1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 209 Timor Sea Shipwreck ([-])
"Uncle Kun, what happened? Call me back in such a hurry."

In the morning of Qitian, he was supposed to supervise the construction of a hydraulic boring machine and milling machine in Heishan City.

Unexpectedly, a cavalry soldier from the township barracks hurried over, saying that the military government was in an emergency situation, and asked Qi Tian to rush back immediately.

At present, the only military action taking place in Hanzhou is the joint attack on Luzon with the Dutch. Presumably the so-called emergency military situation should be related to Luzon.It has been more than two months since the Hanzhou Navy set off, and some news should come back.

"The Portuguese sank one of our immigrant ships near Xinxiangbao!" Yu Fukun said with a gloomy face.

"The Portuguese sank our immigration ship?!" Qi Tian was taken aback, "Tell me the details."

"Niu Da, tell the Chief Manager." Yu Fukun said to Niu Jinming.

"Boss, ten days ago..." Niu Jinming recounted how their immigrant fleet encountered Portuguese armed merchant ships, how they scattered and fled, and how they avoided going to Xinxiang Castle.

"We started full alert in Xinxiangbao, waiting for the Portuguese to come. In the evening, Polang 2 also hid." Niu Jinming said: "The next day, we found Portuguese armed forces on the beach outside Xinxiangbao. The merchant ships approached. Because their ships are relatively large, they did not dare to sail into the river."

"They sent two small boats, and a dozen or so armed sailors landed. They wanted to come and check our new village fort. After discussing with Chen Dalang for a while, we dispatched more than 100 village soldiers, ambushed in the forest on the bank, and captured all the Portuguese landing sailors. .Because of the shooting, their armed merchant ships were alarmed. They fired a few shots into the forest, and then lingered for a long time."

"In the end, it may be that the Portuguese did not dare to send any more small boats to land, so they turned around and left. We stayed on guard for two more days to make sure that the Portuguese armed merchant ships had withdrawn. Afterwards, we interrogated the captured Portuguese sailors, and they said, After sinking Polang 3, only 50 were fished out of the sea. The remaining [-] or so people all... sank into the sea. In order to report the news, I did not take the goods to Batavia, but directly took the immigrants and returned. Jianye City."

"More than 50 lives!" Qi Tian said with some bitterness: "The stupid Portuguese dare to bully Hanzhou!"

"How many stranded immigrants are there in Batavia?" Qi Tian asked.

"There are about 700 more people, but Xinsheng Island is still transporting people to Batavia." Niu Jinming said.

"Uncle Kun, can the Yangwei and Yangwu go out?" The Yangwei and Yangwu were warships that were damaged and captured by the fortress of Jianye City Wharf when the Spanish expeditionary fleet invaded Hanzhou a few months ago. , After more than two months of maintenance, it can be used normally.The newly added sailors and gunners on board are still getting more familiar with the operation.

"It is possible to drive out. But it is definitely not possible to fight the Portuguese at sea." Yu Fukun said.

"I don't expect them to seek revenge from the Portuguese." Qi Tian shook his head and said, "We still have to wait for the commanders to come back. However, the immigration transportation cannot be stopped. I mean, send these two ships out, and The immigrant transport boat pulls people together, and by the way, it can scare the Portuguese and avoid such a tragedy.”

"What if the Portuguese come with more big ships?" Niu Jinming asked.The Portuguese don't need too many warships, they only need to mobilize three or four ships. At present, these ships in Hanzhou are either transport ships without force, or warships that have not yet formed combat effectiveness. was completely wiped out.

"If the Portuguese dare to bring more big ships, the Dutch should be the most nervous," Qi Tian said.

"Can we hire Dutch armed merchant ships to help transport people to Jianye City, and use them to escort them by the way?" Yu Fukun said.

"Uncle Kun is a good idea." Qi Tian said, "It's best to make them conflict."

However, since the Portuguese dared to sink our Hanzhou immigration ship, they must pay a price.According to the information collected from Batavia by the black guards, at this time, it seems that the Portuguese have not yet occupied the entire eastern half of Timor Island, but only established a few colonies near Dili, and they are still in constant contact with them. The local Weihali Kingdom fights.

"We must support the Wehally Kingdom, and it is best to form an ally with them and deal with the Portuguese together." Qi Tian said; "The reason why the Portuguese have been able to defeat this country repeatedly is because of their advanced firearms and cannons ...If we can provide this country with some firearms and swords, I think it will definitely make the Portuguese suffer a lot.”

"Send a flying fish boat with some weapons to find the kingdom of Weihali." Qi Tian suggested, "We can arrange for the black guards to handle this matter and lobby the kingdom to fight against Portugal together with Hanzhou. people."

"Can the black guard do it?"

"I'm going to try it. In the future, there will be many cases of this kind of lobbying and uniting against other forces."

"I thought this matter should be handled by our institution like Daming Honglu Temple."

Honglu Temple?Is Hanzhou going to set up a foreign ministry now?Qi Tian thought, but our Hanzhou currently only seems to have direct contact with the Dutch East India Company, a Nanyang power.As for the other small countries, there seems to be no connection at all.
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"Qiao Bensheng, this time I arranged for you to go to the Weihalli Kingdom to lobby them to cooperate with our Hanzhou against the Portuguese, are you sure?" Guan Zongxiang, the commander of the black guard, looked at the man in front of him seriously.

