1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 418 Closing
"These days, there are 57000 Chinese naturalized in Pontianak alone. If East Wanlu, Luyi and other places are included, the number of Chinese eligible for naturalization should exceed 20. As for how many Chinese are there in West Borneo? It's just a bad debt, even Liu Shanbang, Wang Jia, and Ye Tenghui themselves don't know about it."

Deng Wenkang, who officially took over the government affairs of West Borneo, reported to Liang Yao the population situation of West Borneo.

After five years of war in West Borneo, although the Chinese population on the island has dropped sharply, and those who died were those who returned to their hometowns, but according to Deng Wenkang's rough estimate, there are still more than 20 Chinese who choose to stay in West Borneo.

"The registers provided by each company cannot be trusted. Everything should be done by yourself. If there is a shortage of manpower, you can ask me. It's just that the registration must be done well, and we must do it, understand?" Liang Yao Flipping through the brand new booklet provided by Deng Wenkang, he said.

The number of 20 Chinese is not a lot. As long as they digest and manage well, it is not impossible to establish a relatively stable rule in the West Borneo region, or even the entire Borneo Island.

You must know that in the entire East Indies region under the rule of the Dutch and Indian authorities, not to mention people of Dutch descent, even the settled population of European descent has not yet reached this number.

If the East Indies had a population of 20 Europeans, the Dutch and Indian authorities would not have to hire aboriginal soldiers two or three times the number of whites to form the Dutch and Indian army.

"Pontianak, California? You can figure out this household registration address." Fremont glanced at the registration book in Liang Yao's hand, and said with a smile, "These two places are tens of thousands of miles away."

According to the standard that the United States can apply for statehood with a population of 6, a population of 20 seems to be a lot in Fremont. Even if only the Chinese adult male citizens in Borneo are counted, the number must exceed 6.

"As long as we are naturalized, we will have a legitimate reason to protect West Borneo next time. Moreover, these naturalized population can also provide tax revenue." Liang Yao said.

Whether it is based on the actual situation in the United States or the current international situation, it is obviously unrealistic to immediately incorporate Borneo into the administrative division of California for direct jurisdiction.

However, as the Dutch East India Company did at the time, Liang Yao was still able to temporarily colonize the island of Borneo.

And this is also the best solution for the administrative management of the Borneo region.

It's just that Liang Yao is not satisfied with only treating the West Borneo region as a colony, but has the ambition to centralize the West Borneo region.

"By the way, third brother, the son-in-law of the Liu family has already got some news. According to more reliable news, Ye Tingfan is now hiding in Batavia, seeking the protection of the Dutch and Indian authorities." Deng Wenkang said to Liang Yao.

Liu Shoushan, the former head of Lanfang Company, and his son-in-law Ye Tingfan are the primary targets of the public trial. If these two culprits are not tried, Liang Yao's public trial campaign will be meaningless.

The whereabouts of these two people is also an issue that Liang Yao is more concerned about recently.

"Is there any news about Liu Shoushan's whereabouts?" Liang Yao asked.

"Currently there is only news about Ye Tingfan, but no news about Liu Shoushan." Deng Wenkang shook his head and said.

"Continue to inquire." Liang Yao confessed.

Compared with the Bornean Chinese who pay more attention to the public trial, investors from California, whether they are Chinese or white, have a colder attitude towards the public trial, which can be said to be rational.

Although Liang Yao sent troops to Borneo in the name of protecting overseas Chinese.

But anyone in California who has a little bit of independent thinking ability knows that Liang Yao sent troops to Borneo for the oil in the Borneo region and the potential for planting rubber.

These investors took US dollars to seek land and housing in the Pontianak area, and lined up in front of the prisoner-of-war camps to buy indigenous prisoners of war and prepare for a big fight to cultivate rubber plantations.

Some clever businessmen have even purchased rubber saplings and tree seeds in South America in advance, and shipped them to the market in Pontianak for sale, earning a fortune first.

Of course, there are also a small number of investors who think that the cycle of investing in rubber plantations is too long. It takes 6 to 8 years for a rubber tree to grow and tap.

6 to 8 years is too long for them, and these investors are more concerned about the oil news in North Borneo than the rubber business.

As a mediator, Bonham went to Batavia to mediate but did not achieve any results.

This result was also expected by Liang Yao, and Liang Yao was not surprised by it.

Since Tevez is unwilling to talk, he will fight until Tevez is willing to talk.

As some of the ships damaged in the Java Sea Battle were repaired, and armed merchant ships recruited and hired from California went into battle.

Liang Yao also had more and more chips in his hands, and he now has the ability to fight another naval battle with the East Indies Fleet of the Dutch and Indian authorities.

However, it was not Liang Yao's side who launched the counterattack from the sea first, but Krewesen led the East Indies Fleet.

Facing the offensive of the East India Fleet, Liang Yao did not intend to take the initiative to meet it, but withdrew the ships into the Kapuas River.

The estuary of the Kapuas River has already built relatively complete shore fortifications and forts.

It is a pity that these coastal fortifications and forts are not used.

Furthermore, although Liang Yao's sea power has been supplemented to a certain extent, he does not have a crushing advantage in the face of the East Indies fleet that has also completed assembly.

Liang Yao decided to use the coastal defense turrets to consume a wave of the East Indies fleet first, and then let Sven lead the fleet to engage in naval battles with the East Indies fleet.

Soon, 41 large and small ships of the East Indies Fleet flying the tricolor flag appeared at the mouth of the Kapuas River.

Krewson's mood was very complicated when he returned to this sea area. Four months ago, he had just experienced the biggest fiasco in his military career here.

Now that he is back here, he is not sure that he will get rid of the shame.

The new warships of the Umbrella company fleet left a deep impression on Klusen. Until now, Klusen clearly remembered the appearance of the new steam warship.

On the way from Batavia to Pontianak, Klusen sailed very smoothly.

Apart from encountering some pirates along the way, he did not encounter the main fleet of the Umbrella Company.

Umbrella's fleet disappeared suddenly like a ghost.

The calmer it was, the more disturbed Kreutzen became.

On the shore of the mouth of the Capuas River, Crusan looked as far as he could, and as the weather was clear, he soon saw the fort towering over the mouth of the Capuas River.

In just four months, the opponent had already built a relatively complete coastal defense fort at the mouth of the Kapuas River, which showed that Liang Yao's intervention in the Hehua War on Borneo Island was not a whim, but premeditated.

"The turrets at the estuary are professionally built, and the firepower network formed by these turrets completely blocks the mouth of the Kapuas River." Krewson said with a wry smile.

"It seems that there are professional engineers in Liang Yao's army. This battle is not easy."

Klusen's conjecture was correct. The forts and shore fortifications at the mouth of the Capuas River were designed by Fremont, and Kruger, the head of the Arizona Infantry, was responsible for supervising the construction.

Before retiring, Fremont was an officer in the American Army who was famous for surveying, mapping and fortification design, and the engineer was Fremont's old profession.

Even when Liang Yao established the engineering company, he specifically asked Fremont for advice.

Many of the officers in the Engineer Battalion of the Western Brigade have received advice from Fremont.

(End of this chapter)