1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 279 The helplessness of the Dutch
"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." A volley of guns fired, and the soldiers of the Wandan Kingdom on the opposite side immediately fell down.

The soldiers of the Kingdom of Banten hesitated for a moment, but under the leadership of the leading officer, they mustered up their courage and continued to rush towards the Dutch formation.At the same time, countless wooden spears flew through the air, and then ruthlessly plunged into the Dutch team.

"Boom! Boom!" The two artillery blasted out a large number of shotguns, sweeping away the swarming soldiers of the Wandan Kingdom.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..." The Dutch mercenaries fired another round of volleys, and another layer of soldiers from the Kingdom of Banten was cut off.

A Dutch officer saw that the enemy's charge formation on the opposite side was in disarray, and their morale seemed to be shaken. He waved his command knife and pointed forward. Dan Kingdom soldiers countercharged.

With another round of shelling, the Banten Kingdom soldiers began to retreat.They scattered and fled back to the distant New Banten City (now Serang City, Indonesia), and some fled to the forest in a panic to avoid the pursuit of the Dutch.

"Major, the casualty statistics are out." An officer walked up to Major Stuart Campbell. "The mercenaries killed 31 and wounded 37. The natives killed 55 and wounded 68."

"Damn it!" Stuart Campbell cursed in a low voice, "There are so many casualties!"

"The casualties were mainly due to the initial musket shooting." The officer said: "However, fortunately, the natives have not yet fully mastered the shooting method. We seized some muskets, and found that many of them were loaded with powder and bullets backwards. , and what’s more, it is to put a stab bar into the barrel and shoot it out.”

"So, our sudden attack on the Kingdom of Banten made their preparations not yet complete. Hehe... Do these natives think that they can fight us with firearms? Order the artillery in the back as soon as possible Drag the artillery up and try to capture the native city before dark." Major Stuart Campbell ordered loudly.

Two weeks ago, the Dutch East India Company's army stationed in Batavia organized more than 300 mercenaries and more than 700 native servants. They suddenly set off from Batavia to attack the Kingdom of Banten westward, and successively defeated several earthen cities. , Killed and captured more than a thousand soldiers and civilians of the Wandan Kingdom.Now it has broken through to the vicinity of New Banten City (now Serang City, Java Island, Indonesia).

The order of the Governor of Batavia was to attack and weaken the Kingdom of Banten to the maximum extent, so that they would not be flanked by them when they fought with the Kingdom of Mataland in the later period.To weaken a country, there is no more effective and deterrent method than breaking down its royal city.

Major Stuart Campbell believed that their greatest difficulty lay in the arduous march all the way, and they had strong self-confidence in breaking down the king's city of the natives.Those earthen cities are just rammed earth and wooden walls surrounded by a circle.As long as the artillery is placed under the city, it will take less than half an hour to blast a big hole in the thin city wall of the earth city, and even directly knock down a section of the city wall, which has a high probability of happening.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." However, when the Dutch army rushed to the city of New Banten and lined up at a distance of 700 meters from the city wall as usual, they were violently bombarded by artillery from the top of the city.

Of the fired shells, although only three shells fell into the Dutch army formation, it caused a lot of confusion.Once upon a time, the Dutch army used artillery to bombard the natives.But they didn't expect that they were bombarded by the natives at such a long distance under the city of Xinwandan.

"Damn it! When did the natives have such powerful artillery?" Major Stuart Campbell had to organize his troops to retreat hundreds of meters, and then roared angrily: "At least heavy artillery above 12 pounds, and more than that." One!"

"Major, in addition to artillery, they probably have a lot of muskets." An officer put down his binoculars and pointed in the direction of the city. "There are at least two hundred musketeers at the city."

During their attack along the way, although they also encountered musketeers from the Kingdom of Banten, there were not many of them, not more than 100 in total.Now, in their royal city, more than two hundred Musketeers actually appeared.It seems that this earthen city may not be breached as easily as they imagined.
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"You mean, our armed merchant ships had a direct confrontation with Hanzhou warships on the south side of Java Island?" Batavia Governor Anthony Van Daiman looked at Batavia Fleet Acting Commander Duckman Barre Lieutenant Colonel Ke, "How's the situation?"

"Captain Lloyd Foster, the captain of the Hallward, reported that they fought with the three Hanzhou warships for more than an hour, but the other side came for reinforcements, and there were many native boats following them In order to avoid unnecessary losses, they withdrew from the battle in time." Lieutenant Colonel Dakman Barek said: "The three returning ships all suffered damage to varying degrees, but it did not affect normal driving and combat. Moreover, they believe that the losses of the Hanzhou people will be even greater."

"Why did Hanzhou's warships appear in the waters south of Java Island? Is their purpose to intercept and attack our merchant ships?"

