The Spice Islands, also known as the Maluku Islands, this place in the 17th century is a land of treasures, especially for Europeans.
After the Dutch monopolized the trade in the Spice Islands, the profits they earned every year were astronomical.
But this archipelago is rich in spices and gold. Strictly speaking, it does not mean that the entire archipelago is rich in spices, but that a few islands are rich in different spices.
Denadi and Tidore are the main producers of cloves, and Ambon and the Banda Islands are the main producers of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg are the most precious spices in this era. As for spices, there is also pepper. However, pepper is widely distributed in Southeast Asia. Previously, the Malay Peninsula under the control of the Chu Empire was There is a lot of produce.
Therefore, the output of pepper is not as rare as cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and the price is not as high as the latter three.
Since the Dutch gradually entered and controlled the Maluku Islands at the end of the 16th century, this place has become the main source of wealth for the Dutch.
They have strictly blocked the export of spices produced in the Maluku Islands in order to implement a monopoly, and even strictly prohibit the export of these spice plants.
In the end, ultra-high profits were achieved.
But in the autumn of the 23rd year of Chengshun, everything came to nothing.
Because the Chu Empire is coming!
In fact, the senior officials of the Da Chu Empire have no interest in the spice trade. Even though they spend a lot of money to import spices every year, spices are as dispensable to the Da Chu Empire as other imported overseas specialties. product.
The high-ranking officials of the Da Chu Empire paid very little attention to the spice trade. Relatively speaking, the high-ranking officials of the Da Chu Empire paid more attention to the high-quality long-staple cotton from the Indian peninsula.
In order to obtain a stable source of cotton in these places, the Western Trading Company has fought at least a dozen battles with more than a thousand people in the past four to five years. At the same time, it is also actively exploring cotton in West Asia, especially Egypt. import.
Because cotton is an important industrial raw material for the textile industry of the Great Chu Empire, and although the amount of domestically produced cotton is increasing day by day, no matter how much it is, it is not enough. At the same time, there is still a certain gap between the quality of domestic cotton and the imported long-staple cotton. disparity.
Cotton is also divided into types. Some have shorter fibers and some have longer fibers. Cotton with longer fibers has more advantages when using mechanical spinning and weaving. Not only is it easier to process, but the quality of the cloth produced is also better. excellent.
In both contemporary and later generations, Egyptian long-staple cotton is the top variety.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the origin of Egyptian long-staple cotton is in the Indian peninsula... The reason why this kind of cotton is called Egyptian cotton is because Egypt has promoted its cultivation on a large scale and exported it widely, which has caused a huge stir. repercussions.
Therefore, there are also very high-quality long-staple cottons in the cotton on the Indian peninsula, and these long-staple cottons are important imported raw materials for the textile industry of the Great Chu Empire.
Cotton imports are currently the largest imported material in the Chu Empire, and the amount imported every year is very large.
In order to maintain the sustained and rapid development of the domestic textile industry, the Dachu Empire actively introduced various high-quality cotton to promote its cultivation domestically, and planted long-staple cotton in some areas, especially Turpan Province, a place suitable for cotton cultivation, and also planted long-staple cotton overseas. Actively maintain the stability and quantity of cotton imports.
Compared with before, spices were actually of little use in the industrial system of the Dachu Empire. Even the various daily chemicals that have emerged recently, such as soap, soap and other products, do not need to use these imported spices. .
Most imported spices are basically used as food seasonings.
For things that are not necessary for industry and are not considered indispensable for people's livelihood, the senior officials of the Da Chu Empire generally don't pay much attention to them.
The reason why we are now fighting with the Dutch and trying to seize the Spice Islands is not for the spices produced in the Spice Islands, but to drive the Dutch out.
Nanyang is the Nanyang of the Chu Empire!
In the back garden of the Great Chu Empire, the empire's senior officials would never allow a European colonial country to be an eyesore here.
It can even be said that even if the Dutch occupied not the Spice Islands but a barren land, the Chu Empire would still launch a war to drive them out.
Monopolizing Nanyang and turning Nanyang into their own back garden is the main purpose of the senior leaders of the Chu Empire.
As for directly controlling one or two kinds of local products, it's actually not important.
From this point of view, the Dutch's defeat was already doomed.
The First Task Force of the Southern Ocean Fleet of the Dachu Empire Navy quickly arrived at the Maluku Islands and attacked multiple Dutch colonial strongholds there.
