1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 722 Batavia City

Although the carrier pigeon is a good information transmission tool, its reliability is still relatively low. It may not be able to fly to the intended destination due to various accidents, or the information tied to the carrier pigeon's legs may fall off on the way .Moreover, this method has an insurmountable fatal shortcoming, that is, the extra weight and volume that the carrier pigeon can carry is very limited, which leads to intelligence personnel only using small characters to write small notes as the means of information transmission, which greatly limits the intelligence. The level of detail is difficult to meet the actual needs of the military and intelligence agencies in many cases.Therefore, based on comprehensive considerations, the Ministry of Security did not try to use carrier pigeons, an unsafe communication tool, in Batavia's intelligence agencies.

After listening to Hao Wanqing's explanation, Bai Kesi did not continue to dwell on this issue. After all, he is not a professional in this area, and the Haihan system is very opposed to the practice of laymen leading experts, and the ass determines the head.The executive committee members can question a certain work, but they cannot easily interfere with the decisions made in the professional field.

"Can the military send a scout ship to watch the battle in the waters near Batavia?"

Now that the Ministry of Security has stated that there is currently no reliable means of information transmission, the attention of the Executive Committee can only be returned from the Ministry of Security to the military.Although the opinion of the executive committee is not to intervene in the Batavia war, it is still necessary to grasp the intelligence of the war situation at the first time. After all, the result of this war may affect Haihan's future operations in South Asia. This is the fundamental reason why the executive committee members gathered here for a meeting as soon as they received the news.

However, Yan Chujie's answer was also very helpless: "Anbuna Port is more than 600 nautical miles away from Batavia, and it takes about half a month to come and go. If you send a fast warship to perform a mission, the sea endurance will Probably not enough, we have to send a supply ship to follow. But if we send a fleet south, it will be easy to expose our track. No one on both sides of the war would be happy to see us on the sea near Batavia The fleet appears, which can easily cause unnecessary trouble for us."

What Yan Chujie meant was that the ship could be dispatched, but the military would not bear the possible consequences.This can't be blamed on Yan Chujie's shirking responsibility. The navy has not many ships stationed on Ambuna Island, and the planned radius of action is far from reaching Batavia's position. It was forced to send them to the warring area to perform reconnaissance missions. It's just a difficult thing.If he was accidentally dragged into the war because his whereabouts were discovered, it would completely run counter to Hai Han's original intention of watching from the sidelines.

Although Haihan has a soft power that surpasses its contemporary competitors, it still cannot come up with any effective solutions to such emergencies.After discussing for a long time, it was only a temporary working group organized by the Ministry of Security and the military to go south to Ambuna Island, waiting for an opportunity to try to get in touch with the intelligence personnel lurking in Batavia.But everyone understands that this kind of measure may not have any practical effect. Under the current situation, it is just better than nothing. What can really make a difference are those intelligence personnel of the Ministry of Security who are still in Batavia whose life or death is still uncertain.

On July 1632, 7, the northwest coast of Java Island in the South China Sea, Batavia Harbor.

The sea outside the harbor was densely covered with Matalam's fleet, and Radon Langsang mobilized the maritime armed forces of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra for this offensive.Due to the large fleet, there are still a large number of ships on the way to Batavia Harbor.The total number of Matalan warships that have arrived here exceeds a thousand, and they have sealed off the basin-shaped Batavia Harbor on the outside.The contiguous islands and reefs in the northwest sea outside the harbor have been occupied by the army of Mata Ram as temporary berths.

Due to the sudden incident, the Matalam army was not fully prepared when it set off. The vanguard had arrived in Batavia Port about ten days ago, and it was also engaged in a battle with the Dutch armed fleet stationed there. There was a small-scale confrontation.Although the Dutch have strong ships and guns and are good at naval warfare, the Mata Blue Fleet, which has a numerical advantage, has not suffered too much, and their ships are also equipped with many small-caliber artillery provided by the British, which makes the Dutch sailing ships I have to be a little more careful when fighting.

