Chapter 244 Sneak Attack on Batavia Fort

Author: tx Cheng Zhi

Chapter 244 Sneak Attack on Batavia Fort

Chapter 243

It is certainly impossible for Zheng Zhilong to know the details of the negotiations between Ning Haijun and the Dutch East India Company in Batavia. Of course, even if Zheng Zhilong knew it, it would be meaningless. Neither Ning Haijun nor the Dutch would care about Zheng Zhilong's attitude.

While Xie Jinglin and Brewer were negotiating, three large armed merchant ships flying golden lion flags slowly sailed into the Batavia port.

The city of Venice is now considered a small power in Europe, because they are in a naval war with the Ottoman Empire, an ally of the Spanish Empire. Fundamentally speaking, they are also considered an ally of the Dutch.

What's more, the Venetians are not interested in colonies outside the Mediterranean. First of all, Venice's population is too small and there is no way to participate in colonization. Also, in the face of the crazy attacks of the Ottoman Empire, Venice can barely support it.

The Dutch East India Company punched Spain, kicked Portugal, and dominated the East, but gave the green light to the Venetian fleet.

Seeing that these three weapons merchant ships were wearing gun jackets, they had no fighting attitude.

The Dutch warship responsible for patrolling the Batavia Harbor did not even go on board for ship inspection and directly let them go. These three armed merchant ships of more than 1,200 tons entered the port smoothly.

The Dutch director of the port, Sidney Strachey, a tax officer of the Dutch East India Company, came to the dock with several entourages and a dozen tax officials.

At the berth, the trestle had just been set up. As the commander of the Venetian fleet, Paul was the first to step off the ship. However, right behind Paul, a group of people wearing steel helmets and their faces covered with ferocious steel masks appeared.

The two eye sockets are exposed, and the shoulders, chest, arms, legs... are all covered tightly with large pieces of orphan-shaped steel plates. The breastplate is simply a whole piece of orphan-shaped steel plates. Due to the increasingly mature hydraulic stamping machine tools, it can be processed

Larger components, the original breastplate made of six steel plates connected have been eliminated.

These heavy infantrymen were covered from head to toe by thick steel plates. Every step they took made a terrifying clanging sound. Coupled with the heavy and sharp swords in their hands, it was really chilling.

Sidney realized something was wrong and hurriedly stretched out his hand and said: "My friend, can you tell me who these people are?"

Paul raised his hands and smiled bitterly at Sidney: "I'm very sorry, my friend, this is none of our business. We were hijacked by them. As their captives, we have to obey their orders... We are

Forced!"

When the troops of the Dutch East India Company discovered this group of uninvited guests, more than 2,600 heavy infantrymen from the Tiaodang Camp of the Yuning Navy had already occupied the port.

Sidney looked at the heavy infantry in front of him and was stunned: "What are they doing?"

Paul shrugged: "Who knows, why don't you go over and ask..."

"Oh God, this joke is not funny at all!"

Sidney yelled: "Damn it, stop them..."

Immediately following the order, more than a hundred Dutch East Indies colonial policemen rushed towards Ning Haijun's heavy infantry with batons, shields and muskets.

"Stop, stop, stop quickly, if you don't stop we will shoot!"

Li Weiluan, who led the team on the expedition, said calmly: "I can't understand what the birds are saying. Either they are speaking in Chinese and I need to find a translator!"

"Don't get me wrong, we have no ill intentions!"

Sidney looked at more and more soldiers from the Ning Haijun camp disembarking from the armed merchant ships. He was a little anxious: "Sorry, we don't mean any harm!"

Sidney actually understands Chinese, and he prefers southern dialects, such as Hokkien or Cantonese. Of course, he can also speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin. Sidney is a talented person and is proficient in Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.

, and English, if three dialects are included, he is a talent proficient in eight languages.

Sidney raised his hands and raised his hands high to show that he had no weapons: "I just want to ask, what do you want to do?" "Who are you? What we do does not require your approval."

Li Weiluan said unceremoniously: "I am Li Weiluan, the commander of the Tiaodang Camp of the Ning Navy's advance team. I am now officially informing you that I, on the order of Duke Hai, will officially take over this place until I receive the order to leave. Now please

Leave our port with your men. Of course, you can also choose to defeat us. We will take military action after one hour. If you are still here after one hour, you will be attacked."

