Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 204: The Plunder of the Solomon Islands
at the same time
Port Moresby Bay, far away at the northeastern end of Shangri-La Island (note: the former New Guinea Island), is a huge encircled bay.

At the entrance, steep cliffs stand on both sides of Moresby Bay. Sailing deeper into the entrance, which has an average width of about 2.3 kilometers, you will soon see the vast and boundless bay hinterland in front of you. The scene is quite shocking.

The bay is surrounded by towering mountains, and close to the bay is a large coastal plain. The vast forest stretches as far as the eye can see, and everything is green.

Shangri-La Island (note: formerly New Guinea Island) is vast in area, about 2400 kilometers long from west to east, almost equivalent to a small continent, with magnificent natural scenery.

Deep in the Bay

There were five large sailing ships anchored, dozens of wooden houses built on the open ground, a simple pier extending into the bay, and thousands of officers and soldiers busy around.

Under the eaves of a wooden house

Major General Zhou Laonian sat here with a worried look on his face. He was extremely worried about this damn place. It wasn't that the place was bad, but that these natives were too difficult to deal with.

These primitive cannibal tribes have almost no fixed tribal settlements, and when attacked, they often flee deep into the jungle.

These primitive indigenous people can survive as long as they find a piece of open space by the river.

A month ago

The expeditionary detachment commanded by Major General Zhou Laonian split into two after landing in Jayapura at the southwestern end of the island.

A battalion of more than 400 officers and soldiers plus more than 800 militiamen set up a camp after landing in Jayapura and began basic colonial construction.

There were indeed more than a dozen Dutch white colonial families in the area, with a total of about fifty or sixty Dutch white people, but these were all spontaneous personal actions on their part and had not been formally recognized or endorsed by the Dutch East Indies Colonial Governorate.

After the arrival of the Great Chu Kingdom's colonial fleet, these Dutch white settlers did not show any hostility and obediently accepted the new rulers.

In view of this
Major General Zhou Laonian did not take drastic action, but instead instructed the commander of the infantry battalion stationed locally to adopt a friendly and cooperative attitude to show goodwill.

After all, Shangri-La Island is so vast that adding a few dozen white settlers would not be a big deal.

Major General Zhou Laonian personally led the remaining battalion of more than 400 officers and soldiers, as well as more than 800 militiamen, and after a long journey of more than ten days, they finally arrived at Port Moresby at the southeast end of the island.

It is called a port, but in fact it is just a deserted bay.

However, the excellent port conditions here amazed even the knowledgeable Major General Zhou Laonian.

To be honest
The natural conditions of Moresby, a deep-water port, are only better than those of Manila Bay.

Moresby Bay is much smaller than Manila Bay. Compared to the latter's vast bay area of ​​2,000 square kilometers, the former only accounts for one-third.

However, considering the average water depth of 32 meters in the harbor and the towering headlands at the entrance of the bay, the conditions are so dangerous that one man can block the passage of ten thousand men, just like a natural fortress.

Moresby Bay is safer than Manila Bay.

It also has the excellent conditions of an international-level deep-water port, where huge ships of hundreds of thousands of tons can enter and exit freely. It’s so awesome.

Don't think that Shangri-La Island (Note: formerly New Guinea Island) has such good international port conditions in Moresby Bay, which is the only one on this island.

Actually

There are countless islands, reefs and bays along the long coastline around Shangri-La Island, and there are several places with better harbor conditions than Moresby Bay, but their locations are slightly worse.

The entire Shangri-La Island has a coastline of more than 6200 kilometers, and there are at least hundreds of bays of various types, if not thousands. The number is so large that all of them are in their original undeveloped state.

The advantage of Moresby Bay over other bays lies in its excellent location. It is located opposite the Darwin Peninsula in northern Australia, and the two are separated by a strait.

To get to Darwin or Canberra from here, just head south along the eastern part of the Australian continent.

It is about 3760 kilometers from Moresby to Canberra, and only a few hundred kilometers to the northernmost tip of Cape York in the northeast corner of the Australian continent.

The Australian continent and the Shangri-La Islands (note: formerly New Guinea Island) in the north are separated only by the narrow Torres Strait. The closest distance between the two places in the strait is only 50 kilometers, and a ketch can reach there in one and a half hours.

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, this island was connected to the Australian continent. Later, due to changes in the earth's crust and the upwelling of sea water, it evolved into the huge island with a vast area today.

