The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 156: The End of Pirates

After the Ming coalition took control of Egypt, the troops from all sides reorganized themselves in Egypt, and then divided into three groups to continue the attack.

Heading eastward, the goal is to capture the Sinai Peninsula and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.

Heading west, the goal was to capture commercial towns and pirate strongholds west of Egypt to Tripoli.

They boarded the escort fleet and armed merchant ships in the Mediterranean and headed straight for Tripoli, an important pirate hideout in the Mediterranean.

Pirates from North Africa wreaked havoc in the Mediterranean for three hundred years, and the small European countries were helpless against them.

A large number of European sailors, merchants and passengers were kidnapped by pirates and turned into white slaves within the Ottoman Empire.

The main fleet of an average European country may be much stronger than a pirate fleet, but it is impossible for it to escort all merchant ships.

At the same time, they also do not have the ability to directly eliminate the pirates' hideouts on land.

After attacking the pirate hideout, we will not be able to completely eliminate the pirates and may even face concentrated retaliation from the pirates, making the activities of our country's merchant ships more difficult in the future.

Before the Industrial Revolution, modern naval powers such as Britain, France and Spain had the ability to completely suppress the pirates' warships.

If Britain and France want to eliminate the pirate hideouts, it is not impossible for them to do so with some effort, but it will also require some cost.

Because there was no technological gap between North African pirates and European countries such as Britain and France.

If Britain and France want to eliminate these pirates, they can only use head-on confrontation.

The key point is that clearing out the pirates will not do them much good, as many of the pirates may have been supported by them in the first place.

At the same time, the locations of these pirate dens nominally belonged to the Ottoman Empire. Britain and France had special commercial interests in the Ottoman Empire and would not directly go to war with the Ottoman Empire.

When the Habsburgs and Russia attacked the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France would stand up to support the Ottoman Empire.

There were a total of twelve Russo-Turkish wars. Russia achieved great results on the battlefield many times, but often had to give up a large part of it due to the interference of Britain and France.

In the end, you can only get a little profit.

If Britain and France had not intervened in the Russo-Turkish dispute many times, the Russo-Turkish War would not have happened as many as twelve times.

In the original history, after the French Revolution, France became more powerful and began to colonize North Africa. Clearing out the pirates was beneficial to France.

Then the pirates in North Africa would naturally not be able to survive.

Now the Ming Dynasty wants to control Egypt, build a canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and completely open up the maritime trade routes of the old era.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty will definitely have to transport goods and personnel from its mainland to the Mediterranean, and will definitely continue to transport immigrants and materials to North America through the Mediterranean.

Then the stability of the Mediterranean is very important to the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to allow pirates to continue to wreak havoc here.

The military technology level of the Ming Dynasty was already a generation behind that of these pirates.

The end of the pirates came early.

The Ming Dynasty's European and American escort fleet discovered traces of the Tripoli pirate fleet in the central Mediterranean, southeastern waters of the Italian peninsula.

Now the two sides have officially gone to war, and the Ming fleet commander gave the order to open fire without hesitation.

The gunners of the rifle division on board also used rocket launchers to attack the pirate ship.

The sharpshooter among the riflemen uses carefully selected high-precision rifles to hunt pirates on the opposite ship across the sea.

At this time, the distance between naval warships in combat was often only a few hundred meters, and most of the time it was within the range of rocket launchers, and bolt-action rifles could barely hit them.

The 80mm rocket launcher is not as powerful as the ship-borne 80mm artillery, but it is much more powerful than the ordinary black powder shrapnel. Only a few shells are needed to destroy a pirate warship.

This pirate fleet has a total of fifteen ships, which is quite large among the pirate fleets. Ordinary private caravans are no match for it.

But now it is the regular navy of the Five Military Commanderies of the Ming Dynasty that has arrived.

There are hundreds of warships and armed merchant ships. Even if we don't consider the difference in weapon power, the combat effectiveness of both sides is not at the same level.

The pirates on the pirate ship were immediately stunned, and a large number of them were dodging and howling and quarreling incomprehensible.

"Damn it, why would the Ming people suddenly attack us?"

"Didn't we get along well in the past? In recent years, people from the Ming Dynasty have been going to Tripoli to buy female slaves?"

