Chapter 243
It is certainly impossible for Zheng Zhilong to know the details of the negotiations between Ning Haijun and the Dutch East India Company in Batavia. Of course, even if Zheng Zhilong knew it, it would be meaningless. Neither Ning Haijun nor the Dutch would care about Zheng Zhilong's attitude.
While Xie Jinglin and Brewer were negotiating, three large armed merchant ships flying golden lion flags slowly sailed into the Batavia port.
The city of Venice is now considered a small power in Europe, because they are in a naval war with the Ottoman Empire, an ally of the Spanish Empire. Fundamentally speaking, they are also considered an ally of the Dutch.
What's more, the Venetians are not interested in colonies outside the Mediterranean. First of all, Venice's population is too small and there is no way to participate in colonization. Also, in the face of the crazy attacks of the Ottoman Empire, Venice can barely support it.
The Dutch East India Company punched Spain, kicked Portugal, and dominated the East, but gave the green light to the Venetian fleet.
Seeing that these three weapons merchant ships were wearing gun jackets, they had no fighting attitude.
The Dutch warships responsible for patrolling Batavia Harbor did not even conduct inspections by mountain vessels and simply let them go. These three armed merchant ships of over 1,200 tons entered the port smoothly.
The Dutch superintendent of the port, Sidney Strachey, a tax official of the Dutch East India Company, came to the dock with several entourages and a dozen tax officials.
At the berth, the trestle has just been set up. As the commander of the Venetian fleet, Paul was the first to step off the ship. However, right behind Paul, a group of people wearing steel helmets and hideous steel masks appeared on their faces, with only two eye sockets, shoulders, and chest exposed. , arms, legs... are all covered tightly with large pieces of orphan-shaped steel plates. The breastplate is simply a whole piece of orphan-shaped steel plates. Due to the increasing maturity of hydraulic stamping machine tools, larger components can be processed. The original six-piece Breastplates made of connected steel plates have been eliminated.
These heavy infantrymen were covered from head to toe under thick steel plates. Every step they took made a terrifying clanging sound. Coupled with the heavy and sharp swords in their hands, it was really chilling.
Sidney realized something was wrong and hurriedly stretched out his hand: "My friend, can you tell me who these people are?"
Paul raised his hands and smiled bitterly at Sidney: "I'm very sorry, my friend, this is none of our business. We were hijacked by them. As their captives, we have to obey their orders... We are Forced!"
When the Dutch East India Company's troops discovered this group of uninvited guests, more than 2,600 heavy infantrymen from the Yuning Navy Tiaodang Camp had already occupied the port.
Sidney looked at the heavy infantry in front of him and was stunned: "What are they doing?"
Paul shrugged: "Who knows, why don't you go over and ask..."
"Oh God, this joke isn't funny!"
Sidney yelled: "Dammit, stop them..."
Immediately following the order, more than a hundred colonial policemen from the Dutch East Indies rushed towards Ning Haijun's heavy infantry with batons, shields and muskets.
"Stop, stop, stop quickly, if you don't stop we will shoot!"
Li Weiluan, who was leading the team on the expedition, said calmly: "I can't understand what the bird is saying. Either it's in Chinese and I need to find a translator!"
"Don't get me wrong, we don't mean any harm!"
Sidney looked at more and more soldiers from the Ning Navy jumping off the armed merchant ships. He was a little anxious: "Sorry, we don't mean any harm!"
Sidney actually understands Chinese, and he prefers southern dialects, such as Hokkien or Cantonese. Of course, he can also speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin. Sidney is a talented person and is proficient in Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. , and English. If three dialects are included, he is a talent proficient in eight languages.
Sidney raised his hands and raised his hands high to show that he had no weapons: "I just want to ask, what do you want to do?" "Who are you? What we do does not require your approval."
Li Weiluan said unceremoniously: "I am Li Weiluan, the commander of the Tiaodang Camp of the Ning Navy's advance team. I am now officially informing you that I, on the order of Duke Hai, will officially take over this place until I receive the order to leave. Now please Leave our port with your men. Of course, you can also choose to defeat us. We will take military action after one hour. After one hour, if you are still here, you will be attacked."
"No, you can't do this. Batavia is our Dutch territory. You are launching a military attack on a sovereign country. You must stop your behavior..."
Sidney was not intimidated and was finally able to argue.