These colonial strongholds are not as large as Batavia City, and the garrison strength is only modest, and there are no large-scale and solidly defended coastal forts.
Therefore, the squadron's operations were very smooth. Several warships rushed up to the port and directly used grenades to carry out large-scale bombardment of the port, and then sent marines ashore to attack the stronghold. This way, they could basically win.
If that doesn't work, the worst possible scenario is to pull a fleet of naval guns directly ashore, get close and bombard them, and it would still be possible to capture them even if it takes a few more days.
Under such circumstances, the city of Batavia has not yet lost, but the Dutch rule in the Maluku Islands has been quickly disintegrated.
It's just that the Dutch defenders in Batavia didn't know about all this.
Now that the Chu army has surrounded Batavia like Tietong, the Dutch in the city have no way to break out, and they have no way to get reinforcements or even news from the outside world. They can only passively cower in the city and resist.
But this stubborn resistance did not last long, because when Army Major General Wan Binglin was fully prepared, the attack that seemed slow to the navy and had been seriously delayed was finally launched.
More than twenty 200mm short-barreled howitzers of the 13th Heavy Artillery Regiment began to make loud noises, projecting heavy shells into the city.
There are also numerous 170mm siege guns and 150mm light howitzers also joining the artillery attack sequence.
As a result, there are more than 60 large-caliber howitzers alone. The grenades fired by these howitzers continue to explode in various city defenses in Batavia City. Occasionally, shells will fly over the city. Falling in general areas within the city, some of the explosions also caused fires.
The city of Batavia, after the bombardment started, turned into a deserted place, which was unbearable to look at.
As for the Dutch defenders on the top of the city and some of the protruding fortifications outside the city, they suffered heavy casualties in the early shelling.
Even for their fierce howitzer bombardment against the Chu army, they built a certain amount of anti-artillery fortifications, but after all, they were quite easy to use to actually fight against the Chu Empire's army.
They originally thought that the anti-artillery fortifications that were already very strong had no effect at all in the face of the Chu army's large-caliber grenades.
Even the strength of the overall anti-artillery fortifications is not as good as that of the Ming army or the Dongji people... The Ming army or the Dongji people were really bombarded by the Chu army every day. They were beaten more often, so naturally they were Incomparable emphasis was placed on preparing for howitzer attacks, and the artillery defense fortifications built were as good as turtle shells. In the later period, when the Chu army fought against the Dongji people, they had to drag hundreds of artillery pieces to fight...
Just having grenades is not enough, and then you need to get a large-caliber cannon, such as a 130 mm cannon.
In the end, heavy armored commandos had to be frequently used. After the shelling, these heavy armored commandos were dispatched to kill the enemy and seize the position.
But after the Dongji people were killed by the Chu army, the Chu army actually no longer encountered any opponents that they really paid high attention to and took full precautions against.
Whether it is Zhungeer, the Russians, or the indigenous countries in Southeast Asia, they are not fully aware of the Chu Empire's artillery advantages... Although they will all be prepared, this preparation is seriously insufficient.
Today's Dutch are no exception. They also know that the Chu army's artillery is powerful, and they also know that the Chu army's grenades are very powerful.
They also responded to this and built a lot of grenade-proof fortifications.
But this kind of defense was only what they thought was sufficient... but when they were actually bombarded by more than sixty large-caliber grenades, these fortifications were just like those in Zhihu.
Especially their two coastal defense forts. Although they built very strong defenses to protect against the Chu army, when they were actually bombarded, their open-air artillery positions were still subjected to brutal and inhumane covering bombardment.
A large number of their gunners died directly in this covering shelling.
Not to mention that their forts were arranged in the open air, and there were no ring fortifications to protect against impact fragments or shrapnel.
Open-air circular artillery fortifications were something even the Ming army knew how to do, but the Dutch just didn’t know...
The main reason is that the Dutch have never been hit by a grenade... but if they have been hit once, they will not be stupid enough to be bombed like this. Just stack a few sandbags and the killing effect of the grenade will not be so good.
But the Dutch didn’t!
Therefore, on the first day of their first coastal defense fort, the gunners suffered heavy casualties, which resulted in a large number of artillery being misfired before they had much effect.
The gunners had suffered heavy casualties. What's the use of just having a cannon?
