Although the Lightning's speed did not require fear of being stopped by enemy ships at sea, Tom did not want to expose the unique sailing ship directly to the Dutch. As for the reconnaissance plan for this small port on the east coast of the island, Tom Wang and the people of the Security Department have already made other arrangements, and they do not plan to directly land on the island for reconnaissance at this time.

The Lightning spent two days circumnavigating the island of Natuna, passing through the waters of the port on the east coast of the island and observing the local situation from a distance through a telescope. Wang Tom came to the conclusion that the size of the wharf is only equivalent to the port of Changhua on Hainan Island, and that it is the same as when the first phase of the project has just ended, and that there will probably be no more than 15 ships that can enter the port at the same time.

In addition, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Security, the total population of the island is only about 4,000, and the population near this small port is probably less than 3,000 people, of which more than 70% are Han Chinese or mixed race with Han Chinese blood, there are a small number of blacks, Indians and Nanyang natives, and the real Dutch only account for about 10% of the local population. These few Dutch had about one company of armed forces, and the main individual weapons were arquebuses, which had been largely obsolete by the Haihan militia, and five to eight guns of various calibers. In addition, the Dutch also trained a group of indigenous militia of about 200 people, but these indigenous soldiers who used cold weapons probably did not have much deterrent power in the eyes of the Haihan people, and could basically only serve as live targets and human-shaped sandbags in wartime.

After completing the voyage around the island, Wang Tom can basically confirm that there is indeed only one port on this island that has been controlled by the Dutch, and with a little modification, it can be operated by Haihan's port management method. It is not that there are no other coasts on the island that can be developed and built into ports, but the natural conditions are not much better than the existing ports, and it is indeed better to use the existing ones than to build a new port from scratch, because the potential for development of this place is not large, and it will only be used as a transit and supply station at sea in the future. After completing the reconnaissance mission around the island, the "Lightning" returned to the uninhabited island to the north and waited for the arrival of the follow-up fleet.

On January 2, 1631, three Chinese sailing ships and two "Exploration-class" warships hoisted behind finally arrived at the uninhabited island where the advance party had settled. After the personnel arrived, Tom Wang organized a mobilization preparatory meeting for the operation.

After introducing the situation of Natuna Island that he had reconnoitred a few days ago, Wang Tom began to explain the next action: "...... We will send two ships disguised as Daming maritime merchants to dock at the port on the island and replenish them, during which they will contact the security staff lurking on the island to complete the information handover work. I would like to invite Commissioner Lin of the Ministry of Security to explain the situation to you. ”

Lin Nan took over and said: "The Ministry of Security has already sent people to infiltrate the island to settle down and collect intelligence in March this year, and has sent two valid reports to the base camp so far. The Dutch were not very vigilant about intelligence struggles, perhaps because they had no rivals in the sea. ”

"Is there a lot of people lurking on the island, can you help us when we take the island?" asked Mushabai.

"We only have two people on the island...... Lin Nan's face was a little embarrassed: "Because of the limited establishment, there are only about a dozen people in the entire Nanyang Intelligence Department, and as for the help during the operation, I am afraid it is even more limited. ”

"I see. When Mushabai heard this, he didn't ask any further questions. It is obviously impossible to expect the undercover personnel of the Ministry of Security to come and cooperate with the outside world, and it will still be up to the militia to do it themselves.

"Tomorrow we will leave for Natuna Island, and I will lead the fleet to respond in the nearby waters, and the landing personnel will be under the unified command of Major Mushabai, and Commissioner Linnan of the Ministry of Security will be responsible for intelligence gathering during this period. Wang Tom soon began to assign tasks: "The landing time is tentatively set for two days, and if there are special circumstances, we will use the radio to communicate." It is important to remember not to get into conflict with the Dutch on the island unless necessary. Our mission this time is to gather information here, and no other uncomplicated situations will happen!"

