"Really? Is the shipping lane northwest of Java passable? ”

Blake was in good spirits, if he could enter the South Sea from the shipping lanes northwest of Java, why bother here?

"Hahaha!"

Trope laughed and said: "That's naturally true, we have already completed the detection of this route, as our strategic point, but it is only claimed that this route is difficult to travel, there are too many reefs, in fact, although there are many reefs, but there is not much problem for large warships to pass, the specific route can only be mastered by our Dutch Navy, and only the Dutch Navy has a map of this route!" If it weren't for the fact that Malacca is so difficult to conquer, I really wouldn't want to take it out! We left a fleet and continued to attract the attention of the Ming army here, and the whole fleet went to the Java Isthmus, just as Molde led his army to the south, and we could also meet them!! ”

Trope immediately set about deploying a new operation, leaving only the weakest Portuguese fleet here to monitor the Strait of Malacca, and all the remaining warships set sail for the Java Isthmus.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although this route is not too dangerous, there are still a lot of reefs and shoals, so for the sake of safety, all our warships must maintain a stable formation, the Dutch fleet is at the front, all your fleets, follow the Dutch warships in front of you, do not break away from the formation at will, otherwise, once you hit the reef, it will be troublesome, and the most difficult to sail is the sea area between Sebesi and Séguion, the sea is very shallow, and there are many reefs, you must be cautious, once you have passed the island of Seguion, Five or six nautical miles further on, the sea is wide, and we enter the Java Isthmus, which is less than eight nautical miles wide from north to south, and is the most dangerous, but as long as we cross this sea, we will have a wide sea and sky, and the fleet can drive straight into the Luzon Islands! ”

On top of the flagship, Troppe said in a deep voice.

"Tlop, although the strategy works, I feel like I'm a bit risky......"

Fei Luo said in a deep voice, "You must know that all our military forces have entered the hinterland of the South Seas, and even directly smashed the nest of the Ming Empire, there is a certain risk, it is better to say if we win, what if we fail?" We may be completely blockaded in the South Seas, and then the Ming army only needs to blockade Sumatra and the Java Islands, and we will not be able to fly, I suggest that before we go south to the Luzon Islands, we must take Java Island, and once we fail to attack, we can withdraw through Java Island......"

Trope frowned and asked, "Phelock, what you said is good, but now that we have a small army on hand, are you sure that after taking Java Island, you can take Luzon Islands again?" ”

Blake replied: "Trope, Phelock is right, we must ensure the safety of our rear, otherwise, we will be blocked in the South Seas, we will not be able to get out, we will be trapped alive, we can first receive General Molde's army to withdraw from Sumatra, and then attack Java ......"

Trop nodded slightly and replied, "Since this is the case, then it is so decided, go to the Isthmus of Java immediately!" ”

The main force of the Western Fleet gathered a full two hundred warships and headed for the Java Isthmus.

From Dumai bypassing the northern tip of Sumatra to the southern tip of Sumatra, the distance between the two is more than four thousand miles, even if it is an all-out march, it will take at least seven or eight days, and the Western fleet still has to look for the traces of Molde's army, naturally it can't march too fast, this way to come, half a month to be able to reach the Java Isthmus is good.

Troppe sent a small fleet along the west side of Sumatra all the way, looking for traces of Molde's army, ready to receive them at any time, if they are not lent out, I am afraid that under the siege of the Ming army, Molde will also have to follow in the footsteps of the Spanish elite, and finally the whole army will be annihilated, and the current Western coalition army can no longer afford to lose&

Fortunately, although the first town of the Tianxiong Army chased all the way, chased out hundreds of miles from Medan, and killed countless Western coalition troops, he still didn't catch Molde after all, after all, Molde is not a vegetarian, he has been in battle for a long time, and he has been able to escape death several times, and fled all the way from Medan to the vicinity of Padang!

Padang, a town on the west side of Sumatra, is six or seven hundred miles away from Medan, and it has to cross the Basanri Mountains during the process.

Fleeing all the way, and having to climb over the mountains, the strength of the army has remained almost 10,000, but almost all the artillery pieces have been lost, and it is impossible to carry the heavy artillery over the mountains and mountains, and to evade pursuit.

"General, we have found our battleship! We found the French battleship! ”

A staff officer suddenly screamed in surprise and pointed into the distance!

Molde looked into the distance with the direction of the staff officer's finger, and sure enough, faintly, a few miles away, more than a dozen battleships were moving in his direction!

"Vipan, quick, quick, immediately signal and request the fleet to dock! Fast! ”

Molde was ecstatic, saved, finally saved!

Vipan hurriedly ordered someone to raise the flag of the French army, and desperately waved it towards the battleship in the distance, signaling the position of the army.

Soon, the fleet spotted the flag waving on the shore and rushed in the direction of Padang!

"The Western Alliance, it's the Western Alliance!"

On the battleship, Lieutenant Commander Balzac was also ecstatic, after all, most of this Western coalition army was the elite of the French army, and if they could find them, they could retreat safely!

"Quick, immediately pass the test, order the battleship St. John, immediately return to the main fleet to report, and request the mobilization of troop transports!"

Balzac shouted.

The St. John ran all the way and ran back to the side of the main fleet to report the news.

Tloop mobilized more than a dozen troop carriers in one go and rushed over and picked up the remnants of Molde's defeated army on the troop carriers!

Finally alive to join the main force, Molde is crying now and even snot bubbles are coming out, it's too dangerous, I don't want to go to war with the Ming army in this life, these Ming troops are simply desperate to fight, and it's even more difficult to deal with than those white-haired ghosts in Tsarist Russia!

"General Molde, how is the state of the army now?"

Trop asked in a deep voice when he saw Molde.

Molde said abruptly: "Generals, it was Molde who was incompetent and suffered such a crushing defeat, only more than 10,000 of the 30,000 troops left Sumatra, and the rest of the soldiers either died on the battlefield or were captured alive, and some were separated on the way to escape, and all the artillery ammunition was lost......"

(End of chapter)