After the first coastal defense fort was silenced, an infantry regiment of the Army attacked directly. After a half-day of fierce fighting, it finally captured the Dutch right fort.
As the fort was captured by the Chu army, the next situation became even more unfavorable for the Dutch.
Because the warships of the Chu Army's Nanyang Fleet no longer had the threat of the right-hand fort, they all approached the right coast directly for artillery bombardment, providing strong fire support for the army and directly conducting a covering artillery bombardment of the urban area of Batavia City.
The artillery unit of the 14th Division pulled down more than twenty 115mm field guns on the right fort that afternoon, and took advantage of the right fort's commanding geographical advantage to conduct a comprehensive artillery bombardment of Batavia City.
At this time, the Chu army's artillery fire had covered the entire city of Batavia.
From the port to the city, comprehensive coverage can be achieved.
At this time, in fact, the continued resistance of the Dutch defenders in the city had no practical significance.
On the evening of the next day, the 14th Division of the Chu Army captured the left fort in Batavia Harbor, which was also the last main fort of the Dutch in the city of Batavia.
This fort on the left was said to be a new fort built by the Dutch to further protect the city of Batavia after the threat from the Chu Empire increased. After continuous reinforcement and emergency replenishment before the war.
There are more than thirty artillery pieces deployed, including many ship-borne heavy artillery such as twenty-four-pound cannons, and even more eighteen-pound and twelve-pound artillery pieces.
At the same time, because the fort's firing range is extremely wide, it can not only shoot at sea to protect the port, but also on land to protect the city.
However, such a crucial fort with heavy artillery was declared lost the day after the Chu army launched its attack.
Even the Chu army did not pay a high price to capture this fort!
During the attack, in addition to using large-caliber howitzers to cover and suppress enemy artillery, the Chu infantry also dug communication trenches to advance, and did not suffer actual losses during the advancement process.
After pushing closer, the Chu army's infantry will use intensive shooting, 110mm ultra-light short-barreled howitzers, and even throwing grenades to launch the last few dozen meters of attack.
After suppressing the enemy with firepower, they rushed out with the rifle loaded with bullets and the bayonet attached... After rushing out, they shot the defenders first, and then went up to fight with the bayonets.
To be honest, the offensive tactics are nothing new, nor are they very advanced.
But the Dutch just can't stop it...
This has nothing to do with bravery, tactics, etc... When there are constant shells falling above your head, and there are no professional shell-proof holes for you to hide in, it is good for you to hide here and there without being killed by the shells. Don't worry about blocking the enemy's attack.
That's right, just like in previous battles, the Chu Empire Army once again used artillery to bully people!
After using a massive amount of artillery shells and grenades to directly overwhelm the opponent, the infantry was allowed to rush forward to clean up the battlefield!
In this way, the fort on the left side of Batavia City, which seemed extremely strong and had strong firepower, fell.
When the left fort also fell, the city of Batavia was like a crab with its left and right pliers cut off and its eight legs tied...
It can only be thrown into the pot and cooked to become a delicious food.
In fact, this was indeed the case. After the two outer forts fell, the city of Batavia lost its vital peripheral barrier. Then the Chu army began to launch a fierce attack on the city of Batavia.
The most important thing is that the Chu army also made use of two forts. Not only did they use the artillery left by the Dutch, they also moved a large number of their own artillery up there, and then launched a fierce attack on the city of Batavia. attack.
On the third and fourth days, the rumbling sound of artillery never stopped. However, in order to avoid massive casualties of soldiers, Wan Binglin was more cautious in using infantry to attack, and only adopted frequent small-scale assaults. The more important purpose of constantly launching attacks is not to conquer certain places, but to attract and mobilize the Dutch defenders to leave their strong defensive positions and expose them, and then use artillery to carry out rapid fire casualties.
Before launching the final attack, destroy as many enemy troops as possible. This is the combat plan designated by Army Major General Wan Binglin.
This tactic made the Dutch very uncomfortable. The large number of casualties caused the Dutch defenders to quickly lose strength. More importantly, the continuous high-intensity fighting in the past few days caused a large number of casualties and caused a large number of soldiers to flee.
There are quite a few Dutch people who run away and hide secretly like Lawrence.
What's more important is the Javanese natives. These natives were originally servants and fought for the Dutch only for their salary.
There is no loyalty to the Dutch themselves.
As a result, before the Chu army launched a general infantry attack, the indigenous Javanese soldiers in the city collapsed one after another.
