1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 669 Defense Handover
During Van Longen's last trip to the Natuna Islands to participate in combat, he was extremely impressed by the defense measures of the small town on the island.The town was surrounded by waterways on the left and right, and there was no concealment on the avenue facing the port. It was indeed extremely difficult to attack the town directly after landing from the port.The backside of the town is not a weak point, but the place with the strongest defense. After the East India Company occupied it, they considered that the island had no defense depth at all, so they built a fortress on the west side of the town. As the last line of defense on Natuna Island.But last time Van Longen and others didn't even break into the town, let alone the last fortress.

It was only a group of pirates who occupied Natuna Island, and the East India Company suffered a great loss. If they were replaced by Haihan people who are said to have strong engineering and construction capabilities, they would be given a few months to slowly build fortifications However, it is really hard for Van Longen to imagine whether he will have a chance to take back the island from them in the future.To be honest, even if the Haihan people did not intervene in this matter, Van Longen still believed that he would pay a big price for the next battle to seize the island.The pampered gentlemen in Batavia didn't know that the pirates on the island were armed. They thought they could take them down with more troops. Anyway, no one believed them, and they all thought it was caused by their improper command. Failure, Van Longen didn't bother to say it, so let the people behind touch this hard nail.

Cohen couldn't guess what Van Longen was thinking. He frowned and said, "If we really give them a few months to buffer, it will indeed make it more difficult for us to take back Natuna. So I ask you to fight with the Haihan people." When negotiating, regardless of whether they have taken action or not, you cannot agree with their occupation of the area, and do not accept the no-entry area and time limit they have drawn. Remember, this is our bottom line!"

"Good Governor, I will remember it in my heart." Van Longen replied respectfully.He originally thought that the company might send a high-level person to be the team leader, but judging from the current lineup, there is no doubt that he is the real core and person in charge of the mission.

Cohen said in a deep voice: "Remember, our goal is not to reach some kind of peace agreement with them. It is of course best if we can do it. If it can't be done, don't force it. The most important thing is to understand them from all levels. to find out their strength. I want to know why they were able to defeat our armed fleet, and I don’t want Fujian’s ambiguous defeat to happen again!”

Without waiting for Van Longen to reply, Cohen turned to Van der Wegen and said: "When you arrive in Sanya, you must find a chance to take a look at their warships and shipyards. You are an expert, I think you should know which details are worthwhile. Pay attention. If possible, keep in touch with people in their military, find out their army structure, command system, weapons and equipment, troop size, and collect all available intelligence, understand?"

"Understood, my lord governor!" Van der Wegen responded loudly.

"The performance of the two of you before this was not ideal, and the company's senior management also complained about you, but I suppressed these opinions. I hope you can seize this opportunity to perform well and don't let me down again. It's over." Cohen slowly leaned his body back on the chair back, his face unable to hide his tired look: "If you can't do things this time again, you all are going to pack your bags and go back to your hometown."

Van der Wegen and Van Longen glanced at each other, stood up silently, and bowed to Cohen to say goodbye.Seeing this, Su Keyi also got up and prepared to leave, but Cohen, who had closed his eyes and seemed to be recuperating, said at this moment: "Su Keyi stay, I have something to tell you."

After the two Dutchmen left, Cohen opened his eyes and said, "Do you know why I chose you to join the mission?"

"Because the Haihan people we are going to contact on this trip are actually Chinese, the villain can act as an interpreter and help the two sides communicate." Su Keyi responded.

Cohen nodded and said, "This is just one of the reasons, think again."

Su Keyi thought for a while and added: "The appearance and behavior of the villain should be no different from the local Chinese. Maybe there is a chance to mix with the people and get more news."

"That's right, but it's not complete enough." Cohen didn't continue to go around in circles, and directly revealed the answer: "I hope that after you arrive in the local area, you will carefully observe their social forms and immigration policies to see what we can learn from. Is there any place to take advantage of the loopholes. After returning, organize some reliable people and try to immigrate to Sanya to settle down."

