October 12, 1881

Batavia (Jakarta)

The weather in this tropical city is still as hot as ever, with a torrential downpour just in the morning, and the scorching sun breaking through the dark clouds and steaming the rain on the ground like a steamer.

The atmosphere in the Doge's Palace, on the contrary, was cold.

in the conference room

On a long table covered with white city tablecloths, tropical flowers and fruits were placed, and a circle of high-ranking people and military personnel from the Governor's Office sat to discuss an urgent telegram from the Prime Minister's Office of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

At this time, exactly one month after the "Tulip Incident", the Governor's Office of the Dutch East Indies was widely criticized for its ineffective response to the incident and its slow action.

September 26th

The Times and other public newspapers published a notice of the Earl of Queensland's claim to have discovered and occupied Shangri-La Island, and the Dutch East Indies received a stern interrogation message from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

It's a pity that it's too late, and the wood is already in the boat.

War or peace became a difficult problem for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, causing great controversy within the Parliament.

An open declaration of war is absolutely impossible, it is tantamount to making enemies of the British Empire, and it is purely self-defeating, except for a few fanatics who cry out for war, and the vast majority of parliamentarians and the upper nobility choose to ignore it.

It is also unacceptable to admit intimidation, and a small Earl of Queensland dares to openly provoke and carve out a large colony of the Dutch East Indies, which will become the laughing stock of European royalty and lose its dignity.

The rest is the third option, which seems to work;

The colonial government of the Dutch East Indies sent troops to restore the lost dignity by force, defeating the private army of the Earl of Queensland at Irian Island (Shangri-La) to create the conditions for negotiations.

The reason for this choice is that the Dutch side has plenty of confidence.

The Dutch royal family is closely related to the British royal family, has a long tradition of marriage, and has the same noble blood flowing through it.

In 1688, William III became the co-king of England and the Netherlands, and his wife was Princess Mary of England, and the two royal families continued to marry for nearly 200 years.

Of course, this did not prevent Britain from launching three successive Anglo-Dutch wars, ousting the Netherlands from the throne of maritime hegemony and sitting on it itself.

It is a national strategy that is very important, and it is not negotiable to beat you.

Minor incidents, such as the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa and the disputed Irian Islands (Shangri-La) in the South Pacific, will not affect relations between the two countries.

As long as the war is kept to a certain extent, the Dutch side can afford the cost, after all, there are many big men in London who do not like the Earl of Queensland and are happy to see him suffer some minor setbacks.

Balance is crucial, and this is a difficult problem at the Governor's Palace.

The atmosphere at the meeting was extremely solemn, and no one was willing to take the lead in expressing his position, which made the Governor Sir Frederick S. Jacob extremely dissatisfied, and looked around and said;

"The Prime Minister's call represents a convergence of opinions at the top of the country, and it is the duty of every subject to resolutely respond to provocations and defend the dignity of the royal family by force, and to preserve the former glory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is what we are here for.

Gentlemen, never forget that we are the true masters of the East Indies, who have ruled this vast region for more than 280 years, and must awaken the memories of our enemies with swords, guns and blood.

In the South Seas, any enemy who underestimates us will pay a heavy price, including the reckless Earl of Queensland.

I swear he will have to pay dearly for his misdeeds. ”

Having said that, everyone here cannot continue to be silent.

Lieutenant General Keitel, commander of the Royal Army of the Dutch East Indies, was a gray-haired veteran in his fifties, and the stiff lines on his face like a knife and axe showed his inner toughness, which was fully verified in the nine-year war in Aceh.

The battle of Irian Island, the Royal Army of the Dutch East Indies is duty-bound, Vice Admiral Keitel thought about it and said;

"Lord Governor, the Royal Army will do everything in its power to win this war, but we face too many difficulties, first of all, a shortage of manpower.

You know;

We are in the middle of a protracted war in Aceh, and once a large number of troops are drawn into Irian Island, we will not be able to maintain a high-pressure posture in the Aceh region, and the current stable war will inevitably deteriorate again.

I have less than 20,000 troops at my disposal, including nearly 14,000 in Aceh, stationed in a dozen important towns and transportation points, including the capital.

I remind the Governor to take this into account.

In addition, going to Illionden Island to fight involves a large amount of material and equipment and logistical preparations, related drills and training, training of recruits, war funds, and so on.

It involves the problem of mutual cooperation with the Royal Navy task force, and the preliminary intelligence reconnaissance and collection work, which cannot be solved by the Royal Army alone, and it is hoped that the Governor's Office can come forward to solve it.

I am convinced that the Royal Army will teach any enemy a hard lesson, provided that these problems are addressed. ”

After the Royal Army's statement, everyone's eyes were focused on Vice Admiral Jan Kork-Bulhoff, commander of the Royal Navy Task Force, and he said with a solemn face;

"According to the information available to the Royal Navy;

The Earl of Queensland is not a soft persimmon, he has a powerful new fleet in his hands, consisting of 16 thousand-ton cruisers, in fact, the tonnage of these ships can already be called light cruisers, not some hellish frigates.