"Yes, Your Excellency Governor." Lieutenant Colonel Dakman Barek nodded and said, "Our analysis shows that they are trying to attack our merchant ships near Java Island. ... In addition, they may be heading to Mataran The kingdom transports some weapons to use the natives to attack and contain us."

Governor Daiman's heart suddenly cast a shadow. The strength of the Kingdom of Mataran far exceeds that of the Kingdom of Banten.After they attacked Batavia twice ten years ago, they turned to expand to the east, annexing many states and tribes in the east, and their power almost spread to the east of Java Island.

If the Kingdom of Mataland wanted to attack Batavia, their attack might be stronger than ten years ago. In addition, they had obtained a lot of firearms provided by Hanzhou.Now it seems that it is really a big trouble.

"What's the situation in Ambon?" Governor Dayman asked.

"Return to Captain Lloyd Foster to report that the situation does not seem to be very good." Lieutenant Colonel Dakman Barek said: "The troops transferred from Dili City were attacked by the local natives and lost More than 100 people. Those natives hide in the mountains and forests, are familiar with the terrain there, and... have a lot of muskets."

When Governor Daiman heard this, he couldn't help but frown. Needless to say, the muskets in the hands of the natives must have been provided to them by the Hanzhou people after they broke through Ambon.Damn Hanzhou!

"Lieutenant Colonel Barek, do you know? In the past half a month, our merchant ships traveling to and from Japan and Formosa, two more merchant ships were attacked by an official fleet of Nikolai. Return to Batavia with injuries. As for the three lost merchant ships, they may have been sunk or captured by them." Governor Daiman said: "This means that our East India Company has lost a lot of money and wealth .Your Batavia fleet needs to do something to prevent and avoid this kind of incident from happening."

"Your Excellency, our ships are scattered, and it will take time to gather them together." Lieutenant Colonel Dakman Barek said in embarrassment: "Officer Nicholas is near the Xinsheng Island in Hanzhou, and there are more than 30 ships. We have to mobilize seven to eight armed merchant ships to ensure that they are wiped out. Currently, there are three armed merchant ships in Batavia."

"We have more than 100 merchant ships in the Far East. Could it be that we can't mobilize less than eight ships in a short period of time?"

"Your Excellency, many merchant ships returning to Batavia have received commercial transport requirements. If they need to be mobilized, it may... affect our transit of goods in the Far East and to and from Europe." Dakman Barek Zhong said the school.

"So, to change the current passive situation, what is your navy's opinion?" Governor Daiman sighed slightly. The East India Company wanted to maintain trade transfers from Europe to the Far East, and to support the various countries in the East Indies. There are many ships in the operation of the trading station, but less than one out of ten can actually stop for combat.

"It is reported that most of the people's livelihood materials in Hanzhou can be produced by itself to meet the needs. However, the Xinxiangbao on the south side of Timor Island is well-defended, with a large number of garrison personnel, it is difficult to capture, and its blockade value is not great." Lieutenant Colonel Dakman Barek glanced at Governor Daiman, and said carefully: "Our navy suggests that the blockade of Hanzhou mainland and Xinxiangbao should be lifted, and instead, the north side of Timor Island, including Dili City, as well as the front line of Java Island, carried out inspection-style blockades, cutting off all foreign trade channels in Hanzhou."

Governor Daiman was silent after hearing this.Since October last year, the East India Company has blockaded the mainland of Hanzhou and several overseas territories with great fanfare, but after four months, not only did they not yield, but also allowed the Hanzhou fleet to attack Ambon, and sent a large number of weapons The smuggling to the two Sudanese kingdoms of Banten and Mataran has indeed caused a lot of trouble for the Dutch.At the same time, they also colluded with an official Nicholas to intercept and attack Dutch merchant ships near their Xinsheng Island.

Now it seems that it is unrealistic to strike and block all Hanzhou strongholds in an all-round way.Not only is the effect poor, but also a lot of valuable armed merchant ships were wasted.

"The fleet that blockaded Jianye City and Xinxiang Fort will be withdrawn." Governor Daiman said: "In the shortest possible time, deploy more than eight armed merchant ships to annihilate the fleet near Xinsheng Island. Then The fleet went to Fuchun in Annan (now Hue, Annan), and after the businessmen successfully negotiated, they covered and transported Annan soldiers, and cooperated with them to capture Xinsheng Island!"

"Of course, Governor!" Lieutenant Colonel Dachman Barek promised loudly, and then asked with some concern: "If the Annan people do not agree to attack Xinsheng Island, what will our navy do?"

"No, they will definitely agree." Governor Daiman said firmly: "They occupy Xinsheng Island and will get what they want."

(End of this chapter)