Chapter 247
Batavia's West Port area has undergone earth-shaking changes compared to a few days ago. The scattered buildings originally built around the docks have basically disappeared, replaced by neat wooden buildings, and the original port warehouses have also been relocated as a whole. Further out in the suburbs, warehouses are now open squares, and Dutch colonial prisoners and Chinese laborers are now clearing the channel and expanding the docks to accommodate larger ships.
Since Xie Jinglin left, the military and political power here has been concentrated in the hands of Li Weiluan. In the past few days, the soldiers of Tiaodang Camp were not idle. They attacked from the west and captured a large area.
With the establishment of the Coconut City Executive Committee, the Coconut City Executive Committee led the establishment of the Civil Affairs Bureau, followed by the City Management Bureau. Now the person who concurrently serves as the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Executive Committee is Lin Bufan. Li Sixi was appointed by the City Management Bureau. Of course, Li Sixi, like Lin Bufan, is now the acting director, and formal appointment will definitely require Cheng Shijie's authorization.
Ning Haijun has always adopted a policy of separation of military and political affairs. Tiaodang Camp has only about 4,500 soldiers in total. They are responsible for these large areas. Taking up too much land will lead to serious dispersion of troops. Then if they are attacked by the Dutch and locals, If the king fights back, he might be strangled to death.
When Li Sixi acted as the director of the City Management Bureau, he established the Yecheng Urban Management Bureau. Naturally, these urban management personnel would not have the urban management uniforms of Liaodong. Instead, they used Chinese women to make 300 sets of Tsing Yi short-sleeved shirts and wore red armbands to show the difference. .
"Director Lin, summon the Chinese farmers. This general has something to say to them!"
"Okay, I'll do it right away!"
Lin Bufan asked: "General Li, do you want to tax Chinese farmers?"
Li Weiluan shook his head and said: "It's not about collecting taxes, it's about forming a Chinese People's League!"
Lin Bufan shook his head and said: "There are three types of Chinese in Batavia!"
"Three kinds?"
Li Weiluan asked: "What three types?"
"Some have very good relations with the Dutch. They consider themselves overseas Chinese, believe in Catholicism, and receive Western education. They are more Dutch than the Dutch. The other type of Chinese is called the Baba Nyonya. These people are the result of intermarriage between the Chinese and the Javanese. They no longer consider themselves Chinese, and their appearance is no different from the locals. Only those Chinese who immigrated to East India in recent years are easier to manage. However, because they have been in East India for a short time, they actually do not have much personal property! "
Li Weiluan smiled lightly: "They will cooperate!"
What must be emphasized is that neither Ning Haijun nor Cheng Shijie are good people, nor do they have the patience to treat others with sincerity, so they are decisive and decisive in killing those who follow me and those who go against me.
Even with the Chinese, Ning Haijun would not compromise unconditionally. The Chinese who committed crimes in Luzon also had to serve prison terms and were sent to labor reform. The same is true now in East India. If the Chinese farmers are willing to cooperate, then Li Weiluan will welcome it. If If the Chinese farmers are unwilling to cooperate, then Li Weiluan will also welcome them.
You must know that Ning Haijun's sword can also kill people. Under Luzon's management, if a Chinese killed a native, it was not a crime, because the law only protected the Chinese and Ning Haijun, not everyone. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Law was actually very double-standard.
It is impossible for everyone to not cooperate. There will always be people who are willing to cooperate, and then these people who are willing to cooperate need to be rewarded. Then those farms that are unwilling to cooperate are the rewards for these people.
Cheng Shijie never thinks that he is a good person. Good people always suffer losses. He would rather be a villain who takes advantage than a good person who suffers losses.
Therefore, in Liaodong and Luzon, including the current Batavia, that is, Coconut City, there is only a cold system, and there has never been any legal basis but human feelings.
