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Colonel Vincent Janssen's specific deployment was to deploy five companies of about 260 troops at the Rebefelu Village on the last island of the northern line to delay the Zheng Army's attack on the island. The deputy regiment Major Brian Barber was in command.
They do not need to take the initiative, it is enough to just defend the Rewufei Luzhai. It is best to do everything possible to delay the enemy's footsteps and avoid quickly letting the last island of the northern line fall into the enemy's hands.
If the enemy's offensive is fierce and causes heavy casualties, making it difficult to defend the fort, Major Babel can lead his troops to retreat to Daguang Island after nightfall to join the main force of the defenders.
As the weak point behind the Castle of Geranze, the task of holding on to Fort Utrecht was given to Major Battalion Commander Luc Frith. The remaining six companies of the battalion can all be used to defend the fort.
Two companies are stationed in Utrecht Fort, and the remaining four companies are temporarily stationed in Geranze Castle. Once the enemy launches a fierce attack on Utrecht Fort, the four companies must be used as a mobile force to respond promptly and powerfully. Provide support to repel incoming enemies.
The eleven companies under the control of the other battalion all retreated to the castle of Geranze. It took about three days to reach the castle from the other side, and they could also bring back the rice harvested in the summer.
If Ming farmers can be used as laborers, Yangsen believes that his troops can transport no less than 10,000 bags of rice as military rations. This amount of food alone can feed the 5,000 military miners in the castle for more than a month.
All the rice that cannot be harvested and taken away will be burned. Food cannot be left to the pirates under Zheng Yiguan. This is food belonging to the Dutch Dajuan area, and we have complete control over it.
Jansen did not want the enemy to get food on the spot after the war started, nor did he want the enemy to obtain the land of the generals after the truce. The purpose of implementing the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the country was to allow his side to win the final victory.
As for the farmers' losses, those are necessary contributions, and that should be the case. All those who support the enemy must be thoroughly liquidated after the war is over.
The Netherlands has brought them prosperity and civilized officials, and they should repay the Netherlands through all means. They need to pay taxes in peacetime and donate property, including food on the land, in wartime.
If the war had not been urgent, Jansen would have wanted to train two thousand local soldiers composed of young Ming people. Since the Qing Dynasty outside the pass can use Ming people as a servant army, the Netherlands, which has the most advanced tactics and weapons in the world, will be more willing to train. It can be so.
With three thousand soldiers to protect the generals, they can rest easy. Even the troops brought by Zheng Yiguan will not be able to quickly conquer this place with their numerical advantage.
It's a pity that the current situation is very unsatisfactory. Except for the sailors and poor people who have been armed to fight, Yangsen cannot raise an army of thousands of servants in a short period of time.
Although the combat effectiveness of these people is not as good as that of the regular army, they are still capable of firing. There is no need for training. It is enough for them to help defend the Castle of Geranze.
The task of taking the initiative to attack and support the two outside fortresses can be completely left to the defenders. The Rebefelu Fortress may be abandoned, but the Utrecht Fort must be defended.
Once the fort is lost, the low outer city will be directly exposed to enemy artillery fire on the top of the mountain. The failure of the outer city to hold on means that the city's defense capabilities will be greatly weakened.
Jansen believed that the firepower of the inner city alone was not enough to repel the enemy's onslaught, so the outer city must hold on, provided that the Utrecht Castle on the top of the mountain could never fall.
If a thousand minions can be armed, then the two hundred defenders in the Castle of Geranze can be added to support Luc Frith's troops to prevent the defenders on the top of the mountain from being attacked by the enemy due to too few troops. siege.
Jansen believed that 500 regular troops plus 1,000 minions could repel the 5,000 enemy attack on Utrecht Castle. What's more, we have the advantage of the terrain and can attack from a high position from the beach. enemy.
Prior to this, the main defense direction of our side was Da Yuan Town. Zheng Yiguan may not know the weakness of his side's defense, but would first concentrate his forces to seize the town, and then use it as a forward position to attack the Castle of Relanja from here.
If that's the case, that's exactly what he wants. There is a large open space between the town and the castle. Except for an execution platform and two houses, there is no shelter in that area for hiding, which is very convenient for the defenders to open fire. .
Jansen believed that if the enemy army wanted to rush through this open area with almost no trees, it would have to pay at least a thousand casualties before they could get close to the castle of Geranze.
