Chapter 736 Sleepiness meets pillow

No matter how determined the Dutch's fighting will is, the fact that the city wall defense line was broken basically means that Batavia is about to declare its fall. Although the existing defenders in the city still hold on to the various barricades in the city,

When enemy troops have been entering the city continuously, it is obviously just a wishful thinking of the Dutch to rely entirely on such crude fortifications to prevent the Matalan people from advancing. Whether it is military strength or desire for victory, the Dutch

Everyone is now at a complete disadvantage.

Except for a handful of defenders who did not have time to evacuate the city wall defense line, a considerable number of them chose to surrender to save their lives. In particular, almost all of the temporary troops who were forcibly recruited to serve in the city defense army in the later stages of the war had never been on the battlefield.

Ordinary people, who have neither a strong will to fight nor the fighting skills to protect themselves, quickly gave up resistance after being surrounded by the Ma Da Blue Army.

However, these poor people who chose to surrender were not forgiven by the Matalan people. After their weapons and armor were confiscated, they were immediately escorted to the fighting front collectively. The Matalan people used spears and swords to drive away the prisoners of war.

March towards the barricades erected by the defenders in the city. It is obvious that the Matalan people do not want to waste precious food supplies to feed these prisoners of war. They do not even have the patience to build prisoner of war camps to hold them. They just intend to use these people directly as cannon fodder.

Fill in the battlefield.

If the defenders are unable to deal harshly with these prisoners of war, then the horse-defeating blue army that follows can successfully conquer the barricades and advance toward the city center. If the defenders continue to fire indiscriminately, the horse-defeating blue army will be unable to do anything.

There is no actual loss, but it can consume some ammunition of the defenders and continue to shake their belief in fighting.

"Fire!" Faced with these unarmed cannon fodder, Bart's commanding voice showed no sign of wavering. For him, his own people who have surrendered to the enemy are of the same nature as the enemy, not to mention anything at this juncture.

Mercy and hesitation will only lead to the complete collapse of one's own camp. As a senior officer who can still command operations on the front line, he will never allow such a thing to happen. As for whether he will be infamy after the war for this, Bart has no idea.

I don’t care—just survive until the war first.

The musket bullets knocked down the first row of prisoners of war, and the remaining people could not help but retreat in panic. However, there were swords and guns from the horsemen and blue men waiting on their way back. It was wishful thinking to save their lives.

The first batch of prisoners of war who were used as cannon fodder only survived on the battlefield for less than two minutes before they all fell under the attack of both warring parties.

Bart's determination bought the defenders valuable time to regroup. When the defenders gradually retreated from the city wall to the barricade defense line, the entire defense surface was greatly reduced, and the limited troops could be assembled to the defense nodes of several main blocks.

, so that the Ma Da Blue Army who had already invaded the city had to pay a greater price to conquer these simple street fortresses.

After the Ma Da Blue Army discovered that the attack was ineffective, they were not as anxious as before. Now that they had entered the city, it was difficult for the exhausted defenders to drive them out. So the Ma Da Blue Army camped on the line of the city wall while starting

Clear the north gate - as long as the gate passage is cleared, heavy artillery can be transported into the city and launched into a bombardment with the stubborn Dutch. Most of the artillery in the Malta Blue Army is British

The large-caliber siege guns sold to them were more than enough to deal with the six-pounders on the barricades in the city.

Of course, in addition to clearing the city gates, the Ma Da Blue Army who had entered the city were not idle either. The few artillery pieces on the city wall that could still be used for combat were quickly counted out, and a lot of manpower was used to hoist them into the city.

.

Before the sun went down, two heavy 12-pound city defense guns were set up on the city-crossing street opposite the North City Gate. Although the barricade defenders on the opposite side judged the horse's intention to beat the blue army in time and opened fire to stop it,

However, the Ma Da Blue Army used a large number of soil bags to set up defenses in front of the artillery in advance. The firepower output of the defenders only slightly slowed down the Ma Da Blue Army's movement speed, and did not really prevent it. And Ma Da Blue Army

The first artillery fire fired by the army smashed a masonry fortification about 200 meters away. More than a dozen defenders stationed behind the fortification were either killed or wounded, and they immediately lost the ability to continue fighting.

ability.