In Liaodong, as long as you abide by the law, keep your integrity and work conscientiously, you will be protected by the law and get the rewards you deserve. On the contrary, if you deliberately seek loopholes in the law to benefit yourself, you will probably not be able to survive in Liaodong and Luzon.
In Liaodong, integrity is a code of conduct that everyone must pay attention to. If a businessman is short-changed, if the products sold are inferior, if an official is corrupt and bends the law, or even if a student cheats during an exam, he will be severely punished by the law.
Making mistakes in Liaodong is not terrible. As long as it is an unintentional mistake, you can probably be forgiven. But if it is deliberate, then even if the victim does not trouble you, the judge will. The price may be beyond imagination, making people regret it. and.
It's the same in East India. Ning Haijun doesn't need to be so affectionate. For those who don't cooperate, he doesn't have time to play the game of "seven captures of Meng Huo". If the status of those uncooperative guys is important, then find someone to replace them. If the status is not important, . There will probably be a shortage of construction workers in East India for a long time to come.
On the second day, when the Chinese or Chinese farmers around Batavia gathered at Yecheng Port, Li Weiwan said straight to the point: "Ning Haijun is as big as you can't imagine. We came to Yecheng It’s not just a whim, but because our immigrant ship was treated unfairly in Batavia. I believe you can feel this injustice in your daily life. Now it’s time to change, and of course this may happen. There is danger, but it is also an opportunity. If you are interested, you can come to me at any time. Opportunities are only reserved for those who are prepared."
Probably because they were still unaccustomed to Li Weiluan's work style, they were uneasy, and even the farmers who were preparing to spend money to eliminate the disaster suddenly looked at each other, wondering what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd.
This is the role of the executive committee. They found the local gangsters Li Sixi and Lin Bufan.
Especially Li Sixi and Lin Bufan, they have already put on official uniforms. Judging from the patches, they are embroidered with white pheasants. Anyone who knows the rules of officialdom knows that these are the official uniforms of fifth-rank officials.
"Master Li, congratulations!"
"Master Lin, congratulations!"
"Master Li, what does the imperial general mean..."
"Yes, we want to know too!"
Lin Bufan and Li Sixi looked at each other, don't you know?
Some people may really not know, but there must be some who pretend to be confused. The Chinese in Batavia and the Chinese in Luzon are actually different. Spain has occupied Luzon for more than 70 years. Luzon is deeply rooted, especially Spain's methods are very simple and crude, using large-scale massacres against Chinese people.
But the Dutch have only occupied Batavia for more than ten years, and the Dutch's methods are relatively more covert. They just use the same massacre against the Li Shichang family, without expanding the scope, specifically selecting a few or a dozen families to massacre, and targeting the other party. The banner of crime divided the Chinese community in Batavia.
Some took the initiative to join the Dutch to seek wealth, while others spent money to buy peace.
Li Sixi actually knew what Li Weiluan meant. In fact, he and Lin Bufan could take the lead in forming the militia, but they needed checks and balances. He surrendered to Ning Haijun early and obtained the right to manage the city. He had 300 urban management personnel, and these urban management personnel were equipped with equipment. If swords, guns and clubs were placed in the Central Plains, this official position would be roughly equivalent to the Five Cities Military and Horse Command Department.
Li Sixi was also very content. He already had soldiers before taking control of the militia. I'm afraid Li Weiluan and Ning Haijun would not be happy. The Civil Affairs Bureau managed by Lin Bufan was roughly equivalent to the political participation of the Department of Political Participation. This official position also made it impossible to control the army.
In fact, some Chinese representatives soon understood: "Does General Li want us to stand up and form a militia army to maintain local security and collect taxes?"
"clever!"
Li Sixi looked at the young man and said with a smile: "Guo Bingren, you guessed right, are you interested?"
Before Guo Bingren could speak, others started shouting.
“Isn’t this going against the Dutch?”
"Will the Dutch just give up?"
“Next, we still don’t know who will win and who will lose!”
"The Dutch have united with Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong has brought more than a thousand ships. Can Ning Haijun defeat them?"
