Just over a mile away from the port where the fierce fighting had just taken place was the town of Natuna, which was founded by early Han Chinese immigrants. Of course, the name of the place had now been changed back to the town of Ambulna, and there was not even a single Dutchman, not even a Dutch, in the town - after the construction of the harbor forts was completed, all of them were loaded on ships and transported to the mines of the north.

In just two months after the occupation of Ambuna Island by the Haihan militia, the relevant departments organized and transported more than 500 immigrants from Annam and Hainan Island to settle here, most of whom were young and strong, and many of them had received a certain amount of grassroots militia training. The Portuguese also sent nearly 200 immigrants according to the original agreement, this group of people is old, young, women and children, but there are also more than 30 of them who have served in the army or as mercenaries, but all the actions of these people must be under the command of Haihan, because almost all of their life and supplies here have to rely on Haihan to provide.

In addition, about 100 prisoners of the forced labor camps who have been re-educated through labor and have been recognized by the Ministry of Justice as having reformed their minds have also come here by boat to start their new lives. These people have been sentenced to less than two years for their crimes, but they are still under probation by the Ministry of Justice, and if they commit another crime within a year, the sentence will be doubled. And if they can spend a year on the island-↓-↓-↓-↓, m.co≠m, ♂ then they will have the same opportunity to apply for naturalization as new immigrants.

Although the new owners were given the opportunity to choose their own whereabouts, about a third of the original residents of the island remained, and these people were basically of Han Chinese descent, and their political attitudes were more inclined to the Ming Dynasty, or the Han Han forces. For these people, it was too much of a toss to leave their homeland and settle somewhere else, and it was at least better to accept the rule of Haihan than to be slaves to those red-haired people who looked like evil spirits. Of course, the aborigines who chose to leave the island of Ambuna only went to other colonies under the rule of Haihan, so as not to leak the news prematurely.

These inhabitants, together with a reinforced battalion at the disposal of Mushaber, had a population of about 3,000, much smaller than in the previous days when the Dutch ruled the area, so that shelter was not a problem at all, and it was basically settled without the need for additional construction. At the same time as the fort was being built at the port, the town was also renovated with a defensive wall on the east side of the town near the port.

However, this stone and wood wall is not very high, and it may be more appropriate to call it a breastwork. On both sides of the road leading through the town, gun emplacements were set up every twenty meters, but instead of the large-caliber shore defense guns of the port, they were deployed in pound and six-pounder army guns. But although the caliber and model are the latest, they are not the antique goods used on the port batteries. Immediately outside the wall, the original drainage ditch was used to widen and deepen, and a four-foot-wide trench was dug and water was introduced.

There were originally streams running around the town on both sides of the town, which could be natural barriers, and although the deepest part of the stream was only just above the waist of an adult, and it was no more than seven or eight meters wide, if anyone really wanted to swim from here, the musketeers in the town would teach them how to behave from the houses on the shore. It would be more desirable if the opponents tried to compete with the musketeers on the Haihan side on the other side of the stream, and they would be acutely aware of how deadly the difference in range and accuracy between the two weapons was.

Immediately after retreating from the first line of defense of the port, Mushaber ordered all the reservists in the town to enter combat condition and ordered the quartermaster to issue them rifles and ammunition. A team of women doctors has begun to bandage the wounded under the guidance of several military doctors, but their task is not too heavy at the moment, as there were few wounded on the Haihan side in the previous battles, and there were no escapes alive in the main combat zones.

Li Dagui, who was in charge of organizing the logistics work, had already asked people to prepare hot food, and after the soldiers who had withdrawn from the front unloaded their equipment, they immediately arranged for the meal supplement to be replenished. In this respect, Haihan was undoubtedly more prepared than his opponent, and the Dutch on the opposite side did not expect a battle to break out at this time, and the ship did not even prepare hot food, and everyone waited for a good meal after landing at the port. At this time, the Dutch fleet was crowded in the harbor in a chaotic manner, and it did not bother to cook at all.

But the current situation of the war has a huge blind eye for both warring sides, that is, they do not know how much the opponent has prepared for this battle, and whether the battlefield in front of them will be a huge trap set by the opponent.

The Dutch can only guess the true identity of this mysterious armed force on the island, and the purpose of the opponent's occupation of the island is completely unknown. However, the Haihan side is still a little uncertain as to whether the Dutch came by mistake or have received information from other sources and are ready to capture this island. Therefore, after the initial encounter, neither side dared to attack lightly, but chose to rest on the spot first and plan a follow-up combat strategy.

Although the first line of defense lasted only about an hour in the battle, the results were not bad, at least two or three of the nine Dutch ships that came to attack were completely incapacitated, while almost none of the other ships remained intact, all of them were damaged by the shelling, and the casualties were almost in the triple digits, and the main loss on the Haihan side was only a battle formation on the battery. Of course, these more than ten lives are already the biggest battle loss of the year for the Haihan militia, and if Mu Xiabai can't make a brilliant performance in the follow-up stage, he is likely to bear some responsibility for this loss.

After all, the people stationed on this island can be regarded as veterans of the Annan militia group, and it took a lot of effort and resources to cultivate combat effectiveness. In the future, as long as the form is needed, the army can be expanded to promote these veterans immediately, so that the size of the militia can be expanded several times in a short period of time.

