Dominate the Country

Off the coast of Cape Town.

On the ‘calm’ sea, a damaged Western-style sailing merchant ship slowly approached Cape Town Harbor at a speed of less than three knots. The British Union Jack on the mast was so rotten that it was almost unrecognizable.

The lookouts of the two Swordfish-class small clipper warships patrolling more than ten miles outside the harbor curiously discovered the miserable situation on the Western-style sailing ship. With the consent of the leading officer, the two small clipper warships quickly approached.

Since Chen Han’s South African expeditionary force captured Cape Town Harbor, although the main force went east to Durban Harbor, part of the expeditionary force’s naval and land forces were still stationed in Cape Town. This place, which has been controlled by Europeans for three hundred years, flies the red flag of the East all day long.

An hour later, Cape Town Harbor brought back some ‘exciting’ good news. Although this good news is only for the Chinese, it is absolutely bad news for the British merchant ships still staying in Cape Town - a mixed fleet composed of France, Spain and the Netherlands appeared on the west coast of South Africa.

In fact, this is not only bad news for the British, but also a warning for Chen Han.

Not long ago, an ocean-going merchant ship flying the British Union Jack sailed from India to the British mainland. It encountered a damaged British merchant ship, the Augustus, about 300 nautical miles south of Cape Town Port. After the two ships met, they found out that the other party had passed through Cape Town Port only five days earlier than themselves.

The Cape of Good Hope, not far to the east of Cape Town Port, faces the turbulent Atlantic Ocean all year round. For half of the 365 days of the year, there are roaring winds and huge waves. Even on the calmest days, the waves are 2 meters high; when the wind is high and the waves are fierce, the sky-high waves are even more than 15 meters.

Although the cold and warm waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet at the Cape of Good Hope, forming a wonderful scene of ever-changing weather. The blue sky, the deep sea, the yellow reefs, the white waves, the pleasant sea breeze, the bright sunshine, and the seabirds flying in the sky form a beautiful picture of tranquility and grandeur. But in fact, the beautiful Cape of Good Hope is a gate of hell in the history of navigation between the East and the West. For more than 200 years, countless merchant ships have sunk there.

The British merchant ship was delayed for a few days in the sea east of the Cape of Good Hope because of bad weather, otherwise it would probably go north with the Augustus.

The Augustus sailing ship, which went north to the British mainland first, was attacked by a Spanish warship when it was replenishing fresh water in the northern Namibia region, and it was hard to escape. But they also learned a shocking news-now the route from Cape Town to the north has been blocked by a joint fleet of France, Spain and the Netherlands.

Although no one believed that the three-nation joint navy could block the Namibian route all the time, it undoubtedly increased the danger of British ships' navigation in the meantime.

Just as the British ocean-going merchant ship was delivering materials to the damaged Augustus, a three-masted sailing ship with a Dutch flag appeared.

The British ocean-going merchant ship could not withstand a regular three-masted warship, but the good British merchant ship became the prey of the Dutch, and the damaged Augustus took the opportunity to escape.

It should be that the Dutch warship had determined that the Augustus was a cooked duck.

Now the Augustus can only return to Cape Town Port to repair the ship. Holes were shot on both sides of its side by shells, and a secondary mast was broken. Fortunately, when the mast fell, the sail rope was cut in time, otherwise, if the Augustus was entangled on the spot, the end would be needless to mention. And now the Augustus can only return to Cape Town for repairs.

Otherwise, with its shabby appearance, it can't even pass the "calm" Cape of Good Hope.

Cai Qian, who led a squadron to garrison Cape Town, immediately received the news. The enemy is no more than 300 nautical miles away from Cape Town, and 300 nautical miles is at most two days' journey for a sailing warship.

After following Zhu Fu through a series of wars in the Mediterranean, the injured Cai Qian was transferred to Aden Port for recuperation. When the South African Expeditionary Force arrived in Aden, he became the commander of the expeditionary navy.

Now Cai Qian has a third-level sailing battleship and a fourth-level sailing battleship in his hands, and then there are as many as four small clipper warships. The guns on the deck of the latter have all been converted into hexagonal guns.

After the secret of the rocket was leaked, the clipper warship has regained new vitality because of the hexagonal gun. Unfortunately, this hexagonal gun is not unique to Chen Han. The British and French must have thought of installing hexagonal guns on fast-speed clipper warships.

In front of Cai Qian was a large sea chart with several coordinates marked with red flags.

The first was where the Augustus encountered the Spanish warship, the second was where the two British merchant ships encountered the Dutch warship, and then the British territory in Namibia.

"It has been four days since the Augustus was intercepted for the first time, and the second time two days ago..."

Before the accident, the Augustus could run at least 150 nautical miles a day, but it certainly would not run fast with full sails all the time. After the injury, the Augustus could only run at most 100 nautical miles a day, and the speed was getting slower and slower.

The coordinates of the first mark are only about 250 nautical miles away from Cape Town, and the second coordinates are less than 200 nautical miles away from Cape Town. This also shows that the Augustus did not sail very fast at the beginning.

It is very tiring and threatening to sail at full speed all the time. Now the sailing merchant ships are not steamships?

The nearest port of the British to Cape Town is located in the central part of Namibia, a full 500 nautical miles away.

"Commander Cai. Do we have to look for two small warships in such a large area? As long as they turn a corner, we will have a wasted trip."