On top of that;

They also ordered 4 ocean-going corvettes with powerful combat effectiveness in the UK, with a displacement of more than 1700 tons, equipped with strong firepower, which is an out-and-out cruiser.

And our ships are seriously aging, the oldest sail warship can be traced back to 80 years ago, as the core of combat effectiveness of the "Seven Provinces" ironclad cruiser also has a history of 17 years, equipped with breech main guns behind the times, equivalent to using the old Mini rifle to meet the new bolt rifle, which is unfair to the fleet.

While the lads in the Royal Navy are the best, I can't let them take risks, the ship has to update its main guns and do some necessary training, which I am very adamant about. ”

The questions raised by the military were very nerve-wracking to the Governor-General, Sir Frederick S. Jacob.

Freezing three feet, not a day's cold.

The output of the colony of the East Indies, which accounted for a large part of the budget of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was one of the most important revenues of the kingdom to support the last of the decrepit maritime power.

Even the nine-year-long Aceh War did not interrupt the colonial government's exploitation in the East Indies, which was the most important duty of the Governor's Office.

The problems of the Royal Army are easy to solve, it is nothing more than soldiers, weapons and logistics, the number of soldiers is insufficient to recruit European mercenaries, and other problems can be solved with money, it is nothing more than to withhold some colonial income, presumably the royal cabinet can also be considerate.

As long as you win the war and save face, everything is easy to say.

The problem of the Royal Navy is serious, naval construction has always been a gold-eating beast that cannot be filled, and the naval construction of the task force has been abandoned for a long time, and it is by no means something that can be caught up overnight.

"Mr. Vice-Admiral Jan Kork-Bulkhov, what do you think the Navy needs to be ready for the relevant battles, and how long will it take?" Sir Frederick S. Jacob, Governor-General, asked.

Lieutenant General Jan Kork-Bulkhov said; "This question is difficult to answer, if we only defeat the fleet under the command of the Earl of Queensland, we need to update the main guns of the battleship, pull the weapons of both sides to the same level, and carry out relevant artillery adaptability training, the time is about half a year, which is the fastest speed."

"No, the cabinet and the people in the country can't wait that long." Governor Frederick S. Jacob, an experienced bureaucrat and, at the same time, a qualified politician, categorically vetoed; "In three months at the latest, we must launch a landing operation, otherwise the anger of the people at home will lead to the collapse of the cabinet, and the early election of a new cabinet will be the worst that none of us want to see."

His gaze looked around to the left and right, and he continued; "Gentlemen, we are grasshoppers on a rope, if the cabinet collapses because of this, everyone here will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, and the Irian war will not continue to be dominated by us, we can only pack up and leave here, therefore, the landing operation must be launched within three months, this is the bottom line."

The Governor's tone was very harsh, and all the high-ranking officials present understood the gravity and urgency of the problem, but this did not make Vice Admiral Jan Kork-Burhoff, commander of the task force of the Royal Netherlands Navy, give in.

As an experienced admiral, he knew that the decisive role of weapons in battle could not be compensated for by experience and courage.

As a result, the meeting reached an impasse

"Mr. Lieutenant General Jan Kork-Bulhoff, the new breech-fired cannon you need will be shipped from Europe in the near future, then we will also get some German gunnery instructors to familiarize the soldiers with this powerful equipment as soon as possible, and I guarantee that you will also have a sufficient supply of ammunition, and of course, the Royal Army will also get what they need."

Speaking of which

Governor Frederick S. Jacob paused, turned his gaze to Royal Army Lieutenant General Keitel, and saluted gracefully in respect; "The first batch of 650 elite soldiers from China will arrive on a German cruise ship, along with a large number of advanced weapons and equipment, including breech-fired bolt-action rifles and field infantry guns, all of which will be fully supported by China."

"Thank you, I reiterate once again that the Royal Army is confident in defeating any enemy." Lieutenant General Keitel was very satisfied.

He had the arrogance and superiority peculiar to white Europeans, believing that as long as the troops landed on the island, everything was settled.

The so-called Earl of Queensland, though in the name of the English aristocracy, was in fact nothing more than a ridiculous yellow-skinned monkey, and it was only a matter of time before he won the victory.

There were many immigrants in the city of Batavia, and Lieutenant General Keitel was no stranger to this, and he had the impression that he had it;

These pigtailed immigrants have always been deferential and timid, good at managing money, industrious, and extremely patient, but have never heard of fighting.

The reason why the military put forward all kinds of demands was nothing more than to take this opportunity to improve military equipment and alleviate the contradiction of scarcity of soldiers, as for victory, there was no doubt, he had never heard of a yellow-skinned monkey fighting.