Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1248 Falling into Despair
Moschell, the president of the East India Company, sent troops to reinforce the forts, but he didn't expect that the three forts were captured by the Ming army one after another. The Dutch soldiers who reinforced them climbed up the mountainside, and met the Ming army with high morale rushing down from above. .

The Netherlands failed to recapture the fort, but was defeated by the Ming army, losing nearly a hundred people, and fled back to the main castle in a hurry by boat.

After this battle, the three forts were captured by the Ming army, the Dutch suffered more than 600 casualties, and the East India Company suffered a serious blow.

Since the start of the war, the Netherlands has lost 600 people, which accounted for almost [-]% of all the personnel of the Dutch East India Company in India and South Asia.

This can be said to be the biggest loss suffered by the Dutch East India Company since its establishment. The company has never experienced such a setback, and they will face the most serious challenge. Turning the muzzle to bombard the Dutch warships in the port, the Dutch fleet is no longer safe.

At this time, in a conference room in the main castle, the members of the council had already quarreled.

There were probably more than 20 East India Company councilors gathered in the room. They were arguing fiercely in a room with a long table in the middle.

At this time, the commander of the Dutch fleet, Kau Wu, stood up and said loudly to the crowd: "Gentlemen, Your Excellency, the forts are all lost. I think the fleet must break through and go to Batavia."

"Your Excellency, what about Malacca? If there is no fleet to protect the smooth sea route, the castle will be completely besieged by the Ming people, and sooner or later it will fall into the hands of the Ming people. Once the Ming people occupy Malacca and control the waterway, the company will occupy Batavia. has no meaning?"

"Are you waiting for the Ming people to bombard the fleet and watch all the warships be destroyed? Can you hold the fort in this way?"

"Members, I think we have failed. The company should all retreat to India. We are no match for the Ming people. They have as many people as the water in the sea. The company can't beat them at all!"

Listening to the quarrel of the crowd, Moschell suddenly knocked on the table, "Silence, silence!"

Among the congressmen present, some insisted on defending Malacca, while others said they would give up the evacuation to India, arguing endlessly.

The reason why the East India Company is called a company is because it issued stocks in the Netherlands, and the wishes of the shareholders are the growth of the value of the stocks in their hands. Therefore, the company is born with the gene of expansion, and as the president, Moschier's task is the company's assets growth of.

Malacca is very important to the East India Company. The main trade in this era is the trade with India and China. If Malacca is lost, the stock price of the East India Company will definitely plummet. As the person in charge, they cannot explain to the shareholders.

For President Moschell, Malacca must never be given up, but the fleet cannot be destroyed either.

The MPs in the room fell silent, and Moschell stood up and said: "Members, I agree with Mr. Kau Wu's proposition. The company has no power to defeat the Ming people in Malacca. The fleet must rush out of the harbor and go outside to find reinforcements. , and then come back and save us!"

He paused, then continued, "I will lead [-] soldiers to hold on to the fortress, and Kauu will lead the fleet with [-] soldiers to open the port back to Batavia, and then go to Sulu to join the Spaniards and concentrate their forces. Defeat Luzon's navy, then invite the Spaniards to cut off the Ming army's sea transportation, and finally come to rescue us."

At this time, on the fort and on the hillside, the Ming army was busy cleaning up the battlefield.

On the edge of the stone wall of the fort, there were neat rows of corpses. After the scribes squatted down and registered the identities of the soldiers who died in battle with a pen, they took off the badges and the corpses were carried down the mountain by the soldiers for burial.

In this battle, Yu Youming's Fengjie Camp lost nearly 700 people, more casualties than the Dutch.

Although the Ming army made a lot of preparations, and the Ming army was several times larger than the Dutch, but after all, they were attacking the hills with their heads up, and the Dutch were not weak in combat power, so the losses were still huge.

At least 2000 people were killed by the Ming army in this tough battle, and thousands of people were injured. It can be said to be a bitter battle.

After capturing the hill, Zhang Yiguo and his subordinates stayed on the fort. He was sitting by the side for the medical officer to bandage the wound, while the soldiers worked together to turn the direction of the heavy artillery to aim at the Dutch ships in the port amidst the sound of trumpets.

At this time, Yu Youming led a few people and boarded the fort accompanied by Jiabu Qianhu. Jiabudi broke through the stone wall first, and the Qianhu official was talking non-stop, as if introducing him to the attack process.

Behind Yu Youming, Qianhu from the B and B and B and B and B and B and B and B and B and C departments followed behind with a knife.

Seeing Yu Youming coming up, the soldiers on the fort hurriedly got up and saluted. When the Qianhu officer saw Zhang Yiguo, he immediately smiled and said to Youming: "Commander, that's him, Zhang Yiguo of Division Jiaqian and Division B. His flag broke through the stone wall first. The kid even beheaded the Dutch commander himself."

For his subordinates, Qianhu Guan was not stingy with his admiration.Hearing the words, Yu Youming glanced at Zhang Yiguo, looked him up and down, and was very satisfied to see that he was still standing upright despite his injuries, and said with a smile, "Heal your injuries well, and I will give you credit for this battle after this battle is over."

Yu Youming is almost thirty now, with a mustache on his mouth, he looks very heroic.

Zhang Yiguo quickly saluted and thanked him. His family is a merchant in Huguang. Three generations of talents have saved some money, but their status in their hometown is not high, so they want to cultivate talents to improve the status of the family.

