The first thing Groening, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, did every day after breakfast was to walk his dog, and on the large neat lawn of the garden of the Doge's Palace, he walked his beloved Italian twist Polyton.

The dark fur of Killer Jack's dog, strong and strong, seemed to have inexhaustible strength, lowered eyes, cold and gloomy, and even sometimes Groening felt that this vicious dog, which made all the servants and visiting guests fearful, seemed to have a great evil power.

Because once it is provoked and attacks, it is immortal, and an unfortunate native servant is torn by it because he stepped on its tail. If it hadn't arrived at the time and had gone to great lengths to appease it, it would have even taken the natives he had bitten beyond recognition as edible prey.

This vicious dog, surnamed fierce and extremely brutal, is his best guard, and anyone who is hostile to him will feel that trembling soul fear.

Groening felt that it was perfect, and his beloved killer Jack was simply his sweetheart, making him think that this notorious dog in Jakarta was the perfect way to show the strength and terror of the Dutch.

"Those savage and vulgar natives and Chinese deserve nothing but to tremble before us, my little darling." Groening patted Killer Jack's head covered with short, sleek hair, and looked at the dog's wrinkled face with a doting smile, the wrinkles of the face stretched to the chin and then to the neck to form a very obvious pouch, and the sharp fangs of its large open mouth shimmered with cruel coldness, and saliva was dripping down the corners of its mouth, like lava spit out by an evil dragon.

Its eyes, which were the same gray-black as the fur on its body, were still as gloomy and indifferent as ever, except for the severed short tail wagging to signal its closeness to its master.

The morning sun was not too scorching, but it still felt an indescribably stuffy heat, and Groening felt that his mood seemed to be much happier as he watched his dog trot briskly at a slow, light pace behind his back.

Since all these days, Groening's mood has not been very good, and the origin of everything is because of the damn Lanfang Company, which occupies a large area of fertile Borneo.

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The abundance of gold and other minerals, as well as the already sizable plantations there, were a piece of fat that Groening and the Dutch colonial officials had long been a piece of meat. It's just that this piece of fat is not so easy to swallow, because the huge empire in the north makes the Dutch dare not act rashly.

But now, with a perfect reason, he can finally send troops to Borneo and bite that piece of fat and swallow it in his stomach. However, this time he was still a little uneasy about sending troops, after all, the powerful empire in the north was definitely not something he could afford to provoke as a Dutch colonial governor.

However, the adventurous nature of the Europeans was also present in the bones of Groening, the governor of the Dutch colony, and if the Netherlands were in conflict with the British for the colonies in the South Seas, most of the time, the Dutch were always at a disadvantage, which caused them to lose a lot of things, whether it was money, or territory, or minerals.

In the Dutch colony, which was now a bit of a struggle, Groening would have to take a risk, and if he succeeded, he would become a hero to the Dutch, and even be praised and honored by His Majesty the King.

Of course, the premise of all this is that it must succeed, and for this reason, in order to be more certain, Groening threw almost all his belongings into it, the entire fleet of the Dutch colonies, and the army of 7,000 men.

In addition to Jakarta, which was guarded by two thousand soldiers, the Dutch colony became almost an undefended strip.

With such a powerful army, Groening finally didn't have to worry about defeat, but the only thing he was worried about was whether this time the dispatch would anger the Eastern Empire.

"Perhaps, as before, I hope they continue to sleep." Groening shook his head, in the South Seas, the Dutch and the Chinese had countless disputes, each time ending with the Dutch raising a butcher's knife, of course, the huge empire was as unresponsive as a sleeping worm.

However, more than a month has passed since the troops were dispatched, and there has been no news of them coming back except for the beginning of reports that they have occupied the deserted Kendawangan.

"I hope these guys can be sensible and don't kill all those timid Chinese, our plantations lack a lot of labor." Groening was not worried, his only concern was whether his troops would be so red-eyed that he wanted to tell himself about the governor after occupying the whole of Lanfang.

At this moment, Killer Jack suddenly stopped, its huge head tilted to one side, and Groening followed the dog's turn to look over, and a guard was rushing towards this side, even the military hat on his head was already running a little crooked.

