afterglow

Chapter 375 Great Harvest!carve up the feast
After the [-]st Marine Brigade captured Zilaza without bloodshed, only half a day later, the Ming army on the west route shattered the peripheral defense line deployed by the BDA coalition on the outskirts of Batavia overnight.

The colonial army seems to be divided into three levels?As both servants, the British-Indian 28th Infantry Brigade performed significantly better than the Dutch-Indian Army, but it caused more obstacles for the Ming Army.

The Javanese people were overjoyed with the arrival of the Ming army and welcomed it wholeheartedly - the Ming people would never be worse than the Dutch!
The defeated defenders retreated while digging roads and placing roadblocks in the hope of slowing down the Ming army. However, the local people boldly opposed it.

As soon as the defenders left, nearby people swarmed forward, wielding shovels to dig and fill the holes, and moved the large rocks and scrapped cars used as roadblocks to the roadside.

Although they planned to defend Batavia to the death, the plan failed to keep up with the changes, and the defeated soldiers of the BDA coalition, who were disorganized and disorganized, did not have the morale to defend firmly.

A dozen Ming army tanks and trucks formed an assault unit, and more than a hundred infantrymen took the risk to ride on the tanks and boldly advanced toward the center of the city.

"Tanks! Chinese tanks are coming!"

"Anti-tank guns! Damn it, aren't they here yet?!"

"Sir, we..."

"boom!"

The barricades built by the defenders with bricks, sandbags, furniture, and car wrecks were broken down by the tanks that came straight into them. Many Javanese and Indu people threw away their guns and ran away holding their heads.

Continuous bullets hit the tank armor. This detachment ignored the firepower from all directions and attacked all the way as if there was no one around.

The injured tank also turned to the side of the road with all its strength to avoid blocking the road. The soldiers who were shot fell to the ground, but most of them hid in nearby houses.

The panic-stricken citizens were terrified, and rumors spread quickly - the Ming army had appeared in the city, the Dutch army was collapsing, and Batavia had been lost!

This detachment drove straight forward and passed through five intersections. Due to mechanical failures and battle damage, only half of the tanks finally rushed to the residence of the Governor of the Dutch East Indies Colony.

"Stop, stop, stop! This is it!"

"Never mind it, just fire the damn bombardment!"

"Bring up a box of bullets!"

The infantrymen who were riding in the vehicle jumped off one after another, relying on the nearby wall to find cover, or seizing the nearby building as a stronghold.

Seven Type [-] medium tanks rotated their turrets one after another and opened fire at the large building that symbolized Dutch colonial rule.

The white outer wall was soon blackened by the explosion, and bullet holes were deeply marked on it.

Under the shelling and strafing of the tanks, the window glass was shattered, various fragments flew out, and thick smoke was pouring out of more than a dozen windows.

Like a sharp knife piercing the heart, the entire city defense system was already on the verge of collapse due to such disruption.

The desperate defenders mobilized all available forces nearby to launch a counterattack, trying to encircle and annihilate this daring Ming army assault detachment.

Two companies of Dutch and Indian troops and one company of British and Indian troops entered the battle one after another. The fierce battle lasted from noon to night. Seven tanks were destroyed and five were injured. The only two remaining tanks also ran out of ammunition.

The tank crews took the risk of getting out of the car and got into the destroyed tank to collect the remaining ammunition that could still be used.

After a night of cold fighting, the sun rose in the east. The BDA coalition forces that rushed into the core of the city paid a huge price with nearly 200 casualties. Dozens of corpses were scattered in this neighborhood.

The patchwork of counterattacks ended in vain, and a crimson flag and two pennants were still flying on several buildings here.

At noon that day, just before a complete collapse, the garrison headquarters decided to surrender, and its coalition troops laid down their weapons and stopped resisting.

Cilaza and Batavia in the Third Army's combat strategy have been captured, and the situation in Java has been decided. There is no possibility of the coalition coming back to break the situation.

Faced with the gloomy situation where defeat has been determined, the BDA coalition headquarters in Bandung still maintains a different scene - most people look dull and have empty eyes, as if they are just puppets at the mercy of others.

Lieutenant General John Greer Dill still maintained his aristocratic demeanor and calmly responded to one bad news after another from the front line.

But on the same day, a telegram requesting instructions from the Prime Minister was also sent.

"...There is no military significance in continuing to resist. We can hold on for another week at most...If you think we should continue to resist in order to defend our honor, then I will continue to perform my duties..."