The surprised expression on Su Keyi's face couldn't be concealed at all: "What does the governor mean... to send people to lurk in the local area?"

"That's right." Cohen nodded and said, "During the meeting two days ago, Mr. Henk mentioned something that we had neglected in the past, and that was intelligence channels. Haihan people can send people to infiltrate Bada through various channels. Via, but we don't know anything about their situation. It will be difficult for us to avoid competition with the Haihan people in the Far East in the future, if we still don't know anything about their movements, we will suffer a big loss sooner or later."

"But Mr. Henk never seems to allow Chinese people to enter his department..." Su Keyi obviously understood the "eccentricity" of the East India Company's intelligence department, and he had a hesitant look on his face.

"Maybe after you come back, I will form a new independent department, a department that exists for the Haihan people. In view of the Chinese identity of the Haihan people, this department will also be made up of Chinese as the main body. Do you understand what I mean? ?” Cohen interrupted Su Keyi.

"Understand, understand!" Su Keyi is not a fool, of course he understands that Cohen is promising him an official position.If such a new department can really be established, then as the only Chinese executive who has been to Sanya, he will definitely become the person in charge of this new department.

"In addition to what I just said, I also want to know the relationship between Haihan and Daming, how they coexisted on Qiongzhou Island." Cohen explained: "I don't believe that the Ming Empire will allow such a group of people Blatantly creating another set of governing institutions on their own borders, I want to know how they did it!"

In mid-August, the East India Company mission consisting of two sailing ships, one large and one small, slowly sailed out of the port of Batavia and began to march north.Ten days after setting off, they arrived in the waters of the Natuna Islands, but for the sake of prudence, they did not approach the islands, but chose to go around fifty nautical miles from the west.

There is no doubt that Van Longen's decision was quite wise, because at this time the fleet led by Roger was also approaching the port on the east side of the main island of Natuna. If they had not chosen to detour, they might have collided with this ship. "Sea Han Expeditionary Force".And in order not to expose the truth on the island, Roger will definitely order the capture or sinking of these two ships. All the hundreds of crew members will be included in the list of missing persons, just like those captured on the island.

The situation was just as Cohen expected, and Haihan didn't plan to wait for the Dutch to react before taking action.A few days after the diplomatic letter was sent, Roger's fleet set off from Victory Port and headed south.When the letter arrived in Batavia, the fleet had also arrived at Cam Ranh Bay in the south of Annan for the last rest and replenishment.When the mission of the East India Company went north, the two sides just missed it in the Natuna Islands by mistake.

The Haihan fleet that went south this time carried nearly 2000 people, of which roughly half were divided between soldiers and civilians.In addition, there are a large number of weapons, building materials, supplies, agricultural supplies, etc. transported on board, which is completely a mighty large-scale immigration.In order to ensure safety, the Navy even used a "Majestic-class" capital ship to go south with the fleet as an escort.Of course, due to the limited conditions of the port, this large ship cannot stay there for a long time, so after the newly arrived troops switch defenses with the local Mu Xiabo Department, it will have to accompany the fleet loaded with Mu Xiabo Department All the way back to Annan Cam Ranh Bay Base.

While the Dutch fleet was anxiously searching for suspicious targets on the nearby sea, Roger and Muchabe were conducting a defense handover at the Port of Ambuna.These two people have had the experience of fighting hand in hand before, but it has already been traced back to the Annan Civil War.In the past two years, Mu Xiabo has been stationed in Annan, while Luo Jie spent most of his time in Tiandu Industrial Zone, so the two sides basically have no contact.

In order to avoid leakage of information as much as possible, the island has been under martial law since last night. All civilians are not allowed to leave their homes without being notified. The entire port area is completely blocked, and non-military identities are strictly prohibited from entering.After Roger's fleet arrived at the port, the first batch of infantrymen who landed immediately took over the defense of the small town on the island, and then the commanders of both sides met at the port and began to hand over command and supplies.

