Malacca, a famous city, has a very long history, as early as the Han Dynasty, there is a city here, the Chinese at that time called it Korofusha, and China has many trade contacts, to the Ming Yongle period, Zheng He went to the West when it was to Malacca as the base camp, the indigenous chieftain at that time, Xili Baer Sura sent an envoy to the table, willing to be the county of the Ming Dynasty, but was easily rejected by the Ming court without foresight; In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese first occupied this place, built the new city of Malacca, in the early Qing Dynasty, the Dutch defeated the Portuguese, occupied Malacca, and rebuilt Malacca, the original all the inland forts were transformed into two forts facing the sea, relying on the existence of these two forts, the Dutch fully controlled the Strait of Malacca, a strategic artery for East-West trade.

The Strait of Malacca is named after the ancient city of Malacca, the whole strait is in a northwest-southeast direction, the northwest is wide, the southeast is narrow, the water depth is decreasing from north to south, from east to west, when it comes to the location of Shan Ma Xi, the exit of the whole strait is dense with small islands, the water ripple condition is extremely complex, the waterway that can navigate large ships is only 15 meters deep, three kilometers wide, in addition, there are reefs and shoals everywhere, therefore, single Ma Xi is the most important place to control the entire Strait of Malacca.

In addition to single Maxi, another strategic point is Malacca - although the water surface in Malacca is open, but the side near Sumatra is full of marshes and shoals, large ships can not dock at all, the only place that can pass through large ships is near the Malacca side of the 3.2 kilometers wide waterway, this time the wind is small, the ship is not fast, the large fleet wants to quickly pass through here is extremely difficult, can only go slowly, once attacked by the shore batteries, no matter how powerful the fleet can only face the fate of destruction.

The strategic significance of Malacca is undoubted, as long as it can take Malacca, it will completely cut off the back of the English fleet. Of course, as a strategic town, Malacca's defense can be regarded as very strong, more than 600 Dutch troops are stationed in the city of Malacca, not to mention the high city walls, there are also a lot of artillery, it is extremely difficult to storm Malacca without artillery support. It was just over 80 kilometres from Johor Bahru to Malacca, and there was a flat coastal road between the two places, which was followed by the small group of Dutch cavalry that had escaped. They could return to Malacca before dawn, and at this time the preparation time for the Qing army was already pitiful, and it was time to make up their minds.

Lin Wanlong stood at the gate of Xinshan Town with a blushing face, muttering non-stop, but his voice was vague, even Chen Guozhong, who was standing beside him, couldn't hear what he was talking about, and after a long time, Lin Wanlong suddenly stopped. Looking at Chen Guozhong, he asked, "Mr. Chen, is there anyone in the shadows who understands the Dutch language?" ”

Chen Guozhong didn't understand what Lin Wanlong suddenly meant when he asked about this, and he was stunned for a moment before replying: "The locals can speak Dutch, even if they can speak smoothly, I don't know ...... general."

"Oh. That's good! Lin Wanlong didn't explain much, waved his hand and called Liu Chenghong, the commander of the second battalion, and ordered loudly: "Battalion Commander Liu, let your people clean up the battlefield as soon as possible." Rip off all the clothes from all the soldiers and hand them over here, and move quickly; Send another company to replace the second battalion and the first company, and your battalion will stay in Johor Bahru, and be sure to hold out until the follow-up troops arrive, and go quickly. At the same moment, more than 2,200 soldiers of the Guangdong Marine Battalion attacking Malacca rushed all the way to Malacca with torches in their hands, and under the leadership of Lin Wanlong, despite the darkness and the difficulty of the road......

When people get old, they sleep lightly. Sean; Admiral Nadal since the defeat in the Battle of the Black Isles last year, his body has been a little broken, the whole person has aged a lot, and the sleep is even worse, he originally thought that he would be transferred back to his country due to defeat, but he did not receive a dispatch order from the parliament, but waited for a large number of reinforcements, he is still the commander of the Far East Fleet of England, but Admiral Nadal will not be grateful to those politicians for this. The reason is simple - the Qing Empire at this time is no longer a place that England can easily provoke. The position of commander of the Far Eastern Fleet is actually a crater, and no famous admiral wants to take over this hot potato. The unavailable group of sub-council politicians can only entrust him with such a defeated general as him again.

