Chapter 338

   April 20, 1883

  Early morning

  As the main advance offensive force, more than 6,500 officers and soldiers of the Second Division of Kalimantan, fully loaded, gathered in the port. One after another troop carriers boarded.

  On the huge wharf, the well-trained soldiers boarded the ship in an orderly manner according to the command of the commander. The sound of guns hitting the bulkhead was heard from time to time, and the scene was filled with an invisible atmosphere of killing.

  In order to ensure large-scale cross-sea landing operations, relevant parties have transferred 5 3,000-ton resettlement ships, and more than 10 freighters of various sizes, with displacements ranging from 3,000 to 500 tons, to meet the needs of landing in the Glory Bay.

  In addition to the artillery regiment’s large amount of equipment and accompanying ammunition, camps, food and other materials, the freighter was also loaded with more than 200 Kalimantan buffaloes, a small number of horses and more than 50 tractors, as well as a reinforced engineering battalion.

  The buffalo is the best animal power on the rugged roads of Borneo. Although the speed is slow but the load is large, a cow can easily carry a complete set of 60mm light artillery components. Ox carts are also the main means of transportation in the area and are very adaptable to the tropical rain forest climate.

The tractor is the main mechanical force of the engineer battalion. It can greatly accelerate the speed of opening roads and building fortresses. If necessary, it can be transformed into a vehicle for carrying soldiers. It can also carry heavy communication equipment of the division, tow artillery carts, and load artillery shells. The box is simply a panacea on the battlefield.

  Warhorses appear delicate in the tropical rainforest, easily contracted with various tropical diseases and easily injured, so they only carried more than 20 horses, which is better than nothing.

   More than a dozen joint fleet warships scattered in the bay surround the sea area surrounding the huge landing ship group. The gun muzzle of the black hole has been torn off the gun jacket, and under the light of the morning, it exudes a dark and cold light, ready to attack at any time.

  More than an hour later

Most of the officers and soldiers of the   Kalimantan 2nd Division have already boarded the ship. After the troop carrier has been loaded, the cables have been untied and left the pier, slowly heading towards the bay.

  The huge fleet needs to be re-formed in the open sea, and then rushed towards the target under the **** of the combined fleet. The sailing time is estimated to be 23 hours a day and a night.

  A corner of the pier

The   Military Band played a majestic marching song, and a group of senior officers who saw them off saluted all the officers and soldiers of the Second Division.

  The second division commander Liu Shan, deputy division commander Koch and other officers standing on the side of the freighter ship solemnly responded. With the long whistle sound, the ship left the dock amidst the sound of music and sailed towards the blue sea...

  After the huge mixed formation was reorganized in the open sea, it headed for the important port of Symuda in Central Kalimantan.

  It is estimated that after one day and one night, we will arrive at Glory Bay in the early morning of tomorrow.

  This trick is learned from the Royal Dutch Navy fleet, avoiding the frontal assault on the dock fort, and landing on the flanks in a roundabout way to fight the opponent coldly.

  The sun rises above the head, sprinkling the brilliant light onto the blue sea.

  The mixed formation composed of dozens of ships presents a long snake marching line, and the bow plows to the front with heavy waves, which looks magnificent.

  Tari, the commander of the flagship of the combined fleet

  He Fang sat in his own command position, his gaze swept over the ships traveling in the nearby waters, and a sense of pride rose in his heart.

  Today

  Red River Valley has been able to organize tens of thousands of joint naval and land military operations. Based on calculations, no more than 10 countries in the world have this capability.

  The Governor’s Palace of the Dutch East Indies has exhausted all the strength, but it has organized a landing force of 3,500 people, which has almost reached its limit.

  This big deal shows the strong economic development of the Red River Valley over the years, thanks to the large-scale immigration movement and ocean trade that have developed over the years, which provides strong support for military operations.

  Economy and military have always been twins of one body and two sides, and the relationship is inseparable.

  The Red River Valley, a force established mainly by overseas Chinese, has flourished and expanded under the wise leadership of Lord Earl, and is expected to create a new world in the South Pacific region.

  It is this bright prospect that inspires more people of insight to join the Red River Valley.

  As far as where it is known;

  Some unsatisfied literati and scholars from some southeastern coastal provinces, officials and bureaucrats have sailed overseas to come to Australia, this fertile land of hope, and a new trend has gradually formed.

  He himself has a few old colleagues who came to Australia, hoping to introduce them into the eyes of Lord Earl.

  Utilitarian mentality is quite urgent. Obviously, it has been embarrassing for a long time, and the scholar's gentleman can't take care of it.

  Who is ambiguous about this.

He Fang is unwilling to tell the facts to attack these old bureaucrats, old literati, in the world of Red River Valley or Australia, both military and political circles will be the world where young talents are cultivated by the Young Eagle School in the future. There is no place for old bureaucrats at all. Let's go cool!

  Master Earl has always been prudent in employing people, and would rather be cautious than indiscriminately.

