At noon, four Caravel galleons sailed out of the port of Ambona, and the soldiers were familiar with the flags on the masts, which belonged to the Portuguese merchant Mr. Dergus, and when the fleet passed by the batteries on the headland, they also hoisted a greeting flag, and a send-off flag was also politely displayed on the batteries indicating a good journey.

After all, Mr. Degus had paid for the drinks of the soldiers in the fort in the bar last night, and it was evident that Mr. Degus was a generous and good man.

In this way, Degus's fleet was able to leave the harbor without any scrutiny, and the fleet went straight to join the large fleet of the Portuguese in the distance and sailed away, leaving only a silent back for the people of Ambona.

Unbeknownst to the soldiers on the battery, however, if Degus's fleet were blocked from leaving the harbor, the soldiers might be killed, because the indigo "strange ship" had actually aimed its guns at the battery, ready to fire at any moment.

Later, even the Nicole, which is far away in the ocean, will join the battle, and at that time, the small city of Ambona may be in a catastrophe......

However, the hasty departure of the Dergus fleet still attracted the attention of the Dutch, and the Dutch authorities in the city were keenly aware of the news that the departure of the Dermus's fleet and the mysterious fleet were in all probability headed for Timor, and in the afternoon of the same day, a small dhowing ship that had been informed set sail hastily to Batavia, the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company.

At this time, in the depths of the Banda Sea, long away from Ambon, the fleet was slashing southward with an average of six to seven knots of "high speed".

It was also at this time that the Nicole's restaurant welcomed two guests: Governor of Pimont and Degus Anwar.

At this time, except for Li Sanduo who replaced Gu Jin in the cockpit to direct the fleet to sail, Sun Lao, Gu Jin, Zhu Beiguo, Li Junming, and Xu Zhi were all present, and everyone's expressions were a little serious.

Degus was reporting something to the people in the restaurant, Degus stopped after saying a few words, and continued to speak after Xu Zhi finished translating, Sun Lao and the others nodded from time to time, asked a few questions, and the other party answered, and the atmosphere of the meeting seemed to be a little dull.

Yes, Degus brought good news and not-so-good news, the better news: Orne is now a little weaker than in the past, due to the clash between some of his former allies outside Dili - fighting over banana plantations and rice fields.

Obviously, Orne's mediation was ineffective, so for now Orne only controls the city of Dili and the three conflicting tribes outside the city.

The eastern part of the island, which was dominated by pro-Portuguese tribes, organized the twelve small tribes in the east with fifty arquebuses and two hundred pikemen armours and three hundred wood-pole iron-headed spears, who now had a nominal leader and had marched to Salazar Mud Bay, not far from Dili.

- If the Governor's army lands, they will continue to advance towards Dili City.

As a result, Orne was forced to send an army of 100 arquebusiers and 200 spearmen to stop the eastern tribes' assault on Dili.

So, there are actually less than 800 warriors in Dili City, and of course, he is still the most powerful of the surrounding powers, and at least nominally, he is also the "king" of the island of Timor.

So, what about the not-so-good news?

The bad news is that the Dutch have finally stepped in.

According to the information obtained a week ago, two double-deck galleons appeared in the sea outside the city of Dili, the purpose is not clear, but there is a definite information that on the west battery of the pier of the city of Dili, a new type of cannon has been installed, it is said that it was aided by the Dutch, and it is said that it can hit a third of a league.

"Rig seems to be the Spaniard's unit of measurement, right?"

Li Junming asked Zhu Beiguo beside him in a low voice.

"Well, Europeans basically use this unit of measurement, one-third of a mile is about one nautical mile, and the farthest distance should not exceed two kilometers."

Zhu Beiguo explained in a whisper to Li Junming and the other brothers next to him.

Then Degus added that his informant in Kupang had reported that the most powerful tribal confederation of Dunnu in the western part of Timor had recently made a surprise attack on the city of Oecussi, a Portuguese stronghold in the western part of the island and the last one currently under the control of the Portuguese East India Company, which was less than thirty leagues from both Kupang and Dili.

Although the Portuguese and mestizo Portuguese of Oecussi once supported Orne's rebellion, they later switched to neutrality because the people there could not bear Orne's tyranny, and now they wanted to get out of Orne's control, so half a month ago, Oecussi's city council sent someone to Ambon to get in touch with Degus.

The Portuguese of Oucusi told me that the warriors of the Duncan tribe were actually armed with arquebuses! Although the number is small, it is an important signal: it shows that there are outside forces on the island.

The Oecussi initially feared that the Dutch were behind the support of the tribes, but the Dutch immediately denied it, and more believed that it was a sign of Orne's alliance with Duncan, as we were the only three families on the island who could afford to provide such weapons to the tribal warriors.

If that is the case, Orne's power will swell, and in time, once Orne's alliance with Duncan is consolidated, it will be much more difficult for us to reclaim Dili.

That's all there is to Dergus.

When Xu Zhi finished translating the last sentence, the meeting fell silent, and everyone was silently digesting the information.

At this time, Zhu Beiguo took the lead in speaking, saying that although the Dutch denied the rumors of aiding the Duncan tribe, we still cannot rule out the possibility that the Dutch are the real masterminds behind the scenes, and there is no doubt that the Dutch want to actually control the western part of the island of Timor, so it cannot be ruled out that the Dutch plan to use the hands of the Dunnu tribe to take advantage of the danger of the people and first pull out the nail of the Portuguese in the western part of the island.

Let's not forget that the Dutch and Ornet are on good terms at the moment, and no one knows what kind of behind-the-scenes deals are going on between the two sides, but in any case, the interests of the Portuguese on the island of Timor are the bargaining chips for these deals.

Perhaps one day Austria and the Dutch sides will come up with a "legitimate" reason to occupy Oecusi - for example, at the invitation of King Orne, the Dutch and the Dunnu tribes will jointly send troops to quell the "rebellion" in the town of Oecussi.

So, there's no time to wait!

It is necessary to act quickly to raid the port of Dili, at least to drive Orne out of Dili before the Dengken tribe joins the Orne.

In addition, we must prepare for a naval battle with the Dutch, if the Dutch dare to interfere with our actions.

Judging by Degus's intelligence, although the Dutch were actively interfering in Dili's affairs, both Sun Lao and Pimont and Degus could see that the Dutch were actually riding on the wall.

Otherwise, the Dutch would have sent soldiers directly from Batavia to fight, rather than just sending a few naval warships to cruise the seas.

In any case, up to now, the Dutch do not seem to have done anything unfriendly to the Portuguese, except for a few cannons sold to Orne, and the attack on Oecussi was carried out by the natives.

As for the issue of selling weapons, it is quite justifiable that it is a pure business!

So it can be seen from here that the Dutch have not done everything perfectly, and the two sides have not pierced the thin layer of window paper, to put it bluntly, they just want to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.