After learning that the Dutch had attempted to surprise the Ming army that had landed in the Old Port at night, the 2nd Marine Brigade in Borneo planned to follow suit.

The main defensive forces deployed by the BDA coalition forces in Sulawesi are concentrated in Makassar, the largest port city in Sulawesi.

If your whereabouts are discovered by enemy reconnaissance planes, the enemy forces will naturally be on higher alert and may even send planes or submarines to sneak attack.

In order to avoid accidents, Yan Chenwu and the commander of the 27th Infantry Division both agreed that they should make a surprise attack.

At Balikpapan, their landing fleet sailed out in the afternoon and headed straight northeast, as if to attack Manado.

The Ming army's whereabouts were soon discovered by the seaplanes of the Dutch and Indian naval airplanes, but the fleet accelerated its turn as soon as the sun set.

Then they turned straight south and headed straight for Makassar .

In order not to slow down the entire fleet by the slow freighters, the fleet did not take them with them, and the troops involved in the landing took landing ships and destroyers, which allowed the fleet to reach Makassar overnight at a speed of 21 knots.

Because of the haste of the operation and the failure to carefully ascertain the distribution of mines in the local waters, the destroyer Jimo was damaged by a mine.

However, this sudden situation had the miraculous effect it deserved - the already demoralized Dutch and Indian troops were so shocked that they could barely organize effective resistance.

In the face of the onslaught of the Ming army's coordinated land, sea and air force, the main force of the Dutch-Indian 4th Infantry Division, more than 7,000 people, was wiped out in a day and a half, and the division commander was killed by Ming fighters on the way to retreat.

In this battle, only that battalion of Australian troops fought well, and the landing of the 2nd Marine Brigade and the 27th Division suffered a total of more than 400 casualties, more than half of which were caused by them.

Subsequently, the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Engineering Brigade was also disembarked by sea, and for the first time, they used prefabricated paved runways for emergency repairs and construction.

The factory plan that hastily received the order did not use the process of "medium thickness steel plate + punching", but temporarily changed to the method of "thin steel plate + spot welded steel reinforcement reinforcement".

In practical application, the engineer unit reported that the quality of this thing was not good, even if the thin steel plate was reinforced, it was still easy to bend and deform, and the weld generally fell off after continuous use.

Pilots, on the other hand, were a little unaccustomed to it, finding the slippery steel plates slippery, and the landing distance was significantly longer than that of a ground or concrete runway.

Although there were some problems, the airport that was quickly repaired and built still played a huge role.

In the air raid against the Surabaya naval base, the Daming naval aviation once again proved the power of the aircraft.

The British Royal Navy's Heavy Cruiser Devonshire, who was sent to defend Java Island, was naturally the most attacked because she was the largest and most eye-catching, and she was hit by six aerial bombs and three torpedoes, and soon capsized on her berth.

At this time, her boiler was still heating, and she could not even move for a moment before sinking in humiliation.

In addition, more than a dozen ships of various types were damaged and sunk, and almost the entire Surabaya naval base was shrouded in flames and sky-high smoke.

Although the Dutch and Indian forces deployed excellent anti-aircraft weapons such as the Erlikon 20mm anti-aircraft guns and the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns in Surabaya, the lack of efficient firing commanders and training made anti-aircraft firepower ineffective.

There is no doubt that in the early days of the war, when there was no supporting fire control radar, an efficient shooting commander, and a reasonable level of weapon matching, the spear was significantly stronger than the shield.

Although at first it was just a mentality of trying it out, the effect of the prefabricated paved runway made the Daming Air Force and Navy more satisfied, and they thought that it should be improved and promoted.

At that time, Zhou Changfeng only roughly depicted that these temporary rush things were basically decided by the manufacturer himself, and there were bound to be omissions.

So when the matter was reported to the Ordnance Bureau, everything had to be re-normalized - first the feedback was improved, and then the production standards were stipulated.

From the first to the fourth day of April, the rest of the Third Army successively landed in Sumudara, and the 1st Marine Brigade and 2nd Regiment also captured the southernmost Lampung.

At this point, the BDA coalition forces basically retreated to Java, and the main forces and the remnants of the withdrawn defeated troops retreated together, putting on a posture of defending to the end.

In the colonial authority building of the Old Port, which has been converted into a headquarters, a long truck is parked on the street at the entrance, and officers and soldiers are carrying radio stations, switchboards, sand tables, large-scale maps, and other items to carry inside.

Not long after the General Troops of the Third Army was officially stationed, Qiu Peisheng summoned his generals to discuss the matter.

