Chapter 1080: Prelude to the Diwu Battle
After everything was arranged, Marin was still not at ease. You know, this time he played too much, one-time calculation of the top two European powers. If they were found, they would definitely not be able to walk around.
Therefore, he restlessly called back to Kohler and added:
"This matter is very important and must not be disclosed. Otherwise, the consequences will be disastrous. So, this time, the spy responsible for the Paris branch of the North Sea Chamber of Commerce in Paris must find the most reliable person to do it. And, after finishing this matter , This most reliable person must also be transferred from Paris, so as not to be caught by the French in the future and leak confidentiality. So, afterwards, this person will be transferred to the Americas as a colonial official ... "
Kohler nodded, expressing his understanding. But Marin added:
"As for the French" temporary workers "hired, after the mission is completed, let their ships accidentally sink into the Atlantic ..."
"Understand, never let them come back alive!"
"Wait a minute, the French will definitely investigate this afterwards. So, you deliberately leave a clue to the Venetian. The Venetian just happened to have an enmity with Spain because of the Indian spice problem ..." Marin thinks that a French is not enough, and Venice, which had an enmity with the Spaniards because of spices, also dragged the water.
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Seeing Marin's uneasy look there, Kohler suddenly said:
"Master, since you are so afraid of being discovered by the Spaniards, why not let the French and the Venetians do this? In this case, it is indeed they who do it, we will be able to clear up the suspicions."
Marin froze:
"What do you mean?"
Kohler thought for a while and said:
"Since you want to blame Spain and France, two countries that hate Spain, why not quietly notify them and let them do it? I think they will be happy to trouble the Spaniards. "
Marin nodded:
"The words are so, but how can people be seen from our shadows?" After all, secretly informing France and Venice will leave traces.
"It's better to let your men pretend to be Venetians and quietly notify the French. Then let another passerby pretend to be French and quietly notify the Venetians ... In this way, the two parties will mistakenly think that the other party has notified themselves, but they will not say it. , Can make the Spanish unlucky, they are happy to see ... "
Marlin immediately shot his thigh:
"This is a good idea! If the French and Venetians are indeed involved, we are indeed easier to hide! Well, the people responsible for notifying the two countries will be sent to the Americas as colonial officials afterwards! In this way, our tail will be swept away. Clear! "
"Okay, I'll arrange it immediately!" Kohler hurriedly went to pick the manpower.
...
The Marin sent people to notify France and Venice separately, hoping that they would send a mission to Marrakech and Saad tribes to make suggestions. In the choice of providing strategies, Marin also thought carefully.
After much thought, Marin decided to send someone to suggest that Venice send an emissary to Marrakech to offer the main cavalry to the Spanish army ’s supply line to the Sultan Abu Abdullah Burtukali Ibn Mohammed of the Vatas dynasty. plan. While sending a mission to the Saad tribe to persuade him not to attack the Vatas dynasty behind his mission, Marin intends to hand it over to the French.
The reason for this is that Marin is considering that France is a cavalry power. If the French received advice from the Vatas dynasty and understood the tactics of using cavalry to harass the enemy ’s supply line, it would be worth the loss. Marin was not worried about letting the Venetians implement this proposal. Because, the Republic of Venice is a maritime power, the army is very general, and there is no cavalry. Even if they knew this tactic, no cavalry would perform it. In France, it is impossible to be inspired by persuading the Saad tribe to stop stabbing.
Of course, if the Vatas dynasty harasses the Spanish supply line later, whether it can bring any inspiration to the French, Marin can't control it. But now, Marin does not want the French to get such a good tactical idea from the beginning.
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What Marin did not know was that while he was worried about the Spanish results, France and Venice were also worried about it.
The Venetian is currently digging into the Suez Canal in order to use the dug Suez Canal in the future to drive the main fleet to the Indian Ocean to fight against the Spanish fleet. Between the two countries, there will be a battle in the future. The Venetians are unwilling to see any increase in the strength of Spain.
As for France, it is also an old opponent of the Spaniards. Before the two countries fought in Italy, France also suffered a big loss. It is impossible to say that France does not hate the Spaniards.
Even after receiving the news, Louis XII considered organizing a large army to launch an offensive on the Spanish border to force the Spanish army to return to the country.
It's just that because of the offensive of the Habsburg family in Switzerland, the French couldn't pull away for a while. Otherwise, they have already sent troops to deter the Spanish border.
What's more, the very large army of 50,000 in Spain makes the French a little scared. Louis XII was also a bit worried if he completely angered Spain and let this 50,000 army attack France. After all, the war in Switzerland is still going on. Even if the French can resist the offensive of the Spanish army, they will lose a lot ...
