Zhang Wei, the person in charge of the ship receiving working group, came to the Kunming ship, met with Shang Jinfeng, learned about the current situation, and also reported the situation of the two new warships like Shang Jinfeng. At present, the coal, food, and drinking water of the two warships are very sufficient, although after more than 20 days of sailing, the machine has a certain amount of wear and tear, and running 25 knots is somewhat exempt, but there is no problem in running 22 or 3 knots, and the cruising speed can also reach about 20 knots, which is also quite a considerable speed in this era.

Moreover, during the more than 20-day voyage, the soldiers of the two warships became more familiar with the operation of the warships. At the time of departure from Germany, the two warships were equipped with ammunition, and they also brought a batch of training ammunition, and carried out many shooting exercises on the way back, and now the training ammunition has been exhausted, and the ammunition has been used up about 40%, but the soldier's artillery skills have been greatly improved, and the remaining ammunition can still support one or two battles at sea.

After learning about the situation of the Qingzhou ship and the Yizhou ship, Shang Jinfeng also had a bottom in his heart, and now the fleet is about 600 kilometers away from Java Island, and it is expected to arrive in the Java sea area at 8-9 o'clock tomorrow morning. At this time, the Qingdao command had learned about the situation in Java through Zhang Zhenxun, although the farm had been attacked by a group of natives a few days ago, but due to the large number of people on the farm, they were on guard, not only held the farm, but also sheltered about 300 fleeing Chinese, and now the various facilities on the farm are basically intact, and the food and materials are also sufficient, Zhang Zhenxun is also willing to hand over the farm to the People's Army's overseas Chinese protection unit as a temporary station. So the Qingdao command also agreed to Shang Jinfeng's plan. However, the command also reminded Shang Jinfeng that at this time, the colonial authorities in Batavia already knew that the East China government was armed to protect overseas Chinese, so it was likely to send warships to intercept the forward fleet, and they needed to be prepared.

Shang Jinfeng considered that the first task of the forward fleet at present was to land the land landing, and the Dutch fleet might make trouble for the landing of the forward fleet. It would be better to divide the forward fleet into two groups, one to attract the attention of the Batavian colonial authorities, and the other to land with the army. Of course, if you attract the attention of the colonial authorities in Batavia, it is very likely that you will start a war with them, but Shang Jinfeng has already obtained the authorization of his countrymen, and he can fire first, that is, he has the right to belligerent.

When Zhang Wei heard this, he immediately asked Shang Jinfeng to give an order, and the Qingzhou and Yizhou ships were responsible for attracting and containing the Batavian colonial authorities. And after Shang Jinfeng thought about it, he also agreed to Zhang Wei's request for help.

In fact, if the Kunming ship is dispatched, of course, all the warships in Batavia can be easily destroyed, but although Shang Jinfeng has fired first, he also knows very well that it is impossible to say nothing, and he will start fighting when he meets, and he must always negotiate with the other party first, and then move after saying that he has turned over, of course, if the other party fires first, it is another matter. The advantage of the Kunming ship lies in the attack beyond the range of the opponent, so it is not suitable for negotiations, and if it is hit by a shot, it will not be worth the loss.

Although Qingzhou and Yizhou are both new ships, they are warships of this era after all, and they were built to fight wars, so it is not a pity that they are damaged. And these two warships are large protective cruisers, with a certain combat effectiveness, the Netherlands is unlikely to have any powerful warships, these two warships still have a war, if the enemy is really not the enemy, then there is still the Kunming ship, so that there is no need to move the place, only a few * can solve the problem, in addition to let Qingzhou, Yizhou participate in the strength, you can also accumulate experience for the navy, this step will have to be crossed sooner or later.

After deciding on the plan, the three warships immediately formed a column and headed for Java at a speed of 18 knots, crossing the Karimata Strait and entering the Java Sea.

At about 7 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the forward fleet reached the sea area about 60 kilometers from Java, so the fleet was divided into two, the Kunming ship sailed to the predetermined landing position, and the Qingzhou and Yizhou were commanded by Zhang Wei and headed in the direction of Batavia.

The Qingzhou and Yizhou ships sailed out of a distance of about 20 kilometers, and at this time, at the place where the heaven and earth met in the distance, the outline of Java Island was already very clear, and at this moment, the lookout sent an alarm, and found that there were warships sailing towards them in front of them.

Zhang Wei listened, immediately picked up his own high-magnification binoculars, looked through the porthole, and sure enough, in front of him, there were several warships, and Zhang Wei counted, there were a total of 6 warships, of course, because it was too far away, it was not clear that the details of the warship could not be seen, but it was still possible to see the red and white blue tricolor flag hanging on the mast, which was the flag of the Netherlands.

