Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 304: Burning Heart of Revenge

The fire burned for four days and four nights. At night, the intense flames burned half the sky.

The two infantry regiments of the Third Division stationed in the mountain village were completely evacuated. The thick smoke from the forest fire was so deadly that more than 200 officers and soldiers on the front line inhaled the smoke, suffering varying degrees of injuries.

In this bad situation

Even if the Anglo-French coalition forces had extraordinary power, they would not have any actual military action.

It was not until after a heavy rain that the flames of the charred tropical forest were extinguished. The Johor Strait had been dyed black by the flowing black water, which was simply the tears of the British and French forces.

Drifting ashes were everywhere, covering the city of Singapore, more than 30 kilometers away, in a layer of gray-black. After the heavy rain, gray-black sewage flowed along the streets.

Only after a few heavy rains during the rainy season can the thick layer of smoke and ash be completely washed away.

At this time, there were only a dozen sailing warships of the British Royal Navy fleet wandering on the sea near Singapore, carrying out the mission of blocking the strait.

The main force of the British Royal Navy's Third Sailing Battlefleet, along with a large number of troop transports, headed all the way to East Malaysia.

As for Singapore, a sad place, we’ll talk about it later.

The British and French allied forces are now eager for revenge, their hearts are filled with murderous intent, the flames of revenge are burning in their chests, and they cannot wait even a minute.

The British and French forces lost 2.6 troops in the Johor Strait, but they made a bold move that left people speechless.

The French in the Allied forces reported 917 casualties in the losses reported to mainland Europe, instead of the actual number of 3106 deaths. The difference is huge.

One is "casualties" and the other is "killed in action", which give the French people completely different feelings.

Even if 916 people were killed and one was injured, 917 casualties could be reported, giving people the impression that the loss was not too great, which was considered a way to save face.

Anyway, the French Foreign Legion are all mercenaries. As long as the money is in place, the families of the injured or dead soldiers will not delve into the matter.

The British in the Allied Forces were even more ruthless. The combat losses reported to mainland Europe were 606 casualties, all of which were casualties of white officers and soldiers. None of the Indian soldiers from the colonies were reported, and the number was quietly wiped out.

No one cares how many Indian soldiers with curry smell in their mouths die.

The death of 1.55 soldiers from the East Indian colonies was not as heartbreaking as the death of Major General Cameron Boggs of the British Indian Army.

The death of this British general drew harsh questioning from many members of the British House of Commons, caused a huge uproar in London politics, and even the British Prime Minister was held accountable.

Major General Cameron Burgess holds the title of Baron Birmingham and is very close to Countess Alanna. It is rumored in upper class society that the two are lovers and have a son.

At the grand funeral of Major General Cameron Burgess, Countess Alena attended in a black dress with her eyes swollen from crying. She was even more sad than the Baroness, which made the rumors in London's upper class more true.

September 6th, 2025

On the sea near Bandar Seri Bega Bay in Brunei

The vast fleet of the British and French allied forces covered the endless sea, with sails like a forest, rushing towards them with great momentum.

Come to the bay

However, they found that there was not even a decent ship in the bay. This was obviously extremely abnormal. Unlike what the intelligence said, the Chu State had made preparations for clearing the countryside and moved all the ships.

On the pier by the coast
There are only a few scattered buildings, most of which are 1-2 storey buildings with pointed roofs, with a strong tropical Islamic style, nestled among coconut trees.

With nowhere to vent the evil anger in his heart, Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French Allied Forces, directly ordered heavy artillery bombardment, razing all the buildings to the ground.

Amid the rumbling of artillery
These coastal buildings were destroyed one after another, houses collapsed, and only a few people escaped from the buildings, fleeing in panic.

Vice Admiral Calvin Phillips felt much better upon seeing this. He waved his hand and ordered the British and French allied army troops to land.

In order to appease the general's anger, at least a few cities must be burned down.

The city of Bandar Seri Begawan in front of him is the first, but it will definitely not be the last. He will retaliate with even more cruel means. The dignity of the British Empire cannot be trampled upon.

Under the deterrence of the fleet, the accompanying troop transport ships successively docked at the pier, unloaded the densely packed British and French allied soldiers ashore, and quickly expanded the landing area for alert.

The task force on this trip consisted of more than 130 large sailing ships. In addition to the more than 50 ships of the British and French allied sailing fleet, the rest were troop ships and cargo ships transporting combat supplies. The momentum was extremely huge.

The task force carried 3.1 troops, including more than 5200 French Foreign Legion soldiers and 2.6 British Indian Legion soldiers. They were generally equipped with Minié rifles and a large number of artillery pieces. It was truly a strong force.

In order to take revenge, the Governor-General's Office of British India spent a lot of money, opened the warehouse and equipped the curry soldiers with Minié rifles.

As for the originally planned British Indian Corps, which had a total of 3.2 troops, 1.6 were lost in Singapore. Logically, there should be only 1.6 left. How come there are still 2.6 troops?
This requires us to talk about the Governor-General's Office of British India. Not to mention temporarily adding 10,000 people, even temporarily adding 100,000 people would be no problem.

