The eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca is actually dotted with countless islands and reefs, which "blocks" the not-so-open waterway to only the area between Temasek Island and Batam Island in the north. The narrowest is less than 10 The kilometers of waterways are considered completely unobstructed. Since Batam Island originally belonged to the declining Dutch and could no longer enjoy the good food of an international trade node, Temasek Island became the gateway and pearl of the British Empire in the East.
However, this situation changed after the Ming Dynasty ceded Batam and Bintan Islands a few years ago. The area of Batam Island is similar to that of Temasek Island, while Bintan Island is larger than Temasek Island. The two islands are only connected, and the nearest distance is only a little over 8 kilometers apart. There are scattered islands in the middle that can "help". If we encounter the infrastructure madman like Ming Dynasty, if we try to develop them, we are afraid that we will not be able to steal the oil and water of Temasek Island. ?
So after the Ming Dynasty took over these two islands, it started major infrastructure construction. It has only been about two years now. Batam and Bintan have already built many forts, military ports, observation towers, barracks, and warehouses. They have also built airship fields (airports) and reservoirs in the open areas of the islands.
The Nanyang Fleet also deployed a minesweeper brigade on Batam Island. In addition to laying mines, it also continued to conduct channel surveys south and west of Batam Island, and soon found several channels that could pass for "giant ships" of 10,000 tons. of waterways.
However, in order for these waterways to function safely and effectively in wartime, it is best to send troops to land on the surrounding islands, establish outposts, radio stations, and lighthouses, and then deploy some torpedo boats and gunboats to patrol back and forth. A low-cost, high-quality beggar’s version of a battleship (a shallow-water heavy gunship) would be even more appropriate.
After capturing these islands and opening up the waterways, the large fleet commanded by Guan Tianpei can freely enter and exit the Strait of Malacca beyond the coverage of Temasek Island's artillery fire.
As long as the main force of the Nanyang Fleet can freely enter and exit the strait, it can surround Temasek Island from the sea and send the landing troops to any beachhead on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula west of Temasek Island that can be landed - there are small coastal ports on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. There are many. If you take any one, the Nanyang Fleet will be able to transport the troops of the Ming Army's Nanyang Legion currently deployed in Pattani to the back of the British-Indian Army's defense line. The British-Indian Army's defense line will completely collapse.
Oh, by the way, these islands that are favored by the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet are all assets of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But now the Dutch have no intention of getting involved in the war between the Chinese and Indians. After all, the Indians' "British father" and "American brother" have not ended up. Why are the Dutch so stupid?
Moreover, the Dutch's own Belgian brothers are still arguing for independence during this time, which has already made the French King extremely anxious - Belgium, a territory of the Netherlands, is arguing for independence. The Dutch are not too anxious, but they have made King Louis XVII of France very anxious! This is because the Bonapartists who were fighting for independence in Belgium wanted Napoleon II to be King of Belgium. During this period, Louis XVII wanted to send troops to help the Dutch maintain their territorial integrity, but the army under his command was not "Real Bonapartists" are "spiritual Bonapartists"!
In desperation, Louis XVII had no choice but to discuss with Nicholas I, and wanted to use the French navy to bring tens of thousands of furry soldiers to Belgium to help the Dutch maintain their territorial integrity. Now the Dutch have quit. The Netherlands will not be divided if it is divided. What's the matter with France and Rakshasa? Why should they interfere? After the intervention of France and Rakshasa, will the Netherlands still be an independent country?
Therefore, King William I of the Netherlands asked Britain and Prussia for help, hoping that they would stop the collusion between Rakshasa and France so that the Belgian crisis could be resolved peacefully.
In short, the Dutch can't even deal with the affairs of their own hometown, let alone the affairs of the Dutch East Indies. Therefore, after the Dutch government learned that the main force of the Ming Navy's Nanyang Fleet was dispatched, it cooperated very well and declared outside neutrality. , and also designated all the Dutch islands at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca as war zones. Let Great Britain and Great Ming fight wherever they like, but the Dutch won't care anyway.
