Chapter 733 Reversal of situation

Compared with the detailed information obtained by Cheng Dapeng and others in Batavia, the information currently obtained by the Haihan military is very rough. This information is basically provided by the Ming Dynasty Maritime Company who returned to the north. The military

and the Ministry of Security spent a lot of effort to slowly piece these fragmented messages into useful intelligence.

Based on the summary and analysis of various intelligences obtained, the military finally believed that the size of the Matalan army sent to attack Batavia was about 40,000 to 60,000 people. The reason why the error range is so large is mainly because it is unable to obtain

First-hand information can only be inferred from the fleet size described by others and the deployment of troops in a certain place. In addition, in order to cooperate with this battle, the Matalan Kingdom also recruited more than 30,000 civilians to participate in the war.

In terms of numbers, it has exceeded the manpower invested in the country's last war against Batavia.

The Matalan Kingdom was able to launch such a large-scale war within a few days after the death of Dutch Governor Cohen. Its mobilization ability really surprised the Haihan Executive Committee. The Executive Committee has always regarded the Dutch East India Company as

As the biggest obstacle to Haihan's southward expansion, the existence of local governments in Nanyang has been ignored. Most travelers believe that the environment in Nanyang is difficult to breed an empire with strong war power, but the Matalan Kingdom is undoubtedly an alternative existence.

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Since this regime was only a phenomenon in history, and its glory period lasted only a few decades, and then declined all the way until it was finally divided and ruled by the Dutch, the Haihan Executive Committee has never taken it too seriously.

However, it is precisely at this time that the Matalan Kingdom is at its strongest, and its war mobilization capabilities shown in this war also made the Executive Committee look at it - tens of thousands of troops must be mobilized within a few days.

And to achieve cross-sea operations, let alone Annan, Champa and other countries, even under the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult to achieve it.

The attack on Batavia by the Matalan Kingdom is no longer recorded in historical records. In other words, this is actually one of the butterfly effects brought by the Time Travel Group to this time and space. In the original history,

The offensive launched by the Matalan Kingdom in 1629 was the last attack on the city of Batavia, and the Dutch Governor Cohen died of illness during that war. However, due to the appearance of Heihan, Governor Cohen successfully continued his life, and the Matalan Kingdom

Unexpectedly, it didn't stop there, and three years later, the third Dutch-Marshal War was launched. As for the outcome of this war, there is no ready-made historical data to refer to. Even if Haihan had a lot of black technology, it would be difficult to predict this time.

Who will win, and this is one of the reasons why Haihan pays special attention to the war on Java Island in the South China Sea.

However, due to the current limitations of Haihan's sphere of influence and maritime strength, he cannot send personnel to the front line to watch the battle. Therefore, it is impossible to get accurate information about the size of the participating troops of both sides, the fighting methods, battlefield dynamics, the progress of the battle, etc. Haihan is unable to get accurate information.

Although Bian was anxious, he could only wait patiently for further news.

Of course, judging from the current diplomatic relations established by Haihan, it is not impossible to get no news at all. After the news of the outbreak of the war came back to Sanya, the Executive Committee immediately authorized Luo to visit the Ambunas Islands.

Jie, ask him to negotiate with foreign ships passing by the local area and purchase relevant information.

At this juncture, the only ones who have the ability and the courage to go there to watch the battle are the Portuguese, who have no taboos. The closest Portuguese colony to Batavia is in the Strait of Malacca. Although the two places are thousands of miles apart, it is not the same as Anbu.

The voyage south to the Na Islands is similar, but the Portuguese have an advantage in that they also have commercial relations with Matalan, so their ships can dock at the port of Matalan for supplies. Of course, they can also use this to inquire about some seafarers.

It is not convenient to come forward to inquire about the news here.

However, even if the Portuguese merchant ship received the news at the port of Ambona and headed south to Batavia directly from there, it would still be a journey of two thousand nautical miles, and it would not be possible to come back for a while. Even if it collected information, there would not be much information.