The imperial court said that the four peoples are all stone pillars and have equal status, but there are still great differences among the people.However, with the development of commerce, after merchants earn a lot of money, they will definitely not be satisfied with just money. They will definitely want to obtain higher social status and political rights. Conflicts will gradually erupt, and the status recognized by the merchants will be Gradually transform in struggle and compromise.

In the New Policy of Supervising the Kingdom, there is a household division system, which divides households according to assets and tax payments. If you pay more taxes, you can be rated as a household, which is to meet the growing power expectations of merchants.

There are four brothers in Zhang Yiguo's family. The eldest brother inherited his father's business, and the other two went to the county to study.

This time, in terms of rewards for meritorious deeds, he can at least be a six-rank hundred household, and when he graduates from martial arts, he will be at least a thousand households, and his Zhang family is regarded as a leader in his hometown.

"Report to Commander, the cannon has turned around!" At this moment, a Ming soldier ran over and reported with fists clasped.

When Yu Youming heard the words, he immediately turned around, waved his hands and said, "Then what are you waiting for, call the artillery team to come up and beat the general hard!"

On the three forts, the Ming army turned the muzzles of these cannons around and aimed them at the Dutch warships in the port with great effort.

While the people of the East India Company were discussing in the main castle, a burst of gunfire came over.

The artillery on the fort was originally used to guard the port from warships attacking the harbor from the sea, but now it has become a nightmare for Dutch warships in the harbor.

This is simply the Battle of Lushun, a replica of the destruction of the Tsarist Russian Navy nestled in Lushun Port, or what happened to the Weihaiwei Beiyang Navy.

On the top of the mountain, soldiers of the artillery team of the Ming army manipulated the artillery team to bombard the harbor. For a while, the fort was filled with smoke.

The Dutch warship in the harbor saw a puff of white smoke coming out of the fort, and the sailors on the deck suddenly ran in panic. They only heard the roar of thunder, followed by an iron bullet weighing more than ten kilograms. It fell into the sea a hundred steps away with a sound, splashing a column of water more than three feet high.

At this time, the Dutch ships began to move in the harbor to avoid the shelling. The gun windows on the side of the warship were opened, the cannons stretched out, and the doors retreated, causing the hull and the sea to vibrate, and returned to the fort.

For a moment, the side of the ship was filled with smoke, and water columns rose from the sea, and the splashed water flew into the air, and when it fell, it was like a downpour, drenching the deck and the sailors on it.

After all, the fort is built of bricks and stones, and the ships are made of wood. A Dutch-Yi warship shuttled through the water column. First, the main mast was smashed by a cannonball. After slowing down, it was hit by several bullets, and finally paralyzed on the sea. superior.

Several Dutch and barbarian warships wanted to leave the port, but the gunboats of the Ming army lined up outside, and the Dutchmen were driven back by a bombardment.

The artillery battle lasted for about an hour, and stopped temporarily as the sky darkened.

Eight Dutch ships were damaged, one of which was damaged beyond repair, but no ships were sunk.

This is because it is difficult for wooden warships to be damaged by solid bullets under the sea surface, so they rarely sink. Generally, the final solution is to rely on boarding battles and ramming tactics.

With the occupation of the fort by the Ming army, the destruction of the Dutch warships in the port was inevitable. In order to avoid losses, the Dutch fleet commander Kau Wu broke out from the port overnight at the request of Moschell.

However, the movement of the Netherlands was immediately discovered by the Ming army who was watching, and fired artillery to bombard the exit of the harbor. The Dutch braved the artillery fire and rushed out of the harbor. They alerted the Ming army navy who were mooring ships [-] miles east of Malacca, and they stopped the Heyi fleet [-] miles away from the port.

In a battle between the two sides, a Dutch and barbarian warship broke through from the edge of the battlefield to Batavia, three Dutch warships were silent, four were captured by the Ming army, and the rest had to be returned to the port.

On the side of the Ming army, a three-masted gunboat sank due to collision, and five Dafu boats were also lost.

In the next few days, the Dutch failed to leave the port several times, but they were all blocked by Ming. Only a few fled to the direction of India, and most of them were trapped in the port.

On the fifth day of the first lunar month of the sixth year of the Common Rule, in order to prevent the Dutch warships from escaping, the navy of the Ming army rushed into the port under the cover of fort fire and sunk four large ships on the channel, blocking most of the channel and allowing the Dutch ships to escape. The possibility of this was greatly reduced, and the Dutch in Malacca began to gradually despair.

At this time, under the main fort of the Dutch, compared with before, it has completely changed. There are deep moats staggered, and earth walls rise from the ground. In front of the earth city are three moats, which serve as barriers to besiege the main fort. The ministries take turns to guard.

If these fortifications are added with some wooden piles and barbed wire, it almost becomes the Western Front battlefield of the First World War.

Various flags fluttered on the Tucheng, and many soldiers of the Ming army walked between the winding trenches. Based on the experience of attacking the fort, the Ming army set up the cannons under the fortress and confronted the Dutch above.

The sharp corner of the bastion had been blown away, but the Ming army did not attack by force, because the fortress had three layers of walls. Even if the first layer collapsed, there was still a complete defense system behind it, and the attack would inevitably cause heavy casualties.

The Ming army did not intend to withdraw from Malacca anyway, and would occupy the place for a long time, so they used the lock-up method to trap Heyi, and then the army built Malacca while waiting for Heyi to surrender in despair.

　Thanks for the rewards of Toon Tree and Autumn Borer, ask for a monthly pass, subscribe, and recommend.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)