The moment the Dutch fleet was discovered, the intercontinental trade fleet and the Indian Ocean trade fleet sounded the alarm bell almost at the same time, but the entire fleet formation was not at all. It was not that the quality of the crew of the United States had reached that level, but that this huge fleet itself was in the rapid sailing stage.

After entering the Strait of Malacca and discussing with many captains and members of the sailing advisory group (mostly Portuguese and British), He Wenxi has confirmed that the intercontinental trade fleet is late!

If the planning process is followed, the trade fleet will be crossed in ports on the Indian coast such as Goa and Surat in April to conduct a high-standard trade meeting. However, the difficulty caused is that when the port is out, the southwest monsoon will almost come. At that time, the coast of East Africa will be heading against the wind. What’s more serious is that when the fleet arrives at the dangerous Cape of Good Hope, it is winter in the southern hemisphere, and the Cape of Good Hope is even more dangerous!

Therefore, just leaving the equatorial windless belt in Malacca, the intercontinental trade fleet sailed quickly and strived to arrive at the destination Port of Goa as soon as possible. The trade meetings originally scheduled for Goa and Surat also made a slight change and will still be held for one month, but the fleet will only stay for fifteen days and will immediately move south, striving to rush to Mozambique Island before the southwest monsoon comes.

On the Free Trade, He Wenxi used a high-power telescope to observe the Dutch fleet not far away. The number of this fleet was twelve, including four warships, and the remaining were armed merchant ships with large tonnage and a layer of artillery deck. He Wenxi couldn't help but frown. The reason was very simple. The Dutch East India Company had about 14 professional warships, but had fifty-six East India sailing ships that could travel to Europe and Batavia. You should know that when more than half of them were on the route, the fleet in front of him was at least one-third of the combat force of the Dutch.

Could it be that the Dutch set up a battlefield to ambush the fleet?

The sailors climbed up and down the mast, raised the signal flag at Taylor's request, and the entire fleet entered combat state. Six free trade class turned left to form a battle line, two cruisers lined behind, while two schooners and trade fleets around the Indian Ocean turned right and quickly left the battlefield.

Although the Indian Ocean trade fleet is all armed merchant ships, both the flute-shaped ships and the large Yahat do not have artillery decks in order to expand the cabin space. Those ships only have eight to eighteen light artillery, which are arranged on the open-air deck or the stern tower. It is okay to deal with pirates, and conducting battle-line artillery battles is a suicide.

The mixed trade fleet formed a combat formation, but the Dutch fleet performed very gently. Instead of approaching, they instead played friendly and visiting flags. He Wenxi looked nervously and said, "Agree to them to send envoys to the ship to contact us!"

Taylor said: "No, sir, there's something wrong with this fleet!"

He Wenxi knew that Taylor was an experienced fleet commander, so he quickly asked: "What's the trick?"

Taylor ordered a booklet and opened it and said, "Sir, I'm sure that the pilot ship is definitely not a combat ship in the East India Company's sequence."

He Wenxi looked at the pilot ship again. It was a warship with a full load displacement of about 1,300 tons. Counting its artillery windows, it should have about 60 artillery pieces, including more than 40 heavy artillery pieces of 18 pounds and above. This type of battleship can also serve as a facade in the whole of Europe. The album presented by Taylor is about the armed ships of the East India Company. When the Spaniards reached the Cebu Treaty and the navy of this country will not cause threats within 20 years, the United States Navy's attention was focused on the Dutch, so it invested a lot of resources in its intelligence collection, especially the main warships, and large-tonnage armed merchant ships that could join the battle line. These battleships have albums in hand. Senior officers like Taylor can even directly call out the names of each warship.

The pilot ship, the Van Witt, was obviously not on the album, and the firepower of this warship ranks among all the professional warships of the East India Company, and it is not a new ship, so why did it appear here?

"What do you think you should do?" He Wenxi was not from a navy and would not interfere in terms of fleet command.