“…… It is known that the enemy forces include the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Dutch and Indian Divisions, the 28th Anglo-Indian Brigade, the 13th British Brigade, and the 8th Australian Division, as well as some militia units, with a total strength of nearly 80,000. The exact number of warplanes is unknown, but it is estimated that there are still 300 of them. As of this morning, the known intelligence is broadly so. ”

The staff officer pointed at the sand table with a baton, and told the generals present about the comprehensive and summarized information, and after finishing speaking, he handed the slender wooden stick to Qiu Peisheng.

"The island of Java is the essence of the South Seas, where eighty percent of the population and industry are concentrated, and the headquarters of the coalition forces is located in the middle of the island." The baton in Qiu Peisheng's hand was clicked in Bandung, and this time he couldn't expect to settle the battle as quickly as before. ”

"But it's not difficult to fight, in my humble opinion, you can also smash Huanglong." The commander of the 8th Division muttered: "Landing on this Karawang landing, and then the troops divided into two routes, all the way to Bandung, all the way to cover its flank, to block the enemy army from Batavia. ”

When a rear admiral heard this, he waved his hand directly, "This is definitely not good, there is no decent dock in that place, what should I do after I go ashore?" You don't want to resupply? ”

"Isn't it possible to supply in the short term? I remember you can take an artificial harbor, right? ”

......The admirals present were a little speechless, and after a while, the rear admiral said helplessly: "That thing is troublesome to prepare, and it is definitely not something that can be done just by saying it." ”

Several people from the army and navy discussed this one by one, and finally dispelled this idea.

"Java is a dead land, there are no reinforcements outside, and it is inevitable to eat it, but how to eat, eat well, and eat fast is a matter of knowledge."

Qiu Peisheng stood with his hands in his hands and said calmly: "I expect the army to be divided into three routes, the west road to attack Sirleng, and then threaten Batavia; Attacking Belibi in the middle, the center can be used to deal with the left and right; The east road attacked the south, and the main attack was Surabaya. ”

I don't know why, Zhou Changfeng found that many Ming army generals like to divide troops at the campaign level, and some of them will still tend to this kind of deployment when it makes little sense to divide troops.

In his opinion, there will be no essential change in the history of the allied forces that have only held out for eight days in the face of the Japanese, although their weapons and equipment are more sophisticated, but the people who use weapons are still people, and the people are panicked, how can they play a role?

Break one point and shake the whole line, so that you can easily force these discouraged enemy forces to submit.

Although Zhou Changfeng has not independently commanded a large corps of troops so far, he tends to concentrate his forces at the campaign level, use the advantage of forces in a certain part of the region to achieve a breakthrough with fast speed and low attrition, and then wait for an opportunity to expand the results.

This is theoretically based on the Lanchester equation commonly used in later generations, although it is not completely reasonable, but it has good reference significance, and many deductions will be applied.

As for the tactical level, Zhou Changfeng has a wealth of combat experience and a clear personal style.

He likes to dispatch a large number of patrols and detachments to carry out multi-line infiltration and feints, to confuse the enemy's judgment with constant feints and feints, and then carry out pincer assaults and counter-attack assaults in one or two directions.

After everyone discussed for a while, Qiu Peisheng generously asked the generals present to explain their views.

After staring at the map and thinking for a while, Zhou Changfeng clenched his fists and said: "General soldier, according to what you said, the enemy army trapped on Java Island is only a strong outsider, but it may be a little inconvenient to land on such a multi-way, and the east road has to go ashore in the south, the voyage is a little long, and the supplies are not very easy to guarantee." ”

"Well, tell me what you think."

"The western route remains unchanged, the eastern route is cancelled, the central route is changed to land from Cirebon, and then quickly advance to the southeast, capture Ciraza, and cut off the island of Java from the middle."

Everyone's eyes followed his gesture to the map, and the previous rear admiral reminded: "The dock in Cirebon is not very good, such a breakthrough will not guarantee a stable supply in the future." ”

"This is not a key defense area, there is no need to attack fortifications, and the consumption of ammunition will not be large."

As he spoke, Zhou Changfeng, who looked calm, stretched out his hand and nodded to the south of Cirebon, "I see that aerial reconnaissance shows that the Dutch have several military stations here and have hoarded a large number of supplies. Even if they burn eighty percent, the rest will be more than enough. ”

Ammunition is not universal because of the different types of weapons, but gasoline and food are not the same. Since a lot of ammunition will not be consumed, it will be enough to rely on the supply of captured enemy troops to support the continuous operation of the troops.

After listening to his explanation, the huge conference hall was silent for a few seconds, and then it was filled with the sound of the generals of the army, navy and air force.