Regardless of the Dutch, it is of course impossible for the British and Indian troops in Malaya to divide their troops to defend so many islands. They have a total of hundreds of thousands of troops, guarding a series of strongholds on the Malay Peninsula and the two major fortresses of Temasek and Malacca City. It's a bit stretched. If we divide our troops to defend the island, it will definitely not be enough.
Therefore, the British and Indian troops stationed in Malaya seemed to have no choice but to watch the Ming Dynasty Navy's Nanyang Fleet send marines to seize the small islands at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca one by one.
Before this series of small islands were captured one by one, the main force of the fleet led by Guan Tianpei was cautiously in the waters south of Batam Island and west of Lempang Island and Galang Island.
"Military gate, the airship discovered the British and Indian fleet!"
On Guan Tianpei's flagship Hongwu Emperor, fleet chief of staff Ge Yunfei took a telegram from the communications staff, took a look at it and shouted: "There are a total of 15 shallow water heavy gunboats and 20 third-class cruisers, destroyers or small gunboats. , has sailed out of Temasek Naval Base and is sailing northwest along the Malay Peninsula. It seems that it is about to evacuate to Penang Port."
"What are they going to do?" Guan Tianpei, who was standing next to the chart table and watching the staff place the sun and moon flags symbolizing the Ming Dynasty on the small islands on the map, just thought for a moment and said Already have the answer, "They must want to let us enter the Strait of Malacca, and then send out shallow-water heavy gunships and torpedo boats to attack when we land on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula!"
The Strait of Malacca is in a windless zone, with calm waves and narrow terrain, which is not conducive to the activities of large surface fleets, but is conducive to the activities of shallow-water heavy gunships and torpedo boats.
If when the Ming army organized a landing, 15 shallow-water heavy gunboats and a group of torpedo boats suddenly appeared, it would be great fun!
Ge Yunfei said: "Military Gate, our island-class shallow-water heavy gunship formation hasn't arrived yet, why not send out a patrol unit with torpedo boats to chase it!"
Of course, the Ming Dynasty also had cheap and high-quality "beggar's version of battleships" such as shallow-water heavy gunships. Moreover, Daming's shallow-water heavy gunships are a bit higher-end than Great Britain's shallow-water heavy gunships - Great Britain's shallow-water heavy gunships are at best the "beggar's version", while Daming's shallow-water heavy gunships are at least the "youth version". The most representative one is the "Island" class shallow water heavy gunship named after the small island owned by the Ming Dynasty.
The design of the "Island" class draws on the ideas of the "Shiten King Ship" of Japan next door, and is divided into the "Island 1" type, which uses its "face" to attack people, and the "Island 2" type, which uses its "butt" to fight the enemy. Moreover, they are larger and sturdier than the British shallow-water gunboats. They generally have a standard displacement of seven to eight thousand tons, and are equipped with twin 320 mm heavy guns. Their power in offshore operations is quite amazing. The disadvantage is that the speed is too slow, the fastest can only reach 12 knots, and the economic speed is only 8 knots. Therefore, the fifth heavy gunship fleet, composed of 16 "Island" class ships assigned to the Nanyang Fleet, is still slowly on its way!
"Give Chen Lianfeng an order!" Guan Tianpei immediately made a decision, "Let him lead the fourth armored cruiser team to attack and then give an order to the airship base on Batam Island to send more airships to search the skies over the Strait of Malacca to guard against fraud. !”
"Yes, Junmen!"
Contrary to the expectations of Guan Tianpei and Ge Yunfei, Rear Admiral Chen Huacheng, a veteran of the Nanyang Fleet, led the fourth armored patrol detachment with 10 armored cruisers as the main force, and carefully left the temporary anchorage south of Batam Island. When passing through a bunch of small islands and embarking on a journey to pursue the British and Indian fleets. Near the Ten Degrees Strait, about 1,500 kilometers from the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca, a huge British-Indian fleet consisting of hundreds of ships of various types, like a group of monsters lurking waiting for prey, is waiting for the Strait Fleet Telegram!
(End of chapter)
