Chapter 722 Batavia City

Although homing pigeons are a good tool for transmitting information, their reliability is still relatively low. They may not be able to fly to their intended destination due to various accidents, or the information tied to the pigeon's legs may fall off during the journey.

.And this method has an insurmountable fatal flaw, that is, the additional weight and volume that homing pigeons can carry are very limited, which leads intelligence personnel to only write small notes with small characters as a means of transmitting information, which greatly limits intelligence.

The level of detail is difficult to meet the actual needs of the military and intelligence agencies in many cases. Therefore, based on comprehensive considerations, the Ministry of Security did not try to use the less reliable transmission method of homing pigeons in Batavia's intelligence agencies.

Letter tool.

After listening to Hao Wanqing's explanation, Bai Kesi did not continue to dwell on this issue. After all, he was not a professional in this area, and the Haihan system was very opposed to laymen leading experts, and the butt determines the head. The executive committee members can

Question a certain work, but cannot easily interfere with decisions made in the professional field.

"Can the military send a reconnaissance ship to the waters near Batavia to observe the battle?"

Now that the Ministry of Security has stated that there is currently no reliable means of transmitting information, the Executive Committee's attention can only return to the military from the Ministry of Security. Although the Executive Committee's opinion is not to send troops to intervene in the war in Batavia

, but it is still necessary to grasp the intelligence of the war situation as soon as possible. After all, the outcome of this war may affect Haihan's future policies and attitudes towards South Asia. This is also the first thing the executive committee members do after receiving the news.

The fundamental reason why time is gathered here for a meeting.

However, Yan Chujie's answer was also very helpless: "The Port of Ambuna is more than 600 nautical miles away from Batavia. It takes almost half a month to come and go. If a fast warship is sent to perform the mission, the endurance at sea will be very high."

It's probably not enough, and we have to send supply ships to follow. But if we send a fleet south, our whereabouts will be easily exposed. Probably no one on either side of the war will be happy to see us on the sea near Batavia.

The fleet appears, which can easily cause unnecessary trouble for us."

Yan Chujie means that ships can be dispatched, but the military will not be responsible for the consequences that may arise. This cannot be blamed on Yan Chujie for shirking responsibility. There are not many ships stationed by the Navy on Ampurna Island, and the planned actions

The radius is far from reaching Batavia, so it would be a reluctant task to force it to perform reconnaissance missions in the warring areas. If it is accidentally dragged into the war because its whereabouts are discovered, then

This is completely contrary to Haihan's original intention of sitting on the sidelines.

Although Haihan had soft power that surpassed his contemporary competitors, he still could not come up with any effective solution to such an unexpected situation. In the end, after a long discussion, the Ministry of Security and the military organized a team

The temporary working group went south to Ambrosia Island, waiting for an opportunity to try to get in touch with the intelligence personnel lurking in Batavia. However, everyone understood that this measure may not have any practical effect, and under the current circumstances, it is better than nothing.

, those who can really make a difference are the intelligence personnel of the Ministry of Security who are still in limbo in Batavia.

July 8, 1632, Batavia Harbor, northwest coast of Java Island, South China Sea.

The sea outside the harbor is densely covered with the fleet of the Matalan Kingdom. Laden Langsang mobilized the maritime armed forces of Java, Borneo, and Sumatra for this offensive. Because the fleet is too large, it is still there.

There are a large number of ships on the way to gather at the Port of Batavia. The number of Materan warships that have arrived here exceeds a thousand, blocking the basin-shaped Batavia Harbor on the outside. To the northwest of the harbor

All the contiguous islands and reefs on the sea have been occupied by the Matalan army and used as temporary anchorage.

Due to the sudden incident, the Matalan army was not fully prepared when it set off. The vanguard had arrived at the Port of Batavia about ten days ago and had a battle with the Dutch armed fleet stationed there.

There was a small-scale confrontation. Although the Dutch had strong ships and powerful guns and were good at naval warfare, the Materan fleet, which had a numerical advantage, did not suffer too much, and their ships were also equipped with many small-caliber weapons provided by the British.

Artillery, this forced Dutch sailing ships to be more careful during combat.

