c_t; Although Cheng Dapeng is not a person affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce, he is from a family of businessmen and is no stranger to the affairs of the mall, which is also the main reason why his superiors arranged this businessman's identity as a cover. His own areas of expertise and main direction of attack are also focused on the collection and collation of economic intelligence. This made him feel at ease with people like Su Keyi, and he could complete the tasks assigned by his superiors almost effortlessly.

On top of that, he also experienced a situation that most intelligence officers did not encounter, and that was war. At present, many people in the city are very uneasy about the coming war, but for a person like him, who has experienced the pain of extermination, the current battle situation facing Batavia City is not so terrible. Although the Matarans are warlike, they are not all barbarians, they attack Batavia only to covet the wealth here, and even if they are defeated, the probability of slaughtering the city is very low, after all, the rulers of Mataran want a cornucopia of wealth that can continue to generate wealth, not the ruins of a dead city that loses its value when they get it.

Therefore, Cheng Dapeng was not too worried about his personal safety, but wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to extract as much valuable information as possible from the Chinese compradors. Now Su Keyi took the initiative to come to the door, which saved him a lot of work.

Cheng Dapeng first asked his subordinates to make a pot of tea, and personally poured it for Su Keyi: "This is the tea specially sent from Fujian by the family last month, Senior Brother Su might as well taste it." This is the rock tea produced in Jiulong, Wuyi Mountain, which used to grow in the deep mountains and no one knew about it, but the Haihan people named and named the surname to buy the tea in that place, and directly paid for the land to be circled. This Haihan people have always been known for being good at enjoyment, and the things they named to ask for must not be bad, and then this tea flowed out a little to the market after someone tried it, and it was really a good thing. It's just that this thing is produced too little every year, and ninety percent of it is bought by Haihan people, and it is usually not seen on the market. ”

Su Keyi responded: "The tea of Wuyi Mountain is famous, and I have heard of it a little in Xia, but Boss Cheng said that this place name is the first time I have heard of it in Xia." ”

Cheng Dapeng said: "Wuyi Mountain has 36 peaks, 99 rocks, rock rock has tea, and the Song and Yuan dynasties have varieties selected for tribute tea." Such as Bai Ruixiang, Su Xinlan, Don't see the sky, Golden Key, Drunken Begonia, Anchovy grass, melon seed gold, etc., but this kind of tea is the Haihan people to Fujian after they began to have fame. ”

Su Keyi picked up the teacup, saw that the color of the tea was dark brown and fresh, clear and gorgeous, the bottom of the leaves was soft and bright, the leaf edge was vermilion, the heart of the leaf was light green with yellow, and the fragrance was overflowing, so he couldn't help but take a sip, the entrance of the tea was sweet and smooth, and he immediately praised: "It is indeed good tea, but Wuyi Mountain is a place where tea is produced, this kind of good goods should have been discovered a long time ago, how can it be cheap Haihan, an outsider?"

Cheng Dapeng explained: "It is said that the tea-making method used by the Haihan people is not the same as the method mastered by the locals, and the quality of the finished product is also very different. In the past, when the contemptible people went to Sanya to do business, they had heard the Haihan people say that they had to have more than ten processes such as drying, drying, shaking, shaking, bumping, frying, kneading, initial roasting, dusting, picking, re-fire, sifting, piling, blending, etc., and the process was very complicated to produce finished products of this quality. （”

Su Keyi sighed: "Haihan people are good at crafting, and I can't imagine that even tea making is so powerful...... I wonder what the name of this tea is?"

Cheng Dapeng said: "The Haihan people named this tea Da Hong Pao. ”

"The big red robe? Although Su Keyi didn't know what he meant, he didn't think about it again.

After Haihan's trade tentacles extended into the Fujian market, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a report to introduce tea trees from Wuyi Mountain, so the executive committee naturally wanted to introduce the best varieties of tea trees to Hainan Island for trial planting. But after inquiry, the most famous big red robe in later generations no one knew at all, and later checked the classics, it turned out that this big red robe was slowly begun to be noticed by the world's tea customers in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, and it would probably take a few years to be really named. Haihan naturally would not let go of this resource, and immediately spent money to buy the land of Wuyi Mountain's Jiulong Cave, and then sent people to operate it locally. With the level of commercial speculation of Haihan and the quality of this high-grade tea itself, it naturally quickly became famous in the tea market.

