1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 736: Sleeping on a Pillow

No matter how firm the Dutch's fighting will was, in fact, from the moment the city wall defense line was broken, it basically meant the reality that Batavia was about to declare its fall.Although the existing defenders in the city are still sticking to the various barricades in the city, it is obviously only reasonable to rely entirely on such crude fortifications to stop the progress of the Matalan people when the enemy troops have entered the city continuously. Dutch wishful thinking.Regardless of its strength or desire for victory, the Dutch are now at a complete disadvantage.

Among the defenders who did not have time to evacuate the city wall defense line, except for a very small number of people who persisted in fighting to the death, there were also a considerable number of people who chose to surrender to save their lives.Especially the temporary troops who were forced to serve in the city defense army at the end of the war were almost all ordinary people who had never been on the battlefield. The army gave up resistance soon after the siege.

However, these poor people who chose to surrender were not forgiven by the Matalan people. After their weapons and armor were confiscated, they were immediately escorted to the front line of the battle. The Matalan people drove the prisoners of war with spears and knives. March towards the barricades erected by the defenders in the city.Obviously, the Matalan people didn't want to waste precious food supplies to feed these prisoners of war, and they didn't even have the patience to build a prisoner-of-war camp to detain them. They just planned to fill these people directly as cannon fodder on the battlefield.

If the defenders can't deal with these prisoners of war harshly, then the Mada blue army can successfully conquer the barricades and advance towards the center of the city.If the defenders continue to fire indiscriminately, there will be no real loss to the Mata blue army, but it can consume some defenders' ammunition and continue to shake their fighting beliefs.

"Fire!" Facing these unarmed cannon fodder, Bart's voice of giving the order showed no sign of wavering.For him, his own people who have surrendered to the enemy are of the same nature as the enemy, not to mention any kindness and hesitation at this juncture will only lead to the complete collapse of his own camp.As a senior officer who can still command operations on the front line, he will never allow such a thing to happen.As for whether he will bear the infamy after the war, Bart doesn't care - let's live until the war first.

The musket bullets knocked down the first row of prisoners of war, and the rest of them retreated in panic. However, there were Matalan men's swords and guns waiting on their way back, and it was wishful thinking to save their lives.The first batch of prisoners of war who were used as cannon fodder only survived on the battlefield for less than 2 minutes before they all fell under the attack of the two warring parties.

Bart's determination won precious time for the defenders to regroup. When the defenders retreated from the city wall and retreated to the barricade defense line, the entire defense area was also greatly reduced. The limited forces could be assembled to the defense nodes of several main blocks. On the other hand, the Mata blue army who had already entered the city had to pay a higher price to conquer these simple street fortresses.

After the Mata blue army discovered that the attack was weak, they were not as anxious as before. Now that they had already entered the city, it was difficult for the exhausted defenders to drive them out.So the Mata blue army camped on the front line of the city wall, and began to clear the gate of the north gate-as long as the passage of the city gate is cleared, then the heavy cannons can be transported into the city and start a confrontation with the stubborn Dutch .Most of the artillery in the Mata blue army are large-caliber siege guns sold to them by the British, which are more than enough to deal with the six-pound guns on the barricades in the city.

Of course, in addition to dredging the city gates, the horse-fighting blue army that had already entered the city was not idle. The few cannons on the city wall that could be used for combat were quickly counted out, and a lot of manpower was used to hoist them into the city .

Before the sun set, two heavy 12-pound city defense guns were erected on the Chuancheng Street directly opposite the North City Gate. Although the barricade defenders on the opposite side made a timely judgment on the intention of the Mata Blue Army and fired to stop it, However, the Mata blue army used a large number of soil bags to build fortifications before the artillery entered. The firepower output of the defenders only slightly slowed down the speed of the Mata blue army, and did not really prevent it.The first shot fired by the Mata blue army smashed a brick fortification about 200 meters away, and more than a dozen defenders stationed behind the fortification were either killed or injured, and immediately lost their lives. ability to continue fighting.