The British stronghold is also in the west of Java, located in the Banten area south of the Sunda Strait. The land distance from Batavia is only more than 100 kilometers. However, the British do not dare to take the initiative to provoke the Dutch.

People, because they suffered great losses at the hands of the Dutch in the early years.

After Cohen was appointed as the fourth governor of the Dutch East Indies in 1617, the British fleet also came one after another, trying to build a castle at the same location and expel the Dutch. This war continued until 1619, and the Dutch

When the people were most in need, they had already lost their stronghold, but Cohen did not give up. He recalled all Dutch ships and personnel in the entire Southeast Asia region, and returned to Batavia in May of that year to start a decisive battle with the British.

The result of this decisive battle was that the Dutch not only recaptured their castle and drove away the British, but also pursued the British ships that fled to Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and severely damaged them in the waters near Pattani Port in the Malay Peninsula.

After the two countries negotiated peace in London in 1620, Cohen still refused to give up and executed 30 British people who went to the Maluku Islands to do business, forcing the British to completely withdraw from the East Indies. In 1621, Cohen reestablished

The Dutch established a stronghold on the northern coast of West Java and named it Batavia, the Roman name for the Netherlands, which was later known as Batavia.

In 1622, in order to monopolize the nutmeg trade, Cohen massacred the indigenous people who were trading with the British in the Banda Islands. More than 15,000 local indigenous people died in this massacre, and all the remaining living people were released.

They served as slave labor in other Dutch colonies on the island. Most of the Dutch castles in Penghu and Taiwan were built by these slave laborers from Southeast Asia.

Cohen's series of measures made the British unable to hold their head high. In the end, they had to give up their extravagant hope of occupying Batavia and instead established a stronghold in the nearby Banten area. The first two times the Matalan Kingdom sent troops to attack Batavia

When they arrived in Asia, the British were already eager to try. However, due to Cohen's prestigious reputation, the British did not dare to openly participate in the war. They could only secretly sell a batch of arms to Ma Dalan after the war, hoping that they could

Kill the old enemy in Batavia City in the next battle.

On the third day of Cohen's death, the British and the Matalan people received the news almost at the same time. The ruler of the Matalan Kingdom, Laden Langsang, did not hesitate to declare war as soon as possible and sent envoys to various places.

Orders were sent to mobilize troops and assemble towards Batavia. However, the British were not sure whether the news of Cohen's death was true or a lie, so they did not choose to directly send troops to join the war. However, they still provided 40 artillery pieces and corresponding equipment to the Matalan Kingdom.

ammunition, hoping that they could break through Batavia City in this battle.

Twenty days after Cohen's death, about 37,000 to 40,000 Matalan warriors had arrived off the coast of Batavia, and a small force of about 20 troops had arrived from the east and west sides of Batavia Port.

They landed on the coast of more than 10 kilometers and destroyed the surrounding plantations, farms and all Dutch-owned properties.

However, the Dutch did not try to resist the invasion of the Matalan army in the open areas outside the city. They abandoned these areas outside the city early, and the immigrants had returned to the city. Therefore, the main losses during this period were concentrated on the economy.

, the personnel did not suffer much loss.

As the Materan fleet arrived in batches, the gap in the number of ships participating in the war further widened, and the Dutch sailing ships in Batavia Port gradually fell into a disadvantage. The Batavia Council and other military personnel waited at Van Diemen

Under the strong suggestion, all ships had to be ordered to break out of the port and give up the plan of having a decisive battle with the opponent at sea.

This is not the first time that this response method has been implemented in history. When the British attacked here, Cohen had used this method, and he personally led the fleet to break out and summoned the strength of various colonies before launching a counterattack.

.When the Ma Dalan State attacked Batavia a few years ago, Cohen also adhered to this approach, conserving his own strength and not fighting head-on with his opponents. He used the method of holding on to the fortified city to exhaust the opponent's logistics supply, and

The ships that break out can also harass the opponent's supply lines from the outside. At least judging from the results of the first two times, this method is quite effective.

The Dutch fleet finally broke out at the cost of more than 20 ships. Fortunately, the ships that were sunk and injured were basically small boats, and the impact on the overall strength was not too great. But as the fleet left, it also

This means that the subsequent landing of the Matalan Army at Batavia Port will be unimpeded. There is only one obstacle in front of them, and that is the city of Batavia, which has experienced many wars.

