September 11, 1881

Shangri-La Island (formerly known as Irian Island or Guinea Island)

Jayapura

Located in the northeast corner of Shangri-La Island, this is an excellent deep-water harbour surrounded by several tall island mountains that shield the South Pacific from the storms and waves of the South Pacific, as well as the view of the prying eyes of the open sea.

The harbor is calm and unwavering, with turquoise waters reflecting the blue sky and white clouds, and a gray-white pier pier trestle stretching into the bay, where two freighters from the Far East route are moored, as well as three Seagull-class frigates.

A short walk up the pier is a small seaside town full of Chinese architecture, which is the town of Jayapura.

This new immigrant town was built in a valley, with wide roads paved with stone slabs, mostly wooden buildings, high roofs with Chinese-style cornices, and layers of buildings spread out one after another.

The town seems to be quite lively, grain and oil shops, daily grocery stores, blacksmith shops, theaters, green buildings, wine shops, Huitong Bank, police stations are all available, the streets wear light-colored clothes, with bamboo hats pedestrians flow endlessly, and acquaintances loudly greet, full of the smell of life fireworks.

On one side of the town, there is the camp of the Coast Guard.

High up on the lookout tower

Wu Manchu, the chief of the sentry tower, climbed up the sentry tower with a can of fish soup in his hand, looked at the three soldiers on duty above, and said in a good mood; "Brothers, what do you think I've brought you?"

"What, it's delicious, I can already smell the fragrance." Soldier A sniffed his nose vigorously and said.

"Oh my God, it's fish soup again, we've lost our appetite for this thing, can you get some broth or something?" Soldier B walked over and couldn't help but vomit.

"A bunch of stinking shameless things." Wu Manchu put the fish soup can in his hand on the ammunition box, as well as a large bag of steamed buns, and began to count the soldiers under him; "Look at your current virtues, you couldn't eat enough before you came to Australia, and you even gnawed off the bark during the famine, but now it's good, you don't like to drink fish soup, a bunch of losers."

"Wu Shichang, what I have seen in the past few months is to eat fish, braised fish, small dried fish, salted fish, fish soup, fish balls, I want to change the taste for you." Soldier B retorted.

"You are in the midst of blessings and don't know how to be blessed......" Wu Manchu didn't finish his sentence, and was suddenly interrupted by Soldier A; The report is long, and there is a situation at the lookout post in the far sea. ”

"What?" Wu Manchu's face suddenly became serious, and he hurriedly rushed to the side of Soldier A.

There is a large vertical telescope that allows you to see the distant sea lookout posts set up on the peaks of the islands in the distance.

It can be seen through a vertical telescope;

A yellow cloth was spread out at the lookout post in the far sea, and a soldier was standing on a high place, waving a flag in this direction.

This means that a Dutch three-masted galleon is approaching, about 11 nautical miles away, and is expected to arrive in 50 minutes, and is constantly being tracked.

The Lookout Post is set up on the peak of the island that surrounds the bay, and from there you can see the far reaches of the open sea, which serves as an early warning.

The yellow cloth is a serious warning, and if it is covered with a red cloth, it confirms that the threat is coming.

"You continue to keep a close watch, and I'll report it now." Wu Manchu didn't dare to slack off, this was Shangfeng's repeated orders to closely monitor the open sea, and any situation must be reported quickly.

He quickly ran downstairs, there was a hand-cranked phone on the second floor of the lookout post, Wu Manchu picked up the telephone receiver and put it to his ear, and then shook it a few times rapidly; "Hey, hey, Marine Police District Combat Readiness Duty Room, I'm a dock lookout and found a three-masted galleon......"

It didn't take a minute

Terrible sirens sounded throughout the Marine Police District, and the officers and men who were resting in the dormitories rushed out of the rooms one after another and ran towards their respective battle positions.

Dockside

Smoke billowed from the three Seagull-class frigates, and the ships were igniting and pressurizing, and when the steam boilers reached a certain pressure, they could push the steam engines to run.

Li Jie, the commander of the Shangri-La detachment fleet, heard the siren Huo Ran stood up, he was studying the water and land coordination plan with Huo Xiaohu, the commander of the Shangri-La Marine Police District, and Zheng Dagen, the deputy commander of the command, when they heard the siren, they glanced at each other, and immediately went out and turned over their horses and drove quickly towards the direction of the dock.

The Dutch came, and this was a long-expected scenario.

Li Jie needs to quickly return to the battleship in order to deal with any eventuality.

In the Command

Huo Xiaohu and Zheng Dagen stood up with solemn expressions, watched through the window as the soldiers of the Marine Police District gathered, and then quickly ran to the battle position.

Huo Xiaohu, the commander of the Shangri-La Marine District, and Zheng Dagen, the deputy commander of the Shangri-La Marine District, are both outstanding officers who emerged from the "large-scale law and order cleaning operation" and were promoted to the first rank after being trained as a senior officer.

