While the armies of the Republic on Kalimantan were progressing well, a battalion of Seris had already landed in Tomini Bay, the northernmost point of the island, on the most remote island in the southeastern part of the Dutch Islands.

The troops of the 35306th Battalion, which belonged to the 35th Integrated Division of the Sizhejiang Military Region, routed all the Dutch strongholds on the island, and the army was so overwhelming on the way that it could even be said to be a little boring.

Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes) is a large remote island in the easternmost part of the Dutch and Indian archipelago. The topography of the island is very peculiar, with four peninsulas jutting out to the north, northeast, southeast and south. Many mountains and deep valleys, few plains, is an island with a very prominent proportion of mountainous area, because of this reason, the whole island is not very populated, the Dutch garrison in the local area is only more than 600 people, in fact, even in the later 21st century, the total population of the local area is only more than 500,000, less than the population of a prefecture-level city in the Republic today.

By mid-October 1899, the 35,306th Battalion had completely wiped out the Dutch defenders on the Mirahassa Peninsula at the northernmost tip of Sulawesi and firmly controlled the Dongara Isthmus in the center of the island.

The Mierahasa Peninsula is located at the northernmost point of Sulawesi, because of the unique structure of the whole island, the ends of the island are separated by high mountains in the center, and the same is true of the Mierahasa Peninsula, the narrowest point connecting the central part of the island is not even 10 miles, and the Serris General Staff gave this battalion the task of controlling this choke point and annihilating all the Dutch soldiers on the northern peninsula.

In addition to the few Dutch garrisons, there were also tens of thousands of local Manado natives living on the Mirahassa Peninsula, and the Republic troops of the 35306 Battalion, who were "idle and bored", naturally included the operation of clearing these indigenous tribes into their mission, and by the end of the month, the entire peninsula had once again become a no-man's land.

In addition to this, there were several companies of Portuguese colonial troops stationed in the south-central part of Sulawesi, and Chen Zeyu in Beijing did not want to make a fuss about this, so he asked the Seris army on the island to suspend its territorial expansion to the south and simply let it occupy the Donggara Isthmus.

……

At the same time, the officers and men of the 2nd Brigade of the 34th Integrated Division, which had landed in Kalimantan as early as a month earlier, had already moved their troops north under the command of the commander of the 3402nd Brigade, Fei Yueming, and the large army advanced directly into Kuching and Siwu.

The 3402 Brigade moved quickly, covering more than 200 kilometers in a straight line from Kuching, but the soldiers of the 2nd Brigade arrived in only two days and nights. At this time, the military power of the Dutch in Kuching City was already empty, and even a few large-caliber coastal defense batteries that could bluff people, their shore guns were still designed at the angle of facing the outside of the port, and they could not pose the slightest threat to the Seris army outside the city.

The Dutch garrison in Kuching was unaware of the danger and received news that the northeastern part of the island had been heavily shelled by Serris's fleet, and that most of the local garrison had already arrived at the request of Lieutenant Colonel Andrew.

It wasn't until they were approached by Seris's army that the Dutch in Kuching realized what had happened, but it was too late to say anything. Without even giving them time to think, the artillery units of the 3402 brigade outside the city had already begun to "speak"!

"Boom...... Boom...... Boom ......"

With the order of Commander Fei Yueming, more than 60 mortars lined up outside Kuching City let out their own thunderous roars at the same time.

Because of the limitations of the logistics conditions of the poor roads along the island, the artillery battalion units directly under the 3402 Brigade did not carry the standard 105mm heavy howitzers in this operation, and even the 75mm rapid-fire field guns only brought a few pieces, but the 88mm mortars that are easy to fight in the mountains and jungles in peacetime were all brought by the artillery units.

In addition, the grenadier squads that had long been equipped with squads in the Republican army system also took action one by one, and their 50mm grenadiers all fired grenades at the defenders in front of them.

"Bang-bang-bang-boom! ――”

Although the caliber is small, there are more than 400 units in a whole brigade (according to the Seris military system, 50mm grenadiers are equipped to the squad), and the scene of such intensive and uninterrupted grenadier shelling is also very terrifying. Half of the base ammunition had not been used up, and the defenses of the Dutch garrison around Kuching City had ceased to exist.

"Kill—kill! - "Under the overwhelming momentum is an awe-inspiring murderous aura, the troops of the 3402 Brigade under the command of their respective squad platoon leaders lined up in a skilled battle formation and attacked the city of Kuching......

……

In less than half an hour, the entire city was already under the control of Fei Yueming's troops, and at this time, the commander of the 3402 Brigade fell into deep chagrin.

It wasn't until his troops captured the city in front of him that the young Republican brigade commander realized that there were less than 150 men in the city, just a company of Dutch garrisons. This discovery made Fei Yueming regret it greatly, in order to conquer the empty Kuching City in front of him, his troops actually wasted so much ammunition, and let themselves brew for so long a day in vain, after returning to the military region station, I don't know how a few old brothers will make fun of themselves.