"It's too early to take sides!"
"We are not involved in politics. We will support whoever wins!"
"Why don't we spend money to eliminate the disaster..."
"Confused, haven't we Chinese suffered enough at the hands of the Dutch? Instead of being ruled by the Dutch, I would rather be loyal to the Duke of Hai. The worst I can do is lose everything and start over from scratch. That's all. You can take care of yourself and say goodbye..."
Guo Bingren stood up and clasped his fists, then turned and walked away, leaving behind a look of surprise, astonishment, ridicule, and resentment.
This scene has actually always been in Li Weiluan's eyes.
Guo Bingren cupped his fists towards Li Weiluan and said, "General Li, the common people are willing to spend their money to build a militia, and I hope the general will give you permission!"
"Can!"
Hearing Li Weiluan's voice of agreement, Guo Bingren was ecstatic.
What does it mean to shoot the first bird?
As the saying goes, wealth is obtained through risk, and the risk is the reward. If Guo Bingren becomes the leader of the militia, the Guo family will rise directly from an unknown small family.
Guo Bingren is naturally willing to give it a try.
Li Weiluan looked at Guo Bingren and said: "Our Ning Navy is different from the Dutch. The Dutch are short of manpower and weak in national power, so they have to rely on Tu kings to rule East India. Our Ning Navy does not. You should know that our Ming Dynasty has 20,000 people." There is a large population, and there are many Chinese here in East India, so we don’t need to rely on earth kings. These earth kings must all be eliminated, as well as those half-hearted Chinese farmers. Maybe you are not used to our way of working. It doesn’t matter. You can slow down. Get used to it slowly.”
Cheng Shijie's biggest advantage is population. When there are many people and little land, population is a burden. When there are few people and lots of land, population is an advantage. Traditional Chinese people pay attention to subtlety and authority. The East Indian Chinese have lived under the colonial rule of the Dutch for a long time. Most of the time, they have to swallow their anger and be cautious. They have never been so high-profile.
and Li Shiji were ordered to form the Yecheng Chinese People's Corps. The militia was divided into two bureaus according to Ning Haijun's establishment, with a total strength of more than 1,600 people.
Guo Bingren and Li Shiji were only responsible for recruiting young Chinese people into the militia. The training of troops and the appointment of grassroots officers were handled by the Tiaodang camp.
In fact, the command of this militia nominally belongs to Li Bingren and Li Shiji, but in fact it is still in the hands of Ning Haijun.
Contrary to imagination, this militia group of more than 1,600 people was not responsible for the defense of Yecheng Port, but directly went out to fight, using local indigenous tribes and uncooperative Chinese farmers as training targets.
Zheng Zhilong, who was located in Batavia Port, had the idea of surrendering to Cheng Shijie.
Three battles and three defeats made Zheng Zhilong also fearful of Ning Haijun, especially now that Ning Haijun has landed at Batavia West Port, and the landing force has five or six thousand people. These five or six thousand Ning Haijun are elite troops. , they had defeated more than 10,000 Dutch colonial troops, including a regiment of Dutch infantry.
Even if he defeated Ning Haijun at sea, land combat was not Zheng Zhilong's forte. His reason was that even if he won the sea battle, it would be useless.
Cowardly and selfish people can always find countless fair excuses for their behavior.
Shi Daxuan was shocked when he heard Zheng Zhilong's voice, and said hurriedly: "Anyone in our Zheng Group can surrender, but the Admiral cannot surrender. If the others surrender, Cheng Shijie will not kill them all, but if the Admiral surrenders, even if Cheng Shijie does not take action directly, We will also send people to do it secretly!"
How could Zheng Zhilong not understand what Shi Daxuan said? In fact, he himself did the same. The huge Zheng family fleet and the Zheng family group were originally the inheritance of his adoptive father Li Dan and brother-in-law Yan Siqi. After years of deployment, he The influence of Li Dan and Yan Siqi has been completely eliminated.
