Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 663 The Fall of Malacca City

At 1793:7 in the morning on July 5, 5, with the light of the morning light, as the sea water in the Strait of Malacca began to rise, three gunboats, Beihai No. 40, No. [-] and Guanghai No. The sail lifted anchor, and two hours later, it reached the ocean three kilometers southeast of Malacca City.

It was broad daylight at this time, and when the Dutch defenders on the castle discovered the situation, they hurriedly rang the alarm bell.After hearing the news, the city defense commander and governor Abraham Kuperus found that there were only three ships, and they were only two fourth-class ships and a Junk ship with hard sails. His heart was relieved after hanging all night. down.The enemy's troops are not many, and the time is delayed!
To be honest, the North Navy Shipyard has been "doing nothing" in recent years.Apart from the construction of two clipper ships of different tonnages, most of the work involved refitting captured or purchased Siam Canton ships.For Deng Fei and Ding Guofeng, who are the heads of the naval department, they both disdain to build any big and useless sailing giant ship from the very beginning.

Of course, this has a lot to do with the fact that there is no shipbuilding wood in the original wood in the outer northeast; secondly, the two of them considered that they would build ironclad ships directly after the industrial level improved.After all, Beihai Town is backed by another time and space, and many early 20th century ship designs can be found. As long as the technical conditions such as steel smelting, propeller manufacturing, and welding technology are improved, it is easy to get an ironclad ship.

However, eight years have passed, and when the level of the workers has improved, the two of them have changed their minds again. The 75mm gun can no longer satisfy their ambition of a giant ship cannon, so Zhao Liang's military-industrial complex is forced to start climbing again. However, this poses a higher challenge to Beihai Town's technical capabilities.

Whether it is electroslag remelting or hydraulic self-tightening, it involves a series of processes and heavy equipment such as refining, forging, heat treatment, cutting and drilling, self-tightening, barrel correction, stabilizing heat treatment, and finishing.Especially the 1000~1500Mpa ultra-high pressure self-tensioning machine, this is not a Chinese cabbage on the roadside.If Zhao Xin wants to buy a complete set of production equipment and technology from "Da Mao", in addition to the huge amount of funds and the strength of skilled workers, the procurement process alone will take a year and a half.

In addition, after a type of artillery is produced, a large number of tests must be carried out, including reliability, support, maintenance, testing, safety, cost-effectiveness, and personnel. It is not enough to make the barrel.

Zhao Liang had no choice, so he wanted to use the "Rodman Casting Cannon Method" in the mid-19th century to make a transition first.But this method can only produce a smoothbore front-mounted wine bottle cannon, not to mention Deng Fei and Ding Guofeng, even Zhao Xin doesn't like it.And the most important thing is that this kind of technology is not advanced, once leaked, it can be easily mastered by Europeans.

Therefore, the naval department of Beihai Town had no choice but to hold back and continue to equip small-caliber 75mm guns, while looking forward to the future era of ironclad ships and large-caliber naval guns.

Although the mentality was relaxed, Kuperus, the governor of Malacca who was a businessman, still sent envoys to negotiate, and if he could talk, don't lift the table.Fortunately, Chen Qihou and the others planned to go to Pulau Udan Island this morning, so the boat was ready last night.About 40 minutes later, a sloop with a white flag carrying the chairman of the local municipal committee, Mr. Parega, and Kapitan Chen Qihou, and part-time translator Lei Zhenlan Cai Shizhang, etc., came out along the Malacca River. Haikou sailed out.

A group of people boarded Beihai No. [-] and saw that the deck was extremely clean and tidy. The sailors and soldiers were all wearing uniform navy blue short-sleeved trousers and black boots, and wore soft hats with brims of the same color on their heads. There is a beautifully crafted badge, and they are all very surprised.

Whether it is the Dutch or the two Chinese, they have been in Malacca these years, and there have been countless warships and merchant ships traveling north and south, but no one has ever seen sailors from any country even issue uniforms.

These days, the military uniforms of the navies of various European countries have just begun to be standardized. Of course, the officers are elegantly dressed, but the sailors are just a group of animals, who cares about how they wear.Sailors, whether merchant or naval, were dressed in plain clothes or in rags.If the clothes are rotten, look in the grocery compartment and wear what you have!
In fact, the uniforms of the Beihai Town Navy have gone through several twists and turns before they became the current style.At the beginning, it was an orange work uniform, and then changed to a jungle camouflage like the army, and then changed to a white sailor uniform. Unexpectedly, this was resisted by many sailors. They agreed that wearing "yellow" was very unlucky. .Deng Fei had no choice but to change it again, and this is how the navy blue uniform is now.

As the captain, Guo Xuexian wears the same style of uniform as the sailors, except that the two stars on his collar badge indicate his identity.When it was confirmed that the young man under 30 years old in front of him was the commander of the fleet, the envoys of Malacca City couldn't help being surprised.

