The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 583 The vast ocean is a casino, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has a trump card!

May 1857, 5, was the second day after the True Josephists launched the Batavia Uprising.

The marble dome of the Governor's Palace in Batavia Bastion was still shining brightly with oil lamps, and a celebration reception was being held. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Pahud, held up a glass of Bordeaux red wine with a smile of victory on his face: "Gentlemen, the offensive of the Chinese thugs has been contained - the Batavia Bastion is impregnable, the artillery of the three coastal batteries is enough to cover the entire port, and our fleet has blocked the entire Java Sea!"

He deliberately tapped the South China Sea map behind him with a silver spoon. Seventeen ship models were nailed to the Karimata Strait in the northwest of the Java Sea. The chimney models of the four Surabaya-class steam gunboats were particularly eye-catching - these were new toys sent by Dutch naval engineers last month.

"As long as we can hold on for five months, the expeditionary fleet from our homeland will arrive with 8,000 musketeers!" Pahud raised his glass to Bonham, "What's more, we have the friendship of the British Royal Navy."

Bonham had intended to sneak away last night on the Royal Albatross, but half of the sailors on that British merchant ship were fooling around in a brothel in Batavia, and half were drunk. So he had to wait patiently for the sailors to return, but before the sailors came back, the Governor's Office of the Dutch East Indies sent someone to invite him to a "celebration party" - a party to celebrate victory!

Although most of Batavia was captured by the True Jockeys, the indigenous mobs were dispersed by the rebels, and the Dutch mercenaries suffered heavy losses, the Dutch eventually "organized a successful defense" with the fortresses, artillery and cannons left by their colonial ancestors. A successful defense is a victory!
Bai Siwen came up to Moore with a bone china plate full of fried bacon and grilled fish. "Look, the Dutch still use the 1795 model of flintlock rifles—they even have matchlock rifles from the War of the Spanish Succession in their armory."

Friedrich's pen scratched on his notebook: "Colonial military technology is often two or three generations behind that of the mainland, but it is usually more than enough to suppress uprisings unless it encounters an opponent with the same industrial level."

On the other hand, although Bonham was not optimistic about the prospects of the Batavia Fortress from the bottom of his heart - the Petropavlovsk Fortress on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Sevastopol Fortress on the Crimean Peninsula had not been defended, and the Batavia Fortress was not worth mentioning compared to them. However, as a senior British civil servant, he certainly had to try his best to maintain the face of his Dutch friends at this time.

No matter how much these Dutchmen have lost, they are still white masters. He still has to say some nice polite words: "The British Empire certainly does not approve of the riot launched by the True Creed faction on the island of Java. This seriously infringes on the Netherlands' rule over the Dutch East Indies and threatens free trade between the East and the West! If the Governor-General needs it, Britain is willing to mediate."

"Mediation? No, no." Pahud shook his head again and again, "Now is not the time! We must make those yellow monkeys pay a heavy price!"

Bai Siwen said to Moore in a sarcastic tone: "If we mediate now, the Dutch will probably have to pay a heavy price. But if the war drags on any longer..."

"Boom boom boom"

The sudden sound of the cannon made the crystal chandelier jingle. Pahud's red wine spilled on his white Dutch scarf, but he still maintained the dignity of the governor: "Don't panic! This is the 24-pound fortress gun of the bastion conducting routine deterrent shooting."

Moore quietly drew aside the velvet curtains. In the southeast sky, several black spots were moving from the Chinese quarter toward the bastion, exploding dazzling fireballs on the granite walls. He noticed that the explosion points of the shells were surprisingly concentrated - this was definitely not something that a mob firing at random with muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons could do.

"They are calibrating the firing range." Wen Xian, who had already dealt with the Dutch Governor, suddenly appeared behind Moore. "When King Luo Wu first arrived in Shanghai, he immediately set up the Military Academy to train professional officers, among which the artillery department was the focus. He invited the best Western artillery officers that could be invited in Shanghai at that time. However, the real decisive factor is the maritime power of both sides! Whoever controls the sea can control the South Seas! Even if the Chinese can temporarily break through Batavia, Semarang and Surabaya, only the Dutch can firmly control the sea power and will eventually return victorious."

"Sir," Moore turned back to look at Bonham, "do you really think the Dutch can still control the sea?"

Wen Xian smiled and said, "Of course! They are not only the coachmen of the sea, but also have a large fleet of the Dutch East India."

Moore said: "I don't think so. Whoever controls advanced productivity will control the ocean! Now the Chinese can also build wooden steam three-masted sailing ships and cast 64-pound cannons. They also have picric acid shells! What do the Dutch have?"

