Originally, the Dutch Navy's two shore defense battleships, two old protective cruisers, two torpedo boats, and two shallow gunboats docked in the port of Pontianak all left the harbor and joined the old protective cruiser Haai.

In the bridge of the coastal defense battleship Provisin, the captain of the Provisin, Rear Admiral Ludwig, looked at the Northeast Navy fleet that suddenly appeared in the distance with a telescope through the observation window with a gloomy face, and his heart was beating a drum, could it be that the Far East military strongman really wanted to attack the Dutch East Indies, the crown jewel of the kingdom?

A dark cloud surged into Ludwig's heart, although the Netherlands has developed its navy in recent years to the point of smashing the pot and selling iron, it has also established a large fleet with a total displacement of nearly 75,000 tons, and sent most of the warships to the Dutch East Indies to form a powerful Dutch East India Fleet.

However, the strength of the East India Fleet of the Dutch Navy depends on who you compare it with, and you are only a fraction of the total tonnage of the Northeast Navy, which has a total tonnage of more than 1.5 million tons of combat warships. Of course, the Dutch didn't know that Lin Daxin also hid a group of dreadnought battleships and super dreadnought battleships, otherwise the Dutch might really be scared.

Look at the Dutch East Indies' army, although they have also worked hard in recent years to form nearly 130,000 armies, including 30,000 regular troops sent by the mainland, but compared with the Dingbei Army that defeated the Russian army, this is really not comparable, the two armies are not at the same level at all, and the gap is too ~ big.

There is another thing that is more helpless, the British who were originally in Malaysia were firmly on the side of the Dutch, and they even asked Lin Daxin before. Expansion into the Dutch East Indies was not allowed, except for the Second Boer War in recent years. Brought the relationship between Britain and the Netherlands to a minimum point.

The Boers in South Africa were mostly descendants of the Dutch, so during the Second Boer War. The Netherlands has always been firmly on the side of the Boers, and tried their best to provide assistance to the Boers, which made the British, who had been hit hard in the Second Boer War, very dissatisfied with the Netherlands, and even sent notes to the Netherlands many times, asking the Netherlands to stop meddling in the affairs of South Africa and take care of your own affairs in the Netherlands. Don't stretch your hands that far.

If Lin Daxin attacked the Dutch East Indies this time, would the British be on the side of the Netherlands?

With infinite apprehension, Ludwig said to the first mate beside him: "Order the fleet to move towards the Northeast Navy, maintain the battle formation, and never allow the cannon to be fired without my order, and at the same time let the flag soldiers ask the purpose of the Northeast Navy coming to us, God forbid, don't break out into war, I am going back to the Netherlands next month to attend my youngest daughter's wedding." ”

Ludwig was the captain of the Provitius. He was also the commander of the Dutch Navy's detachment in the port of Pontianak.

The first mate of the Provisin nodded and said, "Yes, Your Excellency, I will immediately follow your order and convey it to all warships. ”

Ludwig asked again: "Did the news go to Admiral Salson and Governor Van Pittu in Jakarta?" ”

The first mate then nodded and said, "I have asked the garrison in Pontianak City to send a telegram to Admiral Salson and Governor Van Pittu in Jakarta. Just now the news came from the port in the language of the flag, Admiral Salson and Governor Van Pittu asked us to find out the intentions of the Qing people, and Admiral Salson was ready to lead the main force of the East India Fleet. From Jakarta, come to Pontianak to support us. Governor Van Pittu also ordered the land forces around Pontianak to move closer to Pontianak. Now the army in Pontianak City has also entered the fortifications, and the coastal defense artillery in Pontianak Port is also ready to fire at any time, if the Qing Dynasty people are here to fight, our fleet can rely on the shore defense artillery and hold on for a period of time. ”

Ludwig smiled bitterly, it is better not to break out into war, with his own detachment, facing the fleet of the Northeast Navy, which includes 2 all-steel battleships and 4 large fast armored cruisers, it is basically a meat bun and a dog, and the so-called shore defense artillery in Pontianak Port is just more than 30 old-fashioned guns from decades ago, and it is not certain whether it can be fired or not, and it can deter pirate ships and the like, those powerful warships of the Northeast Navy may not have entered the range of those old-fashioned artillery, Those old guns were blown up by the naval guns of the Northeast Navy.

Not long after, the first mate of the Provisin ran back to the bridge, "Your Excellency, the Qing Dynasty people sent a flag, Li Hongzhang, the Governor of the Qing Dynasty and Minister of Beiyang Commerce, on behalf of the Qing Dynasty, came to inspect Lanfang, a subject country of the Qing Dynasty, and told us to give way to the passage of the Qing Dynasty, that the Governor of the Qing Dynasty and Minister of Beiyang Commerce wants to enter Pontianak, the capital of Lanfang, Your Excellency, what should we do now?" ”

When Ludwig heard this, his brows furrowed, this is not easy to do, although the Netherlands occupies the entire Lanfang, but nominally the country of Lanfang still exists, and as the suzerainty of Lanfang, the Qing Dynasty has every reason to meddle in Lanfang's affairs.

