I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 290 Going South

The Australian army deployed a total of 6 supply points along the Ma River.

On May 5th, a total of four supply points were attacked by Justice Company. The No. 5 supply point with the heaviest losses was completely destroyed. The Australian army lost more than 4 people on this day.

The British commander-in-chief Powell was very angry, but he had no good solution. Although the Australian army was brave, its combat effectiveness was really poor.

Since Australia became a British colony, there has never been a war and it does not even have a standing army.

The Australian troops who landed in Xiangfei City were recruited temporarily and had been trained for less than three months. Although their morale was strong, they had not been tested by war.

A force without any experience faced the mysterious rise of the Justice Company as soon as it came up. It was already good without the entire army being wiped out.

According to Powell's plan, the Australian army and the British and Indian troops must undergo rigorous training for at least half a year before they can undertake combat missions.

Justice Company's threat to the Lion City disrupted Powell's plan. The British Congress ignored the facts and kept urging Powell to launch an attack on Justice Company, which gave Justice Company a chance.

The British Parliament also had compelling reasons.

The Strait of Malacca is too important to Britain. Once the waterway is threatened, Britain's influence in East Asia will be seriously weakened.

After the "Sea Coachman", the Dutch are really getting worse from generation to generation and are on the way to becoming the "Sick Man of Europe".

Although the Straits Settlements insist that the war is not over and that the British army will come back after regrouping, the combat effectiveness of the British army has begun to be widely questioned.

Now the regular army was beaten by the bandits and was disgraced. They had no choice but to retreat to the Lion City.

The Netherlands has become a complete joke.

Although the Australian army later threw all the corpses into the Ma River and destroyed the remains, the evil deeds of the Australian army were recorded by the Australian army reporters.

The women in the village were collectively humiliated by the Australian army, and even 10-year-old girls were not spared.

The British army's attack on the Malay Peninsula did not follow the usual practice of inviting military observers, and the outside world had no idea what the outcome would be.

Xiangfei City cannot be defended even if it wants to be defended.

As the Australian army advanced along the Ma River, they came to a village called Hasumuli. The Australian army gathered the men in the village in the open space outside the village, declared them to be rebels of the Justice Company, and shot them collectively.

Although the Australian army was assembled temporarily, it was a regular army that attracted widespread attention.

The "St. Petersburg Daily News" followed up with a report, which was not only detailed in content, but also rich in pictures and texts.

Is the British army really as powerful as the British government boasts?

The British army was simply questioned.

In the Battle of Jambi, 2 Dutch troops were wiped out, the central gateway was opened, and the road to the old port was unimpeded.

At this time, relevant news about the Malay Peninsula began to appear in the newspapers.

On May 5, the French newspaper "Le Figaro" reported on the Malay War, saying that more than 20 villages and towns were destroyed by the Australian army, and all residents, men, women, old and young, were slaughtered, with the death toll exceeding 60.

The narrowest point of the Malacca Strait is only two kilometers, making it difficult for Royal Navy battleships to turn around.

A force of 3 people relied on the Lion City for supplies they consumed every day. Starting from May 5, Justice Company began shelling Xiangfei City, and the Australian army had to withdraw to the Lion City.

Justice Company was previously characterized as "robbers" by the British army.

No one expected that Britain's massive counterinsurgency would end in such an anticlimactic way.

When photos of piles of corpses appeared in newspapers, the well-dressed British gentlemen finally took off their civilized disguises, and their demonic nature was revealed.

The British had to urgently mobilize troops from major colonies around the world to reinforce the Lion City, and the Australian troops who had penetrated deep into the interior of the Malay Peninsula also had to withdraw and stick to Xiangfei City.

The Dutch East Indies government was forced to withdraw the Dutch troops from Aceh and Lansa, strengthen the defense of the old port, and attack and defend the foreign positions.

During the Third Aceh War, the old port was attacked by the Lansha Sultanate. All the senior officials appointed by the East Indian government were looted and the entire city was looted.

After two years of recuperation, Old Port had just regained some of its vitality and faced the threat of war again.

The impact of the fall of Jambi was extremely serious. Before the troops of the Aceh Sultanate reached the Old Port, the Old Port and white and wealthy people fled one after another, and Batavia was also affected.

In order to increase public support for the war in the past two years, the Dutch East Indies government conducted a lot of demonizing propaganda against the Aceh Sultanate.

According to the propaganda of the Dutch East Indies colonial government, the Aceh Sultanate was cruel and ruthless, burning, looting, and killing everything it went.

Especially against white people, the Aceh Sultanate's methods were extremely cruel, and what they did was even worse than what the British army did in the Malay Peninsula.

Such propaganda did play a certain role. White people throughout East India supported the East Indian government's attack on the Aceh Sultanate.

But the side effects are also great.

If the East Indian government can successfully strangle the Aceh Sultanate, then everything will be easy to say.