"No, you can't do this. Batavia is our Dutch territory. You are launching a military attack on a sovereign country. You must stop your behavior..."

Sidney was not intimidated and was finally able to argue with reason.

"Sir, please understand, I am not discussing with you, I am informing you that you have only two choices now, fight or leave!"

At the Dutch Governor's Palace, Brewer, who was negotiating with Xie Jinglin, quickly received a sneak attack from Ning's navy soldiers and landed directly in Batavia.

Brewer's expression changed drastically. He slapped the table and said, "Mr. Xie, you... you are so shameless!"

"Shameless?"

Xie Jinglin smiled faintly: "Compared to you Dutch people, we are still far behind. You Dutch people adopt despicable and shameless methods and wantonly slaughter unarmed Chinese people, including babies under the age of one month. They call you beasts.

An insult to the beast!"

"I have to announce that the negotiations have broken down!"

Brewer now has no choice but to retreat. If he compromises again, the board of directors of the Dutch East India Company will remove him and even initiate impeachment proceedings against him. He may be sent to a military court.

If it were an attack on Dajuan, or Medan, including Malacca, then the Dutch would really have no choice but to do so. But the problem is that Batavia is the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company and the place where the largest number of troops are stationed.

There are more than 6,000 elite Dutch soldiers here, including even 2,000 cavalry, which is a decisive force.

It can be said that the Ning Navy has a numerical advantage in terms of warships, but the army and the Dutch are really not afraid of the Ning Navy. After all, the leading force of the Ning Navy adopted a sneak attack and only came to more than 4,000 people.

The Netherlands not only has 6,000 Dutch soldiers in Batavia, but also more than 40,000 indigenous armed personnel. These indigenous Dutch troops are organized into twenty-six regiments. More importantly, the Dutch in Batavia

People have an absolute advantage in maritime power. Here they have six third-level battleships and more than thirty-five armed merchant ships.

"As the Governor of the Dutch East Indies, I order all personnel in Batavia, including civilian personnel, to be equipped with muskets and prepare for battle! Use the materials on hand to strengthen the fortifications as much as possible. We must give the Ming soldiers a head-on attack, so that

They recognize reality!"

Therefore, De Baoer led the combined fleet, a total of forty-one warships and armed merchant ships, to leave the port first and spread out to look for traces of the Ning Navy warships.

In De Baoer's view, if more than 4,000 army soldiers alone had no chance of occupying the entire Batavia without sea control, the Ning navy would use Venetian merchant ships to sneak attack Batavia.

The most likely possibility is that while they are using all their strength to deal with this death squad, they will suddenly appear and block all the Dutch warships in the port.

Losing the maneuverability advantage at sea, the warships hiding in the port are just living targets, which is simply fatal to the navy.

Following the order of Governor Brewer, the Dutch in Batavia, including soldiers, merchants, farmers, slave owners and workers, church religious personnel, and even prostitutes, as long as they were teenagers and children who could hold a gun, also

They were all equipped with muskets, drove away the civilians, and strengthened the fortifications.

To be fair, the Tiaodang Battalion, as the main force of landing personnel, was not equipped with heavy equipment and had very few artillery pieces, at least much less than the Dutch.

Ning Haijun's style is the same as Cheng Shijie's character, a vigorous and resolute style. Once he is ready, he will attack with thunderous momentum and attack the enemy's base camp without looking at how the enemy will respond.

It was the same this time. While the Dutch were hurriedly mobilizing their troops, the fleet led by Cheng Shijie had already passed through the Jakarta Islands in the Java Sea and was only one step away from Pawwa Island.

The Port of Batavia is a world-class natural port. When the Dutch dominated the Southeast Asia, they made great efforts to operate the Port of Batavia. They built many port facilities here and immigrated from the country to settle here.

Some troops were also stationed.

Even at the most critical moment of the decisive battle with Zheng Zhilong, Cheng Shijie decided to fight against Zheng Zhilong after the Dutch because of the massacre of the Chinese in Batavia.

In the eyes of Cheng Shijie, Zheng Zhilong was just meat that rotted in the pot. By December of the seventh year of Chongzhen's reign, the Ning Navy's main battleships could exceed 100. Of course, counting the sunk and lost battleships, the Ning Navy's main battleships could also exceed 100 ships.