Li Dan's son Li Guoji is only a nominal shareholder without any real power, and the Yan family's influence is almost gone. Once Cheng Shijie surrenders, Cheng Shijie will definitely take the same method to deal with him.
He was also actively preparing for war. He used the Dutch shipyards and repair shops to start building fireships on a large scale, and then deployed mines on a large scale.
The mines this time are different from the last time. Instead, the mines are connected with ropes tied with heavy objects to prevent them from floating around. After luring the enemy fleet into the ambush circle, the water ghost team is asked to cut the ropes and let the mines float in. Channel, seal the channel.
Those mines generally sink three feet deep into the water, and are difficult to detect without paying attention. Once hit, any ship no matter how big it is will be destroyed. But rocket ships are very light and have a very shallow draft, allowing them to move freely on the water.
On October 29, the seventh year of Chongzhen, the main battleships of the Ning Navy appeared on the sea more than ten kilometers away from the Batavia Port. Zheng Zhilong bit the bullet and released hundreds of carrier ships, preparing to give the Ning Navy a blow. Fire joint.
However, the problem is that Zheng Zhilong miscalculated this time. Ning Haijun formed a maritime whirlwind formation on the sea. This formation is more like a variant of cavalry and mounted archery. It is Ning Haijun's six strike squadrons, connected end to end to form a A huge circular formation. A warship traveling at high speed uses its broadside cannon to deal with densely packed fireships.
Since then, these Zheng's fireships have felt as big as a bucket. When they deal with enemy warships, they usually use the wind direction and the speed of the enemy ships to hit and burn or blow up the enemy warships.
However, under the attack of Ning Haijun's cyclone array, they faced a side ship gun, twelve ships and a terrifying range of two thousand meters. Because the fireship was too small, even if it was hit near miss, It will also damage the maneuverability of the fire ship.
The most important thing is that this whirlwind formation can avoid fire ship attacks at any time, and once it enters the center of the circular formation, this fire ship will be covered by the port side naval gun.
Under this overwhelming blow, the sailors of Zheng's fleet who were controlling the fireships let out shrill screams and were beaten beyond recognition. The out-of-control fireships lost their direction, spun around on the spot, and even collided with each other. , the waves burst out and turned into gorgeous fireworks on the sea.
The trump card of Zheng's fleet has failed.
Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu were not surprised by this. For a well-disciplined force, fire ship tactics were not very effective. In other words, most tactics were not very effective and could only rely on strength. spell. Zheng Zhilong did not expect those fireships to achieve results. As long as they could attract Ning Haijun's firepower, reduce casualties, and allow the fleet to successfully break through the fiery death line composed of naval gunfire, it would be enough.
Obviously, those desperate fire ships did it. In order to deal with them, Ning Haijun's firepower was forced to disperse. Although the round formation seemed invulnerable, any point of the thin round formation could be used as a breakthrough. With the interference of Zheng's fireships, loopholes appeared in Ning Haijun's originally impeccable firepower network.
The main fleet led by Zheng Zhilong successfully closed the distance to 300 meters. After entering the effective range of 300 meters of broadside cannon, he roared and ordered to open fire.
Hundreds of Zheng's main warships turned clockwise, revealing the dense cannons on the port side. In the barrel of the gun, the gunpowder had already been loaded. The loader used iron tongs to clamp the lead balls that were burned red by the charcoal fire and put them into the barrel without even igniting them. As soon as the lead balls rolled in, they immediately burst out like a volcanic eruption on the port side. A large curtain of fire erupted, the sound of cannons shook the sky, and the red lead balls pulled out thousands of strange ballistic trajectories, slamming into Ning Haijun's warship!
Although most of the cannonballs of Zheng's fleet hit the sea, first a puff of white smoke rose up, and then a column of water rose. But some of them still hit Ning Haijun's warship. The hit part made a heart-wrenching crackling sound, and flames started to rise. The temperature of the red-hot lead ball was too high, and it smashed into the wooden hull, and it did not catch fire. Something strange.
