It was getting dark, and the city of Ambon, which had been noisy and chaotic for a long time, had not completely calmed down. The sound of gunshots and shouts of death were still heard from the streets far and near. The panic-stricken colonial officials and residents in the city had already learned that,

In the afternoon of that day, when all the soldiers and civilians of Ambon were caught off guard, the Hanzhou army suddenly invaded Ambon.

Ambon was founded by the Portuguese in 1526, and was conquered by the Dutch in 1609 and ruled to this day. On the evening of December 17, 1638, it was once again conquered by outsiders.

After capturing the Governor's Mansion, government offices, and military camps, there was no organized resistance in the city, but mercenaries and sailors scattered in every corner of the city attacked lone Hanzhou Marines and rural soldiers from time to time.

For those Dutch who were still hiding in strong houses and resisting, the Han soldiers did not attack by force. They picked up some firewood and set fire to them. The Dutch mercenaries and armed civilians who could not bear the smoke and fire once escaped from the houses.

, all were shot dead at the door by Hanzhou soldiers.

Niuhu needed to completely stabilize the order in the city of Ambon before nightfall to prevent the resistance forces in the city and the Dutch mercenaries in the forts and fortresses outside the city from counterattacking the city. Therefore, the Dutch who resisted were brutally attacked.

blow.

That night, after clearing up most of the resistance activities in the city, the Hanzhou army ordered all residents in Ambon to close their doors at home and not go out at will. Otherwise, the Hanzhou soldiers would shoot them.

The Dutch outside the city tried to counterattack once, but were driven back by a volley of gunfire from Hanzhou at the top of the city. After that, they all stopped and there was no more movement.

By around midnight in the morning (7 o'clock to 9 o'clock), the city of Anbon was completely controlled by the Hanzhou army. There were still some Dutch soldiers stationed at the dock fort and several small forts outside the city, which had to be cleared. Niuhu sent a few

Dutch mercenaries took prisoners and went to several forts and dock forts outside the city to order them to surrender.

Because several forts outside the city were within the artillery range of Ambon City, and there were not many people, they all walked out of the castle and surrendered to the Hanzhou soldiers. The dock fort had its own defensive capabilities, and there were also two armed merchant ships.

It can provide artillery cover and refuse to surrender. It vainly hopes to be rescued by Dutch ships that come and go here one after another to trade spices.

Originally, two Dutch armed merchant ships docked at the pier wanted to escape immediately after learning that the city of Anbon was attacked by Hanzhou. However, nearly half of the sailors on board were lost and killed near the pier. If the sailors on one of the ships were gathered together,

They were able to drive away a ship. However, the garrison at the dock fort demanded that they take out the sailors on the ship and join the Dutch mercenaries at the dock to fight back against the Hanzhou army in Ambon.

Perhaps they felt that the Hanzhou army that had just entered the city was on an unstable footing, and with the remaining resistance in the city, they might be able to quickly drive them out of Ambon City. The two captains gathered the remaining sixty sailors and joined the docks.

The Dutch security mercenaries counterattacked the city of Ambon. However, facing the brightly lit city of Ambon, hundreds of Hanzhou soldiers fired intense firepower. After leaving a dozen corpses behind, they fled back to the dock in embarrassment.

In the early morning, just as the two captains began to mobilize sailors, transfer people and property to the "Zelania", and prepare to escape, four Hanzhou armed merchant ships appeared outside the port of Ambon, staring at them eagerly.

.Suddenly, the officers and sailors of the two Dutch armed merchant ships turned pale.

The Hanzhou army came out of the city of Ambon and rushed towards the dock. Just when the dock fort and two Dutch armed merchant ships were preparing to bombard each other, they suddenly discovered that there were more than fifty Dutch troops in front of the Hanzhou army.

Colonial officials and civilian prisoners. They approached the fort slowly and nervously with their hands empty and their upper bodies bare.

The defenders of the fort looked at each other and couldn't help but look at their fort commander, Lieutenant Connor Brennan.

Connor Brennan held the sword tightly in his hand, with extremely angry eyes. The Hanzhou soldiers were so shameless, they actually used civilians as human shields!

