The Dardanelles built many Turkish fortresses, guarding the sea route from the Mediterranean to Constantinople.

If a troop carrier wants to pass through the narrow Dardanelles, it may need to face artillery attacks from the fortress. Once a troop carrier is shot and sunk, it will suffer heavy losses.

Not only that, if the battle to siege Constantinople fails and falls into a long-term siege, it is also necessary to transport freshwater, food and ammunition from the Mediterranean Sea outside the Strait of Dardanelles to support the frontlines.

These actions require the coalition forces to capture the coastal defense fortress built by the Ottoman Empire in the Dardanelles.

The coalition's infantry, cavalry and artillery regiments were transported to Thenedos Island near the exit of the Dardanelles. The coalition forces gathered on this island to prepare to attack the fortress of the Dardanelles.

Chu Yun moved from Crete to Thenedos, where he met a group of naval generals.

This time, the naval fleet achieved a series of brilliant results than the infantry and cavalry that had not experienced any battles.

"Our fleet sank, burned and sunk more than 50 enemy sailboats and galleys, and countless rowboats were captured. 25 Turkish sailboats, 5 Calais battleships, 37 other galleys, and 7,000 Ottoman sailors were captured." Nelson submitted a report to Chu Yun.

Because naval wars are sometimes very chaotic, and even carried out at night, it is impossible to accurately count the sinking and burning ships, and there is only a general speculation, but the number of captured ships is easy to count.

Chu Yun was somewhat shocked when he received this report.

The Ottoman fleet was simply vulnerable in front of the coalition fleet. The strong ships and sharp guns easily destroyed the opponent's backward ship type, and more than 100 ships sunk and captured. Even if there are still fish that escape the net, it seems insignificant.

"The Zheng He, the trainees in the Navy's Martial Arts Hall, captured two Turkish sailors, three large merchant ships and hundreds of Turkish sailors in this battle. They showed the courage our soldiers in the Navy should have." Nelson mentioned another interesting thing.

"Zheng He captured five Ottoman ships with a warship? That's really amazing. Before I prepare to attack the Dardanelles, I need to commend them." Chu Yun did not expect that the graduates of this period of Naval Martial Arts Hall were so brave that they captured five Turkish ships one after another.

Zheng Chenggong, Hannah and others operated the Zheng He armed merchant ship, and were observing the fortress built by the Turks on the strait in the waters near the Dardanelles.

Sometimes Turkish merchant ships try to come out of the Dardanelles and enter the Mediterranean trade, and these merchant ships full of cargo become the best prey.

As the war escalated, fewer and fewer Turkish merchant ships dared to venture out to sea. The Zheng He patrols nearby for two days without seeing any trace of Turkish merchant ships again.

"It seems that many merchant ships have been hijacked by us, and Turkish merchants have suffered heavy losses. They probably dare not trade with the Mediterranean by sea. They may trade with Greek ships from land."

Hannah looked at the calm sea, and most of the battles at sea were spent searching for enemy ships, and the real battle might only be in that few hours.

"The Turks built fortresses on both the north and south coasts. The fortresses on the north coast had dozens of artillery, most of which were aimed at the straits, and only a few were aimed at the land. They were very confident about their own army. It was time for us to withdraw back to Thenedos and prepare to be handed over to other ships to patrol here instead of us." Zheng Chenggong sat on the deck of the Zheng He, with pencils, protractors and other tools in his hand, and was surveying and mapping the nearby coastline.

The success of the Age of Discovery is not just the extraordinary courage of the captains to explore unknown seas, but also the development of surveying and mapping and the intentional or unintentional surveying and mapping of the seas they go to, forming sea charts, and even publicly publishing these charts for other sailors. If you sail only by relying on your personal experience, you will not have much contribution to the Age of Discovery.

"Zheng Chenggong, let's change defense. The army leader has led some infantry to Thenedos Island and is preparing to attack the Dardanelles." The captain of the wooden sailboat who came to patrol instead of Zheng He said to Zheng Chenggong and the others.

"The Army Lord arrived at Thenedos so soon. Is the battle on Crete over? " Zheng Chenggong said unexpectedly.

"I heard that the commanders of the Ottomans fled Crete in a small boat, leaving 50,000 Ottoman soldiers in Crete. The soldiers' hearts were disintegrating and had surrendered to the Lord of the Army." The arrival of the captain said, "By the way, Lord of the Army heard that you, Zheng He, captured two Turkish sailing ships and three merchant ships, and he planned to summon all the crew of your Zheng He."

"really?!"

All the naval cadets above Zheng He cheered excitedly.

This was the first time they were trained sailors who could go to the battlefield before they became formal naval officers and soldiers, and they also unexpectedly made considerable military achievements with the Zheng He.

The Zheng He was just a sail-armed merchant ship and did not have much technical advantage. It is much more difficult to obtain military achievements with the Zheng He than the Huo Qubing and the Wei Qing, which is loaded with tens of thousands of tons.

"Let's go back to Thenedos Island!" Zheng Chenggong heard that Chu Yun was going to see all members of their Zheng He, and knew that there would definitely be some praise, so he was overjoyed.

The crew of the Zheng He was now full of spring breeze. They all knew that Chu Yun had arrived at the Dadanier Strait. Summoning them this time would be equivalent to returning triumphantly for them!

The Eight-Nation Alliance Base Camp is concentrated on Thenedos Island, which concentrates 30,000 coalition forces, less than 300 kilometers away from Constantinople.

Maybe it is very far to march 300 kilometers on land, but 300 kilometers on sea road is nothing.

Everyone saw the hope of capturing Constantinople. The forces in the Italian region, including Venice, the Pope, Sicily, Genoa, the Knights of the Hospital, which participated in the Eight-Nation Alliance, discovered for the first time that the Ottoman Empire, which seemed invincible in the past, were like a sick man at this time, and had no temper at all by the coalition forces.

7,000 of the 40,000 sailors were captured, many of them died in battle or fled ashore, and 50,000 infantry and cavalry surrendered. No matter how large the Ottoman Empire was, it could not withstand the collapse of nearly 100,000 troops.

Before attacking the Dardanelles, the coalition forces held a small banquet on Thenedos to inspire morale, and at the same time rewarded the officers who made military achievements and planned to launch a final offensive against the Ottoman Empire.
Chapter completed!