However, although lead bullets like this can damage Ning Haijun's main battleship, as long as Ning Haijun's main battleship is not exploded by the flames, there will basically not be much damage.
The sailors, or to be precise, the marines on the Ning Navy battleship are responsible for putting out the fire. There are prepared sandbags stacked on the deck of the Ning Navy's main battleship. These sandbags are filled with sand and have two functions. They can protect against artillery shells and can also put out fires.
Li Zhixiang looked at several battleships that were hit by gunfire. Marine soldiers quickly extinguished the fires, especially because each battleship was equipped with land combat soldiers. While extinguishing the fire, it did not affect the battleship's operations.
In the past, the establishment of Ning Haijun's warships has always been super-staffed. Each position has two or even three people. Now as the Ning Haijun navy develops faster and faster, there is a serious shortage of sailors, and only one The problem is that damage control personnel are an indispensable position on warships. Li Zhixiang is also wondering whether the Ning Navy warships will carry a fifty-man Marine Corps sentry in the future.
Ning Haijun has a very high hit rate at a distance of three to four hundred meters, especially high-explosive bombs, which are specifically aimed at firing below the waterline. The cylindrical cannonball grazed the sea surface and dug into the hull of the ship, exploding violently. While blowing the sailors in the Zheng's battleship cabin to pieces, it also exploded terrifying large holes near the waterline, and seawater poured in. The sailors who were not killed suddenly fell into a panic.
The losses of Zheng's fleet continued to rise. Song Fuguo, the general under Zheng Zhilong, stared blankly at the sea. Blood and raging flames dyed the strait red. The waves were howling, the sky was wailing, and the desperate howls of the sailors of Zheng's fleet filled the sky and the earth. Change color for it.
Terrifying cannonballs came. Once hit by Ning Haijun's naval guns, even the largest warship would be seriously disabled if not finished. Under the bombardment of Ning Haijun's naval guns, Zheng's fleet was not one battleship after another, but one battleship after another. One formation after another turned into flaming wreckage.
In order to avoid these bloodthirsty naval guns, many warships hurriedly collided with each other, and even hit the shells and shattered with a terrible sound, announcing that there was another sunken ship and dozens of dead people in this strait. Wrong souls at the bottom of the sea.
"boom……"
Right here, the battleship where Song Fuguo was located seemed to have erupted in the bottom of the cabin. The terrifying explosion shock wave shattered the cabin partition and lifted a large piece of the deck into the air. The sailors nearby became trapeze artists.
Song Fuguo only felt that he had received a heavy blow on his head, and the world was spinning. Before he passed out, he saw many battleships blazing with blazing fire like his battleship, and explosions and screams came one after another, which was thrilling...
When Song Fuguo thought he was finished, he was covered by a fishing net. Soon he found that he was rescued by Shi Daxuan, one of the Eighteen Zhizhi. Also rescued was Zheng Zhihu's son Zheng Yi.
"Thank you, Brother Shi, for saving your life!"
Song Fuguo was Yan Siqi's old army. He first took refuge with Zheng Zhilong. He was considered a strong and very high-ranking general under Zheng Zhilong. He was the deputy commander-in-chief of Zuoying of the Navy. If the Zheng clan members were excluded, he could be regarded as one of the most powerful generals in Zheng Zhilong's group. Ranked in the top ten.
Shi Daxuan smiled and said: "Brother Song, you're welcome!"
Song Fuguo said with a mournful face: "My fleet is finished!"
"Not only yours, mine is almost the same!"
Shi Daxuan ranked higher in the Zheng Group, because his younger brother Shi Daxuan was Zheng Zhilong's adviser and was very trusted by Zheng Zhilong. However, in the naval battle of Batavia, in just half an hour, more than a hundred of his ships There are now less than thirty warships, and Song Fu State is even worse, with only five warships.