"Sir, please understand, I am not discussing with you, I am informing you that you have only two choices now, fight or leave!"
In the Dutch Governor's Mansion, Brewer, who was negotiating with Xie Jinglin, quickly received a sneak attack from Ning's navy soldiers and landed directly in Batavia.
Brewer's expression changed drastically. He slapped the table and said, "Mr. Xie, you... you are so shameless!"
"Shameless?"
Xie Jinglin smiled faintly: "Compared to you Dutch, we are still far behind. You Dutch adopt despicable and shameless methods and unscrupulously slaughter unarmed Chinese, including babies under the age of one month, and call you beasts. An insult to the beast!"
"I have to announce that the negotiations have broken down!"
Brewer now has no choice but to retreat. If he compromises again, the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company will remove him and even initiate impeachment proceedings against him. He may be sent to a military court.
If it were an attack on Dajun, or Medan, including Malacca, then the Dutch might really have no choice but to do so. But the problem is that Batavia is the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company and the place where the largest number of troops are stationed. There are more than 6,000 elite Dutch soldiers here, including even 2,000 cavalry, which is a decisive force.
It should be said that Ning Haijun has a numerical advantage in terms of warships, but the army and the Dutch are really not afraid of Ning Haijun. After all, Ning Haijun's vanguard used a sneak attack and only came to more than 4,000 people.
The Netherlands not only has 6,000 Dutch soldiers in Batavia, but also more than 40,000 indigenous armed personnel. These indigenous Dutch troops are organized into twenty-six regiments. More importantly, the Batavia Dutch have an absolute maritime power advantage. Here they have six third-level battleships and more than 35 armed merchant ships.
"As the Governor of the Dutch East Indies, I order all personnel in Batavia, including civilian personnel, to be equipped with muskets and prepare for battle! Use the materials on hand to strengthen the fortifications as much as possible. We must give the Ming soldiers a head-on attack and let them They recognize reality!”
Therefore, De Baoer led the combined fleet, a total of forty-one warships and armed merchant ships, to leave the port first and spread out to look for traces of the Ning Navy warships.
In De Baoer's view, if more than 4,000 army soldiers alone had no chance of occupying the entire Batavia without sea control, the Ning navy used Venetian merchant ships to sneak attack Batavia, which would be the largest The most likely possibility is that while they are using all their strength to deal with this death squad, they will suddenly appear and block all the Dutch warships in the port.
Losing the maneuverability advantage at sea, the warships hiding in the port are just living targets, which is simply fatal for the navy.
On the orders of Governor Brewer, the Dutch in Batavia. Including soldiers, businessmen, farmers, slave owners and workers, church religious personnel, and even prostitutes, as long as they were young and children who could hold a gun, they were all equipped with muskets, and they drove away the civilians and strengthened the fortifications.
To be fair, the Tiaodang Battalion, as the main landing force, was not equipped with heavy equipment and had very few artillery pieces, at least much less than the Dutch.
Ning Haijun's style is the same as Cheng Shijie's character, a vigorous and resolute style. Once he is ready, he will attack with thunderous momentum and attack the enemy's base camp without looking at how the enemy responds.
It was the same this time. While the Dutch were hurriedly mobilizing their troops, the fleet led by Cheng Shijie had already passed through the Jakarta Islands in the Java Sea and was only one step away from Pawwa Island.
The Port of Batavia is a world-class natural port. When the Dutch dominated the Southeast Asia, they made great efforts to operate the Port of Batavia. They built many port facilities here and immigrated from the country to settle here. Some troops were also stationed.
Even at the most critical moment of the decisive battle with Zheng Zhilong, Cheng Shijie decided to fight against Zheng Zhilong first because of the massacre of the Chinese in Batavia.
In the eyes of Cheng Shijie, Zheng Zhilong is just meat that rots in the pot. By December of the seventh year of Chongzhen at most, the Ning Navy's main battleships can exceed 100. Of course, counting the sunk and lost battleships, the Ning Navy's main battleships can also exceed 100. Ninety-seven ships, if by April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Ning Navy will have eight strike squadrons.
It can be said that the longer time goes by, the greater the advantage of Ning Haijun. Even the Dutch are afraid of Ning Haijun's terrifying production capabilities, let alone Zheng Zhilong?
In the final analysis, war is about the economy and national strength.
With the strength of the Ning navy, it has enough strength to take down the Dutch East India Company's combined fleet. This is Cheng Shijie's full consideration of Europa.