Under Fei Yueming's instructions, the soldiers of the 3402 Brigade drove the non-Chinese residents in the city one by one to several fixed buildings and imprisoned them, as for the assets of the Dutch in Kuching City, they were also confiscated by the troops, these things originally belonged to the local Chinese, and now they are just collecting some interest......

As the cities on Kalimantan Island were conquered by the Seris army, the local Chinese immigrants also took action one by one, and with the support of the Republican military, these armed Chinese immigrants all vented their hatred buried in their hearts.

Compared with the Dutch, the hatred of the Chinese for the local aborigines is even more profound. Massacre, **, eating young children, these acts of the indigenous tribes in the past, now all of them have been brutally avenged, and all the local Chinese armed with Seris guns have all spontaneously joined in the action of clearing the surrounding natives.

At the same time, the troops of the 3402nd Brigade, which had rested for two days, also embarked on the journey again, leaving two companies of troops to control the city and guard the prisoners with the local Chinese, and the rest of the army began to march towards Siwu and Brunei in the north......

……

On a fine afternoon on Thursday, November 3, 1899, the Dutch-flagged freighter Drenthe was sailing from Sumatra to Penang on the island of Bangka, carrying more than 1,200 Dutch colonial soldiers and a large number of weapons and munitions.

On the deck of the freighter, Captain Ceyland was holding his large pipe, looking out at the vast sea not far away.

"Drenthe" is a displacement of more than 5,000 tons of passenger and cargo dual-purpose merchant ship, because of the replacement of high-power steam power system, so that the speed of this old freighter that has been more than 10 years old is still passable, usually mainly to and from Southeast Asia between several Dutch colonial territories engaged in trade activities, since more than two months ago after the Sino-Dutch conflict, this freighter and a large number of local merchant ships together with the Dutch colonial governor's palace in Sumatra to requisition, These days it has been supplying the Dutch colonies in the South Pacific, but with the fall of the Dutch colony, the Drenthe has gradually been confined to a few small islands near Sumatra......

At the same time, just two kilometers to the left of the Drenthe, under the calm sea, a pair of eyes were staring at the Dutch merchant ship laden with soldiers and munitions.

Wu Qizao, the submarine commander of the Seris South China Sea Fleet, was clinging to the periscope in front of him and quietly watching the movements of the "Drenthe" -- calculating the speed and course of the opposing freighter. The ground closed the periscope with a thud and shouted loudly.

"Put away the periscope and rise urgently!"

The sirens in the submarine sounded mournfully, and the red wall lamps flickered urging the crew to move quickly.

"Quick! Go to the foredeck and get ready for artillery! Wu Qizao calmly gave one order after another.

As an old Sui-class submarine of the Republic Navy, its own ship may not be as good as the new Tang-class Drop-type submarine newly commissioned in the Navy, but it also has an advantage, because the submarine deck does not cancel the 75mm deck gun on the front deck like the latter, making this type of Sui-class submarine more suitable for dealing with unarmed civilian enemy merchant ships. After all, it would be too extravagant to attack a civilian target at sea with torpedoes every time.

At the same time as the Ceris submarine surfaced, the Dutch crew on the "Drenthe" also looked at the originally calm sea in horror as if it had suddenly boiled, and in the midst of the rolling waves, a dark steel "monster" suddenly emerged from the sea not far away!

"Oh my God! What is that? The pipe in his mouth had already fallen to the ground, but Captain Ceyland was completely unaware of it, and everyone's attention was now focused on the "monster" on the water.

Ceyland hurriedly used his monoculars, and in a few moments the sailors on one side heard their captain scream.

"Nope! Damn it! That's not a monster at all! ”

At this time, there is no need for Ceylon to remind everyone that they have also seen that there is actually a cannon on the "monster". In addition, there were people crawling out of the "monster" continuously, and as those people operated the muzzle of the cannon quickly turned, and soon aimed at the merchant ship "Drenthe" where they and others were!

"Boom!! ――”

With a violent cannon fire, Captain Ceyland closed his eyes tightly in fright.

"God forbid!"

After a few shots, on the orders of Captain Ceylon, the "Drenthe" raised the white flag.

Wu Qizao, the submarine captain on the deck, smiled and gave an order to the sailors beside him.

"Let the signalmen give them the flag: we are the Navy of the Republic of Seris, let this Dutchman ship follow our submarine honestly, and tell them not to play tricks!"

Two hours later, on the orders of the sailors of the Seris submarine, the Dutch merchant ship "Drenthe" finally encountered a majestic and hideous Republic Cochin-class cruiser after changing course. Looking at the Ceris sailors on the deck of the battleship opposite, the more than 1,000 Dutchmen on the "Drenthe" all wanted to cry without tears......

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