Once the war does not go smoothly, the backlash of demonizing propaganda will come.

Now all the white people in East India know that once the Aceh Sultanate captures the old port, all the properties of the white people in the old port will be confiscated, and the people will either be driven away or disappear.

Therefore, after the fall of Jambi, it was difficult to get a ticket from the Old Port to the Lion City, and everyone rushed to escape.

The amazing thing is that some white East Indians did not go to the Lion City or the Netherlands, but went to Vladivostok.

Although Vladivostok has never recognized its relationship with the Sultanate of Aceh, everyone knows that the Sultanate of Aceh is supported by Vladivostok behind the scenes.

Lion City had just been bombarded by Justice Company some time ago, and might one day be besieged by Justice Company, so even going to Lion City could not completely eliminate the threat of war.

Even fewer people go back to the Netherlands.

The white people living in the colonies chose to live in the colonies because they could not survive in their own countries. For them, the mother country was a completely unfamiliar country. So when traveling around East Asia, white people are actually the safest in Vladivostok.

Unfortunately, Vladivostok’s attitude towards immigrants is no longer as accepting as it once was.

Vladivostok still needs immigrants, but only high-quality immigrants.

For those international vagabonds who had no choice but to go to Vladivostok, George refused.

"This group of people is good for nothing. The reason why they can survive in East India is not because of how smart and capable they are, or how hard-working they are, but because they become a privileged class in East India because of their skin color. Unless they are very rich, they can never settle in Amur."

The only thing that George does not reject is investment immigration.

Although the white people in the colonies are hateful, it is undeniable that many white families who have been operating in the colonies for generations are indeed really rich.

If you are really worthless, you won't be able to get ahead even in East India. There are poor white people everywhere. If you get into trouble, you may be buried alive by the local natives.

Prices in Vladivostok are indeed very low for the necessities necessary to maintain life.

But if you pursue a higher standard of living, prices in Vladivostok are very high.

Yuriev Mountain, where Yuriev Palace is located, is not open to the public.

If a wealthy person wants to own a mansion on the hillside overlooking Vladivostok, he can buy a piece of land on Yusupov Hill where Yusupov Palace is located and build it himself.

Whatever you want to build can be built.

Even if a winter palace is built, Amur officials will not care.

Therefore, the price of land on Yusupov Hill is very expensive, comparable to the price of land in the center of St. Petersburg.

There's nothing we can do about it.

Although the Amur Governorate is large, there is not much land suitable for development.

George also has to devote a large portion of the area to ensuring food security in Amur, so there is even less land available for development.

As the population of Amur increased, Mikhail finally set his sights on the land on the south bank of the Amur River.

Across the Amur River lies the Qing Empire.

A little further down is Goryeo.

Mikhail was still very cautious and did not provoke the Qing Empire as soon as he came up. Instead, he sent people to develop the Goryeo land on the other side of Amur.

Gaozong and Concubine Min were overjoyed with Amur's investment. The closer the economic ties between Amur and Goryeo, the safer Gaozong and Concubine Min would be.

Last winter Gojong asked Amul to help Goryeo train more troops.

With a stroke of his pen, George decided to increase the number of Goryeo troops to 2.

This decision was not made on a whim. George understood the role of the military too well.

The role of the military is not just to fight.

In terms of infrastructure construction and engineering development, the organization and discipline possessed by the military will achieve twice the result with half the effort. It is not only low-cost, but also effective.

The camp built by the Amur Military District for the new Korean army is located in Korea on the other side of the Amur River.

So the new army began to develop the land around the camp in an orderly manner after training.

For ordinary people, opening up wasteland is a very difficult task.

For the army, clearing land could not be easier.

Vladivostok cars sell well all over the world.

Naturally, George will not ignore the role of agricultural machinery.

The first tractor appeared in 1856.

However, tractors at that time were driven by steam engines, which were heavy, expensive, and inconvenient to operate. One tractor required several people to operate.

The Vladivostok Automobile Plant launched a tractor based on an internal combustion engine the year before last.

Different from the tractor in George's impression, the tractor in Vladivostok only has two front wheels and one rear wheel, and the steering is entirely controlled by the rear wheel. Although the power of 4 horses is not high, it is enough for plowing.

George attached great importance to agricultural machinery and established a separate tractor factory to produce 1000 tractors annually.

Tractors are not only needed by Amur, but also by new immigrants from Siberia.

George refused to sell tractors to Siberia. George would not sell tractors to other countries until Amur's needs were met.

Although the tractor is not sold to the outside world, the technology is not blocked.

George has provided tractor-related technology to the Empire's Ministry of Agriculture. If the Empire really wants to promote tractors, it can organize production on its own.

Unfortunately, two full years have passed, and the empire has no intention of setting up a factory to produce tractors.

You can't blame George.

(End of this chapter)