"Boom boom boom"

There were a few more loud noises, and the artillery shells fired by the True Covenant rebels outside the city accurately hit the city wall, exploding into a fireball far larger than an ordinary black powder shell.

"It's nitrate!" Friedrich said, "There are sugar factories everywhere in the Chinese district of Batavia. They can make nitrate gunpowder anytime and anywhere. I think they should start digging parallel trenches now." "Parallel trenches" Wenxian took a breath of cold air, that is the nemesis of the bastion!

Friedrich nodded. "Yes, they will. How can a country that can manufacture steamships, 64-pound cannons, and picric acid shells not know how to dig parallel trenches? A few years ago, the Prussian high school textbook that Moore and I translated for them had a geometry problem on digging parallel trenches!"

Wen Xian drank the wine in his hand in one gulp: "We can't go to Guangzhou if we leave early tomorrow morning. The Karimata Strait has been blocked. We have to go east, maybe we have to go to Japan first."

Moore took a sip of wine. "I heard that it was a feudal country that was very similar to China in terms of ethnicity and culture."

Bai Siwen shook his head: "No, Japan and China are very different. They are very feudal, while China is not very feudal, at least not in the last thousand years."

1857 5 Month 20 Day.

A moderate southeasterly wind was blowing in the Karimata Strait. On the deck of the Lan Fang, a three-masted steam-powered armed merchant ship flying the Siamese flag, Ding Xianda's telescope reflected the dense masts on the horizon - the Dutch had increased the number of patrol ships to three times the usual number. The six Maluku-class frigates were advancing slowly in a comb formation, and each warship's mast was hung with a brand new tricolor signal flag.

"Captain Ding, something is wrong!" The first mate pointed at the flashing Dutch frigates two miles away. "There are twice as many as the intelligence showed. And they are also Maluku-class frigates."

Ding Xianda, who had just graduated from the Naval Academy and was lucky enough to "get" a 1000-ton "Jianghai-class" ocean-going ship, was already a little nervous and breathless.

The Dutch would not double the number of ships used to blockade the Karimata Strait for no reason. There could only be one reason why they did this: the uprising on Java Island was brought forward for some reason!

In this case, the 3000 Tianli 3-year rifled guns, 500 barrels of gunpowder, 10 rounds of fixed ammunition and 300 Lan Fang soldiers on board the Lan Fang and three other Nanyang Trading Company-owned ships became even more important. If they could not be delivered in time, the uprising would most likely fail!

However, the "Lan Fang" was only a 1000-ton steam-armed merchant ship with only three 3-pound muzzle-loading smoothbore guns. Its firepower was too weak compared to the Dutch fleet.

However, the Lan Fang's ammunition depot contained 30 powerful picric acid shells.
"There's another ship behind!" The Lan Fang's first mate exclaimed again, "It's the Batavia class, the main force of the Dutch East India Fleet!"

"Go ahead!" A voice came from behind Ding Xianda. It was Liu Shaoting, the general manager of the Nanyang Trading Company, who was speaking. This old Taiping Army brother, who was smoking a pipe, looked nonchalant and said, "It's just a river or sea level. I can afford the gamble!"

Now the Jiangnan Arsenal has built more than 10 Jianghai-class ships, but the steam engines are not very good, so they are temporarily equipped with imported ones. However, there is a solution to this problem, so the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom does have the confidence.

"Under sir! Lower half sail! Turn right rudder and get close to the merchant fleet twice!" Ding Xianda ordered loudly, "Keep the steam pressure at 50%!" He had to make the Dutch believe that this was a broken ship that couldn't afford to burn coal.

Two Dutch frigates suddenly broke away from the formation and quickly approached the "Lan Fang", while raising the signal flag for boarding and inspection.

"Dou Lei, motherfucker!" Liu Shaoting cursed. "The inspection is so strict, something big must have happened in Java. Charge at me!"

"Maximum pressure. Full speed!" Ding Xianda yelled. Black smoke instantly gushed out of the chimney of the "Lan Fang". The steam engine imported from Britain suddenly increased the pressure to twelve atmospheres. The 24-pound guns of the two Dutch frigates fired almost at the same time. Chain bullets whizzed over the "Lan Fang".

Ding Xianda ordered again: "Prepare the picric acid shells." At the same time, he had taken over the rudder and drove this steam-sailed ship with only a thin wooden hull through the middle of the two Dutch frigates and headed towards a 1000-ton three-masted sailing cruiser.
(End of this chapter)