The first thousand four hundred and eighty-fifth chapters storm that attacked the fleet
Li Xuan's worries were not groundless. Many ships going out to sea these days, whether merchant ships or warships, encountered storms and sank.
Otherwise, the reason why overseas trade is profitable is not because the risks are high. If there are no risks along the way and the ships can come back safely after going out, how can the profits be so huge?
The Second Joint Landing Fleet, where Dong Qiankun belonged, was naturally not smooth sailing. The first half was fine, but when it was about to arrive at the African coast, it was extremely unlucky to encounter a storm!
Under the storm, human power is insignificant. Those ships with a displacement of only a few hundred tons are like small leaves in the storm. Even the navy's battleship of more than a thousand tons, which Dong Qiankun is aboard, is still on the sea. It rises and falls with the waves, as if it could sink at any moment.
The ships in the entire fleet were drifting everywhere with the storm. At the same time, in order to avoid sinking, each ship had to temporarily adjust its course, and it was impossible to maintain a fixed course.
At that time, everyone basically accepted their destiny and fled for their lives!
When the storm dissipated, there were only about 30 ships left near Dong Qiankun's boat, and the remaining 70 or so ships had no idea where they had gone.
The Indian Ocean Fleet performing escort missions was no better, with more than 30 ships in total and most of them missing.
In the end, we had no choice but to wait for the wind and waves to calm down. We could only look for ships everywhere, especially sending fast communication ships and other high-speed ships equipped with steam engines to search for them one by one along the surrounding waters.
At the same time, we continue to sail forward according to the predetermined goal.
Before the incident, we had considered situations such as getting separated on the road. In order to prevent the lost ship from being able to return, it had been stipulated that in the event of being separated, the lost ship would go to the Datang supply port in the northeast of Madagascar, Madagascar.
In the next three days, many ships were found one by one or gathered together. Finally, the Second Joint Landing Fleet and the Indian Ocean Fleet combined together brought together more than 80 ships, but there were still as many as More than 40 ships were lost.
But there was nothing we could do. A storm a few days ago lasted for most of the day. Everyone was running for their lives for most of the day. At that time, no one could care about the heading.
It is already very good to be able to collect more than 80 ships now.
The remaining ships could only pray that they could escape this disaster and reach Mada City safely.
Anyway, the captains on those ships all have complete compasses and other navigation instruments, and have rich navigation experience. Although they were blown off course by the storm, there was no big problem in adjusting the course and arriving at Motor City. Difficulty.
Well, the premise is that the ship is not damaged, especially the sails, steam engines and other power systems.
If the mast is broken and the steam engine is broken, then there is no choice but to float on the sea and wait for death.
Not to mention the ships that sank on the spot in the storm.
After another six days of continuous sailing, Dong Qiankun arrived at Motor City with the fleet.
This Motor City is the first stronghold of Datang Western Trading Company in Africa, and it is also the first large-scale stronghold!
Because the Portuguese controlled the coastal routes of India, although the Datang Western Trading Company had been competing with them for many years, it also opened colonies and strongholds on the western coast of India, West Asia and other regions, but the scale was not large, and the routes were also controlled by the Portuguese. control.
Therefore, sometimes when Datang's merchant ships went to central and southern Africa, they often chose to go directly across the Indian Ocean and directly to the waters of central and southern Africa.
At this time, most of the northeastern and central coastlines of Africa were controlled by the Portuguese, leaving only a few areas blank. The Tang Dynasty also took the opportunity to establish several colonies. At the same time, in order to solve the difficult problem of traveling to southern Africa, it specially
A large supply port was established on the island of Madagascar.
Although the Portuguese also had several trading posts on the Madagascar Road, the Portuguese obviously had no interest in this large island. They only set up a few trading posts and did not operate these as important strongholds. Their focus was still on
On the African coastline, especially the South Africa, central and northeastern regions of the eastern coastline of Africa.
This allowed the Tang Empire to calmly establish Motor City here, and use this Motor City as a logistics base to compete with the Portuguese on the eastern coast of Africa. However, the distance was too far and supplies were difficult, so the results have not been great.
The most commendable effect among them should be Xiyinzhou. Among the many colonies of the Tang Dynasty along the Indian Ocean, there were not many that could be called states, and Xiyinzhou was one of them, which shows its importance.
