Chen Shouxu found that he still underestimated how much Meng Da attached importance to Hai Shuzu.

Hai Shuzu has a very easy-going attitude and is a dignified character. He didn't care about etiquette, he drank to a happy place, and even began to call Munda a brother.

But Mengda has always been respectful to Hai Shuzu and answers all questions. Hai Shuzu didn't care about this either, it seemed that he was used to it.

Hai Shuzu asked about the scene of Batavia: "Brother Meng, I didn't have to come to the sea in person this time, but over the years, I have heard how beautiful and exquisite Batavia is, and there are many vague and unknown points. So I built a big ship, and I wanted to see a thing or two, and who would have expected a thunderstorm. I won't go to Batavia, you are one of the people in charge of the construction of Batavia, so tell me in detail about the customs there. ”

"Master Hai, although you and Ling Yuan were shipwrecked, fortunately, thanks to Mazu's blessing, not only were they unharmed, but they also got to know the lord of the country. As the saying goes, if you don't die in a big disaster, you will have a blessing, and Master Hai's encounter will definitely be of great help to business in the future. Meng Da stood up and first toasted Chen Shouxu and Hai Shuzu with a glass of wine, and then explained the characteristics of Batavia to Hai Shuzu one by one. Master Hai, you are also a figure who walks the world. This Bacheng is actually a small city, if you talk about the characteristics, I think there are two places, one is the Dutch military fort, which is very different from the imperial court. The second is the planning ...... of Bacheng"

Hai Shuzu listened attentively, and when he heard Meng Da mention the Chinese merchants in Bacheng, he asked, "Brother Meng, who are you Chinese merchants in Bacheng talking about now?" ”

Meng Da didn't care at all about Hai Shuzu interrupting his explanation, "Thanks to all my colleagues in Nanyang, my family Yue Su Minggang became the first Jiabidan in Bacheng. After Jiayue retired, the current Jiabidan is Lin Liuge. ”

Hai Shuzu: "I just heard from you that the Dutch still put you in charge of foreign affairs between countries?" ”

Mundah: "That's true. In countries where diplomatic relations have been formally established, it is the Dutch themselves who are naturally responsible. But for some countries, they tend to let us deal with it. For example, Banten, their sultan's adviser is also a Chinese, called Lakmour. The diplomatic negotiations between the Dutch and Banten were carried out by Lin Liuge and Gong Ding. ”

"Lakmor, that's a strange name."

"It was a shaved man, who converted to the Heavenly Sect, so he changed his name, and I don't know the original Chinese name."

Hai Shuzu snorted heavily, "The generation of the number of classics that forget their ancestors. ”

Munda did not dare to refute that, according to the Heavenly Teachings, the infidels had to pay an extra poll tax. Although there are not many, there are indeed some Chinese in Nanyang who have converted to Tianfangjiao.

"Who is in charge of your dealings with the imperial court?"

"It was Yang Kun. In fact, Yang Kun was originally responsible for these foreign affairs. However, Yang Kun sent an envoy to Fujian to smash the errand, the ships and goods were confiscated by the Fujian governor, and even the people were imprisoned in Fujian. Although later, after many dredgings, the person was released. Yang Kun's status with the Dutch was much worse than before, and Bandan's errand was taken over by Lin Liuge. ”

Chen Shouxu said: "I heard that Yang Kun is dead. ”

"The lord of the kingdom is right. After Yang Kun's death, no one was responsible for his dealings with the imperial court. Speaking of Yang Kun, Meng Da was not very embarrassed,

Yang Kun's family was later approached by many creditors and started a bankruptcy lawsuit. The Dutch paid off the debt for Yang Kun, but his family had nothing left after all. After decades of hard work in Nanyang, the end was empty. ”

Hai Shuzu turned his wine glass, "When Yang Kun was here, how did you interact with the imperial court?" ”

"Mainly through some businessmen in the mainland, I don't know the specifics, Yang Kun's younger brother is based in Fuzhou, mainly he is in charge of this matter."

Chen Shouxu knew a little about this matter, so he explained to Hai Shuzu: "Batavia actually didn't have much direct contact with the imperial court, mainly because Zheng Zhilong was the obstacle. Zheng Zhilong controlled the Sino-Dutch trade, and he did not need another trade intermediary in Fujian. ”

"King of the Min Sea." Hai Shuzu bowed slightly, "Brother Meng, although it is the first time we have met, I think you are very good. Fujian can't get through, are you interested in coming to Guangdong? Hai is not talented, but he also has some connections in Guangzhou. ”

Meng Da was overjoyed, and quickly stood up and saluted to Hai Shuzu, "Meng Da dares to disobey his orders!" ”

Chen Shouxu didn't expect that this meal would actually make a possible big deal. The value of these Nanyang Chinese businessmen to the Dutch was that they could solve some problems that the Dutch could not solve. If you can take the line of Shanghai Shuzu, at least for Munda, there will be one more way to do business in Guangzhou.

Chen Shouxu said: "The power of the Francois in Guangzhou is quite strong. ”

Hai Shuzu waved his hand, "It's nothing. I can introduce Brother Meng to Guangdong Cruise, he is in charge of Xiangshanao, even the Francois people have to listen to him. ”

Meng Da said: "Meng Dadang came to thank Master Hai, please rest assured that all the expenses of communication with Guangdong will be borne by me." "This is talking about the benefits of sharing profits for Guangdong officials.

Hai Shuzu just nodded when he heard this, and didn't speak again.