The production capacity of this kind of tea is very limited, and it is also true that Cheng Dapeng said that it cannot be seen on the market, except for a very small number of related households that are used to give gifts to local households in Fujian, the others are used to make special benefits within Haihan. Originally, this thing could only be enjoyed by traversers, but in order to create the identity background of the eldest young master of the family for Cheng Dapeng, the Ministry of Security still managed to cut out a little bit from the limited quota and send it to Batavia.

This thing may not be of much use in Cheng Da Peng's work, but it will be part of Cheng Da Peng's identity symbol, along with various other carefully crafted details. And it is precisely with many such details that people like Su Keyi can be convinced that Cheng Dapeng is indeed a businessman from a wealthy family.

Of course, Su Keyi would also notice from Cheng Dapeng's words intentionally or unintentionally that his family maintained a good relationship with the Haihan people, otherwise he would not have seen some Haihan goods that could not be seen on the market at all from time to time.

"I heard that the Haihan people are accustomed to keeping the best things for themselves to enjoy, and the second- and third-rate goods are only sold for sale. After taking another sip, Su Keyi continued to comment: "Since last year, there have been maritime merchants who have come to Batavia to sell Sanya alpine tea from Qiongzhou, and they have also tasted it, and there is still a gap with this big red robe. However, the foreign adults in the council liked it very much, and bought a lot of them, planning to ship them back to China and sell them at a high price. ”

Cheng Dapeng said: "Sanya high mountain tea is mostly the introduction of tea varieties from Wuyi Mountain, which changes a feng shui, and the natural quality will be deviated. However, these Westerners are all rough people, and they probably can't tell the difference. ”

Su Keyi's identity is sensitive, so he didn't answer his words at the moment, smiled and diverted the topic: "Boss Cheng is a person who will enjoy it, but now that Batavia is besieged by the Nanyang barbarians, I am afraid it will be difficult to be comfortable in the near future." ”

Cheng Dapeng immediately asked: "Then I don't know what other measures the council has to deal with the war besides controlling food?"

Su Keyi said: "Naturally, there is, starting tonight, the whole city will enforce a curfew." After nightfall, don't go out and walk around again, lest you be caught as a spy by the city patrols. In addition, all men in the city who had attained the age of sixteen were to be signed up by the districts to be sent by the council. ”

Cheng Dapeng deliberately asked: "What about this kind of weak scholar who can't carry it on his shoulders and can't carry it in his hands?"

Su Keyi said with a smile: "This is just a levy for the people, and Boss Cheng is naturally not among them, so you can rest assured." ”

Cheng Dapeng arched his hand and said: "It's all taken care of by Brother Su Shi! But this army is besieging the city, what plan does the council have to retreat from the enemy?"

"Retreat from the enemy, it's good to be able to defend the city without losing it. Su Keyi explained: "There are less than 3,000 Dutch soldiers in the city, plus more than 4,000 auxiliary troops, the total strength is less than 8,000. I heard that the Mada Blue Army outside the city has exceeded 40,000, and there is a steady stream of fleets to send people to land. With such a difference of several times the number of troops, what will the council use to retreat from the enemy?"

Cheng Dapeng pretended to be surprised and said, "It turns out that the shape is already so tight...... I wonder who is commanding the city's defenses right now?"

"It's Admiral Van Diemen. Su Keyi didn't mean to hide it at all, and immediately replied: "Although this lord has less appearance than in Batavia, it is said that he can be promoted to general because he suppressed many Nanyang indigenous tribes in the Molujiahai in the east a few years ago. ”

The "Molujia Sea" mentioned by Su Keyi is the Maluku Sea called by the Haihan according to the customs of later generations. This island in the western Pacific Ocean is rich in a variety of tropical cash crops, and has always been one of the key areas of the East India Company in the South Seas. In the past few years, Van Diemen has been operating in the Maluku Sea and the adjacent Banda Sea, the Sailan Sea, and the Halmahera Sea, suppressing the resistance of the island's natives while driving out British and Portuguese merchant ships and colonists, and indeed making a great contribution to the East India Company's monopoly of the region's resources. It was precisely because the then Governor Cohen was well aware of Van Diemen's deeds that he recommended Van Diemen to the Dutch Parliament for the post of Admiral of the Far East.

