The Batavia city is divided in two by the Tiger Canal, forming two rectangular semi-cities in the east and west.

The canal was also built by the Han Chinese, and was built by two Han merchants at that time. The moat can be connected to the canal, and the river flows around the city and continues to protect the castle.

The castle was separated from the city and was built directly north of the eastern half of the city, with a moat on all sides. To the south of the castle there are several vegetable patches, and further south is the northern wall of the eastern city.

The four corners of the castle are four bastions, connected by four straight walls.

It was impossible for the Datong Army to land on the front, and it was easy to be blocked when it landed on the west. They went around three or four miles to the east, then disembarked the dinghy, landed on a beach, and then stepped on the farmland and headed southwest.

Don't attack the castle directly, but go and occupy the city first.

Two hot air balloons were lifted into the air one after another, and the city defense situation was unobstructed.

One of the lookouts, descending from the hot air balloon along the rope, handed over the quickly drawn map of the city's defenses: "General, please take a look!" ”

Tie Hong took it and took a look, the drawings were drawn crookedly, but the basic information was clearly marked.

The situation in the eastern half of the city is as follows: the east city wall, a total of three city gates, three enemy platforms, the southeast corner is a large acute angle enemy platform similar to a fortress. In the south city wall, there is a city gate, two enemy platforms, and there are also large acute angle enemy platforms similar to a fortress at the southwest corner.

The situation in the western half of the city is as follows: the west city wall, a total of two city gates, an enemy platform, and a large acute angle enemy platform similar to a fortress at the southwest and northwest corners. The southern city wall, there is no city gate, there is no enemy platform, there is a bridge across the canal to connect with the eastern half of the city.

The castle outside the castle was as follows: four bastions, three stories in the middle, and a moat on all sides. There is a bridge to the south that leads to the eastern half of the city. There is a gap on the north side, next to the bastion, which leads to the coast.

The drawings also draw several circles, indicating that there are batteries somewhere, and indicating about how many defenders there are somewhere.

When the Datong Army was using hot air balloons to observe, Governor Rainiers was standing on the castle and was also observing with a clairvoyant, and he had a headache and said, "What kind of device is this?" It can even rise to a high altitude. The deployment of our troops has been completely figured out by the Chinese. ”

Army Commander Clapp, on the other hand, led his troops in the defense of the city. Through the clairvoyant mirror, he could clearly see that there were Chinese observing the hot air balloon.

Clapp immediately mobilized his forces to test the situation, and then he soon found that the Chinese lookout on the hot air balloon kept waving flags to show this movement.

And the Javanese servant army standing on the city wall, in the face of the two mysterious hot air balloons, shouted and bowed down one after another.

Clapp said to the herald: "Go and tell those Javanese soldiers that there is not a god in the sky, but some kind of machine of the Chinese." Fire the cannon and knock those two balls down! ”

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The eastern city wall was constantly resounding with cannons, but the balloons were raised too high and at a distance. At best, the shells can break the rope that pulls the balloon, and even if it does, it doesn't matter, the balloon will only float with the wind until it runs out of fuel and lands.

Those Javanese soldiers, seeing that the artillery could not shoot down the hot air balloon, were even more convinced that the Chinese army had the help of the gods.

The Dutch soldiers walked along the city walls, constantly waving their whips: "Stand up, stand up, don't kneel anymore, that's not the gods of China!" ”

A civilian, running out of the castle, crossed the moat to the city.

Panting, he climbed up the wall, came to Clapp, and said, "Your Excellency the Governor has an order to call all civilians for battle. After the victory of the war, the property left by the Chinese was rewarded to the soldiers according to their war merits. Those Chinese farms outside the city were also allowed to be plundered by soldiers, and those who made great achievements could also get land! ”

Bands after groups of Dutch soldiers, armed with weapons, recruited troops in the city and punished those who were still stealthily looting goods.

Even Indians and Arabs were forced to defend the walls.

