1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 738 Dutch Counterattack
If the rain that started the night before continued, it would inevitably cause the large number of guns and artillery in the hands of the Dutch to be unable to play their due role on the battlefield. Then the Mata blue army, which is better at fighting with cold weapons, still has a greater chance of winning. After all, the combined strength of the Dutch armed personnel inside and outside the city is only half of that of the Mata blue army.The two sides fought hand-to-hand with each other, and the advantage of the horse-fighting blue army in terms of strength could easily be transformed into a victory.

But for the Matalan people, the weather was so bad that the rain miraculously stopped almost at the same time that the Dutch landed in Batavia Port.Otherwise, if the Dutch want to disperse the defenders in the port, they will not be able to use weapons such as matchlock guns. I am afraid that it will take more time to complete the landing operation.At the same time, this also facilitated the next arson action by the Dutch. Otherwise, under the rainy weather, it would be really difficult to ignite dozens of warehouses storing war supplies in the port and hundreds of sailboats on the shore as soon as possible. troublesome thing.

If it weren't for such erroneous details, it would not have prompted Lang Sang, the commander of the Mata blue army, to rush out of the city to rescue.Even if it is only an hour or so later, the last stronghold in the city may have been captured by the Mata blue army.

However, there are no ifs on the battlefield. The Matalan people failed to conquer Batavia in the original historical trajectory.

The main force of the Mata blue army rushed out of the city to fight in a panic, not leaving enough troops to suppress the Dutch who seemed to them to be dying in the city, and this move planted the seeds of disaster for subsequent failure.The Dutch in the meeting castle went from despair to chicken blood, and the time for state transition was very short. As soon as the Mata Blues left, the Dutch found out the castle stronghold with their back feet.They soon discovered the mobilization of the Mata Blue Army, and Van Diemen ordered a counterattack without hesitation, and bit the Mata Blue Army's supply unit that was at the end and was trying to withdraw the artillery to the outside of the city.

In order to conquer the barricades in the city of Batavia, the Mata blue army just transported all the artillery in the army into the city a few days ago. This also caused the defenders to hardly have any heavy weapons available when the Dutch landed at the port. , It is also difficult to gather to resist the Dutch who have just landed.Laden Langsan knew the Dutch's combat methods. After learning that the Dutch fleet launched a landing counterattack at the port, his first reaction was to transport the artillery out of the city to prevent the Dutch reinforcements from approaching the city of Batavia.However, it took a long time for the heavy artillery to be reloaded on the shaft and transported away. Therefore, the supply unit responsible for transporting the artillery was pulled at the end.

Although Lang Sang also left more than 2000 people to cover the retreat of the supply troops, no one could have imagined that the Dutch counterattack would come so quickly.The Dutch paid a very small price and dispersed the bewildered Matalan rear troops with a volley of muskets.

The first troops who rushed outside the city to try to support the port were shocked to find that the Dutch had deployed a line of defense outside the port in a very short period of time, and this line of defense had at least ten artillery pieces that made the soles of the feet chill.However, the burning warehouses and sailboats in the port forced the Mata Blue Army to bite the bullet and rush upwards. If these materials and ships were lost, it would be tantamount to drawing salary from the bottom of the pot for the Mata Blue Army.

However, the Dutch armed forces that had just returned to Batavia Harbor were obviously different from the exhausted and remnant soldiers in the city. Facing the counterattack launched by the Mata blue army, they responded in an extremely tough way.The thousand-man team that took the lead in the charge only rushed to a distance of [-] meters, but chose to retreat because they could not withstand the gunfire from the opposite side. The hundreds of corpses on the ground proved that the Dutch armed forces were not bluffing.

If someone like Su Keyi who is familiar with the top management of the East India Company was present, he would probably be surprised to find that the officer commanding the Dutch army in the port position was actually the one who was reportedly expelled back to Dayuan Port because of poor negotiations with Haihan. Van der Wegen, and Spikes, who has disappeared from the public view of Batavia after the battle of Amberna Island last year.These two senior military attaches of the East India Company, who had suffered repeated setbacks last year, seemed to have faded out of the company's top management, but miraculously appeared at the same time in Batavia Port at this time.

