Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1150 Arrival in Europe
Zhu Su's battle strategy was not complicated at all. The treasure ships of the Ming navy were already a dimensionality reduction strike in Europe at that time.

This is almost the only advantage of the Ming army navy now, so Zhu Su’s strategy is very clear: that is, to take advantage of the Ming army’s ship advantage and rob!

Robbing along the coastline! Completely paralyzing the coastline of Europe! Now is the embryonic stage of the European Renaissance and the beginning stage of the Age of Exploration. What Zhu Su wants to do is to completely shatter the dream of European countries to get involved in the ocean.

Establish a Ming army naval base nearby, blockade the European coastline, and attack their naval forces... and strive to bring all these European countries back to the level of the early Middle Ages.

Don't think this is a fantasy... You know, building ships and forming fleets often costs a lot of money. With the current productivity of these small European countries, if their fleets and merchant ships can be completely destroyed, it will definitely be an unbearable loss for their national finances.

Besides, most European countries are located along the coast. Along the coastline, we can even approach the capitals of most European countries...

At that time, we can force them to sign an unequal treaty and force them to pay compensation.

It is possible to sign the indemnity treaty decades or hundreds of years later, and then set up concessions in major European ports to dump Ming Dynasty goods, and even send garrisons to "help" them resolve disputes. European nobles have no money, and Ming Dynasty can directly make Europe a market for Ming Dynasty goods through dumping, so Europe will naturally not be able to launch the Age of Exploration.

Even if they could recover their strength, by then the Chinese people's colonies would have blossomed everywhere, and they would have lost the opportunity.

Zhu Su made the decision, and the entire fleet began to move.

A few days later, food, canned goods, fresh water, etc. were all prepared, and the Ming army began to dismantle the camp and prepare to board the ship in an orderly manner.

To Zhu Su's surprise, the black natives here, realizing that the Ming army was about to leave, swarmed in from all directions.

No one dared to approach the Ming army. Some of these natives had been ignorant of the world and tried to rob the Ming army camp of its good stuff.

But the Ming army's formation was so strict, how could these barbarians be easily shaken? The result was naturally that they killed all these people without mercy without any effort. The Ming army even sent a small team to follow the fleeing blacks and directly destroyed a tribe of black natives.

This move not only terrified other indigenous tribes, but also made them worship the Ming army even more. From then on, the indigenous peoples were extremely respectful in all transactions with the Ming army.

Seeing the Ming army leaving, they actually came together, not daring to get close, but watching the Ming army board the ship from a distance.

After the Ming army boarded the ship, they surrounded the Ming army's camp as they had done before, and still sang and danced outside the camp to the Ming army on the ship.

"...Fifth Uncle, what are these Kunlun slaves doing?" Li Jinglong asked with a puzzled look on his face on the treasure ship.

"...Maybe, they are seeing us off." Zhu Su guessed.

What Zhu Su didn't know was that these natives regarded them as gods who had sent gifts to them. After they left, they regarded the old site of the Ming army's camp as a holy place, offering sacrifices here continuously for a hundred years...

As the ship gradually left the port, they could no longer see the local natives. They were drifting on the sea again. But what reassured the soldiers was that their supplies had been replenished, and they could always see traces of land on the starboard side of the ship.

The land was always within sight, which made the soldiers feel at ease. Their morale gradually recovered, and their ambition to achieve great things also began to revive.

Zhu Su and Tie Xuan led several mapmakers to survey and draw sea charts based on the fleet's sailing conditions. These sea charts would become the most valuable assets of the Ming army in the future.

According to Zhu Su's judgment, they should be on the southeast coast of the African continent now. Therefore, they only need to sail westward along the coastline of Africa to bypass Africa and reach western Europe.

The fleet continued to move forward in the southwest direction along the coastline. After a few days, the soldiers on the lookout tower observed a convex corner, and the direction of the coastline turned to the northeast. Zhu Su knew that this was the legendary Cape of Good Hope.

They might be the first fleet to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope in this world. Zhu Su ordered the fleet to land temporarily, and after carving a stone to commemorate their achievements at the Cape of Good Hope, they continued to sail forward. After more than half a month of sailing, the fleet discovered two island groups along the way.

These two island groups are the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands in later generations. At this time, these two islands had not yet become colonies of Portugal. After discussing with Tie Xuan and Li Jinglong, Zhu Su decided to occupy them as a base for the Ming army to attack Europe by sea.

After spending another half a month setting up the garrison, the Ming army continued to advance along the coastline and finally found a port ahead. The port was quite prosperous, with smoke curling in the air and houses lined up one after another. Most importantly, the buildings here had a very obvious Western style... The residents here were obviously not uncivilized barbarians.

The arrival of the huge Ming treasure fleet also caused panic in the port city. Zhu Su saw through the telescope that a ship had left the port and was approaching the treasure fleet.

"Lower the sails! Raise the flags!" Zhu Su ordered. "Port side, prepare the artillery!"

"Fire a few rounds to scare these Westerners!"

Bang! Two cannon shots suddenly sounded, and two shells hit the surface of the ship sailing out of the port one after the other. The splashes caused by the shells almost overturned the small and pitiful ship. It swayed in the aftermath of the shells for a long time before it barely regained stability.

The Ming army blocked the road with cannonballs, and they knew that they were forbidden to approach any further. After a long time, a man from the opposite ship stood on the bow and shouted something at the treasure ship.

Zhu Su had naturally prepared an interpreter who was proficient in Western languages. After standing on the side of the ship and listening carefully, the interpreter immediately reported to Zhu Su: "Your Highness, the other party said that this is the territory of the Kingdom of Portugal. They are asking about our origins and hope that we can leave here."

"Leave? Humph." Zhu Su laughed sarcastically, "Tell him that we are from the Ming Empire in the East. Their European churches are attacking our Ming vassal and eroding our Ming land."

"We come here for revenge, how can we return empty-handed? Unless they are willing to betray the despicable church!" Zhu Su said sternly.

(End of this chapter)