In Smyrna Port, there are masts and snatches and sails covering the sun. A large number of ships from all over the world gather in this largest port in the Muslim world. Most of the ships are small tonnage, backward technology, and older styles. The rare large ships are generally double-masted or triple-masted Galen transport ships from the Netherlands or France. Occasionally, some cargo ships for sale from England, but the number is generally not large.

However, in today's (February 20), the most eye-catching thing is neither the Dutch merchant ships loaded with cargo nor the French merchant ships that took over the Ottoman Empire's offshore shipping business, but a fleet that seems to have just returned from the naval battle. This fleet is extremely large, with a number of perhaps 30 ships, all of which are large ships, and the minimum tonnage is more than 400 tons - this is already a considerable ship in the Mediterranean.

In addition to these "small" ships, the most shocking one is the four tall double-deck battleships. The number of gun windows of these warships is so dense that it makes people feel scared when they see it. How many such powerful warships can Europe have? Even the Netherlands, the largest naval power at this time, rarely had tonnages of naval ships during the Battle of the Downs, not to mention some other countries. France has none of them, England may have not, and perhaps only the Dutch East India Company and Spain can have a very small number of such powerful ships. After all, the popular naval warfare theory in Europe today is not the theory of battle line artillery warfare. Naval generals of many countries still believe in Spain's set of jumping gang combat theory, which leads to the fact that those powerful battleships cannot be valued by people.

Almost every ship in this fleet had some scars, and the worst transport ship seemed to be able to sail here. It was urgent to replace the damaged mast and hull. Under the command of several Ottoman water diversion ships, the fleet ships slowly docked in a dedicated mooring area. There was a large ship repair yard there. After the ship was docked, they began to unload the cargo first, and after unloading the cargo, they drove into the shipyard for emergency repairs.

Especially those battleships were repaired in a key manner. Many Ottoman ship repair technicians climbed onto the ship's deck with tools, and then used pulley cranes on the ship to lift many heavy boards to replace them during repairs. The soldiers of the East Coast Navy supervised these Ottoman technicians to ensure that they would not wander around casually. They also visited some key parts on the ship that were invisible to see people.

The four battleships were given priority care and they would be arranged to be repaired in the first batch. Because the officers of the East Coast Navy proposed that these four powerful warships would soon sail again to Bordeaux, France and the Baltic Sea to perform missions, so they needed to complete the preparations before departure as soon as possible, such as ship repair, maintenance, water supply, coal and ammunition, etc. As for those transport ships and frigates, it was not very urgent. Because according to the plan, they would deliver the East Coast goods one by one in various trading ports in the Ottoman Empire, and then bring back the materials that need to be purchased one by one, and then set off and return to the country.

In short, they need to wait for the Flotta fleet and the Gaya Anes fleet of the Kingdom of Spain to sail from Seville and Cadiz to take the opportunity to return to the country. Because at this time the main force of the Spanish Navy had already gone to the Americas, and no one could intercept them again. As for the time when the Spanish Navy sailed, this is the number one secret of the Kingdom of Spain, but it is usually in the spring and summer. In the spring, a batch of departure from Seville, and in the summer, a batch of departure from Cadiz. After the two batches of fleets were traded in the Americas and collected taxes (silver), they sailed to Havana to join, and returned to Spain at the beginning of the second year after maintenance.

Therefore, in this era when the Spanish Kingdom navy suffered a devastating blow and its strength had not yet recovered, after the Spanish sailing fleet sailed, its local area would inevitably lack sufficient naval ships. At this time, even if the East Coast transport fleet blatantly passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, I believe the Spaniards would be unable to intercept it.

However, the merchant fleet can wait, and four battleships with high speed and strong firepower cannot. The commander of the escort fleet, Lu Ming, will use the only cabin of these four ships to load a batch of cargo (mostly dyed cloth, printed cloth and metal farm tools) to Bordeaux, unload the cargo and settle the previous year's payment before heading to Riga, Danze. At these two ports, they will unload a few remaining batches of cotton or metal products, and then load a large number of immigrants (Lyvonians) and mercenaries (Poles) who have been waiting for a long time in the East Coast Merchant Station, then return to the Western Mediterranean and park in the Tunisia port of the Ottoman Empire.

Before this, the East Coast transport fleet, escorted by the remaining seven guard gunboats (the "Salmon" had been abandoned in the waters near the Island of Malta), had arrived here for a while with the purchased materials and immigrants (mainly Slavic slaves). After the two fleets merged, they carried out their last maintenance and supplies, and then set sail, using the sudden south wind and near-shore currents to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, and then using the North Atlantic to circulate through the North Atlantic, the eastern Caribbean, and the northeastern Brazil to return to the local Oriental Port.