Meng Da said to Chen Shouxu again, "Lord of the Kingdom, I don't hide it. The errand with which you are dealing, Munda also took the initiative to ask the Dutch. ”

Chen Shouxu secretly thought that Munda and his father-in-law's investment vision are really the same, and venture capital in the entrepreneurial stage can often bring the greatest returns. He happened to be worried about the lack of capacity, so he asked, "How many ships can Mr. Meng gather in the near future?" ”

Munda asked, "Is the lord in a hurry?" ”

"It's going to be in place in about a month."

Munda calculated for a moment and replied, "Most of the merchant ships in Batavia now have their own tasks, and in a hurry, I can only come up with six ships, including two in the harbor now. ”

"Is it the size of your two ships in the harbor?"

"Yes, the tonnage is close."

Chen Shouxu thought, it's almost enough.

"Does the Lord need me to transfer a ship to Karimata or Sukkadana City?"

Chen Shouxu shook his head and said, "Neither." I need your boat to go to Mazen. ”

No one had ever told Meng Da that Chen Shouxu was going to Ma Chen's plan, and Meng Da was in trouble. Hai Shuzu and Chen Shouxu looked at Mengda's changing expression and exchanged glances.

"I'll give you a good shipping fee."

Munda gritted his teeth, "I can let the boat go to Munda, but then they won't be able to fly the Dutch flag." ”

Chen Shouxu said: "I will escort them." ”

"That's good. I beg your pardon, except for the two ships in the port, the other ships that I can transfer now must also hire other owners. It's not that Munda is reluctant to pay this freight, it's really that those shipowners can't afford to spend it at will. “

Hai Shuzu and Chen Shouxu looked at each other and smiled, they were tantamount to helping each other today.

There was no need to wait for the transfer, and the next day after Munda's ship was unloaded, he immediately returned to Batavia. On Chen Shouxu's side, it took another two days to complete the loading of materials and people on Catamatan Island. After the release of some old and weak prisoners of war, there were still 5000 people. Much of the rice was loaded on the battleship, and the timber was tied to the sides of the ship's side. With some sailors piloting the captured 13 local boats, the fleet left Karimata Island and headed for the second target, the city of Sukkadana.

As surveyed before the war, the water depth in Suqadana was insufficient, and the cruiser could not drive in, so the longboat could only be lowered far away. There were no ships in the harbor, and it seemed that they had all run away.

This landing was more difficult than the last, and in addition to the shorter distance that the longboat had to row, the city of Suqadana also gathered some defensive forces.

To Chen Shouxu's surprise, the first landing of the field battalion that served as the vanguard was unsuccessful. Suqadana was clearly on guard, and they reinforced their forces towards the beachhead where the longboat was heading.

The fleet could not approach the coast, providing artillery cover for the landing force.

Due to the cover of the terrain and woods, the enemy resistance was very stubborn, and all kinds of firearms were fired at the sea. When the field battalion jumped out of the boat, it was still standing knee-deep in the water and was in a very disadvantageous position. The field battalion fought for 1 hour, and finally could not do anything and withdrew the longboat. Chen Shouxu saw Ludwig. Filhoff was the last to evacuate the beachhead, but they were no longer able to recover their comrades who had fallen on the beach, and the army suffered heavy losses in this wave of attacks.

When the Filhoff battalion commander, who was full of shame, apologized to Chen Shouxu, Chen Shouxuan did not mean to criticize, he took the responsibility, "You have done a good job, and the responsibility for failure lies with me." I was careless. ”

The fleet was actually prepared with some equipment to deal with this situation, but Chen Shouxuan thought it was too troublesome and useless, which led to the defeat of the army.

Harris stood up at this time and asked Chen Shouxu for battle: "Admiral, the marines are asking for an attack. The Navy will definitely take the beachhead. He glanced at Filhoff, "Avenge the Army." ”

Chen Shouxu agreed, "You can use all the guys you brought." ”

Harris immediately went down to prepare. The equipment Chen Shouxu mentioned was a kind of flat-bottomed boat for landing, because it was relatively large, and it was not fully assembled when it was carried.

It took Harris two days to carefully organize a wave of landing echelons. Four large longboats were fitted with 6-pounder guns and converted into specialized gunboats. The four landing punts were unloaded, and the sailors mounted waist-high teak planks in front and on both sides of the punts, and mounted one 1-pounder swing gun on each side.

Harris gathered 300 marines and sailors, and then 200 Mon men. He selected 80 of the most elite Marines to be assigned to the punts, and the rest were armed with short-handled tomahawks, no guns, and each carrying five grenades. The flat-bottomed boats served as the vanguard of the landing, and the ordinary longboats were arranged behind them.

A barrel of rum was issued on each of the landed ships. Harris promised all the sailors that "the first 10 soldiers to rush into the enemy line will be rewarded with 80 pesos." Let's go. ”

Wine, money, and women are perhaps the things that most irritate a soldier. They paddled hard and rushed to the beachhead where the army had broken their halberds. The Suqadana hung the heads of more than 40 army soldiers, some of whom were wounded and captured by them, from trees. The torture of prisoners and the beheading of the fleet took place right under the nose of the fleet. There is no need to mobilize, the sailors know what to do.

The gunboats bombarded fiercely, and the barrel of the short gun was less than 6 times diameter, which was originally a captured cannon. The cannon body suffered some damage, and the fleet wasted it, sawing off the damaged front half of the barrel to make this short cannon for firing grenades. The power of the grenade explosion does little damage to the battleship, and the navy does not use it much. This came in handy, as the gunboats cleared a field on the beachhead that was sufficient for landing. The soldiers of the flat-bottomed boat, crouching behind the ship's broadside, quickly fired the guns with the Franco, and rushed to the beachhead.