power of the Ming Empire was unquestionable and had already spread here.
It stands to reason that such a powerful Ming Empire can be more confident in its actions. Even if it does not pay taxes, the great Sultan may not dare to embarrass Ming merchants.
However, these Ming businessmen gave the impression that they were very cautious, cooperative in paying taxes, and often sent small gifts to local officials, which left Oberke a little puzzled.
You must know that the Arab merchants and Persian merchants who come here to do business have a very arrogant attitude and are extremely unwilling to pay taxes. It is very difficult to collect taxes from them every time.
These Arabs and Persians keep saying that we are the great Arab Empire, who are we in the Persian Empire, how powerful we are, how difficult we are to mess with, and you'd better know how to deal with us, and so on.
Regarding these, everyone knows very well that both the Arab Empire and the Persian Empire are yesterday's flowers, but these Arabs and Persians are very cool, and they are indeed not easy to mess with. They will make trouble for even the smallest things.
Where is Sudan going?
So he, the tax collector, doesn't like Arabs and Persians, but they are all the people of the Lord. In contrast, although the Ming people are friendly everywhere, he still likes to cause trouble for the Ming people.
For no other reason than to extort more money from the people of Ming Dynasty and extort some property. With this little power in his hands, he has built a mansion and bought dozens of slaves. He lived a very comfortable life.
He prays every day that more Ming ships will arrive here so that he can have more income.
As usual, after getting up every day, he would habitually look at the sea, hoping to see the silhouette of the ship sailing towards the Djibouti Port.
“So many boats~”
This time, he couldn't help but wipe his eyes, feeling that he seemed to have seen wrongly.
After wiping his eyes, he looked at the sea again, his eyes widened slightly.
"Get rich, get rich~"
Then, he immediately cheered because on the sea between the water and the sky, he could clearly see dozens of large ships heading towards the Djibouti Port.
The Ming Dynasty dragon flag flying on the ship was so dazzling that he could see it clearly at a glance from a long distance. He seemed to see a large amount of gold and silver flying towards him.