In fact, the naval fleet led by Xu Huoqing set off ahead of schedule on December 19 and did not stay in Manila for long - the remaining more than 3,000 Han people in Manila have been fully armed and managed by Xu Yucheng, and the Zheng family's naval fleet will arrive in a few days, and the sea cargo ships carrying a large number of Han immigrants may come faster, so there is no need for the Xu family's naval fleet to continue to stay.

The information sent by Batavia that "Du Wenqiang has been captured, come to help quickly" was received by the fleet on the way, so it had to speed up and move forward at full speed, but fortunately it did not encounter a major storm along the way.

As for the naval battle that broke out in the Gulf of Batavia, there is nothing to say about the process, and it can only be described as 'no suspense, no challenge'.

Because in terms of ship performance, whether it is speed, firepower, defense, communication command, Xujiazhuang's steam ironclad warships occupy an absolute crushing advantage.

Another raid launched at night disrupted Van Galen's tactical set-up.

In terms of intelligence, Du Wenqiang and other intelligence infiltrators have already reported the news and have been able to know themselves and their opponents.

So no matter what aspect it was, the naval fleet led by Xu Huoqing had no chance of losing, and even destroyed all the other party's ships without even a single shell, fighting a war with zero casualties.

After the Marines landed successfully and the Dutch colonial authorities surrendered, they took control of everything in Batavia.

Xu Huoqing then stepped on the dock with his leather boots in the attitude of a victor, and entered the city with his head held high.

……

Governor's Palace, in the Council Hall.

Xu Huoqing saw Anthony Van Diemen, the governor of Batavia, who was standing in front of him with a dejected and depressed face, and he handed a golden cane symbolizing power to Xu Huoqing and said: "Your Excellency, you have won, you have won everything here, we accept this defeat, but, out of the tolerance of the victors, please allow me to make a small request." ”

With the help of Su Minggang's translation, after knowing the meaning of his words.

Xu Huoqing asked, "What is the request, you say." ”

Anthony van Diemen said: "We have the right to continue doing business in Batavia, we are willing to spend money to rent the trading station, we are willing to pay you taxes, and promise not to take any armed retaliation, we are merchants, exactly the same as Xujiazhuang, merchants who only want to make money, please do not deprive us of the right to do legitimate business." "The Dutch East India Company is about to go bankrupt, and he is likely to face accountability and severe punishment from the board of directors, but even so, he has to do everything possible to reduce the losses, recover the negative impact of the failure, and try to get some good terms.

"I personally have no objection to your request in principle, Xu Jiazhuang is willing to do business with everyone, but ......"

Xu Huoqing shook his head and said: "I'm just a soldier, I can't make up my mind about this kind of thing, I have to ask the headquarters what it means, I can only promise to give you an answer as soon as possible." ”

"And how long do I have to wait?" Anthony asked, a month, or two months?

"Three days, maybe only one or two days, our communication efficiency is very fast."

"Okay, I'm willing to wait for a reply!"

Anthony Van Diemen's brain flashed with electric light, and his eyes flashed, and he suddenly realized that Xujiazhuang's communication technology was extremely advanced, and it may reach the level of thousands of miles in a day, unbelievable, unbelievable, if the Dutch East India Company could also master this technology, how good would it be? As long as he can get this one skill, it is worth losing ten batavias, it is a lot of money, enough to offset all his accountability.

So this made him more determined to stay in the mind, even if he would suffer a certain amount of hardship, even if he would be treated unkindly, he had to improve his understanding of Xujiazhuang, find a way to get more information, and he must not go back in disgrace.

……

The next day.

Through the wireless telegraph, Harbour City sent a reply, and it was a personal instruction from the owner, mainly three:

First, Dutch people are allowed to continue to do business legally in Batavia, but they do not speak Chinese, they can only stay for a maximum of six months, and those who fail to do so will face fines and deportation.

Second, the military strength of the Dutch was not allowed to appear in the east, and individuals were not allowed to carry any weapons, and once violated, the Xu family army could be killed and destroyed immediately.

Third, focus on Anthony van Diemmen, who is not a simple person, but a top talent, handsome.

"The owner of the village is unpredictable again, according to what his old man said, it is right."

Xu Huoqing nodded secretly.

In the afternoon of the same day, he told Anthony Van Diemen about his reply, saying that this was the attitude of the top management of Xujiazhuang.

"Okay, I agree to all of these terms, no problem."

