Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 638: What is the Use of Wenqu Talent
"Your Highness, it is an honor to have breakfast with you."
"No, it's my honor. Commander, you have worked so hard during this period of time."
"How could that be? You are the most anticipated guest of His Majesty. Serving you is like serving His Majesty."
At eight o'clock in the morning on August 15, 1634, about 350 kilometers south of the Arabian Peninsula, east of the Horn of Africa, at the junction of the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in the waters near Socotra Island, the Spanish ironclad fleet was sailing south, preparing to bypass the entire Africa and return to Spain.
About fifty miles behind them, the Ming Dynasty's ironclad fleet was firing up its boilers to the limit in pursuit. The one who provided precise positioning for the pursuit fleet was Zhu Youdong, who was so angry that his hair was disheveled.
What a miscalculation! He overestimated Aurangzeb's courage and underestimated Philip's shamelessness.
Since entering Kanpur in May, although Wen Tiren was the main force, he was also entangled by a group of weird three brothers, so he was unable to personally lead the army south to track down Aurangzeb.
In his opinion, a man like Aurangzeb, who was extremely tough and refused to withdraw his troops after fighting for more than 20 years in the historical dimension, would not leave India unless he had no choice. Who knew that after failing to raid Mao Wenlong's flank defense line and retreating to Andhra, he did not hesitate at all and led his army westward across the southern part of the Indian peninsula.
And Huang Degong, whom he sent out to attack Mumbai and Goa from land, reported back: these two places were taken very smoothly without encountering any resistance - the Spanish fleet and Portuguese here were all gone!
It was then that he suddenly realized: Aurangzeb had already found a way out for himself, and Philip's fleet had come thousands of miles away not to fight a decisive battle with his own ironclad fleet. They were simply here to pick up people!
Then he hurried south from Kanpur, boarded Li Guozhu's ship in Mumbai, and began to chase Aurangzeb on the sea with his fleet. Fortunately, he and Aurangzeb could locate each other, so after seven days and seven nights of sleepless pursuit on the sea, the distance between the two sides was very close.
…
"Your Highness, please try this. This is the eel that our soldiers caught this morning. Well, it turns out that you have to get close to the coastline to get a good catch."
"Thank you for your help, but Commander, please trust my judgment. The Zhendan fleet is really getting closer and closer."
"I absolutely trust your Highness's judgment."
Viscount Alfonso, who was well versed in the complete etiquette of European nobles, gently watched Aurangzeb clumsily cut the eel with a Western-style knife and eat slowly. But in his mind he recalled Philip's extremely detailed instructions to him when he first set out from Europe.
"My dear Alfonso, can I trust you completely?"
"Of course, my Lord, I will do everything in my power to prove my loyalty."
"Very good, I have a task for you..."
"…Your Majesty, if I understand correctly, my main mission in leading the fleet this time is not to fight a naval battle with the Chinese for control of the sea, but to pick up people?"
"Yes, my viscount. Do you have any questions?"
"Your Majesty, are you so sure that the Indians can't hold off the Chinese for long?"
"I really hope that the Indians can hold off the Chinese for a little longer. After all, although we have built a material transfer center and various large warehouses in Alexandria, we cannot deploy a large number of troops to Asia before the Suez Canal is opened. But, Indians?" Philip smiled contemptuously: "If you know a little about history, you will know that the people of this place lack tenacity when facing a powerful foreign invasion. I don't have any confidence in their resistance."
"Your Majesty, I don't quite understand. Aren't we going to use the blood of the Indians to hold back the Chinese?"
"That's right. That's why I provided so many weapons to His Highness Aurangzeb."
"But why don't we take the initiative to defeat the Chinese fleet in the Bay of Bengal and gain control of the sea? Then, the Chinese army, whose logistics supply cannot be guaranteed, will soon be in trouble."
"My viscount, I have great confidence in your command ability. But you must also admit that before our 10,000-ton Prince of Asturias entered service, our ironclad fleet was not sure of victory against the Chinese ironclad ships."
"……Yes."
"I have no doubt about your loyalty and the bravery of our naval officers and men. But if our fleet suffers heavy losses in the naval battle with the Chinese, it will seriously affect the core mission of our expedition."
"Bring back the Indian native named Aurangzeb? Your Majesty, I don't understand, is this person really so important? Even more important than the place full of gold in India?"
"Hahaha, my viscount, India is indeed a place rich in wealth. But the religion and ethnicity there are too corrupting for any invader. Throughout history, any nation that entered India, no matter how powerful it was before, would soon become corrupt and vulnerable... In short, before the opening of the Suez Canal, our country was unable to continue to invest a large number of troops there through an expedition around Africa. So, if the Indians fight well, then support them more. But I always feel that they can't resist the Chinese emperor for too long. The task you must complete on this trip is to get Aurangzeb on your ship."
"I understand, Your Majesty. I will definitely complete this task and bring the Indian native to you intact."
"Well... if you can bring it back, that would be the best. But if you can't, or if the Chinese fleet keeps haunting you, you can just kill it. Note that you must do it yourself, no matter what means you use."
“???…Okay, I’ll follow your orders.”
The hissing sound coming from the dining chair across from him interrupted Alfonso's thoughts. He looked up and saw the handsome face of the young man across from him, distorted by severe abdominal pain.
"What's going on? Does your king want you to poison me?"
"Ah, Your Highness, you are so smart. However, my king did not specify to me the specific method of your death. But I think it is better for a prince, especially a handsome prince, not to leave obvious wounds on his body."
“…Hahahaha, hiss~hahaha, I didn’t expect that our world would be destroyed because of shameless people like you!”
As soon as he uttered the first syllable of the word "traveler", Aurangzeb's voice suddenly stopped. The sixteen-year-old boy finally no longer had to endure the severe abdominal pain and fell down without a sound.
"Ding ding, the system has determined that Aurangzeb, whose natal star is Wenquxing, has been killed by the naval commander of Tianshu. All bonuses of Wenquxing will be transferred to Tianshu."
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty? Should we go south or west next?"
Zhu Youdong, who was standing in the cockpit of the Songjiang battleship, endured the burning sensation on his back. After trying his best to sense and confirm that the location of Aurangzeb, which was still clear a moment ago, had disappeared without a trace, he smiled dejectedly and said, "Okay, we can chase him here. Let's retreat and return to Mumbai Port."
"emperor?"
"I said, retreat!"
After yelling at the top of his lungs, Zhu Youdong immediately came to his senses: "I have lost my composure. Let's retreat."
"As ordered. Signalman, signal the remaining ships to follow the flagship and return to Mumbai."
When Zhu Youdong returned north in despair, it was Madrid, Spain.
Due to the time difference, it was still past three in the morning in Madrid.
In the northeastern suburbs of Madrid, in an area surrounded by lush forests, there is a castle at the core and many small villas in 20th century modern style scattered around.
This is where the Asturias Laboratory is located.
Galileo, who was already 70 years old this year, had just gone to bed: as he got older, his sleep quality was already poor, and recently he was under great pressure because of an electrical problem that he had not been able to solve - whether the Asturias battleship could be turned from a blueprint into a real object depended entirely on the successful research of this laboratory.
In a hazy dream, Galileo suddenly saw a figure appear in his mind.
"Who are you?"
The man in the dream did not answer him, but wrote furiously on a blackboard...
More than an hour later, an old and surprised roar echoed over the entire laboratory area: "Guys! Get up and work! The resistance problem that has troubled us for a long time, I want to solve it completely today!"
