Chapter 69: The Governor's Strategy

Li Wei wiped the sweat on his head over and over again, but he still couldn't stop them from slowly seeping out of his body along the pores!

Borneo, because of its tropical location, is in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius almost every day of the 12 months of the year!

Looking at the long line in front of him, Li Wei couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief, but the hesitation in his heart still increased!

He was originally a Hakka family in Singapore, the British Straits Settlements, and his father took him away from his hometown in Panyu, Guangdong, and came here, fishing every day for a living, although life is not very rich, but it is not a problem to mix food and clothing!

But this quiet life was completely shattered a month ago! A British colonial officer found him, and used his family to blackmail him, coupled with a high amount of money and financial lure, Li Wei, who was already living a difficult life, became a full-time spy of the British Governor's Office in Singapore after more than a month of simple training!

This time, he came to Borneo and was also assigned by the Straits Settlements British to come here to listen to information!

Moreover, relying on his proficient Hokkien dialect, his identity was not immediately discovered by the coastal guards and jǐng of the Huo Jiajun! However, he did not have the slightest amount of money on him! Of course, there were a lot of pounds, but what circulated in Borneo Province was the newly promulgated silver dollar! The pound sterling had to be exchanged for the equivalent silver dollar at the Bank of China located here, otherwise even if he had more money, it would be a piece of waste paper!

So after living on the island's abundant fruits and other food for a while, he finally found out some news about the island! To his great surprise, the forces that occupied this huge island and were valued by the British Channel colonists were actually ruled by Chinese people with the same skin, the same language, and the same customs and habits as him! At this time, he also understood why the British would look for him in the first place, this yellow man who had never been valued by foreigners, to serve them! But even if he understands the reason, he must continue to do this job for the safety of his family! So, in order to get more information about this Chinese power and integrate more completely into this island, he took advantage of the dark night to get on the immigration ship from the Qing Dynasty!

But apparently he had miscalculated!

"Please take out your ID! you'll have a job as soon as we're done!" said the young soldier.

"ID card? What is that?" Li Wei was taken aback, he never knew that immigrants would have this thing!

Hearing his words, the soldier's originally somewhat careless eyes immediately became a lot more careless!

"Didn't you get your ID when you came?" the soldier asked again in an abundance of caution, but his right hand had already reached for the pistol hanging from his waist!

"It's broken!" Seeing the expressions on the faces of the soldiers in front of him and the secret movements, Li Wei secretly anxious in his heart! It was too hot, and he didn't have much clothes on his body, so he didn't have the pistols that the British had issued with him at all.

Seeing the colder and colder look on the soldier's face, the sweat on Li Wei's forehead kept coming out! The muscles of his whole body were tense even more because of excessive tension! Some flustered eyes began to look around to see if he could run away smoothly and immediately!

However, the city of Kuching in Borneo Province, where he is located, has already been built into a large and wide and neat port by the Huo family army with a large number of Nanyang natives, and the soldiers with rifles and rings next to him also make him understand that any attempt to escape is stupid!

"Hello, comrade! My ID card accidentally fell into the sea on the way here!" Li Wei, who was in a hurry, hurriedly said.

"Okay, it just so happens that our comrades from the Ministry of Civil Affairs are here, so you can go and make up for one!" the soldier who had already seen that there was something wrong with this person sneered.

Obviously, Huo Jiajun's numerous screening methods made all his quibbles seem so pale! Another spy hired by the British was caught in this way!

――――――

"Your Excellency the Governor, why don't we land directly with the soldiers of the Empire? I believe that with the assistance of the powerful Imperial Far East Fleet, no force in the East Indies can stop the British Empire's conquest of the world!" Brigadier General George Feetman, commander of the British Army in Singapore, said proudly.

Sir Walder was the Governor of the Straits Settlements of Great Britain! It has been four years since he took office! During his tenure, there has never been any major turmoil in the colonies of the British Empire in the Far East, and the important passage of the Straits of Malacca has always been firmly controlled by the British, which can be said to be a remarkable achievement! I believe that in a few years, he will return to England with his achievements, and when the time comes, with the support of the forces and families he runs in Parliament, even the prime minister of the British Empire will no longer be far away from him!