Huo Xiaohu was promoted from the deputy commander to the commander, and he was in charge of the military alone, and he could be regarded as a big man with a head and a face.

Because of his outstanding military exploits, Zheng Dagen was directly promoted from the commander of the third company of the Tiger Cavalry Guard Battalion to the deputy commander of the Marine Police District.

He left his beloved dragoon guard to serve in the Marine Police District, and changed from cavalry to infantry, achieving a leap in military rank and becoming a senior officer.

"A three-masted galleon? It seems that the news cannot be hidden. Huo Xiaohu stood in the room and didn't move, muttering to himself.

Zheng Dagen calmly walked to the window and raised his binoculars to look; "Your Majesty, your judgment is correct, the Far Sea Lookout has been replaced with a red cloth."

"The Earl has said that you sweat more in peacetime and shed less blood in wartime, and it seems that we are going to conduct actual combat training to deal with the difficult situation that is coming." Huo Xiaohu said in a deep voice.

"The commander makes the Lord clear." After Zheng Dagen finished speaking, his face became more serious.

The three-masted galleon off the coast did not need to be feared by the Marine Police District, and the three Seagull-class frigates of the Coast Guard Task Force were dispatched and captured by a sure thing.

But then the news could no longer be hidden.

If the Dutch come to attack, the officers and soldiers of the Marine Police District will come in handy, and they will have a good chance of facing the Dutch colonial army, and they must be fully prepared.

On the clear blue sea

A three-masted galleon is cleaving the waves on its way to the port of Jayapura, the Tulip that sailed from the port of Surabaya and detours to Irian Island on its way back to Luzon.

Captain Marco van Nistelrooy stood beside the steering wheel with a solemn face, carefully scanning the distant coastline with a telescope, looking for any signs of anomalies.

Mr. Frank-Sneijder looked anxious and tried to come over, but was stopped by the bear-strong sailor, who could only shout at a loud voice; "Mr. Captain, there is Jayapura Harbor in front of you, the bay is surrounded by several tall islands, you can't see anything here, we can get a little closer, I only need 20 people with guns on a small sampan to go up to reconnoitre, I can figure out what the hell is going on......"

"Shut up, idiot." Captain Marco van Nistelrooy was in an extremely upset mood, and Jayapura gave him a bad feeling, which was based on a keen intuition.

Where could it be a simple matter for 60 heavily armed white colonists to disappear like that?

Marco van Nistelrooy had a premonition that this would be a big problem, and the sailors on board were all armed, their knives unsheathed and their bullets loaded, ready for a fierce battle.

Neither the Spanish pirates nor the British were easy to deal with.

He wouldn't send 20 of his men into the tiger's mouth, Marco van Nistelrooy ordered loudly; "Put away the mid-mast sail, the after-mast sail, and head 12 degrees to the right."

Hearing the captain's command, the sail linemen climbed the high mid-mast and after-mast like apes, and the other sailors twisted the winch vigorously, and the huge mid-sail and after-sail were quickly retracted.

The sail lifter walks nimbly up the high branches, like a clever acrobat, and binds the sails tightly on the ups and downs of the branches.

The speed of the three-masted galleon suddenly slowed down, and it stopped patrolling about eight nautical miles off the coast of Jayapura to see if anything unusual was happening.

More than two hours later

The tulip galleon still patiently kept its distance, like a cunning fox, and immediately pulled out and ran away when it saw a bad opportunity.

"Mr. Captain, we have 140 heavily armed boys on this boat, and the port of Jayapura is just ahead, I don't know what you're afraid of?" Mr. Frank-Sneijder's patience has long since run out.

After all, he was just a white farmer, in other words, a landlord.

Neither has rich experience in fighting the wind and waves at sea, nor has he faced the challenge of a powerful opponent, nor has he encountered countless life and death crises, so he sees the problem too simply.

But his words did affect some simple-minded sailors, who frantically brandished their swords and guns and shouted;

"Captain, let's get closer, whoever is there, and give these bastards a taste of knives and guns."

"That's right, we can defeat a tenfold enemy, let's go and see what the hell is going on there? , maybe you can have a bit of fun. ”

"Whoa...... The blood of the battle is already boiling, and the blade is hungry for killing. ”

"Maybe there's nothing there, just some indigenous monkeys."

The clamor of the sailors did not affect the captain Marco van Nistelrooy, who said with a frown and some disgust; "No one on this boat dares to question my orders, tie up this stupid pig, gag it, and hang it upside down on the mast to make him sober up."

"I protest, I have the Governor's Palace ...... in my hands"

Before Mr. Frank Snead had finished speaking, he had been overturned by a group of strong sailors, tied with hemp rope like rice dumplings, hanging upside down from the mast, and stuffing in his mouth a dirty sock that had not been changed for an unknown amount of time, and undulating as the galleon went up and down.

There is no need to be careless.