The castle in Palembang is rudimentary, built of rammed earth and is still being reinforced.

On the east coast of India, the Netherlands gathered more than 600 armies and more than 3,000 Indian native soldiers. Converge the South Sea and Indian Ocean fleets, and slaughter them mightily, trying to take Palembang by surprise.

However, they passed through the Strait of Malacca halfway, how could the Chinese army not receive the news?

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The ship's guns continued to bombard the rammed earth castle, and even fired at the pier, but the pier was deadly silent, and there was no panic at all.

The commander of the Navy, Balthazar Burt, immediately realized that something was wrong and ordered: "Evacuate immediately, the Chinese are prepared!" ”

More than thirty Dutch ships, carrying reinforcements, headed north and did not leave the Strait of Malacca. They bypassed Bangka Island and headed for the southwest coast of Kalimantan, where they landed in their vassal state of Suqadana, forcing the Sultan to send immediate food and fresh water supplies.

Only six hours after the Dutch fleet left Palembang, the Chinese fleet came in and pounced.

The Chinese fleet immediately pursued and pursued all the way to Suqadana. The result was still a no-brainer, and the Dutch fleet had already left, knowing only that it was heading southeast.

Balthazar Bert had planned to go to Semarang to land and let the reinforcements from India join up with the Mataran reinforcements, and then go together to support Batavia. Who knew that when they arrived in Semarang, they were greeted by shelling.

At the head of the city is the Datong Rising Dragon Flag, and there is also a makeshift green flag.

The city of Semarang is very magical, there is a Zheng He Temple built in the city, a completely Chinese Taoist style, in addition to worshipping Zheng He and worshipping Mazu. At the same time, there were mosques and Catholic churches, but because of the uprising during this time, the Catholic churches have been burned down. On the hills outside the city, there is the Buddhist Borobudur Pagoda, and further afield there are even remnants of Hindu temples.

The Han Chinese had completely occupied the city, and the three major families of Zheng, Wang, and Ma temporarily united to rule Semarang.

Many Han people have changed their surnames, the surname Zheng claims to be a descendant of Zheng He, and the surname Wang claims to be a descendant of Wang Jinghong (Zheng He's deputy eunuch), so the surname Ma does not need to explain anything.

The city was in shambles, large neighborhoods were burned, not a single European was left dead, and even a handful of Arabs were killed by mistake.

Zheng Yongshou was wearing leather armor from nowhere, standing at the head of the city with his hand on the hilt of his sword, and roared angrily: "Quickly close the city gate, the people outside the city, go around the city and hide in the countryside in the south!" ”

Balthazar Bert's face was depressed, and he scolded the Sultan of Madaran countless times in his heart.

This puppet sultan is really muddy and can't hold up the wall. The Netherlands had already helped suppress the rebellion, and it had only been two years, and the rebels had grown big again.

The Sultan's army in Mataram had to pass through Semarang if they wanted to support Batavia. If Semarang is not taken, the Mataran reinforcements will not be able to come out, and the Dutchman's intention to gather troops is tantamount to bankruptcy - Balthazar Bert does not know that Mataran has already rebelled.

"Go east!"

Balthazar Bert gave the order, and the Dutch fleet did not sail directly to Batavia, but went in the opposite direction.

About two hours after the Dutch fleet left, the Chinese fleet came after it.

The envoy landed in a dinghy, revealed his identity, and was immediately invited into the city by Zheng Yongshou.

The messenger asked: "Where did the Dutch go?" ”

Zheng Yongshou said: "East. ”

"Farewell!" The messenger turned and left.

Zheng Yongshou hurriedly said: "Your Excellency is slow, you will set yourself up as the governor under the Lord, Semarang is willing to return to the Heavenly Empire, and ask your Excellency to help deliver the news." ”

"I know that you should defend the city, and don't let the Dutch break it." The messenger left in a hurry.

Zheng Yongshou finally showed a smile on his face, the governor was saying to the imperial court, what he really wanted to do was the sultan. There are many city-state type sultanates in Nanyang, and he has no plans to expand his territory, just owning Semarang and the surrounding villages and towns, because the Han people only have so much room to live.

The Han people of Semarang, although they believe in the Green Religion, belong to the modified Green Religion. They still retain the tradition of worshipping ancestors, still insist on sacrificing Zheng He, and also retain the belief in Mazu. In addition, there are also academies and Yixue, and the teaching is Confucianism. Even, Buddhism is also mixed in, believing in reincarnation.

What kind of religion is this?

The Chinese fleet did not continue the pursuit, but returned to the seas near Batavia. No matter where the Dutch fleet goes, it will go over to support, just wait for the rabbit.

But it was said that the Dutch fleet, after leaving Semarang, went straight to the port of Surabaya (Surabaya).

Just by listening to the name "Surabaya", you know that there must be Han people.

When Zheng He went to the West, according to the Javanese name, it was transliterated as "Sulu Mayi". More and more Han people multiplied here, and felt that the place name was too awkward, so it was reduced to "Silimu". Because the port is connected to a river, the cultural people among the Han people simply named the river Surabaya, and the city was named Surabaya City and Surabaya Port.

The Dutch fleet sailed here, and Balthazar Bert looked at the flag at the head of the city, and instantly fell into despair again.

The Javanese landowners, aristocrats, religious leaders, and the Han people of Surabaya joined forces to capture the city. The Europeans and the officials sent by the Sultan were slaughtered by the rebels. They could not stand the rule of the Sultan, the taxes were too high, and they could not stand the Dutch preaching everywhere.

The Dutch fleet could only continue eastward, soon coming to the waters of Bali.

Can't beat Semarang and Surabaya Port, and can't beat the Balinese natives?

