50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 694 The Second Fire
After the supplies were unloaded, Sun Zhiwei continued to follow the team for several more days.

He watched as Farouk led his guerrillas, and instead of launching any further attacks, retreated over a hundred kilometers into the deeper mountains.

They soon arrived at a secret mountain camp, where military equipment and supplies were dispersed and stored in many storage locations.

Only then did Farouk begin to lead his new and veteran soldiers in intensive training.

At this point, Sun Zhiwei was completely certain that this team, under the leadership of their captain Farouk, would soon gain momentum.

There's nothing much to see now. Once Farouk is ready, they'll definitely make a big move, but that will take at least a few months of preparation.

He decided that if the team hadn't been defeated when he came back next time, he would give them more support.

Once the fighting in Aceh intensifies, Java's attention will also be somewhat diverted.

By this time, it was already the end of January. Sun Zhiwei, who had originally planned to visit Papua Island, the easternmost island, decided to go home for the Chinese New Year first.

There is also a resistance force on Papua Island, but he doesn't know the specific situation there.

Papua Island is located north of the Australian mainland. With an area of ​​78.6 square kilometers, it is the largest island in the Pacific Ocean and the second largest island in the world, after Greenland.

This area did not belong to any kingdom in the past; Papua was used to refer to certain regions of the island, but the exact origin of the term is unknown.

In July 1545, Spanish navigator Orlés de Rête landed on the island of Papua and declared Papua to be Spanish territory.

Seeing that the local inhabitants and natural conditions resembled those of Guinea in Africa, he named the place New Guinea.

The Papuans on the island of New Guinea are a branch of Melanesians and belong to the brown race. They have dark skin, curly hair, and some African ancestry.

In 1828, the Netherlands established Dubois Castle on the west coast of Papua; in 1884, Germany declared its occupation of northeastern Papua; in the same year, Britain used Australia as a springboard to occupy southeastern Papua.

After the end of World War I in 1918, Germany was defeated and Britain occupied the entire East Papua, then transferred it to the administration of Australia. New Guinea changed from "one island, three countries" to "divided into East and West".

After World War II, the Netherlands returned to Asia. Unable to prevent the establishment of Java, the Netherlands relinquished its colonies except for West Papua.

However, it also prevented Java from coveting West Papua territory, even though the Netherlands still had aircraft carriers at the time.

In order to preserve its interests in the Pacific region, the Netherlands is prepared to support a pro-Dutch West Papuan state.

To this end, the Netherlands actively cultivated the political and national consciousness of Papuans, and a large number of Papuans entered the local government and military and police systems, preparing for the establishment of West Papua.

Java had long coveted West Papua, and at the time, during the conflict between the US and Sumatra, Suno of Java constantly pressured America and threatened to seek support from Russia.

In order to prevent Java from siding with Russia, America had no choice but to support Java on the issue of West Papua.

Unable to withstand America's pressure, the Netherlands had no choice but to halt the process of establishing West Papua and hand over the administration of West Papua to the United Nations, which would then transfer it to Java.

In 1969, Java annexed West Papua under the guise of a referendum. Most Papuans believe that Java manipulated the referendum and illegally acquired sovereignty over West Papua.

From then on, the conflict between the Papuans and the Javanese government intensified, and West Papua became the most sensitive "powder keg" in Java.

The local Papuans and the Dutch were naturally unwilling to give up West Papua easily. With their support, a "Papuan Volunteer Camp" emerged, from which several resistance organizations sprang up. Sun Zhiwei was not optimistic about the resistance movement in West Papua.

The most realistic reason is that the local population of Papua is only 150 million, which is incomparable to the population of Java, which is 2 million.

As Javanese continue to migrate to West Papua, this resistance will gradually be suppressed.

Another reason is that the local Papuans do not have a concept of a country or a unified consciousness; their resistance is simply to obtain a better life.

A resistance army without a clear program is nothing more than a bunch of scattered soldiers.

Moreover, these scattered Papuans currently belong to hundreds of tribes, and their economy is backward, while their culture is also trending towards primitive culture.

It is clearly unrealistic to expect a group of primitive people to defeat Java's modern army.

Sun Zhiwei didn't have high expectations for that place. All he could do was provide them with some weapons and ammunition so that they could cause some trouble in Jakarta and divert some of Javanese troops.

There's no rush for this. It doesn't matter if it's sooner or later. In any case, nothing is more important than him going home to spend the New Year with his wife and children.

Three days later, Sun Zhiwei returned to Subi Island. After having an early New Year's party with the soldiers on the island, he prepared to set off for Qin Island.

This time, he planned to return to China by ship because he had promised his father-in-law to send some supplies to the border guards on the island.

Just a few hundred kilometers northeast of Subi Island, a new group of island border guards have been stationed on islands such as Nanxun Reef, Yongshu Reef, Chigua Reef, and Huayang Reef.

They were few in number, but very scattered, with many still surrounded by the enemy. These areas not only had very poor logistical support, but also almost no infrastructure.

For example, at the guard post on Nanxun Reef, there is now only a stilt house standing on the reef.

Eleven young soldiers were stationed there, enduring scorching sun, wind, and rain every day in extremely poor conditions.

Sun Zhiwei planned to deliver supplies to the soldiers along the way so they could have a good New Year.

On January 20, a 1-ton cargo ship, the "Hai Sha," docked at the Subi Island pier. The Hai Sha had been purchased by Sun Zhiwei under the name of Pinkerton Company and was usually used to transport supplies to Subi Island.

It's ready now. Sun Zhiwei brought a lot of supplies for the Chinese New Year, but it's still not full. Many of the containers on the ship are still empty.

Sun Zhiwei did not intend to use the Haisha for maritime trade, so even though the ship was empty, he still ordered it to set sail when the time came.

This time, not only is he returning home, but half of the 500 soldiers are also returning home.

Because there were too many people, it was obviously unrealistic for them to catch the plane together, so they boarded the Haisha cargo ship with Sun Zhiwei.

Departing from Subi Island on the 20th, the Hai Sha arrived near Zhenghe Reefs on the third day. Nanxun Reef is located at the westernmost part of Zhenghe Reefs.

This area is dotted with reefs, and many parts of the water are less than 10 meters deep, making it a relatively dangerous area for a 10,000-ton cargo ship like the Hai Sha.

Therefore, Sun Zhiwei ordered the Hai Sha ship to anchor directly in the deep water next to the reef.

(End of this chapter)