However, it is precisely because these people are veterans of combat experience that after experiencing the setbacks of previous battles, their morale has not been greatly affected. Although the battle situation is a little unfavorable for the time being, they are well aware of the defense arrangement on the island, and this second line of defense is the most important thing, and the real decisive battle will probably take place here.

The main reason why the Haihan militia lost the first line of defense was that the firepower was too scattered, and the troops were not enough to defend the whole line of such a long line, and it was difficult to support each other.

But this was no longer the case with the second line of defense, which was only two hundred meters long and contained eight gun emplacements and matching musketeer positions. The view of the three hundred meters outside the defensive wall was basically unobstructed, and even the grass and trees above knee high were cleared, and if the Dutch were to attack this line in the form of a port charge, they would really suffer a great loss.

After using the radio to inform the base camp and the Annan side of the current state of the fighting, Mushabai felt that it was necessary to do another pre-war mobilization of the combatants, so that they would not be affected by the setbacks in the previous battles.

The company and platoon officers who received the notice soon came to the headquarters to assemble, which was originally a church built after the Dutch occupation, but after the Haihan militia took down this place, they immediately canceled its original use, cleaned out all the things inside, and even demolished the cross on the house, and used it as a military headquarters.

"Commanders and fighters, do you remember what our mission was here?" asked Mushaber in a deep voice.

"Defend the South China Sea, protect the Haihan!" replied the officers in unison. These two slogans were not actually propagated publicly after they arrived on Ambuna Island, but it is clear that they have a good memory, and they have not forgotten the training they received before leaving the Annan station.

Mu Shabai nodded with satisfaction and said: "Before we came here, we already knew that sooner or later there would be a real battle with the Dutch, and the preparations we made in the past few months were all for the battle that broke out today, whether we can protect the glory of the Executive Committee depends on our next performance!"

Mulchaper turned to the local map hanging on the wall and said, "Although we still have a third line of defense, I don't want to see that kind of passivity. My request is that the main force of the enemy army be annihilated on the second line of defense, and not an inch can be retreated, can you do it!"

"Yes!" the officers replied neatly again.

"Wait a minute, I'll also go to the front line and fight with you!" Mushaber said categorically: "How many Dutch have come this time, we have to fight to keep them all on the island!"

At the same time, the Dutch side was arguing about how the next battle should be fought. Brouwer thought that it was necessary to build a temporary base in the port first, guard this passage to the sea, cut off the supply lines between the island's armed forces and the outside world, and at the same time send a rescue ship back to move the rescue troops - of course, even if the rescue ship set off immediately, it was estimated that it would take half a month to arrive at the earliest.

Spikes, on the other hand, believed that they should take advantage of the victory and pursue, and since the opponent had abandoned the fort defense line and chose to retreat, it was clear that they were lacking in troops, and that they should continue to attack inland with the advantage of strength and combat experience.

"Maybe they'll only have the man who got out of the battery, and we'll be able to eat them with a little more effort!" Spikes said.

"No, no, no, it's too risky. Brauwer, though also a militant, was decidedly much more cautious than Spikes: "We don't know how many of them there are, and their retreat may be just a trap." Mr. Spikes, please don't forget, that this island was originally inhabited by nearly four thousand inhabitants, and you think that you could take this island with just the one or two hundred men who had just evacuated from the fort?

"But the natives aren't as sharp as they are!" Spikes was the first to bear the brunt of the engagement, impressed by the firepower and accuracy of the other side's batteries, "I don't think it's a problem for them to clean up the old armed forces on the island. And if we surround them and don't fight them, it will be us who will suffer. Don't forget, Mr. Brower, that our combat supplies are based on a fleet of ships going to sea, both in terms of food and ammunition, which are very limited, and we have lost some of them in previous engagements!"

In the previous artillery battle, two Dutch ships were shot and capsized, and the various supplies on board naturally sank into the sea. Although this is a shallow offshore sea, the fleet does not have the ability to salvage shipwrecks on the spot. After the opponent occupied this island, he naturally had all the resources on the island, and the ammunition was not good, but the food reserves were definitely more abundant than the Dutch fleet, which only carried more than a month's rations. If the two sides continue to be so deadlocked, it will definitely be the Dutch side that can't hold it up first.

Brouwer still insisted: "But our supplies can fully support until the reinforcements arrive, and when the time comes, we will launch an offensive, and the certainty of winning the opponent will be much greater!"

"No one knows what will happen to us in the days when we wait for reinforcements!" Spikes shook his head and objected, "Maybe they've already secretly sent people out to sea from other parts of the island to move rescue troops to their base camp!"

Van Longen listened to the two guys arguing and had a headache, so he could only go to the side and sit down, waiting for them to come up with a result.

At the request of the military, he had ordered to vacate a merchant ship in good condition and then return to Batavia to report the news. However, the cargo on that ship will not be able to be unloaded in a while, and according to the crew's report, it will have to wait until tonight at least. If it doesn't unload overnight, it may not be completed until tomorrow morning.

In addition, he organized 120 crew members with combat experience to temporarily join the military team to listen to the command. However, the fighting qualities of these men were uneven, and some of them could not even use muskets, and Van Longen was very worried about their appearance after stepping into the battlefield.

As for what kind of combat strategy to use, Van Longen was not qualified to interject, so he could only sit and wait for the two senior officers to come up with an idea. But he didn't take the initiative to interject, and the two didn't ignore his existence either. When neither side was able to convince the other, they chose Van Longen, a third person, as a weight.