Although located in the tropics, the Moresby region does not experience hot and humid weather. The average annual temperature is between 24°C and 34°C, with minimal seasonal variation.

The average annual precipitation is 1197 mm, which is roughly equivalent to the Jiangnan region. It is relatively dry, and the annual precipitation is concentrated from December to March, which is the local rainy season.

The rest of the time, there is little rainfall, and the dry season feels quite comfortable. The mornings and evenings are as cool as the early autumn in Peking, making it very suitable for human habitation.

To the west of the city is Sentani Lake, which offers beautiful scenery.

With such excellent natural and geographical conditions, why is Major General Zhou Laonian so worried?
He underestimated the difficulty of colonizing the region. This was a giant island in the western Pacific that was quite primitive and backward. The indigenous tribes on the island were still in the primitive stage of slash-and-burn agriculture and had no idea what civilization was.

In the early days of arriving at Moresby Bay, the search parties sent out captured an Aboriginal population of about 2,700 to 2,800 people, but later found it very difficult to deal with them.

The difficulty lies in the fact that these primitive indigenous tribes are wild and difficult to tame, and it is almost impossible to drive them to work. Their wild and unrestrained nature seems to come from their blood, and their primitive animality is very strong and extremely difficult to tame.

If you have that much free time, you can finish the work yourself.

These native women were also bloodthirsty. When several sailors on the ship were forced to vent their desires, one unlucky sailor had his ear bitten off and screamed in pain.

His ears were chewed and eaten by the native women. This is a true story. The fleet commander, Major General Dong Kuifa, was so angry that he ordered the killing of more than one hundred natives.

The truly horrible thing happened. Instead of being afraid, these captured natives looked at the corpses of the natives who were chopped to death with their eyes shining and licking their lips with a greedy look on their faces.

That look was like facing a sumptuous meal, making people feel particularly uncomfortable.

Fleet commander Dong Kuifa retreated directly. He had been living on the ship all this time and was too lazy to come down.

Major General Zhou Laonian was so troubled that he ordered his men to basically deal with these primitive natives, leaving only more than 300 native women, who were chained and kept in straw huts.

How to deal with it specifically is also a tricky matter.

Nowadays, cutting down trees in forests, building sawmills, lime kilns and brick factories, constructing roads and docks, and building camps and houses are all the officers and soldiers' own responsibilities.

There is no way to drive the local indigenous people away.

While searching for these indigenous tribes, 47 officers and soldiers of the expeditionary task force were killed or wounded. Many of them were injured by poison arrows shot by the indigenous people. After the poison took effect, it was too late to rescue them.

These poison blow darts are made by the indigenous people using the toxins of the local highly toxic dart frogs to contaminate the arrowheads. If they injure a person, the probability of death is more than 50%.

Unless one is ruthless enough to cut off the injured limbs, the poison will take over the heart in a short period of time and become extremely vicious.

These small groups of natives hide in the tropical jungle, launching silent sneak attacks from time to time. Their movements are silent, which is very troublesome.

It will not be possible to eliminate these enemies in a short period of time.

The expedition led by Major General Zhou Laonian had to build a large wooden fence camp, set up trenches, barbed wire and barbs to prevent the natives from attacking at night, and confine themselves to a small circle.

He still hasn't thought of a good way to completely eliminate the threat of these barbaric and primitive indigenous people.

It can only be left to the local commander to slowly resolve. It is definitely unrealistic to kill them all with one blow. We can only adapt to it and slowly send out small troops to carry out surprise attacks and encirclements.

This process is extremely dangerous and arduous.

These local aborigines live in the primitive jungle all year round and have an amazing sense of smell like wild beasts. If they feel something is wrong, they will escape immediately and will not stop to let you catch them.

This is the most troublesome part. Even women and children cannot be used as a threat.

In these primitive cannibalistic indigenous tribes, children or women who died prematurely would eventually end up in the stomachs of the indigenous people. They would not waste any food, and would certainly not have any feelings of pity.

Not only the corpses of the hostile tribe, but also the elders and children of the tribe themselves will eventually become food, and those who eat raw meat and drink blood will eat them raw.

Major General Zhou Laonian had few ways to deal with this beast-like indigenous tribe, except to kill them one by one.

"Your humble servant greets the General and wishes you the best of luck and happiness!"

"Forget it, no need to be polite. What's the matter?"

"I dare not conceal it, sir. I have some thoughts in mind, and I have specially asked Officer Bian to give me courage. If there is anything I have done wrong, please punish me, sir, and do not harm the innocent."