The British stronghold is also in the west of Java Island, located in the Banten area south of the Sunda Strait, and the land distance from Batavia is only more than 100 kilometers.However, the British did not dare to take the initiative to provoke the Dutch, because they had suffered a lot from the Dutch in their early years.

After Cohen was appointed as the fourth governor of the Dutch East Indies in 1617, the British fleet followed suit, trying to build a castle on the same site and expel the Dutch.The war lasted until 1619. The Dutch had already lost their stronghold when they were most stressed, but Cohen did not give up. He recalled all the Dutch ships and personnel in the entire Nanyang region, and returned to Bada in May of that year. Via fought the British.

As a result of this decisive battle, the Dutch not only recaptured their castle and drove away the British, but also pursued the British ships fleeing to Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and severely damaged them in the waters near Pattani Port in the Malay Peninsula. the British fleet. After the two countries negotiated peace in London in 1620, Cohen was still relentless and executed 30 British people who went to the Maluku Islands to do business, forcing the British to completely withdraw from the East Indies. In 1621, Cohen rebuilt the Dutch stronghold on the northern coast of West Java and named it Batavia, the Roman name for "Netherlands", which was later known as Batavia.

In 1622, in order to monopolize the nutmeg trade, Cohen massacred the aboriginal people who traded with the British in the Banda Islands.More than 5000 local aborigines died in this massacre, and the remaining living people were all used as slave labor by Songdo and other Dutch colonies.Most of the Dutch castles on Penghu and Taiwan Island were built by these slave laborers from Southeast Asia.

Cohen's series of measures made the British unable to hold their heads up. In the end, they could only give up their extravagant hope of occupying Batavia and instead established a stronghold in the neighboring Banten area.When Matalan sent troops to attack the city of Batavia the first two times, the British were already eager to try.However, due to Cohen's great reputation, the British did not dare to participate in the war openly. They could only secretly sell a batch of arms to Ma Dalan after the war, hoping that they would be able to kill the city of Batavia in the next war. old enemy.

On the third day after Cohen died of illness, the British and Matalam people got the news almost at the same time.The ruler of Matalan, Laden Langsang, declared war immediately without hesitation, and sent envoys to various places to dispatch troops to gather in Batavia.The British did not choose to send troops directly to join the battle because they were not sure whether the news of Cohen's death was true or false, but they still provided Mata Lan with forty artillery pieces and corresponding ammunition, hoping that they would be able to survive this battle. Attack the city of Batavia.

20 days after Cohen died of illness, about 20 to [-] Matalan fighters have arrived in the sea off Batavia, and there have been small groups of troops about [-] kilometers from the east and west sides of Batavia Port Landed on the coast of the Netherlands, and destroyed the surrounding plantations, farms, and all Dutch-owned properties.

However, the Dutch did not attempt to resist the invasion of the Matalan army in the open areas outside the city. They abandoned these areas outside the city early, and the immigrants had returned to the city.Therefore, the main losses during this period were concentrated in the economic aspect, and there was not much loss in personnel.

With the arrival of the Mata Blue Fleet in batches, the gap in the number of ships participating in the war between the two sides was further widened, and the Dutch sailing ships in Batavia Harbor gradually fell into a disadvantage.Under the strong suggestion of Van Diemen and other military personnel, the Batavia Council had to order all the ships to break out of the encirclement and leave the port, giving up the plan to engage in a decisive battle with the opponent at sea.

This kind of countermeasure is not the first time in history. When the British attacked here, Cohen had used this tactic, and he personally led the fleet to break out and summoned the forces of various colonies before launching a counterattack. .When Matalan attacked Batavia a few years ago, Cohen also insisted on this approach. He preserved his own strength and did not fight head-on with his opponent. Outgoing ships can also harass the opponent's supply lines from the periphery.At least judging from the effects of the previous two times, this method is quite effective.

The Dutch fleet paid the price of more than 20 ships and finally broke out.Fortunately, the ships that were sunk and damaged were basically small boats, and the impact on the overall strength was not too great.But with the departure of the fleet, it means that the next Matalan army will land in Batavia Port without hindrance. There is only one obstacle in front of them, and that is Batavia, which has experienced the baptism of many wars. Davia is gone.