The two sides saluted each other. The chairman of the municipal committee representing Couperus, Weir, came up and gave a blabla. After that, Cai Shizhang spoke Zhangzhou Mandarin as an interpreter. Guo Xuexian, a Panyu native, rolled his eyes when he heard it.Thanks to the fact that one of the officers behind him was from Quanzhou, he understood what the other party meant.

In the era when Mandarin was not promoted, not to mention different language regions, the accents of different villages and towns were very different.When a Cantonese-speaking Cantonese communicates with a Zhangzhou-speaking Hokkien, it’s like talking with a duck.The heterogeneous and different dialects have caused great communication difficulties, which is why the Chinese are willing to hang out with their fellow countrymen after they go to Nanyang.

Closer to home, what the Dutch mean is that everything can be discussed, and surrender is not impossible, and fighting and killing are not necessary.However, before the surrender of Xiancheng, it took time to resolve the fate of the Dutch residents, how to deal with the local Portuguese descendants, and the handling of the goods, real estate and plantations of each family.So they hope that the Beihai Navy can be lenient and give them some time to clear up these matters before going through the handover procedures.

"Boss Cai, please tell this Mr. Weil. I made it very clear before that the time given to them is until 01:30 noon today. As soon as the time comes and they don't leave the city to surrender, the more than 100 cannons on the three ships will fire. Let them figure it out for themselves!"

Chen Qihou and Cai Shizhang suddenly knelt in front of Guo Xuexian, and begged with mournful faces: "My lord, please save the villain's family! The Dutch sent troops last night and brought all the Chinese from Jiacheng to the castle. If your lord fires, we will wait for the family The lives of the young and old and other common people must be in danger!"

Guo Xuexian nodded slightly, he helped Chen and Cai, and asked Cai Shizhang to translate his words verbatim.The faces of the three Dutchmen became ugly after hearing these words.

Several people were about to distinguish, Guo Xuexian raised his hand to stop, and said to Cai Shizhang: "You tell them, and when you go back, tell the governor that the city of Malacca must surrender today, there is no need to discuss it! Surrender obediently, and I can guarantee their lives and property It’s all right, otherwise I’m going to talk about it here today. If they dare to use the Chinese to block the shells for them, none of the Dutch, men, women, children, or children will survive after the city is broken. I will chop off their heads and give them as sacrifices to the dead Chinese .”

After hearing this, Chen Qihou and Cai Shizhang were dumbfounded.

"Cai, what did Lieutenant Colonel Guo say?"

"He said, said."

Under Guo Xuexian's staring gaze, Cai Shizhang stammered a rough translation with a bitter face. After hearing this, Weir and the others changed their faces drastically. They didn't expect this seemingly gentle commander to be so cruel.

Chen Qihou pleaded: "Master Guo, General Guo, what can't we sit down and talk about? The Dutch are not unreasonable."

"I'm sorry, both of you, I have received an order that I must take the city of Malacca today without delay, otherwise I will be subject to military law."

Guo Xuexian pondered for a while, and decided to add another fire, completely cutting off the Dutchman's thoughts, so he said again: "Don't worry, you two. In my opinion, the Dutch are a bunch of low bones. If I show weakness, they will even There will be no fear. Two hours later, I will demonstrate firepower on the fort in the southeast corner of Malacca, and you go back and tell the governor to get away if you don’t want to die.”

Chen and Cai didn't understand what a "show of firepower" was, but they understood from Guo Xuexian's tone that the other party was likely to shoot at the castle.The two tried to persuade them afterwards, but Guo Xuexian issued an order to evict the guests. In desperation, he had to leave with the three Dutchmen and go back to the business by boat.As the dhow sailed away, a gray-white drone rose from Beihai No. [-] to the sky and headed towards the city of Malacca.
Several envoys returned to the city of Malacca and immediately went to the "Red House" where the governor's official residence was located.Speaking of this red house, it turned out to be white. Unexpectedly, after chewing betel nuts, the local Indian workers always liked to spit the juice on the wall. up red.

After hearing the report from Weir and the others, Governor Kuperus looked very ugly.He didn't expect his little trick to be seen through by the other party, and they "don't care" about the lives of more than 1000 Chinese people, but instead threatened the lives of themselves and their compatriots.To put it bluntly, he is just a businessman, and he came to Southeast Asia to make a fortune, not to fight with anyone.Furthermore, even if you don't consider others, you must also consider your wife and a pair of children.

The time soon came to the North Navy's firepower display, but the Dutch defenders on the castle found that the three gunboats of the opponent were not moving, and thought they were so far away to hit a hammer!Many people, including the city defense commander, felt that the Beihai Navy was talking big.

Unexpectedly, in the next second, a slight sound suddenly came from the empty and silent sea in the distance, as if someone had set off a firecracker tens of meters away, but after a few seconds, there was a roar from far to near. The sound changed the expressions of the defenders on the castle, and it was too late to run away.