The speaker was Fan Zongjie, an official from the Colonial Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was a native of Hanzhong and had always been bold in thinking and acting. He was extremely courageous.

Captain Bian Guangliang, the commander of the Moresby Battalion, was a man of few words. He just silently clasped his hands and clasped his fists, indicating that he would stand together with Fan Zongjie, looking very responsible.

As the saying goes, you are what you are.

Major General Zhou Laonian himself is a man of few words and especially dislikes those officers who talk big, so the people he takes a fancy to all have some reflection of himself.

Captain Bian Guangliang is one of them.

Major General Zhou Laonian frowned and looked at Fan Zongjie. Although he didn't say anything, his meaning was clear.

If you have something to say, then you should say it.

Since this time
Fan Zongjie was already accustomed to the temper and personality of this superior, so he bowed and told him his plan directly.

He said;
"Report to the General

With the manpower of my expeditionary task force, there are only about 1,200 people at most. We don’t have enough manpower and animal power to build such a large city as Moresby, so it is really beyond our capabilities.

So I thought…

Can we go to the Solomon Islands, which is also a Spanish colony, and follow the order of His Majesty the King of Chu to recover all the areas illegally ruled by the Spanish colonists?

Sir, the Solomon Islands has a history of nearly 3000 years. The population of the islands is 6.2, and the Spanish colonists only numbered two or three hundred people..."

His words deeply moved Major General Zhou Laonian.

Major General Zhou Laonian stood up suddenly and stared at Fan Zongjie with an inquiring look.

Faced with this murderous gaze, Fan Zongjie couldn't help but take a step back and bow respectfully with his fists clasped.

Fan Zongjie's idea makes a lot of sense. The Solomon Islands are only 485 kilometers away from Port Moresby, just to the southeast.

If the fleet invades on a large scale, it will definitely arrive in a day and a half.

If Fan Zongjie proposed to plunder the cities on the Australian continent, Major General Zhou Laonian would scold him to death. That is the territory of the domineering British. If they just put their hands on it, they really don't want to live.

But this suggestion is quite tempting and highly feasible.

The Solomon Islands are located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean and belong to the Melanesian Islands.

This is a Pacific island country with a civilization of more than 3000 years. It has experienced invasions by the Dutch, British and Spanish in history and is now a lawless area.

The British were unable to colonize the island. There were some descendants of Spaniards on the island, but they were not under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Luzon. They were just descendants of white people who were taking advantage of the power of others.

The Solomon Islands are 1600 kilometers southwest of Australia, 485 kilometers west of Shangri-La Island (Note: formerly New Guinea Island), and across the sea from Vanuatu to the southeast.

Its land area is 2.84 square kilometers, its exclusive economic zone is 160 million square kilometers, and it has more than 900 islands, the largest of which is Guadalcanal, covering an area of ​​6475 square kilometers.

There are many volcanoes and rivers in the country. It has a typical tropical rainforest climate, which is definitely a big piece of fat meat on the lips.

The Solomon Islands has all the human and material resources needed to develop Moresby.

"I understand, General. You may go down now." Major General Zhou Laonian gave the order after a brief pause.

"I humble my duty and obey my orders."

Fan Zongjie and Captain Bian Guangliang saluted respectfully, then left.

Looking at their backs as they left, Major General Zhou Laonian fell into deep thought.

After thinking for a while

He instructed the captain of his personal guards, "Inform the fleet commander, Major General Dong Kuifa, and tell him that I have important matters to discuss and intend to visit him aboard."

"Yes, sir." The personal guard quickly went to convey the order.

Major General Zhou Laonian acted very cautiously. He knew that the Solomon Islands was a huge temptation, but things were far from as simple as they seemed.

It is located right next to the Australian continent. How could the British not care?

If this causes any trouble to His Majesty the King of Chu, and he gets punished instead of doing anything, wouldn't it be a waste of time?
Although this sailing squadron only has a battalion of troops, plus more than 800 sword and shield soldiers.

But Major General Zhou Laonian was full of confidence in conquering the Solomon Islands. He needed manpower and material resources on the island, large livestock such as cattle, horses, mules, carts and various tools to develop Moresby.

Of course

Who wouldn’t like the unexpected gains such as looted silks, gold, silver and jewelry?

But before doing this, we must discuss it with Major General Dong Kuifa and reach an agreement.

(End of this chapter)