1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 631 The Temeran Islands

Zhan Gui's original intention to make friends with Jonke was originally assigned by the Haihan Security Department, rather than his own initiative.At the earliest time, the military also planned whether to take Belitung Island as well when going south, but later, considering that the distance from Batavia is too short, it is difficult to guarantee a safe island after the capture. To take over this place during the transitional period, we had to give up this step first, and chose to take the northern Ambuna Islands as the main target.

The pepper planted on Belitung Island is not the goal of Haihan, but a place on the west side of the island that is suitable for building a port, which is the location of Tanjung Pandan Port, the capital of Belitung Island in later generations.The local port conditions are obviously better than that of Ambuna Island, but it is difficult to make full use of it with the engineering capabilities of the Dutch, so they can only temporarily choose a harbor on the south side of the island that is more convenient for building a wharf as a colony point.And if the location of Tanjung Pandan is handed over to Haihan, there is no doubt that within a year or two, an outpost for attacking the throat waterway of Southeast Asia can be built in the future.However, in view of the fact that the current strength of the Haihan Navy is not strong enough to do whatever it wants under the eyes of the East India Company, the military can only take the next best thing for the time being, and set the springboard for going south in the Abunar Islands.

Two months ago, when the Militia Army went south to capture the Ambuna Islands, in order to prevent sporadic island residents from escaping from the encirclement, the military and the Ministry of Security specially arranged for Zhan Gui to take a fleet to Belitung Island in advance— — If someone escapes from the island, they must report to the south, and Belitung Island, more than 400 nautical miles south of Ambuna Island, is the first choice for escapees.

If such a thing really happened, then the field team of the Ministry of Security in Zhangui's fleet had to take decisive action.Either look for opportunities on the island, or intercept and kill the ships sent back to the Batavia base camp on the open sea. In short, they want to keep the news of the change of ownership of the Ambuna Islands secret for a while longer.

Fortunately, the Haihan militia's surprise attack wiped out all the Dutch ships docked at Abunna Island, and no fish slipped through the net, and Zhan Gui didn't have to bear the risk of his identity being exposed.Of course, the luckiest person is actually Mayor Jonker on Belitung Island, because if someone escapes here from Abunna Island, he is likely to be involved, and then the killers in the Zhangui fleet If he wanted to kill people overnight, Mayor Jonker, as an insider, would surely be doomed.

However, regarding the inside story, Jonke didn't notice any abnormality at all. He still thought that Zhan Gui was a friend worth making friends with.What he is thinking about now is not what kind of gift Zhan Gui will bring next time, but he wants to ask Zhan Gui when they meet next time, what is going on in the sea to the north, which has caused all the Dutch merchant ships going south recently to panic. Disappeared without a trace.

Because the three commanders of the search and rescue fleet drank a little too much the night before, they failed to set off early the next morning as originally scheduled.At noon, the three men came to the pier with the smell of alcohol. After a brief lunch, the fleet unmoored and sailed out of Belitung Port.

The next stop of the search and rescue fleet is the Tamilan Islands, which is located in the north of Belitung Island and has a voyage of about 250 nautical miles.The location of this archipelago is exactly halfway between Belitung Island and Ambuna Islands, where food and fresh water can be replenished at the local port.However, the East India Company did not place immigrants here for no other reason. The place here is indeed too small to be suitable for colonial development.Of the [-] islands in the Tamilan Islands, only five islands are inhabited by indigenous people. The variety of local products is far less than that of Belitung Island and Ambuna Island. The main products are only coconuts and sea cucumbers.

Three days later, the search and rescue fleet successfully arrived at the Tamilan Islands, but they also found nothing here.The information that the indigenous leaders on the island can tell them is not even as good as Mayor Jonker.At least Jonker can have a relatively clear concept of time and records of ship stops, but the aborigines here are living a life of sluggishness, and there is only one witch doctor in the entire tribe who is recording the time with the primitive method of wooden stakes. , As for when the last Dutch ship docked here, no one on the island could tell the exact time.

"These stupid monkeys should be extinct as soon as possible!" After returning to the boat, the impatient Spikes finally couldn't help losing his temper: "These guys are much more stupid than black people! They are so stupid and lazy!"

The reason why Spike lost his temper was that during the negotiation with the natives just now, he asked the natives to provide more locally produced fruits and vegetables, but this was rejected by the natives because they did not want to work for outsiders.Spikes said that silver coins can be given as a reward, but the natives think that silver coins are useless on this island-of course this is indeed true, there is no established commercial system here, and bartering is still used primitive means of exchange.

Fortunately, it was not the first time for the three commanders to take this route. They knew how to deal with these extremely lazy natives, so they took out the goods on the ship and traded with the natives, and only then did they successfully obtain supplies.Of course, carrying these supplies onto the ship has to be done by the fleet's own hands, and the natives here are not interested in engaging in any physical labor other than survival.

"As God bears witness, sooner or later I will catch all these monkeys and send them to the plantations in Surabaya to work as coolies, and let the whip teach them the rules!" His anger was still uncontrollable.

"Okay, Mr. Spikes, stop complaining to these ignorant natives, we should think about how to go next." Browar stopped Spikes venting with indifference: "We now A decision needs to be made as to whether to prioritize completing the voyage or to conduct a search operation in this area."

Since the local aborigines failed to provide any useful information, all the commanders can now determine is that the sea area where the Dutch ship crashed was north of Belitung Island, but the specific location cannot be determined.Tamilan Islands is located between Peninsular Malaysia and Kalimantan Island. The surrounding conditions are relatively complicated. The east side is the third largest island in the world. During this period, it was called Borneo’s Kalimantan Island, and the south side except Belitung Island In addition, there are Bangka Island and Sumatra, the sixth largest island in the world.

