Chapter 3016

Disguising themselves as armed pirates and indiscriminately attacking merchant ships from other countries passing through this sea area may sound like a simple task, but if you think about it carefully, it is not that easy to complete.

For such a dirty and active mission, the identity must not be revealed, at least not with conclusive evidence. Otherwise, the outside world will immediately connect the matter to the Star Island authorities, and this is obviously not the purpose of the mission assigned by superiors.

Shao Tianhu carefully read the content of the telegram again, and found that there were no clear instructions such as "kill people and steal goods," "eliminate the living," or "sink the target." He believed that this was not an oversight by his superiors or a cautious wording, but

It is because these practices are not included in the projects that must be completed.

This means that the intensity of the attack needs to be controlled by the commander. Whether it is painful or not, it may not achieve the purpose of the operation, but if it is too harsh, it may not be the result that the superiors are happy to see.

At this time, he had to use his brain to think about the real purpose of the superior's deployment of this mission. And the many questions raised by his officers would only disturb his thinking. All he could think of for the time being was to try to avoid it first.

The identity of the fleet was easily recognized.

Shao Tianhu waved his hand to signal his subordinates to calm down. He needed to sort out his thoughts before making a judgement.

Although Shao Tianhu was young, he was a senior officer with a professional background and was quite prestigious in the mercenary group. Seeing this, everyone quickly fell silent and waited for him to give orders.

In the telegram, the location and target of the operation were clearly pointed out, which were merchant ships from other countries entering and exiting the northern end of the Strait of Malacca. Only attacking merchant ships without touching the coastal areas was undoubtedly intended to disrupt the normal shipping order in the Strait of Malacca and create a

Enough chaos for Haihan to profit.

The target does not specify a particular country or force. This is obviously not to attack a certain commercial competitor. The operation sea area is designated to the north of the Strait of Malacca, but not within the Strait of Malacca where it is easier to capture the target. Shao Tianhu believes that this is probably to allow the target to be captured.

Mercenary groups can better conceal their whereabouts.

Of course, he also keenly thought of another possibility, that is, his superiors might need to create a suitable excuse to intervene in the situation in the northern Strait of Malacca.

Since the purpose is to create chaos, then we need to consider the methods that should be used. If we kill people and silence them during the robbery, or even sink the ship and people together, then the news will not be able to spread to the outside world, and it will be difficult to achieve the purpose of creating chaos.

purpose.

Thinking of this, Shao Tianhu seemed to have understood why the telegram did not put forward clear requirements for the intensity of action. To muddy the water and create panic was the real purpose of this mission.

Of course, if you don't understand all the details involved, it is easy to understand the mission as simple burning, killing and looting. Once the mercenaries taste the "sweetness" from it, given the military discipline of the mercenary group, it may be difficult for Shao Tianhu to

Then restrain the people below.

"Bring me the sea chart." After Shao Tianhu figured out the key, it became easier to make an idea.

"You see, the northeast side of this sea area is the territory of Siam and Kedah, and the southwest side is Sumatra. There are only two main trade routes outside the Strait of Malacca, one goes north along the coast on the northeast side, and the other goes west

Passing through the Great Strait between our position and Sumatra."

"But because the city of Banda Aceh is on the south side of the Strait of Great Britain, there will be patrols by Aceh's navy from time to time. If we choose to take action in this area, our whereabouts will be easily exposed."

"So I think it is safer to choose the side closer to Siam and Kedah. Most of Siam's naval forces are concentrated in the Gulf of Siam on the east side of the Malay Peninsula, and Kedah has no decent water at all.

There is no opponent in this area that can threaten us."

Someone asked: "Battal Commander, should we find a temporary place to stay in this sea area?"

Shao Tianhu said: "Is there anyone among us who is familiar with the situation in this area? You can make some suggestions."

Someone responded: "I have a platoon leader who is from Siam, and his hometown seems to be nearby."

"Call the people over quickly." Shao Tianhu gave the order without hesitation.

After a while, the Siamese platoon leader rushed to the venue. After listening to Shao Tianhu's request, he quickly gave advice: "There is a large island near the coast of Siam with many bays where we can temporarily anchor.

"

Shao Tianhu looked at the location he pointed out on the chart. There was an island name marked in Chinese characters: Phuket Island.

"Are there any Siamese government agencies on this island?" Shao Tianhu was still more cautious and did not want to cause trouble.

The Siamese platoon leader responded: "Don't worry, battalion commander, although this island is the territory of Siam, there are only some natives living on the island, and they often move to other places, so they should not be in the way."

After that, he briefly introduced the situation of these natives. They do not engage in agriculture, and their livelihood is to be pirates and collect pearls. However, due to their limited shipbuilding technology, they can only build some very small sampans, and they need to use these small boats.

With primitive weapons to rob large ships entering and exiting the Strait of Malacca, the success rate can be imagined.

"Turkish pirates? That's great. They are here to take the blame for us." Shao Tianhu immediately made up his mind to use this place to implement his plan.

The voyage from the bay where the fleet is currently stationed to Phuket on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula is a thousand miles and takes about two days. During this period, Shao Tianhu can also further improve his plan.

But on their way to Phuket, they encountered a target coming to their doorstep.

The lookout on the mast spotted two Arab sailing ships in the distance, sailing from west to east toward the Strait of Malacca. Shao Tianhu immediately decided to attack the two ships and ordered them to approach at full speed.

An hour later, Shao Tianhu was able to distinguish with the naked eye the diagonal sail unique to Arabian sailing ships.

The other party had obviously noticed that the approaching sailboats were menacing and had evil intentions. They were desperately adjusting their course, trying to turn south and escape to Banda Aceh City.

After chasing for a while, the distance between the two sides further shortened. Shao Tianhu confirmed the position on the chart. It was still a hundred miles away from Banda Aceh, but it would still be at least a long way to catch up with the two ships.

If you have to travel dozens of miles, you may have entered the patrol range of the Acehnese navy, and there is a risk of exposing your whereabouts.

Shao Tianhu weighed the pros and cons, and finally gave the order to give up chasing the two ships and continue in the direction of Phuket. Although this pursuit failed to achieve actual results, there was still enough time to take action, so Shao Tianhu was not worried.

No suitable target found.
Chapter completed!