Dragon Sea Empire

During the entire naval battle off Cirebon, Ye Hua hardly left the bow of the flagship Flying Tiger.

Ye Hua, a master long-distance swimmer who is less than [-] years old, is the best learner among the first batch of Dan people sailors brought out by Yin Feng from Yazhou. Rapidly growing into a famous general of the Chinese company's navy, he has developed his own set of command and dispatch and daily training. He is completely capable of dealing with the Dutch, his former teacher. , and occupied the quantitative and qualitative advantages of ship cannons, which is also the reason for the victory in this battle.

Unlike the naval divisions of the Ming Dynasty who only practiced for less than ten days a month, the daily activities of the sailors of the Chinese Company are not only drills but also exercises, so they can fully display their combat effectiveness today.

When Li Lihua was carried to the Shanghai Asterisk, Ye Hua rushed to see him off. With a gentle smile on Li Lihua's haggard face, she saluted Ye Hua with the help of her maid.

Ye Hua hurriedly wanted to return the gift: "Miss..."

Li Lihua stood up to stop him and said, "Commander Ye, you don't have to be polite, you deserve it. You are the savior of all Tang people in Java Island. I hope you will send someone to the sugarcane manor quickly..."

After sending Li Lihua away, Ye Hua let out a long sigh of relief, and said to An Xiaosi and Lin Shuisheng, "Fortunately, Yan Siqi found Missy, our trip was not in vain."

An Xiaosi rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Let's go to the sugarcane manor to save people."

Ye Hua shook his head and said, "No, we're going to Batavia now,"

"However, Madam asked us repeatedly before leaving..." An Xiaosi looked at Ye Hua suspiciously.

Generally speaking, among all levels of the Zhonghua Company, sailors, infantry generals, or merchant ship captains who were born as Danmin sailors all regard Mai Waner as the "wife" of Captain Yin, while An Xiaosi, who is from Manila like Li Lihua Chinese Catholics regard Li Lihua as the unique "ship owner's wife" in their hearts.

Ye Hua and Lin Shuisheng naturally understood who the "Madam" he was referring to. Lin Shuisheng pointed to the direction of Cirebon and explained: "Director An, east of Cirebon, my sailor musketeers are already approaching the sugarcane manor. The fleet has been defeated, Cirebon is no longer a threat, and the Sultan’s guards have gone out of the city to rescue our sugarcane manor, don’t worry, the sugarcane manor will be fine, Yan Siqi is still there to help defend.”

Ye Hua continued: "Our top priority is to completely subdue the Hongmaoyi. They still have a main battleship, hundreds of defenders in Batavia City, and Huatian Company. We must take the Hongmaoyi Losing the opportunity to protect the fleet, we went straight to Batavia and forced them to surrender. There is still one month before the fleet return deadline stipulated by the ship owner. We must deal with the Hongmaoyi within one month."

An Xiaosi nodded helplessly, and said: "In that case, Brother Shuisheng and I will stay. After we have dealt with the enemies in Cirebon, the whole army will go straight to Batavia and cooperate with your fleet to encircle the Hongmaoyi. After all, he was still worried about the thousands of Chinese people in Cirebon.

In the days that followed, the situation in Java took a turn for the worse again. The news that the Dutch fleet was almost wiped out spread along the coastline to various ports in Java, and then along the tropical jungle path to the interior of Java.

The three-party coalition forces of Maduram, Madura, and the Netherlands that besieged Cirebon collapsed on the second day of the naval battle, and the Dutch retreated directly to Batavia; the Madura army retreated eastward, intending to return to their own country; The rebel army was even more divided, and the three princes fled to the interior of Java Island.

Half a month later, Yan Siqi, Lin Shuisheng and others brought 3000 Chinese troops and more than 4000 King Madalan's troops to the city of Batavia. At this time, Ye Hua's fleet had bombarded the port of Batavia for the fourth consecutive day. up.

Batavia City Defense Commander Van Layton has nowhere to go.

The Huatian company's commercial hall in the south of the city was first attacked by Yan Siqi's task force. He called in the sky-thudding cannons of the sailor musketeers, and fired a round of gunpowder weighing a hundred catties into the hall, causing the ground to shake. The mountains shook, the walls collapsed and the houses collapsed. Using the bombardment cannons used to attack the city to attack the Huatian company headquarters, which only occupies an area of ​​one mu of land, seems to be a bit of an overkill.

The people in the headquarters of Huatian Company surrendered, but Yuan Jin and Li Zhong disappeared the day before.

The city of Batavia was full of gloom and mist. Although the Dutch hiding in the castle were all desperadoes, adventurers and thrill-seekers, when the enemy had an absolute advantage, no one wanted to die in vain; especially these The people who came to Asia to take risks had already earned a lot of money, and no one was willing to give up the wealth they had already acquired to die. Therefore, when the East India Company Committee was meeting, Major Van Layden, who provoked the incident of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, became a He was the target of public criticism, and was scolded by members of parliament, directors, and shareholders.

The only Chinese present was Li Jin, general manager of East India Company Batavia, and Jin Bo. When the Chinese company was first established, Li Jin led the Dutch fleet to the Penghu Islands, and then the Chinese company defeated the Dutch company. Groundbreaking Battle: The Battle of Penghu.

After the war, he returned to Java Island with the released Dutch prisoners. However, after Yin Feng and Li Jin had a long talk overnight, he had become Yin Feng's deepest hidden stake in the Dutch East India Company.

