Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1270 Into the Interior
Batavia is also the Jakarta area of ​​later generations, and it is now the most important stronghold of the Dutch in the Far East.

Because the East India Company suffered a major defeat in Malacca, and the Ming army established a stronghold in Surabaya, obviously trying to compete with them for control of Java, the Dutch in Batavia became nervous.

At this time, the Ming army had already controlled Malacca. With the current strength of the East India Company, even if India and Nanyang joined forces, they would not be able to regain it. They had to wait for reinforcements from Europe, which would take at least two years, so they Must stay on the island of Java for two years.

In order to keep the stronghold of Batavia, the Dutch from all over Southeast Asia gathered here.

The Governor-General Kerry also sent people to Malacca, intending to spend a high price to redeem more than 2000 Dutch people including the captured Moschelle in order to strengthen the defense of Batavia, but the Ming Dynasty ignored them and called them instead. Surrender quickly, or you will send troops to destroy them.

This news made Corey realize that he could only rely on himself, so he began to frantically build fortifications and ships in Batavia.

The terrain of Batavia is high in the south and low in the north. It is formed by the impact and sedimentation of nearly ten rivers in size. Therefore, if the Dutch wanted to build stone walls and strengthen the fort, the stones needed had to be transported from the mountains more than ten miles away in the south. Come.

Nearly Wanming people and many local aborigines were forced to accept heavy labor, go to the mountains to quarry rocks, log, and cast iron cannons and weapons.

In order to save resources, especially food, the Dutch gave the captives very little to eat, but they had to do heavy labor every day. The unbearable captives had carried out many riots, but because of the disparity in strength, they were all suppressed by the Dutch. , Thousands of people were killed or injured.

Now the convicts can only bear it, transporting stones and strengthening the fortress of the Dutch under the cruel oppression every day, but not long ago, the navy of the Ming Dynasty came here and rescued some people, let these desperate convicts , There is another hope.

The fact that the Dutch urge them to build the city every day shows their guilty conscience. Maybe the master Wang will come back, and they have a glimmer of hope in their hearts, looking forward to that day.

At noon on the fifth day of May, the prisoners on the construction site were resting and eating some sweet potatoes before continuing to work.

At this time, a group of Dutchmen suddenly brought over a dozen people, all of whom were dressed in Ming Dynasty clothes. The prisoners couldn't help stretching their necks to look around, wondering why their comrades had been arrested.

Most of the captives took a look and felt sorry for the captured people, then lowered their heads and continued to eat sweet potatoes, but a few stronger men leaned together and whispered: "The flag team, it doesn't look like it They are the people of Nanyang!"

That little flag was the little flag of the Ming army who came to Batavia to inquire about the defense of the Dutch some time ago, but was caught by the red-haired ghost.

His name was Hu Sheng, and he couldn't help squinting his eyes when he saw that the captured people were all strong and strong men, "You will find an opportunity to investigate later."

While they were talking, the team of men was escorted to a work shed, and a Dutch officer with a red beard was sitting in the shed. Said the birdsong, then looked at the captives and nodded.

"Are there any of you who know how to blacksmith or shipbuild?" After the conversation, the Dutch officer said in broken Chinese: "Those who are skilled can get preferential treatment. If you don't, you can all work as coolies to build cities!"

After finishing speaking, among the dozen or so people standing in front of him, several of them exchanged glances and hurriedly said: "The little ones can forge iron." "The little ones can keep accounts..."

There are few Dutch people in the Far East, and many jobs cannot be done by natives, so they still rely on Ming people.

The officer nodded, and asked to take away the few people who stood up, and then waved: "You stay and build the city!"

After giving the order, the officer sat again in the supervisor's shed, leaned on the chair, and opened the wine bottle.

A month later, in a dilapidated work shed, four or five men gathered together, and Hu Sheng was among them.

The leader was Zhou Dai, the leader of a group of people who had been arrested a month ago. He was a hundred households assigned to the Ming army by Nanjing Wuxue.

They were ordered to pretend to be caravans and go deep into the west of Java to buy spices. They were captured by the coalition forces of Makaran and the Dutch in Danmu and sent to Batavia as bargaining chips.

In the past month, Zhou Dai contacted Hu Sheng, recruited a lot of manpower in the hard labor, and told the hard labor to stop rioting, not to make unnecessary sacrifices, and wait for the army to come to rescue.

At this time, several people gathered together, and someone outside the shed was staring at the Dutchman, so they could talk with peace of mind.

Zhou Dai first said: "Hu Xiaoqi, how many people have you developed through hard labor?"

"There are more than 300 people, all of whom are strong and strong men." Hu Sheng replied.

Zhou Dai nodded, "Very good, continue to develop, but don't need to be too fast, don't ask for more, just ask for reliability, understand?"

"Understood!" Hu Sheng nodded, and then suddenly asked: "However, we don't have weapons, and we can't enter the castle, so what should we do?"

Zhou Dai smiled, "You can rest assured about the weapons, the brothers who blacksmithed have quietly made more than a dozen short knives and gun points, and will get more out this month."

During the Battle of Malacca, most of Batavia's soldiers went to Malacca for support, but now Batavia is mainly merchants and sailors.