The fall of night saved the defenders again. The Matalan people did not try to brave the night to continue to launch a large-scale attack into the city, and concentrated their manpower to the north gate to clear the main passage into the city.While the defenders strengthened the barricades, they fought desperately in the dark with those Matalan vanguards who penetrated into the city through numerous houses and small groups.

To the exhausted defenders who have been fighting for many days, Ma Dalan Pioneer wearing a black cloak and covering his head and face with a black cloth is simply a demon in the night. Or jump off the wall and cut the throats of comrades or yourself with the short knife in your hand.These guys have no love for fighting, no matter what they win, they will retreat with one blow, and quickly leave the battlefield, making it impossible for the Dutch to pursue them.As a result, the Dutch military officers had to order to reduce the scope of defense and patrolling, and to concentrate the deployment of manpower as much as possible, so as not to be found by the assassins lurking in the dark.

The people in the Dacheng Rice Shop that night were also in a state of anxiety. Although the Dacheng Rice Shop located in the western part of the city was not located where the enemy troops first entered the city, they had already approached the door before dark.But fortunately, as Bart expected, the Matalan people did not try to make it difficult for Cheng Dapeng and others, because they need to continue to maintain the normal operation of Batavia after the war, and a stable supply of food is a must. integral part.As one of the most famous grain merchants in the Batavia grain market, the existence of Dacheng Rice Co., Ltd. can partially solve the current grain gap that the Mata Blue Army cannot fill.

The one who came to visit Cheng Dapeng was an officer named Sukarno, but his name had nothing to do with the family of Jiapitan Su Minggang, a Chinese in Batavia city, and he was an authentic Nanyang native.After Sukarno met with Cheng Dapeng, he immediately put forward a proposal that Cheng Dapeng could not refuse: "Our commander hopes that Dacheng Rice Company can immediately organize a batch of grain shipments from Champa or Annan. I will buy this batch of grain from you at a reasonable price."

Cheng Dapeng was secretly delighted, but on the surface he still had to pretend to be a bargain: "I don't know what kind of reasonable price the adults said? After all, these grains are shipped across the sea from the north, and the freight is also included in the cost." of."

"Not lower than the local grain price before the war, is that okay?" Sukarno didn't intend to bargain slowly with Cheng Dapeng, and directly gave a standard, but his tone already revealed a bit of impatience .

"Of course, of course. I am willing to do so." Cheng Dapeng changed the topic: "However, several ships of the Benmi line were docked at Batavia Port before. After many days of war, I don't know if they are still there at this time. If so Without a boat, the villain can only look at the ocean and sigh."

There were indeed three Guangzhou ships under the name of Dacheng Rice Company moored at the port before the war, but because the Dutch only evacuated their own armed merchant ships before the war, a large number of civilian ships were not notified in time, and the port had already fallen.And the Matalan people are unlikely to be the masters of civilization. The ships docked in Batavia Harbor have probably been requisitioned long ago.After all, they need to maintain tens of thousands of people to fight here for a month, and the transportation pressure on the maritime logistics supply line should be quite large. Naturally, these "unowned" civilian ships can be used as long as they can, and they can provide a little transportation capacity.

Sukarno did not deny Cheng Dapeng's speculation: "We have requisitioned all the ships in the port at present. After the war, we will try to find the ships of Dacheng Mihang and return them to you. But before that, we will provide ships. As long as you send people to help us buy food from other countries."

When Sukarno mentioned this condition, he naturally did not allow Cheng Dapeng to make excuses to refuse.Cheng Dapeng could only pretend to nod helplessly and said: "Well, the villain will send someone to go... But after buying the food, the adults must not forget to pay for it."

Sukarno snorted and said, "As long as the food is bought back, your money is indispensable! Take this token, and after dawn, ask your people to report to Ximen, and someone will take him out of the city and board the boat."

Cheng Dapeng obediently sent away the impatient Sukarno, but his heart was full of joy.This month, I have been struggling with how to send the high-value information collected recently to the north as soon as possible. I didn't expect that the one who helped me in the end was the Matalan man.Although the war seems to be coming to an end, but the information can be sent back one day earlier, and the role it can play must be greater.

