Author: tx Cheng Zhi

Chapter 244

The Dutch in Batavia also realized that if they could not regain control of the fort and port, they would definitely be finished and tonight.

Thousands of Dutch soldiers were organized to attack the fort and tried to retake the fort. They surrounded them with flintlock rifles.

Haggins, who was responsible for attacking the port, had a psychological advantage, that is, the landing troops of the Ning Navy seemed to be like indigenous troops, and were equipped with cold weapons. In this era, cold weapons were completely out of date.

The Dutch Army stationed in East India is different from the Spanish army. In theory, a Spanish combat corps has ten companies, each with three hundred or two hundred and fifty people. However, the ratio of spearmen and musketeers is 2 to eight, with eight spear companies and two musketeers.

It was not until the Spanish army suffered a great loss when they encountered the French army. In the 17th century, they changed the Spanish phalanx. In history, in order to distinguish them, the later phalanx was called the modified Spanish phalanx. The specific change was to significantly reduce the share of sprites and increase musketes. Generally, sprites accounted for 25%, while musketes reached 75%.

The Dutch military reforms were baptized in the 30 Years of War in Europe. Even if the improved Spanish phalanx had the same proportion of musketeers, it was still difficult to resist the firepower of the Dutch phalanx of the same size. In fact, even the adjusted and optimized Morris phalanx and Gustav phalanx could not fully exert the power of the new muskets. Due to the limitation of gun posture, even if soldiers in the same row wanted to shoot at the same time, they would be limited to three rows at most, and the remaining soldiers were often only used as reserves.

The musketeers in the Gustav phalanx are good at relying on three rows of volleys to cause major damage to the approaching enemies. When the enemy approaches, the six rows of musketeers quickly change into three rows. The first row stands kneel, the second row bends, and the third row stands, and fires at the same time with the gun.

Theoretically, this arrangement can undoubtedly use all the firepower of the musketeers more reasonably. But in fact, the most common tactic used by Dutch musketeers is still the reverse marching shooting method, that is, six rows of musketeers shoot in sequence and then retreat from the interval between the back row of soldiers and load them up to maintain continuous firepower.

If this kind of shooting method was invented by Mu Ying, a famous general in the founding of the Ming Dynasty, more than 200 years ago and applied to actual combat, let alone the Ning Navy, in fact, most of the Ming army's musketeers used the three-stage attack invented by Mu Ying. Of course, the cold weapons are actually the same. The crossbowmen and musketeers adopt the same tactics and use them alternately.

"The Ming army on the opposite side is just an army equipped with cold weapons. They rushed forward and shot them to death..."

Huggins' arrangement was not wrong at all, but the problem was that he underestimated the fighting style of the Ming army. When he led the army to advance slowly at the pace of the warlock, he entered the range of the Dutch musket.

The muskets that the Dutch are now equipped with generally use "Blunderbuss" to refer to the main firearms used by the Dutch army in that era. The word originated from "donderbuis", which represents the Dutch word "Donder and Buss" in the Middle Ages, meaning "thunder and pipes", and was also called "Donder and Buss" in later generations.

They have two models, one is light and the other is heavy. The light musket has a diameter of about 15mm and a total weight of ten pounds. The heavy musket weighs more than 18 pounds and has a diameter of 17.8mm-23mm. It is worth mentioning that the weapons of the Dutch army are not standardized now.

To be fair, this Dutch musket is quite powerful. The light combs fire 14g of lead bullets, while the heavy combs can fire more than 56 grams of lead bullets. The heavy musket can penetrate armor 100 yards away and kill people or horses 500 yards away.

However, the problem is that there is a fatal weakness that cannot be solved, that is, the barrel has no rifle and its accuracy is very poor. Generally speaking, muskets are not used as precise weapon of destruction in the hands of the Dutch, but are just covered, just like bows and arrows, with a rough direction equal to the right direction.

But the problem is that when the musketeers of the Dutch army came to the port, the first thing they saw was rows of defense lines built with sandbags. The walls of sandbags were about three feet high. Once they were lying, they could not see the target at all.

"His Colonel, how should we fight now?"

"keep going!"

"yes!"

The Dutch soldiers firmly implemented Haggins' order, but the problem was that at this moment, heads were quietly exposed on the sandbag, and the crossbow of Ning Haijun's jumping camp had been turned on the attacking Dutch soldiers.

"Shoot the arrow!"

"Swish swish swish swish swish..."

A metal tremor made the air tremble, and a row of crossbow arrows turned into cold stars and shot out with the wind!