A large number of Javanese soldiers began to flee the battlefield, and many even ran out to surrender to the Chu army.
All this made the senior leaders of the Dutch East India Company extremely desperate.
Originally, they wanted to hold on for at least half a year. If they were lucky, they could even hold on for more than two years. For this reason, they had stocked up a large amount of food, weapons and ammunition in advance to ensure that they would not be unable to hold on due to insufficient weapons and ammunition.
But now, not much of the hoarded food and ammunition has been used, but two crucial forts have been lost, and the soldiers in the city have also suffered heavy losses.
The two forts lost more than 2,000 troops combined.
Hundreds of people were killed and injured in the city, and thousands of people fled.
It had only been a few days since the actual war began, and now only about 4,000 of the 8,000 troops under their command were left.
Even among these four thousand people, most of them were probably thinking of escaping or surrendering.
This city cannot be defended!
After realizing this, the senior leaders of the Dutch East India Company finally accepted the reality.
On November 13, the 23rd year of Chengshun, the Dutch East India Company defenders in Batavia officially sent representatives to negotiate for surrender.
The Dutch wanted to surrender, and the Chu army was happy not to have to carry out the final infantry attack, thereby avoiding unnecessary casualties.
After negotiations, the Chu army promised to ensure the safety of the Dutch soldiers in the city and allowed a few Dutch East India Company executives to leave Batavia with their personal belongings and return to India. After that, the Dutch East India Company officially announced its total surrender.
On the day of the surrender, more than a dozen senior executives of the Dutch East India Company, like bereaved dogs, carried some personal belongings and sailed to India on a ship of the Western Trading Company of the Chu Empire.
As for others... they are not treated so well.
Then the mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company will be put into prisoner-of-war camps, and they will be able to leave after the war between the two sides subsides. Before that, they will work honestly in the prisoner-of-war camps.
These Dutch soldiers and the top brass of the Dutch East India Company managed to get them treatment as prisoners of war.
As for the indigenous Javanese soldiers, the Dutch East India Company did not regard them as human beings at all and did not put forward any conditions... In this regard, the Dachu Empire did not bother to pay attention to them and directly treated them as illegal indigenous armed forces.
The Da Chu Empire has rich experience in dealing with indigenous armed forces. In the past, when it was in the Malay Peninsula and the central and eastern areas of Sumatra, it often encircled and suppressed some illegal indigenous armed forces, and basically no prisoners were left during the encirclement and suppression process...
With the surrender of the Dutch in the city, the 14th Division of the Chu Army officially entered Batavia City and took over the last European colonial city in Southeast Asia.
From then on, it was also announced that Southeast Asia, including the peninsula and islands, had all become the sphere of influence of the Chu Empire.
This news was first transmitted back to Guangzhou City via the communication speedboat, and soon after, the industrial and commercial circles in Guangzhou City were in jubilation. Whether it was trading companies, shipping companies, or ordinary factories, as long as they were related to foreign trade, they were all right. Overjoyed by this news.
Because this means that the market for the industrial goods of the Chu Empire will expand to many more Nanyang regions.
Java, the Spice Islands, and Borneo will all become new markets and raw material suppliers for the Chu Empire's industrial and commercial circles.
This is a great benefit to domestic industry and commerce.
And when the news further spread back to Jinling City, it was already December.
Even though the Chu Empire had specialized communication speedboats, the speed of message delivery was still not very fast. News from Nanyang could be delivered to Jinling City within a month. This was the result of these communication speedboats running day and night.
But even a clipper ship known for its speed will be affected by the monsoon and ocean currents, and it is impossible to say that it can always maintain a speed of more than ten knots.
As for steam engines, steam engines these days are still not very reliable. It is not a big problem to push small-tonnage ships for inland navigation, but it is used to push large-tonnage large-scale ships for ocean voyages of several thousand nautical miles. Then It's just not possible.
Even if steam engines are widely used by then, ships will only be able to travel at a speed of more than ten knots, and the transmission of information over long distances will still be very slow.
To solve this problem, we can only wait for a huge breakthrough in electromagnetics, especially a breakthrough in electromagnetic applications, and then get a wired telegraph or even a wireless telegraph.
Now, if Luo Zhixue wants to get news from other places, he still needs to rely on this backward method of relaying information by ships and horses.
