1850 American Gold Tycoon

"Colonel, there's a big fish here."

After the bodies were gathered, a crew member pointed to the Dutch captain who was killed by shelling and said to Elvis.

"Big fish?"

Elvis glanced disdainfully at the body of Captain Holland.

"The military rank is not higher than mine. I am just a small captain, a small fish and a shrimp."

The crew couldn't help laughing. I'm afraid there's only one person with a higher military rank than you on the entire island.

Elvis took out his telescope and observed the situation in Pontianak City.

At this time, the city of Pontianak had turned into a mess, and the city was full of Dutch and Indian colonial army soldiers running around.

After observing for a while, Elvis put down the telescope and said to Ye Tenghui: "Mr. Ye, your people are staying behind to guard the fort, and the three cannons are also left for you. You must guard the fort."

Elvis looked at the chaotic city of Pontianak and decided to take advantage of the chaos to do something big.

"Your Excellency, Colonel, is leaving the fort?" Ye Tenghui asked in shock.

"My mission is to disrupt the Pontianak garrison and create chaos. I will lead people into the city and give the Dutch a surprise." Elvis said with a relaxed look.

"Fight into the city?"

Ye Tenghui's eyes widened, do you think you are Zhao Zilong? Want to kill seven in and seven out in Pontianak?

"But you only have 70 people. There are at least thousands of defenders in Pontianak City."

"But they don't know I only have 70 people." Elvis said confidently.

"Mr. Liang told me about the Feishui War that took place in China more than a thousand years ago. The Dutch defenders in Pontianak City now are millions of troops from the former Qin Dynasty. Although there are many people, there is nothing to be afraid of! A wolf will be afraid A hundred sheep?”

There are thousands of defenders in Pontianak City, but after falling into chaos and morale collapse, the thousands of defenders will definitely not be able to exert the combat effectiveness that the thousands of defenders should have.

The composition of the Pontianak garrison is complex and the people are divided. There is a big question mark as to how much combat effectiveness they can have.

The reality was exactly as Elvis expected. After learning that the East Indies Fleet had withdrawn to Batavia, the morale of the defenders in Pontianak was already very low.

Land transportation is inconvenient on the island of Borneo, so they rely on sea transportation for supplies.

The East Indies Fleet's withdrawal to Batavia showed that they had lost control of the sea, and subsequent logistical supplies would become a big problem.

Now another regiment suddenly appeared in Pontianak, which made the already low morale of the Dutch and Indian defenders even worse.

"General! An enemy regiment captured our fort at the port! We were defeated with all our strength, and the captain unfortunately died. I have led my troops to break out! We have saved our effective strength!"

Carlito, who hurriedly returned to the city of Pontianak, reported to the Dutch and Indian army guard General Andersen.

"Breakout? Carlito! Where are our soldiers from Lanfang Company?"

Ye Tingfan looked at Carlito whose clothes were cleaner than his own, and naturally he would not believe Carlito's words.

The soldiers on the Pontianak fort were the elite of the Lanfang company. Needless to say, Carlito must have left the Lanfang soldiers behind on the fort and ran away while he greased the soles of his feet.

Thinking of this, Ye Tingfan immediately became anxious.

When Carlito was thinking about how to explain this problem, an officer from Lan Fang Bing also ran in and said.

"Our Lan Fang soldiers have also broken through."

How could Andersen not see the problem that Ye Tingfan could see? Besides, Pontianak City is 20 kilometers away from the coast.

No matter what, the California Army has to wait until the tide is high before they can land. Now it is the time of high tide. If nothing else, the California Army has just begun to land. Where did a regiment of soldiers come from under their noses?

Is it possible that the California Army can fly and grow wings to fly to Pontianak?

Just as Anderson was about to deal with these deserters, he heard loud gunfire in the city at this time.

The guard ran in in a panic and reported: "General! The enemy has entered Pontianak City!"

Anderson's face darkened, and his heartbeat could not help but accelerate. He asked Carlito in a deep voice: "Carlito, can you see clearly? Is there really a group?"

"General, I am also a veteran. The enemy's firepower was extremely fierce when I heard the gunfire! They also have artillery! It must be a regiment! It can't be wrong!" Carlito insisted that the enemy attacking the port fort had a regiment.

"One regiment! At least one regiment! The other side is completely dark! People are next to each other, at least there are thousands of them!" Officer Lanfang on the side also said quickly.

Anderson fell into silence.

Although he remained calm on the surface, he was already in a mess inside.

Pontianak originally had 4,000 defenders, one of which was a regiment composed of elite white soldiers and old Javanese soldiers.

In addition to this elite regiment, he also has two thousand Pontianak indigenous soldiers and one thousand Lanfang soldiers at his disposal.

But since the Chinese resistance organization on the island launched attacks in Dongwanlu and other places like crazy, Andersen had to divide his forces to suppress the Chinese resistance organization.

In order to prevent the California Army from landing, he deployed another 2,000 troops to defend the coast.

Now that the garrison in Pontianak City is fully equipped, Andersen can only mobilize one thousand. Moreover, not all of the former soldiers were white soldiers. A considerable number of the soldiers were indigenous people, and these indigenous people were not reliable at all.

He may not be able to withstand an elite regiment of the opponent's army attacking Pontianak.

Anderson turned his back and looked at the map on the wall, lost in thought.