The fall of night once again saved the defenders. The Matalan people did not try to brave the night to continue launching a large-scale attack into the city. They concentrated their manpower on the north gate to dredge this main passage into the city. The defenders reinforced the barricades while

In the dark night, they fought to the death with the Matalan pioneers who penetrated into the city in small groups through numerous houses.

To the exhausted defenders who have been fighting for many days, the Ma Dalan Pioneers, wearing black cloaks and covering their heads and faces with black cloth, are simply demons in the night. They don't know which corner they will suddenly come out of, or who will.

Or they jumped off the wall and cut the throats of their comrades or themselves with the daggers in their hands. These guys were not willing to fight. No matter whether they succeeded or failed, they would retreat with one blow and quickly leave the battlefield, leaving the Dutch with no way to pursue them.

As for the Dutch officers, they had to order to reduce the scope of defense and patrol, and deploy their manpower as concentrated as possible to avoid being found by assassins lurking in the dark.

That night, the people in Dacheng Rice Store were also in a state of uneasiness. Although Dacheng Rice Store, located in the west district of the city, was not located in the first place where the enemy troops entered the city, enemy troops came to the door before dark. But thankfully,

However, as Bart expected, the Matalan people did not try to make things difficult for Cheng Dapeng and others, because they needed to continue to maintain the normal operation of Batavia after the war, and the stable supply of food was indispensable.

Partly. As a well-known grain merchant in the Batavia grain market, the existence of Dacheng Rice Bank can partially solve the current grain gap that the Batavia Blue Army cannot fill.

The person who came to visit Cheng Dapeng was an officer named Sukarno, but his name had nothing to do with the Chinese Kapitan Sumingang family in Batavia. He was an authentic Southeast Asian native. Sukarno

After Nuo met with Cheng Dapeng, he immediately made a suggestion that Cheng Dapeng could not refuse: "Our commander-in-chief hopes that Dacheng Rice Bank can immediately organize a batch of grain shipments from Champa or Annan. We will use

I will purchase this grain from you at a reasonable price."

Cheng Dapeng was secretly happy, but on the surface he still had to pretend to be bargaining: "I wonder what a reasonable price is, sir? After all, these grains are shipped across the sea from the north, and the freight has to be included in the cost.

of."

"Is this okay if it is not lower than the local food price before the war?" Sukarno did not intend to slowly bargain with Cheng Dapeng and directly gave a standard, but there was a hint of impatience in his tone.

.

"Of course, of course. I am willing to do it." Cheng Dapeng changed the subject and said: "But several ships from this trip were docked at Batavia Port before and experienced many days of war. I don't know if they are still there at this time. If so

Without ships, a small man can only look at the ocean and sigh."

There were indeed three Guangdong ships under the name of Dacheng Mihang that were anchored in the port before the war started. However, because the Dutch only evacuated their own armed merchant ships before the war, a large number of civilian ships were not notified in time, and the port had already fallen.

The Matalan people are unlikely to be civilized troops. The ships docked at Batavia Port have probably been requisitioned long ago. After all, they need to maintain tens of thousands of people for a month of operations here and transport maritime logistics supply lines.

The pressure should also be considerable. These "ownerless" civilian ships are naturally used when they can be used, and they can provide some transportation capacity.

Sukarno did not deny Cheng Dapeng's speculation: "All the ships in the port are currently requisitioned by us. After the war, we will try to find Dacheng Mihang's ship and return it to you. But before that, we will provide ships.

As long as you send people to help us purchase food from other countries, it will be fine."

When Sukarno's conditions came up, Cheng Dapeng was naturally not allowed to find excuses to refuse. Cheng Dapeng could only pretend to be helpless and nodded: "Well, I'll just send someone to go there..."

It’s just that after buying this food, please don’t forget to pay for it.”

Sukarno snorted and said: "As long as the grain is bought, your money will be indispensable! Take this token and ask your people to report to the west gate after dawn. Someone will take him out of the city and board the ship."

Cheng Dapeng sent the impatient Sukarno away obediently, but his heart was filled with joy. This month, he had been worrying about how to send the high-value intelligence he had recently collected to the north as quickly as possible. He never expected the end.

