Xinshun 1730

699 Change of Identity

In terms of absolute strength, the East India Company's emaciated camels were bigger than horses.Even if the Chinese rebels gathered in the volcanic area can fight against the Dutch with the same strength, if all the Dutch garrisons in Southeast Asia are displayed, the Dutch will still be stronger and more numerous.

But absolute troop strength is always a figure on paper, and there are not many troops that can really gather for field battles.The Dutch's colonial policy is really hard to describe in one word. The company only wants to make a profit, and it is too hard to squeeze. It needs to garrison everywhere.

The end result is that the east wall and the west wall collapse together. This is the most basic common sense of a colonial governor.

Fortunately, the Dutch are in Southeast Asia and have the advantage of shipping.Since the great migration of Javanese Chinese to Ceylon can be completed within three to five years, its sea transportation projection capacity is still sufficient.

Valknir knew that this matter could not be delayed, and the sooner it was resolved, the better.Considering the situation in Europe, Valknier believes that this should be supported by the British.

The current situation in Europe, the Anglo-Dutch alliance.Without tearing the face, if the British are playing tricks behind their backs to disintegrate the rule of the Netherlands, once the end of the war has created a fait accompli, the British can take advantage of the situation and insert their hands into Southeast Asia, rounding up after being expelled by the Dutch in the third year of the apocalypse A century-old dream continued.

The troops of Bekasi, Semarang, and Madura, as well as the troops elsewhere in Java, and the mobile troops of Batavia, can draw nearly 2000 people under the condition of guaranteeing the guard of the fortress, plus the employment of local aborigines Soldiers and warships bombarded the encirclement, Valkner felt that the odds of winning were still great.

Unfortunately, the Dutch defenders of Cirebon surrendered, leaving the "rebels" with three to 400 hostages.If not, after the capture of Cirebon, all the captives caught would be subjected to the cruelest punishment of dismemberment in Batavia, and the separated corpses would be hung on the cross, and every other distance from Batavia Just hang one, and hang it all the way to Semarang, so as to deter those who dare to resist.

The meeting ended soon. This time Valknir will personally lead the troops. Because the last encirclement campaign failed, he has taken the opportunity to temporarily imprison the military leader who might threaten his power.

After the agreement was made, the order was issued, and several Dutch strongholds were united through the navy, and the army began to gather towards Cirebon.

Cirebon.

In this city where the Chinese settled thousands of years ago, the Chinese still do not have an absolute advantage today.In later generations, a sunken ship was salvaged from the bottom of the sea, which was a ship from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.There are Chinese porcelain on board, and the coat of arms of "the Lord is the greatest" in Arabia; gemstones from Ceylon, bronze statues from India, and glassware from Byzantium... Merchant ships from China to Arabia have stabilized their routes as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties. , Zheng He's treasure ship also relied on the foundation of this mature route to go far beyond the mature route and started its journey to the West.

Now the city is under the control of the Chinese rebels, but the rebels don't have a good public base here.

Those who most supported the rebels had moved to Ceylon.

The remaining Chinese are actually more inclined to the rule of the Dutch in their hearts.

It's not that they worship foreign countries, but that the powerful Dutch can bring them the stability they want most. Most industrial and commercial practitioners, who can afford the poll tax and have a formal residence permit, are very interested in occupying the country. The group of "thieves" who have left the city are still very wary.

As for the wealthier people, they are actually thinking about making trouble.

Because they are worried about their Chinese identity, they will be implicated when the Dutch come back in the future.If he could submit a nomination certificate when the Dutch attacked, he might be able to avoid being liquidated because of his blood status.

They didn't know that Dashun's main fleet had set sail from Guangzhou. If they knew, they would definitely support these rebels with all their strength and wash away their identity of cooperating with the Dutch.

This kind of popular support is a great test for the city defenders.

Fortunately, the Dutch built a passable fort here, and the separation of the city and the fort also made it easier to defend the city.

Niu Er, who has been active in the Bandung area for several years, has completely won the morale of the rebel army with his several victories against the Dutch, and his prestige is unparalleled for a while.Some leaders of the original rebel army were either excluded or deprived of power, and some died of illness.

A large number of "heroes" said to be from Guangzhou, Fujian and other places continued to enter the ranks, causing the original balance in the rebel army to be broken.A systematic organization and military victories easily seized the leadership of the rebel army and basically squeezed people who were not in the imperial court system out of the decision-making circle.

There was also a split within the rebel army, and some people still hoped to rent some ships from the pirates and go to Borneo, where the Dutch were relatively weak, to accomplish something great.They felt that there was no development in the Bandung area, and that the Dutch were too powerful. After they agreed to gain a foothold, if they didn't want to work together, they would go their separate ways.

For example, Huang Ban, who is quite prestigious in the team, wants to find pirates to charter a boat to Borneo, and bring his confidants with him.One is that he has a different conception of the future, and the other is that he feels that there are more and more people around Niu Er brothers, and their status is very embarrassing: they are indeed not as good as them in fighting. In terms of connections, they can get guns, some secrets, etc. Things are not discussed with him.

So, when he proposed to take his brothers to Borneo to accomplish something great, he died.