Among the military generals currently remaining in Batavia, Van Dimen has the highest position and prestige, and he is not lacking in actual combat experience. Therefore, although the council still had some friction with him over the choice of the governor's successor, he had to temporarily choose to compromise under the pressure of the army and give him the supreme military command of the region.

Cheng Dapeng saw that Su Keyi had let down his guard, and began to slowly confide out military information, and continued to talk at the moment: "It turns out that there are only seven or eight thousand armed forces, so for Lord Fan, I am afraid it will not be easy to fight this battle." ”

"That's right, it's difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, just such a few troops, and they will be gone after fighting, Lord Fan gave up the defense outside the city and retreated to the city to set up defenses, which is why he is tired. Su Keyi couldn't help but sigh: "If the army is strong, it will definitely frustrate its spirit when the Mada Blue Army lands, but it's a pity!"

Although Su Keyi doesn't know how to fight, he understands this basic offensive and defensive principle very well. Batavia is such a port city, the enemy must carry out a landing battle if they want to attack, which was originally an excellent natural defense line, but Batavia did not dare to deploy the main force in the port to fight the enemy head-on due to the limited troops, so he could only completely abandon this defense line that could have caused a lot of casualties to the enemy. In order to prevent the weapons on the shore defense batteries from falling into the enemy army and being used in the siege, Van Dimen even ordered the destruction of two large-caliber heavy guns that were too heavy to be moved back to the city in a short time.

Cheng Dapeng said: "But if the Ma Da Blue Army besieges the city and does not attack, I am afraid that the food in the city will be difficult to last for three months!"

"That's fine, they're going to take the initiative to attack," Su Keyi explained, "The Mata Blue Army comes from all over the South Seas, and with so many tens of thousands of troops to fight in Batavia, there will be problems that cannot be avoided. First, it is difficult to supply, these tens of thousands of people have to be transported by sea, which is no longer easy, in the past few years they sent troops to attack, and in the end they all retreated on their own because of insufficient supplies. Second, the departure of so many troops from their original garrisons will inevitably lead to the emptiness of the country, and the longer the time drags on, the greater the risk of domestic accidents. In my opinion, this horse and blue army are menacing, and they will definitely take advantage of this momentum to launch a siege war, so as not to drag on the war for too long and drag their own house down first. ”

Cheng Dapeng nodded in response: "Brother Su Shi is reasonable. It's just that I don't know how the local city defense is, and whether it can withstand the onslaught of the enemy army several times as much?"

Su Keyi said: "There is no need to worry too much, Batavia renovates the fortifications every year, and although it has only been ten years since the city was built, the fortifications have been added three or four times. The wall facing the sea is more than two zhang thick, and it is difficult for artillery fire to invade. There is a fort every five zhang on the head of the city, there is a hidden soldier hole every hundred zhang under the city wall, and thousands of musketeers can also be arranged to the head of the city to assist in defense during wartime. ”

Cheng Dapeng secretly memorized this information in his mind at the moment, places like the city wall have always been heavily guarded, and his identity as a foreign merchant must not be able to go up to do field investigations. And the information leaked by Su Keyi in the chat can already be regarded as very valuable military intelligence.

Cheng Dapeng asked again: "I wonder how these defenders in the city are better than the Haihan militia that has never been defeated since the founding of the army? ”

Su Keyi shook his head and said, "This ...... I'm afraid there is still a gap. When I went to Sanya last year, although it was only a glimpse, I felt that the Haihan militia was indeed not in vain, and its equipment and training level were far above the city's army. When he first arrived in Sanya, he lived in a military camp, and the Haihan militia had to go out for training every day when it was dark, and this was the case every day. Imagine its **** preparation for war, when it comes to the battlefield, it is naturally excellent, although these troops in the city also have daily training, but it is a five-day training or a ten-day practice, and most of the auxiliary troops are temporarily recruited when the war breaks out, how can this be compared?"

Cheng Dapeng pretended to be surprised and said: "If the two armies meet on the battlefield, won't the Dutch be defeated in a battle?"

Su Keyi sighed: "Before the negotiations last year, the Dutch had already suffered a big defeat in the Fujian Sea. It's just that for the sake of face, the news did not spread in Batavia. Van der Wegen, the officer I went with me to negotiate with Haihan, was the commander of the defeat. ”