Taking into account Lieutenant General John's military rank and noble status, London quickly made a decision after weighing it - Ming people must not be allowed to capture him, otherwise there will be a big fuss, and the face of the British Empire will be lost if this continues Empty!
So John Greer-Dill was appointed commander-in-chief of the Oceania Theater and immediately went to Australia to take up the post.

He took a DC-3 transport plane from Bandung and flew east to Surabaya, which had not yet fallen. After refueling, he continued east to East Timor, and finally flew southeast across the Savu Sea and successfully arrived in Darwin, Australia.

The command of the BDA coalition forces on Java Island was handed over to Major General Jacobs of the Dutch-Indian Army. He tried his best to maintain restraint, but he still couldn't help but cursed the British for their shamelessness and arrogance.

He arrogantly asked for command before, but now he's leaving a basket of mess and running away?
But at this point, Major General Jacobs had no choice - either surrender or be eliminated.

At 4:14 on April 9, Major General Jacobs and the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Alidius, decided to stop resistance after a conversation.

The Third Army General Office sent a negotiating team, and the two sides started negotiations in a small town northwest of Bandung. The Dutch agreed to stop resisting, but hoped to gain some additional rights.

The domineering Ming envoys immediately vetoed the offer, refused any conditional surrender, and urged all coalition forces to surrender unconditionally.

What can the Dutch do now with no cards to play?I can only reluctantly agree.

After the original and duplicate documents of surrender were signed, an envoy from the Ming Army proposed that the representatives of both parties participating in the negotiation meeting take a group photo together. However, how could the extremely humiliated Dutch agree?

But at the end of the day, several military reporters forced their way into the negotiation site, took out their cameras and captured many very memorable photos...

That afternoon, after returning to his headquarters, Jacobs issued a surrender order to all troops, and Governor Alidius also issued administrative orders to various local authorities.

Early the next morning, when the mighty Ming army entered the city of Bandung, the Bandung Telegraph Office sent the last telegram before being taken over.

"Our resistance in Java is over, and the Chinese have entered the city. Maybe the situation will change in the future, but not now. I wish everyone good luck, and long live the Netherlands! Long live Her Majesty the Queen!"

From the time we landed in Java on April [-]th to now, it has only been six and a half days, less than a week.

In the second phase of Operation Blood Paralysis, the Ming army annihilated a total of 10 British, Dutch, and Australian forces, including more than [-] casualties and more than [-] prisoners.

The casualties of the troops participating in the war were much smaller. There were only 987 casualties, deaths, and illnesses, and 8534 casualties and various non-combat casualties.

A large part of the reason is caused by malaria. No matter how careful you are in fighting in the Nanyang region, it is difficult to completely eliminate mosquito bites.Fortunately, quinine, a specific malaria drug, is abundant here. More than 90% of the world's quinine is produced in Java, and the Dutch have almost a monopoly on the supply of quinine.

Of course, it is now firmly in the hands of Ming Dynasty.

一系列的缴获也颇为丰富，明军一共缴获了151架各型战机、4.8万支步枪、3250挺机枪、342门身管火炮、127辆装甲载具、4349辆卡车。

The General Staff Office of the Metropolitan Governor's Office initially planned to pacify Nanyang within half a year after the war began. Now, this idea has been successfully completed ahead of schedule.

From the Battle of Malaya to the Battle of Dutch East Indu, the operation to pacify Nanyang took just over three months from beginning to end, and the price paid was negligible compared with the estimated 4 casualties.

[picture]

"Look, this is where a group of us came from."

Three years later, Zhou Changfeng came to Batavia again, but this time he came as a winner.

I recall that I had to kill thieves thousands of miles away and made a big fuss in Batavia, even using heavy machine guns and mortars. Now I can't help but feel a little proud when I recall it.

He brought a bunch of busybodies to the Catalin Hotel - neoclassical style, light gray, square overall, with a total of twelve floors.

There are six stone pillars at the gate, and you will find the hotel lobby when you walk in.

Rooms 0907 and 1007, which were destroyed by the explosion, have been renovated and look as if nothing happened.

I don’t know how the guests who stay in the room will react if they learn what happened to this room.

After revisiting their old place, a group of them held a small banquet here.

"Come, come, everyone, I would like to wish our Commander Zhou a high promotion in advance."

"Dry!"

"Hahahahaha, don't refuse, I'll give you a toast first."