After killing the compatriots in front of them, it is estimated that the Hanzhou soldiers will pull out more than fifty people from the city until all the Dutch in the city are exhausted.

"Captain, do you think they will fire?" a Marine asked Tan Zhongfu.

"When they fire, we will shoot from behind." Marine squad leader Tan Zhongfu said coldly: "Then we will pull 50 people out of the city!"

Several Marines suddenly changed their colors. This was a disguised massacre of civilians, just because the Dutch refused to surrender. However, several veterans in the team looked at ease. They all participated in the tragic siege of Cavite in Luzon.

, that time, because the Marines suffered heavy casualties, they carried out a retaliatory massacre against the Spanish.

"They will surrender." Tan Zhongfu said: "They are all mercenaries who came to Nanyang to make a fortune. It is not worth fighting for us."

Sure enough, in less than five minutes, the fort flew a white flag, and seventy or eighty gunners and garrison mercenaries walked out of the gun bunker dejectedly. Seeing this, two Dutch armed merchant ships docked at the dock also flew a white flag.

More than a hundred Marines immediately rushed into the fort and took over various gun positions. A Hanzhou warship sailed into the Ambon Port pier, and dozens of sailors climbed aboard two Dutch armed merchant ships and announced that they accepted their surrender.

The lives of the Dutch officers and sailors would be guaranteed, and they would then take control of all important parts of the ship.

At this point, the city of Ambon and the wharf were completely controlled by the officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy. In the afternoon, various seizures were counted, and two Dutch armed merchant ships and some spices and precious wood were captured. More than 100 Dutch naval officers and soldiers, and security mercenaries in the city were captured.

There are more than ninety people and more than three hundred native servants.

The treasury in the city seized 230,000 dong of gold and silver coins, more than 18,000 taels of silver, dozens of boxes of Ming Dynasty porcelain, various kinds of jewelry and jades, as well as additional grain, cloth, furs, gunpowder, copper, iron, lead and other metals.

There are countless kinds of materials.

"Everything that can be moved is transferred to the ship." Qi Dajiang glanced at the various materials in the treasury in Ambon City and couldn't help but be overjoyed. Sure enough, it is worthy of being the ruling center of the Spice Islands of the Dutch East India Company, and it is indeed rich. This trip to Ambon

, it’s really not in vain!

The Hanzhou Marine Corps and local soldiers drove away the prisoners in the city and began to carry the gold, silver, currency and various materials in Ambon City onto the ship. They must seize the time and transport the Ambon City as much as possible within three to five days.

They evacuated. As for what could not be taken away, the Hanzhou soldiers did not deliberately destroy it. Instead, they asked the natives who were watching outside the city to take it as they pleased.

During the busy "moving" process, the Hanzhou Attack Fleet welcomed a group of special guests in Ambon City, more than two hundred "rebels" who bravely resisted the Dutch colonists. The leader was the Dutch colonial government who hunted them everywhere and offered rewards.

The captured leader of the Aboriginal rebellion-Tulu Kabesi.

Qi Dajiang looked at this dark-faced, thin native. Although he didn't know what he was talking about, he knew in his heart that these natives wanted to unite with Hanzhou to jointly attack the Dutch.

Qi Dajiang shook his head. The Hanzhou attack fleet's surprise attack on Ambon relied on surprise. If anyone was left here to occupy the city of Ambon, they were simply seeking death. With their powerful maritime power, the Dutch could easily blockade the port of Ambon.

And dispatched a large number of mercenaries and native servants to land and retake the city of Ambon.

Tulu Kabesi was a little disappointed. When he saw the faces of these people, he knew that they might be the people of the legendary Ming Dynasty. Maybe the Dutch also angered the huge Ming Dynasty, and therefore suffered their revenge and seized An.

Wencheng. He wanted to ask for help and let them stay together to fight against the brutal Dutch colonists. Unexpectedly, the other party directly refused.

Qi Dajiang couldn't help but sigh when he saw the disappointed expression of the native leader in front of him. Hanzhou was now weak and could not fully support these natives to fight against the Dutch East India Company. Or, the only thing he could do now was to take Ambon

Let them take away as much supplies as possible in the city.

