This time, they put aside their prejudices with several Spanish countries and formed a temporary coalition. They thought that they could make Tang Tong and his men suffer, but Thomas and his men obviously did not get much intelligence about Tang Tong and his men, and did not know how many troops Tang Tong had. Facing the powerful fighting power of the Tang prince's men, Thomas saw the opportunity early and made a prompt decision. He took the British soldiers and evacuated with the French, wanting to return to the colonies in India.
Thomas was not as smart as the Dutch Axentzer. The Dutch had been fighting with Tang Tong and his men for a long time, and they knew Tang Tong and his men's strength much better than the British. After escaping onto the warship, the Dutch did not sail towards Sri Lanka, but went directly towards Africa. Although this kind of adventurous voyage was very dangerous, it was much better than encountering Tang Tong's fleet. In addition to the Dutch sailing their fleet into the depths of the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese sailed their fleet towards Australia. Because until now, Tang Tong and his men had only occupied part of Australia, because there were not many immigrants to cultivate those lands, Tang Tong and his men did not manage many places in Australia. The Portuguese wanted to take advantage of this and temporarily hide Tang Tong's naval fleet in Australia.
After discovering Zheng Chenggong's fleet, Thomas' heart suddenly turned cold. Although Thomas had never fought against Tang Tong's army, he knew some intelligence. The enemy's warships and weapons were slightly stronger than theirs. This intelligence made Thomas understand that this fleet, which was three times larger than theirs, was definitely not something they could contend with.
Toth immediately ordered the fleet to turn deep into the Indian Ocean, but it was obviously too late. Zheng Chenggong had already received orders from Tang Tong that he must not let the British fleet go, because the British were the biggest threat to Tang Tong and his men in Asia. Moreover, the strength of the British mainland was the strongest among the Europeans. If they were to weaken the British, they must not miss this opportunity. Therefore, after encountering the British fleet, Zheng Chenggong ordered a full-speed pursuit.
The British warships were the most advanced of the era. Historically, the British became the overlord of the sea with such advanced warships. Tang Tong and his men's warships combined the shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty and the Europeans. In terms of tonnage, they were slightly larger than the Western warships at that time, but in terms of speed, they were almost the same as the British. So the two sides were one fleeing and the other chasing, and for a long time they did not widen the distance or close the distance. The battle was about whether the supplies on the warships were sufficient and whether they were lucky enough to encounter storms in the ocean.
In this era, if you encounter a big storm at sea, it is basically the end of the result. After all, the warships of this era are all wooden structures, which are not as strong as the steel plates of later generations. It must be said that both sides are very lucky that they were able to pass through the depths of the Indian Ocean and reach the coast of Africa. At this time, Zheng Chenggong and his men finally narrowed the distance with the British like Thomas with the superiority of their warships and sufficient supplies. The two sides chased each other in the Indian Ocean for more than two months, which made Zheng Chenggong's heart full of anger. Thomas and his men had exhausted their supplies, and Zheng Chenggong's supplies were almost exhausted as well. Fortunately, Zheng Chenggong and his men had fewer ships and cannons, and they had prepared a lot of fresh water for supplies. Otherwise, the consumption of fresh water alone would cause an iron-blooded army to collapse.
Thomas and his British companions were not so lucky. They had used up all their supplies three days ago. It was precisely because of this that Zheng Chenggong and his companions were able to
Thomas and the others looked at the land in the distance. Thomas wanted to cry. He had fled here and was about to see the land. However, the people chasing them were not far away.
After entering the range of the artillery, he successfully ordered his men to fight hard and send all the British to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish to vent his anger. The shells poured down on the British warships as if they were free. At this time, the British were already hungry and thirsty, and had no strength to fight back. They lay on the deck one by one waiting to die. This scene made Thomas burst into tears. If he had known this would happen, he would have surrendered at that time and would not have to suffer this evil crime.
At the beginning, Zheng Chenggong saw that the British counterattack was very weak and thought that the British were plotting something, so Zheng Chenggong was very careful and ordered all his warships to stay away from the enemy's artillery range as much as possible. Seeing the enemy's artillery shells flying more and more fiercely, Thomas had no choice but to order surrender. However, Zheng Chenggong was furious with Thomas and was unwilling to accept the British surrender. After his men sank half of the British warships, he let his men start to board the British warships. After everyone arrived on the British warships, they found that the reason these British did not fight back was because they had run out of oil and had no strength to fight back. There were not many supplies left on Zheng Chenggong's warships, so he naturally could not accept the British.
