On the road leading to the port in Semuda, a large number of heavily armed Dutch soldiers left the heavily defended fortress and headed in the direction of the port.

This is a reinforcement team composed of 4,000 native servants, more than 600 Dutch soldiers and more than 1,000 white militiamen, and the equipment is obviously much stronger than the port defenders, and the native servant army is also equipped with old-fashioned breech-loading rifles, although some of the rifles are older than the soldiers, after all, they are also firearms troops, and guns are as fatal as they are fired.

After a long hesitation

Colonel Henry, commander of the Royal Netherlands Army, finally sent reinforcements, and the port was too important to be missed.

From the composition of the troops, it can be seen that the indigenous servant army was the main force of this reinforcement operation, and the purpose was to entangle the main force of the Kalimantan division and try to defeat the enemy and open the way to the port.

If the enemy is too difficult, the main force of the white army behind them quickly retreats, retreats into the well-defended fortress, and survives with their tails broken.

It was already about 4:00 p.m. when the Dutch reinforcements left the fortress of Saimuda, six and a half hours after the attack was launched, and the sound of gunfire was faintly heard more than ten kilometers away, and the fierce gunfire was much rarer than at the beginning.

The tropical regions near the equator had long daylight hours, and it would not get dark until after 8 p.m., and judging by the sluggish movements of the Dutch reinforcements, the march speed did not exceed 5 kilometers per hour, and between 6 and 7 o'clock in the afternoon, it was possible to meet the main force of the 2nd Kalimantan Division.

If the attack does not go well, the reinforcements of the Dutch army can take advantage of the night cover to evacuate, and if the attack goes well, they can take advantage of the night to fight a chaotic battle and defeat the enemy in front of them in one fell swoop.

The Dutch regular army and militia were armed with German-made Mauser 1871 rifles, which were nearly a meter longer than mounted rifles, and had obvious advantages in charging with bayonets, which were very suitable for night battles with poor line of sight.

The news of the dispatch of enemy reinforcements soon reached the headquarters of the 2nd Kalimantan Division, where a group of officers were busy in this improvised headquarters in the jungle.

"Report to the division, the engineer battalion has built the road, and the two 95-mm artillery battalions involved in the port attack are moving positions, please instruct."

"Order the two artillery battalions to immediately enter the preset positions and prepare for battle."

"Yes, the lowly will go and give the order at once."

"Hurry up and check out, has my 60mm light artillery battalion come up?"

"Speaker's seat; The siege of the port has been completed for the 60-mm light guns, and the equipment is being transported by ox carts, which are expected to arrive in another 40 minutes. ”

"Urge them to move quickly, the Dutch are already here."

"Yes, sir."

"Operational staff officer, have the 1st and 3rd regiments all entered the position?"

"Report to the division, the main force of the division has all entered the position and can fight at any time."

"What about the second regiment?"

"The second regiment reported that it would end the port encirclement and suppression battle in 30 minutes, rush to the battlefield at a rapid marching speed, and it is expected to arrive in about 40 minutes."

"Oh...... So sure? ”

Division Commander Liu Shan turned around in front of the map when he heard this, walked out of the grass shed of the division headquarters and came to the high place of the hills, and raised the telescope in his hand to take a closer look.

More than a dozen black smoke in the direction of the port is very conspicuous in the evening sun, standing on the high place of the hills, looking at the port, which is about 4~5 kilometers apart, is already a ruin, the charred houses are dilapidated after the baptism of gunfire, and the black smoke of the burning wooden houses is curling.

The battle situation in front will be reported every 20 minutes, so the division commander Liu Shan knows very well that there are still two hard nails in the port that have not been pulled out.

In this case, how can the 2nd Regiment confidently claim that the battle will end in half an hour?

In terms of troops, the troops attacking the port could barely achieve a 2:1 advantage.

The Dutch defenders were not soft persimmons, and their fighting will was at least two levels higher than that of the native servants, and it was difficult to take on this difficult opponent without paying a large price for casualties.

He looked at the Swiss gold watch on his wrist, it was already past 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and the Dutch reinforcements were no more than a kilometer away from the blocking position, and they were approaching cautiously, and a fierce battle could break out at any time.

Now that everything is ready, it is difficult for the general reserve, the 2nd Regiment, to be sure whether it will be able to rush to the battlefield in time to form a joint force with the main force of the division, and swallow the reinforcements in one gulp?

That's when it happened

A bright fire suddenly appeared in the direction of the port, and the crazy fire quickly spread and burned extremely strongly, Liu Shan hurriedly raised the telescope to observe carefully, and was greatly surprised in his heart.

Even from a distance of five kilometers, Liu Shan could feel the fierce momentum of the sky-rushing fire, distorting the air that had been burned in the evening weather, forming a large sea of fire.

This location should be the place where the port timber pile is located, is it ......

"Hurry up and send two people to the port on horseback to inquire about the situation of the battle, what is going on with this fire?"

Although there was some speculation in his heart, the division commander Liu Shan still sent two cavalrymen to the front line to inquire about the battle situation out of steady.

At this point, the worry in his heart finally let go.