In Nadal's opinion, although the more than 40 warships under his command are extremely magnificent, it is a joke to attack the Qing Dynasty with these warships, and the sub-politicians in China always think that the sea in this era is still in England's decision, and they are clamoring for revenge all day long, which makes Admiral Nadal very worried, he does not want to be hit again, not only his own reputation, but also the national fortune of England - the English navy is strong, but in the face of the expanding naval power of the European powers, The forces that can be transferred to the Far East are actually very limited, and these more than 40 warships are already the last barrier of the English Navy in the Far East, once defeated, let alone attacking the Qing Dynasty, even India, the largest colony of England in the Far East, may not be able to keep it. Therefore, although the reinforcements of the fleet had already arrived, and the admirals under his command begged for battle every day, Nadal never gave the order to attack, and simply stayed in the small land of Shan Ma Xi.

Admiral Nadal went to bed early as usual, and as soon as he fell asleep, he was awakened by the fierce gunfire and explosions on the other side of the strait, and hurriedly turned over, ran to the balcony in his pajamas and looked at the fires of Johor Bahru Town, and did not say a word for a long time, and his old eyes were full of doubts. After thinking about it for a while, I walked to the huge chart hanging on the wall with my cotton slippers, and looked at it carefully, and the wrinkles on my face became deeper and deeper......

On May 2, the eighth year of Yuanzhuo, just after dawn, Admiral Nadal, who had not slept all night, stepped out of his bedroom and met the new chief of staff of the Far East Fleet, Winslet; Major General Brown waited in the reception room with an excited look on his face.

"Your Excellency, according to the merchant ship's report, the Qing fleet has arrived in the waters of Tammillan, and if it is coming at us, it should be near the waters of Bintan Island by this time tomorrow. Major General Brown immediately stood up and saluted as soon as he saw Admiral Nadal, and reported in a loud voice.

"Well, they should have arrived early. Admiral Nadal didn't have a trace of fluctuation on his face, just said lightly.

Major General Brown looked at Admiral Nadal's haggard face suspiciously, his lips squirmed a few times, but he couldn't help but ask: "Your Excellency, Commander, how do you know this news?" ”

Nadal didn't even bother to reply. Just said in a loud voice: "Rear Admiral, go and inform the officers above the rear admiral of each detachment to gather." Major General Brown did not dare to ask any more questions, but respectfully answered yes, and trotted all the way out of Admiral Nadal's residence, and gathered his men on his own.

“…… This is the waters of Tammillan, two hundred nautical miles away from Shan Maxi, where our army is located, and according to the reports of merchant ships, the enemy has a total of ten large warships. Nineteen medium-sized warships, and twelve small warships, heading to the northwest, it is not surprising that the enemy should be heading for our army, it is estimated that this is only the enemy's forward fleet, and there may be a large force to follow, everyone. That's the case. In the war room, Major General Brown pointed to the large charts spread out on the table and gave a brief overview of what was known.

The strength of a possible forward fleet alone was no longer below that of the Far East Fleet of England, and this news suddenly chilled the hearts of all the admirals present, and for a while the naval officers who were always clamoring for a fight to the Qing Dynasty were all quiet. looked at Admiral Nadal silently.