In the past ten years, Zhonghua United Company has never contacted him. Every year, some Chinese businessmen brought him a letter from his hometown in Fujian, usually a letter of greeting from his family. He never provided Yin Feng with information. Only when the agreed code appeared in the letter from home one day, Li Jin's secret spy identity would be officially activated. In fact, only Yin Feng knew his true identity.

When Yuan Jin and Li Zhong returned to Taiwan secretly, Yin Feng did not go to Hangzhou to attend the shareholder meeting because of his initiative to report the letter, which avoided a crisis. After that, he remained silent for more than a year, and started to take the initiative to make irregular appointments this year. Send various intelligence to Taiwan.

Because he was the first Chinese Protestant, and he had been to Europe and served in the East India Company, the Dutch had already been regarded as a formally naturalized Dutch citizen, and they trusted him very much. Some confidential plans also let him know that the Dutch, as Protestants , There is not much racial or religious discrimination against the natives of the colonies. Compared with the Spaniards, the Dutch are relatively moderate colonists (of course, this does not prevent the Dutch from showing cruelty and bloodthirsty when suppressing indigenous resistance,)

Li Jin watched the Dutch people making noise in the corner, and shook his head helplessly. During the Ming Dynasty, these Chinese people who made a living overseas were basically people from the bottom of society, or even illiterate. , basically there is no traditional Confucian culture, so they have no resistance to Western religion, culture, and technology. Although Li Jin has lived among the Dutch for more than ten years, his living customs have basically assimilated with the Dutch, but in Deep down, he still thinks he is a Tang.

"The Chinese outside the city have sent a letter of persuasion to ensure the safety of our lives and properties. The request is to expel Huatian Company and lift the restrictions on Chinese people's residence, as well as help them open up business routes between China and Europe. Uncle Jin, what do you think? ,"

Suddenly, the chairman of the Batavia Committee of the East India Company asked Li Jin, "Uncle Jin, you are in charge of trading with the Chinese company. What do you think we should do?"

Li Jin thought for a while and said carefully: "How long can our army last? Can we wait for reinforcements from Europe?"

Major Van Layden smiled wryly: "The messenger to Europe for help was just sent out yesterday. If Europe can send reinforcements, it will be two years later, and twenty months at the earliest. Besides, the current domestic situation everyone I also know that the financial crisis and economic difficulties, our war with the Spaniards in the Americas has not stopped, it is still unknown whether Europe can send reinforcements, oh, it must be a certain size of reinforcements, otherwise it will not be able to deal with the Chinese United Corporation of,"

He looked around and saw that everyone's faces were full of frustration. He continued to blow everyone's confidence: "There are more than 900 defenders in the city, including the indigenous alliance army. The battleship Mogami is still in Malacca, and the other ships in the fleet It was sunk in the port the day before yesterday, and based on the food in the city, we can still guard it for about six months."

The governor of the East India Company in Batavia sighed and said: "With our connivance, the Chinese company has become the tyrant of the East Asian sea. What should we do now, surrender?"

Van Layden said with a sneer: "We, the United Provinces, are the charioteers of the world. The problem is that we cannot leave the rest of the world behind and focus on the East Asian region,"

After all, the Netherlands is a small country with a population of more than one million. In this era of global expansion, it is almost reaching the limit that its population can support.

A commissioner stood up and said, "Let's surrender, since they're not here to take Batavia, we can negotiate,"

"No, introducing the China United Company to Europe will take away our business," someone objected loudly.

The member who supported the surrender said coldly: "We don't cooperate with Chinese companies, it doesn't matter, the British and French are waiting to sign an agreement with the Chinese at the door."

……

Outside the port of Batavia, more than a dozen gunboats were firing on the fort of the castle. After five consecutive days of bombardment, the two forts on the west and north of Batavia were almost turned into ruins. Under the attack of artillery, especially the attack of thunderbolt rockets and explosive howitzers, nearly half of the city of Batavia was in ruins.

On the Flying Tiger, Jesuit Chinese missionary You Wenhui and Dutch Protestant pastor Ruth were looking at the smoke-filled Batavia at the bow of the ship. Dutch pastor Ruth rubbed his hands anxiously and said to You Wenhui in Latin: " You must persuade General Ye to stop bombarding... at least, stop bombing the church,"

You Wenhui smiled wryly: "I'm just a translator. General Ye doesn't believe in God. He believes in the Chinese goddess of the sea,"

Ruth wiped his sweat and said, "The East India Company is willing to cease the war with the Chinese Company, but you also have to show your sincerity for the truce."

You Wenhui shrugged his shoulders in a very European way: "When you took action against the Chinese business house, why didn't you think about it carefully? The power that the Chinese company can mobilize in East Asia is not something that you Dutch can resist at all. In terms of scope, you Dutch people are indeed very powerful, but, can you still move all the United Provinces here?"

Protestant pastor Ruth wiped his sweat, speechless.

You Wenhui sneered and said: "Yin Feng, the boss of the Zhonghua Company and the leader of the president, once said that at any time, in this world, it is strength that can ultimately take the initiative, and strength determines everything. I know you all want to talk about peace." conditions, but General Ye Hua came under the order of Captain Yin, and the order he received was: unless the Dutch East India Company unconditionally agrees to all our conditions, otherwise we will capture Batavia."