Chapter 733 Reversal of Situation
Compared with the detailed information obtained by Cheng Dapeng and others in Batavia, the information currently obtained by Haihan's military seems very sketchy. This information was basically provided by Daming Maritime Merchant who returned to the north. The military and the Ministry of Security spent a lot of effort to slowly piece together these fragmented information into useful intelligence.
Based on the comprehensive analysis of various intelligences obtained, the military finally believed that the size of the Matalan army sent to attack Batavia was about 40,000 to 60,000 people. The reason why the range of error is so large is mainly because it cannot obtain First-hand information can only be inferred from the fleet size described by others and the troop deployment situation in a certain place. In addition, in order to cooperate with this battle, the Matalan Kingdom also recruited more than 30,000 civilians to participate in the war. The number of participants alone exceeded the manpower invested in the country's last war against Batavia.
The Matalan Kingdom was able to launch such a large-scale war within a few days after the death of Dutch Governor Cohen. Its mobilization ability really surprised the Haihan Executive Committee. The Executive Committee has always regarded the Dutch East India Company as the biggest obstacle to Haihan's southward expansion, but has ignored the existence of local governments in Nanyang. The vast majority of travelers believe that the environment in Nanyang is difficult to breed an empire with strong war capabilities. But Matalan Country is undoubtedly an alternative existence.
Since this regime was only a phenomenon in history, its glorious time lasted only a few decades, and then it went downhill until it was finally divided and ruled by the Dutch. The Haihan Executive Committee has never taken it too seriously. However, it is precisely at this time that the Matalan Kingdom is at its strongest, and its war mobilization capabilities demonstrated in this war also made the Executive Committee look at it - tens of thousands of troops must be mobilized within a few days. And to achieve cross-sea operations, let alone countries such as Annan and Champa, even under the conditions of the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult to achieve it.
The attack on Batavia by the Matalan Kingdom is no longer recorded in historical records. In other words, this is actually one of the butterfly effects brought by the Time Travel Group to this time and space. In the original history, the offensive launched by the Matalan Kingdom in 1629 was the last attack on the city of Batavia, and the Dutch Governor Cohen died of illness during that war. However, due to the emergence of Heihan, Governor Cohen successfully continued his life. , but the Maltalan Kingdom did not stop there, and launched the third Malta-Dutch War three years later. As for the outcome of this war, there is no ready-made historical data to refer to. No matter how much black technology Haihan has in his hands, it is difficult to predict who will win this time. This is exactly what Haihan said about what happened on Java Island in the South China Sea. One of the reasons for the special attention to war.
However, due to the current limitations of Haihan's sphere of influence and maritime strength, personnel cannot be sent to the front line to watch the battle. Therefore, it is impossible to get accurate information about the size of the participating troops of both sides, the fighting methods, battlefield dynamics, the progress of the battle, etc. Haihan was anxious and could only wait patiently for further news.
Of course, judging from the current diplomatic relations established by Haihan, it is not impossible to get no news at all. After the news of the outbreak of war spread back to Sanya, the Executive Committee immediately authorized Roger of the Ambrosia Islands to negotiate with foreign ships passing through the area and purchase relevant information.
At this juncture, the only ones who have the ability and the courage to go to the local area to watch the game are the Portuguese who have no taboos. The closest Portuguese colony to Batavia is in the Strait of Malacca. Although the distance between the two places is thousands of nautical miles, which is similar to the southward voyage of the Ambrosia Islands, the Portuguese have an advantage in that they also have trade with Matalan. relationship, so their ships can dock at the port of Matalan for supplies. Of course, they can also use this to inquire about some information that is not convenient for Haihan to come forward to inquire.