The timeliness is negligible. Roger originally wanted to take a Portuguese merchant ship and make a trip in person in order to send a battlefield report back to Sanya by telegraph. However, after consideration, the Executive Committee thought that this was too risky, in case something went wrong with Luo Jie.

, that would be an irreparable loss. Moreover, there are currently many development and infrastructure projects in progress in the Ambrosia Islands. As the local military and political leader, Roger must not abandon the things at hand at will, even if it is necessary.

If you want to move somewhere, you have to wait until the base camp sends someone over to take over the work.

After this back and forth, the time soon came to the end of July. Haihan still had no more precise news. He only knew that the Malta Blue Army had been blocking the Batavia Harbor. As for the battle situation on land, Haihan knew nothing about it.

Bian could only judge from the movements of the horses and the blue army. Batavia should not have fallen at this time, but it was difficult to determine who was weak and strong.

On August 5, a merchant ship returning to the Ming Dynasty from the eastern port of Java Island brought new news. It was said that a large-scale Dutch armed fleet had breached the local Sulumayi Port a few days ago, which was later known as

Surabaya Port as the Chinese call it.

Surabaya Port is an important trading port in the east of Java Island. Chinese people have set foot in the area as early as the beginning of the 13th century. In "Zhufan Zhi" written by Zhao Rushi of the Song Dynasty, it was called "Chongjialu".

It is called "Zhongjialuo" in "Daoyi Zhilue", which is a transliteration of the local ancient name Jungala. In "Yingya Shenglan" written by Ma Huan in the early 15th century, the place was called "Sulu Mayi".

Later, this name was continued. This place name was also used in the "East and West Yang Kao" written by the Ming Dynasty in the early 17th century. The book described the local area as "luxuriant forests, more than a thousand families, more than half Chinese. There are also gibbons and monkeys."

Tens of thousands." This also shows that the Chinese have had a certain influence in the local area for a long time. Chinese maritime merchants who went south during the Ming Dynasty often traded spices with the indigenous residents at local ports.

Sulu Mayik Port is one of the important trading ports of the Matalan Kingdom. However, due to the outbreak of the war, most of the local maritime and land forces were transferred to Batavia to fight, resulting in a very empty local defense.

, the Dutch fleet entered the port almost effortlessly, destroyed all the local official institutions in Matalan, and looted a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry. However, the angry Dutch did not completely lose their minds.

For the foreign ships anchored in the port, they only drove them away, instead of grabbing them indiscriminately - after all, they still expected these merchant ships to go to Batavia for trade in the future. If they caught up here,

If you engage in piracy, you can only destroy your own brand.

The merchant ship returning to the Ming Dynasty happened to witness the entire process of the Dutch fleet capturing the Sulumayi Port. According to the description of the people on the ship, the Dutch fleet had at least more than 30 armed sailing ships equipped with a large number of artillery.

Judging from the shape of the ship, this fleet probably has a size of two to three thousand people.

Under Roger's repeated questioning, the captain of the merchant ship revealed another very important piece of information. Before leaving the port, his ship had applied to the Dutch for fresh water. During this brief contact, he heard a Dutch crew member say

The flames of war will burn across the ports of Matalan. Although this sounds like just a slogan, Roger believes that this may mean that the Dutch counterattack is not limited to the Sulu Mayik Port. In other words

, the Dutch will probably take advantage of the empty defenses of Matalan to destroy all the major ports in their territory.

The territory of Mataram covers most of Sumatra, Java, and Timor from east to west. It spans more than 3,000 kilometers from east to west, and spans more than 1,000 kilometers from north to south. In this area, it also includes

Including the vast sea area, if we really have to attack the ports one by one along the coastline, even if it goes as smoothly as the Sulumayi Port, I am afraid it will not be completed in less than two or three months. Therefore, Roger believes that the Dutch

The fleet will probably not only appear in Sulumayi Port, but will launch similar attacks in many places, and then counterattack Batavia together.