The situation in the west is the most complicated. The Riau Islands and Linga Islands outside the Strait of Malacca have always been active areas for pirates in the South China Sea. Even if the Portuguese are stationed there, it has not changed the chaotic situation in that sea area.And these two islands are only [-] to [-] nautical miles away from the Tamilan Islands, and there is indeed the possibility of pirates coming out to make trouble.

As for the north, in addition to the Ambuna Islands, there is also the Anambas Islands in the northwest. The local complex island environment also provides convenient conditions for pirates to hide.For the East India Company's search and rescue fleet, these islands may hide clues related to the disappearance of the Dutch merchant ship.

"If we want to search all these places, it will take at least one or two months, which is unlikely to happen." Van Longen shook his head first and vetoed: "Gentlemen, our fleet is not a professional combat fleet. The extent to which the search and rescue mission is carried out must also take into account our actual situation."

Although Van Longen accepted the appointment of Governor Cohen to lead the fleet to participate in this search and rescue mission, he also knew that his fleet was limited in capacity and could only undertake low-intensity military missions.And Brower's tone is to filter out all the places where pirates may exist in this sea area. This is actually a very risky approach for a fleet dominated by armed merchant ships.Van Longen was not worried that he would not be able to defeat the rabble like pirates, but that he could not bear the possible losses. The ships under his command were all ordered in the Dutch local shipyard. Once serious damage occurred, the local shipyard in Batavia would not be able to If it can be repaired, it will have to hire someone from the mainland to repair the ship, and the loss caused by this time delay will be great.Therefore, he tactfully expressed his attitude to Broward, unwilling to let the fleet take too much risk.

Brower probably could have guessed Van Longen's small plan, so he didn't say anything at the moment, but turned his head to ask Spikes for advice: "Mr. Spikes, what do you think?"

At this time, Spikes has calmed down from the previous excitement and returned to the state of a professional: "I think there is no need to think too much about the east and the south. The company's ships already patrol the south side regularly, and Borneo in the east ...we'd better not mess with them."

Neither Van Longen nor Brower took issue with Spikes' opinion.There are many independent kingdoms on Borneo, among which the ruler of Sukardana is loyal to the largest kingdom of Mataland in Java, and the kingdom of Mataland can be said to be One of the most troublesome enemies of the East India Company.

Not long ago, in 1628 and 1629, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mataland, Madam Lang San, led an army to attack Batavia twice.If it weren't for the East India Company's armed level to have a certain advantage, the city would have been lost long ago.Although the Kingdom of Mataland failed to completely defeat the East India Company, their sphere of influence expanded very rapidly during this period, unified Central Java and East Java, and established ruling areas in eastern Sumatra and southern Kalimantan .The area actually ruled by this kingdom is actually far more than the colonists of the East India Company.

In the original history, it was not until the second half of the 17th century that the Kingdom of Mataland began to decline. The ruler Aman Goulart II signed a slavery treaty with the East India Company and became a vassal of the East India Company.By the middle of the 18th century, the country was split into Yogyakarta and Solo by the East India Company, and could never regain its former glory.

Of course, those are situations that have not yet happened. The relationship between the two sides is still in a state of war. If the search and rescue fleet goes around the coast of Borneo, it is likely to be regarded as the East India Company’s attack on the Kingdom of Mataland. The provocation may even lead to another large-scale war between the two sides. This is not something the three of them can afford.Even if the reason for going to Borneo is very good, the governor will never forgive such a low-level mistake.

After hearing what Spikes said, Brower responded unhurriedly: "According to what you said, there is no need to go to the west, it is very close to the Portuguese, and if you are not careful, you will bump into them." fleet."

"Gentlemen, I suggest going to the Natuna Islands in the north first. After all, it is a place that really belongs to us. When we get there, we will collect information first, and then we will have time to make further judgments. The person in charge there, Old Jansen, is a A serious and responsible person, he should have a more complete schedule record than Mr. Jonker." Hearing Brower's bad tone, Van Longen hurriedly put forward his own suggestion to prevent the two from quarreling.

Dutch captains returning from the north prefer to dock at the Natuna Islands compared to Belitung Port, which is close to Batavia, because this is the first piece of the Netherlands they saw after a long voyage south from Dayuan Port. Colonies, almost every Dutch merchant ship going south will use the Natuna Islands as a must-stop supply point on this voyage.There is no doubt that more detailed information can be obtained than the previous two stations.

"This is probably the safest way at the moment." Brower said noncommittally, got up and said, "Gentlemen, I need to go back to my ship to see if the supplies have been loaded on board."

"This guy...can't wait to fight a battle!" Spikes resentfully complained after Brower left, "He's just counting on making outstanding military achievements this time, so that he can be the next governor. outcompete me."

Governor Cohen intends to select a person between Spikes and Brower as the next governor candidate to recommend to the company's board of directors. In fact, many people already know this, and Van Longen is one of them.However, he didn't want to get involved in this kind of high-level power dispute. It would be fine if the team made the right bet, but if it didn't, the other party would suffer after taking power.Think back to when Cohen took office as governor, he immediately sent several of his main competitors to remote unknown seas to explore, and more than half of them failed to return to Batavia alive.

Van Longen didn't want his well-done sea trade business to be suddenly interrupted, and then be sent to the ocean by the new governor to explore new routes.Navigators might like that kind of thing, but Van Longen is only a businessman, and he is only interested in business matters.Whether it's exploring or fighting, that's not what he wants to do.Therefore, he could only pretend not to hear Spikes' complaints in order to maintain his neutral position.He now only hopes that after arriving at Natuna Island, he can find some clear clues there to calm the differences between the two senior officers.

(End of this chapter)