With the fall of the Spanish Empire, the Dutch will successfully rise. However, Spain's defeat too quickly is not in Cheng Shijie's interests. Cheng Shijie is now trying to weaken the Dutch as much as possible, which can be regarded as indirectly helping the Spanish.
If the Spaniards were smart enough, Cheng Shijie would actually be willing to have real peace talks with Cheng Shijie and divide Luzon Island equally. After all, even if Luzon is given to Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie does not have enough manpower to occupy it. As long as he is strong enough, he can occupy as many landowners as he wants. How much space does it occupy?
The Ning Navy clearly attracted the Zheng fleet to Fujian, and then when passing through the Penghu waters, they immediately turned around and headed south, bypassing Taiping Island and heading straight for Batavia. This can be said to be Cheng Shijie's blitzkrieg.
This kind of lightning offensive is relatively rare in the history of European wars. Only Alexander and Caesar used it, and the last famous Western Roman general Stilicho did it. Stilicho once led an army of 10,000 troops to march 500 kilometers in the Gaul mountains in eight days. As soon as the Gallic barbarians raised their flag of rebellion, he had already reached the city.
After these famous generals passed away, few Europeans experienced the elegance of blitzkrieg. Throughout the Middle Ages, the European war model basically consisted of everyone appearing on the battlefield together after making an appointment at a time and place. The soldiers fought in a melee. After the fight, everyone went back to their homes to find their mothers.
The Mongol invasion allowed Europeans to experience the power of blitzkrieg. The Mongolian cavalry swept through like a whirlwind, and the European continent became a river of blood, so that Europeans fearfully called these Mongolian knights "yellow devils". But it has been taught before, and Europeans are still unable to play Blitzkrieg. It was not until more than a hundred years later that a dwarf who was a little over 1.5 meters tall appeared out of the blue. For the first time after the end of the classical era, Europeans had someone who could play Blitzkrieg. The strategic master of blitzkrieg.
Cheng Shijie had carefully reviewed the Thirty Years' War in Europe. If he had been commanding this war from Spain's position, the Thirty Years' War would not have needed to last for thirty years. Just like World War II and World War I, it would have been just a short period of time. The winner will be determined within a few years.
The key to the problem is that the Spanish Empire has powerful allies and does not need them at all. It can fight against more than 20 countries by itself. Although these countries are small, ants can kill an elephant.
Throughout the Thirty Years' War, the Spanish Empire had been passive and was led by the anti-Spanish alliance. In fact, among the anti-Spanish alliance, Sweden was the most powerful, followed by the Netherlands. The Spanish Empire should defeat the Netherlands first. Then take care of Sweden. As for France and Prussia, don't worry about it at all. When the results of their internal quarrels come out, I'm afraid the war will be over.
Cheng Shijie decided to teach the Dutch a lesson first. Just six hours after De Baoer's fleet set out to sea, a warship from the Ning Navy appeared in front of them.
Relying on its speed advantage, the main battleship of the Ning Navy was followed by the combined fleets of the Netherlands and Zheng Zhilong. However, it would take at least three days for Zheng Zhilong to reach Batavia. Three days was enough for Cheng Shijie to finish off the Dutch combined fleet.
Seeing Ning Haijun's fleet approaching like dense dark clouds, Debauer looked dull: "Didn't he say that Ning Haijun's fleet fought Zheng Zhilong in the South China Sea? They defeated Zheng Zhilong so quickly? Is Zheng Zhilong too useless?"
Now De Baoer just wanted to cry. If the stupid governor hadn't ordered to give Ning Haijun a look, how could there have been such a disaster?
What should we do now?
Even if we are going to have a decisive battle with the Ning Navy, why not assemble the Dutch East India Fleet scattered around the world first? But the problem is that two-thirds of the Dutch East India Company's fleet is now in other places and cannot be assembled at all.
How to fight this battle?
Although in the era of sailing battleships, there was not much difference between battleships and armed merchant ships, in fact the difference was quite big. The first was speed. The purpose of battleships was to fight. Speed and maneuverability were the primary goals, while armed merchant ships pursued greater capabilities. For cargo capacity and speed, choose a more economical speed, so the speed of a warship will definitely be faster than an armed merchant ship.
They now only have six third-level warships, but they have thirty-five armed merchant ships. How can they fight this battle?
