At noon, Rapini and his two companions tiptoed into a forest full of swamps. Ten minutes later, they came to a hill with an altitude of only fifty or sixty meters, which was already located in Langasbek. Six kilometers northwest of the cave.
The three of them crawled through the weeds, always keeping an eye out for venomous snakes that might emerge. The venomous snakes on the island of Java are no joke. The most ferocious ones are the cobras that can spray venom more than two meters away. Although they all carry gauze bags containing realgar garlic powder to repel snakes, no one can guarantee that disturbed snakes will not bite.
When they reached the top of the hill, they carefully leaned out from the grass that was half a person tall. The view suddenly opened up, and they could see the scene several miles down the mountain at a glance.
The Ujong River runs through West Java from south to north, and converges with the Cibelang River in Langas Betong. It creates a large S-shape on the plain, and then winds all the way to the Java Sea in the north. .
Rapini picked up the telescope and saw countless dense white tents one kilometer away east of the hill. He made a rough estimate and felt that there must be between 8,000 and 10,000 people. In each camp, red, white and black VOC flags can be seen everywhere. In addition, there is a yellow flag planted in some tent areas. The three black patterns arranged from top to bottom on the flag are like three large fish bones. Rapini knows all these flags. When he followed Wang Yuanfang to fight against the Württemberg Cape Corps two years ago, the opponent was holding these two flags.
Speaking of the Württemberg mercenaries, Rapini specifically asked De Guigne on his way to France last year. From this, he learned from the other party that the fate of the Württemberg soldiers was really miserable. Compared with the Qing Green Camp soldiers, they were not much better.
According to Deguigne, Duke Carl Eugen of the Principality of Württemberg was a foolish king with bad conduct and extravagance. He spent a large amount of money on the construction of palaces and castles. In order to make up for the huge financial expenditure, he A regiment of 65,000 soldiers was packaged and leased to the Dutch East India Company.
The reason why VOC signed an agreement with Württemberg is because Europeans in these days would rather stay in their hometowns as porters than sign up to be VOC's overseas mercenaries.
The reason is, first of all, that VOC mercenaries are paid very low, with a monthly salary of only 9 guilders. Secondly, due to poor medical conditions, one Württemberg mercenary who came to Southeast Asia would die of malaria every two days on average. If the number of deaths per year was less than 400, it would be considered a blessing from God!
The problem is that the VOC's salary system for mercenaries is worse than that of the "Little Jianyin" established by the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They only paid half salary to these soldiers who drifted at sea for seven months and went through untold hardships to work in Southeast Asia, leaving the rest. The money will be paid in one lump sum after the contract expires.
Having been in Bacheng for so long, Rapini has long understood the value of the Dutch guilder. 1 guilder is equivalent to about 0.34 taels of silver, and 9 guilders is only a little more than 3 taels of silver, less than 15 North Sea silver dollars. You must know that Rapini now has a monthly salary allowance of 50 yuan, not to mention that the family still has 50 acres of land; as for the servants recruited from railway workers, the monthly allowance is at least 15 yuan.
The field of view of the telescope extended to the west, and Rapini saw that on the west bank of the Urong River, there were densely packed figures as big as black ants. They were carrying their shoulders, or driving oxen and horses to transport wood and stones. They seemed to be carrying Build fortifications and build forts. The entire fortification is almost one kilometer long from south to north.
The temperature in June in Java is considered cool for the year, with an average temperature of more than 20 degrees. But today is a sunny day, and there is not a trace of wind in the air, so the flying dust on the river bank covers the construction crowd like a yellow gauze.
Soon, Rapini discovered that the Dutch had built two pontoon bridges on the north and south sides of the fortification. At this moment, a group of cavalry-looking guys were passing through the pontoon bridge on the south, entering the other side of the Yima Pingchuan river, and then heading towards He turned north onto the road leading to Bacheng and galloped eastward, rolling up streaks of smoke and dust. He was keenly aware that the VOC's purpose of building these two bridges was to facilitate cavalry troops to attack from the north and south.
Rapini planned to grab a tongue, but now was not a good opportunity. He decided to go back to the camp first and wait until dark before taking action. So more than an hour later, the three of them recorded what they observed in their notebooks, and quietly sneaked back into the woods under the hills behind them. In the quiet and humid rainforest, they walked westward along the creek and walked almost After two kilometers, we returned to the temporary camp of the special operations battalion. When he saw the battalion commander Elu, Rapini immediately made a report.
After hearing this, Elu asked: "Has the enemy's command found out?"
"There are too many enemies. The sentries are placed far away. Their camps are in the woods and it is not easy to get close during the day. I plan to explore again at night. It is best to catch a tongue."
After Rapini finished speaking, he grabbed a pen and started marking the locations of enemy fortifications on the map. Erlu nodded expressionlessly and said nothing. He felt that Overstraten's headquarters was definitely not too far from the front line, and it was impossible for the other party to stay in Silang, thirty kilometers away, to command the battle.
