After Commodore Xia Zhiquan led the Banten detachment to Bali, he soon landed in the eastern part of Banten Island, but after the landing, although he also fought with some of the indigenous armies, = did not find the expected large number of enemies, and the large number of native troops mentioned in those information did not know where they went.

The landing force did not find a large indigenous army, so after a few days of casual sweeping, after breaking through a few small cities, they withdrew, preparing to return to Bali to see what was going on.

At this time, a communication ship that had returned to Banten City sailed into the port of Bali at the fastest speed, and then brought a message to everyone: "Banten City is surrounded!" ”

At this time, the soldiers on Bali realized that the original assembled indigenous army had not disappeared, but had already been killed in Banten City!

Moreover, it was transported by boat, otherwise it would not be possible to penetrate the entire Banten Island silently, and then run down to Banten City!

In this part of Southeast Asia, in addition to the Tang Empire itself, only the Portuguese are left!

"Those damn Franco-barbarians!" Commodore Xia Zhiquan, the commander of the Banten detachment, couldn't help but curse when he heard the news.

As an old admiral who has served in the South Seas for more than three years, he knows quite well that in this part of the South Seas, the only sea power that can compete with the empire at sea is the Portuguese, and the only ones who have the ability to assemble so many ships, whether they are their own, pirates or simply native, are the only ones who have this ability.

The nearly 20,000 indigenous troops of the Bajang Kingdom and a large number of pirates were able to suddenly appear under the city of Banten, which was absolutely inseparable from the support of the Portuguese.

Commodore Xia Zhiquan, who was scolding on his lips, was about to give an order, and the fleet immediately prepared to set sail and return to Banten City as soon as possible!

Banten City is the government of Banten Province, and it is also the bridgehead of the Tang Empire to expand its territory in the Nanyang region, and there must be no mistakes.

If there is a mistake in Banten City, I, the commander of the Banten Fleet, I am afraid that the end will be very bad, even if the high-level of the empire has no opinion on this matter, it is estimated that the army will be happy to see it, but the navy will definitely punish itself very seriously, and it is possible to be ordered to retire if one is not done well.

Banten City is not only a bridgehead for the empire's expansion in the South Seas, but also a bridgehead for the navy's southward strategy!

In the past two years, the army and navy have erupted countless times over the strategy of going north and going south!

This kind of controversy is not about whether to fight the Tatars in the north or the Portuguese in the south, but it is a question of priority.

Because according to the highest strategy of the empire, it is to conquer the whole world, the Tatars in the north must be killed, the Portuguese must also be killed, the steppes and even the northwest region in the north must be occupied, and the Nanyang Islands and Indochina Peninsula in the south must also be occupied.

However, although it is said that both sides must fight, with the current national strength of the empire, it is impossible to say that it can maintain expansion in several directions at the same time, and there must be a question of priority.

The battle between the army and the navy is whether to fight the north first or the south first!

If we say that we will attack the north first, needless to say, the investment in military spending will definitely be inclined to the army, and at the same time, all kinds of infrastructure and other resources will be inclined to the north, and this is something that the navy cannot bear.

If we say that we will fight that side first, the navy will naturally be happy, because then the navy's military spending will be greatly increased, and all strategic resources will be inclined to the south, but in this way, the army will not be happy!

At present, the top of the empire, or more accurately the Son of Heaven, has not made a final decision, but has maintained a balance of power between the north and the south, which is also the reason why the ratio of military spending of the army and navy has not changed much in recent years.

However, in this case, whether it is the army or the navy, they are fighting more carefully, trying to completely impress the Son of Heaven to make a decision in their favor.

To the north, the army has come up with a plan to recover the Hetao area!

The navy is not to be left behind, and has come up with a Nanyang strategy over there, and the core plan is to take Luzon and Banten as the core to encroach on the islands in the South Seas, and finally completely take the vast South Sea region into the bag, so that the South Seas will become the back garden of the empire!

As for the plan of the Indochina Peninsula, it is currently on hold, because the army wants to conquer Annam by land, and then kill Malacca, to put it bluntly, it is actually a direct sweep of the entire Indochina Peninsula, and Malacca is only the last to be conquered by the way!

But in this way, limited by the army traffic and the resistance of the local aborigines, the war will become very long, and it is even possible to fall into this quagmire and not be able to pull it out, and more importantly, in this way, there is basically nothing to do with the navy, and the navy is resolutely opposed to this!

What the navy wants is to directly carry out a large-scale landing and directly attack Malacca, but in this way, the army does not agree, because so far, in fact, the navy does not have the strength to organize a large-scale landing, whether it is the transportation of troops or logistics support, in fact, it is very difficult, the army feels that the navy is risking the lives of army officers and soldiers, and if the transport fleet is sunk by the Portuguese warships on the sea, hundreds or even tens of thousands of people will be sent to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish.