The southernmost intelligence station of the Haihan Security Department in the Indochina Peninsula is located in the port of Vung Tau, which was previously under the rule of South Vietnam, but was later occupied by Champa during the civil war.Afterwards, the two countries also fought several battles over the ownership of this port. In the end, the Annan people who failed to take advantage of it simply gave this place to Haihan as part of the development plan for the four southern ports—anyway, I You can’t get it back, so if you want to get it, just go to Champa for trouble.

Although the relationship between Haihan and Champa is not as close as it is with Annan, and they cannot get the management and development rights of Vung Tau Port under the same conditions, it is still no problem to set up commercial warehouses and official institutions in the local area.Before Haihan occupied the Abunna Islands, the information collected by the security personnel in Batavia and the Nanyang region was sent to the port of Vung Tau for processing.However, the distance between these two places is nearly [-] kilometers, which is really far away. Therefore, after Haihan captured the Abunna Islands, the intelligence station of the Ministry of Security was able to continue to move south.Moreover, since there are traversers stationed in the port of Anbuna, it is equipped with a radio, a super-age information transmission tool, and the timeliness of information is even stronger.

The people of Matalan want to use Cheng Dapeng's purchase channel to go to Champa to buy food. The fleet will definitely pass through the waters of the Ambuna Islands on the way. At that time, they can make a short stop in the local area for any reason, and it will be completed by the way. Information transfer work.For Cheng Dapeng, this request from the Matalan man was like falling asleep and meeting a pillow. The timing couldn't be more perfect.

The information that needs to be sent back to the base camp has already been sorted out and transcribed into several small scrolls in secret language. Whether it is carried close to the body or placed in the mezzanine of a wooden box, it is easy to hide.To be on the safe side, Cheng Dapeng decided to let the three of them go together, but he still wanted to stay in the city and continue to wait and see the changes in the local situation.

Perhaps because he was worried that something might happen to Cheng Dapeng, Sukarno brought someone back the next morning when the sky was just getting brighter, claiming that the current battle situation inside and outside the city was not stable, and he came here to escort Cheng Dapeng in order to prevent accidents. The men went out of the city and got into a ship.However, Cheng Dapeng thought that the other party was worried that the grain merchant would bring cash out of the city, which might cause unnecessary trouble, so he specially sent someone to escort him.

But this kind of worry is a bit unnecessary. The three people at Dacheng Rice Shop only have one suitcase of luggage, which they can carry by themselves, and there are not as many boxes of gold and silver as Sukarno imagined.Sukarno couldn't help but asked Cheng Dapeng: "Guimi Bank doesn't even bring any money, so is it going to go to Champa to buy on credit?"

Cheng Dapeng smiled and said: "That's not true, but we have a more convenient way to do business locally."

After finishing speaking, Cheng Dapeng took out a piece of paper with exquisite patterns and showed it to Sukarno: "This is a cash check issued by Haihan Bank. You only need to take it to the local area to cash it in cash. But the villain and the local rice It is also possible to trade with the other party directly with this cash check."

Not only can Sukarno speak Chinese, but he can also read Chinese characters. Seeing that the piece of paper was indeed marked with the words "one thousand taels of silver", he couldn't help frowning and said, "If someone snatches such a piece of paper, , isn’t that 1000 taels of silver will be gone?”

Cheng Dapeng explained: "This thing is registered. When you go to cash the cash, you need to report the exclusive password to get the silver. It is useless to have a check without a password."

Sukarno resentfully said: "If the bank account is not guaranteed to be honored, then what should I do?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "You can rest assured, Haihan Bank has a very good reputation, and there has never been a situation where the payment has been completed but cannot be cashed. If that is the case, how can we businessmen rest assured to store the money with them?"

In fact, Cheng Dapeng still has something to say in his heart-this is a bank account opened by my family, so there is no such thing as a situation where it cannot be honored.

Although Sukarno was a little unsure whether Cheng Dapeng was bragging or something was real, but judging by his confident appearance, he no longer insisted on letting him take cash on the road.

(End of this chapter)