In order to establish the West Indian State on the border of South Africa, the Tang Dynasty had several fierce fights with the Portuguese, and they are still in a very tense situation. The Tang Dynasty Western Trading Company has stationed more than a thousand troops here all year round, and
We have also organized more than 2,000 people to immigrate here all the way from China. The purpose is not for immigration and development, but purely to develop cultivated land locally to achieve the most basic self-sufficiency, to avoid no matter what, especially
Food and other things have to be transported from India.
As an important logistical transfer station for the Tang Dynasty's trade and colonization in Africa, Mada City was relatively large. In addition to a military fortress, there was also a large port city.
However, the expedition fleet is so large that even a logistics transfer station like Motor City cannot fully accommodate it. Only some ships can enter the berths to berth, and most of them stay in ports or simply along the coast.
After arriving at Mada City, Dong Qiankun took inventory and found that there were only more than 8,000 troops under his command, and more than 4,000 people were missing on other missing ships.
At the same time, many ships transporting ammunition were lost.
This made him particularly helpless. In the Battle of Ceylon, his combat casualties were less than a thousand men. Although there were more non-combat casualties, they were only a thousand men. The total loss was only two thousand three hundred.
Among the people, only eight or nine hundred were killed in battle or died of illness. The remaining wounded or sick were able to survive.
But now, a full four thousand troops are missing, including an entire artillery regiment...
It sounds nice to say that they just lost contact, but if they never return, then the fate of these people can be imagined.
This made Dong Qiankun sigh for a long time!
When the Tang Dynasty fought in the Indian Ocean, its biggest enemy was not the Portuguese at all. As for the indigenous people, it was not worth mentioning. The biggest enemy of the Tang Dynasty was the sea and nature!
But there was nothing he could do about sighing. He could only stay in Motor City and wait slowly, hoping that the missing ships would arrive in Motor City.
At the same time, after being devastated by the storm, many ships in the fleet needed repairs. Some had problems with their masts and sails, some had problems with their steam engines, and some even suffered major hull ruptures.
Among the ships he collected, five ships had been abandoned voluntarily due to various problems, and all of these abandoned ships had hulls that were too damaged to plug the leaking holes, and were finally forced to abandon them.
.
As for the masts and sails being destroyed, or even the steam engine being broken, these are not big problems, because the fleet brings a large number of technicians and spare materials and tools, which can carry out simple repairs.
Only the hull was severely damaged, and there was nothing we could do about it.
When a storm blows, there are strong winds and waves on the sea. If something goes wrong, the ship will be damaged due to the violent turbulence. Although most ships have survived, some ships have not.
Dong Qiankun stayed on Motor City and led his troops to rest, and at the same time asked technicians to repair and maintain the ships. At the same time, he was waiting for the missing ships to find Motor City.
In the next few days, missing ships arrived in Motor City one after another, which made Dong Qiankun feel relieved.
However, after waiting here for half a month, Dong Qiankun still failed to wait for the last dozen or so ships. Dong Qiankun knew that they were definitely in danger.
Even if contact is lost, half a month has passed. As long as the ship can sail and the captain is not stupid, Motor City can basically be found. But now half a month has passed, and the remaining dozen or so ships are still there.
Couldn't arrive.
Their fate is probably already sealed; they have either sunk or are floating on the sea waiting to die.
A storm caused the Tang Dynasty's fleet to expedition to Africa to lose a total of twenty-three ships. Adding together the army, navy, company fleet and other units, the number of missing people reached more than 3,000, and countless materials were lost.
The only thing that made Dong Qiankun feel at ease was that the artillerymen of his artillery regiment arrived at Motor City safe and sound. The only drawback was that the ship transporting the artillery regiment was also out of contact.
It's like having artillery but no artillery.
But this is not a big problem. There are a lot of artillery in the fleet. Not to mention the warships in the navy, even those merchant ships have many artillery. When the time comes, just remove the artillery from the ship.
The Navy often does this kind of thing, dismantling the naval guns and moving them to land to be used as ground artillery. Not only the artillery, the Navy often also carries part of the gun mount with the ship, which is the same as the gun mount of the army artillery. The one with wheels
kind!
Although there was a storm along the way, which made Dong Qiankun particularly helpless and had a great impact on the morale of the army, the battle still had to be fought. After resting in Motor City for a full month, Dong Qiankun was the leader.
With only 10,000 of his landing troops left, he took the ships of the Second Combined Landing Fleet, escorted by the Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet, and continued to set sail for Western India.
They will land in Western India, and then use Western India as a starting point to launch an attack on South Africa under the control of the Portuguese!
After going through all kinds of hardships to get to Africa, if we don't win South Africa, how can we cope with the three thousand army and navy soldiers who died at sea!