The second regiment did a good job, and solved a hard nail without a single shot.

The Dutch defenders in the lumber yard seemed to be unable to cause trouble, leaving a battalion to defend the fort and the Dutch counterattacked, and the main force of the second regiment could quickly come to the battle, forming a large dense pocket to swallow the enemy who dared to attack.

There are more than 5,600 reinforcements from the Dutch army, and the main force of the second division in Kalimantan is only more than 6,000 (more than 400 casualties).

On the road leading to the port in Semuda City

The Dutch army was on the march, and the front gradually entered the hilly terrain, and the undulating primeval tropical jungle on both sides was full of green and lush growth.

The indigenous vanguard at the forefront sent small forces into the tropical jungle on both sides of the road from time to time to detect whether there were any enemy ambushes?

After walking for more than two hours under the scorching sun, the soldiers were a little dry and depressed, and many indigenous soldiers took out the bamboo kettle that was carried on their shoulders, pulled out the plug and poured a few sips of cool water to quench their thirst.

Suddenly far away

The Dutch commander was horrified to see a large field of fire rising in the direction of the harbor, which turned half of the sky red, and the distance between the two was about seven or eight kilometers, and the intensity of the fire could be felt from such a distance.

Commander Schmidt, who had the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Royal Netherlands Army on his shoulder, looked suspicious, and after a little thought, he realized that there must have been a fire in the timber yard of the port, otherwise there could not have been such a large fire.

Due to the enemy blockage, the Dutch commander did not know to what extent the battle was going on, which made him hesitate.

Has the port completely fallen?

Move on or retract decisively?

"Dear Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt, do our troops continue to advance, looking at it like this, the situation in the port does not seem to be very good?" The Captain of the Native Servant Legion was a nobleman of the Kingdom of Machen named Saicardo, who looked less like a soldier and more like a merchant.

The territory of the Mazen Kingdom included part of the province of Central Kalimantan, and the Dutch colonists retained the aristocracy of the original indigenous kingdom to rule over a larger number of indigenous tribesmen, which was a typical dualistic ruling structure.

"It's not a big deal, Mr. Secardo, the fire in the harbor shows that our army is fighting bravely against the enemy, and we need to give them a hard blow to completely destroy the arrogance of the Queenslanders, after all, we are the masters of this land, do you say?" Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt would not expose the worries in his heart, anyway, he would use the indigenous troops to test the enemy army, and the main force of white soldiers would follow, so it was really impossible to retreat.

It took more than two hours to walk when I didn't look at it, and it only took an hour to escape for my life.

"I understand, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, out of prudence, can we put the troops into one by one, I heard that the people of Kunshan Lan are murderous thugs, and extremely cunning, we must be careful when dealing with such an enemy, so as not to fall into their trap."

As an indigenous aristocrat with real power, Secado derives all his power from the indigenous army in his hands, and of course he is unwilling to give up his old capital.

Secardo understood;

Don't look at what the Dutch say, if you don't have this powerful indigenous army at your disposal, you are worthless, and you will soon be abandoned and thrown out of the door.

"No, no, no, my dear Commander Secardo, once you find the enemy, I ask you to put all the forces in your hands into attacking with all your might, and inflict heavy damage on the enemy like a clenched iron fist, crushing the enemy in one fell swoop and covering up the killing, so that they can see how powerful we are." Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt shook his head and said with great confidence; "There is only one division of troops that have landed on the shore, they need to divide their forces to attack the port, there will not be many troops that can be used to block it, this is a very good opportunity, we have to take advantage of the situation to break through their defenses in one fell swoop, please rest assured, there is still a steady stream of troops in our rear, all you have to do with your men is to rush forward with your head and win this battle, I can guarantee you a lot of gold and new rifles, you know...... It's a rarity that money can't buy. ”

"As you wish, honorable Lieutenant Colonel." Captain Secado replied bitterly.

There is no fool to be in this position, Secardo knows that the Dutch are using their troops as cannon fodder, but he is powerless and does not dare to resist.

The Kalimantan Division's encirclement against the Dutch reinforcements was set up in a hilly area of 4 kilometers, through which a well-maintained dirt and stone road passed through it, forming a huge encirclement.

As the Dutch army was surprised by the fire in the direction of the port, the main force of the white army that was following behind became more and more sluggish, and gradually distanced itself from the indigenous army in front.

The vanguard of the indigenous army arrived at the front of the encirclement, and the white army, which had fallen behind, had not yet entered the encirclement and behaved with extreme caution and cunning.

"Master, what should I do?" The officer asked.

Liu Shan looked calm and calm, waved his hand and said; "Don't worry, you can let go of the indigenous vanguard and wait for the main force of the white army to enter the encirclement before launching an offensive, tighten this big pocket, these Dutch ghosts are the target we want to focus on, we can't let them slip away."

"Yes, Master."

Once the Dutch reinforcements entered the encirclement, the troops in ambush in the depths of the jungle would rush out, cutting off the entire road one after the other, and attacking the enemy in the encirclement with all their might.

On both sides of the tropical jungle, communication is difficult due to dense vegetation, and there are many insects and snakes, and large groups cannot lurk.