Although the atmosphere in Batavia is tense, the social order has not yet been disrupted.After all, this is the third time in five years that the city has been attacked by foreign enemies. Whether it is the Dutch, the Chinese or the natives attached to them, they are actually not too nervous.After all, they also know that although the enemy is numerous and powerful, there is no good way to take the strong city of Batavia. At most, they will besiege it for a month or two. When the opponent's supplies can't last, they will naturally have to withdraw their troops .

Of course, there will still be extraordinary policies in extraordinary times. The council has issued an order a few days ago that all food and materials in the city must be uniformly allocated and arranged. Strong sellers will all be dealt with as collaborators-in short, they will be hanged.A gallows had already been set up in the small square in the center of the city, and several felons were dragged from the prison to be executed in public as an example to others.

As one of the food suppliers of Batavia City, the "Dacheng Rice Shop", which is only a hundred meters away from the Governor's Mansion, was naturally temporarily incorporated into the directly subordinate organization of the council.Early this morning, the council sent a team to start counting the grain in the granary.

The owner of "Dacheng Rice Shop" is surnamed Cheng, and his name is Cheng Dapeng.You can tell from the name that this is a Han Chinese. Like many Han Chinese who went to Nanyang in Batavia, he is also from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions of Ming Dynasty.This year is already the third year for Cheng Dapeng to come to Batavia. Compared with other Han compatriots who have just arrived and need to start from the bottom of the labor force, Cheng Dapeng’s starting point is obviously much higher. He came with his own funds and projects. Batavia is engaged in food business, and his appearance in Batavia City is the identity of the boss.

Cheng Dapeng's main business is rice grains, which are sourced from Annan and Champa and transported by sea to Batavia for sale.Although this channel will cause its sales cost to be higher than that of locally grown grain, due to the limited area of ​​fields developed near Batavia and the frequent occurrence of wars in recent years, only locally produced grain is not enough to supply the market. Therefore, Cheng Dapeng's rice business has been making money steadily.

Cheng Dapeng has always had a good reputation in the local business circles and Chinese circles, especially with the Su family who has been in control of the position of the Chinese Kapitan. This relationship also makes "Dacheng Rice Shop" an exclusive property of the Dutch council. food supplier.

Today, the council sent a team to count the food, led by Su Keyi from the Su family.Originally, there was no need for a person of his level to come forward for this kind of matter, but because the target was Cheng Dapeng, he took this errand and made the trip himself.

"Brother Su Shi, why are you here in person?" Seeing Su Keyi appearing, Cheng Dapeng was slightly surprised, and quickly stood up from behind the counter to greet him.

"I'm also worried that Boss Cheng will be dissatisfied with the decision of the meeting, so I came here to explain to Boss Cheng." Su Keyi answered with his hands clasped.

Cheng Dapeng said: "Brother Su Shi is too worried. Since the meeting has been decided, I will naturally follow the order. Besides, the soldiers from outside the city are suppressing the border. It seems that it will be a protracted war. I will naturally accept the food in the rice row." The unified dispatch of the government is the only way, this is a simple truth, and I still understand it very well."

"Boss Cheng is really a sensible person, it seems that I am really worrying too much." Su Keyi praised: "I was worried that Boss Cheng would not cooperate, so I specially asked for this errand from the council, and I plan to come here to persuade Boss Cheng coming."

Cheng Dapeng said with a smile: "You don't need to persuade me, I will open the warehouse right now and let the messengers enter the warehouse to take stock."

Naturally, they don't need to deal with the specific matters, and each has their own subordinates to take care of the handover matters.Cheng Dapeng invited Su Keyi to sit in the study in the backyard. Su Keyi also knew that there were at least 30 to [-] catties of grain in the granary of the "Dacheng Rice Company", and it would not be able to be counted in a short while, and he, the person in charge, He could only wait here and wait for the result, so he readily agreed.

(End of this chapter)