Chapter 329: Fallen Into a Trap

After nearly a day of replenishment, the fleet set out again, but this time it was blessed by the goddess of luck and encountered the Indian Ocean monsoon.

Friedrich received assurances from Benny Erbing that Bagamoyo had enough coal and supplies to provide for his side.

So he was overjoyed and ordered the fleet to set off; with the help of the compound steam engine and the hybrid power of the sail, it took less than six days to reach the destination at an ultra-high speed of 20 knots.

Bagamoyo is the oldest city in Tanzania, but this prisoner fortress, which can be described as a variety of architectural styles, may be more appropriately called a town in the eyes of Europeans at this time.

Looking around, there are ancient European buildings, indigenous-style straw huts, simple-style houses directly made of mud, and even Muslim-style and some weird temples.

But overall, it can be summarized in three words: old, dilapidated, and broken.

The local European merchants can be said to be in a miserable state. These people are dressed in completely isolated Rococo or Regency-style clothing.

The men were wearing exaggerated and complicated clothes, high-heeled shoes and wigs, and they looked like they had traveled from the 18th century.

The women were also dressed in a very pretentious way, but it was not much different from the mainstream style in Europe in 1842, but it was still far from the fashionable Vienna.

And they seemed to carry a strange smell on their bodies, and even Franz and his team could smell it even a few meters away from the group.

Da Yanshanyin looked at the European women passing by with doubt. After all, her classmates in Vienna even wanted to soak in water all day and use various flower petals and spices to make them smell good from head to toe.

But from the appearance of these women in front of her, it was easy to conclude that they didn't even want to wash their heads. What surprised her even more was that the sweat stains, tear stains, bird droppings, and various strange stains on their clothes were all visible; the "intoxicating" smell on their bodies could make a young man in love stay away.

The port was crowded with people of all colors, and they obviously welcomed the arrival of the Austrian ocean-going fleet. Due to the rise of the port of Mombasa, the business of Bagamoyo was getting worse day by day. There was no doubt that the port was dying.

Franz and his entourage also found a strange phenomenon, that is, there seemed to be a lot of Arabs on the dock, and even a slave ship carrying a whole ship of slaves left the port.

When Benny Erbin and his men walked out of the subsequent transport ship, the white people on the dock cheered loudly, and at the same time, the Arabs next to them immediately began to be alert, and even some merchant ships left the port directly.

Franz and Friedrich knew that those people's actions must be out of fear of retaliation by the whites, so they took the lead to inform their masters.

However, this did not affect their own itinerary. After all, the fleet was just here to replenish supplies and would leave this troubled place in two days at most.

So they didn't think it would cause any trouble to themselves, but the two began to plan the future of this port.

Franz felt that Bagamoyo would inevitably become an important fulcrum of the empire in East Africa, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal, its importance would increase further.

Of course, in his dream, if everything goes well, the ultimate goal is to connect it with the Congo colony to form a super colony across Central Africa.

The "pragmatist" Friedrich believed that Bagamoyo fully met the necessary conditions for being a military port; the natural barrier and good depth would bring more trouble to the attacker.

But its limitations are also obvious, that is, it is not big enough; if a large fleet is stationed here for a long time, it will appear small, and once the number of ships of the attacker doubles, the advantages and disadvantages of offense and defense will be completely reversed.

Compared with Bagamoyo, Friedrich is more optimistic about Daresalaam, which was still a small fishing village at that time, where the water level is deeper, and it has more space and more ideal depth.

But at this time, Daresalaam was still a poor and unknown village. It might take 3-5 years to turn it into a fully functional port, and it might take up to 10 years for people to realize its superiority.

Daresalaam, located at the mouth of the Rufu River, is the capital of Tanzania in later generations, but at this time it has not yet shown the advantages of a deep-water port; and building a port from scratch is never an easy task.

While the two were still immersed in their thoughts, boxes of weapons and black gunpowder were moved to the shore, and batches of supplies and coal were sent on board.

However, in order to prevent accidents, Friedrich still ordered all officers and soldiers not to stay on the shore or go deep inland.

Everyone was looking forward to not making any mistakes, which would affect the plan to leave the city early tomorrow morning after the supply was completed. After all, the next journey would face the most difficult level of this voyage-the Cape of Good Hope.

Until this time, Franz and his party had not realized that they had been deceived. Everyone was anxiously looking forward to the arrival of dawn and starting the next day's journey.

The sun rose as usual. Luca Marchennia was a lookout on the Venetia, the flagship of the Austrian Mediterranean Fleet. He got up on time at 4:30 in the morning as usual, ready to take over his companion's work at 5 o'clock.

The first ray of sunlight in the morning was particularly dazzling. Luca Macheninha, who had very good eyesight, soon saw that there seemed to be some small black spots approaching where the sun rose.

This is a very unusual situation, because there are so many black spots, like a mighty fleet. As a lookout with a keen mind, he realized that this was a precursor to a conflict at sea, but he was unable to confirm this fact.

(Lying or misreporting military information is a very serious crime in the military.)

"Marceno! Come here and see what that dark patch in the distance is?"

Luca Macheninha called to his companions on the watchtower, but received no response. According to common sense, this sleepy guy must be lazy. After all, our ships are anchored in the harbor and it is almost time for the changing of the guard.

But just at the moment when he decided to take a few bites of bread in the shadow of the watchtower to replenish energy before changing guard, a drop of unknown liquid fell on his head.

Luca Macheninha touched it casually. Based on his years of experience, he judged that the sticky and warm feeling should be a pile of fresh bird droppings.

"Fortunately, it didn't fall on the bread." Luca Marcheninha secretly rejoiced. Just as he was about to wipe the bird poop on his pants, he found a trace of red liquid dripping down.

"The people above are dead?" He looked at the watchtower in disbelief, but the people above him didn't move at all. Thinking of the large number of black spots ahead that he had detected, he immediately shouted, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Attack! Enemy ships are coming!"

Luca Macheninha shouted as he climbed towards the watchtower.

"Marceno! Rosa is still waiting for you to go back and marry her! Damn it! You still owe me 20 florins for wine money."

How he wished it was just a prank by his stupid friend, but the reality was cruel. A crossbow arrow shot through Macheno's eye and nailed him to the mast. Luca Macheninha picked up the telescope and saw an entire fleet of sailing ships approaching them.

"Northeast, 20 nautical miles, enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Based on experience, he judged that the opponent was less than 20 nautical miles away from his side (some book friends must think that 20 nautical miles is too far, and there must be no problem in discovering the enemy's situation so early).

But in fact, it often takes 2-3 hours for steam battleships of this era to just start up, not to mention other tasks such as anchoring.