At six o'clock in the morning on July 1, 1793, after a day of rest, the two companies of the Hoi An camp advanced towards Langasbetong under the cover of two armored vehicles. Halfway through, they collided with a cavalry regiment sent by VOC, with a population of more than 1,200.

What surprised the people in the Huian camp was that although these cavalry were wearing VOC blue and red uniforms, they were wrapped in a headscarf like a millstone, and a red cloth strap was tied on them.

"What's the head of these guys? It looks very heavy."

"You ask me who I'll ask! Stop talking nonsense, just fight!"

The cavalry on the opposite side were also startled. The roar of the armored vehicles made the war horses under their crotch extremely restless. They tried to figure out what the two "green-skinned monsters" were like big boxes. Before these guys could start attacking, the rain of bullets from the Hui'an camp hit the head and faced. The machine guns in the two armored vehicles were like two charged whips, waving wildly in the horse team, wantonly harvesting every life, whether it was a man or a horse.

The cavalry had never seen this before. They were so scared that they urinated and turned their horses and ran away, not even obeying the officer's orders. They stopped until they retreated two kilometers away. Under the high reward from the Dutch officers, several cavalrymen plucked up their courage to come back to reconnaissance. When they confirmed that the North Navy had only more than 200 people, their restless hearts became restless again, and then they gathered teams to launch an attack again.

The cavalry did not hesitate this time. They raised their scimitars and surrounded the roads and fields, shouting and charging. However, after only a dozen minutes, these guys who were barefoot with the "mill disc" were educated by the bloody reality, and left behind more than 200 casualties again. They were chased by the people in the Hoi Camp and fled in scattered like rabbits.

After a brief interrogation of a Dutch officer injured by falling horses, the people from Hoi Camp realized that they encountered a group of Marbar people from India, a group of Tamils ​​from South India.

What are the Tamils? Although the Chinese soldiers in the Huian camp were born and raised in Annan and had seen many maritime merchants, they had never heard of them.

Compared with the French and British East India Company, the Dutch East India Company did not recruit many local soldiers in India before. If the Northern Navy had not been too strong, VOC would never have spent money to recruit a group of local soldiers from India as cannon fodder. In the war to conquer Ceylon, the Dutch believed that the Indian soldiers not only performed poorly in marching, but also lacked discipline and cowardly in combat.

This group of arrogant Dutch people really don’t have a B-digit score in their hearts. They only have a salary of 4.5 gulf a month and don’t pay pensions. Which mercenary is willing to work hard for them!

Look at the British East India Company, most of the more than 70,000 troops are Indians. Moreover, with the improvement of individual combat effectiveness, the British became a little nervous and kept mixing sand in it to balance different races.

As a commercial company, VOC is definitely a typical representative of "using people to move forward, not backward" in the use of mercenaries. Whenever a war is about to start, it will rush to form a temporary field force, but once the war is over, it will be fired immediately. This system is definitely not a good employer for mercenaries. In addition, it is because of temporary formation, poor officers, hasty training and extremely low treatment, which makes the VOC troops very low in combat effectiveness; even if someone realizes that it needs to change, it is too late to go.

Behind the Huian Camp, the four battalions of the minion army set off under the leadership of He Xiwen after having a warm breakfast. However, it is remarkable that in addition to more than 3,000 logistics supplies teams composed of more than 3,000 Chinese in Bacheng, there were more than 1,000 ordinary people in Tangerang City. They spontaneously drove their horses and carried the loads and helped carry supplies. The Regent had already taken his son to the Bacheng Military Control Commission yesterday and expressed his loyalty to Zhao Xin.

The reason for this situation is that after He Xiwen entered the city the day before yesterday, he first asked the Chinese who knew Javanese to inform the people of the whole city to cancel all kinds of tycoons and miscellaneous taxes and to cancel the forced cultivation of coffee. The news spread, and the whole city was thundering, and the order in the city quickly settled down.

