The 70,000 main Dutch army, under the command of Dipole and Aksun, traveled by boat from Pontianak to eastern Borneo for several days, but as soon as most of them got off the dock, they received orders to immediately board the ship and return to Pontianak.

From white officers to ordinary indigenous soldiers, in Pontianak and Dongwanlu, they didn't get any benefits, and they thought they could grab a full bowl when they came to the east, but they suddenly received an order from the governor to board the ship and go back, and they didn't know what was going on, but the order was difficult to disobey, so they had to board the ship and embark on the return journey in a stupid way.

The journey of 70,000 Dutch troops from eastern Borneo back to Pontianak was not smooth.

There were many old ships in the transport fleet, many of which were steam-powered and sail-fast, and the speed of an hour was less than ten knots, and the steam-powered vehicles stopped from time to time, so they had to be driven by human paddles, and the sailors on the ships were not manpowered, so the white officers had to drive the indigenous soldiers up to paddle, and it took a lot of effort to increase the speed of the ships to five or six knots, and the snails generally crawled in the direction of Pontianak.

When there is a storm at sea, these steam-powered and sailed ships are blown away by the strong winds.

Governor Dipole was more comfortable than ever, and he took his attendant and Lieutenant General Axon on a temporary luxury cruise ship, which, despite the urgency of the military situation, did not prevent the Governor from relaxing with a cup or two of fine coffee and a glass of wine.

When the wind and waves rose, Dipole occasionally looked out of the porthole, only to see that there were many fewer sailboats in the fleet, and he was suddenly in no mood to taste coffee and wine.

Vice Admiral Axon was still a strong man, and he made a suggestion to Dibor: "Your Excellency the Governor, we must not be delayed by a few slow ships, I suggest that the fleet and the all-steam-powered ships rush to Pontianak in advance to relieve Rear Admiral Coaster!" ”

Dipole was very happy to hear this: "Okay, it's decided, General Aksun, you go and give the order!" ”

The forward fleet of clippers wandered for two days, and on the way, they encountered a Dutch ship that had escaped from Pontianak, bringing news like a bolt from the blue: "Pontianak has been captured by the Chinese, and the life and death of Rear Admiral Coster are unknown!" ”

"Ahh O my God! Dipole was so furious that he fainted on the spot.

Akson was calm, and while ordering the doctor to come to the governor's rescue, he asked several white officers who had escaped by boat about the details of the fall of Pontianak.

In fact, these white officers have not even seen the shadow of the Huaxia Army, but they were carried out by the rout, and when the commander asked, they must shirk the responsibility for their escape, either adding fuel and vinegar or deliberately saying that the situation is very suspenseful, and the situation described is not reliable at all, so that Axon does not know which one is true and which one is false.

"You don't need to say anything, immediately order the fleet, accelerate the advance towards Pontianak, and recover Pontianak and Dong Wanlu!"

Axon looked back and saw that it was Dipole, supported by the nurse, who had come to his back and wanted to speed up immediately.

Under Dipole's forcible orders, the fleet no longer used the usual economic speed, but increased the steam power to the maximum and rushed towards Pontianak at the highest speed.

The steam engine is turned on to the maximum, and the steam engine boiler can easily lead to a blow up or pipe burst accident.

Along the way, many ships broke down and were forced to drop anchor.

But Dipole ignored this and forced the rest of the ships to continue at high speed.

After another day and a night of frantic travel, half of Dibor's fleet finally appeared in the ocean off Pontianak.

However, from the open sea, the port of Pontianak is very calm, without a hint of war tension.

Dipole couldn't wait to give an order to the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Tilris: "You immediately command the naval fleet to bombard the port of Pontianak and cover the land of the army to seize Pontianak and regain Pontianak!" ”

However, Vice Admiral Akson had a different opinion on this, and he said: "Your Excellency Governor, the port of Pontianak is very calm, and there is no trace of the enemy, perhaps those hateful Chinese people have laid an ambush and are about to surround us, so I suggest that we do not open fire on artillery bombardment at first, but send one or two fast torpedo destroyers to reconnoiter the situation, and then make a decision!" ”

Dipole was speechless.

Akson continued: "Your Excellency the Governor, the artillery bombardment will be more effective after reconnaissance is clear, and our army will be able to avoid too many casualties when it rushes to land on the beach!" Besides, it will take time for our fleet to be ready! ”

Rear Admiral Tilis was very unhappy when he heard this, although the Dutch army was defeated in the attack on Borneo, but it was a matter for the army, he didn't think that there was any power on Borneo that could compete with his naval fleet, but he was not good at openly confronting the old guy Axon, after all, Akson was the military chief of the Dutch East Indies Colony, and the navy was also under his command.

Axon continued to preach his advice to Dipole, who was different from Tyris, who still held white arrogance and contempt for all yellow Asians, but he was frightened by the mysterious strategic and tactical methods of the Chinese army, and became cautious.

If he didn't find out the enemy's situation now, Akson would not dare to attack rashly, and besides, the fleet was only half coming, and he only relied on half of the 70,000 horses to attack the Huaxia army, and he had little confidence anymore, if it would take time to wait for the follow-up fleet, he might be able to wait for more ships to transport troops during this time of reconnaissance.

Hearing Akson's words, Dipole seemed to wake up a little, so he had to say helplessly: "Okay, then the naval fleet will arrange to reconnoiter the enemy's situation first!" ”

After some deliberation, the two Dutch torpedo destroyers sailed at a speed of 20 knots to the port of Pontianak.

In full view of the Dutch fleet behind, the two torpedo destroyers approached the harbor without any hindrance.

"Strange, why didn't these Huaxia people react at all?" One of the sailors in charge of observation on the torpedo destroyer nervously held a telescope and looked at it, but could not see anything unusual.

The other sailor said nonchalantly, "What could be so unusual about this?" These Chinese with pigtail braids, will they use cannons? Can they hit warships galloping on the sea? ”

"That cannot be said, it is said that they have destroyed the troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vian, General Whitekin, and the 80,000 tribal forces in eastern Borneo, and have also defeated the tens of thousands of troops of General Coster!"

"Cut, these are all wars in which the natives use bows and arrows to fight the natives' spears, even if Lieutenant Colonel Vian, General Whitekin, and General Coster command the troops, but only a small number of white officers command the natives recruited from the tribe, and they suffer a loss for a while, it is not surprising! But we are navy, and most of them are noble whites from Europe! ”

"We still can't be careless, we can't suffer the same big losses as Lieutenant Colonel Vian, General Whitekin, and General Coster, and even lose our own lives in this wild Borneo!"

"We are all at sea, can these Chinese people still swim from the water and come and beat us? Do they swim at a speed comparable to the speed of a torpedo destroyer? Ha ha! ”

"Don't whisper there, the fleet commander sent a flag asking us to land and reconnoiter immediately!"

The two looked back, and it turned out that the captain had come to give them orders.