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

After crossing the Strait of Malacca, Friedrich was also planning to go to Chenla and Thailand, but was stopped by Lieutenant General Raven Hoback, who couldn't stand the 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 things after it is dealt with."

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

The two actually believed the nonsense of a so-called "powerful pirate group"; the "criminal team" attacked the Dutch and British fleets successively, seized the port of Brunei, and even clashed with the British fleet that came to reinforce.

However, in fact, both Lieutenant General Xiu Wen and the British Consul Rui in "Lion City" hoped to make the so-called "pirate" leader the culprit of their own 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 had prepared everything. Although the situation has become a little difficult to control, there is still room for manipulation in theory.

After all, the ready-made scapegoat is big and fat. The British went to the Far East just to seek money, so they would naturally be satisfied with this result.

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

This made the members of the British and Austrian investigation teams think differently. The former hammered the railings on the deck, and did not expect that the invincible Royal Navy would fall here.

"No, this could never be done by ignorant natives. Could it be the army of the great powers? The Austrians? Impossible, they stopped and started along the way, how could they be so efficient.

It must be the damn Gallic chicken! After their failure in the Governorate of La Plata, they went to the South Seas for revenge and heard that the French had established a colony in Vietnam before.

But why did they attack the Dutch fleet? And they also borrowed the name of the British Empire?"

The British side has begun to think wildly. On the other hand, Friedrich was extremely happy. He thought that the Southern Ming Dynasty was finished at this time, but he didn't expect that they fought so beautifully and wiped out a British squadron.

Once upon a time, Muhammad Ali, who was known as the "Monster of Albania", used up Egypt's 20 years of national fortune to wipe out a British squadron. The Southern Ming Dynasty was established less than a few years ago, and it seems that it really has unlimited potential.

The natives on the shore fled as soon as they saw the figures of those Western behemoths. When the British and Austrian warships approached, they could not find anyone, so the investigation teams of the two countries decided to go ashore to find "clues" at the same time.

As soon as he got ashore, Friedrich was tripped by a large group of "clues". He stood up and found that it was a group of braids.

"Braids! It must be Qing pirates!" Friedrich said, and the clerks of the investigation teams of Austria and Britain began to take notes frantically. Lieutenant General Raven Hoback and Little Billy Mullen both held their foreheads. They felt that the IQ of their teammates was really worrying.

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

Friedrich immediately wrote a big article claiming that he had discovered the arms of Qing pirates, and the investigation team on the side was also writing furiously.

These overly obvious "evidence" made the British very confused, but since they had seen it with their own eyes, they could not pretend not to see it, so they could only temporarily follow the ideas of their Austrian counterparts in the general direction.

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 "unlikely", and shouldn't there be a regime here?

At this time, in the dense forest on the top of the mountain in the distance, Zhu Qiongying was holding a telescope to observe everything happening in the port, and the civil and military officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty around her were eager to try.

"Is it the British?" someone asked impatiently.

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

At the same time, since the spices of the Southern Ming 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 would actually beat the South Vietnam to cede land and pay compensation? You know, it was a barbarian that even the Qing Dynasty could not conquer. However, at this time, the morale of the Southern Ming was high, and both civil and military officials hoped to fight another beautiful battle.

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

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

It's just that ideals are full, while reality is skinny. After some research, the British and Austrian sides decided to find out the situation from the local government. After all, they could not only focus on physical evidence, but also on human evidence.

So they began to search for traces of the locals, and the Southern Ming saw those Westerners searching everywhere and thought that they must be looking for them, so they hid in the mountains and forests.

The soldiers and civilians of the Southern Ming were very confident in their concealment skills, and they set up a lot of traps along the way. They did not believe that the group of foreigners outside could find them.

In order to prevent the smoke from rising and revealing their tracks, the soldiers and civilians of the Southern Ming ate cold food and food left over from earlier.

The civil officials and military officers were full of confidence at this time. They had completely overcome their fear of Europeans. After all, people were all scared before they died, so what was the difference between them and the opium soldiers of the Qing Dynasty?

The combat effectiveness might be a little stronger, but the Southern Ming claimed to have an army of 300,000, and there were only a few thousand Westerners on the beach. The warships looked more impressive than before.

Because there were a lot of spies in Malacca, the Southern Ming had already deployed elite troops in the mountains, and there were tunnels dug in the port of Malacca.

As long as the group of Westerners separated, they could start. At that time, they would be surrounded from all sides, and they would not be afraid that the other party would not surrender.

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

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

Some soldiers dropped their weapons on the ground, some simply sat on the ground, and those with weaker willpower even began to kneel down and pray to God.

The scout had actually seen the unknown object in the sky, but he was stunned and could only barely utter a sentence.

"There is a foreign monster in the sky!"

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

However, compared with everyone present, her performance was still good; other high-ranking officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty were all shocked and speechless at this time.

Even the old scholars who were used to the "big world" were stunned by what was happening in front of them, and finally it was the erudite Prime Minister Zhiyun who said.

"Could it be a Kongming lantern?!"