The mist in the bay is like a light veil, looming, and the sea surface of the sea outside the bay is blown away by the strong wind and waves, and the mist cannot be seen at all, and the line of sight can be seen far away.

Geng Guigui led three Seagull-type warships to the gate of the bay, he held a telescope to observe carefully, and saw that on the sea skyline, 12 Dutch warships were arranged in a semicircle, and the open sea had been tightly sealed, and his heart couldn't help but sink.

This time the Dutch attacked in a big way, and the scale was even larger than he had imagined, and he sent out all the warships almost desperately, so the landing fleet ......

Come to think of it

Geng Guigui raised his binoculars again and searched carefully, and found no trace of the cargo three-masted galleon at the end of the sea skyline, which made his heart feel extremely uneasy~ The worst possibility happened.

The eastern tip of Shangri-La Island has a long coastline and is surrounded by an incalculable number of islands formed by volcanic activity and coral reefs over millions of years, and there are countless bays suitable for landing.

Within 100 kilometers of Holzby north and south alone, there were no less than seven bays suitable for landing, and it was possible for the Dutch landing fleet to be in any of them.

Judging from the size of the enemy's warships, the number of troops sent to the beachhead was definitely not small, and this message must be immediately transmitted to the 3rd Garrison Regiment of the 1st Garrison Division, and the militia must be mobilized to participate in resisting the invaders.

In order to confirm his judgment, Geng Guigui ordered; "Order the standard-bearer to contact the Beishan watchtower post and ask if there are any other enemy ships on the sea, including transports."

"Yes, ask immediately."

It won't be long

Through the contact with the flag, Geng's judgment was confirmed, except for 12 Dutch warships and a small dhow fast sailing ship in the nearby sea, no other ships were found, and no transport galleons were found.

I looked at the time, and it was already 7:20 in the morning.

The sun is shining on the sea, the sky is clear, and you can see far away.

The 470-meter peak watchtower post on the summit of Beishan is equipped with a large-aperture high-magnification telescope from the German company Zeiss, which can observe sea targets at a distance of up to 60 kilometers, and as for the coastline targets, due to the winding coastline and mountain ranges, it can observe targets at most 20 kilometers away.

At this range, no regiments of enemy landing ships were detected.

The Royal Dutch Fleet, led by the cruiser "Seven Provinces", blocked the bay in order to blockade the Gulf of Moresby and prevent the fleet in the harbor from attacking the vulnerable transport group that was making the landing.

As for the assault into the harbor, Geng Guigui believes that it is unlikely, with the fragile small body of the Dutch fleet's group of wooden sail warships, it is simply unable to withstand the fierce fire baptism of the shore guns, and the commander of the Dutch fleet is not so stupid and will not take the initiative to deliver food to the door.

Throughout the fleets of both sides, almost all of them are lightly armored or unarmoured, almost belonging to the category of light cavalry at sea.

Needless to say, the Dutch sail battleships naturally have no bulletproof armor at all due to the limitation of displacement tonnage, so medium-caliber guns will cause serious damage to ships on both sides, and they are even more unable to withstand the bombardment of large-caliber guns.

The cruiser "Seven Provinces" is a typical shipside gun room cruiser, with armor belts attached to key parts such as the waist gun room and the wheelhouse, which can resist the frontal bombardment of large-caliber artillery fragments and 95 mm guns, and is equipped with two tall sails in front and one behind to assist navigation, which can increase the speed by 2~3 knots in the case of downwind, and no more than 14 knots in the state of full speed navigation.

In terms of protection, the cruiser "Seven Provinces" is a little stronger than the two Seagull II converted battleships that are being built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in England, but it is not enough in front of heavy cruisers and steam ironclad battleships, and it is not a competitor of the same class at all.

It is no wonder that after the Battle of Malacca, the detailed report of the observation group on the British cruiser "Stubborn Stone" was submitted to London, and the bureaucrats of the Admiralty did not pay attention to it at all, and after reading it, they put it on the shelf.

The evaluation is just that children fight and hurt each other.

Seeing that the bay had been blocked, Geng Guigui did not rashly try to break through, no matter how fast the warship was, it was impossible for the shells to be fast, and the Queensland fleet could only rely on shore artillery protection, and the two sides formed a confrontation situation at the entrance of the bay.