Qiao Bensheng, from Hebei, used to be a bodyguard. Later, Jin broke through the pass and broke into Hebei. He came to Shandong with the flow of refugees, and finally boarded Zheng Zhilong's immigration ship. He was first dragged to Guangzhou and handed over to Hanzhou. Wanli came to Jianye City.When the black guards were selected, they were recommended by the township barracks in Xinhuai'an and joined the black guards.

"My lord, no one dares to claim success until the end of this matter. But the subordinates will do their best to complete this task!" Qiao Bensheng replied solemnly.

"You may also know that an immigrant ship in Hanzhou was sunk by Portuguese thieves, and more than 50 people died. They went through a voyage of more than a month, traveling thousands of miles, and they were only a few days away. Come to our Hanzhou to have a full meal and wear warm clothes. They are so aggrieved!" Guan Zongxiang said sadly: "Our Hanzhou wants to avenge them, and the black guards will bear the brunt of it. We must do this well. "

"Commander, this subordinate..., this subordinate will definitely finish it with all their might."

"There is no need to desperately, just find them, convince them, and then make a covenant to attack Portugal together."

"Can the Weihali Kingdom speak Chinese?" Qiao Bensheng asked.

"I don't know." Guan Zongxiang said: "Go to Xinxiangbao first, ask them for a few natives who can speak a little Chinese, and take them to the Weihali Kingdom."

The Weihali Sultan Kingdom was once the overlord of Timor Island. In 1520, the Portuguese colonialists landed on Timor Island for the first time, stayed there in the name of carrying out rosewood trade, and gradually established colonial rule.

However, since the Dutch captured Ambon Island from Portugal in 1605, the Portuguese immediately transferred most of their resources in the Spice Islands (Maluku Islands) to Timor Island, and began to erode the kingdom of Wahali. territory.

But the good times didn't last long, and the Dutch followed in the footsteps of the Portuguese and came to Timor Island. In 1613, the Netherlands sent people to Timor Island to conclude a treaty with the local Kupang King and establish a stronghold in Kupang. In 1618, Kupang became the territory of the Dutch colonists, and the Portuguese moved to Dili in the east of Timor.
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Batavia, Governor's Palace

"I heard that the Portuguese sank the immigration ship of Hanzhou on Timor Island?" Anthony van Daiman, the governor of the Netherlands in Batavia, asked.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor." Colonel Aryan Van Dijk, Commander of the Batavia Fleet, replied, "It is said that more than 50 people died."

"Then, Han Zhou must be very angry." Governor Dai Man said with great interest: "Have they thought about taking revenge?"

"They are currently unable to retaliate." Colonel Aryan Van Dijk said: "Their few maritime armed forces are fighting the Spaniards in the Philippines with our expeditionary fleet."

"The Portuguese should be punished for this inhumane behavior." A thought suddenly came to Governor Daiman's mind, "Ceylon, haven't the Portuguese defense forces in Malacca always been strong? If they were in Timor Island The stronghold has been attacked, do you think they will send supplies and personnel from Ceylon and Malacca to support it?"

"Your Excellency, do you want to attack Ceylon, or Malacca?" Colonel Aryan Van Dijk asked in surprise.

"Why not?" Governor Daiman said: "Decades ago, the company stumbled in Malacca, have you all forgotten? If we have a chance to seize Malacca, we can not only completely control the entire strait, but also serve for the former Revenge for defeat. As for Ceylon, the pepper and nutmeg on the island cannot be allowed to be exported to Europe by the Portuguese indefinitely."

"However, our situation on Ambon Island is not very good." Colonel Ayan Van Dijk said.

Since last year, sporadic uprisings against the Dutch colonial forces have erupted on Ambon Island controlled by the Dutch East India Company.Some nobles who were dissatisfied with the monopoly trade policy of the Dutch East India Company encouraged some resentful natives to continuously attack the Dutch strongholds and business personnel, causing great losses.

Governor Daiman planned to deal with these riots in person. For this reason, the East India Company assembled five armed merchant ships and more than 300 mercenaries, and planned to suppress them by force if they failed to persuade them.

"We can inform Hanzhou that we will bring warships and soldiers to fight against the brutal Portuguese with them." Governor Daiman said with a smile.

"Does Your Excellency Governor want to bluff and intimidate the Portuguese to send soldiers from Ceylon or Malacca to Timor Island?" Colonel Ayan Van Dijk immediately understood what Governor Daiman meant.It was originally intended to suppress the riots on Ambon Island, but it announced to the outside world that it would jointly attack the Portuguese Timor Island colony with Hanzhou.

In this way, the Portuguese would definitely draw troops from the nearest colony of Malacca or the powerful Ceylon to defend their colony on Timor Island because they were worried about the safety of Timor Island.

After the Dutch East India Company quells the riots on Ambon Island, it may be possible to take advantage of the emptiness of these two Portuguese colonies to carry out some planning.

(End of this chapter)