1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 267 Breaking Ambon ([-])
The sky was gradually getting dark, and the noisy and chaotic city of Ambon had not calmed down completely. The sound of muskets and shouts of killing could still be heard from time to time in the neighborhoods far and near.The terrified colonial officials and residents in the city have already learned that in the afternoon of this day, when all the soldiers and civilians in Ambon were caught off guard, the Hanzhou army suddenly invaded Ambon.

Ambon was established by the Portuguese in 1526, and was breached by the Dutch in 1609 and ruled to this day. On the evening of December 1638, 12, it was once again breached by outsiders.

After capturing the Governor's Mansion, the government offices, and the barracks, there was no organized resistance in the city, but the mercenaries and sailors scattered in every corner of the city attacked the lonely Hanzhou marines and township soldiers from time to time.

For those Dutch who were still hiding in strong houses and resisting, Hanzhou soldiers did not attack by force. They picked up some firewood and lit them and set them on fire.Once the Dutch mercenaries and armed civilians who couldn't bear the smoke and fire escaped from the house, they were all shot and killed by Hanzhou soldiers at the door.

Niu Hu needs to completely stabilize the order in Ambon City before nightfall, so as to prevent the resistance forces in the city and the Dutch mercenaries in the dock forts and forts outside the city from counterattacking Ambon City.Therefore, a severe blow was dealt to the rebellious Dutch.

That night, after the Hanzhou army cleared up most of the resistance activities in the city, they ordered all the residents in Ambon to shut their doors at home and not to go out at will.Otherwise, Hanzhou soldiers will shoot and kill them.

The Dutch outside the city tried to counterattack once, but were repulsed by Hanzhou's guns at the head of the city.Afterwards, the flags and drums died down, and there was no more movement.

By around Chen time in the morning (7 o'clock to 9 o'clock), the city of Ambon had been completely controlled by the Hanzhou army.For the dock battery and several small forts outside the city, there are still some Dutch soldiers stationed, which must be cleared.Niu Hu sent several Dutch mercenary prisoners to several forts and dock forts outside the city, ordering them to surrender.

Because the fortresses outside the city were all within the range of the artillery of Ambon City, and there were not many people, they all walked out of the castle and surrendered to the Hanzhou soldiers.The pier turret has its own defensive capabilities, and there are two armed merchant ships that can provide artillery cover and refuse to surrender.Trying to wait for the rescue of the Dutch ships that traded spices here and there one after another.

Originally, the two Dutch armed merchant ships docked at the pier wanted to escape immediately after learning that the city of Ambon had been breached by Hanzhou.But nearly half of the sailors on board were killed near the pier.If the sailors on one of the ships are gathered together, one ship can be driven away.But the garrison at the pier asked them to take out the sailors on board, and together with the Dutch mercenaries at the pier, counterattacked the Hanzhou army in Ambon.

Maybe they felt that the Hanzhou army that had just entered the city was not stable, and coupled with the remaining resistance in the city, they might be able to expel them from Ambon City quickly. The law and order mercenaries counterattacked the city of Ambon together.However, facing the brightly lit city of Ambon, hundreds of Hanzhou soldiers fired intensively, and fled back to the pier in embarrassment after leaving behind a dozen corpses.

In the early morning, just as the two captains began to mobilize the sailors, transfer personnel and property to the "Zelania" and prepare to flee, four Hanzhou armed merchant ships appeared outside the port of Ambon, staring at them intently .Suddenly, the officers and sailors of the two Dutch armed merchant ships turned pale.

The Hanzhou army came out of Ambon City and rushed towards the pier.Just when the pier fort and two Dutch armed merchant ships were about to bombard each other, they suddenly discovered that there were more than 50 Dutch colonial officials and civilian prisoners in front of the Hanzhou army.With empty hands and bare upper body, they slowly approached the fort nervously.

The defenders of the fort looked at each other, and couldn't help but look at their fort commander, Lieutenant Connor Brennan.

Connor Brennan held his sword tightly in his hand, and his eyes were full of anger.Hanzhou soldiers are so shameless that they use civilians as human shields!

