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Chapter Eighty-Nine: Attack!!

"General, this is a telegram that has just been sent from the Taiwan General Staff!" The herald, who was excited, rushed over and reported loudly!

Since he was transferred to the post of commander of the Nanyang Theater, in order to clarify the command relationship and facilitate command, Huo Jianguang's military rank has been changed to that of lieutenant general! He has become the fifth largest military giant in the Huo Family Army after Huo Long, Minister of General Staff, Huo Hu, Minister of Army, and Huo Feng, Minister of Navy, and is half a level higher than the three core figures of the Huo Family Army of the General Political Department, the General Logistics Department, and the General Assembly!

After receiving the telegram, Huo Jianguang glanced at it, the look on his face suddenly became solemn, and his eyes became sharper!

Perceiving the strange look on his face, Yuen Long, who had just taken up the post of political commissar of the Nanyang Military Region and had the rank of major general, couldn't help but feel a little surprised in his heart, but he knew that his old friend, who had been with him for more than ten years, Huo Jianguang, who was calm and cautious, was very difficult to encounter anything that could make him unable to control his emotions! At that moment, he couldn't help but ask: "What's the matter, Lao Huo! Is there any new instructions from the military department?"

"Look at it!" he said, handing over the telegram in his hand!

Yuen Long took it with some curiosity, only to see a brief order clearly written on it: "Order all the combat units in the South Seas Theater to launch an attack on the islands of Sumatra and Java under the jurisdiction of the Dutch East Indies Colonies from 24 o'clock on the evening of December 6, 1881!

"The order to attack has been given!!" said Yuen Long excitedly after reading the telegram.

"Yes, it's finally time for this day!" Huo Jianguang said with a red face and an excited expression.

Since receiving the training of Huo Shan's new military theory, almost all the officers in Huo's army have become staunch supporters of his Great China theory! They are eager for foreign wars and expand the territory of the Chinese nation! And Huo Jianguang, who was deeply influenced by these theories, is a typical foreign expansionist, frantically supporting Huo Shan's Nanyang policy, while using various means to reduce the indigenous population of the islands of Borneo, and at the same time vigorously training the army, and accumulating strength in order to take over the entire East Indies! Today, he has finally waited for this opportunity!

"Where have the Marines arrived?" After taking a few deep breaths to calm his boiling mood, Huo Jianguang strode over to the large sand table placed in the war room, clearly showing the two major islands in the South China Ocean and the surrounding seas, and asked in a loud voice.

"The 1st Marine Division sent a telegram last night that they have landed on Bangka Island! The 2nd Marine Division has reached Belitung Island, and the 20th Marine Division has deployed three regiments in Palembang, Tranaipura, and Pekanbaru, and they will annihilate the 6,000 Dutch troops in these three cities after the order to attack is given, and will receive the landing of the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions! In addition, the 3rd Marine Division has moved to Bali, and the 4th Marine Division has moved to Madura Island! They will land from Transnanmeng and Surabaya respectively and sweep across the whole of Java under the support of a jǐng reserve regiment that we are lurking on the island of Java!" Liang Zhanshan, the former commander of the 20th Division and the current chief of staff of the Nanyang Theater, pointed to the big sand table with a long whip in his hand, and said solemnly and seriously.

"You haven't encountered any difficulties on these islands, have you?" Huo Jianguang asked with a smile.

"No, in order to preserve their strength and keep the last two main islands, the Dutch have no armed forces on these small islands around them, and the local area is answered by the Chinese army that we were lurking before, so there was no trouble in the whole landing process!" Liang Zhanshan took the telegram handed by Yuen Long and glanced at it, and said excitedly.

"In that case, then give the order!!!All troops, according to the original plan, will launch a full-scale attack at 12 o'clock in the evening, and this time the Dutch must be completely driven out of the East Indies, they have been here for too long!!"

"Attack!!" "Attack!!"......

Telegraphs flew over the entire Nanyang Theater, and all the Huo Jiajun troops involved in the attack had sharpened their swords and guns, ready to go, waiting for the attack time to arrive at 12 o'clock in the evening!!

――――――

The office building of the Dutch Governor's Palace in the East Indies Colony is the most striking building in all of Batavia. The beautiful baroque five-storey building makes almost all the people who pass by here understand that the ruler here is the noble Kingdom of the Netherlands!

The news that the joint expeditionary force of the two countries had begun to march towards the East Indies made the high-spirited Governor completely relieve his worries, and at the same time held a grand reception in his official residence, which calmed the uneasy atmosphere of the people of the two main islands!

Holding the goblet in his hand, Pete looked through his office and looked at the somewhat depressed Batavia harbor in the sunset, and an indescribable sadness suddenly surged in his heart!

In order to defend the last two large islands of the Dutch East Indies Colony, the Dutch Governor's Office can be said to have done its utmost to not only send a large number of troops to completely ban all commercial activities on the two islands, but also blockade all coastal commercial ports with the remaining warships, and completely prohibit the merchant ships of any country from calling at the ports, even flying the flag of the British Empire! The Dutch were really a little frightened by the strange island-grabbing actions of the Huo Jiajun before! If these last two great islands were to be lost in no apparent terms, then the officials of their governor's palace would have to go to the Orientals as prisoners! This was worse in the eyes of these self-proclaimed noble whites than killing them!

Pitt took a sip of the Bordeaux red wine in his glass, looked at the Dutch soldiers patrolling the street with rifles on their backs, and couldn't help frowning, although the number of 40,000 troops was indeed a lot, but it was only enough to guard the main cities and seaports of the two islands! As for the remaining coastal villages and towns, there were not many soldiers stationed! Moreover, in the eyes of those officials in the Governor's Palace, this was a barbaric land full of disgusting natives, and it did not provide the conditions for a large-scale landing of the army! So, as long as you hold the harbor and important cities, you can maintain the Dutch rule here!

But in the eyes of Pete, who has experienced more than ten years of military service, this idea is too much to take for granted! But the small number of troops in his hands makes him have no way to change this situation, after all, this is not the mainland of the Netherlands, and those Nanyang natives who often rebel against their rule are not trustworthy!

"Alas, I hope that the expeditionary force that can hold out until the kingdom arrives sooner!" Pete thought of the strange atmosphere on the two large islands in the past few days, and secretly prayed in his heart!