Ludwig pondered for a moment and then said: "Send a flag to the Qing Dynasty people, tell them that for some special reason, we Dutch people are responsible for protecting the land and sea of the Lan Fang Republic at the invitation of the Lan Fang Republic, and that the Qing Dynasty Governor Zhili wants to enter Pontianak, and we must ask the Dutch Governor of the East Indies, Van Pittu, for instructions, and hope that they will wait for a while." In addition, hurry up and ask the people in Pontianak City to send a report to Jakarta and report the request of the Qing Dynasty people to His Excellency Fan Pittu. ”

Li Hongzhang, who was in the bridge of the luxury yacht Xuetang, received a reply from the Dutch, couldn't help but sneer, stroked his beard with his hand and said to Wang Yan: "Sue the Dutch, the old man came here to solve the problem of Lanfang, we can wait here for a while, and let the Dutch better inform the governor to come to Pontianak, this time we will completely solve the matter of Lanfang." ”

Wang Yan nodded and said, "Yes, Lord Zhongtang." After speaking, he instructed his entourage to send a telegram to the warship in front of him, and told the Dutch what Li Hongzhang had said in flag.

Ding Ruchang, who was in the bridge, said at this time: "The Dutch are really a bitch and still want to set up a memorial arch, and what else is the invitation of the Lanfang Republic, I'm sorry!" Shameless enough! ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "This is better, it shows that the Dutch are still afraid of our Qing Dynasty, especially Lin Daxin's kid, otherwise there is no need to find so many excuses, it seems that our chances of success this time are greater." ”

Ding Ruchang asked curiously: "Zhongtang, how sure are you that you can let the Dutch give up the land of Lanfang without bloodshed?" ”

Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said: "Originally, the old man was only thirty percent sure, but seeing the Dutch's cover up on the occupation of Lanfang, now the old man is forty percent sure, which is not low." ”

Ludwei received Li Hongzhang's reply, first breathed a sigh of relief, and then couldn't help sighing, completely solve the matter of Lan Fang, how to solve it? You must know that the Netherlands does not have a reason in the matter of Lanfang, if the Netherlands is strong, it is just that, it is completely possible to use the thinking of a bandit to deal with the Qing Dynasty's Zhili Governor and Minister of Beiyang Commerce, the problem is that now the Netherlands is facing the Qing Dynasty, no, it should be facing the Far East military strongman Lin Daxin, and it is not strong at all!

If we in the Netherlands become tough, waiting for the Dutch must be hundreds of warships and hundreds of thousands or even millions of Dingbei troops, then it is not a problem of Lan Fang, it seems that this time the Netherlands can only be a civilized person.

While Ludwig was waiting for Jakarta Governor Van Pittu to call back, a large fleet appeared on the sea in the distance, and soon Ludwig confirmed that the new fleet was still the Northeast Navy, and the yellow dragon flag and golden anchor flag raised by those warships revealed their identities.

It turned out that the newly emerged fleet was a part of the warships of the Fourth Fleet of the Northeast Navy that had received Lin Daxin's order and rushed from the Manila Naval Base in Luzon Province.

Because in the past two years, a number of city-class all-steel battleships and throttle-class large fast armored cruisers have entered service, and the fleets of the Northeast Navy have adjusted again, the Third Fleet has accepted eight city-class all-steel battleships, and the Fourth Fleet has replaced all the battleships with the battleships of the original Third Fleet, and the battleships of the original Fourth Fleet have been divided between the Fifth Fleet and the Sixth Fleet.

This time, the Fourth Fleet sent out four beauty-class all-steel battleships Diao Chan, Zhaojun, Feiyan, and Zhen Mi with a full load displacement of 14,974 tons, two large fast armored cruisers of the solar saving class, Mangzhong and Xia Zhi, six anti-several fast protection cruisers, four destroyers, and eight A-class torpedo boats, which was equivalent to sending half of the strength of the Fourth Fleet.

And that's not all, it was followed by more than 20 transports with an identical displacement of 3,200 tons, which were loaded with 1 division of marines.

In the past few years, the Marine Corps has also expanded from the size of one division to one corps and three divisions, and each division has 20,000 officers and men, and its equipment is no worse than that of the Guards and the Field Army, and even stronger in some respects. It turned out that there were 150 amphibious BTR-60 armored vehicles purchased in the future space-time over the years, all of which were used by the Marine Corps, and each division of Marines was assigned a tank regiment with 24 heavy Black Panther tanks and 48 light Black Wolf tanks.

In addition, the 3,200-ton transport ships are also specially built for the Marine Corps, and they are equipped with many small landing craft, which can allow the Marine Corps to carry out beach landing battles with the cooperation of warships.

At present, Lin Daxin's regular army in Luzon Province is relatively small, only the 12th Garrison Army, and then there is the 3rd Marine Division that comes by transport ship, in addition to the Manila Naval Base and Subic Naval Base, there is also a 5,000-strong naval garrison brigade each.

In the bridge of the luxury yacht Xuetang, Wang Yan saw the Fourth Fleet appearing on the sea in the distance and said to Li Hongzhang with a smile: "Zhongtang, Daxin is afraid that we will be alone, so he has transferred the navy in Manila. ”

Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said with a smile: "In this way, the old man's success has risen to five percent!" (To be continued......) R1292