  Really thinking at the beginning

Recommended by Master Gu Yanchuan, He Fang, Xin Changjun, Wu Mozhou, and Pan Shoudao, together with the current deputy captain of the Guards, Lei Xiao, traveled to Europe with Master Piaget. The old worldview has undergone an earth-shaking transformation, and they have accepted what has happened since the steam industrial revolution. New ideas and new concepts, becoming the first batch of talents who open their eyes to see the world, can be reused by Lord Earl.

  This is not 6 years ago. The young talents cultivated by Young Eagle School, Red River Valley University, University of Brisbane and other colleges have sprung up like mushrooms, flooding the grassroots departments of the army, military and political, and performing extremely well.

  Young people are knowledgeable, passionate, energetic, energetic, and more importantly, after years of brainwashing education, they have almost fanatical worship and loyalty to Lord Earl.

  How could Lord Earl let the outstanding talents he cultivated be unnecessary and use some old bureaucrats and old literati who are full of thoughts?

  Now there is an undercurrent in the upper part of the Red River Valley to promote the founding of an independent nation, respecting the Lord Earl as the main, and also trying to test the tone of the side, and who has not said a word about it.

  In his opinion, the military will never be able to participate in similar operations.

  With the iron-fisted control of Lord Earl, the army will never allow any actions that deviate from the control. Those who fail to see this will die miserably.

  He Fang raised his head, his eyes full of determination; “Order the first squadron to expand the search area, closely monitor any abnormal conditions, and find any ships in any way to be detained, and offenders will be sank.”

   "Yes!"

  There are no dangers along the way, early in the morning the next day.

  Glory Bay

  This is a small bay 21 kilometers away from Semuda Port. It is the mouth of an unnamed clear stream. Similar terrain can be seen everywhere in the coastal area of ​​Central Kalimantan.

The southern part of Central Kalimantan is low-lying. Most of the area is composed of plains and swamps. The original tropical forest covers more than 90%. The five major rivers of Borneo with a length of more than 600 kilometers are located in the province. The spectacular scene of three parallel rivers in the southwest can be called "five dragons going to sea".

  Only one of the Barito River, the river bed length is about 880 kilometers, the turbulent inflow of seawater reaches 5000 cubic meters per second, and more than 2/3 of the river section can be navigable.

   Therefore, to capture Central Kalimantan Province, you must first capture the important coastal port Symuda Port, and then upstream to occupy Sampit, which is about 80 kilometers away from Symoda Port.

  These two cities and towns are the economic core and densely populated areas of Central Kalimantan Province. There are a large number of white plantations around them, and they are the key defense areas of the Royal Netherlands Army.

  The Glory Bay is surrounded by ships. Five troop carriers have put down many small sampans and carried the landing advance team on a rafting ashore.

  The advance team soldiers searched inland as soon as they came ashore to prevent a strong counterattack by the Dutch army, although the possibility of this is remote.

  Not long after

A red flare rose into the sky in the depths of the rainforest. The second division commander Liu Shan picked up the telescope on his chest and observed it carefully. He found that another red flare rose in a more distant place, like an ancient relay like a fireworks tower. The Dutch garrison at Semuda Port quickly received news of the enemy's attack.

   "Teniang, I learned another trick." Liu Shan muttered to himself, with a disdainful smile on his lips.

  What if the Dutch knew about the large-scale enemy attack?

  I still have to watch our army landing, and there is no way to stop it.

  In this campaign, the commander-in-chief, Wei Chi Shouzhuo, under the supervision of the famous general Zeng Guofan of the late Qing Dynasty, formulated the strategy of "keep the stronghold and fight in a dull war", suppressing the enemy with a brilliant general trend, and walked very steadily one step at a time.

  There is no road from Glory Bay to Saimuda Port. The landing troops can calmly go ashore to build strongholds and open roads in the tropical rainforest.

  The tactics of the Royal Dutch Army and the Navy are weird and changeable, guerrilla warfare, sneak attack warfare, frontal feint attack, side roundabout, really full of tricks.

  The previous battles that took place on Shangri-La Island were discussed repeatedly in the military seminars for senior officers. They learned a lot from them and learned a lot from them. They slowly developed into the fighting characteristics of the Queensland army.

  Glory Bay

A specially adapted 500-ton flat-panel ship ran aground, almost halfway across the shoal of the bay. Another engineering ship leaned up and began to use a crane to lower the steel parts, and the soldiers swung sledgehammers into the sea. .

  In just over three hours

  Laying thick wooden planks on the steel components, a 50-meter-long wharf plank road deep into the bay has been formed, and it has begun to extend to both sides, and eventually a "T"-shaped wharf will be formed.

  The troop carrier drew up to the dock first, and the heavy equipment from the engineering battalion was unloaded first. The tractors that hung down the dock thundered onto the tidal flat and entered the jungle to work hard.

Towering trees were felled one after another, and the branches and leaves of the felled trees were dragged aside and used as firewood after they were dried. The soldiers who disembarked began to clear the bushes, level the ground, sprinkle lime and ram the people. Land, quickly opened up a large open area.

  A large number of materials unloaded from the ship were sent along the wharf to the leveled site and piled up in an orderly manner. Thousands of people started working together in full swing. At sunset, a large camp was quickly formed.

  (End of this chapter)