Taylor knew that when the two sides started a war, their side would definitely lose. If they wanted to gain the upper hand, they would have to take the lead. He said: "Since they wanted to visit friendly, just lean on it, close the door, and load the ammunition in the cabin. Once a problem was found, open fire immediately and take the initiative!"

He Wenxi knew very well that a merchant fleet full of cargo could not escape professional warships. He could only agree with Taylor's method. The battle lines began to approach the Dutch fleet, all the gun doors were closed, and friendly flags were raised. The eight warships had only one layer of artillery deck. After closing the gun doors, each gun position began to load shells alternately. The eighteen-pound and twelve-pound main guns were loaded with double solid bullets, and the nine-pound and six-pound guns on the stern building were loaded with two shotguns. All the sailors and some Portuguese guests on the ship were mobilized and distributed weapons. Obviously, as long as the war started, the bayonets were fired first and then jumped to the gang, and they fought hard!

The fleets of both sides approached and slowed down. They each sent small boats to contact the flagship. Unexpectedly, the Dutch fleet had no intention of attacking at all. The commander of the fleet requested to board the Free Trade to visit.

If there is hostility, the commander should not be alone. After agreeing to the Admiral Djot to board the ship, He Wenxi lifted the alert for the Free Trade. The Admiral boarded the ship. Both sides saluted each other. Taylor guided Djot to visit the Free Trade as the commander of the fleet, and then entered He Wenxi's office. The two sides had a good conversation, and there was no smell of gunpowder at all.

From Djot, He Wenxi learned about the identity of this fleet. It turned out that this was the Dutch East India Company stationed in Cialis, and its home port was located in Galle Port. In other words, the enemy of the fleet was the Portuguese in the Governor of Goa. The reason why the fleet was close to the mixed trade fleet was that this naval commander who had been fighting on the Indian coast since he came to the East had been accustomed to the United States for a long time and wanted to see the United States fleet.

Djot invited the fleet to dock at the Port of Galle, and he promised to provide supplies to it, but He Wenxi politely refused. Not to mention that there was no time, even He Wenxi would not allow the fleet to dock at a port in a war zone, especially the other party participating in the war was the largest partner in this intercontinental trade.

"This may be that kind of pure soldier." He Wenxi sighed after sending Djot back.

Taylor looked at the Dutch fleet and said, "Your Excellency, I feel that the honeymoon period between the United States and the East India Company is about to end."

He Wenxi smiled: "It's because we are involved in intercontinental trade in the East and the West?"

Taylor shook his head and said, "When you were having a friendly and friendly meeting with His Excellency Djot, I obviously liked the pistol inlaid with Siamese gems that I gave him, so I successfully got the information from the battleship Van Witt from the adjut."

"Is there anything special?" He Wenxi asked.

"Seven months ago, this warship belonged to the Dutch Navy!" Taylor said.

He Wenxi immediately frowned. In the intelligence filing of the United States, the United Republic of the Netherlands was still fighting a war with the Habsburgs. As part of the Navy of the United Republic, the Dutch Navy was the main force. Why was the main ship of the main navy sent to the east? It is obvious that the war was over.

As far as Wen Xi speculated, the war that was later named Thirty Years' War ended, which could almost be regarded as World War I signed a peace agreement seven months ago.

(Thirty Years' War affected most European countries and also put colonies around the world into a state of war. The war burned the whole world. If it is regarded as a world war, then the Ming Dynasty undoubtedly stood on the Habsburg side, because between Portugal and the Netherlands, the Ming Dynasty chose the former)

The end of the war means that the East India Company does not have to bear heavy naval donations, nor does it have to tighten its belt to supply food and wages to Europe. The East India Company's freedom will be increased and the resources it earns will be obtained. Obviously, the East India Company is also determined to explore in the East, or to curb the expansion of the United States. From the dispatch of the Van Witt, it can be seen that it was sent to the East as soon as the war ended. Obviously, the East India Company could not wait to strengthen its strength.

(The Netherlands Navy is very strange. It always sells naval ships as soon as the war ends to reduce military expenditures. Other countries are more sealed. In order to avoid such situations, when preparing for the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Netherlands Parliament also specifically legislated for ships built - these ships cannot be sold!)

