A brilliant golden color, slowly rising from the horizon, is as bright and brilliant as a blooming tulip flower. 【 I want: super fast update 】

Off the Natuna Islands, three Dutch-flagged cruisers and two British cruisers moved slowly, and opposite them were two Jinghai-class light cruisers and two Vladivostok-class heavy cruisers, which had long been targeted for research by European countries.

Vice Admiral Sampson stood on the flybridge of the flagship cruiser Tulip, his gaze crossed the four Royal Navy cruisers of the Chinese Empire, staring at the bean-sized Natuna Islands on the horizon, and his mood was gloomy.

Once upon a time, the mighty Dutch East India Fleet, with more than sixty warships, was the undisputed ruler of this sea, and even Britain did not dare to touch the edge, but how many years did this pass? The old sea coachmen have disappeared like yesterday's yellow flowers, and the beautiful tulips can no longer bloom in this ocean.

This is a Dutch mistake!

At least that's what he thinks, while plundering and killing the Netherlands firmly control the sea, it also makes the locals unwilling to cooperate with the Dutch, especially the wealthy Chinese class, so far there is not a decent city on the Dutch-controlled islands, which is far inferior to the British colonial model of cooperating with the locals.

Although the wealth that the Dutch had acquired through the East Indies over the centuries was enough to arm the world's largest fleet, the aging and cautious government dragged this possibility to death, especially when the declaration of neutrality and the unique geographical conditions of Sumatra were widely recognized by European countries, and the Dutch gradually lost themselves in the pleasures of neutrality.

When the steam engine began to rumble and roar, when all countries began to eliminate wooden sail warships, the Netherlands suddenly woke up and began to work hard to catch up with the times, but the coachmen who had fallen behind in the beginning had already had more than enough strength to catch up with the world's advanced footsteps, and the good battleships in China still needed to rely on Britain and France and other countries to provide technology.

It is undoubtedly sad that the Netherlands, with their vast East Indies colonies, have finally lost themselves in the sense of gold and silver, forgetting their technological sheep and not being able to turn their wealth into warships and become the world's second-rate.

On the other side, Li Mo, who turned the Far East upside down and is now trying to replace the Dutch rule here, has always attached importance to technological advantages long before his ambitions were revealed, and he used Chile to purchase advanced ships from Britain, and later purchased German ships, and bought all kinds of technology patents in Europe to copy them himself, and ended up with fruitful results, turning into the four warships in front of him that are second to none in Europe.

And the former coachman sea overlord now needs to rely on the support of the British to dare to come here, but the Boer War that has broken out has cast a shadow over this cooperation, because everyone knows that the Boers are of Dutch descent!

However, it is clear that Britain also realizes that if Li Mo is allowed to expand here, sooner or later it will threaten British dominance here, so this time it will be willing to help the Netherlands.

In the distance, the Natuna Islands have been completely controlled by Li Mo, there were already many Chinese living on this string of small islands, after the destruction of Lan Fang Kingdom, a large number of Chinese fled to settle there, so it took only ten days for the Chinese army to clear all the natives on the islands, this careerist carved his hand,. It is said that the Netherlands instigated the natives to kill the Chinese, but in fact, the natives who died in his hands could be piled up on the entire island of Natuna!

Sampson's gaze turned to Hui Fang, which was the reason why he had led the fleet from Sumatra to here!

The Chinese army is landing on Borneo in the first place, and their army number there has reached more than 20,000, and it is impossible to say that there is no preparation in advance to put in so many troops so quickly! And according to the report of the reconnaissance ship coming back, the ports of Pontianak and Sammarinda are stepping up the construction of temporary piers to provide more berths for reinforcements!

Therefore, Li Mo's actions in Borneo must be curbed as much as possible, otherwise when the follow-up troops of the Chinese army arrive, even if all these warships in front of him are sent to the bottom of the sea, they will not be able to recover Borneo!

