Chapter 539: Borneo

The results can only be described as heavy losses. Eighty-eight people were wounded, four were missing, and each ship suffered losses of different distances, but fortunately, the problem was not big and did not affect the continuation of the voyage. At this time, looking at the entire battle plan, Chen Xie had to admit that the navy of the Ming Empire still lacked experience, and on this premise, a large-scale labor expedition was very unscientific.

A summary meeting was held in the command cabin, and the officers of each ship arrived at the flagship in small boats overnight and gathered together.

"The scale of this operation is unprecedented. There are many problems that have been exposed, but the main one is that we are not fully aware of the uncertainties at sea. After a storm, we lost track of the enemy, and at the same time three clippers lost contact. Personnel and materials have suffered huge losses. Next, we will have to look for a new supply point, otherwise the operation will have to be suspended. Looking back now, it is not difficult to see that we made the following mistakes before, first of all, I subjectively believe that this season is not a typhoon-prone season, so we will not encounter too many storms. This subjective judgment of mine objectively caused huge losses to the fleet. Second, we didn't take into account the possibility of accidents when we formulated our action plan, and we didn't set up supply points in advance. This is also my problem, and I didn't think about this plan in advance. The last mistake was that I was not cautious enough to fully consider the difficulties of this operation on the issue of using a large number of troops at once. So, I have to take leadership responsibility for these mistakes. ”

Chen Xie's opening remarks were self-criticism, and his words blackened the faces of all the officers, and all of them had a grim look. This is still an era of "the lord is worried about the death of his ministers", and Chen Xie made mistakes. Failure to remind itself is an even bigger mistake.

"Okay, don't keep a straight face one by one, the root of this mistake is my personal overconfidence. What we need to do is not to self-examine, but to sum up the experience of this time. In the future, we will try to avoid similar mistakes. Well, let's talk about two issues, that is, the future battle, the size of the dispatched fleet, and the construction of overseas bases. From Dayuan to the Nanyang Islands, this series of islands, which place is suitable as a supply port, these must be taken into account and carefully screened. Either occupying or lending, in short, in the future, we can no longer face the problem that the Grand Fleet needs to find a place to temporarily replenish its supplies. The question of the scale of the battle is more important, and it is necessary to do a good job of sufficient intelligence work in advance, and the navy has not done enough to do this point, and it is my mistake to fail to set up the navy's intelligence department in a timely manner. It was not well thought out at the beginning of the army. ……。 "In the first half of this meeting, Chen Xie was talking about taking responsibility. and propose improvements.

In the second half, the officers are discussing, asking their own problems and shortcomings, and then everyone comes up with ideas to solve them. Because of Chen Xie's attitude, these officers took every detail seriously and summed up a lot of useful experience.

After a night of meetings, the commanders of the ships dispersed early in the morning. Back on their respective ships, with a thick stack of meeting minutes, go back to pack up their subordinates. Anthony did not attend this meeting, he had more important things to do, to command the fleet to sail. And it is necessary to determine the location as much as possible, find a land dock, repair the ship, and replenish fresh water and other supplies.

After a day and a night at sea, a green signal popped up in the sight of the signal soldiers, a message from the cruising clippers that they had found land. After the news spread, there was a burst of cheers from the fleet. Chen Xie, who was standing on the foredeck, also breathed a sigh of relief, it seemed that the fleet command was effective, determined the direction in time, and quickly found land.

The map was quickly found, and a bunch of staff officers gathered around, calculations, judgments, and finally came to the conclusion that it was likely to come to Borneo (Kaliman), the exact location is unknown. Seeing land and landing on land are two different concepts at all, and at about four o'clock in the afternoon the fleet had to stop and anchor at a position near the sea, because no port was found here. Even if there is a port, it is estimated that it will not be suitable for the fleet to anchor, so even if you find land, you will have to stay at sea. Dozens of small boats were lowered with the task of bringing back the news before dark.

This place is not far from the coastline, the soldiers of the A-shaped battalion paddled hard, and the officer Lin Xiong, who led the team, was the first to jump into the sea, climbed the shallows, and dragged the cable to find a rock that could be tied. The beach is very long, and the coconut groves on the shore are not visible at a glance, and the scenery is really unspeakable. It's a pity that these soldiers didn't have the heart to appreciate this, and they carried the bayonets on their rifles and pushed forward cautiously.

A forest path appeared in front of everyone, and the path was often walked, so I was relieved, at least this is not a desert island without people. Passing through the forest path, a village appeared in front of Lin Xiong. Without waiting for them to be happy, when the bell rang, what kind of rhythm was this? Discovered? Or is it an alert?