Although the military and the Ministry of Security had planned and rehearsed the reconnaissance operation in advance before setting off, after arriving here, everyone still did not dare to take it lightly. The Dutch forces on the island were not a problem for the Haihan, and if they wished, they would probably be able to defeat the Dutch on the island with the existing manpower, but what the Executive Committee wanted was the control of Natuna Island, not a simple battle to seize the port. As the commander-in-chief of this operation, Wang Tom wants the result to complete the occupation of Natuna Island quietly, and any act of surprises is a sabotage of this mission.

On January 4, the two ships left the coast of the uninhabited island and headed south towards Natuna Island.

At the same time, Li Dagui was dragging a thigh-thick piece of wood into the yard, preparing to saw it. The Dutch on the island ordered two sets of log furniture from him a few days ago, and he only had half a month to complete this order, and the time was a little tight. However, Li Dagui didn't care how much income this order could bring to him, he was worried about another thing.

According to the agreed time, the contact person sent by the headquarters to collect information should have arrived seven or eight days before, and there was an error of two or three days at most in the past few connections, but this time it was delayed for many days, and Li Dagui had no way to contact the headquarters through other channels, and he was a little worried about whether something unexpected had happened.

Li Dagui is one of the two spies assigned by the Ministry of Security on Natuna Island, and he knows that there is a colleague of his on the island, but he does not know who this person is and in what capacity he is lurking on the island. He knew that this was an intentional arrangement by his superiors, and such a one-line contact could better protect the intelligence network, and even if one of them had an accident, the other line could continue to operate. Li Dagui's communication channel with the headquarters was a Ming merchant ship that docked here every three months, and at that time he would find an opportunity to hand over the report he had written to his colleagues on the merchant ship, who would take it back to the headquarters in Sanya.

Being able to be selected by the Ministry of Security to carry out tasks in such a remote place, Li Dagui's special identity is also one of the reasons. His father was a Li man, and after going to sea with the Han merchant ships in his early years, he settled in Annam, and married an Annam woman as his wife, so he was also a mixed-race child. At the time of the Annam Civil War, Li Dagui was also one of the refugees who fled, and later luckily got on the Haihan immigration ship in Thanh Hoa, and the whole family moved to Heitu Port to settle down.

Li Dagui's father learned to speak Chinese when he was a sailor with the Han Chinese, and even sent Li Dagui to a private school for three years with this relationship, so there was no language barrier between Li Dagui and Haihan's boss, and he was appointed shortly after arriving in Heitu Port to manage the local lumberyard. He was one of the first batch of naturalized cadres sent back to the base camp for further study in Heitu Port. It was during his return to Sanya for further study that Li Dagui was selected by the intelligence department, which was still in the initial stage at that time, so he changed from a clerk in the Ministry of Civil Affairs to an intelligence officer of the Ministry of Security.

Because Li Dagui's appearance was more obviously different from that of ordinary Han Chinese, when the Ministry of Security was considering assigning intelligence personnel to the Nanyang region, Li Dagui was selected. Because he worked as a carpenter for a period of time during his time in Black Earth Harbor, he also had some skills, so he went to Natuna Island in this capacity and settled on the island.

Speaking of which, he still has a high degree of freedom of movement here, and his immediate boss is thousands of miles away, and there is no way to monitor his work. His role is to continuously collect local information and write reports that are regularly sent back to headquarters. This does not take too much time and energy for a specially trained intelligence officer, after all, this island has such a small population, and the port town where Li Dagui is located is so small that it can go around the periphery in half an hour, so there is really nothing to investigate.

Regarding the Dutch on the island, Li Dagui believed that they were no match for the Haihan militia at all, and the executive committee only needed to send one or two companies of land forces over to wipe out the Dutch on the island. Moreover, the armed Dutch were not regular soldiers, a third of them were veterans of the European battlefield who had come to try their luck in the Far East, a third were young Dutch immigrants, and the rest were criminals and gangsters who had been sent here. If such a force can go head-to-head with the Haihan militia, it will really be a hell of a life.