The person who helped him turned out to be the Ma Dalan people. Although the war seemed to be coming to an end, if this information could be sent back a day earlier, it would probably be more useful.

The southernmost intelligence station of the Hai Han Security Department in Indochina is located in Vung Tau Port, which was previously under the rule of South Vietnam, but was later occupied by the Occupied Kingdom during the civil war. After that, the two countries centered around the ownership of this seaport.

We also fought several times, big and small. In the end, the Annan people who failed to take advantage simply promised this place to Haihan as part of the four southern ports development plan. Anyway, I can't get it back. If you want to get it,

Just go ahead and find trouble in Champa.

Although the relationship between Haihan and the Champa Kingdom is not as close as that with Annam, and they cannot obtain the management and development rights of Vung Tau Port under the same conditions, there is still no problem in setting up business stores and official agencies there. After Haihan occupied Anbu

Before the Na Islands, the intelligence collected by the Ministry of Security personnel in Batavia and Nanyang was sent to Vung Tau Port for processing. However, the distance between the two places was nearly 2,000 kilometers, which was really far, so later

After Haihan captured the Ambuna Islands, the intelligence station of the Ministry of Security was able to continue to move south. Moreover, because there were time travelers stationed in Ambuna Port, it was equipped with a radio, an ultra-era information transmission tool, so the intelligence was even more timely.

Stronger.

The Matalan people want to use Cheng Dapeng's purchase channel to buy food from the Champa Kingdom. The fleet will definitely pass through the waters of the Ambrosia Islands on the way. Then they can find any reason to make a short stop there and complete the process.

Information handover work. For Cheng Dapeng, this request from Ma Dalan was like falling asleep on the pillow, and the timing couldn't be more perfect.

The information that needs to be sent back to the base camp has been sorted out a long time ago and copied into several small paper rolls with secret words. Whether it is carried with you or put into the sandwich of a wooden box, it is easy to hide. To ensure safety, Chengda

Peng decided to let the three of them go together, but he still had to stay in the city and continue to watch the changes in the local situation.

Perhaps he was worried that something might happen to Cheng Dapeng. As soon as it got dark the next morning, Sukarno came with people again. He claimed that the current war situation inside and outside the city was not stable. In order to prevent an accident, he came to escort Cheng Dapeng.

The people left the city and boarded the ship. However, Cheng Dapeng thought that the other party was worried that the grain merchants carrying cash out of the city might cause unnecessary trouble, so he sent someone to escort them.

However, this worry is somewhat unnecessary. The three people at Dacheng Rice Shop only have one box of luggage, which they can carry by themselves. There are not several boxes of gold and silver as Sukarno imagined. Sukarno couldn't help but ask Cheng

Dapeng asked: "Guimi Bank doesn't even bring any money. Are you planning to go to Champa to buy on credit?"

Cheng Dapeng smiled and said: "That's not true, but we have a more convenient way to do business locally."

After saying that, Cheng Dapeng took out a piece of paper with exquisite patterns and showed it to Sukarno: "This is a cash check issued by Haihan Bank. You only need to take it to the local bank to cash it. But the villain and the local rice

If you are familiar with the business, you can directly trade with the other party using this cash check."

Not only could Sukarno speak Chinese, but he could also read Chinese characters. Seeing that the piece of paper was indeed marked with the words "One Thousand Liang of Silver", he couldn't help but frown and said: "Such a piece of paper, if someone takes it away,

, isn’t that just one thousand taels of silver gone?”

Cheng Dapeng explained: "This thing is registered. When you go to cash in cash, you need to state your unique password before you can get the money. Just having a check without a password is useless."

Sukarno said angrily: "If the bank account is not guaranteed to be redeemed, then what should I do?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "You can rest assured that Haihan Bank has an excellent reputation. There has never been a situation where the payment was not able to be cashed despite all the procedures. If that were the case, how could we, the merchants, rest assured that we would deposit our money with them?"

Cheng Dapeng actually had something he didn't say out loud in his heart - this is a bank account opened by my family, so there is no way it can be cashed out.

Although Sukarno was a little unsure whether Cheng Dapeng was bragging or if it was true, looking at his words, he no longer insisted on letting him take the cash on the road.
Chapter completed!