Chapter 583 The vast ocean is a casino, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has its ace!
On May 16, 1857, the second day after the True Tak Sect launched the Batavian Uprising.
The marble dome of the Governor's House of Batavia is still reflected in magnificence by oil lamps, and a celebration is being held. The Governor of the Dutch East India Pahood held a red wine glass produced in Bordeaux, and his face was filled with the smile of the winner: "Gentlemen, the offensive of the Chinese thugs has been curbed--Batavia's bastion is solid,
The artillery of the three coastal artillery batteries is enough to cover the entire port, and our fleet has blocked the entire Java Sea!”
He deliberately used a silver spoon to knock on the Nanyang chart behind him, and seventeen models of ships were nailed to the Karimata Strait in the northwest of the Java Sea. The chimney models of four Surabaya-class steam gunboats were particularly eye-catching. This is a new toy sent by Dutch naval engineers last month.
"As long as five months are spent, the local expeditionary fleet will arrive with eight thousand flintlockers!" Pahud specially raised his glass to Vinham, "What's more, we have the friendship of the Royal Navy of the British Empire..."
Wen Xian originally planned to sneak away on the Royal Albatross last night... But half of the sailors on the British merchant ship were fooling around in the brothels in Batavia, and half were drunk and unconscious. So he had to wait patiently for the sailors to return. As a result, the sailors had not returned yet, and the governor's office in the Dutch East India first sent someone to invite him to the "celebration party" to celebrate the victory one by one!
Although most of the Batavia city was captured by the rebels sent by the Zhenyou, the indigenous mobs had been disbanded by the rebels, and the Dutch mercenaries also suffered heavy losses. But the Dutch finally "organized a successful defense" with the forts, forts and artillery left by their colonial ancestors. A successful defense is victory!
Bai Siwen brought a bone-chip porcelain plate filled with fried bacon and grilled fish to Moore: "Look, the Dutch's condensation guns are still using the firing structure of the 1795 model. They can even find the Spanish throne's condensation guns in their arsenal."
Friedrich's pen rustled on his notebook: "The military technology of the colonies is often two to three generations behind the homeland, but suppressing uprisings is usually more than enough... unless it encounters an opponent of the same industrial level."
On the other hand, although Wen Xian was not optimistic about the prospects of Batavian Fortress from the bottom of his heart, it was not defended by Petropavlovsk Fortress on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Sevastopol Fortress on the Crimean Peninsula. Compared with them, Batavian Fortress is not worth mentioning at all... :::. However, as a senior British civil servant, he certainly had to work hard to maintain the face of his Dutch friends at this time.
No matter how these Dutch people are no longer the same as they were, they were white masters. Of course, he still had to say something about the beautiful scenes: "Of course, the British Empire did not agree with the riots launched by the True José faction on Java Island, which seriously violated the Dutch rule over the Dutch East India and threatened free trade between the East and the West! If the Governor needs it, the UK is willing to mediate."
"Mediation? No, no..." Pahud shook his head repeatedly, "Now is not the time! Those yellow-skinned monkeys must pay a heavy price!"
Bai Siwen said to Moore sarcastically: "Now mediation, the Dutch may have to pay a considerable price,
But if the war continues.:::
,
"Boom boom boom..."
The sudden sound of cannons made the crystal chandelier jingle. Pahood's red wine was poured on the white Dutch coin, but he still maintained the governor's majesty: "Don't panic! This is the 24-pound fortress cannon in the brink of the bastion that is performing routine forceful shooting...
?
Moore quietly lifted the velvet curtains. In the sky to the southeast, several black dots were drawing from the Chinese area towards the bastion, and dazzling fireballs were blown up on the granite walls. He noticed that the bombings were surprisingly concentrated. This was definitely not something that the mob with a front-mounted smoothbore cannon could do.
"They are calibrating the shooting world." Wen Xian, who had already dealt with the Dutch Governor, suddenly appeared behind Moore. "When King Luo Wu first arrived in Shanghai, he immediately set up a martial arts lecture hall to train professional officers. Artillery Kewen was the key point, and the best Western artillery officers that could be invited in Shanghai at that time were invited. ::::. But the real decisive factor was the maritime power of both sides! Whoever controls the sea can control the South Ocean! Even if the Chinese can briefly break through Batavia, Semarang and Surabaya, only the Dutch can firmly control the sea power and will eventually return victoriously."
"Jazz," Moore looked back at Wen Xian, "Do you really think the Netherlands can still control the sea?"
Wen Xian smiled and said, "That's certain! They are only sea coachmen, and they also have a large Dutch East India fleet."