There are also a large number of engineering and technical personnel who come with the ship. There are more than 100 people in total, all of whom have certain technical experience and are politically qualified. A considerable proportion of them are engineering and technical graduates of the 35th class of Corps Fort. They will be scattered and placed in the port of Smyrna and Suez (participating in port expansion), Istanbul and Edirne (guiding the construction of roads), and Kafa (constructing the construction of mining areas). These are part of the commercial contracts signed with the Ottoman Empire, that is, some building materials and technical service personnel that the Ottoman cannot produce on the east coast, and ordinary labor and raw materials that can be produced by themselves. The two sides carried out large-scale infrastructure construction in the Ottoman Empire.

In addition to implementing these infrastructure contracts, the Ottoman Empire had already negotiated with Mosan and confirmed the transportation equipment procurement plan again by both parties, and then the fleet would bring the contract and deposit back to the east coast, and then organize major domestic manufacturers to produce. This contract includes fifty heavy road freight carriages (one hundred vehicles in the first and second batches), twenty horse-drawn track trucks, sixteen flute-type transport ships (carrying capacity of 450 tons, including ten government orders and six private orders) and a large number of spare parts.

The total profits of these contracts are amazing, and they can drive the rapid development of a large number of enterprises in the entire domestic industrial chain, not to mention that there will be a large number of spare parts procurement and maintenance services in the future. It can be foreseen that with the deepening of economic cooperation between the East Coast and the Ottoman Empire, the steel, machining and manufacturing, building materials production, wood processing, shipbuilding and other industries in the East Coast will usher in a period of rapid expansion. After all, the business that Mo San has collected from the Ottoman Empire and the industrial integration of the East Coast is too high, and it is simply tailor-made for the East Coast. Now the only thing that can limit the booming development of the East Coast industry is perhaps the population. Therefore, the battleship formation's action to the Baltic Sea is imperative, because there are a large number of Livornian immigrants waiting there.

After the four battleships were completed in a hurry, on March 5, after informing the accompanying Ottoman Navy, the fleet commander Lu Ming ordered a sail to go to the port of Bordeaux in France. This time, they did not move from the Messina waters, but followed a faint crosswind to head westward from the Malta waters in the south of Sicily. The speed along the way was extremely fast, and on the evening of the 10th they arrived at the port of Algiers in the Western Mediterranean.

After some water supply was provided by local warlords, the port of the Ottoman Empire was actually controlled by local warlords, the formation of naval battleships on the east coast quietly left the port of Algiers on the night of the 11th and advanced towards the Strait of Gibraltar. With the excellent mobility and high speed of steamships, the Spanish ships cruising on both sides of the strait did not detect or intercept the four powerful warships on the east coast in time. Instead, two of their sailboats transporting wheat to Cadiz were captured and burned down by the east coast, which should make the Spanish Kingdom, which is currently in a famine state, worsen.

On March 18, after overcoming unfavorable factors such as wind direction, ocean currents and avoiding possible Spanish warships, the East Coast battleship formation arrived outside the port of Bordeaux. The French in the port were facing a great enemy and refused to allow these four powerful warships to enter the port. As a last resort, the East Coast Commercial Station in the city had to hire some near-shore barges to transport cotton cloth and goods. It took two days to finish it.

On March 25, four battleships passed through the waters near the Netherlands and sank a warship with Spanish flags again. After the war, through interrogation of prisoners, they learned that it was a brig battleship "Santa Ana" of the Spanish South Netherlands fleet stationed in Dunkirk. The East Coast Fleet did not stop for much after sinking the Spanish warship, but advanced at full speed and arrived at the port of Riga on the banks of the Dowa River. On April 2, they only provided some supplies near Steding, Sweden.

Four powerful warships caused a sensation in the port. The officials stationed here in Sweden were at a loss and didn't know how to deal with it. Fortunately, Lu Ming quickly sent people to communicate with the Swedes and paid a considerable entry fee. The Swedes were shocked to issue an entry permit for the East Coast people.

There is a shipyard and shipyard built by the Dutch in the port to take advantage of the rich oak resources here. Four battleships on the east coast carried out some maintenance in this Dutch shipyard and then began to load immigration and payment for goods. There are more immigrants than expected. It seems that life in Livornia under the Swedes was not very good. There are more than 3,000 immigrants in total, both men and women. After the loading, the East Coast warships went to Tunisia again on April 10. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!