The melodious music came from the gramophone, and the banquets were exchanged. Each of the banquet guests was happier than Zhou Changfeng himself, and was completely sure that his promotion would bring a series of benefits to everyone.

Deng Siquan picked up the cup and said with a smile: "The Nanyang campaign lasted for more than three months. During this period, there were dozens of large and small battles, land battles... Let's not talk about the strategic planning of our commander-in-chief. The real battle achievements must be attributed to Zhou Kexing. None other than that.”

"A brigadier general can't run away after the class."

"That's for sure. There are rewards and punishments, and the real achievements are here."

"Okay, the youngest general so far is about to appear. I'm afraid no one can break it in the future."

Zhou Changfeng had carefully considered Ming Dynasty's promotion rules before and speculated that if he was not suppressed, it would be appropriate for him to be promoted to brigadier general before the age of 30.

Although it had not been long since he was promoted to colonel last time, the records he set and the results he achieved during the campaign to pacify Nanyang were too dazzling.

Zhou Changfeng has no interest in the subsequent finishing work. After finishing his official duties, he is now eager to return to China to deal with his personal affairs.

Before that happens, though, there's something that still needs to be sorted out.

The army has always been a mixed group, especially the Ming Dynasty Army, including but not limited to unemployed vagrants with no future, idle gangsters, and connected households who were sent by favors.

These people have bad natures, and their misbehavior has largely ruined moral integrity, covering up other honest farmers, ambitious urban youth, and ambitious highly educated students.

Top-down appropriations will inevitably be subject to layers of deductions, from logisticians who dare to embezzle large sums of money to quartermasters who are timid enough to only deal with small amounts of money.

After many years of trial and error through different cases and judgments, a well-established practice has been formed in this regard - one point for important amounts, and three points for unimportant amounts.

For example, for a sum of 10000 yuan used to prepare a celebration banquet, 9700 yuan was actually issued from the Munitions Department of the Ministry of War. After passing through the Logistics Office of the Third Army General War Department, 9409 yuan was left, and after passing through the hands of the actual organizer, there was still 9126 yuan left. [-] circles.

This is a relatively ideal situation. In fact, there are always some people who are bold, have a sense of luck, or feel that their background is strong, and dare to take five or even ten points alone.

But it is obvious that such people who break the rules may live a comfortable life at the moment, but they are already being remembered by countless people, and sooner or later they will be finished - there are too many official positions in the Ming Dynasty, and how many people are jealous.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty had not had a major war for many years, and there were only small-scale battles such as border conflicts.

When preparing for war, many people paid attention to the issue of spoils distribution, that is, how to clarify the amount of trophies that frontline soldiers should keep and hand over after they seize the trophies.

The only cases that the court could refer to were decades ago and ancient times, and the final draft was:
All weapons, ammunition and military supplies must be turned in to facilitate unified filing and use. Pistols and sabers are not included in this and are allowed to be kept as souvenirs.

Watches, rings, pens, cameras and other personal items are allowed to be kept for themselves, and officers are not allowed to seize the spoils of war under their command.

But there are always greedy people in the world. There are at least five cases that Zhou Changfeng is aware of. Among them, the highest rank is lieutenant colonel and the lowest rank is second lieutenant. They were all greedy and wantonly embezzled the fruits of victory under their subordinates. As a result, they were shot in the dark and died. It's unclear.

The military law department does not accept such cases at all. This is a typical self-inflicted crime.

In the past few days, the generals of each division and regiment dispatched troops in all directions, seized large and small munitions warehouses across Java, and then affixed seals with their respective unit numbers.

The private residences of the Dutch East Indy bureaucrats were no exception. The wolf-like Ming soldiers pushed open the big iron gates and rushed into those residences.

Gold and silver jewelry, mahogany furniture, copper crystal chandeliers, white blue and white porcelain, golden nanmu screens, cars, etc. are all dazzling.

Zhou Changfeng did not participate in this post-war carve-up frenzy. Although he needed a gray income, he had already made too many achievements in this battle. If he had to get involved in dividing the spoils, it would be too easy to make enemies.

"Four Buicks, five Studepunks, 22 Fords, two Rolls-Royces, seven Citroëns, a total of forty vehicles."

After flying to Old Port, he came to the meeting place agreed with Yaosheng and others, and handed her a list of some of the cars seized in Tangning'an and Zilaza

The latter covered his mouth and chuckled. While scanning the list, he said: "It's really a lot. Let's estimate it."

　I was so sleepy last night that I fell asleep without realizing it...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)