The coalition between Johor and the British East India Company totaled more than 3,000 people, but the actual training and approval of the British was far from this number, so in the end more than 1,000 people remained on the northern shore of the Straits of Johor as a reserve army, and did not enter Sing Tao to participate in the war. In Hogg's words, these natives who could only use spears and machetes could only be sent to clean up the battlefield at best, and there was really no need to enter Star Island to waste precious supplies.

So in the end, the troops who crossed the sea into Sing Dao only had more than 1,000 qualified Johor new troops, plus hundreds of mercenaries brought by the British, barely scraping together a force of more than 2,000 troops. In the eyes of the coalition high-brass, it is enough to fight a surprise battle with multiple forces, and after driving out the Haihan, it is not too late to increase the Johor garrison to hold Sing Dao. Of course, if we have to find the most fundamental reason, after all, Johor's limited transportation capacity is difficult to ensure the supply of supplies needed for large-scale sea crossing operations.

Although the crossing went well, Hogg was careful to set up a makeshift camp at the landing site in the north of the island, leaving about 200 soldiers and an equal number of men to stay here in order to receive supplies from Johor and provide support for the continued fighting of the large army on the front line. Since the number of boats that Johor can provide is limited, they can only go back and forth many times to transport supplies, so yesterday these left-behind personnel were also busy all day until after dark.

Before dawn, the gong of the alarm was suddenly heard, and everyone woke up from their sleep with a bewildered look on their faces—enemy attack? But shouldn't the enemy be on the south side of the island, and at this time they were fighting with their own army? How did they come around here, did they even abandon their own nest?

The soldiers crawled out of the tent sleepily, and immediately realized that this was not a false alarm by the sentry, the sea was hung with Haihan flags on the masts of the warships, and several boats near the coast had begun to lower their boats, full of soldiers rowing to the shore!

At this time, no one could even bother to find out how the enemy had managed to get out of the south and outflank their own rear road, and if they could not stop these enemy soldiers at the beachhead, then the hundreds of people who remained here would probably have to die! The Johor soldiers did not even have time to put on their rattan armor, and rushed out to fight with their spears and machetes stuck in the door of the tent.

The Johor soldiers who can use muskets are basically incorporated into the main force and go south to attack the Haihan stronghold, and the soldiers who stay here are all equipped with cold weapons, but these indigenous soldiers have no experience in fighting with the Haihan army, and they are also very fierce when they meet for the first time, without the slightest fear, and they almost kill the coastline without thinking.

Mushabai, who was of such a prominent position, certainly did not risk being the first to land, was standing on the deck and using binoculars to check the movements on the shore. He was also a little surprised to see the Johor soldiers rushing out quickly, but then he noticed that the opponent's scattered formation, obviously without any preparation and command, immediately settled down to watch the play. Although these horses and horses he brought have not carried out any combat missions in the past two years, they have not fallen behind in their usual training, and if they can't even cope with these stragglers who use knives and guns, then they don't need to go back after the battle, and they will be disbanded on the spot and stay on the island as farmers to reclaim the wasteland.

In fact, there were many veterans in the troops brought by Mushabai, some of whom had participated in the Battle of Ambuna Island in 1631 and fought against the Dutch, so it was natural to deal with these indigenous soldiers. The soldiers in the dinghy, under the command of the officer, did not rush to open fire, but silently set up their loaded rifles on the side of the ship and waited for an order from the officer.

It was not until the dinghy approached the shore and was less than twenty metres away from the shouting Johor soldiers on the shore that the officer gave the order to open fire. The soldier lying on the side of the ship pulled the trigger and fired a volley of bullets, but only two people were hit because of the undulating hull. However, these Johor soldiers obviously knew the power of the muskets, and as soon as they saw the Haihan soldiers on the boat shooting, they immediately gave up the idea of rushing up and fighting, and turned around and ran back. The rapid change in this combat attitude also amazed the Haihan soldiers.