Sanjay Gutap, with his people and men, was responsible for defending a small section of the wall. After the Dutch soldiers left, the wealthy Indian businessman quietly touched the next door: "Goyle, don't try too hard. The Chinese are not bandits in Banten, nor are they bandits in Matalan. Malacca was occupied by the Chinese, and the Indian merchants there were not robbed. If we resist too hard, we will be killed. ”

The Indian merchant named Gower said, "I know, I won't stick to it." As soon as the Chinese soldiers attack from here, I will immediately give up the walls. ”

That's the dividends of a good reputation.

In the past offensive and defensive battles in Batavia, whether it was against the Banten army or the Mataran army, all races in the city would unite and resist to the death.

Because the Banten and Matalan armies will surely plunder the city when they break through it.

If the castle were to be breached and Batavia was completely occupied, the Banten and Mataran armies would not have killed indiscriminately. The two sultans also want to "go the long term" and charge a high poll tax, which is several times the amount of the Dutch tax.

In order not to be plundered, in order not to pay a high poll tax, the Indians and Arabs always took the initiative to help the Dutch defend the city.

Now, they don't have the motivation to defend the city.

Who doesn't know what's going on in Malacca? The Chinese army will not loot indiscriminately, and the poll tax is set lower than that of the Netherlands.

If it weren't for the fear of dying in battle, the Indians would even want to help the Chinese army fight for a lower poll tax.

On another section of the city wall, several wealthy Arab merchants were also passing news to each other. Once the Chinese army attacks the city, do not resist, immediately flee back to your own community, and then wait and see how the situation develops.

Before the battle began, the defenders were already discouraged.

Javanese soldiers and Javanese civilians were kneeling on the city walls to worship the hot air balloon, and were beaten by the Dutch soldiers and trembled to their feet. The Indians and Arabs, pretending to defend the walls, were ready to slip away at any time.

Feeling that the atmosphere was not right, Clapp said to the herald, "Go to the Governor's Palace, and ask the Governor to issue weapons to the slaves, so that all the slaves can come and defend the walls." ”

In order to prevent the slaves from escaping back to their homeland, the slaves of Batavia were transported from outside.

The number of black slaves was very small, and most of them were indigenous to small islands like Bali.

There are really no special products in Bali, and the Dutch did the massacres there purely to capture slaves. Men could be captured as slaves, used for their own use, or sold. The woman was caught and sold to the Han people as wives, and after the Han people settled down and started a business, they would not think about leaving Batavia.

Historically, it has been more than 200 years since the Dutch conquered Bali. The indigenous people of Bali were very strong, first rose up to resist, failed to win and then committed mass suicide, and even the royal family committed mass suicide in front of the Dutch army. Because they have been bullied by the Dutch for nearly three hundred years, they know that they will end badly after being captured, and they would rather commit suicide than be prisoners.

One slave after another, given improvised weapons, was taken to the city wall to prepare for defense.

Some of the slaves looked around, ready to surrender or slip away. But there were also many slaves who were war-spirited because their masters promised many benefits, such as giving them wives.

The Chinese troops outside the city did not immediately attack the city, but set up camp in the farmland.

About half a day later, Sun Jue and Su Dingguo came with an army of Han landlords, and they also collected many Han people in the cities who had fled to the countryside.

"This is General Tiehong, the commander of this battle." Sun Jue introduced.

Su Dingguo looked at Tie Hong and was a little stunned, why was the commander of the Celestial Empire army actually a tall black man?

Sun Jue said in a low voice: "This is a meritorious man from the dragon, before His Majesty raised troops, he followed His Majesty to rob the banknotes. If it weren't for the fact that he was born too dark, I'm afraid he would have already been sealed. ”

Su Dingguo didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly surrendered his hand: "The grass people meet General Tie!" ”

"There is no need to be polite," Tie Hong said to Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang, "These Han rebels will be handed over to the two of them to command." ”

"Well said!"