"We can leave them some Dutch muskets and gunpowder, and we can also give them all the swords and spears. As for food, they can bring as much as they can." Niuhu said: "In the future, these natives can rely on these firearms

Let’s have a good fight with the Dutch in the mountains and forests.”

Qi Dajiang smiled, patted Niuhu on the shoulder, and asked him to handle these things. On the dock, three ships had been filled with supplies and Dutch prisoners from Ambon City. He had to sail the ships out of Ambon Port in order to

In exchange for the other three ships that were on guard at the entrance of the harbor, they came to the dock to continue loading.

On December 22, 1638, the Hanzhou Attack Fleet, consisting of six warships and three captured Dutch armed merchant ships, sailed out of the narrow harbor of Ambon Island. What was left behind them was a completely destroyed empty city of Ambon.

, the city defenses were completely destroyed, most of the houses were set on fire, and a total of 500 Dutch colonial officials, mercenary prisoners and civilians were taken away.

If the Dutch want to build the city of Ambon again to maintain their colonial rule in the Spice Islands, they will inevitably pay a huge price. The officers and soldiers of the Hanzhou Navy completely adhered to the commander's combat intentions and resolutely and thoroughly attacked the Dutch East India Company.

Colonial strongholds on Nanyang islands increased their economic costs in fighting Hanzhou.

On December 24, the Hanzhou Fleet encountered two Dutch armed merchant ships more than 200 kilometers south of Ambon. Seeing the large number of ships in the Hanzhou Fleet, the other party did not dare to face the attack directly, and quickly moved away from the direction of the Hanzhou Fleet. Be careful.

Observe from the side and behind.

As the Hanzhou Fleet was filled with supplies from Ambon City, it obviously had little interest in the two Dutch armed merchant ships and headed straight to the southeast.

On December 30, the Hanzhou fleet arrived at the island where it came from (Yendena Island on the east side of Timor Island, Indonesia) and found the temporary camp (near the small town of Watmulli on Yendena Island).

The more than fifty rural soldiers who had stayed behind had already built a crude camp with seven or eight wooden houses and partition facilities surrounded by wooden fences.

The attack fleet stayed here for one day, leaving a hundred Dutch civilians for the local soldiers who stayed here, and then headed straight to Beikou Fort (now the small town of Newland Bay, Australia) in the southeast of Hanzhou.

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Two armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company watched the Hanzhou attack fleet heading south and gradually disappeared from their sight. The Dutch officers and sailors on board were full of doubts as Hanzhou's small maritime armed force suddenly appeared.

What do they want to do in the waters near the Spice Islands?

"Did Hanzhou's warships attack our Ambon?" a Dutch naval officer suddenly said.

"Don't they dare?" Another officer said hesitantly: "That is our core stronghold in the Spice Islands, are they not afraid of being blocked by us there?"

"But, it is obvious that they are coming from the direction of Ambon." An officer said: "If I read correctly, there is a ship in the Hanzhou fleet, which seems to be our Zelenia!"

"Okay, no need to discuss it." The captain said solemnly: "Tomorrow, when we arrive in Ambon, everything will be clear."

The officer must have read correctly. One of the ships in Hanzhou's fleet was indeed the Zelenia, and one of his friends served as first mate on that ship. Now, Hanzhou actually captured that ship.

Moreover, the other two ships seemed a bit like the armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company.

Several Dutch officers had a bad premonition about Ambon.

At noon on the second day, two Dutch armed merchant ships sailed into Ambon Port. What appeared in front of them was a completely destroyed port terminal. All cargo loading and unloading booms were removed, the auxiliary wooden trestles were burned, and the coastal defense batteries were destroyed.

It was severely damaged and even the artillery was missing.

A team of armed sailors was sent to approach the city of Ambon carefully. The city had obviously been burned by fire. The once bustling town was now full of ruins. When they arrived near the government offices in the city, they saw hundreds of natives rummaging through the ruins.

The available items were immediately dispersed under the volley fire of Dutch armed sailors.
Chapter completed!