However, even if the Portuguese merchant ship received the news at the Port of Ambona and headed south to Batavia directly from there, it would still be a journey of two thousand nautical miles, and it would not be possible to return at all for a while. Even if it collected information, there would not be much information. The timeliness is negligible. Roger originally wanted to take a trip on a Portuguese merchant ship in person so that he could send a battlefield report back to Sanya by telegraph from the front line. However, after consideration, the executive committee believed that this move was too risky. If Luo Jie made any mistake, it would be an irreparable loss. Moreover, there are currently many development and infrastructure projects in progress in the Ambrosia Islands. As the local military and political leader, Roger must not leave the work at hand casually. Even if he wants to move places, he has to wait for the base camp to send someone to take over the work. Just fine.
After a lot of back and forth, the time soon came to the end of July. Haihan still didn't have any more precise information. He only knew that the Malta Blue Army had been blocking the Batavia Harbor, but he knew nothing about the battle situation on land. Haihan can only judge from the movements of the Ma and Blue Army. Batavia should not have fallen at this time, but it is difficult to have a clear result on which one is weak and which is strong.
On August 5, a merchant ship returning to Daming from the eastern port of Java brought new news. It is said that a large Dutch armed fleet captured the local Sulumayi Port a few days ago, which was later known as Surabaya Port by the Chinese.
Surabaya Port is an important trading port in the east of Java Island. Chinese people have set foot in the area as early as the beginning of the 13th century. In "Zhufan Zhi" written by Zhao Rushi of the Song Dynasty, it was called "Chongjialu". It is called "Zhongjia Luo" in "Dao Yi Zhi Lue", which is a transliteration of the local ancient name Jungala. In the "Yingya Shenglan" written by Ma Huan in the early 15th century, the local area was called "Sulu Mayi". Later, this name was also continued. It was also used in the "East and West Yang Kao" written by the Ming Dynasty in the early 17th century. This place name was given, and the book described the area as having "luxuriant forests, more than a thousand families, and more than half of the Chinese people. There are also tens of thousands of gibbons and monkeys." This also shows that the Chinese have had a certain influence in the area for a long time. The sea of Chinese who went south in the Ming Dynasty Merchants also often traded spices with indigenous people at local ports.
Sulu Mayik Port is one of the important trading ports of the Matalan Kingdom. However, due to the outbreak of the war, most of the local maritime and land forces were transferred to Batavia to fight, resulting in a very empty local defense. , the Dutch fleet entered the port almost effortlessly, destroyed all the official institutions established in Matalan, and looted a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry. However, the angry Dutch did not completely lose their minds. They only drove away the foreign ships anchored in the port, instead of grabbing them all indiscriminately - after all, they still expected these merchant ships to go to Bada in the future. Via conducts trade. If piracy occurs here, it will only destroy its own brand.
The merchant ship returning to the Ming Dynasty happened to witness the entire process of the Dutch fleet capturing the Sulumayi Port. According to the description of the people on the ship, the Dutch fleet had at least more than 30 armed sailing ships equipped with a large number of artillery. . Judging from the shape of the ship, this fleet probably has a size of two to three thousand people.
Under Roger's repeated questioning, the merchant ship captain revealed another very important piece of information. Before his ship left the port, he applied to the Dutch for a supply of fresh water. During this brief encounter, he heard a Dutch crew member say that they would burn the war in the ports of Matalan. Although this sounds like just a slogan, Roger believes that this may mean that the Dutch counterattack is not limited to the Sulumayi Port. In other words, the Dutch will probably take advantage of the empty defenses of Matalan to destroy the main ports on their territory. The territory of Mataram covers most of Sumatra, Java, and Timor from east to west. It spans more than 3,000 kilometers from east to west, and spans more than 1,000 kilometers from north to south. In this area, it also includes Including the vast sea area, if we really have to attack the ports one by one along the coastline, even if it goes as smoothly as the Sulumayi Port, I am afraid it will not be completed in less than two or three months. Therefore, Roger believes that the Dutch fleet may not only appear in Sulumayi Port, but will launch similar attacks in many places, and then counterattack Batavia together.