Although the atmosphere in Batavia is tense, the social order has not been disrupted. After all, this is the third time in five years that the city has been attacked by foreign enemies. Whether it is the Dutch, Chinese or indigenous people who are dependent on them,

, in fact, they are not too nervous anymore. After all, they also know that although the enemy has a large number of people, there is no good way to capture the strong city of Batavia. They can only besiege it for a month or two, and wait until the opponent's supplies can no longer sustain it.

When we go down, naturally there is only one way to withdraw our troops.

Of course, there will still be extraordinary policies in extraordinary times. The council has issued an order a few days ago that all food supplies in the city must be uniformly allocated and arranged. Anyone who tries to hoard goods, raise prices, or force purchases during wartime

Those who were raped were all treated as collaborators - simply put, they were hanged. A gallows had been erected in the small square in the center of the city, and several serious criminals were dragged from the prison and executed in public to serve as a warning.

As one of the food suppliers in Batavia City, the "Dacheng Rice Shop", which is only 100 meters away from the Governor's Palace, was naturally temporarily included in the organization directly under the Council. Early this morning, the Council sent a

The team members began to count the grain stored in the granary.

The owner of "Dacheng Rice Shop" has a surname of Cheng, named Cheng Dapeng. As you can tell from his name, he is a Han Chinese. Like many Han Chinese in Batavia who went to Southeast Asia, he is also from Guangdong and Guangxi in the Ming Dynasty.

This year is already the third year that Cheng Dapeng came to Batavia. Compared with other Han compatriots who had to start from the bottom of the labor force when they first arrived, Cheng Dapeng’s starting point was obviously much higher. He brought his own funds and

The project came to Batavia to trade grain, and his appearance in Batavia City was the identity of the boss.

Cheng Dapeng’s main business project is rice-based food. It organizes supply from Annan and Champa and transports it to Batavia via sea for sale. Although this channel will cause its sales cost to be higher than that of locally grown food,

Due to the limited area of ​​farmland developed near Batavia and the frequent wars in recent years, locally produced food alone is not enough to supply the market. Therefore, Cheng Dapeng's rice business has always been steadily profitable.

.

Cheng Dapeng’s reputation in the local business community and Chinese circles has always been good. In particular, he has close contacts with the Su family, which has always controlled the position of the Chinese Kapitan. This relationship has also made “Dacheng Rice Shop” exclusive to the Dutch Council.

Food supplier.

Today, the council sent a team to count the food, and the team was led by Su Keyi from the Su family. Originally, there was no need for a person of his level to come forward for this kind of matter, but because the target was Cheng Dapeng, he took the job and ran here personally.

One trip.

"Brother Su Shi, why are you here in person?" Seeing Su Keyi appear, Cheng Dapeng was slightly surprised and quickly stood up from behind the counter to greet him.

"I am also worried that Boss Cheng will be dissatisfied with the decision of the meeting, so I came here to explain it to Boss Cheng." Su Keyi answered with an arched hand.

Cheng Dapeng said: "Brother Su Shi is overly worried. Since the meeting has decided it, I will naturally act according to the order. Besides, the troops outside the city are pressing down on the border, and it looks like it will be a protracted war. I will naturally accept the food in the rice row."

It is the unified dispatch of the government. I still understand this simple truth."

"Boss Cheng is really a sensible person. It seems that I have indeed over-worried." Su Keyi praised: "I was worried that Boss Cheng would not cooperate, so I specially asked the council to take this job and planned to come and persuade Boss Cheng.

Come on."

Cheng Dapeng said with a smile: "No need to persuade me, I will open the warehouse now and let the police come in and take inventory."

Naturally, they did not need to take care of specific matters. Each of them had his subordinates responsible for counting and handing over matters. Cheng Dapeng invited Su Keyi to sit in the study room in the backyard. Su Keyi also knew that there was little food in the granary of "Dacheng Rice Bank".

It was said that there were 200,000 to 300,000 kilograms, and it would not be possible to count them all in a short time. As the person in charge, he could only wait here and wait for the results, so he readily agreed.
Chapter completed!