Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1272 Take down the fortress
Batavia, dotted with torches in the dark night, was immediately enveloped in flames and shouts of killing. Countless torches illuminated the fortress brightly.

The Ming army of the brigade climbed up the first wall through the long ladder. The Ming army opened the thick gate of the fort, and countless Ming troops rushed into the fort.

At this moment, the Dutch who had retreated to the second wall began to condescendingly shoot down the Ming army on the first wall.

The fort built by the Dutch is very characteristic. The second wall is higher than the first wall. Standing on it, you can overlook the first fort wall, and the distance between the two walls is just within the range of the musket.

The Dutch retreated into the second wall from the unique tunnel. As soon as the Ming army occupied the outer fort wall, they heard the sound of "bang bang bang" muskets, and several Ming soldiers on the wall were hit by muskets. Crying and falling.

The Ming army next to him reacted and immediately knelt down on one knee, raised his firecracker and fired. A Dutchman was shot and fell down the fort wall with a wail, but most of the bullets still hit the fort wall.

After firing a blunderbuss, the Ming army hastily reloaded, but at this time the Dutch fired in another round of guns. The Ming army had nothing to cover them, and several people were killed immediately.

At this time, the hard labor under the city was mobilized, and all the wooden boards and bed boards used to build the huts were removed, and then hung on the city wall to serve as shields for the Ming army.

Although this is not as good as the stone wall, it still has a certain defensive power. Relying on the advantage of numbers, the Ming army fought against He Yi on the wall. The two sides kept exchanging deaths. As soon as he lifted the gun, he was knocked down.

The fiercest battle was not the shooting on the two walls, but at the gate of the second fort.

Here Li Dingguo invested three consecutive rounds of troops, but the casualties were heavy, so he immediately transferred three more rounds to join the attack.

After being ordered by Daoist, the officers of the Thousand Households of Division B of Zhenwei Battalion waved their flags, and the soldiers of the fourth, fifth, and sixth bureaus immediately fought against the ladders and launched an attack.

The distance between the two fort walls was very short, and the Ming army could not deploy its forces, and only three or four hundred people could be invested in each attack.

At this time, three bureaus, more than 100 people in each bureau, attacked the front and two wings of the fort gate respectively. The soldiers stepped on the trench bridge to the second fort wall, and then erected ladders to climb up. Hit, rolled into the ditch.

Between the two trenches, the Ming army slowly passed through, and there was a rain of bullets intertwined above their heads.

The gunners of the Ming army stood on the first wall of the fort, hid behind wooden boards, and lined up to shoot. The battle was very fierce.

At this time, the castle was already in flames, gunshots and shouts rang out. The Dutch were attacked inside and outside, but the main threat still came from the surging Ming army.

The governor of the Netherlands was also confused for a while, which gave Zhou Dai a chance in the city. After nearly three hundred men seized the armory, they took the weapons, leaving nearly a hundred people to set fire to the warehouse, and Zhou Dai led 200 people to the fort. door to kill.

Helping the Ming army enter the fort is their top priority.

At this time, they were rushing out of the smoky warehouse area, and they met more than a dozen Dutchmen who came to reinforce the fort gate. Zhou Dai immediately shouted, the team stopped instantly, and the man with the musket stretched out the gun.

The Dutch didn't expect to meet them. Dozens of muskets were fired at the same time, and several Dutchmen in front fell to the ground at the same time, rolling and screaming on the ground.

The formation of the Dutch in the back became chaotic. On the men's side, the muskets retreated. Zhou Dai led more than a dozen men wielding long swords. people.

However, they were very happy before they came, and soon another team of reinforcements He Yi killed dozens of people.

Because Zhou Dai and others were holding back the fort, there were fewer Dutch reinforcements at the fort gate. With the advantage of numbers, the Ming army finally made progress after suffering huge casualties.

At this time, a soldier of the Ming army went under the fort wall and ignited a thunderbolt. When the sparking fuse was about to burn out, he suddenly threw it upwards.

The Ming army who had climbed halfway up the city wall heard an explosion above their heads, and the bricks and stones of the city were splashed. Several Dutchmen were blown out of the city wall.

Seeing this, a Ming army Xiaoqi raised his head and took a look. After realizing it, he immediately put his mouth on the back of the knife and climbed up the city with both hands and feet.

The Ming army took advantage of the situation and finally occupied a section of the city wall. The soldiers on the upper city pushed towards the sides while rushing to the inside of the fort wall, shooting and killing the Dutch who came to reinforce them, making it impossible for them to gather and go up the wall for reinforcements.

Amid the continuous sound of explosions and gunshots, the Dutch on the city began to flee down the city wall one after another, retreating into barracks and warehouses in large numbers to avoid being shot by the Ming army.

The third fort wall of the Dutch is the Governor's Palace of the Dutch in Batavia and the office of the East India Company, so it is relatively small.

The distance between him and the second fort wall is much farther, and there is no trench in the middle, but a large area of ​​houses.

Inside the second fort wall is the living and living area of ​​the Dutch, as well as a large number of warehouses, occupying a large area, like a small town.

After the Ming army boarded the second wall, they didn't have to worry about the Dutch shooting on the third wall, so it was very important to break through the second wall.

A division of the Ming soldiers climbed up the city wall and began to rush down the steps of the upper city. The Dutch hid in the roofs and windows and shot at the Ming soldiers. The Ming soldiers who rushed down the steps were repeatedly knocked down.

