1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 401 Is it worth it?
"There are too few port berths in Pontianak Port, and a few more berths need to be added, as well as storage yards and warehouses also need to be added."

After Elvis left Pontianak and entered Dongwanlu, the old nest of Lanfang Company, Liang Yao, who was based in Pontianak, decided to spend some money on the infrastructure of Pontianak after investigation.

With his current strength, and the low level of development of Borneo Island, the transportation is inconvenient.

It is unrealistic to want to control the entire island of Borneo.

However, it is still possible to control the strongholds along the coast, use points to form lines, and use lines to form areas, and then slowly control most of the island of Borneo, especially the wealthy coastal areas.

"The Port of California has experience in expanding the Port of Jinshan, the Port of Los Angeles, and Pearl Harbor. It must be no problem for them to do this kind of thing.

It’s just that it costs a lot of money. Jinshan Port is the largest port on the West Coast, and Los Angeles has oil. Expansion of the ports in these two places can pay back in a short time.

But Pontianak has nothing. Is it worth spending money here? "

When it comes to port expansion, Deng Wenkang can't help thinking of Jinshan Port, Los Angeles Port, and Pearl Harbor.

These three ports, Jinshan Port, have already paid back their costs. After the discovery of oil in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles area has risen day by day, and it is only a matter of time before the investment in the ports will be paid back.

As for Pearl Harbor, the American Group still maintains the operation with money.

If you want to compare it, the situation of Pontianak Port is similar to that of Pearl Harbor. They are all isolated overseas, not in California, and no high-value strategic resources such as oil have been discovered for the time being.

As for rubber, it takes at least eight years for a rubber tree to mature.

Pearl Harbor is a transit point connecting California and East Asia, and it needs to be maintained, but is it necessary to spend a lot of money on construction in Pontianak?Deng Wenkang was very worried about this.

"It's worth it. If you want to achieve great things, you still have to take a long-term view." Liang Yao said, staring at the simple Pontianak Port.

"If you control Pontianak, you can hope to control the island of Borneo. If you control the island of Borneo, you can project influence to the whole of Southeast Asia. There are many Chinese in Southeast Asia. As long as we can get tough here, they will seek our protection. It is only a matter of time before the Dutch are pushed out of Southeast Asia."

"Just them? Forget it. Before Lanfang was destroyed, they quarreled over the division of the Dongwanlu gold mine. They couldn't form a bond. It would be difficult to rely on them to deal with the Dutch." Deng Wenkang shook his head and said.

"Did I ever say that I wanted to destroy Lanfang?" Liang Yao laughed. "If they unite, we won't have a chance to get involved in the affairs here. That's why I sent you here."

After all, there are only a small number of people in Lanfang Company who are willing to serve the Dutch as traitors. The purpose of Liang Yao's sending troops is not to destroy Lanfang Company, but to change the management of Lanfang Company and eliminate the traitors. Then let Umbrella Company merge Lanfang Company.

"How to deal with those captives and Dutch expatriates, although the number of them is only over [-], it is a lot of money to support them." Deng Wenkang asked Liang Yao how to deal with those captives.

"Three thousand people? I remember that we only captured seven or eight hundred Dutch sailors and soldiers? Where did more than three thousand people come from?" Liang Yao felt that this number was wrong.

"The Dutch population, including the diaspora, is only [-], but there are many native soldiers captured one after another, as many as [-]. These natives are either local pro-Dutch chieftain soldiers, or the Dutch Royal Dutch Indian Army. soldiers." Deng Wenkang reported to Liang Yaohui.

"There is a shortage of manpower to develop rubber plantations. Send them to open up wasteland. As for the Dutch, let them eat. The food expenses will be counted with the Dutch." Liang Yao said, scratching the stubble on his chin.

The local chieftain was so poor that he certainly couldn't afford to redeem people.

Of course, if they have money, they will not redeem it anywhere.

As for the prisoners of the Dutch Royal Dutch Indian Army, the European and white Dutch Indian authorities would certainly pay for their ransom.

The Dutch don't care about the life and death of those Javanese and other indigenous peoples.

Liang Yao has no shortage of excellent army personnel, but he lacks qualified naval personnel, especially experienced and qualified naval personnel.

These captured Dutch crew members are all very good crew members. If these sailors with rich sailing experience and combat experience can be won over, they can also improve their sea power in a relatively short period of time.

"With so many captives, the Dutch are willing to pay to redeem them?" Deng Wenkang was a little worried.

"Be willing, what the Netherlands lacks is not money, but people." Liang Yao said very confidently.

These are more than [-] Dutch and other European captives. Even if the Dutch and Indian authorities do not want to spend money to redeem them, the public opinion environment in the Netherlands will not agree.

"Yes, I understand." Deng Wenkang nodded in agreement.

"Any news about the nearby chiefdom?" Liang Yao asked about the local chieftain.

"I've sent people over to spread the word. Ye Tenghui said that the local natives were frightened by the Dutch power and couldn't make a decision at the moment, so they didn't dare to come to Pontianak to see you." Deng Wenkang said.

"However, the chief of the Pontianak chiefdom, Alkadri, has a more ambiguous attitude towards us, but he dare not express his position clearly, worrying that the Dutch will settle accounts after the fall."

There are many chiefdoms on the island of Borneo, but in West Borneo, the only chieftains that Liang Yao needs to deal with are the Pontianak chiefdom in the south, the Sanfa chiefdom in the north, the Xindang chiefdom in the east, and Brunei in the northeast. Chiefdom.

Except for the Brunei chiefdom whose attitude is pro-British, the rest of the chiefdoms are pro-Dutch chiefdoms.

Liang Yao wanted to maintain a relatively stable control over the West Borneo region centered on Pontianak for a long time, so he had to weaken until the influence of the Dutch and Indian authorities on these chiefdoms was eliminated.

"They are worried that the Dutch will settle accounts after the fall, so they don't worry that I will settle accounts with them now?" Liang Yao sneered.

"Give them an ultimatum, either come to Pontianak obediently to see me, or I will send the army to invite them to Pontianak, let them choose by themselves, starting from Pontianak to settle accounts with them is comparable to starting from Batavia to seek accounts from them be quick."

Krewson fled back to their lair Batavia with the remnants of the defeated generals in a hurry.

After this battle, the East Indies Fleet suffered heavy losses.

This is the biggest loss suffered by the Dutch and Indian authorities since this century.

What caused this loss was actually the private armed force of an American politician, which was unacceptable to Tevez, Governor of Batavia.

Use our naval guns to teach these yellow-skinned monkeys a lesson, and to teach the proud Americans a lesson.

This was the slogan shouted by the Dutch in Batavia before the East Indies.

With the defeat of the East Indies Fleet, the voices of Batavia were much less.

Many people believe that it was their underestimation of the enemy that led to the defeat of this naval battle.

The loss of the East Indies Fleet was not the worst news for Tevez.

Soon, an even worse news was sent to the desk of the governor's mansion.

(End of this chapter)