The peasants who were busy in the field immediately began to run back when they heard the bell, carrying farm tools and leading the cattle, and fled back to the village behind the earthen wall. After scolding, he kicked him, thinking that he was in the way. The squad leader's face was flushed, and he ran back, taking a dozen of his subordinates, and continued to advance in the direction of the village. Okay, no cannons, bows and arrows were found, nothing threatening.

The real trouble did not come from the village, but from the grass, and with a snap, Lin Xiong's face was a lump of sticky things, and he subconsciously slapped it up, and a disgusting mountain locust fell. I'll go, what kind of place is this?

"Sapper, hurry up, pesticide ready." The sappers appeared with sprayers on their backs, which were well prepared before the war. In fact, when he was a senior officer, he encountered a similar problem, and the army prepared sprayers. The combination of 666+ dimethoate, which has been banned in modern society, made a shining appearance, and three sappers began to spray on both sides of the forest road.

The effect of this thing is not generally good, after a spray, all kinds of insects continue to fall in the forest, and there are many insects flying away from the area on both sides of the trail frantically, what kind of locusts, snakes and the like, escape called a fast.

It was not early, and after the elite squad approached the village, there was no intention of military action. Geng Chengdong, the squad leader who was walking in front, handed over the weapon to his subordinates, raised his hands and walked forward, shouting as he walked: "We are Ming soldiers, blown here by the wind and waves, there is no malice, please don't panic." ”

The village does not look too big, that is, more than 100 households, and the fence used for defense is made of stone, wood, adobe and other building materials, and it is not very high, less than two meters. Behind the wall, men with bows and arrows and machetes can be seen.

The wooden door was opened, and an old man, with a cane in his hand, came forward tremblingly. "Da Ming, Master Wang?" The accent of what the old man said was a bit strange, Geng Chengdong couldn't understand it at all, and he used others as crooked nuts.

Fortunately, there was a soldier who could understand and shouted loudly in Hokkien dialect behind him: "Uncle, we are the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, the ghost of Gan Lasi was beaten away by us from the commander, and now we are here to pursue them." ”

"Don't be surprised, don't be surprised, it's the king, it's the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty." The old man turned around excitedly and shouted, and before the people in the top soldier class had time to be happy, a middle-aged man rushed out of it, carrying the old man on his back and running back. While running, he complained: "Officers and soldiers are more vicious than pirates." ”

"Fuck you!" The soldier from southern Fujian was annoyed and came up to scold. He didn't say anything about moving the guy, he crossed his waist with one hand, and pointed to the gate of the village with the other hand and scolded: "Servant you, mother, Wow Sudenzhou camp, the teacher of benevolence and righteousness, and the strength of the mother to plant the ......." ”

Anyway, a group of people are like listening to heavenly books, don't you say it, this effect is really good, and a bunch of people came out after a while. It was the same old man who walked in the front, followed by a group of young men with bows and arrows and firewood knives in their hands.

"Dengzhou battalion? In the Dengzhou camp where the big man fights the ghosts? Geng Chengdong's tears fell, and it was a man in a long shirt who came forward to speak, and the Nanjing official language was very scummy, but he could understand it. The little chicken pecked at the rice and nodded: "Yes, we are the Dengzhou camp, and we are going to Batavia to fight the ghosts of dry wax, and we met a storm at sea and were blown here." Where are you here? Can you provide some fresh water and food? As he spoke, he took out a handful of silver coins from his pocket and said, "We'll give you money." ”

Lin Ruhai is a native of southern Fujian, where there are many mountains and few lands, and the people live a difficult life. Catching up with the Ming coastal bandits, it was really impossible to survive, and the whole village went to the sea and came to Borneo to beg for a living. This man had studied for a few days, but in his thirties, he didn't pass the exam, and his family was defeated. If you don't come out, you will starve to death, so you have to come out with you.

The language is over, and everything else is simpler. This thousands of miles overseas can see their own army, and the attitude is very good, it is said that it is the only benevolent and righteous division of the Ming Dynasty, which can be compared to the preservation of the Yue family's army. Lin Ruhai, who has some knowledge, immediately became the center of communication. After inquiring, I learned that this boundary belonged to the Bo Ni Kingdom during the Yuan Dynasty, and when Sanbao went to the West, it was renamed Brunei. Borneo is very large, and there are many Chinese who come here to make a living on the island, and there are some Chinese in the west, and it is said that at one time it controlled a large area.

Brunei is quite friendly to the Chinese, and it used to be a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. The group of them came relatively late, so it was not easy to find a place to settle down by the sea. In normal times, not only do you have to farm to make a living, but you also have to fight some pirates to protect your food from being robbed. No, this wall is used to defend against wild beasts and pirates. (To be continued......)