At this time, the naval battle has evolved into a massacre, a one-sided massacre, a massacre of an enemy force ten times its own by the side with an absolute disadvantage in numbers.
Song Fuguo said to Shi Daxuan: "Master Shi, you'd better go and persuade the admiral!"
"I can't help it!"
Speaking of this, Shi Daxuan's face looked a little unhappy. He looked at Zheng Yi beside him and said with a bitter smile: "Zheng Yi is still the nephew of the Admiral. If not, his head has already moved!"
At this time, Zheng Zhilong was already like a gambler with a red eye. He was risking everything regardless of the consequences. He knew very well that he could not lose. If he failed again and again, he would have no chance.
"Admiral, stop fighting, let's retreat!"
Zheng Zhibao was about to cry. They had exhausted all their methods, but at this time, the Ning Navy warship was still cruising on the sea, bombarding the Zheng fleet from time to time with an elliptical whirlwind formation.
In every round of bombardment, dozens or several warships will be sunk. The key issue is that as time goes by, the distance between the two sides becomes wider and wider, and the advantage of proximity gained by the sacrifice of hundreds of fireships, All has been lost.
Now they faced an embarrassing problem. The naval guns in their hands could not reach the Ning Navy warship, and every time the Ning Navy warship fired, they would suffer heavy losses.
Zheng Zhilong was very angry. If it were anyone else, he would definitely chop off the other person's head. However, the person who proposed retreat was Zheng Zhibao.
"asshole!"
Zheng Zhilong did not kill Zheng Zhibao but kicked Zheng Zhibao, knocking Zheng Zhibao over.
Zheng Zhilong roared at Zheng Zhibao: "Don't retreat! Attack me! I want to peel off Cheng Shijie's skin, I want to eat his flesh..."
Zheng Zhilong's almost crazy demeanor and fierce eyes made everyone shudder. In normal times, once he gets angry, countless close soldiers will rush forward bravely and straighten and stretch the enemy army to vent his anger. But now no one listens to his orders. Everyone knows that this battle cannot be fought at all. The problem they face now is not how to win, but how to escape!
Zheng Zhibao winked at the captain of Zheng Zhilong's confidant. The captain took a step forward and hit Zheng Zhilong on the back of the head with the handle of his knife, knocking him unconscious. Zheng Zhibao took the opportunity to order: "The admiral is injured, retreat! Retreat!"
Zheng Zhilong planted a lot of mines in Batavia Bay, which caused great trouble to the Ning Navy. Two Ning Navy warships that were pursuing were blasted with huge holes by mines, and ferocious seawater poured into the cabins.
Fortunately, the damaged cabin was closed in time, which prevented the battleship from sinking.
Seeing the defeat of Zheng's fleet, Brewer was very desperate.
What Zheng Zhibao didn't expect was that although he escaped with Zheng Zhilong, more Zheng's warships surrendered to Ning Haijun.
"We surrender! Stop attacking and let us live!"
The sounds of begging for surrender were mixed with heart-wrenching cries. These guys travel across the South China Sea, killing people and stealing goods, and do many evil things. Each one is more cruel than the last. However, facing a powerful enemy that they cannot defeat, they are not much stronger than a cowardly little daughter-in-law. All their courage, will and pride have long been shattered by Cheng Shijie. They no longer dare to have the slightest idea of confronting Cheng Shijie, they just want to survive!
Cheng Shijie thought for a long time and finally agreed to accept the surrender of Zheng's battleship.
These battleships of Zheng's fleet, cautiously avoiding the wreckage of the battleships and the ubiquitous mines, sailed to the outside of Batavia Harbor, where they would surrender to the Ning Navy.
Looking at the Zheng family flags being thrown into the sea one after another also heralds the end of an era.
Of course, the Battle of Batavia also heralded the rise of Ning Haijun and the beginning of Cheng Shijie's new era of sea king.
(End of chapter)