"Boom!" A shell landed in an open space more than 20 meters away from the southeast corner of Malacca City, and a gray-black column of smoke rose five or six meters high.The soil flew into the air with the weeds, and fell down again with a clatter.The Dutch defenders on the forts all over the city wall are a little panicked now, dare to say that the North Navy is not bragging!
Thinking of this, the dozens of defenders on the fort in the southeast corner retreated one after another without waiting for the city defense commander to speak.Amidst the chaotic noise, there was a whistling in the air, and black smoke columns kept rising outside the city wall.This time the bombing point was closer, and a shell fell on the city wall. The shock wave of the explosion shattered the wooden frame of an 18-pound gun, and the heavy bronze gun hit the ground with a bang. There was a dull sound.

More than ten seconds later, more shells roared in. The southeast corner of the Malacca castle was immediately bombed with smoke and rubble.Three 18-pound guns weighing several thousand kilograms even jumped up, rolled and landed on the ground, or fell off the city wall.

The Dutch defenders in the castle were horrified. They had all heard of the powerful cannons of the Beihai Navy, but no one had seen them, and today they saw it.

When the explosion finally stopped, Kuperus got up from the ground with his head in his arms, shook the soil on his head, and saw that everyone around him, including the commander of the city defense and the city councilors, looked at each other in dismay. He sighed and said to himself It's unlucky to get home.

"Well, for the safety of all our lives and property, I need someone to stand up and contact those Chinese, and I agree to surrender. What do you guys think?"

After hearing this, everyone nodded silently, and then turned their attention to the three envoys who went to negotiate in the morning.

Under the deterrence of the North Navy's naval guns, Malacca, which knew it was difficult to resist, went through more than three hours of difficult negotiations. After Guo Xuexian agreed to write the clause "will not harm the lives of the Dutch in the city and guarantee the legal property of all" After entering the instrument of surrender, Kuperus finally agreed to cede Malacca to the town of Beihai.

Zeng Youliang's short gun was still useless.Although he tried to mobilize some Chinese on the night he entered the castle, planning to lead people to attack the "Red House" when the Northern Navy attacked the city, there were very few responders.After Guo Xuexian landed with his troops, he took his servants to the city gate to set up an incense table and eat a pot of pulp to welcome the king's teacher.

Seeing how powerful this young man was, Guo Xuexian immediately appointed him as an advisor to the Military Control Commission to assist in handling the affairs of the city.This made Chen Qihou and Cai Shizhang, who were a step behind, jump around endlessly. It seems that the boss of Qingyun Pavilion will be replaced in the future.

After the army entered the city, it was reasonable to issue notices to secure the people, confiscate the weapons of the defenders, seal up the armory, and seal up the official accounts.Kuperus and the officers in the city were imprisoned as prisoners of war that night. Guo Xuexian did not abuse them and allowed his family to visit them, but said that they would be repatriated after the Java War ended.

In the next three days, the newly established military control committee not only purchased a large amount of food through local Chinese, supplied fresh water to the ship, but also bought a large amount of quicklime from the market, and hired workers to dig a large one near the beach outside the city. pits and trenches to the sea were dug.This move of his has puzzled many people, guessing that the North Navy is planning to set up a salt farm?

The answer will be revealed soon.Two days later, when the "Thunder" sailing from Bacheng arrived in Malacca with [-] members of the security team, Guo Xuexian ordered that all opium in the local market be seized immediately and transported to the beach for destruction.Those Dutch businessmen, Portuguese businessmen and Chinese businessmen who sold opium just woke up like a dream.

After two days of inspections, under the leadership of the people from the Bacheng Military Control Committee, the fierce security team confiscated more than 2000 boxes of Indian opium from the market, totaling more than 15 kilograms.They had done this once in Bacheng before, and they were already familiar with it.

Many people approached Chen Qihou and Cai Shizhang for help, and even came to the "Red House" to ask Guo Xuexian to see him. They said that even if the opium tariffs were raised in the future, they would be fine, but if they were confiscated, their business would suffer heavy losses, and many would go bankrupt. exist.

However, eradicating opium is the firm goal of Zhao Xin and even Beihai Town, and it is useless for anyone to talk about it.Moreover, the Bacheng Military Control Committee had dealt with the cover-up behavior in the opium collection very strictly before. Once it was discovered that someone was taking bribes to cover up, the light one would be sent to the plantation for hard labor, and the serious one would be shot directly.

It was from this moment that businessmen from various countries in Southeast Asia finally understood Beihai Town's attitude towards opium.However, Zhao Xin knew in his heart that the more opium was prohibited from flowing into East Asia, the higher its price would be. Moreover, even though the Strait of Malacca was controlled, there would definitely be people who would open up land routes, so it would be difficult to completely ban it.

Therefore, this time Beihai Town intervened in the local governance war, not only to support the French and Mysore, but to "remind" the British East India Company from the source, and let them weigh the consequences of conniving with opium.

(End of this chapter)