1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 662 The Dutch Conundrum
An armed force of one thousand people, immigrants of more than a thousand people, plus a large amount of materials and equipment, this is the lineup that is about to go from the Sanya base camp to the Ambuna Islands.In order to ensure the delivery of personnel and materials in place at one time, the Ministry of Shipping needs to mobilize more than [-] transport ships under its command to undertake this task, and this is one of the few ocean-going fleets dispatched by the Ministry of Shipping since the Annan Civil War. scale.

However, this is not all the power that the executive committee intends to invest in the local area. In addition to the army and immigrants, the navy will also increase its investment in local maritime defense.The warships stationed in the Ambuna Islands will add four more warships of the same level on the basis of the original two "Explorer-class", so as to ensure that when the local area is attacked from the sea, it will not have to retreat to the inland for passive defense. .After the reconstruction and expansion project of the local port terminal is completed, the Military Commission will most likely deploy one or two "expedition-class" warships with a larger tonnage.

As for the "Majestic-class" warships that are used as flagships in various fleets, the requirements for port conditions and comprehensive supply and maintenance capabilities are much higher. Limited by objective conditions, it is difficult for Abuna Island to meet the requirements of the Navy. According to the standard, the military can only deploy it to the Cam Ranh Bay military base in Annan, and it needs to be sent to the South China Sea to perform combat missions when it is ready for war.

In mid-August, news finally came from Fujian that the negotiations between the local government and the East India Company had broken down. Just as the executive committee had predicted, the Dutch refused any form of compensation and promises, and their attitude was still very tough.Although this may not be good news for the Fujian government that does not want to continue the fight, it is exactly what Haihan wants to achieve.Calculating the time, it is estimated that the ship that sent the letter to Batavia had been departing for many days, so Haihan also entrusted Zhan's Shipping Company, which has trade relations with the East India Company, to bring a stern diplomatic letter. Go to Batavia and hand it over to the top of the East India Company.

Five days after Zhan's fleet set off, the huge fleet led by Roger also set sail from the Victory Port Military Wharf and the Sanya Immigration Wharf at the same time.The two fleets will meet off the coast of Sanya, and then go south together after a simple formation at sea, heading for the Ambuna Islands.Due to the large size of the fleet, they had to stop at the Annan coastal port at least twice for replenishment on the way, and it would take about 20 days to reach the Abona Islands.Prior to this, Mu Xiabo and the Annan militia army stationed there still had to rely on themselves to organize the defense.

Fortunately, at this time, the headquarters of the East India Company in Batavia was caught in a fierce dispute of opinions, and the reason was that the military operations organized by the company had suffered successive setbacks abroad.

In late June, a convoy originally dispatched to search and rescue the missing merchant ship collided with the owner in the Natuna Islands, and an armed conflict broke out.The fleet commanded by senior officers Spikes and Brower fought relatively smoothly at the beginning. They carried out the landing operation against the opponent's artillery fire and successfully broke through the opponent's coastal defense turret defense line.Just when they thought they could successfully wipe out the pirates of unknown origin and take back Natuna Island, the situation in the ensuing battle took a sudden turn for the worse.

The Dutch army, which gained an advantage in the amphibious landing operations, was defeated by its opponents in the positional battle besieging the small town on the island.Brower himself was killed in the raid on the town, which was one of the main reasons for the subsequent rout of the Dutch army.In the end, the fleet that escaped from the local area was unable to launch a second round of attacks, so they could only divide into two groups at sea, one led by Van Longen, and still headed north to Dayuan Port.Another remnant defeated by Spikes returned to Batavia the same way and reported the battle to the company.

Since entering the Far East, the armed fleet of the East India Company has ended in victory in most of the conflicts. This is also the fundamental reason why the colonies under the company's jurisdiction can expand rapidly in just over a decade.Even if they were defeated by the Ming army in Penghu during the Tianqi period, it was because the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great. After resisting for half a year, they almost ran out of ammunition and food, so they had to choose to retreat.However, an armed force with a well-organized lineup, well-trained, and commanded by senior officers was actually defeated by a group of pirates who appeared from nowhere on Natuna Island, and the result can be described as a disastrous defeat. It is really difficult for the vast majority of people on the board to accept.

In Spikes' description, this group of pirates was described as a "well-trained army" equipped with even more guns than the armed fleet, and judging from the state of the fortifications they built on the island, these guys It's not that they plan to rob and leave, but they want to settle in the local area for a long time.

Such a description also caused an uproar in the board of directors. After the East India Company captured the island a few years ago, no foreign forces had ever made a local idea. The Natuna Islands are the subject of contention.It’s not that the Portuguese couldn’t take down this place. In fact, the local defense force is not strong, and they can barely protect themselves from pirates. Development and construction, and there is no natural danger to defend, the strategic value is relatively limited.

However, this group of unknown pirates did not seem to have such awareness. Not only did they quietly capture the local ports and small towns, but they also carried out large-scale projects. From Spikes’ point of view, the local The fortifications require at least thousands of laborers to spend more than a month to build, and this amount of work is the objective reason why there have been no decent fortifications in the local area for many years.

It has to be said that Spikes's inference still has some factual basis, and it is relatively consistent with the time when the Dutch merchant ship began to disappear on this channel, and its credibility is quite high.But what the company's top management couldn't accept was that the armed fleet representing the company's combat power would lose to a group of pirates in battle, and there seemed to be quite a few loopholes in Spikes' description of the battle.