"Lord Governor, Lord Governor, Makassar, Makassar has fallen." The guard ran up to Groening, not even having time to wipe the sweat from his face, and handed the letter to Groning, his tone full of anxiety.

"What did you say?!" Groening pricked up his ears and looked at the guard with some astonishment, and after hearing the guard repeat it again, Groening's heart sank suddenly, and he snatched the letter, and after quickly opening it, after reading the contents of the letter, Groning's face that was red in the sun instantly turned as pale as paper.

"My God, how is this possible?!" Groening waved the letter in his hand and shouted loudly. The letter was written in a sloppy manner, it was a request for help from the company's governor in Makassar, Cruyff, and was accompanied by a piece of paper, which was still written by the same governor of Makassar, Cruyff, but the content of the letter was no longer a call for help, but only a message to His Excellency the Governor of Groening that Makassar had been occupied by a group of pirates and was protected.

The letter said that a powerful fleet of unknown identity and nationality had suddenly appeared outside the port of Makassar a month earlier, and demanded that the Dutch in the port of Makassar lay down their arms and surrender without any resistance.

The governor of Makassar, Cruyff, organized a fleet to attack using the various ships anchored in the harbor, but it was quickly routed, and the enraged enemy razed the dock to the ground with naval guns.

Less than two days later, the Sultan of Boni and Gova on the island of Sulawesi suddenly rebelled, killing all the Dutch colonial officials and sending nearly 10,000 soldiers each to besiege Makassar.

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The captain of that fleet again demanded that Makassar surrender to them, and the governor of the province of Makassar, Cruyff, was a brave and proud Dutchman who not only did not surrender, but in the shortest possible time conscripted and armed nearly three thousand European civilians to defend the city. Then, a messenger calling for help was sent to Jakarta.

However, what they did not expect was that on the night of the third day of the siege of the port of Makassar, that is, as soon as the deadline demanded by the other party passed, the eastern gate wall of Makassar City collapsed a gap due to a huge explosion, and those natives of Sulawesi Island rushed into the city of Makassar like madmen, burning and looting all night, if it were not for the unknown fleet later, seeing that the situation in the city was uncontrollable, and opened fire to warn, I am afraid that the 10,000 Dutch in the city of Makassar would not have even a single survivor left.

But even then, only about 3,000 of the 500 soldiers and more than 10,000 Dutch civilians remained, and the civilian quarters of the other countries living near the port were only slightly disturbed, and the civilians of more than 2,000 other countries suffered no more than 100 casualties.

Cruyff, who had fled into the port area under the cover of the guards, was searched by the soldiers sent from the fleet after dawn the next day, and then he was asked to write a letter to the Dutch governor, Groening, telling the governor what had happened to him, and finally he demanded that the Dutch governor immediately release all the slaves in the Dutch colony, otherwise the indigenous rebellion in the port of Makassar would be repeated in other areas controlled by the Dutch.

"Who the hell is the other party?" In his office in the Governor's Palace, Groening asked Cruyff, the commissioner of his subordinate East India Company stationed in Makassar, with a gloomy face, and anyone could hear the pent-up anger and displeasure in his tone.

"Pirates, a bunch of pirates, Mr. Colonel, a bunch of pirates hired by the damned British." Cruyff wiped the corner of his eye, there was also a flail scar, it was a wound left by the damned local native, if he hadn't been alert, he would have fallen into the crowd and pretended to be dead, I am afraid that his surname would not have survived to this day.

"British?!" Groening had just picked up a freshly lit hardcover Baiyun Mountain cigarette, which was the best exported from Guangzhou, the Qing Dynasty. Before the first puff of cigarette could be inhaled into his lungs, he heard such shocking news. "This is impossible, absolutely impossible, the British are now being stopped by us outside Sumatra, how can they run to our east?"

"Your Excellency, I hope it's a joke, a stupid joke, but it's the truth." Cruyff sat down in his chair dejectedly, as if he had an indescribable grievance. "I even suspect that this terrible war, or even the damned British and those Chinese have joined forces to deal with us."

"What are you talking about......" Groening looked at the subordinate blankly, not even noticing that the cigarette butt had reached the white feather of the quill next to him, and it emitted a scorching smell.

(To be continued)