1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 721
If only the vacancy left by Cohen's death caused the high-level internal strife in the East India Company, it would not be enough to shock Roger. After all, Cohen's illness is no secret to Haihan, and the resulting Power disputes are also changes that intelligence agencies can expect.What surprised Roger was that the Matalan Sultanate, also located on the island of Java, responded immediately and sent a large army to attack the area near Batavia.

Founded in 1586, the Green Church regime has risen extremely quickly in Southeast Asia. It has expanded its territory several times through several wars in the nearly 1613 years since Laden Langsang came to power in 20.At present, Mataram has unified the central and eastern regions of Java Island, and occupied the eastern part of Sumatra and the southern part of Kalimantan Island.In other words, Batavia and the surrounding areas occupied by the Dutch in West Java have become the only obstacle preventing the Matalam map from being connected.

In terms of size alone, the territory of Mataram is already dozens of times larger than the area ruled by the East India Company on Java Island.Naturally, the ruler of Mataram will not sit idly by in the territory he will be in charge of in the future. There is such a thorn in the side of Batavia City. Lead an army to attack Batavia.

However, Lang Sang soon discovered that the piece of fat in their eyes was actually a hard bone that could break teeth.Under the command of Governor Cohen, the Dutch and their native soldiers stubbornly resisted the Matalan army.Although the difference in strength between the two sides was nearly ten times, the Dutch, with their more advanced armament and fortifications, still managed to withstand the opponent's crowd tactics.Although Lang Sang was able to withstand the combat losses of personnel, the sea transport capacity under his command was difficult to provide a stable logistical supply for the army, so that the two sieges failed to last until the defenders in the city ran out of ammunition and food, and their own army had already suffered because of The supply of food and grass was insufficient and they had to retreat.

Of course, Matalam's two offensives were not in vain. Although the city of Batavia was defended, the East India Company suffered huge losses.Almost all the various cash crop plantations near the city of Batavia were destroyed by the enemy, and the port facilities were also severely damaged.In order to avoid the edge, Cohen had to order some ships to go to other colonial strongholds to avoid head-to-head combat with the Matalan fleet.

And in the original history, Cohen died suddenly of illness in Batavia during the second siege of the Matalan army at the age of 43.Although in this time and space he succeeded in renewing his life due to the butterfly effect caused by the Haihan crossing operation, which prevented Matalam from recklessly fighting in the past two years, there is no doubt that Lang Sang and his subjects They are always waiting for the next opportunity to start a war.

Judging from the speed of Matalam's dispatch of troops this time, Roger believes that these Javanese natives have either been ready to go to war and have not relaxed, or they just want to seize this golden opportunity to catch the Dutch by surprise.If it is the latter, then Matalan may not be fully prepared for war, and it is hard to say whether they can achieve the results they want.But if it is the former situation, then the city of Batavia, which is currently in civil strife, may really be captured.

Haihan, as a third-party bystander, of course hopes that the two sides will fight as hard as possible. After all, no matter which side wins in the end, it will still be Haihan's priority in South Asia, especially the key waterway of the Sunda Strait. Competitors for control.If it can consume its strength through war, no matter whether it is Roger or the Haihan Executive Committee, they will definitely be happy to see it.It's just that there is still more than 600 nautical miles between Batavia and the southernmost Ambuna Islands in the Haihan-controlled area, so it is very difficult to obtain accurate information in the first place.Even if you want to watch the excitement, you can't see clearly from such a long distance.

Roger stayed with the person who brought the letter and questioned him in detail for a long time, but the information he got was only fragmentary information with limited reference value.However, he still didn't dare to be negligent, and immediately went to the confidential room of the headquarters, and personally sent a telegram to Sanya to explain the situation.

However, the base camp also has no effective solution to this situation. It can only immediately notify the Ministry of Shipping, and let the Ministry of Shipping come forward to warn foreign maritime merchants who have recently entered and left the port not to go south to Batavia during this period, so as not to was involved in the flames of war.

Haihan and the East India Company only reached an armistice agreement, but they did not have any formal diplomatic relations. The only open communication at present is probably the slave trade in the port of Ambuna.Therefore, there was no official information channel from the East India Company at the Sanya base camp. The executive committee had to urgently summon Hao Wanqing from the Ministry of Security to ask him if there was any other way to learn about the battle situation in Batavia.

Hao Wanqing got the news later than the Executive Committee. The telegram sent from Ambuna Port was first sent to the Executive Committee Office, and then copied to the Military Commission, the Ministry of Security and other units.So when he rushed to Fort Victory to be consulted by the Executive Committee, he actually had no information to provide the Executive Committee members with.

"At present, all I can say to you is one word—wait!" Hao Wanqing also had a helpless expression on his face: "The Ministry of Security has indeed arranged intelligence personnel in Batavia. Surrounded by large armies, it may be very difficult for our people to escape from the chaotic army."

"You mean, maybe we won't know what happened to Batavia until the war is over?" Yan Chujie asked with some dissatisfaction.

Hao Wanqing didn't care about his tone, nodded calmly and responded: "Although I really don't want to admit this, but the current situation is indeed the case. If the city of Batavia has been blocked, then we can only wait for the Matalan country Retreat, or wait for the city of Batavia to be destroyed. In addition, I want to remind Mr. Yan that it is best not to send armed forces to intervene without knowing the situation of Batavia. Matalan is not a weak regime. , the territory of this country is already about the size of Annan, and it is more belligerent than the Annan people."

Yan Chujie shook his head slightly and said: "The military will not intervene in the war between the Dutch and the monkeys in South Asia, but we must find a way to grasp the changes in the local situation. Besides, our military is not the only one who cares about the situation in Batavia. Shi Boss, do you think so?"