If the Dutch really adopted such a combat plan, it would undoubtedly be very difficult to implement. In this era of lack of long-distance communication means, it is difficult for multiple troops to coordinate operations in a vast geographical area, not to mention that the chessboard is still based on

The ocean is the main one, so it is indeed very difficult to synchronize actions. However, in the telegram sent to the headquarters in Sanya, Roger still insisted that the Dutch, known as the "Sea Coachman", must be heading to various colonies in Southeast Asia to gather fleets.

At that time, a counterattack plan had been arranged, and they would appear at the sea off Batavia at the agreed time to solve the Batavia city that was besieged by the Matalan army from the sea.

After Roger's report was sent to the Military Commission, it also attracted the attention of senior military officials. If Roger's inference is consistent with the facts, it can be seen that the Dutch have been preparing for the outbreak of war in the past three years.

, because such a large-scale cross-regional troop concentration is unlikely to be a sudden measure when the war breaks out. It must go through a lot of preparations and drills to achieve. The Dutch gave up maritime defense and let the Malayan Blue Army attack in Palestine.

The successful landing at Davia Port and the siege of the city, but the gathering of maritime forces on the periphery, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack, is indeed a crazy plan, but if it comes true, it will indeed inflict heavy damage to the country of Matalan.

The military staff also conducted several combat simulations, but due to the insufficient military intelligence on both warring parties, the simulations could hardly reflect the actual battle situation. However, one thing is certain, that is, the Dutch

This move was indeed a bet on the safety of Batavia City. Because regardless of whether the Dutch had prepared such a plan before the war, their maritime power did not choose to return to defend Batavia as soon as possible after the war broke out.

Instead, after being silent for more than half a month, they suddenly began to attack the enemy's port. This was undoubtedly a gamble that the enemy would not be able to capture Batavia within this period of time. Otherwise, the Dutch would destroy all the important ports of Matalan.

The port and the loss of the city of Batavia could not be restored.

In terms of the importance of the city of Batavia, losing this place is basically equivalent to losing the foundation of the East India Company in Southeast Asia and even the Far East. Although the Dutch have many colonies in Southeast Asia, due to limitations of objective conditions,

Most of them exist in the form of plantations, and there is no second large city like Batavia. With the current situation of many heroes coexisting in the South China Sea, it is probably difficult for the Dutch to find another one in the short term.

As a place to stay, a port city was rebuilt to replace Batavia's status and function.

If you lose, you will lose completely. If you win, you will solve the nearest threat once and for all. The Dutch actually used this as a bet to fight against the blue country, which also shows how determined they are in this war.

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After realizing the truth of the matter, the senior officials of the Haihan military not only respected the Dutch people, after all, this kind of direct showhand and gambling with opponents during the war was not a decision that ordinary people could make. Yan Chujie asked himself what if

If there is an enemy attacking Sanya directly, I will definitely not dare to let the three existing fleets lurk outside for more than half a month and watch the enemy attack my base camp.

"It's a pity that there is no further information to prove our guess." After reporting the situation, Yan Chujie said to Tao Donglai with regret: "To be honest, I really don't want to face such a crazy opponent like Holland on the battlefield.

.Even if they can win this war in the end, I estimate that the situation in Batavia will be very tragic, and the losses may not be calculated in terms of money alone."

Tao Donglai said: "But having said that, I still hope that the Dutch will win in the end. Do you know why?"

Yan Chujie nodded and responded: "If the Dutch want to expand in Nanyang, many external forces will stop them. But if this Malatan country defeats the Dutch, it will soon unify most of Nanyang and become

A regional power. It will not be so easy for us to intervene in Nanyang affairs in the future."

"And this Matalan country is too aggressive and expanding too fast. If it continues to grow, this country will not stop in Nanyang." Tao Donglai added: "If they go north, they will soon collide with us.

Come on, this is not a good thing."

Tao Donglai didn't finish his words, but Yan Chujie already knew what he meant. The Matalan Kingdom is actually similar to Haihan in some aspects, and both are in the stage of rapidly expanding their sphere of influence. Once Nanyang disappears,

Without the Dutch, there would be almost no other force that could restrain the Maltalan Kingdom, and this was not a good thing for Haihan, who was temporarily unable to extend his tentacles to Southeast Asia.
Chapter completed!