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Ever since the combined fleet was annihilated outside Quanzhou Bay, everyone in Brunei understood that the punishment from the Qin would come sooner or later. Some ministers even asked King Mana to follow the example of the Sulu Kingdom and voluntarily submit to the government, but Mana was reluctant.
Despite a year of hard preparations, the whole country was still in panic when Wang Guichen's black fleet entered the Brunei River. Minister Hasa advised Mana to leave Brunei City first and seek temporary refuge elsewhere.
Mana was tempted, but this move was strongly opposed by General Yuan Xi, who said to Mana: "Sultan, if you leave the capital now, the soldiers will have no courage to resist the Qin army. Only when the Sultan stays in the capital will the soldiers have the courage to continue to hold on until the Qin army is repelled."
Mana thought it made sense and decided to stay for a while.
Although Brunei covered an area of most of Borneo, its essence was concentrated in the capital area. Once the capital was lost, they would have to live like savages in the mountains.
After a year of preparation, five water forts were built on the Brunei River. Another general, Misalo, led more than a hundred small sampans, relying on these water forts to meet the Qin army.
In addition to the Brunei River, there are many other rivers nearby, including the Bairunyi River, Dudong River, and Tambulun River. The rivers are connected by small rivers, lakes, and swamps. It is known as the Venice of the East.
Most of the local people's houses are built on water. They are usually fixed with piles. When they need to be moved, they just pull up the piles and tow the house away directly with a boat.
Misaluo sent soldiers to forcibly drag these houses away. It was very convenient and inexhaustible. House after house was set on fire. Suddenly, the entire Brunei River was ablaze and drifted down with the waves. The momentum was enormous.
Wang Guichen was secretly shocked when he saw that the upstream had turned into a sea of fire, with the flames blazing to the sky and flowing down with the waves.
This is not just a matter of building dozens of fireboats. The whole river is on fire, and this kind of house is not like a fireboat, which will sink after being blown through.
Such a massive fire attack, with fire several feet high and thick smoke rolling down like a mountain, let alone the burning fire, the smoke alone is enough to suffocate people to death.
"Quick, turn around and retreat back to the sea first, quick!"
The sea of fire was still a mile away, but the thick smoke had already made the Qin soldiers cough. Wang Guichen quickly ordered a retreat.
Dozens of warships began to turn around urgently. In such a river channel, it was not easy for large gunboats to turn around. Seeing the volcano getting closer and closer, Wang Guichen was anxious and sweating profusely.
The Qin sailors on the warships were in a panic and yelling at each other.
"General, it's too late, too late..."
"What should we do? General, what should we do?"
The soldiers shouted as the raging sea of fire flowed downstream, getting closer and closer. However, the ten large gunboats had only turned halfway, and by the time they had completed the turn, the high wall of fire had probably already come down.
At this critical moment, Mo Liang shouted, "Boss, I have a plan. Let the two eagle ships drop anchor to block the floating firehouse. Maybe we can delay it for a while."
Apart from this method, there is no other way to think of. This mountain of fire filled the entire river and it could not be dispersed by firing a few cannons or dropping some thunder bombs.
"Pass the order, have Wang Yi and Wu Zheng take the two eagle ships and move all the soldiers to other warships, quickly!"
After receiving the order, Wang Yi and Wu Zheng had to sail forward quickly, then anchor the boats in the middle of the river and let the soldiers retreat hurriedly to other warships.
Those floating fire rooms immediately set the two eagle ships on fire. Seeing their beloved warships destroyed in the fire, Wang Yi and Wu Zheng were so angry that their eyes were bloodshot and they were furious.
Fortunately, although the two warships were set on fire, the anchors were dropped and the floating fire rooms were blocked by the two ships, temporarily stopping their drifting, which bought Wang Guichen and his men precious time.
When the forty-eight warships narrowly escaped back to the sea, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Wang Guichen made a deep self-examination. Since defeating the combined fleet, the Great Qin Royal Navy has been rampant in the South China Sea, looking around with no rivals, and inevitably developed some arrogance.
No one took the attack on Brunei too seriously this time, thinking that taking Brunei was as easy as crushing an ant.
Now they have to pay the price for their arrogance. Fortunately, they only lost two eagle ships, but this has already made Wang Guichen and his men feel humiliated.
