The Sun and the Lion

Seawater poured into the dry dock. Jenny, who was in charge of the construction work, watched the completed Karak hull gradually float. With a sense of achievement and pride in his heart, he did not forget to instruct the craftsmen to inspect the hull.

The shell of this battleship built with additional funds from the palace can be said to be the largest Western-style hull built by Safavid shipbuilders since the founding of the navy. According to the design plan, this battleship can carry about 54 naval guns and has a displacement of about 500 tons, and the crew can carry up to 400 people, which is far more than other Safavid warships currently in service.

Even so, her size is not the largest in the Indian Ocean. Many merchant ships sailing on the Indian Ocean route are larger than her in terms of displacement, load and number of crew members.

But just building such a Karak was regarded as a bold enough attempt, and the sun-dried wood and other shipbuilding materials accumulated in previous years were also given priority to supply this project.

After the craftsmen confirmed that there were no problems with the hull, the outfitting work began, including masts and observation towers, sail rigging, naval guns, breech-mounted swivel guns, and other equipment required for navigation.

The outfitting work took about a week and was completed just as Ahsan returned from Gwadar Port. The commander, accompanied by the head of the shipyard, visited the warship that was ready to be put into use.

Looking at the appearance alone, Ahsan felt that there was nothing novel about it. It was just a slightly larger Karak sailboat. He also briefly counted the number of gun windows, and then he boarded the ship to look inside.

Although this ship was planned to be the future flagship, its internal conditions were no different from other Karak sailing ships. After the inspection, Ahsan felt that it was ready to be handed over to the King of Kings. After returning to Hormuz, he immediately put it in The matter was reported to Tabriz.

For the commander, the most important thing at the moment was to convince the Sultan of Bijapur. He thought there was no need to report the request sent by Yusuf, so he directly withheld it.

The envoy from Bijapur was temporarily placed in the castle of Hormuz. This was sent by the Sultan to negotiate with Ehsan. Ibrahim had previously kicked the ball to the commander.

Ehsan wanted to use force to threaten Sudan, but considering that it would cause unnecessary diplomatic incidents, he had previously written a long letter listing the difficulties in establishing a navy, and risked leaking information to include the contents of the bill. The various expenditures are consolidated and attached. I hope that these can make the impromptu Sudan retreat.

The envoy brought the Sultan's reply, and Ehsan breathed a sigh of relief after reading it. It seemed that the Sultan agreed to give up building a fleet on his own, and gave in on building a fortress in Goa, saying that he would send troops to strengthen the defense here, as long as the Sultan was guaranteed Ownership and use of these fortifications allowed Ahsan to begin construction.

After all, land direction is obviously more important for Bijapur. Yusuf hesitated for a long time after seeing Ehsan's bill. If these extra expenditures were used on the army, it would strengthen the military a lot. At this time, he planned to plan a jihad against the southern Hindus and took the initiative to go to Vijayanagar. Launching an attack, raising military supplies, mobilizing troops, and gathering intelligence all cost money.

In the end, the Sultan decided to save the money to strengthen the army. As for the ocean, although he knew that the peace of the Indian Ocean had been broken, since there were reliable allies willing to take responsibility for resisting the violence of the infidels and maintaining security and order, he would leave it to They'll be fine.

Ehsan immediately sent engineers to Goa to conduct surveys. Safavid officers, engineers and the Bijapur envoy went to Goa on the same ship.

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The Governor of Goa warmly received the technical personnel from the suzerain state, and the Sultan had ordered him to cooperate with these engineers in renovating and building the fortifications used to defend Goa.

The naval officers responsible for leading the team and the key engineers and their assistants were flattered that the local governor entertained them with a banquet. They maintained a humble attitude in front of the Governor and other Goan officials and dignitaries, which further enhanced the Governor's respect for them. Good impression.

"When do you plan to start work? The Sultan has given an order, and I will try my best to ensure the labor and building materials you need." When the banquet was over and the venue became private, the governor asked them friendly.

For the Governor, this expansion of fortifications was a godsend opportunity. Goa was just close to the border with Vijayanagar, and the local religion was still dominated by Hinduism. The combination of internal and external factors made him insist that Goa's military Strength needs to be strengthened, castles and walls need to be renovated, garrisons and military subsidies need to be increased, and most importantly - these resources are under his jurisdiction.

If it were in the past, the palace would not pay for his self-expansion of the army. He would need to deduct funds little by little from the local finance that can be used for these new expenditures, and even mobilize merchants in the city. Borrow money from Brahmins or ask for "financing" to fill the funding gap.

Unfortunately, the main share of commercial trade is monopolized by Muslim merchants, many of whom are agents of overseas monarchs. If you attack them, you must consider the risk of these people suing Bijapur.

As for the local pagan temples, although the governor coveted the wealth in them, for stability reasons, he chose not to extract more rupees from the Brahmins.

When the engineer saw the governor asking this question, the officer looked at each other and replied: "Dear Governor, as long as nothing happens, I can go with my assistant to survey various parts of your land tomorrow to select sites."

The governor nodded in approval, and then he explained to these friendly people his need to renovate the outer walls and castle. After all, it was obviously more advantageous for the officials of the sovereign country to come forward to request funds.

The engineer thought for a moment, agreed to this request, and excused himself to the place where the governor had arranged for them to stay.

The survey work lasted for several days. The site selection work for the fortresses, forts and ports dedicated to berthing Iranian warships to protect the Port of Goa has been completed. Goa's ports, urban areas, rivers and seaports have all been placed within the range of artillery. And self-contained. Even if the main city falls, the defenders of the new fortress can continue to resist and continue to bombard the enemy army and navy stationed in the fallen area.

However, this intention was not stated clearly when shown to the Governor. The Governor of Goa, who had only a vague idea of ​​artillery, allocated the designated land in accordance with the engineer's request, and began to raise building materials and labor for the engineer to dispatch.

Throughout the following summer, the governor and engineers were busy with construction problems. During this period, firearms and military advisors from Safavid were gradually put in place, starting from Goa to help the Bijapur Army keep up with the trend of the times.