On the deck of the Tulip, the Dutch sailors had already solemnly waited for the guns to be aimed at the four enemy ships in the distance, this is a large Peijia cruiser that has been in the water for three years, with two double-caliber twin Wu mm main guns, and has as many as twenty rapid-fire secondary guns of various calibers, but this can not give everyone any confidence, the Japanese fleet at the beginning of the defeat was much stronger than the Netherlands, but it was still broken and sunk, and it was the two cruisers on the opposite side that caused all this. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

And this kind of confrontation is really too exhausting, since the two sides met three days ago, they have been walking side by side from a distance of 10,000 meters, and no one dares to blink at this time!

Fortunately, two large British cruisers rushed from Hong Kong to join the fleet, gaining a slight numerical advantage, otherwise Sampson really could not guarantee whether he would have the confidence to continue to hold on.

And the British cruiser also brought with him and all the officers and men the exciting news that Vice Admiral Fillettman, commander of the British Far East Fleet, had already set off from Shanghai with the main fleet!

Sampson took out his pocket watch and looked at it, the main force of the British Far East Fleet that set off from Shanghai had been on for ten days, why hadn't it arrived yet? Should we go to war first, or should we continue to wait like this?

And!

The main battleships of the other side did not appear from beginning to end, does this mean that they have already received the news and rushed to intercept the British Far East Fleet?

For Sampson, this is a dangerous signal, if the British main fleet is blocked in the way, although he is sure that there will be no large-scale naval conflict between the two sides, the Chinese army can use the means of blocking the shipping lane, forcing the British fleet to repeatedly maneuver and lengthen the route, etc., because they know very well that as long as they block one more day, their land forces can have one more day to reinforce Borneo!

But this is also an opportunity, because there are only four cruisers on the opposite side, and there are five cruisers on his side, although the four warships on the opposite side have created a precedent for long-distance engagement, but Europe has not been idle in recent years, and the main guns of the five cruisers here have also been improved in terms of firing angles, which can also reach the range of the other side!

Is it an immediate war? Or keep waiting?

"Tyuk, did the British cruiser agree?" Sampson was not a cowardly politician of the kind at home, and in fact he was able to become the commander of the Dutch East India Fleet, and it was precisely because of his decisiveness that he had already sent liaison officers to seek the advice of the British this morning.

Tyuk was Sampson's lieutenant, and when he heard the interrogation, he immediately saluted: "The commander said to the British that if you make up your mind, then they will fly the banner of the Brooke dynasty and act with us." ”

The banner of the Brooke dynasty?

Sampson sighed in his heart, and could see that the British still had concerns, so he would use the name of this dynasty established by the British merchant James Brooke in Sarawak on the border with Borneo to participate in the war, so as not to completely tear his face with the Chinese Empire, and even if Li Mo dared to fight, he did not dare to touch the Brooke Dynasty protected by the British.

But this can't be blamed on the other side, in any case, the British at least did not lose the face of the Europeans, and their willingness to help the Netherlands enter the war in the name of a third country is already a big support!

Let's get started!

"Send a signal to get out of here, this is Dutch territory!"

"Hang the battle flag to tell every soldier that it's time to defend the caulan! Let's tell those yellow-skinned monkeys why the tulip flag has been able to fly on this sea for hundreds of years!! ”

"Go and prepare, my soldiers!"

Sampson's words made the Tulip jerk its mane, and countless Dutch sailors on deck began to run, the descendants of these sea coachmen, who were indeed not stupid Russia and Japan, which had just stepped into the sea, were ready for battle in just a few minutes.

Five minutes later, the flag and light signal were simultaneously sounded from the Tulip.

A sharp whistle broke the silence of the early morning, and ten brand-new Hippopotamus-class airships were tethered to the cleared space that had just been leveled, and the oblique golden light shone on these behemoths, giving people an indescribable shock!

Pairs of soldiers rushed out of the barracks and into the mule, where they began to cheer for the newly arrived big guys while the crew began to check before take-off.

Every busy soldier was startled when the nearby warehouse, which was tightly guarded by the gendarmes, forbidding people to even go within fifty meters, and was also equipped with a large number of water hoses, was slowly opened.

I saw hundreds of soldiers dressed in strange one-piece rubber clothes and wearing strange pig-nose-like masks pushing out the vats, followed by dozens of researchers wearing the same masks and white coats.

Before they could reach the gendarmes, the gendarmes even drove away all the soldiers on the edge of the mule, and the crew immediately put on the same masks and carefully cooperated to load the vats into the magazines.