You must know that their armed merchant ships were barely able to fight pirates, but there was no way to actually fight a naval battle.
Although De Baoer can only fight hard, in fact, it will take at least two or three hours from the sight of Ning Haijun to the time when Ning Haijun approaches. After all, there is only a speed difference of two knots in the distance of ten kilometers. If you want to catch up, It takes three or four hours to get up.
The first battle that started actually took place in the West Port area of Batavia Harbor.
"time up!"
Li Weiluan said loudly: "Attack, target fort!"
If the Ning navy attacked the port fort in Batavia, it would take most of a day and even cost a few or a dozen warships. But the problem is that it is much easier for the army to attack the fort.
After all, the fort's artillery is aimed at the sea. If you want to turn around and attack, the dock simply cannot complete the task in a short time.
"Boom boom boom..."
Brewer was eating supper when a violent explosion came from the battery.
"what happened?"
"There was an explosion in the fort..."
Before the officer could finish speaking, Brewer's expression changed drastically. He threw off his napkin and rushed out of the Governor's Mansion. Looking towards the direction of the fort, he saw two dark smoke columns wrapped in flames rising high. Explosions continued, and the expanding flames pushed the two plumes higher, making them look even more spectacular.
He didn't need to send anyone over to check, but he knew that these two forts with sixteen powerful large-caliber cannons used to block the waterway of the Zilion Estuary in Batavia had been blown up to the sky. This was their Dutch East Indies. The fort was built by the company after a lot of hard work!
Most of the steel bars and cement are purchased from Liaodong.
Brewer roared angrily: "Are all the guys on the fort deaf or blind? No response at all? I'm going to hang those bastards!"
Brewer had really wronged the fort defenders, who were always vigilant. However, the problem is that the elite infantry of the Tiaodang Battalion used to trap the battle have been acting as bait to attract the attention of the Dutch defenders. But the problem is that the Tiaodang Battalion is only on the dock, using sandbags to set up a defense line, and seems to be preparing to hold on.
The Ning Navy soldiers responsible for attacking the fort were actually the Ning Navy's reconnaissance unit. They arrived in Batavia earlier than Tiaodang Camp, but arrived in Batavia three days ago.
After arriving in Batavia, they contacted the Li family of Batavia. Although more than 300 members of the Li family were massacred, a large family like this is actually not that easy to uproot. As the saying goes, An emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, living under the eyes of the Dutch. How could these Chinese not be prepared to be exterminated?
There were actually only forty-eight of these scouts. They were disguised as laborers and were responsible for cleaning the Dutch's garbage and maintaining the sanitation of the military camp. Because of their diligence, thirteen of the scouts were left to work in the fort and were also responsible for maintaining the artillery.
Of course, it's not that the Dutch are too vigilant, but that the Chinese in Batavia have always been very timid and very easy to bully. In the eyes of the Dutch, they are just little sheep, and tigers are never afraid of little sheep.
In this way, before attacking, after receiving Li Weiluan's signal, they ignited the Dutch's gunpowder on the fort and blasted it twice, detonating a large amount of black powder and blooming shells stored by the Dutch. The explosion was earth-shattering. The firelight soaring into the sky, and the two smoke pillars rising high and dimming the sunset sky were really spectacular.
Brewer stared in the direction of the fort and saw blazing fire rising into the sky. He let out an extremely depressed roar.
Now he was certain that he had encountered a well-planned and coordinated attack. Ning Haijun miraculously destroyed the fort without alerting anyone.
Without the defense of the fort, and the fleet is not in the port, the fate can be imagined.
"Damn Daming, you are so cunning! You all know how to attack sneakily, you have no chivalry at all!"
Brewer angrily accused Ning Haijun of lacking chivalry in his attack, but he seemed to have forgotten that what white immigrants did when they colonized America, Africa, and Asia had nothing to do with the word "chivalry." Somewhat similar to a demon!
Of course, as a gentleman, it is understandable to selectively forget some things. Besides, a good memory is of no use. Can it repel the menacing Ning Haijun?
"Order the army to dispatch and retake the western port immediately and retake the fort!"
In fact, Brewer's idea was too naive. Attacking the port defended by more than 4,000 Ning navy officers depends on whether they have enough lives to fill the gap.
The Dutch also realized that if they did not recapture the fort and drive the landing Ning navy and army out of the sea, they would be doomed.
(End of chapter)
