New Ming Empire mixed in America

"It's been such a troubled time..."

Standing on the deck, Zhu Zhiwen looked at the gunboats flying flags with a yellow background, red and black stripes running diagonally from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, and a yellow nine-pointed star in the center of the stripes and whispered.

One sentence.

After seeing this flag, Zhu Zhiwen knew that this was not the fleet of Brunei, nor the fleet of the Dutch and the British.

These gunboats blocked the front of the vanguard fleet, and more ships appeared behind them.

After instructing all the gunboats to prepare for battle, Zhu Zhiwen silently waited for the opponent's envoy to arrive.

When the envoy got on the boat, Zhu Zhiwen looked at the envoy a few times strangely.

Because this messenger turned out to be a white man, and he was a middle-aged white man wearing a tuxedo and a top hat.

I originally thought that the other party's envoy would be a native here, but who knew he would be a Briton.

Zhu Zhiwen frowned when he heard the other party's authentic London accent.

"If you don't speak Chinese, go back and find someone else. Also, your head should be slightly lower, otherwise I don't mind letting you lie in this position in the coffin!"

The arrogant attitude of this messenger made Zhu Zhiwen a little angry, especially when the other party saw him and didn't even show basic courtesy.

"You Orientals are always so rude..." After muttering in Chinese, before Zhu Zhiwen could turn his back, he continued:

"On behalf of our Majesty Charles, I am here to warn you that this sea area is protected by our Kingdom of Sarawak, so..."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Zhu Zhiwen, and after seeing the half-smiling expression on his face, he threatened with some annoyance:

"His Majesty Charles is not only His Majesty of the Kingdom of Sarawak, but also the British Governor of Labuan and the Vice Consul of Borneo!"

Seeing that Zhu Zhiwen still had the same expression, the messenger from the Brooke Dynasty emphasized with a gloomy face:

"This is a title recognized by the Great British Empire and granted by Queen Victoria. Our Majesty, Charles, has inherited Lord Brooke's title..."

Looking at the endless stream of messengers from the Brooke Dynasty, Zhu Zhiwen put away his smile and said:

"Your vice-consul master asked you to come here to declare war? It's a war between us and the Dutch. I don't know why you want to get involved."

"But since you have decided to go to war, you must bear the consequences of what will happen in the future..."

After saying this, Zhu Zhiwen wanted people to drive this annoying guy away.

But the envoy of the Brooke Dynasty shouted first:

"I have already said that this place is under our protection. If you do not leave within the stipulated time, we will regard you as invaders and will let you know with artillery..."

Zhu Zhiwen rubbed his brows and said helplessly: "I told you, if you are here to declare war, you can leave now. You should just shout those useless words on the battlefield."

Zhu Zhiwen's character is quite kind, and he can be regarded as having a kind attitude among the officers of the Xinming Empire.

If it had been Cheng Yuanliang or Song He here, this jabbering guy would have been thrown into the sea to feed the fishes.

But no matter how kind a person is, he still has a temper, so the envoy was carried by navy soldiers and thrown onto the merchant ship that came from the ship.

The height difference between the third-level ironclad ship and the opponent's merchant ship was nearly three meters. Being dropped from this height almost killed the envoy.

Even though the sailors on the other ship responded promptly, the guy still broke his left leg.

Looking at the guy who was screaming for the sailors to shoot while he was wailing, the naval soldiers on the side of the ship directly opened the trap door on the side of the ship that was specially used for getting on and off the ship.

He aimed the rotating machine gun that had started idling.

On the merchant ship where the envoy of the Brooke Dynasty was on, all the sailors raised their hands to show that they meant no harm, and then they carried the envoy and ran into the cabin.

This merchant ship was flying a British flag, so these sailors were not afraid of this messenger at all.

After all, they are just merchant ships, and using a merchant ship to confront a warship is obviously not a good idea.

Soon, the merchant ship sailed towards the Brooke Dynasty's gunboat fleet.

At this time, warships in the distance also came to the Brooke Dynasty's gunboat fleet.

Four battleships flying British flags stopped beside the gunboat.

Behind these four battleships were seven steam gunboats. After the merger, the more than twenty battleships all formed a battle formation.

Such a scene made Zhu Zhiwen a little undecided for a while. If he chose to start a war, his side would definitely suffer losses.

Not to mention that the other party is not Dutch, but it seems that he is a helper invited by the Dutch.

Just when the two sides began to confront each other, another fleet of merchant ships of all types appeared in Bandar Seri Bega Bay, which was in a mess.

These were temporary guest gunboats made up of merchant ships from various countries. After seeing that their side had the advantage, they came over to join in the fun.

Three of the armed merchant ships flying the Dutch flag were vaguely distanced from the other messy armed merchant ships.

On the deck of one of the armed merchant ships, the Dutch consul held a cigar in his hand and looked at the two sides confronting each other in the distance with high spirits, with an exaggerated proud smile on his face.

There are now nearly forty armed merchant ships gathered here, although the warships leading the British only agreed to come to help and had no intention of participating in the battle.

But now in this situation, those Easterners must have been frightened to the point of pissing their pants.

Not to mention that he also notified the second gunboat formation that was out on patrol to return to defense. In less than four hours, this small Eastern fleet would be surrounded here.

At this time, Zhu Zhiwen's face was very tangled. Logically speaking, under this situation, retreating temporarily is the best choice.

But since the founding of the Xinming Empire, no soldier has retreated in any battle.

If he now orders the navy soldiers who have begun to spontaneously carry artillery shells in preparation for battle to retreat, then his military career can be declared to end prematurely.

Not to mention showing his face in front of His Majesty at that time, it would be His Majesty's mercy if he could avoid going to prison, so now he could only choose to confront him.

But the Dutch consul on the opposite side obviously didn't know about Zhu Zhiwen's entanglement. He brought the "powerful" fleet he organized to the side of the Brooke Dynasty's gunboat.

I don’t know what the two sides communicated. Anyway, after a burst of semaphores, the Dutch gunboats and the Brooke Dynasty gunboats slowly approached Zhu Zhiwen’s vanguard fleet.

"Now I declare the start of the battle, and the gunboats can fire at will."

"Remember, your mission is to delay time until our reinforcements arrive and then destroy all the warships here in one fell swoop!"

Gritting his teeth, Zhu Zhiwen gave the order to fight.

Originally, as long as the two sides continued to confront each other, the battle would be much easier after the main force of the Pacific Fleet arrived.

But now that the other side doesn't give them time, they can only go to war!