1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 73 Batavia ([-])

Cao Xiong and his party of five ships arrived at the sea off Batavia at noon on July 23 after fourteen days of sailing.Here they encountered four armed merchant ships of the East India Company departing from port.

The other party suddenly saw Cao Xiong's Spanish galleon, and immediately forced him up.

"What are they going to do? Are they going to use force?" Luo Rucheng looked at the four Galen ships on the opposite side, and his heart sank.There are so many artillery pieces on the opponent's ship, and they are not opponents if they want to fight.

"Hit the flag to show that we are here to do business!" Cao Xiong ordered.

Rene Jiménez was the commander of these four armed ships, and their ships were full of weapons and ammunition, tools of colonization, copper, iron, sugar, and four hundred musketeers.

After a heated discussion, the Governor of Batavia, excluding his own opinions, adopted a proposal to support Formosa.Because Zheng Zhilong showed an aggressive posture on the coast of Daming, the Dutch believed that they could not defeat the opponent in the short term.Therefore, it is very necessary to maintain and strengthen a stronghold not far from the Ming Dynasty.

Once an attack on Zheng Zhilong is launched, Formosa is a nearby attack starting point and logistical supply point.In view of the brutal and violent attacks by the indigenous tribes of the island, the armed forces of Formosa had to be strengthened.

Four hundred musketeers, combined with the original escort force on the island, would surely be able to strike a thunderbolt against the savage indigenous tribes and bring them into the colony.

The four armed merchant ships set off together to deal with the Zheng Zhilong maritime armed forces that may be encountered along the coast of Daming.Rene Jimenez believed that with the powerful force of the four ships, even if he encountered Zheng Zhilong's numerous armed boats, he felt that he could easily deal with it.

As soon as the fleet sailed out of Batavia, they encountered five ships led by Cao Xiong.In fact, Batavia, the trading center of the Far East, has a lot of merchant ships coming and going every day, so he doesn't need to pay more attention.

However, among the five ships, there was a Spanish galleon with a lot of artillery, and they immediately became nervous.

As we all know, the Netherlands where the Dutch are located has been ruled by Spain for more than 100 years, and it has also been squeezed for more than 100 years.After the continuous struggle of the people of the Netherlands, and several times of defeating the armed suppression of Spain, they finally became independent and established the inter-provincial republic, that is, the Dutch Republic.

But the war with Spain was not over, because Spain stared at the wealth of the Netherlands all the time, and did not recognize the inter-provincial republic.

In particular, the Spanish Philippine colonies were always a threat to the East India Company's Batavia.The company has also made many plans to attack Manila, but they were forced to abandon or postpone for various reasons.Rene Jimenez also believed that sooner or later their East India Company would fight a war with the Spaniards in the Philippines and finally determine the ownership of colonial hegemony in the Far East.

"It's strange, most of them seem to be Akira. Go and see a few people on their ship." Rene Jimenez saw that the other party signaled that there was no hostility, put down the monocular, and ordered his first mate to bring Go to Tongtong to check it out.

When the other party sent representatives to board the ship, Cao Xiong informed them that he was invited by Mr. Connet Ludwig, senior commercial counselor of the East India Company, to buy some goods in Batavia.

Mr. Connet Ludwig was clearly a big man in Batavia and was known to many.After Cao Xiong handed over an invitation letter written by Ludwig, the Dutchman who came to negotiate immediately showed a smile on his face.When he learned that the Spanish galleon was snatched by Cao Xiong and the others in the Philippines, his goodwill rose a bit.

Rene Jiménez listened to what the returning mate said, and couldn't help but look back at the Spanish galleon.

"Oh, I think the company has found another helper for us. I don't know if they will be more useful than Liu (Xiang)."

The first mate listened and shrugged. In this part of the Far East, they were outsiders after all and needed more "friends".isn't it?

Four Dutch armed merchant ships drew an arc on the sea, turned their sails and headed northeast.

Before Cao Xiong and other five ships approached Batavia port, two pilot ships sailed over.

As usual, they boarded the ship for questioning, and read out the basic rules that everyone must abide by after entering Batavia.Then, he drove the boat ahead.

"Honey, there are so many more forts on both sides of the pier!" Hu Wenjin stood on the bow, looking at the approaching pier, exclaiming in his mouth.

"The defense is so tight, it is estimated that ordinary people can't get in at all!" Qi Dalu said.

"Indeed! Then Zheng Zhilong is here, but that's not enough! Not to mention that the logistical supplies cannot be satisfied, just say that these artillery pieces in this port will be blasted into the sea no matter how many ships come!"

"So, in Nanyang, the Dutch are really the boss!"

The port of Batavia is very wide, and at the same time, more than [-] merchant ships of various kinds can be docked.Hundreds of dark-skinned and small natives shuttled between various merchant ships, engaged in pier work such as loading ships, unloading cargo, arranging anchors, and towing cables.

"Get off the boat!" The boat slowly docked on the northeast side of the wharf. There were several Daming's lucky boats nearby, unloading their cargo, and the scene seemed a little chaotic.

"Finally come to Batavia again!" Zhou Yingping let out a long breath and boarded the pier.

Batavia was originally called Garaba, which means "coconut".Batavia was the trading center of the Far East long before the fall of Malacca, controlling the Far East trade.The Chinese call it "Coconut City".Around the 16th century, it was renamed Jakarta, which means "fortress of victory and glory".The port belonged to the Bachachara dynasty in the 14th century. In 1522, the Kingdom of Banten conquered the area and built a city. On June 1527, 6, it was renamed Jaya Garda, which means "Victory City", referred to as Jakarta.

Later the Dutch came here and conquered it in 1619, on January 1621, 1 Jakarta was officially renamed Batavia.Batavia has been designated as the center of the Dutch colony in the Far East, so that the Dutch force against the Portuguese on the Strait of Malacca is in a favorable position to advance and retreat.

After that, Batavia reached its zenith three years later, in 1638.Japan closed its trade with Portugal at the time, but remained open to Dutch East India Company merchant ships.The capital city of the Dutch commercial kingdom and the main network of "regional trade" thus remain in control of the Nanyang Islands; while the Dutch East India Company retains its commercial advantages of being flexible, prudent and domineering, the position of Batavia will also be constant.

In this way, Batavia's status remained for more than a century.In the Far East, there is no need to worry about the economic crisis from Europe. In the 17th century, the entire East Indies were a period of economic prosperity and population growth.

It can be said that in the 17th century, Batavia was a prominent symbol of Dutch Far East trade hegemony.

"Let's enter the city, then what are we going to do?" Luo Rucheng looked at the bustling crowd, there were Westerners with tall noses and deep eyes, there were black, thin and short local natives, and there were also Ming people with long coats and feathers.The cargo collection area of ​​this wharf alone is so prosperous and lively, it would be even more prosperous to enter the city.

"It's getting late, let's go to an inn to have some drinks and relax. After a night's rest, we can find people in the city and take me to buy all kinds of goods." Zhou Yingping has been to Batavia twice , it is a familiar road.After speaking, he looked at Cao Xiong and waited for his response.

"As the shopkeeper Zhou said, let's go to the city to rest for one night. When we get to the restaurant, don't forget to bring some fresh food to the brothers on the boat." Cao Xiong looked at the warehouses at the dock and the city wall in the distance, thinking to himself , When did our Jianye City have such a scale?
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(End of this chapter)