You should know that because the Dutch used troops to Bacheng, the fiscal expenditure was extremely huge. In order to fully tap the potential of war and make the vassal sultanates obedient, Overstratten also took a variety of measures to continue to weaken and deprive the feudal privileges of these lords and make them lose the power and will to resist.

For example, in the three vassal states of Banten, Yogyakarta and Thoreau, feudal aristocrats who served as administrative officials at all levels could only serve as loyalty to the governor and appointed officials. The power of the country was firmly controlled by the Dutch, and all official duties and policies did not require the consent of the Sultan.

Secondly, at the expense of reducing the rice planting area, we continued to expand forced coffee planting to make high profits. In order to monopolize industry and commerce, Overstratten prohibited feudal aristocratic officials in the colonial area from operating industry and commerce, and did not allow them to hire village labor under any excuses.

Another thing is to increase taxation projects for various vassal states and directly affiliated territories, from more than twenty to more than thirty, which made people everywhere complain and the burden was increasingly increasing. Not only did the small amount of goods carried by ordinary people have to pay taxes when passing the checkpoint, but local officials from the local states also had to pay taxes for the tribute to the palace. The tax-bearing officials hired by the Dutch can search the officials, their entourages and families at will. The most bizarre thing is that even holding children through the checkpoints must pay the so-called "butt tax".

Seeing that the siege and interception were not completed, Overstratten used another second move and quickly sent an envoy to request negotiations, saying that VOC was an old resident and old friend of the people of Java, and was "peace-loving" and could divide Java with Beihai Town. However, He Xiwen didn't even take this trick. After hearing the translator, he didn't even read the letter and just tore it to pieces. The Dutch was so angry that his face turned pale, but he could only go back in shame to reply.

One day at noon, He Xiwen led his army to two kilometers east of the Urong River. Then, under the cover of the combat troops, the Chinese workers of the baggage team started the work of building a camp leisurely. The whole process was like a performance, which made the enemy troops who came to reconnaissance stunned.

The Chinese workers first took tools such as ropes, plumbs, polygonal rulers and levelers to measure at the selected locations, and then used white lime powder to draw the camp wall, tent area, material area, sentry tower, gate, trench and other locations on the ground.

After all this, forty minutes had passed. More than 200 construction workers who had been resting for a long time began to remove the explosion-proof wall units folded into flat-shaped slabs from one carriage after another. After opening it, they were neatly arranged in the position of the camp wall, and then connected them with the iron buckles on it. These explosion-proof wall units are one meter five high, one meter long, and sixty centimeters thick, and the exterior walls of the camp are composed of two groups of upper and lower units.

At the same time, hundreds of other workers took the head of the iron picks and dug soil from the trench marked two meters and five meters wide by lime, then put it into the prepared sack. Another wave of people carried the sacks on their shoulders and put them into the iron frame of the explosion-proof wall, stacked them and compacted them.

These Chinese workers have participated in the construction of the outer positions of Bacheng, so they are very skilled in using explosion-proof walls to build field fortifications. They use 500 people in one shift, and rotate once every half an hour. With the assistance of the people of Tangerang City who followed, each person can fill 20 explosion-proof units per hour. In addition, for example, the whistle towers are built with steel pipes. After laying the foundation, the ground part is directly connected with fasteners, and then wooden sandbags are laid.

While the civilians were busy, the minion army sent two platoons to be responsible for drinking water in the camp. There was no need to worry about this at all. There was a clear river a mile away from the back of the camp. The water I got was filled with a few tiny pieces of steel bone sewn with cowhide and was easily folded into a 200-liter water tank, and then a purifier was placed, and it was disinfected for 30 minutes to drink.

Two hours later, a square camp with a total area of ​​16,000 square meters was already in its shape, and the soil was taken into account, and the locations where the soil was taken became a trench more than one meter deep.

Overstratten, who was inspecting the front line of the Urong River, received a report from the scouts and was shocked. He and his senior officers knew very well that once the enemy was allowed to stand on the other side, it would not be so easy to drive them away. According to the scouts' reports, the number of enemy troops on the other side was around 4,000, so now we must immediately dispatch heavy troops to attack the unstable enemy and catch them off guard.