"Because Ali Pasha had Americans arrested, and the American king is a prince of the Ming Dynasty."

"Oh my God, is Pasha crazy? Why would he rob Americans?"

"Didn't those merchants say that the Ming would not fight us directly? Didn't they say that the Ming people would pay for peace?"

"The Pasha has really gone mad. He actually believed what those merchants said..."

"Damn businessmen, they all deserve to go to hell!"

"Stop talking about these useless things, and leave here quickly. We are no match for the Ming Navy!"

"No, the Ming steamships are catching up with us, and they have those terrifying shrapnel bombs!"

While cursing the European merchants, the pirates also tried hard to control their pirate ships and escape from the battlefield.

But the problem is that the Ming Dynasty had steamships and rocket launchers.

In the end, six of the fifteen pirate ships were destroyed on the spot, and the remaining nine were surrounded and had to hang up the white flag of surrender.

The armed merchant ship approached the pirate ship, and the Japanese army led by General Liu Biao set out and jumped onto the pirate ship to capture the pirate prisoners.

After capturing the pirate fleet, the Ming fleet continued sailing towards Tripoli.

The next morning, a few dozen kilometers outside the port of Tripoli, they encountered a larger pirate fleet, with at least thirty pirate ships of various sizes.

But the result was the same. This time, more than a dozen pirate ships were destroyed and sixteen were captured.

The battle at sea ended at noon. In the afternoon of the same day, the fleet arrived off the coast of Tripoli port and immediately began the landing battle that the infantry were already accustomed to.

Ali I Karamanli, Pasha of Tripoli, had realized this morning that the situation was not good.

The two large pirate fleets went out to sea and never returned. In the distance, the sound of artillery fire was heard on the sea. Then the Ming fleet appeared and launched an attack on the harbor.

Large groups of Ming soldiers began to flood onto the coast.

The coastal defense batteries on the coast opened fire in return, but the gunners were soon killed inexplicably.

This is because Ming Dynasty officers began to try sniper tactics.

In his own estate, Ali I listened to the increasingly severe reports sent by the soldiers, and became increasingly angry and frightened.

He called the two European merchants who were left in Tripoli for contact.

Ali I grabbed a merchant by the neck and yelled at them hysterically:

"You bunch of idiots, you guys deserve to go to hell. It's your instigation that has pissed off the Ming people. Now they're attacking Tripoli!"

The two European businessmen were also shocked, and they themselves did not quite understand why:
"Why is this happening? Why would the Ming Dynasty attack so crudely and directly? Shouldn't they come to negotiate first, or at least discuss the terms first?"

Ali I was stunned for a few seconds, then recalled what happened last year: "The Ming people came here last year...

“At that time, they asked me to release the people, but they did not take any conditions and asked me to never rob them again.

“I thought they were going to continue negotiating, but they just walked away.”

The two businessmen slowly realized the terrifying truth:
"So, the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty asked you to release the people directly, which is the condition of the Ming Dynasty?

“And you are not prepared to bargain on this basis at all?

"Just because the Pasha refused at the time, the Ming Dynasty began to prepare for a direct attack?"

Ali I also understood these truths, and continued to curse everyone angrily and helplessly:

"You idiots, we fools, crazy Ming people, they are all crazy, what on earth did I provoke——"

At this moment, a soldier ran in and reported:

"Pasha, the Ming people have occupied the dock, and there are troops coming this way..."

Ali I closed his eyes in despair:
"It's over... It's completely over... This is happening too fast..."

Ali I, his subordinates, and several foreign merchants have all lost their former composure.

They started swearing loudly in public, cursing each other and even beating each other, and the extremely magnificent hall was in chaos.

At the same time, explosions were heard outside, and screams were getting closer and closer. The battlefield was rapidly approaching the manor.

Obviously, the infantry and guards outside had no way to resist the Ming army.

After an unknown amount of time, several extremely terrifying explosions suddenly sounded outside.

A huge hole was blown out in the gate of the manor and castle where the Pasha lived.

A large number of Japanese legionnaires armed with rifles poured into the castle yard.

Ali I went to the windowsill and took a look. It was too late to deal with the merchants, so he asked them for advice again:

"What should we do now? What should we do?"

The two businessmen were very happy:
"Pasha's soldiers cannot withstand the Ming attack, so Pasha can only choose to surrender or escape."