After several soldiers from the dinghy fired at several people in quick succession, the Johor Army, who had been trying to intercept the beachhead, abandoned this unrealistic plan and retreated back to their temporary station. However, this so-called garrison did not build a decent fortification in time, but only erected a bamboo fence around the canopy where the supplies were stored, and put a few horses outside. If such a means of defense can withstand the armed assault of the Haihan army, then it will be a hell of a life.

After landing, the Haihan soldiers completed the assembly in a hurry under the command of the officer, and then lined up to shoot at the Johor army who refused to surrender inside the fence. Of course, the bamboo fence and shield could not completely block the bullets, and several people fell under the salvo in an instant, and those who tried to rush out could not fight Haihan's bayonet formation at all, and they were poked to the ground by several bayonets in one shot. No matter how brave the Johor soldiers were, they quickly lost the faith to continue fighting when they found themselves and their companions powerless in front of their opponents and had to accept a one-sided slaughter. Some of them chose to turn around and flee to the interior of the island, while others, mainly the people, laid down their arms and chose to surrender to save their lives.

Mushab did not order the soldiers to pursue the fleeing Johor soldiers, no matter how they fled, they would not find a boat on the island to leave here, and if they wanted to leave Star Island, they would either cut down trees to make rafts or canoes themselves, or they would have to cross the Straits of Johor and swim back to the mainland. Of course, the most likely outcome is that they will be captured or killed by the Haihan army before they escape from this island, so there is no need to rush to pursue at this time. Let them run to the south to report the news, which can just disturb the will of the main force of the Johor army, and the benefits of Haihan's battle plan outweigh the disadvantages, and Mu Xiabai is naturally happy to see it come true.

But the whole battle process was more than ten times easier than Mushabai expected, and his original battle plan had already prepared for the failure of the landing of the small boat, so that the battleships could reach the coast and carry out artillery cover. He originally thought that the Johor army would have to protect this key point in the back road, but he didn't expect that the other side was busy transporting people and supplies yesterday, and it was too late to build a decent defensive position - of course, it may also be that the Johor army had no intention of deploying anti-landing combat troops in this place at all, which can also be seen from the unorganized resistance of the Johor soldiers just now.

The opponent had a surprisingly small number of troops left behind, and the battle was over before the battle scene Mushabai had anticipated. At this time, the landing plan he had prepared was only halfway open, and some of the warships that were a little further away from the coast had just begun to lay down the landing boats loaded with army soldiers, and the soldiers on the coast were already cleaning up the battlefield.

Mushabai was really a little disappointed with the performance of the Johor army, he hurried all the way from Ambuna Island, and finally arrived at the battle site on the second day of the battle, but how long did it take to actually fight the enemy army? Five minutes or ten minutes? It was over without even decent resistance, and at this moment Mushabai even wondered if Roger was deliberately entertaining himself - the enemy needed to ask for help from Ambuna Island with this combat effectiveness, don't you Roger have any points in his heart?

Of course, this thought was just a flash, according to Roger's situation, there are at least about 2,000 people in the Johor army fighting in Star Island, although it is unlikely that the Star Island base will be captured, but Roger's men and horses want to counterattack and clear out so many enemy troops, it is indeed not an easy task. Moreover, once the Johor army on the other side finds out that Haihan has sent troops to the Johor Strait, it may launch a new offensive to open up a retreat for the coalition forces on the island, so this support operation is not meaningless, and it is still an indispensable part of the entire battle plan.

After taking control of the beach, Mushaber also took a dinghy to the shore to see what had been gained from the brief battle. In order to allow the more than 2,000 coalition troops on the island to fight with peace of mind, Johor brought supplies that could meet the needs of the troops for five days, but only a small part of them were transported to the front line, and more than half of them were still stored here, waiting for the dawn to be shipped.

In addition, there were arms and ammunition supplied by the British to Johor, as well as some weapons and armor. Mushaber picked up a captured rifle to look at the old arquebuses that had largely been phased out of the Haihan's front-line troops, and only the militia had a small amount of equipment at the moment. As for these seizures, it is not difficult to find another buyer in the South China Sea, and after the war, it should be possible to find a few arms brokers, and it should be possible to realize them quickly.