After shooting, Ning Haijun soldiers handed the powerful crossbow back, took the strong crossbow handed over by the second row of soldiers, glanced slightly, and pulled the mechanical clamp again.

When the dense sound of breaking through the air sounded, the Dutch subconsciously raised the musket, but their professional army was not like pirates. When pirates saw the target, they instinctively attacked with all weapons that could fire.

But the professional army is a disciplined army and the execution of orders.

"Open fire!"

This was really unfair. Ning Haijun soldiers lay behind the sandbag. In order to ensure that they were not shot by muskets, the sandbags also left small holes for special shooting when they were placed. The small hole was not big, only one foot square.

The flintlock rifle's hitting accuracy was so poor that it made people cry. It was sad to hit the person behind the sandbag, but the Dutch soldiers had no cover and became Ning Haijun's living target and were knocked down one after another.

Huggins was very angry and roared at Ning Haijun: "You are still knights, come out to fight bravely..."

However, what responded to him was rows of crossbow arrows.

In fact, the advantages of weapons and equipment in combat are indeed very effective. The key is to see whether there are effective supporting tactics.

If Ning Navy soldiers were really allowed to set up a formation directly at the port, facing such platoon shooting from Dutch musketeers, Ning Navy would definitely suffer heavy losses.

Located about five hundred meters on the front line, Li Weiluan was watching the battle ahead with a telescope. After a quarter of an hour, more than a thousand Dutch soldiers retreated voluntarily.

In this battle, only nine Ninghai soldiers were hit by stray bullets, while more than 300 Dutch soldiers were killed or injured.

As the governor of the Netherlands East India, Brewer scolded Haggins for being useless, more than 1,500 elite Dutch soldiers were killed and injured, and it was difficult to get over the line!

A commander of the Dutch East India Army saw this scene and said: "Governor General, we have to admit that the Ming army's tactics are highly targeted to the tactics of our Dutch musketeers. Even if we suppress all our army, the result will probably be the same!"

"What should I do now?"

"Let those natives come on!"

Of course, this indigenous person is not an indigenous tribe militant, but an indigenous colonial army trained by the Dutch, with a total of more than 40,000 people in 26 regiments.

If Batavia was not the least short of food, if Batavia was like the Ming Dynasty, its grain production was low and its natural disasters were severe, the Dutch East India Company would not have been able to feed so many colonial armies.

Hiring the indigenous people as colonial troops was a common practice for colonial powers. Just like Britain conquering India, the British East India Company started the Battle of Plassi on June 23, 1757. At that time, the East India Company led the British army, with only 900 people, and there were 2,000 mercenaries, who were recruited locally in India. In the end, it was with these 2,900 troops that the British won the Battle of Plassi and started the process of colonizing India.

Although the British army stationed in India increased greatly, they were basically recruited locally, including Gurkha cavalry, Punjabi cavalry, Sikh cavalry, Bangladeshi light cavalry, Bangladeshi infantry, etc. It was precisely because of the Indians that the United Kingdom conquered the entire India, making India a colony of Britain for more than two hundred years.

In order to prove that the Dutch army is indeed stronger than the colonial army, the Dutch East India Governor sent eight regiments in one go, nearly one-third of the troops.

In Brewer's view, more than 10,000 fierce indigenous colonial troops should be able to recapture the port of Batavia.

However, it takes time to mobilize the colonial army.

Brewer now sweats a lot on his back. An indigenous maid never came silently with a plate, with whiskey and a bottle of soda. The towel covered it with an ice bucket.

"Do you want some? General?"

"Your Excellency Governor, you don't have to worry, everything will always return to balance. This is also for the long-term peace and stability of His Majesty the King's territory."

"I was wondering how to write a report to His Majesty the King!"

The current Dutch king is the son of the former founding father, the younger brother of Morris of Nassau, and Morris of Nassau was a Dutch military reformer. He developed military strategy, tactics and military engineering, making the Dutch army the most modern army in Europe at that time.

There is one thing that he has a surprising similarity with the Apocalypse Emperor. He had no son and passed the throne to his younger brother, Frederick Henry, the king of the Netherlands.

Unlike the Apocalypse Emperor, Morris of Nassau was lucky, his younger brother Frederick Henry received military training in the army of Mauritz in his youngest times. He had outstanding military talents and made great contributions to the Netherlands in his decisive struggle with Spain. He began to lead the entire Union Republic army in 1625 and devoted his thirty years of war.

The Dutch army successively captured the Spanish rule of Heronlo (1627), Shertogenbos (1629), and Maastricht (1632), forcing the Spanish Empire to recognize the Netherlands' independence.

