If it was only the vacancy left by Cohen's death that caused infighting among the top leaders of the East India Company, it was not enough to shock Roger, after all, Cohen's illness was not a secret to Haihan, and the power dispute that would be caused by it was also a change that the intelligence department could expect. To Roger's surprise, the Sultanate of Matalan, also on the island of Java, reacted immediately by sending a large army to attack the area around Batavia.

Founded in 1586, the Green Cult has risen rapidly in Southeast Asia, expanding its territory several times over the past 20 years since Radin Langsang came to power in 1613. At present, the state of Mataran has unified the central and eastern parts of Java and occupied the eastern part of Sumatra and the southern part of Kalimantan. In other words, the Dutch occupation of Batavia and the surrounding area in West Java has become the only obstacle that prevents the map of Mataran from being connected.

In terms of area alone, the territory of Mataran is dozens of times larger than that of the East India Company on the island of Java. Naturally, the rulers of Mataram would not sit idly by and watch the city of Batavia in their future territory, so in 1628 and 1629, Raden Langsang personally led his army to attack Batavia twice.

However, Lang Sang soon discovered that the fat in their eyes was actually a hard bone that could break teeth. The Dutch and their native soldiers, under the command of Governor Cohen, stubbornly put up a stubborn resistance to the Mataran army. Despite the difference in strength between the two sides by nearly ten times, the Dutch, with their more advanced armament and fortifications, were able to withstand the opponent's crowd tactics. Although Lang Sang was able to bear the combat losses of his personnel, the sea transportation capacity under his command was unable to provide stable logistical supplies to the army, so that the two sieges failed to hold out until the defenders in the city ran out of ammunition and food, and his own army had to retreat due to insufficient food and grass supplies.

Of course, the two offensives of the Matalan Kingdom were not without gains, and although the city of Batavia was defended, the losses of the East India Company were very huge. Almost all the cash crop plantations near the city of Batavia were destroyed by the enemy, and the port facilities were also very badly damaged. In order to avoid it, Cohen had to order some of the ships to go to other colonial strongholds to take refuge and not engage in a head-to-head battle with the fleet of the Mataran Nation.

And in the original history, Cohen died suddenly in Batavia at the age of 43 during the second siege of the city by the Mataran army. Although he was able to survive in this time and space due to the butterfly effect caused by the Haihan Crossing Operation, so that the Mataran Kingdom did not use any more reckless warfare in the past two years, there is no doubt that Lang Sang and his subjects are always waiting for the next opportunity to go to war.

Judging from the speed of the Mataran country's dispatch this time, Roger believes that these Javanese natives have either been ready for war and have never relaxed, or they just want to seize this golden opportunity to catch the Dutch by surprise. If it is the latter, then the preparations for the war of the Mada Blue Country will probably not be very sufficient, and it is difficult to say whether they can achieve the results they want. But if the former is the case, then there is a real possibility that the city of Batavia, which is currently in the midst of civil strife, will be captured.

As a third-party bystander, Haihan will of course hope that the two fight as fiercely as possible, after all, no matter which side wins in the end, it will still be Haihan's contender for control of the key shipping lanes in South Asia, especially the Sunda Strait. If its strength can be consumed through war, whether it is Roger or the Haihan Executive Committee, they will definitely be happy to see it. However, there are still more than 600 nautical miles between Batavia and the Ambuna Islands, the southernmost part of the Haihankong District, and it is very difficult to obtain accurate information in the first place. It's so far away that you can't see the excitement even if you want to.

Roger left the person with the letter and interrogated him in detail for a long time, and the information he got was only fragmentary information, with limited reference value. However, he still did not dare to slack off, and immediately went to the confidential room of the headquarters and personally sent a telegram to Sanya to explain the situation.

However, the base camp also had no effective solution to this situation, and could only immediately notify the Ministry of Shipping, so that the Ministry of Shipping could come forward to warn the foreign merchant ships that had recently entered and exited the port not to go south to Batavia during this time, so as not to be drawn into the war.

There was only an armistice between the Haihan and the East India Company, but there were no formal diplomatic relations, and the only public contact was probably the slave trade at the port of Ambuna. Therefore, there was no official source from the East India Company in the Sanya base camp, and the Executive Committee could only urgently summon Hao Wanqing of the Ministry of Security to ask him if there was any other way to know about the situation in Batavia.

Hao Wanqing received the news later than the Executive Committee, and the telegram sent from the port of Anbula was first sent to the General Office of the Executive Committee, and then copied to the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of Security, and other units. So when he rushed to Fort Victory to be consulted by the Executive Committee, there was actually no information for the members of the Executive Committee to refer to.

"At present, all I can say to you is one word - wait!" Hao Wanqing also had a helpless expression: "The Ministry of Security does have intelligence personnel in Batavia, but if the local area is surrounded by the army of the Madaran Country, then it will be difficult for our people to get out of the chaos." ”

"You mean, maybe we won't know what happened in Batavia until the war is over?" Yan Chujie asked with some dissatisfaction.

Hao Wanqing was unimpressed by his tone, and nodded calmly in response: "Although I don't want to admit it, the current situation is true. If the city of Batavia has been blocked, then we can only wait for the Mataran country to retreat, or wait for the city of Batavia to be broken. In addition, I would like to remind Mr. Yan that before knowing the situation in Batavia, it is best not to send armed forces to intervene lightly, Matalan is not a weak chicken regime, the territory of this country is about the same size as Annam, and it is more belligerent than the Annamite people. ”

Yan Chujie shook his head slightly and said: "The military will not intervene in the war between the Dutch and the monkeys of South Asia, but we must find a way to grasp the changes in the local situation." Besides, it's not just our military that cares about the situation in Batavia. Mr. Shi, you said yes, right?"