After some discussion with his subordinates on the map, Overstratten decided to divide the five regiments into two north and south wings, and enter the opposite shore from two pontoon bridges on the Urong River. The two regiments on the left wing north and carried out feint attacks, and the three regiments on the right wing south and went around to the rear of the North Navy to launch a main attack. To this end, he appointed two senior officers to lead two groups of troops from north and south, namely Major General Decoral and Major General Van der Gus.

The Dutch troops were secretly gathered on the west bank of the Urong River, and the Northern Navy knew it. This was not a drone, but a Rapini team lurking on the other side notified him. There were no mountains here in Langarsbetong, all of which were plains and hills, so the signal from the walkie-talkie was easily received.

Although the enemy dispatched a large number of people, He Xiwen did not intend to stick to it. Now he had to buy time for the camp construction, otherwise it would be even more troublesome after dark. So he ordered the two battalions of the minion army to dispatch and let an armored vehicle go together to provide artillery support.

He always remembered that Zhao Xin's instructions to him before leaving the command center were to use the VOC army as whetstones for the servants in this battle. If even a group of miscellaneous mercenaries could not win, how could India fight against the British and Maratha coalition forces?

After ordering, five minutes later, two battalions had already formed four columns in the open space outside the north gate of the camp. A rifle lined up like black sticks, looking murderous. After the team began to move, the platoon leaders, including Quan Baocai, rode their horses and ran forward and backward from time to time, checking their formation.

The officer in charge of commanding these two battalions was named Hu De, a native of Henan, and he was also the battalion commander of Quan Baocai.

Half an hour later, the team trotted to an open land one kilometer north of the camp. Three hundred meters to the left was a forest, and a field to the north, which was a good battlefield.

After selecting a good position, the infantry quickly dug the soil with the engineer shovels he carried with him, and then took sacks from the carriage that followed behind, and began to build chest wall fortifications.

Four 12-pound cannons were placed on a gentle slope fifty meters behind the infantry line. The gunners led their horses to stop the cannon carts, and first leveled the land of each cannon position with tools. After pushing the cannon carts to the cannon position, they were able to pull the ammunition carts to twenty meters behind the cannon position in an orderly manner. A hundred meters behind them, the grass-green armored carts stopped motionless, but the roar of the engine gave all the soldiers present confidence to win.

Not all troops were as quick as the North Navy in this year, and VOC's troops were even more so. The North Navy's chest wall was halfway through, and the cavalry under Van der Gus began to walk onto the pontoon bridge.

When Hood received the notice from the walkie-talkie, he took out the pocket watch he bought in Bacheng and looked at the time. At three o'clock in the afternoon, he immediately ordered a platoon of scattered soldiers to go out and attract the enemy.

Well, Hu De thought that since the commander wanted a head-on battle to train these soldiers, this battle must be fought, and even if there were casualties, the problem would not be big.

After a while, when the soldiers of the minions began to take their positions behind the chest wall, a burst of gunfire sounds suddenly came from the woods a mile away in the left front. The scattered soldiers had already exchanged fire with the enemy.

More than ten minutes later, the guys who were stragglers ran out of the woods with guns, waving their hats constantly. Behind them, the figures of VOC soldiers riding on horses gradually appeared. Along the north, a large group of people wearing red and blue military uniforms surged out of the woods.

"Fire into that wood!"

With Hood's order, a twelve-pound cannon roared, and a black blasting bomb flew out of the raised gun mouth, passed over the infantry queue, and then landed on the edge of the woods seven hundred meters away. Flying shrapnel made the leaves whizz. Soon, the enemy stopped eight hundred meters away, and they began to line up, not far behind them, several eight-pound cannon cars parked.

"Quan Baocai!" Hu De rode on his horse to where Quan Baocai was, pointed to the woods on the left and said, "Take your platoon there. If the enemy surrounds the left wing, report to me immediately."

Quan Bao was a little unhappy when he heard this. This was not a good job, but he still saluted and took 80 of his subordinates to guard the woods.

