Chapter 678 Afraid of the tough, I have to bully the weak
"Your Excellency General... I seem... to be dying of thirst..."
"Hold on, Lieutenant! Our ship will be arriving soon! It should be within the next two days!"
"How about this, General, I will lead a group of people to sneak ashore and replenish some food and fresh water! You lead the remaining boats and continue to wait here...I will definitely be back within a day!!"
"But...but there was a patrol team from Liang Guo passing through here just now..."
"Believe me, General! I will definitely come back! If I am unfortunately captured... I can assure you that even if they pull out all my teeth, I will not reveal a word!"
"Of course I believe you, my chief of staff, and I also believe in every one of my soldiers... I just don't want you to take risks!"
"But we set off too hastily after all! Without enough fresh water and food, we will die here sooner or later! Rather than this... I would rather take the risk! Come on, guys, soldiers, give me all your empty water bottles.
!”
Berry Kevins took the empty kettles one after another from the soldiers' hands, carried them all on his back, and then kept waving at the other sampan, gesturing them to come closer to him...
This Dutch infantry regiment with only a thousand men left... has been drifting at sea for two days now...
After they were defeated by the Liang army stationed in Saga, they finally returned to Miyazaki Port after traveling through mountains and rivers. They were surprised to find that Miyazaki Port had already fallen into the hands of the enemy. In desperation, they had no choice but to go north again.
I hope to arrive at Shangmao Port before the end of the war, rendezvous with my maritime troops, and escape from this land of right and wrong...
But when they finally arrived at Shangmao Port after all the hard work, they saw with their own eyes outside the city that the Liang Kingdom warships chasing the Japanese army turned the place into a sea of fire!!
at first……
They were still calm... The wounded soldiers just leaned on their comrades on crutches and were silent... The general just clenched the telescope in his hand and remained silent... The afterglow of the setting sun shone on them, making them look...
So helpless and sad...
And later...
Seeing Liang Guo's warships begin to lower their boats to let the soldiers land, and when they went ashore to continue chasing the fleeing Japanese troops... they fell into complete panic... Under the leadership of the general, they rolled and crawled towards the south again! ⑧①ZW
.????m
They fled non-stop to Oita Prefecture and broke into a local fishing village. After obtaining basic supplies by burning, killing and looting, they pushed the fishermen's sampan directly into the sea. At this time, they no longer cared about the so-called
With a gentlemanly face, only the desire and persistence for life are left in my mind...
This... is the only strait that must be passed in the direction of Miyazaki Port. This is also their last chance to rendezvous with the main force and board their own warship... If they miss this time again, they may be abandoned here forever.
On land... I can no longer return to Europe, to the Netherlands...
Four sampans, as far apart as possible, drifting on the sea...
Despite the intense sunlight during the day and the freezing cold at night, they never moved an inch...
Go home and live!
This is their only remaining belief...unshakable!
But people... after all, they still need to drink water and eat...
So, the scene just now happened...
Only then... the next scene...
"Look what that is!! That's our warship!! I don't think you need to take the risk...my chief of staff..."
When Berry Kevins heard this sentence, he thought it was another "joke" by His Excellency the General, but when he slowly turned around and looked in the direction of Van Rodeson Courjean's finger, he looked from a distance.
...but he shed tears of excitement again...
"God...has not abandoned us..."
"Yes, Kevins, my good brother! You are right! God...has not abandoned us..."
…………
Slowly approaching from the north were dozens of neatly arranged Dutch warships...
Although their number has decreased, many of them even have signs of hasty repairs on their hulls and sails...
But the pressure of this huge fleet and the joy of being able to go home still made these infantrymen cheer and be overjoyed... One by one, they held their military caps high and jumped up and down on the sampan...
Half an hour later...
When the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, Van Rodeson Gujean, whose face was sunburned and red and purple, met his commander-in-chief of the navy of the expeditionary force, Major Darrens... they hugged each other with great excitement...
"Oh God! General, you are still alive!!!"
"Yeah, I thought I was dead too! Darrens, my good brother... was my fleet divided into two parts? Where did the other fleet sail to?"
Another one...
Where is the other one...
Darrens was speechless and completely fell into silence, and the atmosphere in the room... also began to slowly condense...
Van Rodson Gujean slowly let go of Darens and asked with an expression of disbelief: "What's wrong? My good brother... don't tell me... this is our only remaining fleet!!
"
When Darrens heard this, he lowered his head in shame. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded...
"What!?? How could this happen!!? Is this... half of this lost!??"
"No, General... we have lost a total of seventeen frigates, nine fast sailing cruisers... seven... second-level strategic ships..."
"Nearly a third!!?? How could this happen!? Didn't you obey my orders!?"
"No! Your Excellency!! Of course I obeyed the order of His Excellency the General! It was precisely because of that order of His Excellency the General... that most of the fleet survived... and that so many soldiers had the opportunity to go home...
I...I have..."
"The Major has tried his best... Your Majesty General... I can assure you... If you don't believe it, you can ask every member of the fleet. We are all grateful to the Major from the bottom of our hearts. He was the first to
Time made the most correct choice...without any hesitation, it saved us all from the edge of hell..."
"Yes, General! I can also vouch for the Major on this point!"
The first mate and several chief petty officers on the flagship stood up and said some fair words for Darrens. After all, facing such an enemy and such a fleet... No country in Europa could confront it head-on.
Escape is the most correct choice...
"To destroy this fleet, we need to be at least five times their number... No! Ten times! Only in this way... can we have the possibility of victory... Moreover, we must be prepared to make considerable sacrifices...
…”
"Ten times the amount... This has far exceeded the entire budget of our country! Frankly speaking, our country alone cannot defeat them... General, I think... at least half of Europe needs to be mobilized to compete with them...
…”
"Okay... no need to say any more... I know everything. When you go back, write down everything you have seen and thought in the past two days in a report. I will... submit it to the Congress in person..."
Van Rodeson Gurang raised his hand to signal everyone to quiet down, and made the final conclusion...
The chief of staff, who had never said a word, also pushed up the lenses in his eyes and walked closer to the crowd...
"Then shall we start returning now? General?"
"Return??" After hearing this suggestion, Van Rodeson Gurang laughed directly... walked slowly to the map, and slapped the location of the Ryukyu Kingdom...
"If we just go back like this, all of us... will be sent to a military court. Even if... what I say is true... but someone has to bear the loss of this defeat... Do you think, this group
Councilors... will they take it upon themselves?"
"No! They will definitely send us to a military court!"
Without any hesitation, the first mate directly stated the conclusion in everyone's mind...
And Van Rodeson Gurang also smiled ferociously and nodded: "Yes, they will send us all to a military court. Even if we leave this battle to them, they will only lose worse! But don't count on them.
I will admit this, so... we... must also find our own way out first... Gentlemen... I suggest... attack Ryukyu!"