Compared to the first-generation Hippopotamus-class airships, these large guys with re-equipped aluminum engines and increased airbags and pods have a carrying capacity of up to eight tons.

When the forty drums were carefully loaded into the magazine, the bombardier immediately closed the hatch and let out a long breath, at which point the ground crew soldiers were allowed to continue their work.

Half an hour later, the first airship side warriors raised the green flag that represented the ready, followed by the second, the third .......

When all ten airships were ready, the two small reconnaissance airships on the side took the lead in the air, and then these big guys also slowly rose into the sky, and countless people who had just gotten up were stunned by this spectacular scene in the sky, and watched them disappear beyond the horizon.

"Fuck off?!"

The signal flags that kept waving on the side of the telescope made Ye Zugui's eyes red!

It's just three Dutch cruisers, thinking that they dare to run amok if they hug the British thigh? Since Japan can't do it, Russia can't, then use the Netherlands to make those European powers completely open their eyes!

"Report, the British cruisers have changed their flags, and all of them have hoisted the flags of the Brooke dynasty!"

"Report, received a signal from the Sirius radio that the main forces of the British Far East Fleet are still eighty nautical miles away from us."

"Report, the Dutch cruiser raised the battle flag!"

Flying the Brooke flag?

The British Empire obviously still had concerns, but compared to this, the news of the imminent arrival of the main force of the British Far East Fleet made the air in the command tower immediately tense.

Eighty nautical miles meant that the British capital battleships would arrive in five hours late, and according to the tradition of the British Navy, their sudden arrival of the cruiser might be imminent!

"Pull the alarm and prepare for battle."

The battle flag fluttering on the opposite side made Ye Zugui's whole body tremble with excitement, not nervous, but after a few years of silence, the fleet was finally going to open again!

"Where is the task force?"

"We were already passing by the sea off Pontianak an hour and 40 minutes ago, and we are still two hours away.

After listening to the report, Ancestor Ye immediately walked to the chart, calculated it with a compass and a ruler, and then let go of a trace of worry, he knew that as long as the task force arrived, even if Philitman wanted to take a risk after arriving, the fleet would have a chance to fight back and even win!

Thinking of this, Ancestor Ye threw away his pen suddenly, and his eyes flashed sharply in the eyes that narrowed into a thin line: "Send a signal, the Royal Chinese Navy is being ordered to protect the people of our bridge, let them...",. ”

"Fuck off!"

Another fuck off! There was a burst of snickering laughter from inside the bridge, and everyone could see that the former captain of the Beiyang Pipe Belt, now the heavy cruiser of the Torisuri, and the commander of the cruiser formation of the Second Fleet, was very resentful of the Dutchman's words to get out.

"Laugh ass!"

Ancestor Ye stomped his feet and shouted, "Order all ships to concentrate all their firepower on the Tulip, and sink it for me first!" ”

"Report, the British cruiser and the Qilan people are separated."

As soon as Ye Zuzhu finished speaking, the staff officer immediately shouted, only to see the two British cruisers on the opposite side that had temporarily changed their flags spewing billowing black smoke, and immediately broke away from the formation and came up from the left side.

This change made everyone put away their smiling faces, and Ye Zuzhu, who had studied in the UK, understood very well that the British Navy's concept had always been very advanced, and they would not use cruisers as capital ships like Japan and Russia, and have their own set of cruiser tactics.

This change of formation is obviously to see through the numerical superiority of one more aircraft, and is an attempt to disperse itself, disperse firepower, and make full use of the area of the sea area and the high speed of the cruiser.

But!

The corners of Ye Zugui's mouth hooked a faint smile, the British did not understand from beginning to end, the emperor and the general staff had already obtained the information that the British wanted to intervene, and formulated tactics to attack the Netherlands with all their might, so this division of troops seemed to weaken the firepower of the Dutch in front at the moment.

"Report, Tulip Banner, duel!"

"Fire!"

As soon as the words fell, the twelve yardyard millimeter main guns on the Ussuri and its sister ship Manchuria fired the first salvo, and almost at the same time, the main guns of the Anglo-Dutch fleet on the opposite side also roared at the same time!