Chapter 1066

“Retreat! Retreat!”

Eric let out a desperate roar. At this point, even a fool could see that they had no hope of victory, and if they continued, they would face complete annihilation.

But he was wrong, because this time Yue Yun was not going to let a single Dutch warship escape.

Upon receiving the order, the ironclads, with a speed three times faster than the sailing warships, quickly completed the encirclement. Twelve warships bombarded the Dutch warships from three sides.

Facing this desperate situation, Eric slowly closed his eyes. Then he shouted, “Even if we are to lose this war today, we must let the people of the Chinese Empire understand the unyielding will of us Dutchmen. Gunners, load your cannons and return fire!”

Following Eric’s order, the remaining forty-two warships all fired at the ironclads on the outer side.

“Boom boom boom…”

Dense cannonballs flew out and continuously landed on the hulls of the ironclads. The hit ironclads were immediately engulfed in a sea of fire.

Looking at the ironclads shrouded in flames and smoke, the Dutch soldiers let out a huge cheer. At this moment, a glimmer of hope rose in their hearts.

But this hope was completely shattered when the ironclads charged through the flames and smoke and appeared in front of them, completely unharmed.

The Dutch’s round explosive shells were simply unable to destroy the several hundred millimeters thick armor of the ironclads. Although many shells hit the ironclads, it was nothing more than tickling them.

The cheers came to an abrupt halt, and all the Dutch warships fell into a dead silence.

No other despair could make naval soldiers feel more grief than a warship being in front of them and yet being unable to destroy it.

The smile that had just appeared on Eric’s face froze. He put down his binoculars, his heart filled with sorrow.

The Netherlands, once a maritime hegemon, lost to the British, which ultimately led to the decline of its hegemony. And now, a new hegemon that could defeat the British had appeared. He could foresee that Britain’s maritime hegemony would end in the hands of the Chinese Empire.

In the future of maritime trade, all countries would have to live at the mercy of the Chinese Empire.

While he was in despair, the ironclads aimed their cannons at the Dutch warships. As the cannons roared, several of the Dutch warships immediately exploded and turned into a sea of fire.

And the fierce artillery fire was only the beginning. The reloading speed of the ironclads was very fast, and before they could react, another round of shelling came.

In a very short time, half of the fifty Dutch warships were destroyed. In the time that followed, they could only watch helplessly as one warship after another sank.

Not far away, Lei Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief, a smile on his face. He said, “I really envy you naval people. With the ironclads, you can now do whatever you want on the seas.”

This time, Yue Yun did not deny it. Sailing warships and ironclads were not evenly matched opponents, and the naval battle in front of them proved his point.

From now on, the ocean would no longer belong to the Europeans.

While the ironclads achieved victory, the army’s landing mission was basically completed, because the artillery preparation had destroyed the Dutch’s shore defenses.

The landing operation was not harassed by the enemy’s fleet, so this landing was unusually smooth.

After the first batch of soldiers stepped onto the beach, Lei Ming immediately had the flagman relay the order. The soldiers, carrying light and heavy weapons, immediately approached the enemy’s position at a distance of two hundred meters and began to construct fortifications.

One machine gun and one mortar after another were also put in place, ready to launch an attack on the trench position at any time.

At the same time, Simon and Averall, who were in the trenches, had mixed feelings. They had witnessed the battle at sea in its entirety.

Now that all fifty warships had been sunk, there was no possibility of Eric surviving.

In the inner side of the trench, Stephen’s face was exceptionally pale. Although he had a lot of complaints about Eric, he was, after all, a Dutchman.

Watching him die in the sea with the Dutch warships, he still felt a lot of grief. But this grief only lasted for a few seconds, because he was about to face even bigger trouble.

Because Eric had failed to stop the imperial soldiers from landing, the imperial soldiers who had successfully landed would now launch an offensive against them.

If they were to lose this position, they would also lose Jakarta.

“Dah dah dah…”

“Squeak… boom…”

Just as Stephen was worrying, a strange sound suddenly rang out. He had already heard the sound of the machine guns, but he had never heard this sound before.

And after this sound, a hundred explosions suddenly erupted on the position.

Simon and Averall were also stunned by the sudden explosions. Without any preparation, this round of explosions caused hundreds of casualties among their soldiers.

While they were still in shock, with the same sound ringing out, another round of explosions erupted. Simon looked out and at this time, discovered that the imperial soldiers were operating a strange weapon.

This weapon was different from any artillery. It was a very short cannon. The soldiers only needed to stuff the strangely shaped shell into it, and the shell would fly in a high arc and land vertically.

And with this, the trenches were basically useless to them.

Under the bombardment of the mortars, the Dutch soldiers became panicked. They hated this feeling of being killed by a strange weapon.

Some soldiers even hid back in the tunnels to avoid the bombardment.

Although Averall and Simon also wanted to hide, the situation this time was clearly different from the bombardment of the imperial warships.

Now the imperial soldiers were only two hundred meters away. If they were to hide, these soldiers could rush to the trenches at any time.

So, they could only confront the imperial soldiers under the artillery fire. But in this way, their casualties began to increase drastically again.

“Hit them hard! Don’t be afraid of wasting shells! We can make up for it once we capture Jakarta,” Chang Yuzhu shouted to the mortar gunners.

These soldiers were all trained in Qingzhou and then returned to the army, so they were very skilled in the use of mortars.

“Yes, Regimental Commander.”

With Chang Yuzhu’s approval, the mortar gunners fired one shell after another, and explosions continuously erupted on the position not far away.

While the mortars were showing their might, the machine guns were also not idle. The machine gunners fired wildly at the trenches, and bullets flew towards the Dutch like raindrops.

According to their battle plan, they were to fully utilize the advantage of their weapons this time, so they would not stop until they achieved the effect of fire coverage.

Time passed little by little. The number of mortar shells decreased one by one, and the Dutch position was already in a mess.

On the warship, Lei Ming had been watching the situation of the Dutch trenches. After finding that no Dutch soldiers dared to show their heads on the position, he ordered the charge bugle to be sounded.

Upon receiving the order to charge, the soldiers, holding their Han-style rifles, charged towards the Dutch position. At this time, sporadic gunshots began to ring out, and soldiers continuously fell to the ground after being hit by bullets.

However, these sporadic gunshots could no longer stop the large-scale charge of the imperial soldiers.