However, after staying here for more than half a year, Li Dagui also knew that the strength of the Dutch was not limited to the conditions that could be seen on the island. When the Dutch attacked the island thirty years ago, they dispatched more than 20 ships and nearly 1,000 infantry. Li Dagui also knew that the place 2,000 miles south of this island was the stronghold of the Dutch, and even the all-powerful Haihan Executive Committee did not have the ability to get involved in that place at present.

Li Dagui did carpentry work until the afternoon, and when it was almost time to prepare dinner, someone stood outside the courtyard and shouted: "Li Dagui, there is a merchant ship in the port, and you want to find a carpenter to repair the ship's plank, you should quickly bring your tools!"

Li Dagui answered, and said in his heart that it was finally time. Immediately answered, he quickly put down the work in his hand and went back to the house to pack his things. Li Dagui took out the written report from under the bed board, put it in the mezzanine of the wooden box containing the tools, and then rushed out to the dock with a large box of tools.

Li Dagui's residence was less than a mile away from the wharf, and from a long distance he saw two Chinese-style fortune boats docked at the wharf. This scene made him feel slightly surprised, it wasn't these two ships that came here to hand over information to him in the past, could it be that he made a mistake?

But after getting closer, Li Dagui had already confirmed from the lantern hanging at the stern that this was indeed an intelligence ship of the Ministry of Security, and it seemed that it had been replaced with a new ship, and he could only think that this was probably the reason why the other party was seven or eight days late.

When Li Dagui walked to the dock, he saw several people dressed as Ming merchants next to the two ships, who were discussing with the Dutch about the docking fee to be paid to enter the port. One of them turned his face to look at him, and Li Dagui almost screamed.

Li Dagui never thought that he would meet Mu Xiabai in this place, when he was in Heitu Port, Mu Xiabai was a military official in charge of local security, and Li Dagui naturally recognized him. Fortunately, he was also calm, and after glancing at Mu Xiabai, he immediately lowered his head and stood beside him with low eyebrows.

Mu Xiabai obviously noticed him as well, and opened his mouth to greet him: "Shopkeeper Lin, the carpenter has already come, hurry up and take him on the boat to do things!"

After Li Dagui followed Lin Nan into the cabin, he lowered his voice and asked in surprise, "Brother Lin, why is General Mu here?"

"Don't be in a hurry to ask about this, give me the report first. Lin Nan stretched out his hand and said, "When General Huimu comes back, you can ask him face to face." ”

"This ...... Don't dare!" Li Dagui hurriedly took out the report from the mezzanine of the toolbox and handed it to Lin Nan.

"If you don't ask him, he'll ask you questions. Lin Nan stretched out his hand and patted Li Dagui's shoulder and said, "You rest for a while, and I'll deal with the outside affairs." ”

After another moment, Mu Shabai really came to the cabin, and Lin Nan followed him. Li Dagui hurriedly got up to say goodbye, Mu Xiabai waved his hand and said, "Don't have so many rules, sit down and say." You are Li Dagui, right? I remember seeing you in Heitu Harbor before, when you were working under Zhou Hengxing. ”

"Yes, yes, the chief has a good memory, and his position at that time was the director of the lumberyard, which was managed by Director Zhou. Li Dagui hurriedly responded: "If it weren't for the support of the leaders, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to complete such an important task for the Executive Committee." ”

"I won't say polite words, the purpose of our visit to this island this time is to thoroughly find out the defense situation here, and within fifty or sixty days at the latest, we will take this place!" Mu Xiabai explained his meaning succinctly: "Li Dagui, I have already read the report you wrote before, and I have already read it on the way. Judging from the report you've written, it seems that the defenses of this place are weak?"

"With the strength of our army, we can go down in one go. Li Dagui explained: "Although there are more than 100 Dutch soldiers on this island, these people are not regular soldiers, and they have little training in peacetime, and their weapons and equipment cannot be compared with our army. In the view of humility, it is just a level with the army of the Ming Guard. If the Executive Committee were to seize the island, it would not be too difficult. ”