1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 305 The Tough Rival

April 1639, 4, Batavia Harbour, thirty miles east of the open sea.

Four Dutch armed merchant ships rammed wantonly among dozens of paddle boats and bombarded them with artillery.

The soldiers of the Kingdom of Mataland on the paddle boats desperately attacked the Dutch armed merchant ships again and again, trying to get close to the Dutch warships so that the soldiers on their ships could climb up with help and start hand-to-hand combat with the Dutch.

Both sides of the Dutch armed merchant ship were already full of armed sailors, holding muskets and shooting the natives on the nearby paddle boats.The artillery projectiles on the ship were also replaced with grape projectiles, which were brutally fired at the paddle boats not far away.

The fierce battle had lasted for more than an hour, and the naval forces of the Kingdom of Mataran finally couldn't bear the huge casualties, and the remaining 20 paddle boats fled in all directions.The Dutch armed merchant ships chased after them relentlessly, and they were bound to sink all the small native boats that tried to attack Batavia's port in the sea.

The governor of Batavia, Anthony van Daiman, has issued a general mobilization order, conscripting almost all young and middle-aged men in the city into civilian armed forces to assist the Dutch mercenaries in defending Batavia.The Dutch merchant ships that arrived at the port one after another, except for the ships that urgently needed to return to the mainland of Europe, all stopped at the port, and some armed sailors were deployed into the city to enrich the defense force.

A dozen or so armed merchant ships gathered at the port of Batavia patrolled the coastal areas of the Kingdom of Mataland uninterruptedly, and any native ships they encountered would be sunk without question.

The offensive and defensive battle of Batavia has lasted for a week, and the [-] troops of the Kingdom of Mataran gathered in the east and west of the city, looking very powerful.The Dutch mercenaries in the city went out of the city, trying to take advantage of the opponent's unstable foothold, and launched a tentative attack, but they quickly retreated to the city after being counterattacked by the opponent's superior force.

The army of the Kingdom of Mataland also took advantage of the retreat of the Dutch army. Nearly a thousand native soldiers followed the Dutch and rushed towards the west gate of Batavia.

A dozen artillery pieces at the head of the city immediately began to bombard the charging army of the Kingdom of Mataland. The Dutch soldiers in the two subsidiary fortresses outside the city also fired intensively to cover the retreating attacking troops.

After the soldiers of the Matalan Kingdom were hit in all directions, they quickly withdrew back, leaving more than 100 corpses under the city of Batavia.

In the following days, there was no further large-scale fighting between the two sides.The Dutch continued to strengthen the defense facilities in the city, while the Mataran Kingdom army began to build a stable temporary camp and waited for the artillery from the rear to be transported to the city.

Governor Daiman and Colonel Pete Kurutz inspected the defense of the city wall, and then they stood on the west wall and looked quietly at the camp of the Mataran Kingdom army outside for a while.

"Colonel Kurucs, when do you think the natives will launch a large-scale siege?" Governor Daiman asked.

"The natives are waiting for their artillery." Colonel Pete Kuruz said softly: "I estimate that the natives will launch a large-scale siege within ten days at the latest. They have enough troops, and their morale seems to be Very expensive."

"Then we will face a severe challenge." Governor Daiman said: "How is the morale of our mercenaries and armed civilians?"

"A few days ago, all the mercenaries were given a battlefield reward of [-] shields each, and promised to repel the attack of the natives, and an additional reward of [-] shields would be given to them." Colonel Pete Kuruz laughed He said: "Now their morale is still relatively high, and they hope to defeat these natives as soon as possible."

"Very good. After defeating the natives, we must hunt them down, capture their cities, destroy their villages and towns, and take all their wealth." Governor Daiman said: "These damned natives, we must Give them such a blow that they will never dare to invade Batavia again."

"I think our counterattack is best when they can't attack for a long time and are in a stalemate with us outside the city." Colonel Pete Kurucs said: "Although they have gathered more than 8000 people outside the city, we estimate that they will not be able to attack them for a long time. In China, there are at least thousands of troops left behind. We need to attract more of them to the city so that our navy can attack their empty rear coastal towns."

"Then shall we give them a little more hope in the initial offensive and defensive battle?" Governor Daiman asked.

"I think that in the initial defense, it is appropriate to show weakness to the natives." Colonel Pete Kuruz said: "After all, the army they attacked this time is much stronger than ten years ago, and they may have many artillery."

"It's okay to show weakness appropriately, but don't be self-defeating and let the natives attack the city." Governor Daiman reminded.

"We borrowed some of Hanzhou's defensive methods in Dili City, and built a large section of protective walls and separation walls in the city. Even if the natives invade the city, we are confident that they will be wiped out near the city wall."

"Are the conscripted Ming armed forces reliable?" Hearing Colonel Kuruts mention Hanzhou, Governor Daiman suddenly asked: "After all, there are at least thousands of Ming people in the city, and we need to take some precautions and controls on them."

"The Ming armed forces we conscripted all have family members in the city." Colonel Pete Kuruz said: "As for the large number of Ming people in the city, I don't think they will make inappropriate actions. You know, The natives have invaded, and in addition to our retaliation, they will definitely be the target of the natives' attack and looting. I believe they should be very clear about this."

"Indeed, Ming people are willing to endure hardships and do business well, but they are cowardly, and they are the ideal objects for us to rule." Governor Daiman nodded in approval of Colonel Pete Kurutz's statement, and then suddenly thought of something, frowned and cursed in a low voice He said: "Damn it! Why is Hanzhou so rebellious!?"