The Dutch fleet frantically bombarded the royal city, the Dutch army landed with Indian soldiers, captured the city in two hours, and the sultan fled with the royal family and his relatives.

After some burning and looting, and getting some fresh water and food, the Dutch fleet circled Batavia from the south coast of Java.

Passing through the waters of Banten on the way, the Banten navy did not dare to resist and allowed the Dutch fleet to swagger past. But the Dutch reinforcements did not dare to land near Batavia, and the fleet sailed close to the coast, allowing the army to go ashore dozens of miles in advance, and marched all the way to support the governor.

"My lord, the bandits of Banten are burning everywhere in the countryside!"

Outside Batavia, Liu Hanyi received an unexpected message.

The Kingdom of Banten, which had been adopted as a vassal by China, not only did not send troops to help, but took the opportunity to loot Han farms. This was often done in the past, the Han landlords provided grain for the Netherlands, and it was normal for the Banten Kingdom to loot Han farms, but now it is different.

There is no way to hold them accountable afterwards, and even if China were to pursue it, the Sultan of Banten could blame the thieves for not being the regular army that looted the Han farms.

The war was fought in disarray, and the Dutch vassal state was fighting a civil war everywhere. And Bandan, a vassal state of China, came to take advantage of the fire to rob the Han manor, and did not know how to write dead characters at all.

After Liu Hanyi discussed with Tie Hong, he said to Zhang Xianzhong: "You take people to drive away the bandits in Wandan!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong immediately led his troops to rush there, and after marching about 20 miles, he saw that large areas of farmland had been burned down, and some bandits from Banten were driving livestock.

"Kill!"

These bandits of Banten, in groups of thirty or fifty people, scattered around the countryside to rob things.

Since the Han people were helping to besiege the city, all that remained were old and weak women and children and slaves. They were no match for the bandits of Banten, and they had no choice but to flee, which made the bandits even more unscrupulous, and they didn't even bother to send men to sentry.

Zhang Xianzhong gave an order, and the four hundred ronins drew their swords and rushed out, and the fastest ones ran the fastest.

The local Han rebels under his command, in order to protect their homeland, also rushed and killed like crazy, and did not lag behind those ronins.

Only the peasant soldiers brought by Zhang Xianzhong from Taiwan, in a group of five and a team of ten, have always maintained their formation, and they are not as chaotic as other rebels.

The same is true when it comes to fighting, the ronin and the local Han people are all brave by blood, and the Taiwanese peasants and soldiers know how to cooperate with each other.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't bother to do it himself, and more than 20 robbers in front of him were killed. He simply divided his army into three more teams, one to the west, one to the south, and one to the east, and pursued the robbers who scattered and plundered.

"The end of the hero, grandpa, what kind of miscellaneous things am I fighting with?" Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but sigh.

After two days of pursuit, the various units returned to assemble, and two local Han Chinese were killed, and the rest were not killed. The bandits were killed by more than 200 bandits, and the rest fled with their looted goods.

Zhang Xianzhong collected his troops and rushed back to Batavia and continued to follow the siege.

The food in the city will be less and less if you eat it, and it will bottom out in a few days. The castle of the Dutch, on the other hand, refused to take out a grain of rice.

Suddenly, wolf smoke ignited in the west, and the sentinels spotted Dutch reinforcements on foot.

Tie Hong ordered: "The Johor soldiers continue to garrison the south of the city, the Datong army will all move to the southwest of the city, and Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang will lead the righteous army to the west of the city." Remember, don't let enemy reinforcements into the city. If there are many reinforcements, lead them to the southwest of the city, and I will lead the army to intercept and outflank them. ”

Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang were happy, and finally had a decent fight.

Governor Rainiers, after seeing the wolf smoke, also realized that Indian reinforcements were coming. He was very torn about whether to continue to hold out or cooperate with friendly forces to fight out of the city.

Commander Clapp was called to discuss, and Clapp said, "Leave three hundred troops to defend the castle." The rest of the army, with the militia, went out of the city to fight. The number of enemies is not very large, and with reinforcements may be able to win. Once defeated, immediately retreat to the castle. Even if you don't go out of the city to fight, there will not be enough food in the city, and those Javanese, Indians and Arabs will have to give up sooner or later. It is better to let them go out of the city to fight the Chinese and cause more casualties to the Chinese army. ”

"Okay, just fight like this, I'll stay at the castle." Rainiers immediately agreed.

Even if the troops outside died, he led three hundred soldiers to defend the castle, and he could hold it for a year or two until the food ran out.

Inside and outside the city, troops are being mobilized.

The hot air balloon rises again to observe the trajectory of the Dutch troops.

Zhang Xianzhong, who originally led his troops to the west of the city, saw that there was movement in the city, and immediately ran to Tie Hong in person: "General Tie, if you can't fight during the day, you can attack and capture the city at night tonight." ”

Tie Hong didn't understand: "Why take the city tonight?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong explained: "When the enemy's reinforcements arrived, they thought about how to cooperate with each other to fight, and thought that our goal was to send reinforcements, but they definitely didn't expect us to attack and capture the city at night. Tonight's city wall must be the most lax! ”

Tie Hong scratched his head, and finally cleared his mind for a long time, nodded and said, "Then take the city tonight." ”

Zhang Xianzhong continued: "You can first make a noise in the west of the city, and pretend that we are fighting with enemy reinforcements in the west of the city. The attention of the defenders in the city has been attracted to the west of the city, and it is even possible to go out of the city to help. At this time, we quietly ambushed our troops in the east of the city. The eastern part of the city is the most difficult to fight, with the most city gates, enemy platforms, and forts, and it is absolutely impossible to imagine that we will attack the city from there! ”

Tie Hong said convincingly: "You are still good at fighting, and you deserve to be the leader of the thieves." ”

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