In the Indian subcontinent, a severe drought could easily kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

Recruiting soldiers in the Indian colonies has never been a problem. The only difficulty restricting the British Indian Governor-General's Office from expanding its military force is how much money they want to spend?
The British Governor-General's Office in India governed hundreds of princely states, directly ruling over important princely states like Punjab and Bengal, and indirectly ruling over over 500 other princely states like Hyderabad. It was no problem for them to gather tens of thousands of troops in any corner of the country.

After the British and French forces landed, they sent out a vanguard unit to conduct reconnaissance deep inland.

not long after
The vanguard troops returned one after another and reported the latest enemy situation they had discovered. The Chu army had already been on high alert and was not far from the coast.

Around Bandar Seri Begawan, the Chu army built a circular defense line with forts, defensive walls, deep trenches and barbed wire forming a defense belt, only 4 to 5 kilometers away from the bay.

It is the core area of ​​Bandar Seri Begawan. The most eye-catching buildings are the local Brunei Royal Palace and the onion-domed Qingzhen Temple, which can be seen from a distance.

The Chu army was well-organized, with cavalry deployed in all directions.

This forced the vanguard troops of the British and French forces to be cautious and retreat quickly, feeling safe only when they had the support of the main force.

Now, the British and French forces no longer dared to underestimate the Chu army.

He suffered several severe blows in a row, and all his teeth fell out. He vomited three liters of blood!
Now, rumors about the Chu State being the "Devil's Legion" are spreading among the British and French forces from top to bottom. It originally came from the mouth of Lieutenant General Calvin Phillips, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, and quickly spread.

This is very popular in the extremely superstitious army, and even the curry soldiers believe it firmly.

In this situation, who would dare to underestimate the Chu army?
After receiving the latest military intelligence report, Lieutenant General Connor, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, led his officers to observe. The group of horses soon stopped at the edge of a wood.

Now, seeing the woods, many officers in the British and French forces have psychological trauma.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, we will never let soldiers enter this damn forest, even if there is an ambush.

The woods where Lieutenant General Connor and his party stayed were not big, covering only two or three acres, and were about a few hundred meters away from the river ahead.

On the other side of the river
You can see a very conspicuous long wall winding and extending, and there is a circular bunker every six or seven hundred meters.

These city walls are not high, about 3.6 to 4 meters, and are made of thick rammed earth.

This rammed earth is made of thatch and mixed with moist clay soil. It is an essential material for building thatched houses in tropical regions. Unexpectedly, it was built into long walls by Oriental people.

Every six or seven hundred meters, there is a sturdy brick and stone bunker, some large and some small.

In Lieutenant General Connor's telescope
Behind a bridge across the river are two large bunkers of the Chu army, like two heavily armored warriors guarding this important traffic route.

The large bunker has five floors, and the top three floors have gun ports, with four gun ports on each floor. A total of 4 artillery pieces can be installed, so two bunkers can hold 12 artillery pieces.

In addition to the cannons installed at intervals on the earthen city wall, there are at least 36 to 40 cannons on the defense line of about one kilometer in front of us.

Here, as in Singapore, shallow trenches, barbed wire and deep trenches were dug a few hundred meters in front of the defense line. It was only seven or eight hundred meters away from the river, leaving insufficient space for the deployment of a large army.

This defensive posture made even the experienced Lieutenant General Connor feel very difficult.

"Pass on my order, transfer two regiments of infantry, first occupy the bridge, and then set up camp along the river. Um... keep it two miles away." Lieutenant General Connor ordered.

He would not place his troops under the enemy's guns, except for the two regiments blocking the bridge.

Bandar Seri Begawan is not a big city to begin with. It is a traditional South Asian city with a population of about 6.3 people. It has a strong Islamic style and is surrounded by stone walls.

The bunker defense line in front of us is the outer defense line.

Thus

Bandar Seri Begawan formed a two-line defense structure, and with the obstruction of rivers, forests and natural mountains and terrain, there was not much wide front available for attack.

Lieutenant General Connor only had 3.1 officers and soldiers, and it was impossible for them to squeeze into a small attack area.

But he was not in a hurry to attack. The British and French forces had arrived here after a long sea voyage and needed at least some rest before they could fully recover and exert their full combat effectiveness.

after one day
The tent camp of the British and French allied forces was densely packed, stretching from the dock to the front of the confrontation, stretching for seven or eight miles, and looked quite spectacular.

At this time, Lieutenant General Connor also obtained accurate intelligence about the Chu army. The enemy in front of him was the Huangshan Task Force, which was composed of the Chu Third Expeditionary Division as the main force, plus two newly formed infantry regiments, with a total strength of 1.32 people.

Among them, there are about 7200 to 7500 troops in Bandar Seri Begawan, and nearly armed militiamen assist in guarding.

In other words, the Chu army had about 1.7 troops, which would be more but not less.

Compared with the strength of the British and French forces, it is about 2:1.

This latest information

This gave the Anglo-French coalition forces more confidence. With twice the troop advantage in a frontal attack and defense, could they not defeat the Chu army?
(End of this chapter)