Being able to know the specific war in the Nanyang region in about a month is not too slow.
If it were the Dutch, it is estimated that by next year, no one in the Netherlands would know that the Spice Islands had been captured by the Chu Empire.
After reading the Navy's report, Luo Zhixue summoned a number of important civil and military officials to finalize post-war settlement issues in the Nanyang region.
The Dutch were driven away, and areas such as the western part of Java Island and the Maluku Islands that the Dutch had previously occupied fell under the control of the Chu Empire. Naturally, it was impossible for the Chu Empire to conquer these places and leave them alone. , but is preparing to incorporate it into the rule of its own overseas territories.
To this end, after discussions with the high-level officials of the empire, the governor of Banten was officially established.
The governor will be stationed in the city of Batavia. Of course, this place is no longer called by this name. After the Chu Empire captured this place, they directly took the first two syllables of the city's name and named it Bada.
The reason why a new Governor of Banten was established instead of directly under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Nanyang was because the newly controlled area was very large and far away from each other.
If it were all under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Governor, to be honest, the Nanyang Governor would be too busy to manage it at all. With only one governor to govern such a large area of Nanyang, not to mention restrictions on power, the Nanyang Governor would be exhausted and unable to manage it. .
In addition, most of these places are actually not yet under the rule of the Chu Empire. There are many indigenous kingdoms in this area... Take Borneo for example. In fact, the Chu Empire only has a few trading stations on it. , this place is still the territory of the local indigenous people.
Therefore, the nominal jurisdiction of the Governor of Banten includes Java Island, Borneo, Sulawesi Island, Maluku Islands and other affiliated islands in the area, but the current actual control area is only the western part of Java Island, that is, Banten Dan region and the Spice Islands.
Most of the remaining places will probably still be ruled by the natives for a long time in the future, and the Chu Empire will gradually penetrate, control, and expand the scope of its direct territory, but this will take time.
During this period, colonial rule, especially economic plunder, was the main focus.
Therefore, the Dachu Empire simply established a new governor of Wandan, who was fully responsible for the colonial governance affairs in this area.
The same situation applies to the governor of Luzon. Before the Luzon Islands, the Chu Empire had little power. However, after purchasing the Luzon Islands from Spain, the Chu Empire began to station troops here and send officials to rule. Therefore, it also established A governor of Luzon.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the senior officials of the Chu Empire also sorted out the administrative structures of other overseas colonies.
In view of the fact that the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Governor is too large, and the Malay Peninsula has been established as the Province of Malacca within its jurisdiction, it stands to reason that a Malacca Governor should be established. However, because it overlaps with the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Governor, there has never been a Malacca Governor.
This time, the empire's top officials planned to make a complete cut. Malacca Province would formally establish a governor to take charge of the colonial affairs of Siam and Cambodia.
Colonial activities in central and eastern Sumatra were gradually carried out, and a new Governor of Palembang was established to govern the affairs of central and eastern Sumatra and the colonial affairs of the Kingdom of Aceh.
In addition, the governor of Yunnan, who previously took charge of Myanmar and Bay of Bengal affairs, has also been officially revoked from the above-mentioned custody authority.
The Great Chu Empire also established a governor of Bengal, stationed at Dagon Port in Myanmar, responsible for colonial affairs in Myanmar and the Bay of Bengal.
The previous governor of India was previously responsible for the affairs of the Indian Peninsula and the Island of Ceylon, and had also actually taken charge of affairs in West Asia, North Africa and other places. Now he has directly and clearly stated that the Indian governor has jurisdiction over colonial affairs in West Asia and Africa.
Finally, in view of the fact that the Chu Empire continues to carry out colonial expansion in North America, there are already about 10,000 immigrants or troops stationed there. Although the number is still very small, in order to reflect the empire's emphasis on colonial expansion activities in America, this time also A governor of the Americas was specially established.
In this way, the overseas territories or colonies or spheres of influence of the Great Chu Empire were officially formed into eight major governors, namely: Governor of Fusang, Governor of Nanyang, Governor of Palembang, Governor of Banten, Governor of Luzon, Governor of Bengal, Governor of India, and Governor of the Americas .
Among them, the establishment of the governor of America means that the Chu Empire is about to launch full-scale colonial activities in North America!
It was no longer a small fight, just to make some trade with the local indigenous people to make money, but began to organize immigrants on a large scale and seize a large amount of American land!
