At noon on January 17, 1661, outside Cadiz.

The fierce naval battle lasted for several hours, and both sides suffered considerable casualties. Although the Portuguese ships were large in number, the losses were even greater. This was obviously in the expectations of the spectators on some of the ships cruising far away. There were such powerful battleships on the east coast, such magical steam engines, and well-trained naval officers and soldiers (it can be seen that they have been trained for a long time, cooperated with tacit understanding, and are professional soldiers, not like temporary recruitment). The Portuguese Navy was not famous in the old continent, but how could it be its opponent?

It is time to invest huge sums of money in researching steam engine technology! This idea came to mind among the people of the Old Mainland who were watching the battle, because the naval battle in front of them uses living facts to tell everyone how much help can it provide in the battle with a powerful steam engine sailing fleet? I believe that after witnessing today, whether it is Madrid, Paris, Lisbon, The Hague or London, a wave of researching steam engine technology will be set off. This can not only promote industrial development, but also closely related to the crucial naval construction. It can be said that any country with a little ambition will not turn a blind eye to the magical object of steam engine sailing!

Of course, the idea of ​​the people watching the battle was in a fierce battle. The Portuguese navies naturally did not know that they did not even notice the ships flying exotic flags that followed from the port of Cadiz. They now only had the other party and had only one thought: that is, to sink the enemy to the bottom of the sea!

As far as the battle is concerned, except for a few of the Portuguese fleets that were not involved in the melee, the other ships have formed a group of rushing left and right of four East Coast battleships, with no formation at all. The smoke of gunpowders is spreading on the sea surface, and even if the sea breeze is constantly blowing, its visibility is still very low, and the casualties of both sides are very large. As of now, Portugal has sunk two armed merchant ships, including the "Correa", and a professional warship. The four East Coast battleships have also been shot hundreds of times, with no casualties and injuries, and the hull is covered with wounds, but it is still far from sinking.

However, the Portuguese probably had no time to rely on their numerical advantage to eat these East Coast battleships - especially the most arrogant and fierce third-deck battleship of the Executive Committee - one by one, because as many as seven East Coast Gunboats have been bombarding their fleet with side guns on the periphery, causing the war to sink the professional warship of the "San Sebastian", and in addition, they also injured many ships. If they were allowed to continue like this, the battle would be impossible. Therefore, the Portuguese began to gather in a difficult formation and planned to seize the upper hand again. But how could this be so easy to succeed under the interference of the four East Coast battleships?

Sure enough, when Portugal started to move, the East Coast battleship relied on its fast maneuverability to intersperse around, constantly disrupting the enemy formation, and at the same time exerted the power of its two-string artillery to the greatest extent, sending the hot shells to the enemy ship, as if they would not give up until they were shot.

The battle suddenly fell into its old form again. The two sides fought in a melee on the sea, bombarding each other with artillery fire at close range. The sail guard gunboat fleet of the East Coast people continuously attacked the enemy ships with side guns on the periphery, giving full play to their firepower advantages to the greatest extent, causing the Portuguese casualties to increase sharply, and gradually became a little overwhelmed, and their determination to fight began to shake.

When the two sides fought until four o'clock in the afternoon, the naval battle had been going on for five hours. Not only were the personnel and ships damaged seriously, but even the shells and gunpowder were insufficient. Therefore, they began to separate tacitly, preparing to end this battle that made everyone tired. After all, the naval battles in this era were relatively long. When the large fleet fought decisively, they often lost more than a dozen ships to each other for most of the day, and the ammunition and personnel losses were not light.

This naval battle outside Cadiz, which took five hours to sink six Portuguese warships (four armed merchant ships and two professional warships), and one guard gunboat on the East Coast was seriously injured (later abandoned ships sank). In this era, a more intense naval battle has been lost, not to mention that there are still a large number of ships on both sides injured - especially the "Executive Committee", which attracted the most Portuguese firepower. The ship was shot two times in the battle.

More than 150 rounds, from the captain, first mate to second mate, many officers were injured; the foremast was interrupted, and the two floors of the forecastle were in a mess, with flour, salted fish and beer scattered all over the ground; a large ship board on the port side fell off, and water kept coming in when the storm was heavy, leaving the team busy; of course, it is also necessary to mention the more than 100 crew members and nearly twenty artillery fired and injured in the ship. Overall, it is not easy to damage and requires a thorough overhaul to restore the original combat effectiveness again.

When it was getting dark in the afternoon, the Portuguese fleet turned back and sailed southeast, probably to the port of Tangier. The Portuguese have been operating for many years, the fortress is extremely strong, and the firepower of the fortress is relatively dense. It is indeed a good place for the large fleet to stay and "shoulder wounds". As for the people on the east coast, the entire combat fleet almost had ships and ships, especially several battleships, with heavy casualties and heavy ammunition about to be sold out, so they all drove into the port of Cadiz.

The Spaniards attached great importance to this victorious East Coast fleet, because if it were their country, they were not sure to defeat this Portuguese fleet. Therefore, the attitude would have improved greatly compared to before. The requirements for the East Coast people to supplement shells and gunpowder were all met, but the price was still a bit crap. In addition, the Spaniards also said that they could help the East Coast people repair ships, provided that the East Coast people gave a certain price. Considering the importance of escort missions and the sensitivity of the battleships, Major Ding Wei, who led the team, refused the Spaniards' "good intentions". He decided to drive the ships to the Ottoman Empire for maintenance, which was safer. Anyway, several severely damaged battleships can still be driven, right?

Of course, he also left a total of 488 injured sailors on each ship to rest in the port of Cadiz to wait for the fleet to return. He then made a fuss to take care of these wounded people. Well, the Doria family's large shops in the port of Cadiz. Their family wholesales New World specialties here all year round, and the business is huge, so there are enough venues and personnel to accommodate injured sailors on the east coast. As for the medical expenses of the injured, it is very simple, and you can get the bill from the La Plata Bank, which is convenient and fast.

