The first purpose of the Anglo-Dutch Combined Fleet was to cover the British Army's recapture of Malacca and regain control of the Strait of Malacca, and the second purpose was the port of Pontianak. Lan Fang's land area is not large, although the current Lan Fang occupies the entire Kalimantan Island, but there is a good port in the west corner, and there are only two, one Sanfa and one Pontianak. Although the intelligence work of the Dutch was not good, they knew that there was a fleet stationed in Pontianak, the Lanfang fleet of the Nanyang Navy of the Chinese Empire, but they did not know that the Nanyang Navy had formed a combined fleet waiting for them.

The Netherlands also understood very well that this time in Nanyang, the first task was to teach the Chinese, and the second and most critical task was to rely on the power generated by the huddle to recapture the colonies in Nanyang and it was best to occupy Lanfang. The British, on the other hand, hoped to force the King of Brunei to recognize the British status here, and even set up a colonial government, etc., in Bomai's view, teaching the Chinese was a secondary purpose.

I don't know what kind of thinking I had, but during the few days of my trip, I was constantly looking for trouble with the Dutch. The Dutch were afraid of the power of England, but in their hearts, they planted a trace of unhappiness. The most intuitive is his reprimand for the Dutch admiral Nassau. Although the other Dutch officers obeyed his command, they were not subordinate to each other in terms of structure, and Bermai's behavior angered many Dutch captains. However, everyone must defeat the Chinese before solving the problem.

"Sir, the Chinese fleet has been spotted right ahead! It's a steam battleship," Birmai strode to the foredeck, and the first mate handed over a telescope and looked towards the lookout's finger. I saw that in front of the combined fleet, there were about dozens of black smoke, and after a while, dozens of warships flying the Chinese five-color sea flag were lined up in a line, the first was seven flying scissor-type Yaowu-class cruisers, followed by thirteen Yangwei-class cruisers, and finally the main formation composed of five ironclad ships. Before Bo Mai could speak, his first mate had already said with a smile: "I'll just say, how can the Chinese fleet have so many battleships, I also heard when I was at the Naval Academy that the Chinese don't build shipbuilders and don't splice keels, only by finding huge logs can they build big ships, and being able to build a battleship is enough for them to be proud of, but the number of capital ships is insufficient, and they will definitely lose, general, you see how many guns their warships are loaded, how can they be faster than our fleet without sails, It is estimated that even our third-class ships will sink to the bottom of the sea if they can't stop it in one round. ”

Bo Mai nodded and said, "What you said makes sense, but this is a steam warship built by the Chinese." Even our great Britain has not yet been built! I don't know if they really have ironclads as they say! ”。

"General, you also said that our powerful Britain has not been built, let alone backward China, I think their so-called ironclad ship is still leaking on the slipway!".

"Haha! Let's hope so! I feel that this is just part of the Chinese fleet" Bo Mai smiled reluctantly, but there was an extremely ominous premonition in his heart.

The first mate asked in surprise: "Sir, are the Chinese still ambushing other fleets somewhere?" ”

Bomai shook his head and smiled, "I mean they should still have a fleet in the coastal waters of their homeland. After all, in our intelligence, they also have two 122-gun super battleships and several large ships with first-class ships. ”

"Even if they have such a big ship and a huge ship, after all, they still need to protect the long coastline of their homeland! General, I think they'll send one here at most to stop us. As for these steamy warships and their so-called ironclads, they are about to become our defeated men, or trophies for Her Majesty! ”

Bo Mai frowned slightly, but said: "Cheer up the sailors, although the enemy is not as strong as us, but we must pay attention to them with one hundred and twenty points, and we must not underestimate the enemy, the revenge of the British Empire still needs us to use the sword in our hands to revenge!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The first mate saluted solemnly.

And on the Dutchman's Sea King, Nassau also saw the Chinese fleet, he took off his hat very impolitely, and said viciously: "It's time to avenge the revenge of Southeast Asia!" His men admonished, "General, the captain of the fleet has not yet given an order. ”

Nassau's face turned blue, and he kicked the sailor down, saying, "How can I not use the Englishman who can only herd sheep to dictate him!" He said this, but he still didn't do anything, but his eyes were red as he watched where the communications officer of the Bombay stood, waiting for the damned Englishman he had spoken of to give orders.

Cao Fu was on the flagship Dingyuan, far behind the Pontianak fleet, and was not discovered by Bomai's lookout at the first time.

There is still a considerable distance between the United Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet, about a few ranges, but Cao Fu does not dare to be careless, he does not want to use more than 20 ships of the Nanyang Fleet to smash the fifty-seven warships of the United Fleet, although this is his main force is enough to defeat the enemy. Showing the enemy weakness and luring the enemy deeper, Sun Tzu's Art of War is still outdated after thousands of years. It will not be the steam fleet of the South China Sea Fleet, nor the ironclad ships of the secret weapon, which will deal a fatal blow to the combined fleet, but the South China Sea naval detachment of fifty warships that have already arrived from Sanfa Port.

At this time, I saw that the direction of the Nanyang steam fleet changed, and with the drumming southwest wind, it actually "fled" to the north. Bomai's lookout shouted excitedly at the mast, "Sir, the enemy is afraid, and they have fled to the north!" The first reaction of Bomai to this message was, could the enemy be a trick to lure the enemy? This was something that any qualified commander would consider, but the lack of mindset and intelligence knowledge and asymmetry made him immediately reject the idea.

"The Chinese's warships are vulnerable, perhaps just as the first mate said that their warships are not perfect and have many shortcomings, they must be afraid when they see so many enemies, and they plan to evacuate and guard the homeland!" Bommey judged.

Bomai waved his hand and ordered: "Order the faster frigate formation, form a three-line formation, quickly chase the enemy, disrupt the enemy formation, delay the enemy's retreat, and the time has come for us to take revenge!" "Nassau on the Sea King finally waited for the British's first order: a formation of frigates to pursue the enemy.

"Why *** is a corvette!" Nassau was lifted to the ship's mast, and his thick boots protected his stinky feet, and they didn't hurt. The Dutchman's Sea King was the most important warship of the Dutch this time, an 80-gun third-class battleship, which was recently launched, and it was transferred from Europe to Asia at this launch, and there was no record yet.

"General, I think this order is correct, only if the frigate stops them, our battleships will be useful!" The sailor next to him leaned over and said. It turned out that he took a kick. Nassau calmed down his emotions, although intellectually, he knew that it was the right choice to use the frigate to pursue first, but emotionally hurt, he had no choice but to convey the order to his frigates. After receiving the order, more than 20 frigates assembled in three formations and headed for the Nanyang Steam Fleet.

"General, the Anglo-Dutch frigate has caught up." The first mate shouted loudly as he held up his binoculars. The steam fleet, which is dominated by cruisers and ironclads, can run to the speed of fourteen or fifteen knots. Although the more than 20 frigates of the Combined Fleet on that side can also run to thirteen or fourteen knots, some can also run to fifteen or even sixteen knots (small ships such as sloops). But the warship that catches up will definitely not be the match for the steam battleship.

There are three operational points in the strategy of luring the enemy: a burst of firepower in Chapter 069 to first clean up all the enemy's frigates, so as to avoid the enemy taking advantage of the small and flexible characteristics of the frigates to repeatedly intersperse our linear arrays back and forth, causing trouble. Third, the combined fleet, which has been pulled by an excessively long front, will inevitably have a situation where command failure will occur and each will fight separately, which will undoubtedly create favorable conditions for Lin Hong to use his superior forces to break through each other.