The story is very simple, just like in the story of Dashun, the story of Emperor Taizu attacking and killing Cao Cao and Ge Liyan is the same.

After a large-scale purge against those who wanted to go to Borneo, the combat effectiveness of the rebel army not only did not decline, but completed institutionalization. According to the training code of the Weihai small station, they trained a team that could fight against the Dutch in field battles. army.

Gold and silver for arms and equipment were sent from time to time by ships of the British East India Company.A large number of Chinese gathered here also arranged for reclamation and planting. In the original Javanese territory, the movement of organizing households to Qimin and breaking villages and branches was also carried out.

If it is in a troubled time of the celestial dynasty, it means "get rid of the bandits, stabilize the political power, and have the potential to aspire to the world".

Colonists sometimes have a dual mission, one is to destroy the old system, and the other is to transform society according to the needs of the colonists.

The Dutch have been in Batavia for a long time, and the great changes they have brought to the Bandung area are the gradual disintegration of the original village community.And this kind of disintegration also makes it easier for the Dashun Privy Council to send people over to start war work: they may not have experience in other things, but according to Dashun's set of ideas of equalizing land, garrisoning land, and building a political power before the founding of the country, they still very familiar.

Relying on the support of external funds, as well as a huge reserve of excess military officers and low-level officials, in fact, the entire Bandung area has been reformed.

This is something within the plan of the Nanyang Fourth Army Town. Once the status of Batavia's transit port disappears, if you want to maintain the Java Army Town, you must shift the focus from the city of Batavia to a wider area.

At this time, Niu Er was extremely cautious.He doesn't know Chai Migui if he is not in charge of the family. Only after he truly controlled the rebel army did he realize the importance of the court's support.

Without the talents, officers, gold and silver, and arms supported by the imperial court, he is nothing.

Although he killed Huang Ban, but thinking about it in another way, he thought that if he were Huang Ban, he would probably want to go to Borneo.Huang Ban didn't know the court's support, so he couldn't see hope. If he didn't have the court's support, he would definitely not be here.

Not to mention that the Marquis of Whale is still alive, even though the Weihai officers have many ideas, none of them have the guts to do anything.We all know that if we really make some small moves, the Marquis of Jing is afraid of being implicated, so he will definitely attack and kill with all his strength. Who can stop him then?
Let’s talk about self-reliance as a king, unless you go to a mountainous area where it is difficult for large troops to enter, and become a soil turtle chief.Otherwise, financial problems alone would be difficult to solve.

Now the rebel army in Bandung area has a total of 1800 full-time troops, which is an unreasonably high proportion.Without the input of external forces, not to mention the problem of officers cannot be solved, it is a problem to raise these 2000 people and maintain basically qualified training.

The higher you stand, the more you understand the current power of the imperial court, and the more cautious you will be, hoping that the imperial court will not feel that you have any dissenting intentions.

For this war, Niu Er never considered defeat.The moment he received a secret letter from the Privy Council last year asking him to attack Cirebon, he knew that there would no longer be a VOC flag in Nanyang.

At this moment, he is standing on the old Dutch bastion after urgent repairs, holding up his binoculars to look at the warships flying the VOC flag on the sea, and looking back at the warships waiting there silently, or holding the lead with clips for making a fire. The soldiers of the rebel army who were behind were thinking about the unjust attack on Huang Ban and others.

If those people were not attacked and killed at the beginning, the attack on Cirebon this time will definitely cause many controversies.Because it is completely wrong to attack Cirebon without considering the entry of the court, or without considering the background of the rebel army just cooperating with the court to attract the Dutch navy.

Because attacking Cirebon will inevitably fail to defend.Moreover, once they were unable to defend and their troops were lost, the Matalan Sultanate, who had flirted with them before, might immediately turn their backs, show their loyalty to the Dutch, and attack their base together.

But that attack and killing had already happened. All the insurgents had completed a change of identity inadvertently, even without their knowledge.

From the beginning of the rebel army, an organization with its own ideas, certain political demands and goals.

It has become a part of a huge and sophisticated state machine.

The officer corps is headed by him, and he must obey the command of the Privy Council, and the actions of the Privy Council must be approved by the emperor, and they are closely linked.

Officers don't need to think about whether it was right or wrong to attack Cirebon.

You only need to consider obeying the order Niu Er got from the Privy Council, and at least stick to it until the court's warships appear on the sea after the Dutch gather.

As for how many people will be lost in this situation where there is no command of the sea, the number of artillery is not dominant, and they are easy to be bombarded, and the people in the city are not very enthusiastic about supporting them, they will not think about it.

How many people are lost is just a number to the court, which can be directly converted into money to calculate.As long as each soldier is guaranteed two or three taels of silver per month and enough to eat, with Dashun's population, he can pull out an army at any time, as long as the court is important and still holds money bags and rice bags.

Keeping Cirebon means that every officer from the imperial court can have military merits and promotions, and it has nothing to do with how many people die.

I can't keep it... It's hard for others to say, but Niu Er knows that he must have only one choice left: suicide.Leave an identity for the family, wife and children.

(End of this chapter)