Chapter 494: Diverting Trouble to the East (Part 1)

Chapter 494: Diverting Trouble to the East (Part 1)

After crossing the Strait of Malacca, Friedrich was also preparing to go to Chenla and Thailand, but was stopped by Lieutenant General Raven Hoback, who really couldn't stand the strolling (shopping) style march of his Austrian counterpart.

"Dear Grand Duke, we must first get to the bottom of the pirate incident, and then we can take care of other matters after the matter is completed."

Lieutenant General Hoback and the head of the British investigation team, Billy Mullen Jr., were stunned at this time.

The two of them actually believed the lies about a so-called "powerful pirate group"; this "criminal team" successively attacked the Dutch and British fleets, captured the port of Brunei, and even fought with the British troops who came for reinforcements. The fleets clashed.

However, in fact, both Lieutenant General Xiu Wen and the British Consul Rui of the "Lion City" hope to make the so-called "pirate" leader the culprit of their own side's scandal.

Because they couldn't afford such a serious loss, they had to have a very powerful enemy to take the blame.

Of course, Franz has prepared everything a long time ago. Although the situation has become a bit difficult to control now, there is still room for control in theory.

After all, the ready-made scapegoat found was big and fat. The British were just seeking money in the Far East, so they would naturally be satisfied with the result.

Kalimantan Island, Brunei Harbor is a dilapidated and desolate scene, and the huge wreckage in the bay is still vivid in my mind.

This made the members of the British and Austrian investigation teams have different thoughts. The former hammered the railing on the deck, not expecting that the invincible Royal Navy would fall here.

"No, this can't be done by ignorant indigenous people. Is it the army of the great powers? The Austrians? Impossible. They stopped and stopped along the way. How could it be so efficient?

It must be that damn Gallic chicken! After their defeat in the Viceroyalty of La Plata, they went to Nanyang to retaliate and heard that the French had established colonies in Vietnam before.

But why did they attack the Dutch fleet? Want to borrow the name of the British Empire? "

The British army has already begun to think wildly. On the other hand, Friedrich was extremely happy. He thought that Nan Ming was doomed at this time, but he did not expect to fight so beautifully and kill an entire British squadron.

Once upon a time, Mohammed Ali, known as the "Monster of Albania", spent twenty years of Egypt's national fortunes to defeat a British squadron. This situation in the Southern Ming Dynasty was only established less than a few years ago. It seems that it really has unlimited potential. .

The aborigines on the shore ran away as if they were dead as soon as they saw the figures of those Western behemoths. By the time the British and Austrian warships approached, they had long since lost sight of them. So the two investigative teams decided to go ashore at the same time to look for "clues."

As soon as he landed, Friedrich stumbled over a large "clue". When he got up, he suddenly discovered that it was a ball of braids.

"Braids! They must be Qing pirates!" Friedrich said while the secretaries of the Austrian and British investigation teams began to take notes frantically. Lieutenant General Raven Hoback and Billy Mullen Jr. raised their foreheads at the same time. They felt that their teammates' IQ was really worrying.

However, they soon found uniforms with the word "soldier" or "brave" printed on them in those abandoned houses, as well as some weapons such as swords and spears.

Friedrich immediately wrote an article on the side claiming that he had discovered Qing pirate weapons, and the investigation team on the side was also busy writing.

These too obvious "evidences" made the British very confused, but since seeing is believing, they cannot pretend not to have seen it, so they can only follow the general direction of their Austrian counterparts for the time being.

But weren’t the Qing people just defeated? Did they unilaterally tear up the armistice agreement? Lieutenant General Hoback and Mullen looked at each other and came to the conclusion that it was "unlikely", and shouldn't there be a political power here?

At this time, in the dense forest on the top of the mountain in the distance, Zhu Qiongying was observing everything happening in the port with a telescope, and the surrounding civil and military officials of Nanming were eager to try.

"Is he British?" someone asked impatiently.

"Not only! There are also Austrians." Zhiyun's tone was a bit worried. Because of Zhu Qiongying's relationship, she still had a certain understanding of this mysterious Western country.

At the same time, because Nanming's spices were exported to Zhenla and then exchanged for weapons from the local area, she also learned that the so-called Zhenla was just a puppet of Austria.

But who would have thought that the puppet country actually defeated the South Vietnamese country to cede territory and pay compensation. You must know that they were barbarians that even the Qing Dynasty could not conquer. However, at this time, the morale of Nanming was strong, and both civil and military officials wanted to fight another good battle.

Zhu Qiongying herself also had this intention. She wanted to see what the upper limit of her own army was?

If she could defeat all the Western armies in one fell swoop, wouldn't she also be able to complete the great feats of the Yongle Emperor, including five expeditions to Mobei (Russia), seven voyages to the Western Ocean (European continent), and nine patrols of the North Sea (Nordic countries including Britain)? ?

It's just that the ideal is plump, but the reality is skinny. After some research, the British and Austrian sides decided to find the local government to find out the situation. After all, they could not just focus on physical evidence, but also look at witnesses.

So they began to search for traces of local people. When Nanming saw those Westerners searching everywhere, they felt that the other party must be looking for them, so they hid in the deep mountains and old forests.

The soldiers and civilians of Nanming were very confident in their concealment skills and laid a large number of traps along the way. They did not believe that the group of foreigners outside could find them.

In order to prevent smoke from rising and exposing traces, the soldiers and civilians of Nanming ate cold food and food left behind earlier.

The civil servants and military generals were full of confidence at this time. They had completely defeated their fear of Europeans. After all, everyone was the same shit before they died, so what was the difference between them and the opium soldiers of the Qing Dynasty?

The combat effectiveness may be slightly higher, but Nanming claims to have an army of 300,000, and the number of Westerners on the beach is only a few thousand, but the warships look more impressive than before.

Since there are a large number of informants in Malacca, Nanming has already deployed elite troops in this mountain. At the same time, there are previously dug tunnels in Malacca Port.

As long as the group of Westerners separates, we can take action. When the center blooms and is surrounded on all sides, we will not be afraid that the other party will not surrender.

Suddenly a huge shadow floated over, blocking the sun's rays. At this moment, all the soldiers and civilians of Nanming lost their ability to think. They didn't know how to describe the scene in front of them.

Many people who are eating even forget to chew and let the food fall out of their mouths.

Some soldiers' weapons fell to the ground, some simply sat on the ground, and those with weaker wills even began to kneel down to pray to gods and Buddhas.

The sentry had actually seen the unknown object in the sky, but he was so stunned that he could only barely choke out a sentence.

"There are foreign monsters in the sky!"

Zhu Qiongying looked at the black and gold flag, and thought of the scene when she first met Franz. The sense of oppression still made her breathless to this day, so she took two steps back and fell on the golden chair.

However, compared with everyone present, her performance was pretty good; other Nanming executives were frightened and speechless at this time.

Even the old scholars who were accustomed to the "big world" looked at what was happening in front of them in a daze, and finally the knowledgeable Prime Minister Zhiyun said.

"Is it the Kongming Lantern?!"