After killing the compatriots in front of him, it is estimated that the soldiers of Hanzhou will pull more than 50 people out of the city until all the Dutch in the city are exhausted.

"Captain, do you think they will fire?" a marine soldier asked Tan Zhongfu.

"They fired, and we shot from behind." Captain Tan Zhongfu of the Marine Corps said indifferently: "Then, we will pull [-] more people out of the city!"

Several marine soldiers suddenly changed their colors. This was massacring civilians in disguise, just because the Dutch refused to surrender.But the few veterans in the team showed a calm expression. They all participated in the tragic siege of Cavite in Luzon. At that time, because the Marine Corps suffered heavy casualties, they carried out a retaliatory massacre against the Spaniards.

"They will surrender." Tan Zhongfu said: "They are all mercenaries who came to Nanyang to make a fortune. It is not worth fighting with us."

Sure enough, in less than 5 minutes, the fort raised a white flag, and seventy or eighty gunners and garrison mercenaries walked out of the artillery bunker dejectedly.Seeing this, the two Dutch armed merchant ships docked by the pier also raised their white flags.

More than a hundred soldiers of the Marine Corps immediately rushed into the fort and took over the various artillery positions.A Hanzhou warship sailed into the port of Ambon. Dozens of sailors boarded two Dutch armed merchant ships and announced that they accepted their surrender. The lives of all Dutch officers and sailors would be guaranteed, and then they took control of the ship. all important parts.

So far, Ambon City and the wharf have been completely controlled by the officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy.In the afternoon, they counted all kinds of seizures, including two Dutch armed merchant ships and some spices and precious wood on board, more than 90 Dutch naval officers and soldiers, more than [-] security mercenaries in the city, and more than [-] native servants.

The treasury in the city seized 23 dong of gold and silver coins, more than 8000 taels of silver, dozens of boxes of Ming Dynasty porcelain, various jewelry and jade, and countless other metal materials such as grain, cloth, fur, gunpowder, copper, iron, and lead. .

"Everything that can be moved is transferred to the ship." Qi Dajiang glanced at the various supplies in the treasury of the city of Ambon, and couldn't help being overjoyed.Sure enough, it deserves to be the ruling center of the Spice Islands of the Dutch East India Company, and it is indeed rich.This trip to Ambon was really not in vain!
The Hanzhou Marine Corps and the township soldiers drove the prisoners in the city, and began to carry the gold and silver coins and various materials in the city of Ambon onto the ship.They must hurry up and evacuate the city of Ambon as much as possible within three to five days.As for the ones that could not be taken away, Hanzhou soldiers did not deliberately destroy them, but called the natives who were watching outside the city to take them at will.

During the busy "moving" process, the Hanzhou attack fleet welcomed a group of special guests in Ambon City. More than 200 "rebels" who bravely resisted the Dutch colonists were led by the Dutch colonial government who searched everywhere and offered rewards for their capture. The leader of the native riots - Turukabesi.

Qi Dajiang looked at this dark-complexioned and thin native. Although he didn't know what he was talking about, he knew in his heart that these natives wanted to unite with Hanzhou to fight against the Dutch.

Qi Dajiang shook his head, the Hanzhou attack fleet raided Ambon by surprise.If people are left here to occupy Amwen City, it is purely courting death.With its powerful sea power, the Dutch can easily block Ambon Port, and dispatch a large number of mercenaries and native servants to land and recapture Ambon City.

Turukabesi was a little disappointed. He saw the faces of these people and knew that they might be the legendary Ming people.Perhaps the Dutch also angered the huge Ming country, so they were retaliated by them and seized the city of Ambon.He wanted to ask for help so that they could stay together against the brutal Dutch colonists.Unexpectedly, the other party directly refused.

Qi Dajiang couldn't help sighing when he saw the disappointed expression of the native leader in front of him.Hanzhou is now weak and weak, and it is impossible to fully support these natives to fight against the Dutch East India Company.Or, the only thing to do now is to let them take away as much supplies as possible in Ambon City.