The Royal Dutch fleet did not dare to come in, and the Queensland fleet could not break out, creating a stalemate.

On the cruiser "Seven Provinces".

"Well done, I value the important role Mr. Sheng played in this war more and more, and I will highlight this in my report."

Observing the gray-black mushroom cloud formed by the powerful explosion of the Moresby Telegraph Office, the commander of the task force, Jan Kok Burkhov, was so happy that his beard was cocked, and his eyes were full of appreciation.

"Thank you, Commander, for your kindness."

"You're welcome Mr. Sheng, you're our Dutchman's best friend, and I'm curious to know who your henchman lurks in Port Moresby?"

Sheng Yeyun looked rather sentimental; "Ada is a partner who grew up with me since childhood, although he is a house slave, but the two of us are like brothers, and I have never regarded him as a person, this time I sacrificed my loyalty to the royal army, and completed the final entrustment, I definitely deserved to die, I will treat his family well, regard his son as my son, and be compassionate."

"Well, he is indeed a strong man."

Jan Kork-Bulkhov replied nonchalantly, he had no interest in bothering with a pariah, and the three warships coming from the Gulf of Moresby caught his attention, and then ordered; "Order the ships to put away their mainsails, keep the blockade array, and the broadside guns ready for firing and be ready to be on standby."

"Yes, sir."

The order was immediately issued through the flag, and the subordinate sail warships put away their mainsails, and used the auxiliary ships to adjust the course speed slightly, and maintained the highest state of alert that could fire at any time.

Town of Moresby

The camp of the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division of the Shangri-La Garrison

After receiving the warning signal from the port fleet, the three regiments immediately convened an emergency operational meeting, which was attended by the regiment commander Fritz, the deputy regiment commander Mo Rufeng, and all the regiment's officers at and above the company level, as well as Wu Xuewen, the chief manager of Shangri-La, Li Fushan, the mayor of the town, and Qi Feng, the captain of the militia brigade.

Moresby is facing the most serious crisis since its founding, and the Shangri-La Garrison, which has been established for less than two months, is facing the test, and all the leaders of the military and political departments have gathered together to discuss the big plan.

Born in a Junker aristocratic family, Fritz, the commander of the third regiment, was a former captain officer of the German army, a former deputy commander of the Tiger Cavalry Guard, and a guardian knight of the Earl of Queensland.

"The situation is already critical, as the news from the fleet indicates;

The main purpose of the Dutch invasion was to protect the landing ship group, and the opinion of the fleet was that it was impossible for the other side to attack the port, and the crisis facing the town of Moresby could be temporarily lifted, and the inhabitants did not need to retreat to safety.

The big question now is ...... We must determine where the enemy landed from?

The regimental reconnaissance company has already sent two teams, one south and one north, to search forward, and news is expected to arrive by the evening at the latest.

We are now facing a very serious situation, the Moresby Telegraph Office has been damaged by enemy spies, and it is unable to receive instructions from the Red River Valley by transoceanic cable telegraphs, nor can it convey the situation of the war.

This meant that we had to fight alone against the Dutch for at least a month.

by prior agreement;

If the Red River Valley does not receive a security telegram tonight, it will realize that we are under attack by the Dutch, and the only thing that is uncertain is whether the telegraph is malfunctioning or a lone wolf attack, or if the Dutch are attacking.

The regimental headquarters judged that this would require enough intelligence from the Blackcoat Guard's foreign intelligence agencies for the Red River Valley to be able to accurately judge our situation, which would take time.

Aware of our predicament, Kamito will inevitably send a combined fleet in Jayapura to reinforce it, which will also take time.

It is impossible for us to get reinforcements of the army until the combined fleet establishes maritime superiority over the Dutch, which again will take time.

It will take time for reinforcements to arrive in Moresby from the time they depart.

Based on the above judgment, the regiment headquarters believed that at least for a month, it would not be possible to get external reinforcements, and we must independently support the battle situation, and I determined this time to be 40 days.