Unexpectedly, in the face of so many harsh conditions, Anthony nodded and agreed without thinking, acting like an excellent defeater, and began to worship Su Minggang as a teacher on the same day, and followed him to learn Chinese.

But Xu Huoqing didn't have the heart to pay attention to him anymore.

December 26, early in the morning.

After only a short rest for two days, I replenished a batch of water, vegetables and fuel.

The Xu family naval fleet that stayed in the bay of Batalia, all six steam ironclad warships, carrying 1,500 marines, set off again and headed straight for the Portuguese-controlled city of Malacca - as for the newly taken Batavia, the 1,500 marines left behind, plus the tens of thousands of Han laborers who had been quickly armed under Du Wenqiang's control, could completely control the city.

And in the bay.

Count Van Galen, who survived the naval battle, has now become a fisherman who has to control a small boat to fish in order to support himself, and when he saw the six steam ironclad warships spitting ash smoke and speeding away, his face turned extremely pale, and he muttered: "It's over, the era of sailing ships is over, and this world no longer belongs to us, but must belong to Xujiazhuang." ”

……

As the Portuguese colonial center in the East, Malacca is not far from Batavia.

The Xu family's naval fleet sailed at full speed for two days and nights.

On the morning of the 28th, they entered the Strait of Malacca, arrived outside the port of Malacca, and aimed their guns at the ships in the harbor, ready to open fire at any time.

But to the surprise of Xu Huoqing and others, when these six sailless and strange ships in iron armor blocked the port, they had not opened fire and sunk any targets, and after a panic, the Portuguese in the city quickly raised the white flag and took the initiative to send a Han envoy to express their willingness to surrender.

"Why did it come down? Will there be fraud in this? Liang Yuntao, the captain of the Yangwei, said in the middle of the communication channel, feeling not quite convinced.

"Commander, what are we going to do?" Zhang Tie, the captain of the Corpse Mountain, asked.

"Accept their surrender first, send five hundred marines ashore to receive them, and be on high alert." Xu Huoqing thought for a while.

"Yes!"

……

Soon, in the city of Malacca.

In front of the marines of the Xu Jiajun, all the Portuguese soldiers handed over their weapons, and the governor Alonso Fernández, a bald middle-aged man, also handed over the city defense map and other materials with a smile, and his surrender attitude was very sincere, and he even felt a little looking forward to this moment.

Only then did Xu Huoqing and others confirm that the Portuguese wanted to surrender and did not have any tricks.

So they also landed on the shore and entered the centuries-old city of Malacca.

Inside the Doge's Palace.

Xu Huoqing had to ask the doubts in his heart and said: "I see that there are several gunboats in your port, and there are hundreds of soldiers in the city, why did you surrender without a fight, so weak?" ”

Translated by a translator.

Governor Alonso Fernández blushed when asked, and said: "Resistance is a dead end, there is no chance of victory, what can you do if you don't surrender?" ”

For such a reasonable answer, Xu Huoqing was speechless and had no way to refute it.

In fact, Xu Huoqing is not very clear that among the Western countries, although there are powerful colonial empires such as Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, there are also small countries such as Portugal, which belong to the weakest link among the Western powers.

Although Portugal also had many colonies overseas and grabbed a lot of resources and wealth, it did not become stronger, but became weaker and weaker.

Because Portugal's European mainland was annexed by Spain in 1580, it is equivalent to being a dead country, and whether it is Portugal's population, economy, military or technological strength, it is a very weak existence, in the face of the Netherlands, Britain and other sea powers, its overseas colonies have been decreasing and shrinking over the years, and can only focus on Brazil in South America.

As for a colony like Malacca, even if it controls the key sea lanes, it is not capable of operating, but it attacks each other with the local Kingdom of Johor and Aceh, and falls into a triangular war.

Therefore, even if the Xu naval fleet did not attack, the Portuguese would have already had the idea of abandoning this place.

Now that Xujiazhuang has come to take over, Governor Alonso has a feeling of relief, not to mention, but also to make a request: "There is a saying in the Ming people that 'those who know the times are Junjie', General Xu, you see that we are so knowledgeable about the times, give up such a good site, give away a piece of land for free, let us set up a trading station here, right?" In the future, it is not too much for Chinese businessmen to enjoy tax exemption, right? General Xu, we are already your friends, I am so generous to you, as a friend, should you also be generous? ”

Seeing this shy, smiling, and familiar look of the strange governor who made no unseen demands.

Xu Huoqing felt quite speechless, didn't the colonists all be murderous, only obedient and unreasonable, how could such a strange thing come out?