Colonel Pete Kurucs was shocked, pretending to carefully observe the appearance of the Mataland Kingdom military camp, and did not respond to Governor Daiman's whispers.Within a few months after the powerful Dutch East India Company went to war with Hanzhou, it was a little helpless to this seemingly weak opponent, and it also faintly suffered a big loss.

Since the start of the war, the Dutch East India Company has failed to achieve almost any of its goals in its military operations against Hanzhou.Even in Dili City, which has been blocked all the time, the Hanzhou people there still seem to be holding on tenaciously, and there is no sign of collapse after the blockade.

On the contrary, the current situation of the Netherlands seems to be a bit embarrassing. The Spaniards are threatening their Formosa stronghold, Zheng Zhilong is coveting their Japan and North Korea trade routes, the Portuguese are eyeing the Dutch merchant ships passing here in the Strait of Malacca, and the land of Java Island The Kingdom of Man also sent a large army to attack Batavia.

The Dutch didn't believe that all of these were connected by Hanzhou people, but they were more or less related to the war in Hanzhou.The Dutchman seems to have chosen a very difficult opponent.
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Standing at the bow of the boat, Masanobu Sudou looked at the huge camp on the island. He was both surprised and delighted. He hadn't visited this small island for several years, and there was such a big camp on a high slope not far from the coast.Then the Ryukyu natives on the island should be living a pretty good life, and they can collect some taxes for the feudal lord.

"We're going to go ashore and see what these barbarians on the island are doing for a living." Masanobu Sudou turned around with a smile and looked at a Ryukyu official behind him, but he also looked quite surprised when he saw the other party.Can't help shaking his head, the small country of Ryukyu obviously didn't come to inspect their own territory often.

Sudo Masanobu is a middle-level samurai of Japan's Satsuma clan. He and many middle- and lower-level samurai were ordered by the lord to station on Ryukyu Island (today's Okinawa Island), supervise the Ryukyu royal family and its internal affairs, and impose various taxes and fees.

In 1609, the Satsuma clan "entered the country with three thousand powerful soldiers, captured its king, moved its ancestral weapon, and plundered away."The Satsuma Army captured Ryukyu King Shangning and more than a hundred people to Kagoshima for three years and five months, forcing King Shangning to humiliately admit to "paying tribute" to him.At the same time, it also forcibly occupied the five northern Ryukyu islands.

Since then, the Satsuma clan has gradually begun to infiltrate the Ryukyu Kingdom. Samurai sent by the Satsuma clan participated in both internal affairs and the army.Even, even the trade and tax revenue of the Ryukyu Kingdom, they have to take half of it as a "protection fee" for the Satsuma clan.

This time, Masanobu Sudo took several Ryukyu officials and more than 70 Satsuma soldiers to inspect the small islands south of Ryukyu Island, collecting "offerings" and taxes from the tribes on the islands.Generally, such inspections are organized every two or three years, or even four or five years.

Last year (1638), the shogunate issued an order to lock up the country, prohibiting all domains from trading with foreign countries, strictly prohibiting Westerners from coming to Japan, and only allowing Ming and Dutch people to go to Nagasaki City for business.Without foreign trade income, Satsuma's finances felt tense.Therefore, in order to make up for the loss, the squeeze on the Ryukyu Kingdom was increased.He ordered the warriors and officials at all levels of the Ryukyu Kingdom to "guidance" and "help" the Ryukyu Kingdom to collect taxes and tribal offerings from all over the country as much as possible.

The closer they got to the camp on the island, the more surprised Sudou Masanobu and other Satsuma warriors became.The camp is neatly built, with complete defense facilities, high towers, watchtowers, and bastion forts.It is not something that a native tribe on an island can complete.Could it be that some foreign force has occupied the island?

"Looks like a Japanese." On the tower of the camp, Zhang Wenqi smiled and said to Li Fade, the chief officer of the Second Marine Corps: "There may be officials from Ryukyu among them."

"There are less than 100 people, and there are only two or three muskets. Let's catch them all?" Li Fade said.

"It's easier to catch these people, but the boats on the shore will probably run away."

"Are you worried that more Japanese will be attracted, or people from the Ryukyu Kingdom?"

"After all, this is the territory of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and it is very close to Japan."

"I'm afraid of a bird!" Li Fade said disdainfully: "We have more than 200 marines here, as well as artillery, and the defense of the camp is not weak. It is still not a big problem to deal with thousands of them!"

"Of course!" Zhang Wenqi said with a smile, "However, this place is also very close to Daming, why don't we pretend to be Daming and scare these Japanese and Ryukyu natives?"

"Are they afraid of Daming?" Li Fade was a little uncertain.

"At least Daming's name is more useful than our Hanzhou here." Zhang Wenqi said: "I heard that the Ryukyu Kingdom is a descendant of Daming."

Sudo Masanobu and other Satsuma samurai heard that an arrogant Ming soldier came out and told them that Zheng Zhilong, the governor of Fujian Province of the Ming Dynasty, was ordered to stop on the island and let all the visitors disarm before entering the camp.

Daming's people are here!Dozens of Japanese samurai looked at each other, feeling a hint of danger in their hearts.They are not like this small Ryukyu, with a vast territory and a large land country, they are not easily provoked by the Japanese island nation.

(End of this chapter)