Now gentlemen can speak freely and offer advice on our defensive war, and all forces will unite to fight this battle well. ”

Wu Xuewen, the general manager of Shangri-La, frowned, thought about it for a while and said; "The Moresby area has only been established for more than a year, with a total population of more than 70,000 people, including more than 60,000 young and middle-aged men, and about 40,000 people living in the tunken villages and towns below, scattered in a vast area of 267 kilometers.

For the sake of the present

It is to evacuate the population of the southernmost and northernmost villages and towns, transfer agricultural products and personal property and materials, and implement the policy of clearing the wilderness in accordance with the emergency war plan in advance, but this will take time.

The town will do its best to draw tractors and baggage trucks to participate in the rush, if we can determine the direction of the enemy's attack, we can concentrate our forces in one place, so that the speed of the rush will be faster.

Therefore, it is hoped that the military and militia will hold off the enemy for at least two days, leaving enough time for organizing the rush to transport supplies. ”

After listening to the request of Wu Xuewen, the governor of Shangri-La, Fritz, the commander of the third regiment, said that the military would do everything possible to accomplish the task of blocking the enemy, and he would personally lead two battalions of troops to rush to the front line, and form a strong defensive line with the militia to resolutely complete the task.

At this time, everyone's eyes fell on Qi Feng, the leader of the militia.

Qi Feng was a retired veteran of the original Dragoon Guard, the helmsman of Hongmen Morez, a capable middle-aged man in his 30s, who had received strict military training from German instructors, and was not afraid of a big attack by the Dutch.

Retired veterans like him have now become the backbone of the militia, including militia instructors, squadron leaders and squad leaders, most of whom are the sons of Hongmen's backbone and have great respect for the leader Li Fushou.

After the Red River Valley experienced the initial stage of development, Li Fushou had already begun to deliberately remove the Hongmen disciples from the army system, so that the army would become more pure.

The main destination of the Hongmen disciples is the militia team, so now the "Xinghuahui" militia has Hongmen disciples as the backbone, and its strength is quite strong.

This became the second paramilitary force in the hands of Lord Earl, which was used to counterbalance the influence of the army, and if needed, all people would obey it, and dare not disobey.

Qi Feng thought about it and said;

"Lord Steward, Lord Tuanza, our Xinghua Hui militia now has 3,177 people, mostly composed of new immigrants, who have received at least a month and a half of military training, and are confident that they will grow quickly in the war against the Dutch and become a powerful arm of the military.

It's just that our militia is very short of long guns, there are only less than 400 at present, and there is not much ammunition, and the main weapons are revolvers and spears and broadswords, and the military is also requested to provide appropriate support for this part.

Among the settlers, they generally received 5~10 days of military training.

However, for these peasants who are familiar with hoes, it is impossible to distinguish between left and right in just a few days of military training, and it is impossible to count on how high the combat effectiveness is, and it is still possible to be strong and strong.

Now that our team has all been assembled, we can go to the front at any time at any time, and I will personally lead the capable militia to follow the regimental lord to act together, this part of the staff has more than 800 people, all of whom are under the command of our old brothers, and the combat effectiveness can be guaranteed. ”

Hear here

Fritz, the commander of the third regiment, nodded with satisfaction, thought about it for a while, and instructed Zhao Jiaxiong, the commander of the logistics baggage battalion; "Battalion Commander Zhao, allocate 600 rifles from the regimental reserve to equip the militia brothers of the Xinghua Society, we must fight side by side in the face of a strong enemy, the number may not be as large as the enemy, and we can't suffer a loss in weapons."

Speaking of which

He turned his head and patted Qi Feng on the shoulder and explained; "We can only squeeze out so many spears to try to equip you with a thousand men, and there must be other weapons in the regiment, but considering that the war is likely to last for a long time, we must keep some stock, but ammunition can be fully supplied."

"Thank you Tuanzao, so that our militia will have more confidence."

"Okay, after the meeting, you will arrange for someone to get the equipment, hurry up and familiarize yourself with the equipment, we will leave soon."

"Yes."

Qi Feng saluted the standard military salute, then sat down again, and the emergency combat meeting continued.

The following is an introduction to the situation of the village by the mayor of the town, Li Fushan, who is a member of the Li clan from Lijiabao and a distant uncle and brother of the same class as the earl, and was promoted to the mayor of Moresby because he showed a certain management ability.