Schneider replied with a smile: "You don't have to rush to drag me into the water, even if you don't mention it, I will say it." If Batavia is conquered by the Mataran Kingdom, it will not only affect the Dutch, but also the pattern of trade between the East and the West. Even if the Matalan country fails to win in the end, as long as the strength of the Dutch is weakened, the situation in South Asia may change again. This is an opportunity, but also a test. If the Dutch decline, then we have the opportunity to intervene in the trading circles of the Java Sea, sell our industrial products to the region, and gradually promote the trading system and financial system that we dominate. ”

"With all due respect, dealing with the Ma Da Lan Kingdom is probably much more troublesome than Annan and Daming. Don't forget, it was a theocratic and religious green regime. Ning Qi also opened his mouth to join in the discussion: "I am not here to discuss the teachings of the Green Religion, but to remind you that this kind of theocratic regime rises and falls quickly. In its original history, by the end of the century, the country of Mataran had become a vassal of the Dutch. The time for the real prosperity of this country is only a short twenty or thirty years at this stage. ”

"You mean, Matalan isn't a suitable regime to be an ally?" Tao Donglai asked.

"From what we know about history, this is a nouveau riche who has been rich for no more than three generations. Ninzaki described it succinctly: "From the first establishment of the regime of Sultan Suta Wichaya Senapati, to the succession of Mas Zorang, to the current leader of the army against Batavia Raden Langsang, the country seems to be getting stronger and stronger, but in fact it has reached the peak of this regime." The rest of history was almost downhill until the 18th century, when the Dutch split into two small and defenseless states. ”

Ning Qi did not go any further, none of these people here are novices, and they have been sitting in the position of ruler for so many years, so they naturally understand all kinds of taboos and places that need to be paid attention to in diplomacy. If a regime is too short in existence and changes its leaders too frequently, it will inevitably lead to a lack of continuity in its policies, which is the most troublesome thing for any diplomat.

Although the opponents of this regime are also opponents of the Haihan, this does not mean that "the enemy of the enemy is the friend" situation, for the green religion of the Matalan country, the Haihan people are essentially no different from the Dutch, the same inherently evil heretics. If Haihan were to try to find an anti-Dutch ally in South Asia, Mataran would not be a suitable choice. In terms of diplomatic difficulty, it may be more difficult to deal with than the East India Company, at least the East India Company is run by merchants, and the basic spirit of contract is still there. In the world of the Green Religion, there is only a distinction between the same believers and the infidels, and the others can be regarded as nothing.

After listening to Ning Qi's introduction, Schneider really retreated a little: "If this is really the situation you said, then we really need to think about what kind of attitude we should use to treat Mada Languo." ”

"The situation in Mataran can be discussed later, so let's get back to business first. Tao Donglai saw that he was starting to crook the building again, so he quickly pulled the topic back again: "Minister Hao, please give the Executive Committee a brief explanation of the current deployment of the Ministry of Security in Batavia. ”

Hao Wanqing nodded and said, "Okay! But for the sake of secrecy, I won't disclose the specific personal information of the local intelligence officers here......"

The Ministry of Security sent intelligence officers to Batavia a few years ago, when it had already sent some intelligence officers to the local area under the guò of Zhan's ship company and other maritime merchants between Daming and Batavia. However, for security reasons, the Ministry of Security did not station traversers in the local area, nor did it allocate artifacts such as power stations to the local intelligence agencies. The main activity of intelligence officers in the local area has always been to silently collect intelligence, and the ships returning to Daming from the local area regularly bring back written reports.

The Ministry of Security's intelligence-gathering work in Batavia has not done anything remarkable, but last year's campaign to seize the Ambuna Islands was made on the basis of intelligence sent back from the local area in the early decision-making stage. The military speculated that the Dutch could not react too quickly, so they dared to continue to intercept the Dutch ships docked in the port as pirates after seizing the island, and it was not until two months later that the Dutch realized that something was wrong, and at this time, the Haihan militia had basically completed the local cleanup, and even had the spare strength to build some fortifications, which played a significant role in the subsequent battle to resist the Dutch armed counterattack.

At present, the Ministry of Security has set up two intelligence lines in Batavia, each of which can continue to operate even if one of them has an accident. So far, there are 11 people working for the Haihan Security Department in Batavia, and there are also more than 40 non-Haihan peripheral personnel recruited by the intelligence officers in the local area. Together, these people form Haihan's local intelligence network, which transmits various local intelligence to Sanya at an average frequency of once a month.

The information that arrived at the port of Ambuna a few days ago also came from the intelligence network of the Ministry of Security. However, the person in charge of delivering the message was only a peripheral person, and when he left Batavia, the local port had not yet been blockaded by the army of the Mataran country, so there was no useful information to provide about the future of the war. The rest of the intelligence officers are basically in Batavia, and if the city is besieged, it will be really difficult to transmit information again.

"Can't we try to convey information like training carrier pigeons?" asked Becks, "at least where there are no radios." ”

"Yes, but you have to take into account the actual situation on the ground. Hao Wanqing explained: "The direct distance from Batavia to the port of Ambuna is more than 1,100 kilometers, and almost the whole journey is at sea, which is a very difficult journey for the carrier pigeons. In addition, the training of carrier pigeons generally requires many repeated releases, and our local intelligence point is in the city of Batavia, and it is easy to arouse suspicion when releasing pigeons from time to time. In addition, from the point of view of the reliability of the transmission of information, its practical pigeon may not be as reliable as the manual transmission. ”