When this matter was reported back, everyone felt extremely upset as they wondered what the brothers in other fleets would think of them.
Wang Guichen called the captains of all the ships together and scolded them, "Damn it, stop crying! We deserved to have our boat capsized this time. We have been too arrogant recently. His Majesty often said that you should never think that your enemies are stupid. Let's take this opportunity to seriously reflect on ourselves, so as not to make bigger mistakes in the future."
"The deputy admiral has given us a lesson, and we accept it."
"Okay, we've lost face, and we have to make it up on our own. Now let's talk about how we should fight this battle next."
The Marine Corps commander Fang Ce said, "Admiral Wang, the enemy can drag more houses in at any time and continue to set fire to us, so let us Marines go. Give me two hours. If you don't take down Brunei City, you will be beheaded."
Wang Guichen immediately said, "Okay, let's send the Marines in. Move quickly and don't let Mana escape."
"Don't worry, Admiral Wang. Sending the Marines is definitely the right choice for you."
Fang Ce's words made the captains of each ship quite unhappy, but when faced with a special situation like that of Brunei, it was most appropriate to dispatch the Marines.
Wang Guichen found a relatively open beach near the mouth of the Bonni River, and then ordered five hundred Marines to board thirty small landing boats and rush towards the beach.
There were thousands of Brunei soldiers on the shore trying to stop Fang Ce and his men from landing. They were lined up nervously on the shore, and shouts were heard one after another.
When the ship was about to reach the beach, Fang Ce gave an order and 500 Marines fired a volley of bullets, mixed with six or seven rockets and artillery fire, which instantly defeated the Brunei soldiers on the shore.
The entire landing process was as if there was no resistance. The flat-bottomed landing ships rushed directly onto the beach, and the Marines rushed forward like wolves and tigers. The sound of gunfire was like popping beans. A string of thunder bombs were thrown over when they were a little closer, and the fleeing soldiers on the shore wished that their parents had not given them two more legs.
It was no longer a new thing that Western colonists could easily occupy a country with only a few hundred people. Fang Ce and his men's weapons were more advanced than those of the Western colonists, so they could naturally attack a country like Brunei, which still used swords and spears, more quickly.
After defeating the enemy on the beach, Fang Ce did not stop for a moment and rushed towards Brunei City with 500 marines.
As soon as Misaro used fire to force back the Qin warships, he could not wait to return to the city to report his achievement to the Sultan, claiming that he had defeated the Qin army and successfully burned many Qin warships and killed hundreds of enemies.
At this time, the Sultan was extremely happy. He had been worried about the powerful Qin army for a long time and almost abandoned the city and fled. He did not expect that they would be defeated so easily. This was a great victory.
The Sultan and his ministers were all very happy. They immediately rewarded Misaro with a thousand taels of silver and promised to marry the princess to him.
As a result, the emperor and his ministers did not feel happy for long before they heard bang bang sounds coming from outside the city. At first they thought that the people in the city were setting off firecrackers to celebrate the victory.
When the defenders on the city wall hurriedly came to report that the Qin army had reached the city, Mana and a group of ministers were in disbelief. Didn't they say that more than half of the Qin army had just been killed or wounded? How was it possible that they had reached the capital in the blink of an eye
"Misaro, what's going on?"
"Sultan, this... The Qin army has indeed just been defeated and retreated. They..."
Forget about them. At this moment, a huge explosion suddenly came from the direction of the west gate, which made Mana and others fall to the ground.
Brunei City was only about the size of a county town in the Qin Dynasty. Fang Ce first sent troops to quickly surround the four gates, then used rockets to blast through the west gate, and then swarmed in.
If Qin Mu saw this scene, he would definitely be moved. This scene was just like when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing. The defenders were completely routed. Occasionally, some of them dared to resist, but after being shot down by rifles, they immediately fled in fear.
Although the entire city had a large population, everyone was looking for a place to hide and the streets were in a mess. Fang Ce led the Marines to the palace at an incredibly fast speed and wiped out the emperor and his ministers. Things went so smoothly that even Fang Ce found it hard to believe.
Just like that? Just like that, they conquered Brunei
"I destroyed a country? I also became a hero who destroyed a country?" The surprise came too suddenly, Fang Ce couldn't help but ask stupidly. If that's the case, then wouldn't I be able to destroy all the countries in the world with 500 people
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.(To be continued..)
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