Not only have the British protectorates in northern Borneo been usurped by them, but all British citizens' industries in the South Seas have now been completely lost!

Although the British Empire did not attach much importance to that wild land that could only provide coffee, cocoa, and other raw materials, the British Empire absolutely could not tolerate a thief of unknown origin to take away the land and interests that originally belonged to Britain! This not only made him harshly criticized from home, but even his originally bright political future became a little bleak!

"Admiral Peyton, don't you have any definite information about them in your navy so far?"

"No! So far, we have sent more than 100 intelligence agents to Borneo, whether it is the British or the Chinese and natives we have trained, not only have they not sent back any useful news for us, but now they have all lost contact!" After speaking, he bowed his head a little ashamedly, as the commander of the British Empire's squadron in Singapore, his poor work performance in the past few months is really a little unforgivable!

Suppressing the boiling anger in his heart, Walder said in a cold voice: "Is there no shell for the naval guns of the Imperial Navy, why is there no dispatch of our fleet?"

"Your Excellency the Governor, we have sent out our fleet, but they have shore guns in almost all the important ports of Borneo, and our warships can't get close to their ports at all!" Peyton said helplessly.

"What shore artillery! Are you sure, General! From what we have heard from the Dutch, they are just a group of natives!, how can there be shore artillery!" asked Walder, somewhat surprised. To keep the British fleet here from approaching the harbor, it would take at least 400 heavy guns, but is it possible in the backward Far East?

"My Lord, I don't know if the Dutch have lied to us, but I prove with the honor of Commodore of the British Empire that what I said is all true, and that the caliber of their shore guns has reached 254mm, and they are not much worse than the Imperial guns of the same caliber in terms of shè, and they surpass the Empire in terms of speed and accuracy, for which my fleet has paid the price of three cruisers under a thousand tons of wounds! I think the Reich should soon determine whether our opponent is the Germans, or France, which has been expanding its colonies in the Far East!, I don't think it would be a wise choice to go to war with an adversary we know nothing about!" said Peyton, with some apprehension. The overwhelming artillery fire a few days ago really left a deep impression on him!

He had never seen a heavy shore gun so fast!

After listening to his words, Walder seemed to be poured from the head to the soles of his feet by a basin of cold water, and standing aside, Filitman, who had been clamoring for troops to land on the enemy just now, was silent, without the escort of the fleet, his army had already become a target under the enemy's shore artillery before it landed!

"Has the expeditionary fleet sent by the Dutch to the East Indies departed?" asked Walder, pausing after a few anxious circles around the room.

"I had already asked by telegram the day before yesterday, but not yet! Their parliament is still arguing over the appropriation of funds, and the recruitment and recruitment of troops is also very slow, and now it is not as safe to come to the South Seas to fight as before! Therefore, the Dutch are no longer as enthusiastic about going to the East Indies as a soldier!" After a pause, Peyton stretched out his hands and made a helpless expression, and then continued with some mockery: "I'm afraid that if they are given another three months, their expeditionary fleet will not be able to reach the Far East!"

"These abominable Dutch softasses!" swore Walder.

"General Peyton, can't all our warships in the Far East take a port together?" said Philitman, beside him.

"It can be taken, but General, the interests of the Empire in the Far East still need these warships to defend, just for a Borneo that has little interest, and to send these warships to attack the enemy's shore guns all over the harbor, the losses suffered are not proportional to our gains! Therefore, I do not agree to exchange the lives of our soldiers for the island that is still in a state of savagery! The British Empire has many colonies, and it is not bad for this one! Besides, I think it's a good idea to let the Dutch go and see the strength of the enemy first, and maybe we can follow them and reclaim our land without much cost, and even more for it!"

After listening to his words, Walder lowered his head and thought for a while, and said slowly with exhaustion in his tone: "Well, let's wait until the Dutch fleet arrives in the Far East!"