Before launching the siege, they had to cross a three-meter-deep trench. After climbing up with all their strength, they could face the defenders standing in the castle.
Of course, the defenders are nine meters higher than them. These nine meters are the height of the walls of the Castle of Geranze. If you want to climb to the top of the city, you have to use a long ladder, but even if you have a long enough ladder, you can't climb smoothly. Come up.
On the mainland, the Dutch army relied on holding on to the bastion to repel the troops of the arrogant Spanish Empire, and then completely got rid of the rule of the empire. Perhaps it was still somewhat inadequate in various offensive tactics.
But if it was just to hold on, Jansen believed that no country's army in the world could compete with the Dutch army, and he had enough confidence in the defensive capabilities of his soldiers.
As long as there is sufficient food, drinking water, and ammunition, five hundred Dutch soldiers defending the Castle of Geranze are enough to repel the attack of 10,000 Zheng Yiguan's subordinates, and can also cause heavy casualties to the enemy.
The Castle of Geranze is a typical European-style bastion with unparalleled defensive capabilities. It can use crossfire to hit the enemy head-on against enemy attacks from any angle. There is no theoretical dead zone for shooting.
The sloped embankment of rammed earth can absorb the kinetic energy of the cannonballs, and the city walls made of red bricks are made very strong using sugar water, glutinous rice, sand pound, and oyster shell ash as adhesives.
Even if Zheng Yiguan had a certain number of heavy artillery, which could continuously bombard Relanze Castle and collapse the parapet, the defenders could still hold on by relying on the advantages of the foundation and city wall.
Jansen had experienced Spanish artillery fire in his native country when he was young. He did not think that Zheng Yiguan had an artillery force of the same size, nor did he have the courage to let hundreds of his men come to die.
The East India Company built bastions of various sizes in various territories, but there is no doubt that the Castle of Geranja is the largest of these bastions and has the highest defensive power.
What hundreds of thousands of Spanish troops cannot do, tens of thousands of Eastern pirates are even more difficult to do. What awaits them is the tragic end of losing troops and generals.
If Zheng Yiguan is stubborn or doesn't know enough about the strong defense of the bastion, then Colonel Jansen doesn't mind letting his troops show it to him, but the "show fee" is a bit expensive...
The Ottomans could capture Constantinople, but Zheng Yiguan's army would not be able to capture the Castle of Geranze, not even for another fifty years.
As long as the Danyuan area belonged to the East India Company, it was a Dutch territory. Neither the Ming Empire nor Zheng Yiguan himself could seize it by force.
Janssen hoped that through this battle, the Batavia headquarters would realize the importance of senior officials and the serious threat posed by the Ming Empire and Zheng Yiguan here.
It would be best to increase the number of permanent Dutch garrison troops to 3,000, increase the number of warships to 50, and train another 2,000 native soldiers to assist. Then Zheng Yiguan and the Ming Empire will never be able to capture this place. .
As Zheng Yiguan's strength continues to grow and even has the momentum to catch up with the East India Company, if the headquarters really wants to maintain the Eastern trade of millions of taels of silver every year, Jansen thinks it is best to launch a A massive naval battle.
One hundred warships and four hundred armed merchant ships were dispatched at once to deal a devastating blow to Zheng Yiguan's fleet and fleet, as well as many bases along the coast of Fujian, thereby establishing the absolute dominance of the Eastern Sea.
Let Zheng Yiguan no longer dare to challenge the authority of the East India Company. In the future, bilateral trade will be dominated by his own side, making Zheng Yiguan a subordinate of the company and nothing more than a commodity supplier.
Only in this way can the ever-expanding Zheng Group be curbed and the company's interests in the East not be harmed and the market not be squeezed. Otherwise, sooner or later this place will be dominated by Zheng Yiguan.
Jansen believed that this plan was very feasible because it did not require sending a large army to land on the Ming Empire's mainland, nor did it require an army to fight.
We only need to dispatch 500 ships and launch the naval battle that we are best at. For the Netherlands, which has at least 3,000 armed merchant ships in the eastern waters, this is completely possible.
The East India Company could mobilize a thousand armed merchant ships to launch a large-scale attack on Zheng's maritime power. The Dutch armed merchant ships were even larger than Zheng's warships, and their firepower was not inferior to the opponent's.