In fact, they had no choice at all, and they had no time to escape.

The Ming Dynasty's bicycle, bolt-action rifle, and bazooka infantry, when fighting against the normal smoothbore musket soldiers of the era, directly achieved the effect of blitzkrieg.

Before the opponent had the chance to dig trenches, install barbed wire, and develop heavy machine guns, the Ming Dynasty's equipment was almost invincible.

For troops trained for line infantry tactics, encountering this kind of opponent is like encountering a natural enemy.

Tian Yiming led his Japanese battalion, followed by a Wu rifle battalion, and rushed all the way to the outside of Ali I's manor.

The rifle battalion fired the first round of shots, killing all the guards around the manor. The rest either ran away or knelt down and raised their hands in surrender.

Anyone who dared to fight back would be met with a second round of gunfire and fall to the ground like their original companions.

The castle gate was locked and could not be opened for a while.

The riflemen simply took out the picric acid explosive packs, piled them under the gate and detonated them, blowing open the thick gate.

Then some soldiers guarded outside the manor gate, while others rushed in to arrest people.

The servants and guards in the manor either knelt down and surrendered or were killed on the spot by random gunfire and bayonets.

Before Ali I could decide whether to flee or surrender, he was surrounded in the hall of the manor by Tian Yiming's Japanese soldiers.

Ali I didn't need to make a choice and just raised his hands in surrender.

Ali I took it for granted that at least he would not die.

He even subconsciously considered that he might have to continue to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty in the future and maintain "pirate order" for the Ming Dynasty in the Mediterranean.

Ali I was still hesitating in his heart, and was even considering whether to accept this future and what conditions he should ask for.

Liu Biao, commanding his own Japanese corps, the Sixth Division, was taking over the pirate city of Tripoli and leaving the Americans to find American prisoners.

Three days later, Liu Biao's Sixth Division of the Japanese Army basically controlled the city.

Zhu Jianxuan's special envoys Liu Quanzhi and Adams, as well as Xu Qing, the head of the Mediterranean West Factory, came to Tripoli together.

It was in the hall of Ali I's manor that I met Ali I and two other European merchants.

When Ali I saw the looks of the three people, he immediately recalled what happened last year, when Liu Quanzhi and Adams came here to see him.

At that time, I was the master here, and now the other party has become the master.

Ali I therefore knew that Liu Quanzhi was the representative of the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty and the King of America, and that the other party could decide his treatment.

So now I don’t care about my face at all, and I shout out loud and enthusiastically:

"I am willing to pledge my loyalty to His Majesty the King of Wu of the Ming Dynasty. I am willing to serve the King of Wu and His Majesty the King of America..."

Liu Quanzhi listened to the translation and did not respond directly to Ali I, but asked another question:
"Who instigated you to hijack an American merchant ship? Who is the employer of these people next to you?"

Ali I didn't think too much about it:

"A French businessman named Jacob Friedman..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Qing next to him spoke directly, and he said it directly in Arabic:

"You dare to trust someone with such a name?"

Although the official language of the Ottomans was Turkic, Arabic and Persian were actually more widely used.

Ali I was also stunned when he heard this:

"People with this name seem to be typical Judas..."

Xu Qing said with great disdain:
“You three Abrahamic religions have the same origin, but they are the only ones known as betrayers. When you cooperated with them, didn’t you feel guilty?
"For thousands of years they have refused to integrate into any ethnic group because they believe they are the only chosen people of God and everyone else should be abandoned.

"So when they betrayed or framed anyone, they didn't feel any psychological burden. They felt that it was their duty..."

Ali I seemed to have realized what was happening and discovered that the Ming people had no good feelings towards those merchants. He immediately blamed those merchants for everything he had done.

Xu Qing would not be fooled by this pirate leader, but he would go along with what he said and guide him to tell him what he knew.

The two chatted in the hall for more than two hours. After Xu Qing judged that the other party had nothing to say, he turned to look at the other two businessmen:
"I'll take these two people away to investigate for a few days, and return them to you after I'm done."

Liu Quanzhi had no comments:
"You just need to send them back intact. The final decision on how to deal with these people is up to the king."

Xu Qing agreed very seriously:

"I see."

(End of this chapter)