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  Chapter 705 702 [Outrageous Johor soldiers]

  The Dutch defenders in Malacca really only have 180 people, and this situation is normal.

  There are thousands of Dutch defenders in Taiwan, which is very outrageous. The reason is that there are often indigenous rebellions in Taiwan, and the local Han people in Taiwan are also very tough, which led to the Netherlands having to increase its garrison one after another.

  Besides Batavia, other colonial cities in the Netherlands have a limit of 180 people, and the remaining castles only have 30 to 50 people.

  Think about how big the Netherlands is, with that poor population, and more than 10,000 merchant ships sailing around the world to colonize the world, how many Dutch people are left?

  The same is true for the United Kingdom, which has set up 28 offices in India, and there are only more than 90 employees in total...

   "Chen Erxun, an overseas Han citizen, meet Angel!"

   "Get up."

  Chen Erxun is a Chinese leader in Malacca. He has been breeding here for two hundred years. It is rare that he has not mixed blood yet.

  Ordinary Chinese don’t have this ability, at most one or two generations of mixed blood, and often marry Malay women as wives. This kind of mixed-race offspring is also called Nyonya, and its full name is "Baba Nyonya". The mixed-race man is called Baba (Baba), and the mixed-race woman is called Nyonya.

  Chen Erxun actually did not welcome Kuang Hong as an uninvited guest.

  Because the Han Chinese and Han Chinese in Malacca are mixed, they have achieved a high degree of autonomy and have not been discriminated against. Instead, they are the upper race here—second only to the Dutch.

   This is what they fought for.

  During the rule of the Malacca Sultanate, the Han people were oppressed. When the Portuguese came, the Han people not only provided the architectural drawings of the palace (castle), but also formed an army to help Portugal fight the war.

   Later, Portugal also began to exploit the Han people, and the Han people in Malacca helped the Netherlands fight the war.

  The Netherlands has ruled Malacca for less than ten years, and its strength is very weak. It has not had time to turn against the Han people. Instead, it has to rely on the Han people in all aspects. Therefore, the tax amount of the Han people here is very light, and the relationship with the Dutch colonists is very good.

  For Chen Erxun, the Chinese leader in Malacca, the Chinese army is the real invader, breaking their beautiful and rich life!

  Chen Erxun asked: "Master Angel wants to capture Malacca?"

   Kuang Hong didn’t give the answer directly, but asked with a smile: “Otherwise, why would I bring troops here? Tell me, how many defenders are there.”

  Chen Erxun secretly complained, but his arms couldn't twist his thighs, so he could only cooperate in order not to be implicated, and replied: "Less than 200."

  Kuang Hong’s eyes lit up when he heard this. This guy is very young and he only thinks about doing meritorious service. That’s why he forced the Governor of the Netherlands to sign the contract. He didn't intend to actually take Malacca, but if there are not many defenders, why not take it?

   What a great achievement!

   Moreover, due to the disastrous defeat of the Dutch fleet last year, although the number of warships has recovered, most of them are armed merchant ships temporarily recruited, and they dare not fight the Datong Navy at sea.

  Such a good opportunity, you must seize it!

   Kuang Hong returned to the naval ship and discussed with the naval commander Hong Xu: "General Hong, I haven't fought much. There are less than 200 defenders in the castle. How can I defeat him?"

   Hong Xu said: "I observed the castle with a telescope, and asked a few local people. There is no other way. The soldiers climbed around by boat, climbed up the city wall and entered."

  The Malacca castle is very disgusting, it was built by the Portuguese.

  It was built on the protruding part of the mouth of the river, with the sea on the southeast, west and three sides, and a mountain on the north side. After more than 100 years of expansion by the Portuguese, the outer walls of the castle became longer and longer, directly connecting with the mountains.

   If there are more than a thousand defenders inside, Hong Xu will definitely turn around and leave, and it is impossible for tens of thousands of troops to attack by force.