The Ming army left more than a dozen corpses, retreated to the city wall, and squatted down to shoot at the Dutch.

At this time, hundreds of people climbed up the city from the place occupied by the Ming army, and the firearms of the Ming army on the city wall began to gather, gradually suppressing the firepower of the Dutch on the roof, inside the houses, and in the streets.

At this time, a soldier of the Ming army tried to attack again. The soldiers were knocked down again and again, but they finally rushed down the steps, rushed into the gate, hacked to death several Dutchmen inside, then lowered the suspension bridge and opened the city gate.

Li Dingguo saw that the suspension bridge was lowered rapidly, and the fort gate was slowly pushed open. He pointed his knife at him and shouted angrily, "Kill!"

The more than 2000 horsemen crowded between the first wall and the second wall immediately swarmed in with howls, and the fiery red figures and swarming plate helmets began to rush into the streets inside the castle.

The Dutch on the second wall gradually dispersed down the city, some retreated to the last main castle, the governor's mansion, and more lost their organization, scattered into small groups, and hid in warehouses, houses, and workshops in a panic.

The Ming army first occupied various important streets and intersections, and then began to compete with the Dutch along the streets and houses, and quickly advanced from the west to the center.

After Li Dingguo entered the city, he didn't go deep. He stood at the city gate and saw his soldiers running through the dark door opening with torches.

He looked up into the city again. On the streets in the castle, gunshots and shouts of killing rang out all over the city. The sound and the gunpowder smoke filling the streets rose slowly, and finally dissipated in the air.

Although they entered the city, the street fighting was still fierce.

At this time, in the main castle, Governor Kerrey's office was in a panic, with papers and documents scattered all over the place.

"Your Excellency, the Ming people have already invaded the fort, and the Dutch soldiers are fighting fiercely with the Ming people in the Xicheng district. However, there are so many of them. It is estimated that they will soon occupy the Xicheng district and advance towards the Governor's Mansion!" A Dutch barbarian officer said, Rushing in with a smoking pistol in hand, he said in a panic.

Kerrey's face was grim, "Sidiu, immediately lead people to set up defenses on the street, don't let the Ming people rush over, and organize other people to transport the grain in the warehouse to the governor's mansion."

The Governor's Mansion is the center of the entire Batavia. It is very tall and strong. It is the center of the entire fortress and the third line of defense. Kerrey decided to stick to it with the last fortification.

"Your Excellency, there was a rebellion in the grain depot, and it was set ablaze by the rebels long ago!" The member named Si Diu said anxiously: "Please forgive me, Your Excellency, the company is in Nanyang and its strategy against the Ming Dynasty. A complete and utter failure! Now we can only take advantage of the fact that the Ming people only occupy the western district, and we immediately break through from the north and rush out of Batavia by boat!"

The grain depot was burned, so it was meaningless to stick to the main fort. In the end, it could only be like Malacca, and the grain ran out.

"Damn it!" Corey yelled angrily, but he had to admit defeat. The Dutch came here to make money, not to risk their lives. Now he can only admit defeat, "Let the congressmen tidy up, and we will retreat immediately."

In this way, the Dutch East India Company will lose Southeast Asia at once. The coachmen on the sea have just been defeated by the British in the West and defeated by the Ming Dynasty in the East.

This great sea power that has dominated the ocean for decades is doomed to decline, and it has declined faster than in history. Almost in the past few years, it has been reduced to the edge.

On the streets of the city, there were fighting everywhere. Of the more than 300 people that Zhou Dai brought into the city, most of them were estimated to have died, and the rest were also killed.

After the Ming army rushed into the city, Zhou Dai changed direction and led his men and horses to charge towards the Governor's Mansion. They entered a street next to a Dutchman kneeling and raising his gun, saying Dutch words that no one could understand. The words seemed to be begging for mercy and surrender.

Zhou Dai couldn't understand their words, but as long as he knelt down and raised his hands, he ignored them, but the men behind him raised their guns and shot when they saw the red-haired ghost.

With a "bang" gunshot, the kneeling Dutchman was hit, his body flew upside down, and hit the wall on the side of the street.

These men couldn't shoot properly at first, and they vomited when they saw blood, but after killing several people in a row, their eyes became red, and they killed Dutchmen when they saw them.

At this time they broke into a room, and several wounded Dutch soldiers were lying in it. They looked at Zhou Dai and others who came in in horror. Begging for mercy again and again, Zhou Dai was just about to speak when he heard a "bang bang bang" sound behind him, killing all the Dutchmen in the room.

At this time, because the colonial authorities had lost the will to resist, and the stragglers in the city had no one to command, the Ming army advanced by leaps and bounds, quickly occupied various blocks, and began to organize manpower to control the fire.

Suddenly there was a loud cheer, it was that the Ming army had rushed into the governor's mansion.

Corey and the senior officials of the East India Company escaped from the fort. They heard the cheers behind them and turned their heads to see that a large number of torches had appeared on the wall of the northern section of the fort. The pier is coming.

Kerrey was so frightened that his face paled. The Dutchmen across the sea hurriedly boarded three armed merchant ships from the pier. The ships had just weighed anchor and raised their sails. The big ship fired a volley of guns.

The Dutch fled out of the harbor in a hurry, regardless of firing a cannon. As soon as they came out of the sea, they encountered a cruising Ming army warship.

There was a melee between the two sides in the dark, three Heyi warships, one was sunk, one was captured, and one took advantage of the night to flee northward...
(End of this chapter)