Qiu Lianggong, the captain of the third-class sailing battleship Li Mu in Cape Town, said to Cai Qian.

As Cai Qian's peers, Qiu Lianggong and Cai Qian took the position of captain of the third-class sailing battleship in the same year. It's just that when Zhu Fu led the fleet to Europe, he chose Cai Qian instead of Qiu Lianggong-who made him not only a native of Tongan, Fujian, but also follow Ye Tingyang's path?

Wu Bi-Da, the admiral of the Fujian Navy in the former Qing Dynasty, was from the same hometown, and Ye Tingyang's father Ye Xiangde was Wu Bi-Da's general. Wu Bi-Da's son Wu Xiqun and Ye Xiangde planned the rebellion of the Fujian Navy and made great contributions to Chen Han.

Zhu Fu certainly would not choose Qiu Lianggong.

Although Cai Qian was also from Fujian, he was assigned to the Beiyang Navy after graduation, and he had nothing to do with Ye Tingyang.

Cai Qian traveled around Europe, fought one battle after another, and his official position was immediately promoted. He was one step ahead of Qiu Lianggong and stepped into the level of fleet commander.

"The Dutch chased the British merchant ship to the west..." Cai Qian looked at the sea chart and said nothing. Qiu Lianggong made sense.

This area is indeed too large.

"Captain Qiu, if you were the captain of the Dutch, which direction would you choose to leave after capturing the results of the battle?" No matter how fast the British sailboat ran, it could not outrun a cruiser. The Dutch's navigation technology was not inferior to that of the British.

Cai Qian knew that Qiu Lianggong was a little bit unwilling to accept him, so he was unwilling to make friends with Qiu Lianggong. The two had been together for half a year, and they still addressed each other by their official titles.

"If I were a Dutchman, I would definitely go north immediately after I succeeded." There is a cold current on the west coast of South Africa, flowing from high latitudes to low latitudes. That happens to be heading north to Namibia. Walvis Bay, the Dutch's foothold in Namibia, is a good place for them to deal with the spoils.

As for whether the British merchant ship with a very small chance of escape will fight to the death, it is unlikely. If it is the British Royal Navy, it may have the courage to fight to the last minute, but British merchants will definitely not "die for their country". Qiu Lianggong and Cai Qian both think that the British are very likely to surrender.

Walvis Bay, also known as Walvis Bay, is located in the central part of Namibia. In 1487 of the Western calendar, the fleet led by the Portuguese Bartholomew Dias first sailed here and found that it was a rare and excellent harbor on the southern African coast. Before the 18th century, the Dutch who occupied South Africa had conducted a human geography survey of it. Since there were many whales near Walvis Bay, the colonists called this bay Walvis Bay.

If the joint navy of France, Spain and the Netherlands wanted to block the British route, their foothold would most likely be there.

There is an old Chinese saying: You must be on guard against others. As the saying goes: People have no intention to harm tigers, but tigers have the intention to hurt people.

The contradictions between China, France and Spain should have been shelved, at least they did not fight as soon as they met. But what about the contradiction between China and the Netherlands?

The Netherlands is a vassal state of France, and Spain is also a vassal state of France. If China is hostile to the Netherlands, it is equivalent to being hostile to France; if China is hostile to France, it is equivalent to being hostile to Spain. In this way, the joint fleet of the three countries in the north must be guarded.

The French have no colonies in Namibia, and the Spanish are very weak in this generation, except for the Dutch Walvis Bay.

"The commander means that we can search in the direction of Walvis Bay?"

"Of course not to send the Li Mu. Send two Swordfish-class ships..."

Cai Qian made a decision in his heart. "Now we can only say that the possibility in that direction is the highest."

Half an hour later, a bell rang in Cape Town Harbor. As the bell rang, two Swordfish-class clipper warships docked in the harbor, with sails, raised their anchors, and slowly sailed out of Cape Town Harbor. Then the speed increased little by little, and finally disappeared under the sea level in the distance.

The beautiful clipper warship drew a beautiful arc on the sea surface, heading towards Walvis Bay, a Dutch territory hundreds of miles north.

This is not a cat-and-mouse anti-piracy war, but a very dangerous reconnaissance operation.

Although it is not clear why the navies of the three countries want to block the route, it is clear that the British will definitely respond quickly.

Neither Britain nor France could expect to live in peace with each other for a long time. Napoleon needed war and victory to consolidate his position, and the British would not willingly implement the terms of the Treaty of Amiens.

Napoleon refused to withdraw from the Netherlands, and at the same time he announced to Switzerland that he wanted to implement a new state system in Switzerland and establish a government friendly to France. When he explained this request, he particularly pointed out that Switzerland's geographical location was between France and France's Italy, and he sent General Ney with 30,000 soldiers to the Swiss border. Switzerland had to surrender. At the same time, France also annexed the Island of Elba and Piedmont.

After the Treaty of Lunéville, the German states were frightened by Napoleon, who took the opportunity to treat them as slaves, and French influence in Germany was rapidly expanded. All this, Britain could not tolerate in any way, and it did not want to tolerate it.

Britain's tit-for-tat response was to refuse to withdraw from Malta.

Although the fleet led by Nelson withdrew from Alexandria, he still captured the vital island of Malta. This was a long thorn in Napoleon's heart!