Ninety-seven ships. If it comes to April of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the Ning Navy will have eight strike squadrons.

It can be said that the longer time goes by, the greater the advantage of Ning Haijun. Even the Dutch are afraid of Ning Haijun's terrifying production capabilities, let alone Zheng Zhilong?

In the final analysis, war is about the economy and national strength.

With the strength of the Ning navy, it has enough strength to take down the Dutch East India Company's combined fleet. This is Cheng Shijie's full consideration of the issue of Europa.

With the fall of the Spanish Empire, the Dutch will successfully rise. However, it is not in Cheng Shijie's interest if Spain loses too quickly. Cheng Shijie is now trying to weaken the Dutch as much as possible, which can be regarded as indirectly helping the Spanish.

If the Spaniards are smart enough, Cheng Shijie would actually be willing to have real peace talks with Cheng Shijie and divide Luzon Island equally. After all, even if Luzon is given to Cheng Shijie, Cheng Shijie does not have enough manpower to occupy it. As long as he is strong enough, he can occupy as many landowners as he wants.

How much space does it occupy?

The Ning Navy clearly attracted the Zheng fleet to Fujian, and then when it passed through the Penghu waters, it immediately turned around and headed south, bypassing Taiping Island and heading straight for Batavia. This can be said to be Cheng Shijie's blitzkrieg.

This kind of lightning offensive is relatively rare in the history of European wars. Only Alexander and Caesar did it, and Stilicho, the last famous general of Western Rome, did it. Stilicho once led an army of 10,000 people in the Gaul Mountains in eight days.

After marching five hundred kilometers, the Gallic barbarians had just raised their flag of rebellion when he had already arrived at the city.

After these famous generals passed away, few Europeans experienced the elegance of blitzkrieg. Throughout the Middle Ages, the European war model basically consisted of everyone appearing on the battlefield together after making an appointment at a time and place.

The soldiers fought in a melee. After the fight, everyone went back to their homes to find their mothers.

The Mongol invasion allowed Europeans to experience the power of blitzkrieg. The Mongolian cavalry swept through like a whirlwind, and the European continent flowed with blood, so that Europeans fearfully called these Mongolian knights "yellow devils". But after experiencing it, Europeans

It was still impossible to master the blitzkrieg. It was not until more than a hundred years later that a dwarf who was a little over 1.5 meters appeared. For the first time since the end of the classical era, Europeans had a strategic master who could master the blitzkrieg.

Cheng Shijie once carefully reviewed the Thirty Years' War in Europe. If he had been commanding this war from Spain's position, the Thirty Years' War would not have lasted for thirty years at all. Just like World War II and World War I, it would have been just a short period of time.

The winner will be determined within a few years.

The key to the problem is that the Spanish Empire has powerful allies and does not use them at all. It can fight against more than 20 countries by itself. Although these countries are small, ants can kill an elephant.

Throughout the Thirty Years' War, the Spanish Empire had been passive and was led by the anti-Spanish alliance. In fact, among the anti-Spanish alliance, Sweden was the largest contributor, followed by the Netherlands. The Spanish Empire should defeat the Netherlands first.

Then take care of Sweden. As for France and Prussia, don't worry about it at all. Once the internal quarrel between them comes to an end, I'm afraid the war will be over.

Cheng Shijie decided to teach the Dutch a lesson first. Just six hours after Debauer's fleet set out to sea, a warship from the Ning Navy appeared in front of them.

Relying on its speed advantage, the main battleship of the Ning Navy was followed by the combined fleets of Holland and Zheng Zhilong. However, it would take at least three days for Zheng Zhilong to reach Batavia. Three days was enough for Cheng Shijie to finish off the combined fleet of the Netherlands.

Seeing Ning Haijun's fleet approaching like dense dark clouds, De Baoer looked dull: "Didn't he say that Ning Haijun's fleet fought Zheng Zhilong in the South China Sea? They defeated Zheng Zhilong so quickly? Isn't Zheng Zhilong too useless?"

Now De Baoer just wanted to cry. If the stupid governor hadn't ordered to give Ning Haijun a look, how could there have been such a disaster?

What should we do now?
To be continued...