Chapter 947: Oliver

"Your Highness, we have discovered a fleet of Westerners in the southern sea; they were sailing in the direction of Yajia."

Zhao Xu had just set foot on Timor when a steamship arrived from the south, bringing the intelligence gathered.

To gain control of the situation in the Australian seas, Zhou Yi had dispatched eight steamships to scout the nearby waters.

"Their warships are also fully loaded with able-bodied Westerners," the general continued.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi frowned.

Previously, because supply points had not yet been established, the steamships could not travel very far with the coal they carried.

Therefore, their reconnaissance range had not extended to the southern Australian seas.

The Marine Corps had captured Timor, which had only a hundred Stedan defenders, and seized the supply point there.

Their supply ships had then transported coal and grain from Luzon to this location.

Only then did the steamships expand their reconnaissance range, and unexpectedly, they obtained this intelligence.

"During this time, the Westerners may have been continuously evacuating the British from the Australian continent," Zhou Yi said to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu pondered for a moment, then suddenly sneered, "No, this is not an evacuation; they are merely replenishing their troop sources. Those living here are all serious British criminals; do you think the Coalition cares whether they live or die? Furthermore, the scout ship said the warships only carried able-bodied men, which proves this even more."

"So that is how it is," Zhou Yi realized. "However, with this being the case, the Australian continent will be even easier to take."

"Not necessarily. I fear they will not come to Australia empty-handed; they will certainly provide the British prisoners in Australia with firearms and Artillery to hinder us from taking this place." Zhao Xu's eyes narrowed.

After a pause, he said, "Pass the word down: this time upon landing, I order the generals and soldiers not to have a shred of pity. Treat them as you would the Northern Di soldiers; their cruelty is not a bit inferior to the Northern Di, and besides, they are all heinous, serious criminals and their descendants."

"Yes, Your Highness," Zhou Yi replied.

Zhou Yi departed, and Zhao Xu looked toward the direction of the Australian continent.

To him, the difficulty of conquering the Australian continent this time was only slightly greater than conquering Luzon.

The only troublesome part was that they needed to spend more time at sea.

As for the places that required landing operations, there were actually only four.

These were the four Colonial Territories the British had established along the coast.

One was the Hedland Territory directly south of Timor, located in Western Australia.

The Colonial Territory in Eastern Australia was the Queensland Territory, which was the direction of Gong Ying's attack.

The remaining two were at the eastern and western corners of the southern Australian continent.

One was called the New South Wales Territory, and the other the Adelan Territory.

Of these four Colonial Territories, the Hedland Territory had the smallest population, only about eighty thousand people.

The New South Wales Territory had the largest population, about two hundred and fifty thousand people.

Precisely because of this, he decided to take the Hedland Territory and the Queensland Territory first, and finally combine forces to attack New South Wales and the adjacent Adelan Territory.

At the same time.

In the New South Wales Territory, a British steamship slowly docked at the port.

A British soldier disembarked from the steamship, handed the gathered intelligence to the officer at the port, and then left.

Scanning the document, the officer's expression changed slightly, and he immediately walked toward the city to deliver this news to Governor Oliver.

Because the British had numerous colonies overseas.

The number of governors sent abroad by the British each year was also very large.

These governors held great power in the colonies, simultaneously controlling full military and administrative authority.

However, even among governors, the ranks were different.

For example, Bolt was higher in rank than Oliver.

In some matters, Oliver needed to follow Bolt's orders.

"Governor Oliver, the Great Song Navy's steamships once approached the Adelan Territory; I fear the attack from the Great Song is not far off," the officer reported to Oliver.

He was the officer Oliver trusted most, named Joseph, who held the rank of Colonel.

"It has finally come; I have been waiting impatiently." The blond man reclining on leather across from the officer curled his lips, pulling at the scar on his face, making his whole person appear even more cold and sinister.

Exhaling a large smoke ring, he said nonchalantly, "That sissy Bolt is so scared of the Song People he's about to wet his pants. This time, I will let them see what a real man is."

"All of Britain knows you are a real man, Governor, but the Song People do not seem so easy to deal with. After all, they not only defeated Ma Fu'er but also defeated the Franks in Manila," Joseph reminded him subtly; he understood this governor's volatile temper and dared not offer direct advice.

"That only proves their incompetence; they have shamed the entire British Empire," Oliver raged. "Just let me tell them how to treat these damned Dongtu natives."

Having said this, he picked up a skull ornament on the table and threw it fiercely onto the ground.

With a "crack," the skull ornament shattered at Joseph's feet, with a portion landing on his leather boots.

Joseph flicked it off with disgust.

This was not just an ornament; in fact, this skull ornament was made from the head of an Australian native girl.

Ten years ago, Oliver, then a Colonel in New South Wales, led an army to suppress a native tribe north of the Colonial Territory.

When he was massacring these natives, this native girl rushed out and bit off one of his fingers.

And he had cut off this girl's head and made it into an ornament.

It was precisely this ferocity of Oliver's that made the people and prisoners of the four Australian Colonial Territories fear him like a devil.

Of course, it was also because of this that these desperadoes were so well-behaved under Oliver's jurisdiction.

"Go and tell everyone, regardless of gender or age, as long as they can hold a Weapon, they must participate in this war. I want to stop the Great Song army's victory in Australia and prove to our Queen that I am more suitable to serve as the Governor of Tianzhu than Bolt," Oliver continued to shout.

"Yes," Joseph turned and left.

During this time, they had received a total of thirty thousand Front-loading Rifled Muskets and thirty-six pieces of Field Artillery.

Among them, they had sent ten thousand to the other three Colonial Territories, keeping the majority of the firearms in New South Wales.

But even so, most people still had no weapons.

However, this was no longer important; they were already in this war, and everyone had to fight for Britain.

"Jon and the others should have received the letter as well. I hope those three brats don't disappoint me, otherwise I will definitely crush their skulls." Just as Joseph reached the doorway, Oliver muttered another sentence.

Joseph's footsteps paused for a moment; Jon and the other two were the three captains under his command.

They were each stationed in the other three Colonial Territories.

If everything went as normal, the Great Song army's offensive against the Australia continent would begin from their Colonial Territories.

If the three of them could defeat Yan Wang, or even heavily damage the Great Song army, then this victory would be inevitable.