Chapter 127: The Controversial Operation to Seize the Island

In the headquarters of the joint expeditionary force of the two countries, which was established in the Portuguese Indian colony of Panagie, more than 20 senior officers of the Dutch and Portuguese expeditionary fleets gathered together to discuss the plan for the East Indies that was about to begin!

With the arrival of 10,000 troops drawn by Portugal from the Mozambique colony in Goa in a month's time, the war that the two countries had been preparing for nearly half a year was finally about to begin!

"This time we will concentrate our 50,000 troops and first attack Batavia on the island of Java! Eliminate the Chinese army entrenched on it, and use this as a base to attack the Nusa Tenggara Islands and Sumatra Island, fight for island by island, and finally destroy all the Chinese and People's Army units entrenched in the East Indies, and regain the lost Far Eastern colonies of our two countries!" Blake pointed to the large map of the East Indies on the wall, and explained in detail to the surrounding officers the war strategy of the South Seas operation!

"General, I have a question?" At this moment, a middle-aged soldier wearing the uniform of a major general of the Portuguese Army stood up and said.

"General Dallas, please speak!" Although, for this arrogant commander of the Portuguese Expeditionary Force, he himself did not like it very much, but in order to regain the kingdom's East Indies colony, he had to endure!

"General, why did you attack Java Island first instead of Sumatra, according to the information we have received, the Chinese troops on Java Island have exceeded 70,000! However, although the People's Army on Sumatra Island is equally numerous, the coastline of several thousand kilometers will undoubtedly thin out these Chinese troops defending along the island, and this will also reduce the difficulty of landing our attack troops! In addition, compared with attacking Java Island, attacking Sumatra Island first will also shorten the sea range of our fleet, so as to facilitate the logistical replenishment of our army! Therefore, I do not understand why the general asked why he insisted on attacking the more difficult island of Java and abandoned the island of Sumatra, which was relatively easier to occupy?"

Seeing such a situation, Dallas's face could not help but show a smile of victory, and the reason why he stood up against Blake's military plan was because of the reasons he had just mentioned, and there was another very important reason, that is, because of the strong jealousy in his heart!

In his opinion, the position of commander of the joint expeditionary force between the Netherlands and Portugal should belong to the Kingdom of Portugal, which has contributed the largest number of troops, that is, the commander of the Portuguese Army, Major General of the Dallas Army! But it backfired, and he did not get what he wanted! This made him look at Brooke extremely unpleasantly! Therefore, it is a matter of course to dismantle the Taiwan now!

After seeing that everyone around him nodded in agreement, and even the Dutch own naval and army officers showed a puzzled look, Brooke knew that he had to say something! Otherwise, the armies of the two countries, which were not very friendly in the first place, and even had some contradictions, were likely to cause the entire United Expeditionary Force to fall apart because of the rift that could not be repaired on this issue!

After clapping his hands and drawing everyone's attention to himself, Blake said solemnly: "I believe what General Dallas just said is also a question in the hearts of many of our officers here! The reason why we have made such a battle plan is because while we attack the island of Java, we will get the help of the indigenous army on the island, and when the time comes, they will disrupt the logistics of these Chinese troops, kill their officials, and sabotage their rule, and believe that in the chaos in their own rear, these Chinese troops who lack logistics supplies will not have much combat power to speak of! At that time, it will be easy for our troops, with the help of a strong fleet, to land on Java Island and occupy Batavia! And in the next war to liberate the whole island of Java, with the help of these indigenous armies, our own casualties among our own soldiers will be reduced to a minimum! Therefore, I have decided to abandon Sumatra and choose the island of Java!" After saying that, Blake swept everyone's faces with both surprise and surprise expressions, and said with a smile: "Are these generals still satisfied with what I said?"

Hearing his words, everyone couldn't help but nod, and even Dallas, who didn't like him, had to admit that this was indeed a good idea! Although the combat strength of those natives was very questionable, it was still very easy for them to sabotage the rule of the Chinese rear and mess up their army logistics!

"Who else has a different opinion?" Blake asked with a smile on his face.

After nearly two minutes, seeing that no one was standing up to ask questions, Blake continued: "Since no one is against this battle plan, then we will assign specific combat missions to each army!"

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More than a year has passed since the Huo Jiajun occupied Ambon Island and built the Ambon Naval Base! In this not a short period of time, Ambon Port has been transformed from a small fishing port when the Dutch occupied it into a modern naval base made of reinforced concrete, and the Huojia Army Navy has deployed here, two converted frigates, to combat pirates, control the surrounding sea area and waterways, and protect the coastal cities of the Huojia Army!

With the continuous development of the Huojiajun territory, the number of immigrants to the surrounding islands gradually increased, and this naval base in the South Sea Islands began to become more and more important!

Li Fu wiped the sweat from his head, although it was almost evening, he still couldn't feel the slightest coolness in the temperature around him! Looking at the blue navy logistics work clothes on his body, which were already a little wrinkled, his face couldn't help but show a look of satisfaction! A year ago, he transferred from the Guangdong Navy Fleet to the Huo Jiajun Navy, and although he was engaged in logistics, his monthly salary had really risen a lot! In addition, it doesn't cost money for children to go to school, and then his own salary, plus the harvest of a few acres of land planted by his wife, in this year's time, he has saved a fortune of hundreds of silver dollars, which is really far from the rìzi who often couldn't even eat enough in the Qing Dynasty!

Like this kind of happiness that he couldn't think of before, he hoped that he would be able to live like this forever! It's just that those hateful Dutch and Portuguese, they can't see the young master occupying the South Seas, and the expeditionary force they formed from Europe has already reached India, and they will attack Huo's army before they can't, although he is very confident in his own troops, but the navy with a big gap between the two sides makes him, a naval logistician, very worried!

"Alas!"

Sighing heavily, Li Fu began to pick up the broom in his hand and prepare to carry out his daily work, cleaning the harbor!

"Bell bell ......!" At this moment, the hanging jǐng bell on the pier suddenly roared!

Li Fu was stunned, the pirates of the South Seas had already disappeared under the blow of the Huo Family's army and the sea and land alliance! Therefore, at this time, the jǐng bell was ringed, which really made him feel a little strange in his heart, thinking of the news that the Dutch were going to call from the army a few days ago, Li Fu couldn't help but change his expression, dropped the broom in his hand, and hurriedly ran towards the dock!

At this time, basically all the naval officers and sailors of the Ambon Naval Base heard the sound of the bell coming from the dock! A large number of naval personnel began to abandon their work, grab the rifles next to them, gather together, and run to their own combat positions!

However, less than five minutes had passed, and the bell had suddenly become softer!

"The jǐng newspaper has been lifted!"

Li Fu looked stunned! However, the huge fleet that came out of the sea level firmly attracted his attention! With the passage of time, the fleet in the distance gradually became clearer, hanging high on the rail pole, and the familiar five-star blue background naval flag made all the soldiers of the Ambon Naval Base understand that this huge fleet of twelve warships was the Great Wall of the Sea belonging to the Huo Jiajun Navy!