  However, the Dutch defenders only have more than a hundred, and they can't care about the long outer city walls.

  At least, the outer fortifications of the castle can be easily taken down.

   "Then get ready to fight!" Kuang Hong said.

  In the surrounding area of ​​Malacca, there are not many other things, and the woods and bamboo forests are endless. The Dutch colonists even complained: Malacca’s land has nothing but jungles.

  In fact, food was grown here before. After the establishment of the Malacca Sultanate, marine trade was developed in an all-round way, regardless of the agricultural development outside the city. Over time, agriculture has degraded, with fewer farmlands and more woods and swamps.

   After the Portuguese and Dutch colonists came, this situation became more obvious.

  The Netherlands even only manages the urban area, handing over all the land outside the city to the landlords, and only collects a small symbolic agricultural tax every year.

  Chen Erxun is a landlord (and businessman) who usually lives in the city and sends his slaves to the countryside to collect rent. He often laments that there are too few Han Chinese here, all of them are concentrated in the city, and the Malay natives don't know how to farm, so it would be a waste of land to be left unused.

  As a result, Malacca cannot be self-sufficient in food, and has to buy and ship it from other places every year.

  The Malay natives gathered outside the city were sent by Kuang Hong to cut down trees at this moment, and the boundless forest was cut down casually. After the trees were cut back, the craftsmen in the city were asked to make siege equipment and a large number of disposable wooden boats.

   Inside the castle.

  Rep. Sanders muttered to himself: "Will we have reinforcements?"

  Army Commander Hendrick said: "Even if there are reinforcements, it may be difficult to defend until then."

   Between the colonies, reinforcements are sent to each other, and the time is often measured in months.

  The closest Dutch colony to Malacca is Batavia. There used to be nearly 2,000 troops there, but many ships sank last year, and now only a little over 1,000 are left. The other few are all in India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The average number of defenders in each colonial stronghold is no more than a hundred, and it is not enough to gather 500 people if they are all pulled over for rescue.

   "Damn Van der Lin, he shouldn't have angered the Chinese!" Sanders was furious.

  He is a member of the Council of the East India Company, one of the bigwigs, but he is usually stationed in Malacca, and his own representatives are also present at the usual parliamentary meetings. Malacca is rich in oil and water, and Sanders managed to get this job, but before he got enough, he was attacked by the Chinese.

  Judging someone's fortune is like killing one's parents.

   Sanders does not hate the Chinese, but instead hates Governor Van der Lin.

   "If there is enough food, are you sure you can keep it?" Sanders asked.

   Hendrick said: "The outer city wall is too big. With our current strength, it is impossible to defend it. However, 180 people can still defend the core area of ​​the castle."

  Sanders said: "At critical times, abandon the outer city walls and stick to the castle to wait for reinforcements."

   "Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

   A bell rings outside the castle, which is a signal of an enemy attack.

  Sanders immediately ran out and boarded the outer wall to check the situation. I saw hundreds of small boats paddling across the sea from the southeast to the west, all of which were disposable small wooden boats, which looked more formal than wooden rafts. There is no need for city defense artillery bombardment, and it is possible that a wave will overturn it.

   "Fire!"

   "Boom boom boom!"

   Both sides are firing, and the ships of the Datong Navy are constantly cruising, shooting towards the outer walls of the Malacca Castle. The city defense artillery of Malacca fired at the boats in the sea.

   Often when a shell hits, it is still two or three meters away from the boat, and the splashing waves will overturn the boat.

   It doesn’t matter if it overturns, everyone can swim, just take the boat and swim back.

  At this time, if the artillery wants to directly hit the sparse boats, the difficulty is similar to winning the lottery.

  In fact, it was all a feint, and the boats were all hired Malays!

  These Malay aborigines are not even eligible to live in urban areas, and live like dogs on weekdays. Just give them some food, and they can make them work hard. When Portugal attacked Malacca, it hired thousands of natives at one time.