For example, Spikes claimed that the level of equipment of this group of pirates was quite high, even surpassing his own armed forces, but as far as the East India Company knew, no pirates in the Far East had such an armed level.Even the Shibazhi, which is known as the number one in the Far East on the coast of Daming, only has a large number of people on board, and the level of weapons and equipment alone is far inferior to the armed forces of the East India Company.As for the pirate armed forces in South Asia, they are far inferior to Shibazhi. It is often a group of ragged pirates who dare to go to sea to rob with a pile of broken copper and iron. It is said that the generally low-strength South Asian pirates are capable of defeating East India. The company's armed forces, the company's top executives will never believe it.

Of course, Spikes later added an important piece of information, that is, he believed that this group of pirates should be the same group as those who attacked Daming Qiongzhou Island last year.Many of these people were soldiers before they changed their careers. Their military quality is far from that of ordinary pirates, and they also have certain channels to obtain a large number of standard weapons.After this group was expelled from Qiongzhou Island by the coalition forces of Haihan and Ming last year, they probably chose to go south to find another foothold, and the Natuna Islands unfortunately fell into their plan.

As for the weapons in their possession, it is also easy to explain on the basis of this inference.As we all know, the Portuguese and the Haihan people entrenched on Qiongzhou Island are well-known arms dealers. The weapons they recently sold to Annan and Daming are not a small amount, and it is reasonable for some of them to flow into the hands of pirates—maybe They sold them directly to the pirates. After all, this kind of thing is not new. A considerable part of the standard weapons in Shibazhi's hands were provided by the East India Company.

However, this inference is only from Spikes' personal thoughts, and there is no substantive evidence to prove its authenticity. The soldiers even failed to capture a prisoner from the island to obtain a statement.Therefore, most people in the company's board of directors are still skeptical about this statement, but what they don't know is that Spikes made an inference that is infinitely close to the truth.

The armed forces stationed there led by Mu Xiabai indeed had quite a number of members who had participated in the prairie fire operation the previous year, and what they played at that time were the pirates from Annan.It is worth mentioning that when this experience of playing pirates was summed up after the war, when it was applied to the Abunar Islands again, the acting skills of the combatants were generally improved.At that time, the first batch of Dutchmen captured on the island, almost no one doubted whether this group of pirates who suddenly appeared had other unknown real identities.

Even if this combat capability could be reasonably explained, Spikes still couldn't explain to the board why the pirates chose the Natuna Islands, a place in the middle of the South China Sea, as their long-term base.You must know that the local area can't even produce food by itself, and to a certain extent, it has to rely on supplies from outside.The East India Company was able to maintain this supply point because there was a fleet of ships going back and forth on this route all year round. On the one hand, it transported food and living materials from the outside to the island, and on the other hand, it replenished fresh water, fruits and vegetables locally.

The island has always maintained a population of 4000 to [-] people, and it is precisely because the island's self-production level and external supply capacity are limited that it cannot support a larger population for long-term settlement.If these pirates really want to choose Natuna Island as their base, they will inevitably face the same problem—unless they have the ability to carry out large-scale long-distance replenishment, or cultivate a large amount of farmland on the island to grow food crops .But if they intend to organize large-scale farming to make ends meet, why do these people come to be pirates?

Another point that Spikes couldn't explain was that based on what he said, the pirates occupying the local area had at least 800 to [-] people. If so many people and materials came across the sea, where is their fleet?If it was hidden on the coast of a nearby island, why was there no attack from the sea when the Dutch fleet was in port?

Spikes can only guess that this fleet may just go out to sea to catch new prey, but this explanation brings up a new problem: if the pirates who stayed on the island to guard their homes while the main force was out to sea for plunder They are all so powerful, so how powerful will this pirate force be?This was obviously too mysterious, and the people on the board of directors were unwilling to believe that an unknown pirate would have such a powerful force.If even the pirates can manage such an army, what is the East India Company doing all these years?

Even Governor Cohen, who had always trusted Spikes, found it difficult to turn a blind eye to the various loopholes and contradictions in his description under such circumstances.When Governor Cohen sternly asked Spikes whether there was a situation of lying about military information, Spikes could only yell at his innocence, and at the same time claimed that someone could testify for him—Van Longen took his remaining merchant ships northward Da Yuangang, when he comes back, the board of directors can ask him to see if the situation he said matches his description.

However, according to the itinerary, Van Longen may not be able to return to Batavia until the end of August or early September, and this will only be possible if the road goes smoothly.After much discussion, the board of directors decided not to impose punitive measures on Spikes for the time being, but in view of the suspiciousness in his description, Governor Cohen announced that he would be placed under house arrest until Van Longen returned to Batavia and confirmed that his statement was true. .

Although it was not clear what happened in the Natuna Islands in the end, this defeat still attracted the attention of the East India Company's board of directors.There is a very important piece of information in Spikes' description, that is, the several sailing ships that the company had disappeared before all appeared in the local seaport—of course, all the people and goods on board disappeared without a trace, and only one was left. Just remove the rudder's unnavigable shell.Obviously, the missing sailboats before this were all made by these people, so there is no need to go all over the world to find their whereabouts.

A few sailboats are not a big deal, but pirates have begun to threaten the safety of the South China Sea Channel, and their strength is not to be underestimated, which has to attract the attention of the board of directors.There is no doubt that this cancer must be eliminated as soon as possible, otherwise the company's maritime trade in Northeast Asia will be greatly affected in the future.But how to do it has become a difficult problem that everyone is arguing about.

Some people think that we should wait for Van Longen to come back to confirm that Spikes' statement is true before formulating a corresponding battle plan, while others think that we must do it as soon as possible, otherwise the pirates on the island will be more difficult to eradicate.

(End of this chapter)