"This is an important information, and I will write it in the work report." He Wenxi said.

"Actually, it's not that pessimistic. At least the war between the East India Company and Portugal is not over yet," Taylor said.

He Wenxi said: "Who knows, we cannot pin our hopes on an unreliable country."

The struggle between the East India Company and the Portuguese is more difficult than in the original history. After all, in the original history, the Dutch took advantage of the attack on Portugal by the Omani and retreating steadily on the East African coast to get the opportunity to occupy Ceylon. However, because of the existence of the United States, the East India Company took action early, but the Omani took advantage of this opportunity to go south to the East Africa coast and seized a lot of benefits. History was reversed in this time and space.

The mixed trade fleet continued to speed up its sails, carefully bypassed the Ceylon coast, and arrived in Goa on March 5. On the Indian coast, the mixed trade fleet had two stops, the Portuguese Goa and the British Surat. There was no doubt that Ho Wenxi would choose Goa. This was not only the relationship between the two countries, but also the safer Goa than Surat.

The British were obsessed with "quiet trade". Although Surat was the headquarters, it was essentially a business war. However, Goa was different. The Portuguese had been operating here for hundreds of years. Forts, forts, fleets, and troops were not short of them. Therefore, most of the merchant ships docked here. Ho Wenxi sent Ahat ship to deliver goods belonging to British merchants to Surat and brought some goods from the United States to facilitate the opening of the first Oriental Trade Conference.

Goa is indeed safe, but it is a very bad port. Similarly, there is the Dayuan Port chosen by the Dutch in Taiwan. Goa is located in the estuary delta, with severe siltation of the channel. No ships with more than 500 tons cannot enter and exit freely. It is even more impossible for free trade-level. Unless you have to tie a floating raft around the hull and enter while the tides are taking advantage of the Dutch's return fleet in the local area, but He Wenxi refused. The fleet will only stay here for fifteen days, and there is no need for such trouble. All kinds of commodities can be sent to send small boats to connect. The fleet is anchored in the outer sea. Anyway, at this time, the trade wind in the northeast is dark and the trade wind in the southwest has not risen, and the sea surface is still quiet.

The United States has its own store in Goa, which was established when the trade fleet came last year. There was also one in Surat. Therefore, in these two places, trade went smoothly. As for diplomacy, the British were obsessed with quiet trade and were friendly to everyone. In addition to demanding more and cheaper Chinese goods to the British East India Company, and in a consistent manner in dealing with Dutch hegemony, there were almost no requirements. The Portuguese Governor wanted to pull the United States out of the quagmire of war. Unfortunately, He Wenxi would not give the Duke Governor this opportunity.

He Wenxi was worried that the fleet would face opposition from merchants from both countries when it set sail half a month earlier, but the fact is that merchants from both countries hoped that the fleet would leave faster than anyone else.

The reason is very simple. Both countries are currently in a situation of insufficient trade capacity in the East and West. The British East India Company is still in its growth stage and has long relied on chartering to and from India. The only few ships are of varying sizes every year. Portugal once had a large trading fleet, but now, the Dutch East India and West India companies challenge the Portuguese on the Indian coast, East Africa, Guinea and Brazilian coasts. They have blatantly conquered cities and lands, and piracy is even more rampant. It is too dangerous for Portugal's trade fleet to return to China.

The space in the cabin for the intercontinental trade fleet to merchants from both countries is particularly valuable. Everyone knows that this intercontinental trade fleet has no enemies, only God is in a dilemma, so everyone wants to stuff their goods in, but the space in the cabin is limited. Those who come early naturally do not want to be competed by those who come late, so they hope that the trade fleet that has loaded the goods will leave quickly.

Since this is not a problem, Ho Wenxi had no worries in Goa and Surat, so he took an Ahat ship and accompanied by British merchant ships to Persia, which was a market that the United States was trying hard to expand. It had been in a blank state before and was worth a trip to Ho Wenxi himself.
Chapter completed!