That is to say, in fact, without Marin's confusion, the two countries are also flexing their muscles, waiting to pull the back of the Spaniard. However, they struggled to understand the situation in Morocco (messaging was too backward in those days, and the two countries had not paid attention to Morocco before), otherwise the two countries would have already shot.
...
In fact, Marin did not know that while Venice was digging the Suez Canal, it was also digging pits for the Spaniards. Marin didn't know what the Venetians did.
What did the Venetians do? They secretly encouraged and supported the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty in a decisive battle with the joint fleet of West and Portugal in the Indian Ocean ...
The blockade of the joint fleet of Spain and Portugal on the Arabian Sea has seriously affected the economy of the Arab region. Among them, Egypt is the most affected.
Because, the core of the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty economy is the transit trade of the Indian spice trade. If Indian spices do not follow the route of Egypt, then the economy of the Mamluk dynasty will be hit very hard. After all, the main tax of the Mamluk dynasty came from the spice transit trade.
Moreover, the blockade of the Spanish-Portuguese Joint Fleet caused the supply of the Uz steel of the Damascus machete created by the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty and the Indian Mawarima riding on the Sudanese Guard. This is a major issue that affects the fighting capacity of the Egyptian Mamluk cavalry, which is related to the national games. Therefore, the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt was intolerable and intended to start the West Portuguese League and the fleet on the Arabian Sea.
To this end, the Mamluk dynasty prepared hundreds of small boats, and contacted the equally unbearable Indian princes, intending to form a joint fleet to eliminate the West Portuguese League and the fleet.
But the Venetians prevented the reckless behavior of the Egyptians, because, no matter whether it was the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt or the several princes in India, there was no decent warship in their fleet. Not suitable for naval battles.
Thanks to Marin's reminder, now the Venetians also pay attention to the application of artillery in naval battles. However, after Marlin secretly reminded, the Venetian internal controversy is still very big.
Many conservatives within the Republic of Venice objected to Marin's naval warfare idea of "artillery fighting instead of jetty gang cutting". But many enlightened people, including the Governor, supported naval warfare reforms, so there was no quarrel within the Republic of Venice.
In the end, the Republic of Venice made a compromise decision-in the course of supporting the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt and the Portuguese-Spanish United Fleet in the naval battle, half and half of the warships supported. That is, the number of improved new warships that mainly use artillery is the same as that of the old warships whose purpose is to cut off the jetty.
The 20 warships first arrived in Suez Bay, then dismantled into wood by the shipbuilding craftsmen supported by Venice on the seashore, and then transported by land to the Red Sea on the south bank of the Sinai Peninsula.
However, the disassembly and reassembly of the 20 warships was very time-consuming and took more than a year. If it were not for waiting for these ships, it is estimated that the Battle of the Diu Sea on the Arabian Sea had already started. Of course, perhaps no longer in the Diwu Sea. But the Indian prince of Diu was indeed an activist of this joint fleet.
To the surprise of the Egyptians and the Venetians, when the two sides cooperated to disassemble and reassemble the warships, the Turks, who had always been incompatible with the two countries, also took the initiative to lend a helping hand and supported 50 artillery.
These 50 artillery pieces are all bronze artillery pieces. Although the caliber is not large, they are suitable for installation on ships for naval warfare.
The reason for this is that the blockade of the West Portuguese League and the Fleet on the Arabian Sea also hurt the interests of the Turks. Because, Ottoman Turkey and India's trade is also very frequent. Not to mention that India has been torn apart for a long time, but its products are very rich. Even the powerful Ottoman Turkey ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ is very dependent on Indian properties. Even, the Ottoman Empire has long been competing with Persia for the Iraqi region, and for the maritime trade route from Basra Port to India is also an important reason.
The Spanish-Portuguese joint fleet indiscriminately intercepted and burned merchant ships in the Arab region on the Arabian Sea, and also affected the merchant ships of the Turks. The Turks could not bear it, but Turkey did not have a strong navy, let alone a navy in the Indian Ocean.
It happened that the Turks heard that the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty was going to start fighting against the Portuguese-Portuguese Union and the Fleet, so they took the initiative to send artillery and gunpowder, hoping that the Egyptian Mamluk dynasty's fleet would take away the Spanish-Portuguese Joint Fleet. Otherwise, the trade between the Middle East and India will be destroyed.
The Venetians are also happy to use the bronze guns of the Turks, because copper prices in Europe are very expensive. Even one of the reasons for the conservatives of the Republic of Venice to oppose artillery warfare is that copper is too expensive. Ottoman Turkey has so much cheap copper because of its long-term trade with India, and their copper guns are not lacking. This time the Venetians provided warships and the Turks provided copper guns, which was a perfect cooperation.
The Venetians also attach great importance to the upcoming sea battle, because this matter proves that the best litmus test is artillery battle and port battle. If which side performs better in the naval battle, the direction of the future construction of the Venice Navy will be based on this ...