Zhang Xianzhong was overjoyed, he was worried about his lack of soldiers.

Zhang Huangyan was the governor of Luzon and Kuang Hong was the governor of Palembang, and they were not allowed to leave their own areas at will without an order from the imperial court, so the army was completely under the command of Tie Hong.

The troop arrangements are as follows: Tie Hong personally led the 2,400 Datong Army, Zhang Xianzhong led 400 ronins and 1,000 Han rebels, Sun Kewang commanded 400 ronins and more than 600 Han rebels, and the Prince of Johor commanded 1,500 Johor soldiers.

Liu Hanyi, the envoy, and Sun Jue, the deputy envoy, did not interfere in the military when they arrived on the battlefield, but only coordinated and arranged logistics work, and were responsible for pacifying the Han people who came one after another.

Many of the small cannons on the ships of the Navy were dismantled and pulled outside the city for exploratory shelling.

On the second day of the landing, the shelling of the city walls began.

Johor soldiers and Han Chinese civilians, as well as Javanese serfs brought in by Han Chinese landowners, were sent out to cut down trees and dig up soil.

Siege equipment needed to be built, and moats had to be filled in with soil.

In this way, the stalemate lasted for more than half a month, the moat was still being filled, and the Dutch castle had enough food, but the food in Batavia was getting less and less.

The food needed in the city came from Han Chinese landlords and was transported to the city every month through the Tiger Canal.

The Han landlords also kept a hand, always storing grain in the countryside, and would not sell too much to the city at one time, in case the Dutch and Javanese suddenly turned their faces.

Su Dingguo said: "The stored grain in the urban area can be eaten for another month or two at most. We should not rush to attack, and we should not rush to fill the moat, and try to avoid too many casualties. After a month or two, the food in the city should be gone. When the time comes, it will be up to the Dutch to see if they are willing to take out the food from the castle and give it to them. If you transfer food from the castle, it will consume the castle's stockpile. If food is not fetched from the castle, the Javanese, Indians, Persians (Arabs) in the city will go hungry. ”

Tie Hong smiled and said, "Then take your time and besiege the city for two months first." ”

Batavia has not yet fought, and fighting has broken out between Bryanan (Bandung) and Palembang.

The noble landlords of Mataram in Brian, hearing that Batavia was besieged, immediately revolted. They killed the Dutch missionaries, looted their plantations, burned hospitals and schools (all missionary sites), and then laid siege to the city of Brian, which consisted of only 30 Dutch soldiers (and a large number of servants).

The uprising quickly spread to Cirebon, by the sea, and then to Semarang, further west.

There was a Han uprising in Semarang, and the surrounding Matalam aristocratic landlords responded.

The Sultan of the Mataran puppet originally gathered 10,000 troops and planned to come to the rescue of Batavia. As soon as he heard that an uprising had broken out in Semarang, he was so frightened that he immediately returned to the capital halfway, and then was blocked outside the city and could not enter, but it was the leaders of the Green Sect in the city who rebelled with the nobles.

Sultan Mataram was so frightened that he withdrew with his troops to the eastern city. As a result, the aristocratic landlords in the east also rebelled, and the rebel armies began to encircle and suppress the Sultan's army.

Twenty years ago, Ma Dalan could raise an army of 100,000, but now it has declined into this appearance.

Before the puppet sultan of Mataran died, three sultans appeared in the rebel army. The three rebel sultans, all of whom came from the aristocratic landlord class, all said that they were orthodox members of the Mataran royal family. It is estimated that after they have destroyed the puppet sultan, they will have to fight a few more battles until someone wins the final victory.

In addition, the Han rebel army in Semarang actually produced a sultan who seemed to want to establish a city-state in Semarang. Of course, he is only called the Sultan internally, and the Governor of China externally.

On the Palembang side, the Dutch fleet came back, and the Indian Ocean Fleet was also there, with more than 30 large and small warships, trying to attack the Han port.

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