Moore said: "I don't think so... Whoever has advanced productivity can control the ocean! Now the Chinese can also build wooden steam three-masted sailboats, and they can cast 64-pound cannons, and they also have chorionic cannonballs! And what do the Dutch have?"
"Boom boom boom...:.:
》
With another loud noise, the shells fired by the Zhenyou Rebel Army outside the city accurately hit the city wall and exploded a fireball that was far larger than ordinary black powder shells.
"It's nitsula!" said Friedrich. "There are sugar factories everywhere in the Chinese area of ​​Batavia. They can boil nitsula gunpowder anytime and anywhere. I think they should start digging parallel trenches now...\n."
"Parallel trenches..." Wen Xian took a deep breath, that was the nemesis of the bastion!
Friedrich nodded: "Yes, they will...\nA can make a steamboat,
How could a country with 64-pound cannons, a bitter and sour cannonball, not dig parallel trenches? A few years ago, there was a geometric problem of digging parallel trenches in the Prussian middle school textbook that Moore and I helped them translate!”
Wen Xian drank the wine in his hand in one gulp: "We will leave early tomorrow morning... :::. But we can't go to Guangzhou anymore, the Karimata Strait has been blocked. We have to go east and maybe we have to go to Japan first."
Moore took a sip of the wine: "I heard that it was a feudal country that was very similar in race and culture to China."
Bai Siwen shook his head: "No, Japan and China are very different...\n:::. They are very feudal, while China is not very feudal, at least not very feudal in the past thousand years."
May 20, 1857.
The Karimata Strait was blowing a southeastern wind. On the deck of the "Lanfang" steam three-masted armed merchant ship with Siam flag, Ding Xianda's telescope lens reflected the dense comb poles on the sea level. The Dutch increased the number of patrol ships to three times the usual ones. Six Malugu-class patrol ships advanced slowly in comb formations, and each battleship had a brand new three-color signal flag.
"Guide Ding, the situation is wrong!" The first mate pointed to the Dutch patrol ships that were flashing two miles away, "the number is twice as high as shown in the intelligence... and he also boarded the Malugu-class patrol ship...
,"
As soon as he graduated from the Naval Academy, he was lucky enough to "get" a 1,000-ton "Jianghai-class" ocean-type Ding Xianda was already a little nervous and breathless.
The Dutch would not double the ships for no reason for blocking the Karimata Strait...\n...\n.There are only one reasons for this, and the uprising on Java Island was ahead of schedule for some reason!
In this way, the 3,000 Tianli three-year rifled guns, 500 barrels of gunpowder, 100,000 fixed-load ammunition and 300 Lan Fang army soldiers loaded on the Guangzhou ship owned by the "Lan Fang" and three other Nanyang Trading Company are even more important.
If it cannot arrive in time, it is very likely that the uprising will fail!
But the "Lanfang" was just a 1,000-ton steam-armed merchant ship, with only 3 32-pound front-mounted smoothbore guns, and its firepower was too weak compared to the Dutch fleet.
However, the ammunition depot of the "Lanfang" contains 30 powerful picy acid cannonballs.
....:
"There is a ship behind!" The first mate of the Lanfang exclaimed again, "It is the Batavian class...:... the main force of the Dutch East India fleet!"
"Break!" A voice came from behind Ding Xianda. The person who spoke was Liu Shaoting, the general manager of Nanyang Trading Company. The old Taiping Army brother with a pipe in his mouth looked indifferent. "Isn't it just a Jianghai level... I can still afford to bet!"
Now the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau has built more than 10 Jianghai-class ships, but the steam engines are not very good yet, and they are temporarily equipped with imported goods. However, this problem has been solved... So the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom does have the confidence.
"Get orders! Lower half of the sail! The right rudder approaches the merchant fleet twice!" Ding Xianda ordered loudly, "Price the steam pressure to 50%!" He must make the Dutch believe that this is a broken ship that cannot burn coal.
Two Dutch patrols suddenly left the formation and quickly approached the "Lanfang", and raised the signal flag for boarding for inspection.
"Drive my mother!" Liu Shaoting cursed, "It must be a big deal if you check it so strictly. ::::. Breaking me!"
"Maximum pressure...\n:::.Full speed!" Ding Xianda yelled. Black smoke instantly gushed out of the chimney of the "Lanfang" and the steam engine imported from the UK suddenly pressed to twelve atmospheric pressure. Two 24-pound guns patrolling Dutch sailed almost at the same time. Chain bullets flew over the "Lanfang" with howling.
Chapter completed!