When Rapini went out at noon, Erlu received a telegram from the headquarters and learned that the attack launched in the early morning had achieved great results. The various units of the Northern Navy, which broke through the enemy's defense lines from the north and south wings, surrounded more than 8,000 enemy troops in the Tangerang area, 30 kilometers west of Bacheng, after six hours of maneuvering. The headquarters telegraphed that they must find out the defense status of Langas Betong and the deployment of VOC troops, but Erlu wanted to find the Dutch headquarters and capture the governor.
At dusk, Rapini left with five people. The temporary base of the special operations battalion is more than ten miles away from Langas Betong. If nothing happens, they will be able to reach the outskirts of the VOC coalition position tonight.
At the same time, in the Tangerang area, the Northern Navy's attack on the besieged enemy forces was still ongoing. In order to hone the combat skills of the slave army, the headquarters assigned each battalion of the slave army to serve as the main offensive force. The Hoi An camp, the Marine battalion and the two armored vehicles would only take action when the two sides fell into a stalemate.
At dusk, gunfire roared continuously on both sides of the West Sadan River. The most intense exchange of fire between the two sides was a large fortress located on the east bank of the West Sadan River.
A hundred years ago, a defected king of the Banten Sultanate sought VOC asylum with his men. Later, he helped repel the attack of the Banten Sultanate and was named the regent of the Tangerang region. After that, the then Governor of Batavia sent people to rebuild the outer city wall of Tangerang, replacing the bamboo wall with a 6-meter-thick brick wall and installing multiple forts. Because the garrison at that time included thirty dark-skinned Makassar people, the castle was also called the "Black Castle" by the locals.
After the loss of Bacheng, VOC gritted its teeth and spent money to expand the castle, adding more than a dozen cannons and 2,000 garrison troops, making it easier to defend and harder to attack. After the Northern Navy's attack was launched in the early morning, the first reaction of many fleeing soldiers was to go to Black Castle, so the city quickly became overcrowded. However, this also made the defenders in the castle extremely strong. They stood in several rows on the wide wall and kept shooting in turns.
Starting at three o'clock in the afternoon, after more than two hours of continuous shelling by more than a dozen 12-pound field guns attached to the servant army, the city wall was expanded to eight meters thick. Although the city wall became pitted and full of devastation, it was Nothing happened. On the contrary, the shells fired from the long-barreled naval guns on the castle fort caused casualties to the attacking servants. The VOC army in the city even demolished two houses, made two small trebuchets out of wood, divided the gunpowder into 5-pound bags, sealed them in clay pots, inserted a fuse, ignited them, and threw them out, exploding them. The castle was filled with fire and smoke.
VOC has a high production of black powder in Southeast Asia. It has been produced on a large scale since more than a hundred years ago, and various strongholds have large inventories. Charcoal is not a problem anywhere, sulfur is found on many islands with volcanoes, saltpeter can be obtained by fermenting only feces and guano, the hot climate makes the fermentation process easier, and the quality of the product is much higher than that produced in Europe of gunpowder. In addition, the rivers throughout Java also provided convenience for water-powered mills for grinding gunpowder powder.
He Xiwen, who was on the front line and led the servant army, did not understand until this moment why the regular troops of the North Navy were just like chopping melons and vegetables every time they fought. Not only were they strictly disciplined, but they also had great advantages in weapons!
Seeing that it was getting dark, the four battalions of the servant army were still stalled on the east bank of the West Sadan River. He immediately asked the headquarters for instructions. After Zhao Xin agreed, two armored vehicles arrived with a rumbling sound. It is located two kilometers away from Black Fort. When the two 30mm cannons began to spit out flames, exploding the forts on the Black Fort with flames, the defenders in the city suddenly felt that the end of the world was coming. Many locals even knelt on the ground facing the dome of the Kalibasi Mosque. He kept praying and completely lost his will to fight.
When the thick and iron-clad city gate was blown down in just two minutes, two platoons of servants launched a tentative attack. Unexpectedly, everyone arrived in front of the city gate, and no one fired on the city wall. Upon seeing this, He Xiwen ordered two battalions of servants to rush into the city, only to see locals kneeling on the ground.
When night fell, He Xiwen entered the city. The regent of Tangerang actually knelt outside the palace gate with a group of his wives, concubines, and children, expressing their submission to him. During the conversation, he also expressed that he wanted to pay homage to the "big cannon" of the Northern Navy. .
Big cannon? He Xiwen thought to himself that although the power of the cannon barrel was astonishing, it could not be considered "giant" by any means.
In the subsequent conversation, he learned from the interpreter that in Southeast Asian culture, firearms are collectively called "Bedil". They are not only weapons, but are often given the meaning of gods, and cannons are even more so. Seen as a symbol of great supernatural power. For this reason, many sultans like to build cannons, and the bigger the better; among them, the Banten Sultanate obtained a 180-pound cannon from the Portuguese in the 16th century, and the cannon shell alone weighed 81.6 kilograms. !
