The Thousand Mask Warrior

The Fortaleza de Malaca

The port of Malacca is so dense with giant jungs, small large ships, various merchant sailboats and fishermen of various nations. Not only from the archipelago, but also abroad. The ship that Sasangka was riding on had released anchors in the harbor. Sailboats have arrived to pick up the passengers.

From the boat, Sasangka saw the mainland city of Malacca with towering hills as the backdrop of the harbor, with stone fortifications for defense visible at various angles.

This country has a port at the mouth of the river with a wall around the defensive hill which is the inner part of the city, the ocean and the river in which, right above the foothills of the defense, the, there is a square tower called Fortaleza de Malaca. Each side of the tower was 10 fathoms wide and 40 fathoms high. Strong walls of stone are seen around these hills to be able to see the movement of opponents coming from the sea.

There is a pentagon-shaped fort built at the farthest point of the cape to the southeast of the river estuary leading to the west of the Fortaleza tower. At this point two defensive walls were built that formed right angles and along the coastline. One was built along the 130 fathoms to the north towards the mouth of the river and, while the other was built along the 75 fathoms to the east, along the coastline, and ends at the city gate. The overall length of the defensive wall reaches 655 fathoms plus 10 palms less.

There are 4 gates of Malacca city fortress, namely Porta de Santiago, Gate of Excise House Plateau, Porta de Sao Domingos and Porta de Santo Antonio.

Of these four gates only two are open to the public, namely the Gate of Saint Antonio which opens the way to the residential area of Yler or Lower, and the west gate in the Customs House Plateau that opens the road to Tengkara and the market is also called the Bazaar.

Just as many cities made in the archipelago, such as Betawi, outside the city center surrounded by fortress walls, stood three villages. The first is Upe or Upih. This village is commonly called Tranqueira or Tengkera in Malay tongue, which when interpreted means 'defence wall'. Two other villages are Kampung Hilir which is referred to in the tongue of the Pranggi people as Yler, and also referred to as Tanjung Pasir and the other is Sabba.

Kampung Tengkara is the most crowded and most important settlement in Malacca because it is closest to the city inside the fort walls. The village is rectangular in shape, with a defensive wall at its northern boundary, the Strait of Malacca as its southern boundary, as well as the Malacca River called Rio de Malaca and the Fortaleza tower wall being its eastern boundary. Because of its speciality as the main residential area of Malacca city, when the war broke out, the citizens of Tengkara will be evacuated into the fortress.

The residents of Tengkara Village are divided into two regions according to the rules of division of Catholic Christians and based on ethnicity. First in the Catholic Christian area called Parish Sao Tome known as Campon Chelim or Kampung Keling, where the inhabitants are Keling people immigrants from the Kingdom of Kalingga on the coast of Koromandel Beach in Hindustan. Later, Jayaseta will be reunited with the fate of the teacher, Grandpa Keling, in this place by a need that Grandpa Keling himself is still secret from his students since at Giri Kedaton. The second area is Sao Estevao Parish also called Campon China or Kampung Cina. As the name implies, it is the Chinese who live in this village.

In this area of Kampung Tengkera houses are made of wood and roofed precarious. There is a stone bridge escorted by Pranggi soldiers and indigenous people or archipelago passing over the Malacca river, become the entrance into the Fort through the Plataran Houses of Excise. The importance of this area is also due to the commercial and trade center of Malacca is also located in Tengkera, adjacent to the beach at the mouth of the river. The commercial center is dubbed as Bazaar dos Jaos which in Malay means Pasar Orang Jawa, the, because not a few Javanese who are proficient in trading meet and are allowed to trade this place from various corners of the archipelago.

Later, he will offer cooperation with the citizens of the village of arak distillery in Sabba Sunting Village, then through the Javanese people in Pasar Orang Jawa, he will arrange the delivery of goods to be sold in the city of Malacca.

To facilitate all his affairs, the in-laws, the, writing a special message in several letters to his old colleagues and friends who live in the Kampung Cina area in the Parish area of Sao Estevao Kampung Tengkera and in the central region of Malacca, yler or Kampung Hilir, precisely in an area called Bukit Cina. It's just that, Sasangka really asked to be careful and vigilant when entering the Kampung Hilir area because it is the residence of people of Pranggi Caucasian descent.

Sasangka took a long breath. He must be ready with all the possibilities that occur, while remaining vigilant. He was at a wrong point.

This wine trade matter is extraordinarily important to his family and the future of his family. Although he did not care much about the welfare and wealth of the Chinese people in Betawi, but bringing his short-sightedness in his married life was not a wise thought. As a warrior, traveling is a reasonableness. However, he himself has decided to marry Lau Siufan, so he must be a husband who is responsible for supporting the family and respecting in-laws as well.

Babah Lau had thought carefully and dared to take the opportunity to open trade affairs with Malacca which is now increasingly hot with the Walanda government in Betawi. According to Babah Lau's estimation, in a short period of time, two or three more years, Walanda and his native allies will attack Pranggi in Malacca and will surely subdue him. When that happens, Sasangka has opened a well-ordered trade route from Betawi to Malacca through the Malay arrack-makers, Javanese traders and Chinese counterparts. It should be a challenging but organized and patterned task.

It's just, Sasangka from the beginning hated the Walanda people. Those Caucasians who made their friends killed with pain. They add to the chaos in the archipelago that has been chaotic before by the competition of power between nations and between kingdoms. Worse, they play a role by pitting sheep and taking advantage of the kisruh.

Even now, looking at the walls of the fort stretching along the hills, Sasangka had been secretly watching some people in the Javanese merchant pool who seemed busy lowering merchandise.

At first glance, they look ordinary and common. However, brave oath Sasangka had seen them in Betawi, precisely in the tavern owned by Babah Lau, his father-in-law. They are champions in Betawi who are scattered for food by devoting their fighting skills to the needs of the Walanda bule payers.

Sasangka's instincts are not wrong. A group of people who he had seen, even several times came to the Babah Lau wine shop in Betawi were indeed Walanda's government messengers. In fact, they are actually members of the Hell Earth Needle group that still leaves some of their resources that are still sold to Walanda.

The existence of Malacca and tensions between the two Caucasian countries in the archipelago will soon explode. In addition to working with the Malays on the island of Samudra, Walanda also did all possible things to disrupt Malacca and would later defeat Pranggi and drive them from Malacca.

Sasangka walked down from the sailing ship and kept a close eye on the hordes of Javanese merchant sailors whom he believed he had seen before. He tightened his headgear, coughed, wrapped the cloth around his neck and slightly raised it to cover his chin and mouth, then followed the suspicious group of people. It seems that he will bother first before going to take care of his trade this wine.