  The Dutch fired for a long time at this time. Although the waves overturned countless boats, they only smashed and drowned more than 20 natives.

  Although Kuang Hong has never fought a war, he has read military books and learned some military theory.

   Let the natives row boats to feint, firstly consume the shells of the Dutch defenders, and secondly paralyze the Dutch defenders.

   For several days in a row, the natives continued to row and attack. Every time they were hundreds of meters away from the outer city wall, the aborigines couldn't hold on to the artillery fire and retreated, rowing their boats and quickly escaped from the range.

  The Dutch paid for shells, while Kuang Hong only paid for food.

  He went to sea this time to do trade by the way, and earned a lot of gold and silver. These gold and silver can also be used to buy food from the nearby countries of Wandan and Johor, so there is no need to worry about the problem of insufficient military food.

   Gradually, the Dutch artillery became numb, and fired at small boats at sea every day. Other Dutch defenders played counting lice while listening to the sound of cannons, and complained about the decline in the quality of food, and the worst thing was that they could not go to the city to find women.

  North of the city, Mount St. Paul.

  5,730 Seven-Nation Allied Forces, plus 1,000 Datong Navy soldiers, have all carried light bamboo ladders up the mountain.

  They hide in the dense forests in the mountains and will not be discovered by the defenders.

  The defenders were attracted by the feint at sea, and there were only 30 Dutch soldiers on the north side of the mountain. Moreover, after days of feints at sea, the spirit of the Dutch soldiers on the backing side has become a little slack.

   "Enemy attack!"

  Thousands of people approached the city wall in the woods, but they were only discovered tens of meters away. Moreover, someone on the attacking side accidentally slipped and rolled down the hillside, causing the movement to attract the attention of the defenders.

  There are no artillery on the city wall here.

  Because it is facing the hillside and woods, the shells cannot bounce, and the effect of shooting is not much different from shooting directly.

   "Bang bang bang!"

  30 Dutch defenders fired at the woods indiscriminately, and dozens of Johor soldiers ran away in fright when they heard the gunshots.

   It’s no wonder that Johor was beaten and moved to its capital several times. These Johor soldiers all held matchlock guns, and everyone wore leather armor. As a result, some people fled when they met each other.

   "Come on!"

  Datong Navy soldiers saw their signs of exposure, and immediately rushed down the hillside, and some simply slid down the hillside.

   "First comer rewards!"

  Among the seven-nation coalition forces, the Siamese prince Narai was the bravest, leading his army to charge with a spear in hand.

  His two consultant friends are also fierce.

  Yang Dongkui carried a Chinese-style waist knife, Hua Erkang carried a Western-style long sword, and followed behind Na Lai, shouting excitedly. The two regarded war as an adventure game.

   "Bang bang bang!"

  As the distance got closer, the Dutch muskets shot more accurately.

   Of the 3,000 Johor soldiers, only a dozen were actually killed, but they turned and fled one by one. But this is a hillside, it's easy to get down, but it takes a lot of effort to climb up. In fact, it's safer to charge forward.

   On the contrary, it is a few small countries, sandwiched between "big countries" on weekdays, and the soldiers' fighting will is much stronger.

  Kuang Hong was standing on the top of the mountain watching the battle. Seeing the situation, he cursed angrily: "Damn it, what kind of stupid soldiers are in this Johor country? This is their former capital, and they don't know how to go all out to get back to their old place!"

  When the Datong navy soldiers and Siamese soldiers rushed to build ladders outside the city wall, the 3,000 Johor soldiers had all collapsed, and it was the Johor prince who took the lead in escaping.

   No wonder there are very few Dutch defenders in Malacca, because the surrounding area of ​​the Malacca colony is all the territory of Johor.

  Faced with such garbage soldiers, how could the Dutch colonists station heavy troops for defense?

  (end of this chapter)