Schneider responded with a smile: "You don't need to rush me into the water, even if you don't mention it, I will say it. If Batavia is captured by Matalan, it will not only be affected by the Dutch family, The pattern of trade between the East and the West may change as a result. Even if Matalam fails to win in the end, as long as the strength of the Dutch is weakened, the situation in South Asia may change again. For us, of course It is an opportunity, but it is also a test. If the Dutch decline, then we will have the opportunity to intervene in the trade circle of the Java Sea, sell our industrial products to the local area, and gradually promote the trade system and financial system dominated by us locally. system."

"With all due respect, dealing with the Matalan Kingdom may be much more troublesome than Annan and Daming. Don't forget, that is a corrupt Green Religion regime." Ning Qi also opened his mouth to join the discussion中: "I am not here to discuss the teachings of the Green Church, but just to remind everyone that this kind of political regime rises quickly and declines very quickly. In the original history, by the end of this century, The country of Mata Ram has already been reduced to a vassal of the Dutch. The time when this country is really prosperous is only a short period of 30 to [-] years at this stage."

"You mean, Mata Ram is not a suitable regime to be an ally?" Tao Donglai asked.

"From the history we know, this is a nouveau riche who can't get rich for three generations." Ning Qi described succinctly: "From the first generation of Sultan Suta Vijaya Senapati who established the regime, to the succession Mas Zorang, who led the attack on Batavia, and now Raden Langsan, this country seems to be getting stronger and stronger, but in fact it has reached the apex of this regime. The following history is Basically, it went downhill all the way to the end, until it was split into two small countries with no resistance by the Dutch in the 18th century."

Ning Qi didn't go any further. These people here are not newbies. They have been sitting in the positions of rulers for so many years, so they naturally understand all kinds of taboos in diplomacy and what needs to be paid attention to.If the existence of a regime is too short and the leaders change too frequently, it will inevitably lead to a lack of continuity in its policies, and this is the most troublesome thing for any diplomat.

Although the opponents of this regime are also the opponents of Haihan, this does not mean that the simple situation of "the enemy of the enemy is a friend". No difference, same inherently evil pagan.If Haihan is trying to find an anti-Dutch ally in South Asia, Matalam is not a suitable choice.In terms of the difficulty of diplomacy, it may be more difficult to deal with than the East India Company. At least the East India Company is run by businessmen, and the basic spirit of contract is still available.In the world of Green Cult, there are only the same believers and heretics, and everything else can be ignored.

After listening to Ning Qi's introduction, Schneider really felt a bit backed down: "If this is the situation you said, then we really need to think about what kind of attitude we should use to deal with Mata Languo."

"The situation in Matalan Country can be discussed later, let's get back to the topic first." Seeing that he was talking and talking again, Tao Donglai quickly brought the topic back: "Minister Hao, please Please briefly explain to the Executive Committee the current deployment of the Ministry of Security personnel in Batavia."

Hao Wanqing nodded and said: "Okay! But for the sake of confidentiality, I will not announce the specific personal situation of the local intelligence personnel here..."

The time when the Ministry of Security sent intelligence personnel to Batavia can be traced back to a few years ago. At that time, some Israeli merchants had been sent to the local area through Zhan’s ship company and other maritime merchants who traveled between Daming and Batavia. The staff is an intelligence officer under cover.However, due to safety considerations, the Ministry of Security did not station traversers in the area, nor did it distribute artifacts such as radio stations to the local intelligence agencies.The main activities of the intelligence personnel in the local area have always been to silently collect intelligence, and the local ships returning to Daming regularly bring back written reports.

The Ministry of Security’s intelligence collection work in Batavia did not have any outstanding achievements, but last year’s Haihan militia went south to capture the Abunna Islands. In the decision-making stage, the decision to start the war was made based on the intelligence sent back from the local area in the early stage.Based on this information, the military speculated that the Dutch could not react too quickly, so they dared to continue to intercept the Dutch ships docking in the port as pirates after seizing the island. It was not until two months later that the Dutch realized that something was wrong. The Haihan militia has basically completed the cleanup of the local area, and even built some fortifications with spare energy, which played a significant role in the subsequent battle against the Dutch armed counterattack.

Currently, the Ministry of Security has deployed two independent intelligence lines in Batavia. Even if one of them has an accident, the other line can still continue to operate.The persons in charge of these two lines have also gradually established their own intelligence networks in the local area. Up to now, there are 11 people working for the Haihan Security Department in Batavia, and there are also intelligence personnel recruited locally. There are more than [-] non-Han nationality peripheral personnel.These people together formed Haihan's local intelligence network, sending various local intelligence to Sanya on average once a month.

The intelligence sent to Anbuna Port a few days ago also came from the intelligence network of the Ministry of Security.However, the person in charge of sending the letter was only a peripheral person. When he left Batavia, the local port had not been blocked by the army of Matalan, so there was no useful information to provide for the future trend of the battle.The remaining intelligence personnel are basically in the city of Batavia. If the city is besieged, it will be really difficult to send out information.

"Can't we try a means of information transmission like training homing pigeons?" Bex asked, "At least it can be of great use in places where there are no radio stations deployed."

"Yes, but we must consider the actual local conditions." Hao Wanqing explained: "The direct distance from Batavia to Port of Ambuna is more than 1100 kilometers, and almost the whole journey is at sea. This is a very difficult journey for homing pigeons. In addition, the training of general carrier pigeons requires multiple repeated releases, and our local intelligence point is in the city of Batavia, and it is easy to cause suspicion when releasing pigeons at irregular intervals. In addition, from the reliability of information transmission Thinking about it, practical pigeons may not be as reliable as human transmission.”

(End of this chapter)