On January 18, the people on the east coast did not stop at the port of Cadiz. After unloading part of the cargo, the entire fleet set sail again, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to the east, and entered the relatively calm Mediterranean. On February 1, the fleet divided into pieces to unload the goods to *******, Livorna, Pisa and other places (also purchased some local goods). They joined the port of Messina in Sicily a week later, and then crossed the Strait of Messina and entered the Ionian Sea.

The Ionian Sea was sailing smoothly - but the wind was a little weak - they finally arrived at the Port of Smyrna, the largest port of the Ottoman Empire, on February 14, 1661. After the ship arrived here, the situation of the escort warships caused great shock to the Ottomans. After learning that this was caused by fierce battles with the Portuguese navy, the Ottomans expressed their admiration. It was said that he was even more fierce than the Venetian fleet!

The maintenance of battleships and frigates is naturally the person in charge of the local East Coast Merchant Station. As for those merchant ships, they began to go to various ports with merchant stations in batches (one of them had already gone to the coast of Albania) such as Thessalonika, Burgas, Kafa, Haji and other places - especially the merchant ships heading to the port of Haji, full of cannons, textiles, steel bars, medicines, armor, muskets, and sabers, according to the instructions of their superiors, they will bring back more than 5,000 Transylvanian and Polish women there (mostly between 15 and 30 years old).

These women also brought more than 8,000 Ukrainian, Moldavia and Transylvanian female slaves from the Black Sea Line Company to the port of Smyrna by the Black Sea Line Company, and transported them to the east coast by the East Coast fleet and partly hired French and Dutch merchant ships. For this reason, the East Coast people need more than 700,000 yuan in cash, including freight costs. Unfortunately, the trade profits obtained from transporting a large number of goods this year, after repaying the loans owed by various companies by purchasing prisoners of war and slaves last year and even the previous year, as well as the money from these female slaves this year, there is no longer much left. If you purchase some Ottoman specialties - such as camels, horses, lead-tin ore, graphite, carpets, tapestries, raw silk, raisins and other commodities - they will only be left with 300,000 or 500,000 yuan left, and it is really impossible to say.

It is worth mentioning that the East Coast people bought nearly 14,000 female slaves at the strong request of the Crimean Khanate, and actually they could not get the Khan himself completely satisfied. Unfortunately, the money on the East Coast was not blown by the strong wind. The tens of thousands of cavalry under Gran Khan attacked everywhere in the past two years, and they had too much "stock" on hand, so they could not all be stuffed to the East Coast people. The forced buying and selling in this world is always not that good. Although the goods you gave are indeed of good quality and the price has been reduced a lot compared to before, we really can't afford it!

Gao Wengang lived in Bekchisale for a long time and had a good exchange with Grey Khan and his ministers. After promising the East Coast people to provide the latest technology for their lagoon salt production projects and redesign a fortress system that meets the needs of future wars for the Tatar trenches, Da Han finally reluctantly agreed to sell the young female slaves at hand on the east coast. As for the remaining slaves, Gao Wengang also gave him an idea, that is, to continue to open new plantations on the fertile black soil on the northern coast of the Black Sea, planting large quantities of barley, wheat, rye, oats, peas, hemp, fruit trees and other crops, and then export them to Italy where food is relatively short of food. For this reason, Gao Wengang even was willing to introduce some Italian merchants to him to know. He really did his work to the extreme, and the Crimeans had nothing to say.

In addition, in order to solve the problem of insufficient funds of the Khan, Gao Wengang also suggested that they cooperate with the Armenian businessmen group of the Ottoman Empire. Gao Wengang solemnly recommended the Holnisian family, which was closely related to the East Coast. Then, as an agent of the East Coast commodity, vigorously opened up the markets of the Dnieper River and even the Don River basin, sold the East Coast commodity, and also earned a lot of commercial income for themselves. At present, the Khan has agreed in principle, and just waited for the Holnisian family to send people to discuss in detail.

As for the Danube trade that the East Coast people value most, I'm sorry, the current domestic situation in the Ottomans is complicated and the political situation is turbulent. Officials are exchanged faster than the revolving lantern. After many running around, Gao Wengang has not yet found a capable and stable agent, and the market development is relatively unfavorable. Fortunately, this is a long-term task, so it is not rush to complete it now. The East Coast people still have time to operate their own commodity markets. After all, they don't have any decent competitors in the Black Sea area, right?

On March 1, 1661, the East Coast fleet, which had been repaired for a rough preparation, was ready to sail. At nine o'clock in the morning, a group of exiled Ottoman soldiers and their families (mostly from the Ghanishari Army and Spasi Cavalry Units) came to the dock to board the ship. At present, the losers in the Ottoman Empire (of course, the lower class was affected, and the upper class had no chance to survive) exile in the East Coast has become increasingly common, and the East Coast people are willing to accept some exiles in order to maintain civil relations between the two countries. Therefore, you see that every one or two years, a group of Ottoman soldiers or subordinate officials and their families are moved to the East Coast.

These people were immediately beaten to live after they arrived at the East Coast, and most of them have converted to their beliefs for the second time in their lives. Due to their skills and knowledge, they still have a lot of roles in the craze for building the East Coast - to a certain extent, they are relatively high-quality immigrants among the immigrants from the East Coast.

At 10:30 in the morning, with Major Ding Wei's order, the entire escort fleet set sail one after another. After adjusting the formation on the White Sea, the entire fleet pulled up the sails and sailed southwest, embarking on a journey home. A month later, they arrived at the Port of Cadiz again, picked up some of the injured sailors, and bought a large number of supplies.
Chapter completed!