"This is the list of materials left over on the island. They are all piled up in the warehouse of the camp. You should send someone to check them out as soon as possible." After the two sides met and exchanged a few simple greetings, Mu Xiabo began to get down to business, and took out the list of materials and handed it to Luo Jay.

Roger took it over and looked at it, then handed it to the adjutant beside him to handle it.After being stationed on the island for four months, there are actually not many military supplies left over, and the rest are mainly unconsumed military rations and more than 1000 catties of gunpowder.As for weapons, since the standard weapons installed by the Annan militia are different from those at the base camp, there is no need to stay on the island, and all will be shipped away.

"When I was about to leave, I heard that the Military Commission had drawn up a reward for you. Presumably you should have heard the news at this time, right?" Roger asked with a smile.

"Well, I was notified by telegram, and I was given a long vacation with pay. As for the matter of promotion, I have to wait until I return to Shengli Port to report on my work." Although Mu Xiabo has a relatively calm personality, he can't hide his face. happy look.Capturing the Abunna Islands and repelling a counterattack by the opponent is undoubtedly a great achievement.But at this time, he didn't know that there was another senior military officer who would have served as the governor of the East India Company in the other party's death list. Otherwise, the commendation order issued by the Military Commission would probably have been longer.

"What's the situation on the island?" Roger thought for a while and added, "I'm talking about the situation among the people."

"The current civilians on the island have basically stabilized their emotions. After all, we haven't done anything outrageous in the past few months. To be honest, we are probably the most moral pirates ever." Mu Xiabo laughed at himself. Said: "Although it can't be said that we don't take the people's needles and stitches, but it is true that we have not done anything against discipline. The people on the island have nothing but complaints about the curfew that we have been implementing all the time."

"How about the food reserves on the island?" Roger continued to ask.

"Including your 2000 people, it should last for two or three months." Mu Xiabo said, pointing to several Dutch sailboats docked on the shore in the port area: "These boats that fell into the net There are a lot of supplies, and we unloaded them for our own use. By the way, there are still dozens of captives being held on the island. Later, you will ask the fleet to spare a ship to transport the captives."

"Don't worry, this has been prepared for a long time." Roger replied with a smile: "The shipyard specially refitted a ship, added iron fences to the deck hatch cover, and added a whole row of shackles in the cabin to ensure that these prisoners can only go on the way. Can honestly squat in the cabin."

"That's good. I don't want to cause any trouble on the way back." Mu Xiabo is not afraid of fighting, but escorting prisoners for a long distance is indeed a very troublesome thing.

"These forts... What a pity." Roger looked around the wreckage of the fort on the pier, and couldn't help sighing.

After the Dutch landed and captured the port that day, the Militia Army blew up the artillery and forts that could not retreat.And from the ruins of the fort left behind, it is not difficult to imagine the intensity of the battle that day.

"How are the new fortifications going to be repaired?" Mu Xiabo didn't want to talk about the battle situation that day, so he simply opened up another topic.

"The three-dimensional defense must be against the sea as well as the land." Roger explained: "The biggest problem with the fortifications last time was that there were only coastal defense guns against ships, and there was no defense against infantry assaults. So the new The fortifications will start from this aspect, adding defensive means such as ditches and barbed wire, and will increase the number of musketeers deployed. However, I personally prefer to build a bastion like Fort Victory, but this island Conditions are limited, so it may not be possible to repair it.”

"It can be repaired, but the construction period will take a long time, and it may not be completed by the time you leave office." Mu Xiabo patted Roger on the shoulder and said: "After I leave, this place will be handed over to you, Holland People will definitely come back, don't let them down, beat them hard!"

Roger grinned and said, "Don't worry, I will make them completely give up the fight for this place."

(End of this chapter)