Of course, the key to the army's opposition is not this, the most important thing is that they are not willing to give the navy a hand and directly land in Malacca, the main role will be played by the navy, the army will not be able to reap any benefits, and when attacking the fortress of Malacca, the army still needs to spend human lives to fill it, and the generals of the army will never agree to this plan unless they have a collective brain.

With this back and forth, the strategy of the Indochina Peninsula has been shelved.

In the past two years, both the army and the navy have done their own work, and the army has tightened its belts, trained cavalry with limited clothing, equipped with howitzers, and silently prepared their Hetao raids.

And the navy is also trying its best to expand the fleet, preparing to take Luzon and Banten as the core, and launch the South Sea strategy, especially the strategy in the Banten region is even more important, because if you take Sumen Island in Banten Province, then you can land in Malacca nearby, and then control Malacca.

In such an environment, Banten City is actually very important for the navy!

Banten City, there is no room for error!

This is the only thought of Xia Zhiquan now!

Now that it is no longer important to sweep the central and eastern regions of Banten Island, it is pointless to knock out a few indigenous cities and attack a few of their ports, he must lead the fleet to aid Banten City as soon as possible!

Xia Zhiquan's order was quickly passed on, and everyone in the fleet was busy, working overnight to replenish all kinds of supplies for the fleet.

Therefore, at the same time, Xia Zhiquan also sent a fast communication ship to Luzon to ask for reinforcements!

By dawn the next day, he would personally lead the fleet to the west.

In addition to the original fleet and landing force, Xia Zhiquan also brought the main force stationed in Bali, that is, more than 100 army soldiers.

Although the number of more than 100 people seems to be very small, the number of troops fighting in the Nanyang region is not much, and the total number of marines of the entire Banten detachment is only 300 people, and the total strength of the Banten garrison regiment is just over 1,000 people.

As for the militia on Bali, he did not transfer, on the one hand, the militia's combat effectiveness is still relatively weak, and moreover, Bali still needs to leave a part of the defensive force, although there are no natives on Bali, but it is separated from the east of Banten Island by a small strait, those natives can easily land on Bali with a sampan, if they do not leave part of the garrison, the natives may not be able to land directly to capture Bali.

With the addition of more than 100 army officers and men, and when the time comes, some sailors and gunners will be transferred to fight ashore, and the total number of troops available for ground operations in Xia Zhiquan's hands will almost reach about 1,200.

Among the 1,200 men, there were 300 marines from the Banten detachment, 600 soldiers from the Banten garrison, 200 militiamen, and about 100 sailors and gunners who were temporarily transferred.

Don't think that these 1,200 people are less, if they are fighting on the mainland, especially on the northern border, the strength of the empire's army is calculated by how many thousand, but in the Nanyang region, these 1,200 people are in the ground field, Xia Zhiquan believes that they can defeat the indigenous army of 10,000 or even more.

This is not his blind self-confidence, but a fact obtained from many actual battles!

Whether it is the previous company fleet of the Tang Western Company or the current official army, when fighting with the natives, the scale of the force is actually not large, usually it is only a few hundred troops, if a thousand people are mobilized to fight, it is a large-scale battle.

The Banten detachment led by Xia Zhiquan, who was running wildly at the greatest speed, even if there was a storm on the night of the voyage, he strictly ordered the fleet to continue sailing!

Because at this time, arriving a day late may affect the survival of Banten City, he can't wait for the storm to pass and then slowly rush to help, he wants to return to Banten City as soon as possible!

Because of Banten City, it must be saved!

Just when the Banten Fleet was rushing to the aid of Banten City, at the head of Banten City, Cheng Zhiqi was also looking at the natives and pirates who were almost all over the mountains outside the city!

Even if he is not familiar with military affairs, he can see that the natives and pirates outside the city are about to launch a general attack after preparing for a long time!

Looking back at the military soldiers and ordinary people waiting at the head of the city, Cheng Zhiqi nodded slightly, and then turned to Colonel Yang Hong and said: "This battle is about the survival of Wandan, the death of the soldiers, everything is entrusted to Brother Yang!" ”

After hearing this, Yang Hong said with a resolute expression: "Lord Cheng, don't worry, I want Wandan City to be broken, unless the soldiers of my Wandan Garrison Regiment are dead!" ”

Cheng Zhiqi said: "Okay! The heroism of the army is indeed as always, and since the soldiers of the army have already made a statement, then the yamen of my Banten prefect will not be left behind, and the yamen of my Banten Prefecture, except for the manpower that needs to maintain the situation in the city, the remaining 83 officials have all prepared swords and guns, ready to go into battle to kill the enemy at any time, and help the army! ”