This is of course no coincidence, but part of a military deployment adjustment plan that began last year.Cohen transferred back to Van Diemen to sit in Batavia, and then found an excuse to let Spikes and Van der Wegen leave here, and quietly went to overseas colonies to organize and train another armed force.Even people like Su Keyi, who had close ties to the top management of the East India Company, really thought that they were exiled from the council due to poor performance.

This adjustment plan is huge and complicated. In order not to leak the news in advance, both Spikes and Van der Wegen had to temporarily disappear from the public eye with a humiliating image.Of course, this might not be Governor Cohen's punishment for their previous defeat.Although they may have been unwilling to leave Batavia, when they led the fleet back this time, they knew very well that this was the best time to wash away their stigma.As long as this battle is won, no one will mention their previous failures in Fujian and the Abona Islands.

Seeing one's own combat supplies burnt out little by little in the sky-high flames, the feeling was obviously not pleasant, and the Mata blue army continued to launch wave after wave of attacks on the port without hesitation.However, due to the lack of long-range weapons in their formation, this method of consuming the opponent's ammunition purely by human life is difficult to last for too long, and morale is also declining rapidly.Seeing this situation, Laden Langsang was naturally furious, and asked his subordinates why the artillery had not appeared on the battlefield for a long time.

However, at this time, the artillery that dragged the Matalan army finally appeared at the gate of the city, but it was not the Matalan soldiers who pushed it out, but a group of Dutchmen.They didn't even have time to set up a decent gun emplacement, and fired at the rear of the Mata blue army arrayed outside the city.

Although the Dutch only pushed four small-caliber artillery to the gate of the city, this move immediately caused confusion among the Mata blue army.Everyone suddenly realized that not only had they not completely captured the city of Batavia, but they were also losing supplies to maintain the army's operations and operations. If they hesitated a little longer, they might not even have the ships to go home.

Some officers tried to direct their troops to attack the city gate, because they knew very well that there were not many Dutch armed forces left in the city. As long as these stubborn resisters were killed, the Mata blue army could reoccupy Bada in a short period of time. Via City.When the time comes to search the people in the city, they will always be able to get food. However, if the Dutch outside the city want to take back Batavia City, it will not be possible in a day or two.If the senior officials of the East India Company can be captured, the two sides may be able to sit down and discuss conditions. Even if the Mata blue army wants to withdraw, they can at least leave with dignity.

But more people can't think so much in this chaotic time, and Lang Sang is one of them. The sudden change in the battle situation made his mind a mess. At this time, he issued a second serious The wrong order required the army to take back the port in the shortest possible time at any cost.

Although the Dutch on the port deployed some artillery, after all, the time was very short, and the imperfect defense line was not enough to stop the large-scale counterattack of the Mata blue army. I chose to retreat instead of fighting to the end.More than a dozen large warships docked at the port used naval guns to isolate a safe zone on the port for the retreating companions. All the personnel successfully boarded the ship, but the Ma Da blue army who tried to stop them did not dare to chase after them. Too close—Although the range of naval guns is not far, it is still far beyond the bows and short spears in their hands. After a troop chasing too fast attracts a bombardment, the people behind will choose wisely Watched the Dutch board the ship and leave.

At this time, the small number of Mata Blues who tried to counterattack Batavia City did not achieve the desired results. The Dutch armed personnel in the city quickly assembled at the city gate and blocked the only entrance to the city in the north of the city with artillery. avenue.Although such defensive measures are nothing compared to the previous siege battles, the Mata blue army is obviously not in the mood to repeat the previous battle process at this time.At least more than half of the Mata blue army immediately threw themselves into the fire fighting and disaster relief at the port. Not only did they want to grab supplies from the fire as much as possible, but they also wanted to extinguish the burning sailing fleet.