Now that the morale of his own army is low and in chaos, it is no longer realistic to organize an effective resistance force to stand firm in Pontianak and wait for reinforcements from Batavia or the Dutch-Indian army's base camp in West Borneo, Kendawangan in the south.

It seems that retreating to preserve the strength is the wisest choice now.

The Californian army has a good record, and its combat effectiveness is definitely not comparable to the armies of Chinese colonial companies on the island such as Dagang Company and Santiaogou Company.

After a brief thought, Andersen decisively issued an order: "Notify the troops in the city and the troops on the coast, take the overseas residents to evacuate Pontianak, and head south to Kendawangan!"

At this time, in the lower reaches of the Capuas River, Liang Yao's fleet was taking advantage of the rising tide to bombard the Dutch and Indian army positions along the coast, clearing obstacles for subsequent landing troops to land.

Liang Yao's fleet is dominated by small ships, but small ships also have advantages.

The shallower the water, the better the boat can get to bombard the coast.

"The Dutch and Indian navy are quite capable, but their army's combat effectiveness is really hard to compliment."

Fremont raised his telescope and looked at the soldiers of the Royal Netherlands and Indian Army who were constantly fleeing their positions under shelling and said.

"Perhaps the situation would be better if they were all Dutch soldiers, but it's a pity that Dutch officers coerced a group of indigenous people to fight. Such an army has no cohesion at all." Liang Yao agreed with Fremont's point of view.

The Dutch East Indies Fleet can fight, in addition to the inheritance of the Dutch naval power.

Another very important reason is that most of their sailors are experienced Dutch sailors and European sailors. The core personnel of the fleet are all Dutch, and there are basically no indigenous sailors. Therefore, it is easy to command and organize.

The army of the Royal Dutch Army is completely the opposite. The Dutch and whites are the minority, and the local indigenous people are the majority.

The ratio of white soldiers to indigenous soldiers in the Royal Dutch Army was 1:3.

Such an army can fight smoothly with its technological advantages, but once it encounters an opponent stronger than itself, it will be vulnerable.

"There are so many natives on the shore. I guess the red-haired ghost guys used these natives as cannon fodder. They huddled in Pontianak City. There are too many white soldiers in Pontianak City. I'm afraid they will have to chew hard bones during the siege. "Deng Wenqi said.

Liang Yao took out his pocket watch and looked at the time. He didn't know whether Elvis and the others lurking in Pontianak had captured the fort at Pontianak Port.

"You guys are firing artillery shells as if they cost nothing. I have been enlisting in the army since the reign of Master Jiaqing, and I have been enlisting in the army for decades, and I have never fought such a wealthy war."

Hong Mingxiang couldn't help but look envious as she watched Liang Yao's fleet tilting their cannonballs on the coast as if they were free of charge.

"Fire more cannonballs and fewer people will die. My soldiers' lives are precious, more valuable than cannonballs." Liang Yao put away his pocket watch and ordered, "Prepare to land!"

Hong Mingxiang also ordered the drums to be beaten to prepare for battle.

The landing force was spearheaded by sailors from the Guangdong Navy, followed closely by two battalions of the California Infantry Regiment, rowing the famous dinghy and taking advantage of the high tide to reach the coast.

Seeing the enemy troops rushing up, the Dutch officers who stayed behind hurriedly tore off the white part of the Dutch flag, made a simple white flag, and raised the white flag high to surrender.

The first to rush to the Dutch-Indian army's position were the sailors of the Guangdong Navy led by Vice Admiral Kang Enze of the Guangdong Navy.

Connze carried a Walter 1851 rifle with a bayonet and was about to fight to the death with the Royal Dutch Army. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in front of the position and before the fighting started, the other party raised a white flag.

Kang Enze thought that the other party was cheating, so he threw out the weapons with 70 or 80 white officers and 500 to 600 indigenous soldiers. He raised his hands and shouted in English: "Stop fighting! We surrender! We surrender!"

Seeing that the people rushing up were Chinese, the white officer didn't know how to say surrender in Chinese, so he simply knelt on the ground and raised his hands to show that he had no intention of resisting.

Kang Enze was so confused that he captured the position of the Royal Dutch and Indian Army without any casualties.

Soon, Liang Yao on the Bold learned the news that the Dutch and Indian troops had surrendered.

"Just surrender like that?"

After listening to Kang Enze's report and looking at Hong Mingxiang with a secretive look on his face, Liang Yao felt drained of blood.

If I had known that the Dutch and Indian troops could not help but fight on land, I would have done it myself.

After landing ashore, Liang Yao looked at the 725 prisoners queuing up for review and felt that things were not that simple. Among the surrenderers, he called out an officer with the highest rank in front of him and asked: "Do you only have so many people in your coastal position?"

"It turned out there were two thousand people. After Pontianak fell, General Andersen ordered us to retreat. We were the unlucky ones who stayed behind to provide cover."

The Major of the Royal Dutch Army who was questioned answered like he was pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.

"Pontianak was lost?" Liang Yao's eyes widened.

"Hasn't one of your regiments already invaded Pontianak?" the major said.

A group?

Not to mention a regiment, Elvis, who was responsible for disrupting the enemy's rear in Pontianak, had only 70 crew members. Counting himself, he only had 71 men, not even a company.

Could it be that Lan Fang's army in Pontianak has gone astray anyway?

Liang Yao was also confused and didn't understand what was going on.

Could this be a trap used by the Dutch to lure their enemies deeper? To ambush them on land as they march into Pontianak?

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