Admiral Nadal coughed twice, glanced at the admirals present, pointed to Johor Bahru and said, "You must have heard the gunshots and explosions last night, this is no accident. The Dutch on the opposite side should have been wiped out by the Qing army, and if I expected it to be correct, the target of the Qing army should be here - Malacca! Once Malacca fell into the hands of the Qing army, the back road of our army was cut off, according to the time, the Qing army should not have arrived in Malacca at this time, even if it was in Malacca, it was not easy to take Malacca. We still have enough time to withdraw to the Andaman Sea. Lieutenant General Bradley, what do you mean? ”

Cannet; Vice Admiral Bradley was the new deputy commander of the Far East Fleet in England and the commander of the reinforcement fleet, although he was a deputy officer, but he had more warships in his hands than Nadal could control. A rising star of the English Navy. He has always been known for being tough, and he has never had any respect for Nadal, the defeated general. At this time, when he heard Admiral Nadal open his mouth to retreat, he suddenly said: "The sea is the sea of England, and as long as there is a sea, it is my paradise for the English people." Your Excellency, I beg you not to forget the traditions of my English navy: attack, attack, attack. In the next thought that the number of Qing troops who attacked Johor Bahru would definitely not be too much, moreover, this strait is shallow and the shore is high, even if the Qing army can succeed in a sneak attack, they will not be able to send artillery ashore, without artillery, and the number of Qing troops is not easy to capture Malacca, I suggest that our army can send cruisers to cover the land of the army in Johor Bahru, once the Johor Bahru is taken, the Qing army's back road will be cut off, and then send troops along the road to Malacca, the Qing army will be gathered and annihilated under the city of Malacca, and simply take the Dutch down, so that it will be done, our army can be attacked, retreated and defended, and has been placed in an invincible position. ”

Vice Admiral Bradley has been talking for a long time, always focusing on how to annihilate the Qing army on the Malay Peninsula, but he didn't mention that the Qing fleet has been killed. The importance of Shan Maxi is undoubted, and Admiral Nadal can't afford to lose the responsibility of Shan Maxi, but at this moment he can't blame Lieutenant General Bradley for selfishness, and after thinking about it, he looked at Ronal, the commander of the local garrison; Rear Admiral Reagan asked very politely: "Rear Admiral Reagan, our fleet can provide cruisers as cover, can your army achieve the task of taking the new mountain?" ”

Rear Admiral Reagan is not stupid, if he says he can't at this time, then the navy will abandon the army and turn around and flee, how can he hold Shan Ma Xi with this little force in his hand, in the end he will either give his life or have to bear the heavy responsibility of losing Shan Ma Xi, this responsibility is too heavy, he doesn't want to bear it himself, seeing the eyes of all the admirals staring at him, Rear Admiral Regan's face suddenly turned red, and he couldn't wait to scold, but on such occasions, he counted his lowest rank, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and say:" If you can get the cooperation of the navy, the lower officer can try it with all his might. ”

"That's good, the navy can send three cruisers to provide fire support, I hope General Reagan will go all out to take Johor Bahru as soon as possible and dismiss the meeting!" Nadal gave the battle order with some reluctance, and walked out of the war room with his head down......

The information obtained by England was actually not accurate, and the Qing fleet that went out to the waters of Tamelan was indeed the vanguard of the Qing fleet, with a total of 12 large warships, 21 medium warships, 8 small warships, and 5 supply ships. These warships were not all aimed at the single Maxi side, in fact, this was a mixed fleet of some warships of the first and second fleets of the Qing Dynasty, of which the first fleet had four large warships, eight medium warships, three small warships and two supply ships, and its purpose was to blockade the waters of Bintan Island and lure the English navy into battle, and the other ships were all subordinate to the second fleet, and its combat target was the Dutch fleet in Batavia.

At two o'clock on May 2, the eighth year of Yuanzhuo, the two Qing fleets that had already gone out of the waters of Tameilan parted ways in the waters of Conna Island, and each rushed to their own battlefields, Xiao Sanlang stood on the front deck of the flagship of the Second Fleet "Weihai" and looked at the first fleet that was turning, his face was pale, and he held a nameless fire in his heart - in his opinion, the first fleet once again took shit luck and could participate in the general battle, but his second fleet was always unlucky, either to cover or to pinch the soft persimmons of the Dutch, It was really boring, and he secretly felt ruthless in his heart, intending to vent his anger on the Dutch......

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