It is precisely because of the nature of the king that the Netherlands prioritizes military affairs in their actions. If they cannot fight wars, they will not be able to make money even if they are a governor.

It can be said that Brewer, the Dutch East India Governor, decided to target Cheng Shijie's tentativeness in order to conquer the king's preferences. His principle of considering the issue was military interests, that is, the Spanish Empire promised them that they could hand over the ownership of the senior officials. Once they achieved "military" victory in the senior officials, the governor's term could be transferred back to the country after the expiration of his term.

It's just a pity that Brewer kicked the iron plate.

Brewer sighed and took a sip of whiskey: "I just didn't expect that the duke who was a civilian came from would react so fiercely. I really don't know what he was thinking? No matter what, I will bear all the consequences of my decision. General, please remember that no matter what, you cannot let those Chinese be harmed by the indigenous people! I just hope that they will leave with their tails in their arms!"

Before I knew it, Brewer was really scared.

But the problem is that with the arrival of Ning Navy, the Chinese now fought with the Dutch in Batavia, seized the fort and repelled the Dutch's attack.

This also made the Chinese in Batavia have strange thoughts.

Located in a luxurious house in Batavia City.

"Dad, let's go?"

A young man anxiously advised to an old Chinese man: "Now those official troops are fighting with the Dutch, it is hard to guarantee that the Dutch will not deal with us..."

"No, no!"

The old Chinese man is Li Sixi, a famous tung oil merchant in Batavia. Li Sixi said: "Look at it, for many years, there has been no large army of the imperial court here. Is it said that the imperial court is preparing to manage Nanyang?"

"Oh, my dad, what are you thinking? We also received a letter from my cousin last year. He said that the tax was heavy and the food was incurred. The army had not paid military salaries for thirteen months, and those soldiers were even more cruel than bandits!"

"Carry it out and prepare a generous gift. I'll go and meet the high-ranking officials of the court!"

Li Sixi learned about the Luzon Incident more than two months ago and also learned that Luzon established the Ning Navy, while Wu Shangzhi and Li Guoqun became members of the fifth-rank executive committee, one responsible for business and the other responsible for diplomacy.

Li Sixi and Li Guoqun are also considered to be the family. Of course, the same surname was both a family five hundred years ago.

Li Sixi also wanted to take a chance, but he did not have a channel to contact Ning Haijun, and now it is an opportunity.

Of course, there are also huge risks, which means high income.

Just like the lines in "The Crazy Wave", the bigger the wind and waves, the more expensive the fish.

Li Sixi's logic is very clear, because the court fights, there are only two consequences. If the Dutch wins, they will be massacred. If the court wins, they will gain greater power and benefits.

At first, the Chinese representatives only went to the West Port of Batavia in tentatively, but seeing that the Dutch soldiers who blocked them had no intention of stopping them, these Chinese representatives became more and more bold.

They all went to the Xigang District of Batavia. By the time of noon, seven or eight hundred people had arrived. These people were either carrying silver, food, cloth, wine, and meat.

Li Weiluan looked at the mountain of gifts and finally understood why Cheng Shijie wanted to fight Batavia, because these Chinese people were too rich.

According to incomplete statistics, he received a total of 600 boxes of silver ingots, each box of 3,000 taels, as much as 180 taels of silver. If cloth, silk, meat, and other goods were included, these materials were worth up to 20,000 taels of silver, which was the Chinese who took the initiative to contribute.

The soldiers of the Jumping Camp were also very happy. After eating canned food for more than a month, they could finally eat fresh meat and fruits.

The second battle in Batavia started the next morning.

When more than 10,000 colonial troops from eight regiments rushed towards the port, they saw clearly that these colonial troops had only a small number of muskets, most of them were holding scimitars, and only had a thin military uniform, Li Weiluan suddenly discovered that there was no need to passive defense at all, and that they could play Viabadavia.

"Everyone has it, attack!"

The Jumping Battalion is a heavy army. When all the heavy infantry put down their armor, carry the sword and strode into a row of meteors, cross the sandbag defense line, and crash into the surging Dutch colonial army formation.

The Dutch colonial army also had archers and musketeers, but they could not line up in neat formations like well-trained Dutch people, and the colonial army began to shoot arrows or shoot.

The heavy infantry was wrapped in thick iron armor, and the thickness of the breastplate, shoulder armor and shin armor was even more amazing. When the arrow shot up, it bounced away with a ting. The musket fired. Because the distance was too far, the armor-breaking ability was not strong. However, the bullets of the musket hit the armor of the Jumping Camp like an iron hammer, causing the soldiers of the Jumping Camp to gasp!

"Take a knife and cut it!"
To be continued...