Of course, the trouble didn't stop there. The damned Dutch fleet lingered around the harbor, and from time to time, a few ships would be sent to the shore to fire a cannon, aiming to bombard the waterline of the sailing ships that hadn't caught fire yet.The number of armed ships deployed by the Mata Blue Army at sea is extremely limited. Although they tried to drive the Dutch fleet out of the harbor, the effect was obviously not satisfactory.It was not until noon that the Dutch fleet sailed north and voluntarily left the battlefield.

At this time, almost all the warehouses on the shore should have been burned, and the quartermaster began to count the remaining supplies tremblingly.The situation at sea is also in a mess. There are a large number of sailing ships that were burned to pieces on the shore. It is conservatively estimated that hundreds of ships have lost their sailing ability due to the fire and the subsequent bombardment. As for the loss of personnel It is difficult to count in a short period of time.The price paid by the Dutch for this was surprisingly small. Only two Dutch sailing ships were damaged and capsized when they broke into the port.

In the afternoon, the statistics of the loss of materials also came to a rough conclusion. The biggest loss was the food supply that everyone was worried about. Three warehouses with more than [-] catties of food were reduced to ashes in the fire.The economic losses were second to none, but for this expeditionary army, at least half a month's combat rations were gone.At present, the food reserves in the hands of the Mata blue army are only needed to maintain this army for less than a week.This is also one of the main reasons why the Tianma Dalan army immediately found the grain merchants and asked to purchase grain from other places as soon as possible after they entered the city. However, compared with the situation at that time, there was still room for turning around, and the grain reserves at this time have already started. alarm.

At this time, it is not impossible to turn around and attack the city again. After all, the resistance in the city is already quite weak, and it is not enough to stop the horses outside the city from attacking the blue army.Lang Sang can be sure that the Dutch don't even have enough manpower to allocate to other directions for defense, and most of them can only concentrate their main forces in one place in the north of the city.But just when he was undecided, another bad news came.

Of the 38 cannons brought into the city to capture the defensive forts in Batavia, only twelve are now outside the city, and all the others were intercepted inside the city by the Dutch who launched a counterattack.What was intercepted together with it also included a large amount of ammunition.The Mata blue army was not even willing to put all these precious weapons into the battlefield during the siege battle. After breaking through the city defense, it took a lot of trouble to transport these heavy weapons into the city, but in the end it fell into the hands of the opponent. The hand has become a tool to resist oneself, which is really a great irony for the Mata Blues.

If they want to attack Batavia City again now, the Mata Blues will obviously pay a huge price for this stupid mistake.After experiencing the previous battles, Lang Sang was not sure whether his army could really crush the remaining resistance in Batavia within a day or two.

If the food supplies were not burned by the fire, and if the Dutch fleet did not appear on the sea, then Lang Sang could take a chance. After all, Batavia's city defenses have been severely damaged. Even if the Dutch have guns and cannons It is also difficult to hold.But now the Mata blue army only has about a week's supply on hand, and there is a ghost-like fleet at sea that will appear behind to attack at any time. Lang Sang is really not sure whether his army can survive this kind of battle.But Lang Sang is really unwilling to retreat like this. This kind of opportunity may be hard to come by in the future. Even if the Mata Blues can make a comeback in a few years, they may not be able to break through Badawi like this time. Yacheng is gone.

Before Lang San could make a decision, the Dutch fleet approached the port of Batavia again that afternoon, and had a small-scale confrontation with the Matalan fleet.The Dutch fleet, which had an advantage in weapons, sank one ship and damaged three Matalan warships, then quickly left the battlefield, and the damage it suffered was basically negligible compared to the Matalan fleet.Such a result made Lang Sang realize that the Dutch will probably never confront the Mata blue army again. They just want to drag the Mata blue army to this port with continuous harassment tactics until they run out of supplies. until it collapses on its own.

(End of this chapter)