At this time, the four-pound cannons of the VOC troops on the opposite side also fired. At such a long distance, it was more like giving his own courage. Hood did not let the 30mm cannon of the armored vehicle open fire. If he fired so early, the Dutch would definitely disperse.

The appearance of the Northern Navy here made VOC Major General Vandergus, who commanded the Northern Line troops, confused. He didn't understand when the enemy came? And he even repaired the fortifications of the chest wall!

For him, the bone in front of him must be gnawed. If he can firmly attract this enemy, Decoral's actions will be easier. However, when he saw the green square box in the telescope's vision, his brows frowned.

This thing is really hard to deal with. The Marbals suffered a great loss yesterday. Although those guys were just bandits in Vandergus' eyes, he had a premonition that many people would definitely die today. But there was nothing we could do about it, and we had to grit our teeth!

He carefully observed the position arrangement of the North Navy and reaffirmed that the opponent's troops were no more than two thousand, so he decided to use a ladder attack.

The so-called "stage attack" is a common tactic used in the era of line infantry, which is actually to attack the east and west. However, this tests the commander's judgment of the battlefield situation and his ability to use troops, and has a great luck. Because the enemy will certainly be in the situation of how to allocate and mobilize troops, but by feinting one end and pressing on the other end will also reveal flaws.

As the smoke filled the gunpowder, the infantry in the VOC lineups in blue and red uniforms began to advance, and the red, white and black company flags and the yellow Württemberg military flags appeared and disappeared in the smoke. Hood could see without a telescope that the enemy was the two battalions on the left and middle roads moving first, while the right wing fell behind.

The platoon leaders of each platoon ran back behind the soldiers, warning them not to rush to shoot and listen to the signals. For some soldiers, when the platoon leader was still in a close eye, they had to keep a close eye on them. You should know that when fighting on the outer defense line of Bacheng before, some of the servant soldiers who were in battle for the first time would nervously load the bullets repeatedly, forget to shoot, and load seven or eight bullets without firing.

When the Württemberg soldiers lined up on the front line entered a hundred meters away from their chest wall with the shooting of 12-pound cannons, a long whistle sounded behind the soldiers, and the roar of the servants immediately sounded like thunder. As the sky collapsed and the earth broke, a thick white mist rose in front of Hood.

Although the shooting distance of the North Navy's rifled rifle is far longer than that of the flintlock rifle, in actual combat, except for the scattered soldiers who would shoot the officers in the enemy's ranks at a distance of 150 meters, the distance between the battle infantry fired is not far, that is, one hundred meters.

This is because if you pursue the maximum projection speed of firepower, then most soldiers only need to put the muzzle flat when firing, and fire at the enemy opposite. Then they immediately load the bullet and shoot again, and have no time to aim carefully. In addition, after basically two rounds of volleys, the thick smoke from the muzzle will make the soldiers unable to see the opposite side clearly, so they can also aim for P!

Immediately afterwards, the second row of soldiers stepped forward and another round of volleys. The soldiers in the first row were busy loading bullets, pressing bullets with all strips, and then pouring out toward the enemy again under the order of the platoon leader.

After three rounds of shooting, almost all the blue figures on the opposite side of the chest wall fell down, and only one guy holding the yellow military flag remained motionless and was still moving forward. However, a bullet soon hit him. His not tall body suddenly bent in pain, and then he knelt on the ground with his stomach covering his stomach, and the flag in his hand also fell.

At this time, Hood, who was riding on the horse, suddenly heard a very strange sound, high and sharp, and very cunning. For a moment, he thought someone around him had been shot. But he quickly understood that it was the roar of an enemy coming from the right front of the position.

Hood understood in an instant, but a platoon leader on the right wing of the position responded faster, and he shouted: "Everyone, throw the grenade!"

At the departure position of the VOC troops in the distance, Major General Van der Gus, holding a telescope, nodded with satisfaction, turned to the adjutant and said, "Send two more battalions to press forward and attack their left wing. Order the artillery to move forward."

"General, their gun range is farther than mine, and the artillery will probably go further..."
Chapter completed!