Westerners can be said to be nomads on the sea. Merchants and sailors are all outlaws. All the people are soldiers. They have all done murder and looting. Their combat power is not weak, but they are not soldiers after all, and their equipment is far less sophisticated than soldiers .

Seeing this, Kerrey could only ask people to step up the forging of plate armor, muskets, and swords.

The Dutch themselves were short of manpower, so they could only ask the Ming people to help with the casting. Most of the Ming people who worked as blacksmiths in Batavia and had other skills, the Dutch did not kill them, but enslaved them and let them work.

I heard that there are weapons, although they are mainly cold weapons, but they are better than sticks and stones.

Hu Sheng and the others looked happy, and at this time Zhou Dai said again: "As for how to enter the fort, there is also a way. The Dutch will let us go to Matalan next month, and bring back a batch of refined iron and grain. That's us Opportunity near the fort."

Hearing this, several people around became serious, Hu Sheng said: "What do you want us to do, Baihu will tell you directly."

Zhou Dai glanced at the few people, "We must first send one person to escape at night and notify the commander in chief to let the army arrive in the woods near Batavia to lurk around July [-]rd, and then agree on a secret signal to cooperate inside and outside! "

Everyone nodded in unison, and one of them said: "I am familiar with the terrain in this area, and I can speak the local language, so I will report the news."

The person who spoke was a man who lived in Batavia. It was very suitable for him to go, Zhou Dai nodded, "Okay, then you can find a chance to slip away tonight."

After finishing speaking, he picked up a branch, drew it on the ground and said: "When we were transporting, we calculated the distance and dragged it into the fort at night, so that the commander-in-chief can see us entering the fort. The warehouse of the red-haired ghost is in the Inside the second-floor fortress, the refined iron warehouse is very close to the weapon warehouse. After entering, we all started to kill the red-haired ghost who supervised, and the brothers who transported the refined iron and grain rushed to the armory together, occupied it, and then Let the commander-in-chief enter the city..."

Everyone nodded after hearing this, "Then listen to Baihu and do it like this!"

If Batavia is attacked by force, the Ming army will definitely be able to take it down. After all, the Ming army's deployment of troops from Guangzhou is much closer than the Dutch's deployment of troops from Europe. The Ming army has a huge advantage.

Of course, a strong attack would cause huge casualties and cost a lot, so after Li Dingguo captured Malacca, he didn't want to use the old method to besiege for six or seven months.

He heard that there were nearly ten thousand Ming people who were enslaved by He Yi, and there were more than a dozen navy soldiers among them, so he wondered if he could use this force to cooperate with the outside and attack Batavia.

After all, there are only more than 3000 Dutch people, many of whom are businessmen. If nearly [-] coolies can be organized, it should be able to cause trouble for the Dutch.

Therefore, he dispatched fifteen elites, pretending to be a caravan, and deliberately let the Dutch catch them and mix them into hard labor.

This was originally just an idea of ​​his, and he didn't know if it could be done, but after nearly a month and a half passed, the person he sent finally sent back the news.

This day, he was discussing with Yu Fangqi whether there are other ways to do it, when an officer suddenly reported outside the house, "Commander, Zhou Baihu sent someone back."

Li Dingguo couldn't help being overjoyed when he heard the words, he hurriedly dropped the blueprint and said, "Bring me here!"

After a while, the officer led a man in, and the latter immediately said: "Sun Anmin, the villain, pays his respects to the commander-in-chief."

Li Dingguo took a look at him, his skin was dark and he was very capable. He asked him, he used to be a bodyguard teacher, and then got involved in a life lawsuit, so he ran to Nanyang.

Li Dingguo asked about Zhou Dai again, as well as the agreed secret words, and he answered fluently. Li Dingguo was overjoyed to help him up, and ordered someone to serve good tea for Sun Anmin to drink before asking: "Zhou Dai asked you to come, but There is a chance to capture Heyi's fortress!"

Sun Anmin hurriedly said excitedly: "The villain came to inform the commander-in-chief under Zhou Baihu's order. The preparations are ready. Zhou Baihu asked the villain to inform the commander-in-chief, hoping that the commander-in-chief can arrive before July [-]rd." Go to the outskirts of Batavia to hide. At that time, Zhou Baihu will look for an opportunity to enter the castle and suddenly cause chaos. He must not hesitate to ask the commander at that time. Once the agreement is made, he will attack with all his strength. The combination of inside and outside will definitely win Batavia .”

Li Dingguo naturally understood that once Zhou Dai and the others started, if they didn't respond, they would be dead.Li Dingguo pondered for a while, then said to Yu Fangqi: "Commander Yu, you immediately arrange a boat to take us to Batavia in the dark. In addition, the navy will transfer some troops, and find some refugees to replace them with the main army." Clothes, try to move your eyes lightly, don’t let the Dutch and Matalan’s army there know that the commander-in-chief has left Surabaya..."

"Don't worry, Commander, I'll arrange it right away!" Yu Fangqi clasped his fists immediately after hearing the words.

　Thanks for the reward of the fake Huang Yue Tianxia Bingma Marshal, please recommend, subscribe, and monthly pass.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)