If the Dutch really adopted such a combat plan, it would undoubtedly be very difficult to implement. In this era of lack of long-distance communication means, it is difficult for multiple forces to coordinate operations in a vast geographical area. What's more, the chessboard is mainly based on the ocean, and it is indeed quite difficult to achieve synchronization of actions. However, in the telegram sent by Roger to the Sanya headquarters, Roger still insisted that the Dutch, known as the "Sea Coachman", must have already arranged a counterattack plan when they went to the Southeast Asian colonies to gather fleets, and would According to the agreed time, they appeared in the sea off Batavia at the same time, and solved the city of Batavia that was besieged by the Matalan army from the sea.
After Roger's report was sent to the Military Commission, it also attracted the attention of senior military officials. If Roger's inference is consistent with the facts, it can be seen that the Dutch have been preparing for the outbreak of war in the past three years, because such a large-scale cross-regional troop concentration is unlikely to occur when a war breaks out. Measures taken suddenly will inevitably require a lot of preparation and drills before they can be implemented. The Dutch gave up their maritime defenses and allowed the Malta Blue Army to successfully land at the Port of Batavia and besiege the city. However, they gathered maritime forces on the periphery and waited for the opportunity to counterattack. Such a combat plan is indeed crazy, but if it comes true, , which will indeed inflict heavy damage to the country of Malta.
The military staff also conducted several combat simulations, but due to the insufficient military intelligence on both warring parties, the simulations could hardly reflect the actual battle situation. But one thing is certain, that is, the Dutch are indeed betting on the safety of Batavia City. Because regardless of whether the Dutch had prepared such a plan before the war, after the war broke out, their maritime forces did not choose to return to defend Batavia Port as soon as possible. Instead, they remained silent for more than half a month and then suddenly began to attack the enemy's ports. , this is undoubtedly a gamble that the other party cannot capture Batavia within this period of time. Otherwise, even if the Dutch destroy all the important ports in the Matalan country, they will not be able to recover the loss of the city of Batavia.
Considering the importance of the city of Batavia, losing this place is basically equivalent to losing the East India Company's foundation in Southeast Asia and even the Far East. Although the Dutch had many colonies in Southeast Asia, due to limited objective conditions, most of them existed in the form of plantations, and there was no second large city like Batavia. Judging from the current situation where all the heroes coexist in the South China Sea, it is probably difficult for the Dutch to find another place to stay in the short term and rebuild a port city to replace Batavia's status and function.
If you lose, you will lose completely. If you win, you will solve the nearest threat once and for all. The Dutch actually used this as a bet to fight against the blue country, which also shows how determined they are in this war. .
After realizing the truth of the matter, the senior military leaders of Haihan not only respected the Dutch people, after all, this kind of direct showhand and gambling with opponents during the war was not a decision that ordinary people could make. Yan Chujie asked himself that if an enemy attacked Sanya directly, he would definitely not dare to let the three existing fleets lurk outside for more than half a month, sitting back and watching the enemy attack his base camp.
"It's a pity that there is no further information to prove our guess." After Yan Chujie reported the situation, he said to Tao Donglai with regret: "To be honest, I really don't want to face such a crazy opponent like Holland on the battlefield. . Even if they can win this war, I estimate that the situation in Batavia will be very tragic, and the losses may not be calculated in terms of money alone.”
Tao Donglai said: "But having said that, I still hope that the Dutch will win in the end. Do you know why?"
Yan Chujie nodded and responded: "If the Dutch want to expand in Nanyang, many external forces will stop them. But if this Malatan country defeats the Dutch, it will soon unify most of Nanyang and become A regional power. It will not be so easy for us to intervene in Nanyang affairs in the future.”
"And this Matalan country is too aggressive and expanding too fast. If it continues to grow, this country will not stop in Nanyang." Tao Donglai added: "If they go north, they will soon collide with us. ”
Tao Donglai didn't finish his words, but Yan Chujie already knew what he meant. The Matalan Kingdom is actually similar to Haihan in some aspects, and both are in the stage of rapidly expanding their sphere of influence. Once the Dutch are gone in Nanyang, there will be almost no other force that can restrain the Matalan Kingdom, and this is for It is not a good thing for Haihan who cannot extend his tentacles to Nanyang for the time being.
(End of chapter)