No matter how powerful the fleet controlled by Zheng Yiguan was, it could not defeat the East India Company's all-out attack. If he was lucky, he could even annihilate the Zheng Group in one fell swoop.
It's a pity that the Batavia headquarters is full of greedy and short-sighted guys. They are not very willing to fight with Zheng Yiguan, and even make compromises and concessions to him.
In Jansen's view, this move boosted the other party's arrogance, and to a large extent, helped Zheng Yiguan quickly grow his own strength, making his threat to the East India Company, especially the Danyuan area, increasing day by day.
Last year, there were only eight merchant ships from the Netherlands sailing to Japan, but there were indeed 83 merchant ships under Zheng Yiguan's ship heading to Japan. Our side was only a fraction of the opponent's.
According to Berger, the situation this year is also the same, which is very pessimistic. If this momentum continues, it is only a matter of time before Zheng Yiguan squeezes out the Netherlands and monopolizes the Japanese market.
Now, before he could complete the first step of his plan, Zheng Yiguan couldn't wait to implement the second step of his plan, which was to expel the Dutch forces from Formosa and turn this place into his own sphere of influence.
Boerg's ambition was only to eat Formosa Island. Zheng Yiguan's ambition was much greater than Boerg's, and he had already achieved initial success. This was a disguised encouragement to him to start harming his own interests, even at the risk of collaborating with the East India Company. Start a war.
Although Zheng Yiguan's military strength is very strong at the moment, it is not invincible yet. As long as the East India Company spares no expense, it can be completely defeated and he will never be able to stand up again and pose any threat to the Dayuan area.
Jansen believed that his plan was impeccable, but the chiefs at the headquarters were all concerned with making money as their top priority. Any loss would arouse their irritation and anger, and they would then take some punitive measures.
In the final analysis, this is just a commercial company with a military nature. It cannot represent the will of the entire Netherlands. If the Dutch Navy can get rid of the entanglement of the Spanish Navy and go to the eastern waters, it will be a different scene.
Thinking of this, Jansen felt a sense of resentment and sadness in his heart. He was far away from his homeland, making profits for the Netherlands and the company in the east, and had to fight against an enemy with troops far superior to his own.
However, the dedication and sacrifices made by themselves and their subordinates will not enter the eyes of Shangfeng. One day, they will pay an extremely heavy price for their short-sighted behavior.
After receiving the ultimatum personally written by Zheng Yiguan from Keku, the response of the senior officials was very fast and almost all important matters were arranged.
The messenger Philip Cocu was also "fortunate" to serve as the messenger for the second time. This time he was accompanied by He Bin, the translator and assistant of Chief Berg, to Penghu.
Werner Blind, who looked like a pig, shrewdly declined this honorable and sacred mission, claiming that he was just accompanying Cocu and did not understand the actual situation, and then ran away.
Blind had no time to think about whether the six thousand silver coins were worth the money. The top priority was to escape to Manila quickly. He didn't want all his sailors to be captured and used as cannon fodder by that guy Jansen.
He is very clear about the military strength that Zheng Yiguan possesses. If tens of thousands of enemy troops come to attack Dajuan Town and Relanjia Castle, most of those who are temporarily warned will die on the battlefield.
For the sake of his own business, Blind also wanted to save the lives of all the sailors. If all the sailors of the Dutch merchant ships in the Danyuan area died, wouldn't he be able to monopolize the business here?
It seems that this is not impossible!
Thinking of this, Blind actually felt a little bit happy...
He didn't want to see the defenders defeated, but he also hoped that his colleagues would suffer misfortune. At least the merchant ship would be sunk. In short, after the war subsided, it would be best for him to become the number one merchant here.
As long as he doesn't offend that guy Zheng Yiguan, he can still engage in trade from Fujian to Batavia, which is a much better business than the mainland.
It is indeed very profitable to transport the goods of the Ming Empire to the mainland, but it also risks being sunk or even captured by Spanish giant ships. This is no joke.
On the contrary, there are no such troubles and worries in the eastern waters. As long as you avoid the monthly storm, doing business here is simply a good job given to you by God.
"Come back soon and have a nice trip!"
As for the guy in Keku who had harmed him, Blind hoped that Zheng Yiguan could hang him directly or detain him permanently, so that he would never have to see his stinky face again.
Blinder wished the other party well and had a smile on his face, but he didn't think so in his heart. Maybe only "bon voyage" is true, because the southern monsoon is blowing now...