Everyone thinks that this is indeed feasible, and it is neat and neat, which is equivalent to a knife to someone's waist.

Qiu Peisheng stared intently at the sand table, and after a while, he nodded lightly, stroked his beard and commented: "Divided into two, so that the enemy can't take care of each other, and the formation is chaotic, it's good." ”

The admirals also felt that the three directions mentioned earlier were inappropriate - then they all had to allocate the escort fleet, which was too troublesome.

In the end, because everyone agreed with this strategy, the staff officers began to plan specific deployments.

But a small piece of information makes everyone a little puzzled, that is, the imperial court seems to be struggling with whether to officially attack Java?

Because of their own repeated victories, the fruits of victory were easily obtained, and the United States began to mediate between them, some people in the Ming court have recently considered whether to suspend the offensive and try diplomatic means to force the coalition forces trapped on Java Island to give up resistance.

In this regard, both the military department and the metropolitan governor resolutely expressed their opposition.

Qiu Peisheng was also very disdainful, "Hehe, they can't make the climate, don't care, just follow our steps." ”

The Third Army to the west was seriously preparing for an attack on Java, and the Fourth Army to the east was not to be outdone, carefully preparing for the action.

The sixth day of the fourth month.

The 4,000 men of the 2nd Marine Brigade and the 1st Regiment and 112th Regiment of the 38th Division set out from Makassar under the protection of the escort fleet and headed straight for Bali with 17 landing ships and transport ships.

Having tasted the sweetness of taking advantage of the surprise of the night operation, the Fourth Army repeated its old tricks, intending to take Bali in one fell swoop, so as to directly threaten the island of Java and attract the attention of the BDA coalition forces.

Bali is on the east side of Java, and the strait is only more than 1,600 meters wide, and the two are almost close together.

Once Bali is captured, the Ming Army can even land on a small sampan - a real bathtub to cross the sea.

In the middle of the night, when the fleet, which had maintained radio silence, approached Bali from the northeast, the destroyer Tongcheng, which was the first to take the lead, spotted a series of shadows.

The faint moonlight of the moon made visibility poor, and a mist rose on the dark sea, and several slender shadows moved in front of the fleet to the right.

Unable to break the radio silence, the Kiritsu used a light signal to relay a message to the other ships, but the distance between the two sides was rapidly closing.

Do you want to wait for the flagship's order?

After hesitating for more than ten seconds, the captain of the Tongcheng made up his mind and ordered the searchlight to be turned on.

"W-w-"

Two pillars of light suddenly appeared, shooting straight at those black shadows, the black shadows suddenly disappeared, and the illumination of the pillars of light made them suddenly appear - it was an enemy warship!

The captain stared at him, and immediately shouted loudly: "One cannon, two cannons, light flares!" Silence is lifted! ”

"Yes!!"

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The destroyer Tongcheng is not an ordinary fleet destroyer, she is the fourth ship of the Jinghai-class super destroyer, with a standard displacement of nearly 3,000 tons, and is equipped with five single-mounted 144mm naval guns.

Two large flares flew into the sky above the enemy warship, bursting out with dazzling light, illuminating a radius of several thousand meters.

The officers and men of the Ming Dynasty couldn't help but raise their hands to cover their eyes, and then they were surprised to find that there were as many as twenty or thirty enemies in front of them.

They didn't know that they had run into the BDA fleet that was preparing to retreat through the Lombok Strait towards Darwin, Australia.

Unwilling to be bombed and sunk by the Ming army in Surabaya in Hong Kong, and afraid to engage the Ming battleships cruising in the Java Sea, the Allied Navy Command decided to "move in" - to preserve its strength and withdraw to Australia at night.

But now that it's hit, what else is there to say?

When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins!

"Advance four, the highest speed!"

"Lightning strikes to three hundred and five, fixed depth of five meters, all lightning salvo, release!"

For a time, countless shells were fired at the enemy warships, and the anti-aircraft guns also lowered their muzzles and fired wildly, and one after another the torpedoes slipped into the sea like fish.

20.8mm, 128mm, 144mm, thunderous and rain-like dense shells tore the black curtain to shreds!

Dozens of torpedoes fired by Ming destroyers sailed at high speed on the dark sea reflecting the light, and went straight to the enemy's position.

The destroyer Pitt-Hein of the Royal Dutch Navy was the first to come under fire, hitting more than two dozen shells in just five minutes.

Countless metal fragments flew in all directions, the deck and superstructure flames rolled, and the sailors covered in fire even jumped into the sea with a terrible howl.

(End of chapter)