As for armor and cold weapons, the Haihan Army didn't need them, and it was difficult to sell them at a good price, so they could probably only be used to make farm tools, iron pots, kitchen knives and other living and production tools.

Mushabai quickly finished inspecting the seized supplies, which were of limited value in his eyes, although they were quite a few items. Of course, this is also because he is now staying on Ambuna Island all the year round, and he is in contact with dignitaries from various countries all day long, and his vision and values have changed, which is naturally just a piece of cake in his eyes.

The real value of the capture, Mu Shabai believes that it is still more than 200 prisoners captured on the spot. For Star Island, which is severely short of labor, these captives can of course come in handy, and their usable value is much higher than these captured materials.

At this time, the local warships that had rushed from the west side of the strait also arrived, but they were one step too late to even clean the battlefield. Mushabai landed all the troops on board, and then the warships continued to patrol the strait in batches, in case the Johor army on the other side noticed that something was wrong and opened another crossing. Clearing the landing site was not the only task of Mushapa, and he had to ensure that the Straits of Johor were completely cut off from the sea and transport routes, leaving no way for the Johor army to retreat into the country, which was the ultimate goal pursued by Roger's battle plan.

In order to prevent the enemy from launching a counterattack after hearing the news, Mushabai ordered to immediately begin building positions. Although he didn't bring a lot of army troops, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to use his position to block the scattered enemy troops who were bent on escaping, and it really didn't work, and there was artillery cover from the sea. And the civil works, of course, did not need to be done by the soldiers themselves, and this group of prisoners, who had just been captured, immediately came in handy. Mushabai ordered a few sappers and asked them to serve as temporary foremen to direct the captives to build fortifications.

"The next performance will depend on the south!" Mu Shaber muttered a few words, and then asked the adjutant to fetch his radio station and contact Roger to inform him of the battle. At this time, the sky was just white, and Mu Shabai was quick enough, but he also left more time for the troops under his command to rest. At present, the main force of the Johor army is still in the south of the island, and it will take almost a day to go and come, and there should be no pressure on this side for a while.

The good news from Mu Shabai made Roger, who was still eating breakfast, also feel refreshed, and immediately handed the telegram to Tan Juren next to him and said: "Lao Mu's side has already made a move, and the landing site of the Johor army has been successfully taken with zero casualties." ”

Tan Juren exclaimed: "So early, Old Mu Ke is really diligent enough!"

ridicule is ridicule, Tan Juren still took the message from Roger, read the content carefully, and confirmed the authenticity of the news. Roger continued beside him: "Lao Mu's side has already outflanked the back road in place, and today you can let go of your hands and feet to teach these guys a good lesson." Now that you're here, don't even think about going back!"

Tan Juren said: "If you can capture it alive, you should capture it as much as possible, labor is more valuable than corpses, try not to kill indiscriminately." ”

Roger nodded and said, "Of course, especially those Brits, after catching them, they have to find a way to extort a ransom from the East India Company...... At least we have to earn back the military expenses for this operation!"

Tan Juren didn't answer his words at the moment, he found that he was still too pure compared to Roger, people wanted not only to capture the prisoners, but also to maximize the value of prisoners of war, how could he only expect to use prisoners of war as coolies, and he didn't think about it at all.

"You go back later, first take someone to clean up the ropes, shackles and other things in the inventory first, and then lock up thousands of prisoners of war, you need a lot of materials!" mentioned the matter of prisoners of war, Roger did not forget to tell Tan Juren two sentences, and his words were already full of confidence in victory.

Tan Juren hurriedly responded, and there was not only a little muttering in his heart-if too many enemy soldiers were captured at one time, where would this be placed? There was not even a larger cell on the island, and no other large building could accommodate so many people, so should they all sleep in the open air?

Tan Juren told Roger about himself, and Roger laughed after hearing this: "We just need to get a wooden horse ring and circle these people at night." Surrounded by the sea, the island itself is a natural cage that cannot be escaped. When the time comes, kill a few people who try to escape in public, and the others will naturally be honest. ”

(End of chapter)