At this time, Zheng Chenggong did not have much food and water to feed these British soldiers. Although they were close to the African land, the food and water could not be replenished in the shortest time. So after Zheng Chenggong captured Thomas and others, without waiting for Thomas to ask for any treatment as a prisoner, he ordered his soldiers to throw the British into the sea to feed the fish.
Thomas weakly cursed Zheng Chenggong's inhumane behavior. Zheng Chenggong then asked an interpreter to tell Thomas that they did not take any prisoners because the British asked for it. There was no food or water on their warships, and they could not keep these prisoners and let themselves starve to death or die of thirst. After hearing the interpreter's explanation, Thomas really regretted it. If he had known this would be the result, he might as well have surrendered from the beginning.
Except for Thomas, all the other British people were thrown into the sea, but Thomas was to be brought back. After all, capturing a high-ranking enemy general was a merit and also a proof of victory in this battle. The British only had one undestroyed warship left. With this trophy, Zheng Chenggong led his men back along the African coastline. In this part of Africa, Zheng Chenggong's father led the Zheng family to occupy a large area and became king.
Zheng Chenggong rested for a few days in Zheng Zhilong's territory. Zheng Zhilong hadn't seen his son for a long time. When the two met, they felt like strangers. Zheng Zhilong saw the fleet led by his son. Those advanced weapons made Zheng Zhilong salivate, and for a moment he had evil thoughts. He didn't know the military level of Tang Tong's army, and thought that since his son was leading such a large group of warships, the people on these warships should listen to his son's command, so he instigated his son to betray Tang Tong. Originally, since his son was a family, Zheng Zhilong's idea might have succeeded, but Zheng Zhilong didn't expect his son to refuse. After Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Zhilong explained the reason clearly, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but admire Tang Tong.
Although the military measures of later generations still could not completely overcome the rebellion of generals, they were much better than those in the late Ming Dynasty. What's more, the army under Tang Tong was led by Tang Tong himself, and those low-level officers were also promoted by Tang Tong. If the generals under Tang Tong wanted to rebel against Tang Tong, there would definitely be very few low-level officers who would respond, and most of them would turn against the rebellious generals. Zheng Chenggong had followed Tang Tong for so many years, how could he not understand it? Moreover, Zheng Chenggong grew up with Tang Tong since he was a child, and was closer to Tang Tong than Zheng Zhilong.
Because Zheng Zhilong was his relative, Zheng Cheng gave Zheng Zhilong the rifles and cannons on the warships seized from the British. After filling up the supplies on Zheng Zhilong's territory, he left. It took more than two months to return to Southeast Asia. Thomas suffered a lot along the way. He saw with his own eyes that all his men were thrown into the sea. The anger and blow made Thomas look twenty years older in just two months.
No one sympathized with people like Thomas. He was imprisoned on a plantation in Southeast Asia for many years and was subjected to labor reform. He was not sent back to Europe until he was old. Not long after arriving in Europe, Thomas died of illness.
While Zheng Chenggong and his men were pursuing Thomas and other British, Tang Tong's other troops did not stop their military operations. After completely occupying the Spanish colonies in Southeast Asia, Tang Tong's troops divided into two groups. One group was to occupy Sri Lanka, which was previously occupied by the Dutch, and the other group was searching for the escaped Portuguese at sea. If those Portuguese had honestly hidden in Australia and not come out, it would not have been easy for Tang Tong and his men to find them. After all, Australia is so big, and it would not have been easy to find them with the limited manpower Tang Tong had.
But after hiding for a while, the Portuguese came out to impress the merchants of the Ming Dynasty. Many of these Ming Dynasty merchants were equipped with the weapons eliminated by Tang Tong and his men. While fighting and fleeing with the Portuguese, they encountered Tang Tong's maritime patrol team. This maritime patrol team was originally intended to guard against pirates and to ensure the safety of merchants trading at sea. This time, the eight Portuguese warships were bitten by more and more maritime patrol teams and were eventually sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Although the scale of this naval battle was not large, it made the merchants of the Ming Dynasty feel that Tang Tong's rule was a place of peace.
When Zheng Chenggong returned to Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka had fallen from the hands of the Dutch to Tang Tong, and the Dutch forces were also driven out of the Indian Ocean. Those Dutch fleets that participated in the Western Alliance thought they were safe after fleeing back to the colony of Sri Lanka. Who knew that Tang Tong would be so ferocious and reckless in his determination to seize Sri Lanka.
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