But the most impressive one is the Bijapur Sultanate in India. They asked Ottoman engineers to build a 55-ton cannon, which was called the "Master of the Battlefield." The British East India Company tried to transport it to Britain as a booty, but it was so big that the British had to give it up and left it there as a display for worship.
Therefore, in the eyes of everyone in Tangerang Castle, the Northern Navy's cannons were so powerful that they must be very powerful and favored by the gods. Such artillery is by no means humanly capable of resisting. If you don't surrender, what are you waiting for?
The Black Fort was captured, but the encirclement and suppression battles on both sides of the West Sadan River continued. The more than 20 kilometers of river bank was dotted with torches on both sides. The servants of the three battalions were divided into groups of more than ten or twenty people. The distance between each other was no more than 200 meters. As long as they found a figure shaking and unable to speak the command, they were immediately attacked. A volley of gunfire.
This kind of fighting lasted until late at night and gradually subsided. Afterwards, statistics showed that the various departments of the Northern Navy killed and wounded more than 6,000 enemy troops and captured more than 2,000 prisoners on this day. Those Chinese people in Bacheng who were responsible for cleaning the battlefield were shocked to find that the bodies of the war dead could be seen everywhere in the West Sadan River and the surrounding rivers and woods. Many people were so smelly that they could not even eat because of the smell of rotting corpses.
Looking back to Langas Betong late that night, the west bank of the Ujong River was illuminated by countless torches and fires as if it were daytime. Tens of thousands of people were driven by the whips in the hands of officers, desperately building field fortifications.
Overstraten, the VOC governor and coalition commander, also came here to inspect the progress. He was riding high on a black Irish stallion, wearing a three-cornered hat and the blue general uniform of the VOC, with a dozen Württemberg officers surrounding him.
When they came to an unfinished artillery fortification, the artillery lieutenant colonel Schmigel, who was in charge of the position, rode over and saluted Overstraten.
"How's the progress?"
"General, in another two hours, I can finish the work here. These cannons will definitely make the enemy suffer a lot!"
Overstraten nodded with satisfaction: "Very good. Lieutenant Colonel, your progress here is the fastest."
Schmigal hesitated for a moment, then asked: "General, I would like to ask if there is any news from Tangerang Castle?"
Overstraten shook his head: "Lieutenant Colonel, why do you ask this?"
"I have two very good friends who were sent there, and I don't know what the situation is like."
"I haven't received any new information yet. You can name them. If I know them, I will let you know."
"Thank you so much! General." Schmigal immediately reported the names of his two friends.
After the artillery lieutenant colonel turned around and left, Overstraten's originally smiling face soon drooped. The war has progressed to this point, and all the changes have exceeded his expectations and caught him off guard.
From yesterday afternoon to noon today, there was bad news one after another. The disastrous defeat of the Kabien fleet, the enemy's sudden attack, and the baggage camp that was set on fire three hours ago forced him to get up from his comfortable bed and arrange for manpower to transport a batch of supplies from Pandelang overnight. After finishing all this, he had no sleep at all, so he simply took his men to inspect the construction progress of the field fortifications.
"Damn the painted-faced Seris devil!" Overstraten cursed viciously in his heart.
Since the siege of Bagh was launched, those Seris spies with painted faces and green clothes have begun to wreak havoc in the Banten Sultanate. They destroyed roads, killed their own officers, attacked patrols, and even attacked military camps at night with a bluff, making themselves confused and exhausted.
The Württemberg mercenaries hated and feared this group of people. They even dispatched a regiment to carry out encirclement and suppression with the assistance of local Javanese. However, after setting up the encirclement several times, the enemy took advantage of the cover of darkness. Ran away.
But Overstraten is still confident. He also has twelve full battle infantry regiments. In addition to the Javanese soldiers, there are 5,000 mercenaries from Württemberg alone. There are also more than 3,000 Indian cavalry recruited from Ceylon. In addition, there are There were more than a hundred field guns.
Just this afternoon, a carrier pigeon brought back good news from Altin. The coalition force he led from Wandong was progressing smoothly. It is expected that the leading force will arrive outside Batavia in two days.
According to the information obtained by the spies installed by VOC in Bacheng, there are currently less than 6,000 Siris troops in Bacheng. In addition, according to the news brought back by the officers who retreated from Tangerang, the enemy used at least 5,000 people in the sudden attack early this morning. As a result, Bacheng's military strength will be seriously insufficient. As soon as Altin's army arrives, the enemy will definitely return to the defense.
Isn't it just to defend the Wurong River defense line for two days? As soon as the enemy begins to retreat, he will immediately launch a pursuit.
As for the navy, we can’t bring up the bad things!
1. In the 18th century, a baggage carrier in Amsterdam had to earn at least 200 to 250 guilders per year. If you are a craftsman who joins a guild, your income will be higher; if you are unemployed, the guild will also provide you with a monthly subsidy of 12 dong. 2. There is too much information to check. Although there is a special website for VOC files, I was confused by the content inside.
(End of chapter)