Zhang Wei pondered for a while, and said: "Reduce the speed by 12 knots, the course will not change, line up in a horizontal formation, and prepare for battle." ”

The alarm bells on the two warships suddenly sounded, and the soldiers on the ships removed their gun jackets with all their hands, and the soldiers in the turrets also filled the gun chambers with shells and spare shells, and the rest of the soldiers hid in the cabins. The whole process took only 12 minutes. Zhang Wei looked at his watch, very satisfied with this efficiency, on the way back, the two warships had trained these subjects more than once, and now they have finally seen some results.

The two sides walked in the opposite direction, getting closer and closer, Zhang Wei also saw clearly, these 6 warships are different in size, one of them is slightly larger, it should be a flagship, and the three are roughly the same, but they don't look like battleships or large cruisers, and there are two warships that are obviously smaller, and it is estimated that they are shallow water gunboats or * boat destroyers, so Zhang Wei also breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it is not a battleship or a large armored cruiser, it will be easy to do.

At this time, the lookout sent another message, and the other party had sent a flag, asking the party to stop the ship and explain the intention.

Zhang Wei said: "What is the distance we are now?"

After a while, the lookout replied: "About 15 kilometers or so." ”

Zhang Wei thought for a while, this distance is far from the combat distance in this era, so there is no danger even if the ship is stopped, so he said: "Reduce the speed, stop the ship, send a letter to the other side, stop on both sides, and both sides send small boats to meet and negotiate." ”

Soon the other party sent a reply, agreeing to Zhang Wei's proposal, and both sides stopped the boat, and each sent a small boat to meet and negotiate in person. However, due to the inertia of the warship, when both sides stopped, the distance was shortened to about 12 kilometers. Although this distance is still not the combat distance of the warships of this era, it is actually within the effective range of the main ship's guns, and since both sides are stationary, if the guns are fired, the hit rate is still very high. So Zhang Wei ordered that the front main guns of the two warships should be aimed at each other.

And it turned out that due to the distance between the two sides, Zhang Wei could see very clearly, although the other side has 6 warships, but there are not many front main guns, the largest of which has only one front main gun, and the other three have only two front main guns, of course, the front main guns of two warships look like they should be about 200 mm. The Qingzhou ship and the Yizhou ship have 6 front main guns, and compared with the two sides, the People's Army has an absolute advantage of 12:7 in the number of front main guns, although the caliber is smaller, but if the two sides fire at each other in the state of facing each other's bows, the People's Army has a great advantage.

At this time, both sides put down a small boat and sailed towards each other, and the two sides met at sea and introduced each other that the People's Army sent Zhang Xuefeng, the deputy captain of the Qingzhou, with the rank of colonel, and the Netherlands sent a colonel, who reported his name as Linkwich.

Zhang Xuefeng said: "We are the People's Army Navy of the East China Government, and there was an anti-Chinese incident on Java Island, so we are here to protect our nationals, and we have no hostility towards the Dutch Batavia authorities, I hope you will not stop it." ”

"There have been no incidents of Chinese exclusion in Java, and your actions have constituted a violation of the sovereignty of the Dutch Batavian authorities, so we ask you to leave immediately, otherwise we will take the necessary measures to safeguard our sovereign interests," Rinkevich said. ”

Zhang Xuefeng said: "We have received definite information that there has been a serious anti-Chinese incident in Java, and we have no hostility towards the Netherlands, the Batavian authorities, and no territorial claims to Java, but we just want to protect our nationals, but if you stop us, then we will be regarded as hostile acts." ”

Linkevich said, "Colonel, can I interpret what you just said as a declaration of war on us?"

Zhang Xuefeng said: "Whether it is war or peace, the choice is in your hands, and I hope you can make the right choice." ”

Link Vicch said coldly: "Okay, I know what you are coming for, I will reply to my chief, and he will decide." ”

Zhang Xuefeng nodded, didn't say anything more, but ordered the boat to turn back.

Linkevich returned to his warship, came to the headquarters, and reported to Vice Admiral Helwig, the commander of the Dutch fleet and the Dutch army in Batavia, the outcome of the negotiations.

Helwig nodded after hearing this, and said, "Okay, my choice is war, let's teach these yellow-skinned monkeys a good lesson, and let them understand that the consequences of provoking us are not something they can bear." ”

Linkevich was a little worried, and said: "Your Excellency Commander, I have carefully observed their warships just now, although these two warships are not battleships, but the tonnage will be at least 6,000 tons, which is larger than any of our warships, it is very likely to be armored cruisers, and each warship has 6 main guns in front, and the firepower should not be weak, so we can't underestimate the enemy." ”

Helwig laughed and said: "Colonel, you look at these yellow-skinned monkeys too much, do you think that a few big warships are considered navy? Don't forget that just a few years ago, the Qing Kingdom had two more powerful ironclad ships, but they still lost to the Japanese, of course, it was another yellow-skinned monkey, just a little smarter, which shows that these yellow-skinned monkeys don't know how to operate warships at all, so let's teach them a good lesson." Let them know what the Navy is. ”