"We can leave them some Dutch guns and gunpowder, and give them all the swords and spears. As for food, they can take as much as they can." Niu Hu said: "In the future, these natives can rely on these firearms Fight the Dutch one or two in the woods."

Qi Dajiang smiled, patted Niu Hu on the shoulder, and asked him to handle these matters.At the pier, the supplies in Ambon City and the Dutch captives had filled three ships. He had to sail the ships out of Ambon Port in exchange for the other three ships guarding at the entrance of the harbor to continue loading at the pier.

On December 1638, 12, a group of six warships and three captured Dutch armed merchant ships from the Hanzhou attack fleet sailed out of the long and narrow harbor of Ambon Island in turn. What remained behind them was a completely destroyed empty city of Ambon. , the city defenses were completely destroyed, most of the houses were set on fire, and a total of 22 Dutch colonial officials, mercenary prisoners and civilians were all taken away.

If the Dutch want to re-establish the city of Ambon to maintain their colonial rule in the Spice Islands, it will inevitably cost a huge price.The officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy, fully adhering to the combat intention of the commanding office, resolutely and thoroughly attacked the colonial strongholds of the Dutch East India Company on the Nanyang islands, increasing their economic costs for fighting Hanzhou.

On December 12, the Hanzhou Fleet encountered two Dutch armed merchant ships more than 24 kilometers south of Ambon.Seeing the large number of ships in the Hanzhou Fleet, the opponent did not dare to face the attack directly, and quickly moved away from the direction of the Hanzhou Fleet, carefully observing from the side and rear.

The Hanzhou Fleet was obviously not interested in the two Dutch armed merchant ships because it was full of supplies in the city of Ambon, so it sailed straight to the southeast.

On December 12, the Hanzhou Fleet arrived at the island (Yandana Island on the east side of Timor Island, Indonesia) and found the temporary camp (near the small town of Watmuri on Yandena Island).

The more than 50 rural soldiers left behind have roughly built a simple camp with seven or eight wooden houses and partition facilities surrounded by wooden fences.

The attack fleet stayed here for a day, leaving [-] Dutch civilians for the town soldiers who stayed here, and then went straight to Beikoubao (now the small town of Newlandbai, Australia) in the southeast of Hanzhou.
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The two armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company watched as the Hanzhou attack fleet headed south and gradually disappeared from their field of vision.The Dutch officers and sailors on board were full of doubts. Hanzhou's small maritime force suddenly appeared in the waters near the Spice Islands. What did they want to do?
"Could it be that Hanzhou's warships attacked our Ambon?" A Dutch naval officer said suddenly.

"Don't they dare?" Another officer said hesitantly, "That's our core stronghold in the Spice Islands, aren't they afraid of being blocked by us?"

"However, it is obvious that they are coming from the direction of Ambon." An officer said: "If I read correctly, there is a ship in the Hanzhou fleet, which seems to be our Zelania!"

"Okay, there's no need to discuss it." The captain said with a solemn expression: "Tomorrow, we will arrive in Ambon, and everything will be clear."

The officer should have read it right. One of the ships in the Hanzhou fleet was indeed the "Zelania", and a friend of his was the chief mate on that ship.Now, Han Zhou actually captured that ship.Moreover, two of the other ships seem to be a bit like armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company.

Regarding Ambon, several Dutch officers had a bad premonition in their hearts.

At noon on the second day, two Dutch armed merchant ships sailed into Ambon Port, and what appeared in front of them was a completely destroyed port wharf.All the cargo-handling booms were removed, the auxiliary wooden trestles were burned, the coastal defense batteries were severely damaged, and even the artillery disappeared.

A team of armed sailors was sent to approach the city of Ambon cautiously. The city had obviously been burned by fire. The bustling town in the past was now full of ruins.When we arrived near the government office in the city, we saw hundreds of natives rummaging through the ruins for usable items.Under the gunfire of the Dutch armed sailors, they immediately dispersed.

Ambon seems to have been destroyed by the Hanzhou people.

(End of this chapter)