I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 369 Please, go quickly

The Royal Navy is indeed powerful, with 21 battleships and 44 cruisers, alone in the world, leaving other countries far behind.

Compared with the Navy, the British Army is indeed lackluster and has no impressive record.

This is actually normal.

Battleships rely on accumulation. If we build two this year and two next year, we will naturally have a numerical advantage.

The British Army has a history of betraying the king, and once sent the British King to the guillotine. Therefore, the British Army is not even allowed to use the "royal", and it is not even considered as a stepmother, but can only be regarded as a concubine.

The British standing army has a small number and is unable to launch foreign wars. It can only be recruited temporarily when needed.

Moreover, Britain does not have a group like the Cossacks, who are always ready to fight for the Tsar from birth. There is really nothing to brag about, so they can only take out the Gurkhas and brag about them.

Even if the Gurkhas were as brave and good at fighting as the British boasted, their population was always a flaw, and there was a huge gap between them and the Cossacks, who totaled millions.

When the Russian Empire counted its population last year, the total number of Cossacks exceeded 500 million for the first time.

The British Expeditionary Force in the Cape Colony was recruited on a temporary basis. Many of them had never received military training before. After entering the army, they were hastily trained for a month or two. They were hurriedly sent to the front line without even firing live ammunition a few times. You deserve to be beaten like this.

This caused protests from the Kingdom of Sarawak.

In order to fight against the Dutch, Bo Ni introduced British influence. Unexpectedly, the British Raja James Brooke established the Kingdom of Sarawak in 1841 and became independent from Bo Ni.

Since the North Borneo Company had handed over all its power in Sabah to the East India Company, this matter went round and round and the East India Company was actually responsible.

Marco took the initiative to fight back.

Marco can recruit troops, but London must bear the military expenses. The reason is that Sabah is financially bankrupt and unable to pay military expenses.

Marco asked the Asian fleet to go to the North Borneo Company to ask for money. The East India Company would not bear any historical debts of the North Borneo Company.

Bo Ni was still a country in name only, and the Sudan existed in name only. Even the succession to the throne was decided by the British. The North Borneo Company was ultimately responsible for conscription.

After the Russian Empire changed its equipment, the Berdan rifle was eliminated and has not been sold out until now.

The East India Company only took over power but did not assume debts, which was strongly protested by the Kingdom of Sarawak.

"If you do not assume the debts of the North Borneo Company, then the Kingdom of Sarawak reserves the right to use any means to safeguard its own interests."

Following the resignation of General Buller, Frederick Roberts was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force and Herbert Kitchener appointed Chief of Staff, and Britain continued to recruit additional troops to the Cape from colonies around the world.

The governor of Sarawak, Zach Weber, threatens Marco with war.

Not only did the Asiatic Fleet not lose money, but it also demanded that the East India Company pay the North Borneo Company's arrears for military expenses.

After the smokeless gunpowder was stabilized, the British army began to replace the Lee Enfield rifle. Previously, the British army's standard weapon was the Martini-Henry.

Unlike the unprofitable East Indies, London was determined to win the Rand gold mines.

"I was just looking for you. Why do the Singkawang rebels use Martini-Henry rifles?"

Regarding the damage caused by the Asiatic Fleet sailors in Xena, the East India Company also initiated a claim against the Asiatic Fleet, requiring the Asiatic Fleet to compensate the East India Company and Xena for their losses.

Although the British Army was weak, Martini-Henry's equipment was large, and the British inventory numbered millions.

The North Borneo Company previously had three debts with the Kingdom of Sarawak, totaling approximately £40 including interest.

As a British protectorate, Bo Ni also received orders to mobilize troops to fight in the Cape.

The same is true in the UK. After switching to Lee Enfield, a large number of Martini Henrys entered the market.

Singkawang is a territory of the East India Company. About half a month ago, the East India Company seized a batch of British-produced Martini-Henry rifles in Singkawang. This situation attracted Marco's attention.

"I asked me, who should I ask?"

Zach Weber denies it.

Marco laughed heartily. Everyone else was wagging their fingers, but he was wagging his robotic hand.

"No, no, no, this is not the right way to deal with Russians. Are you sure you want to give me this answer?"

Marco's smile seemed particularly ferocious to Weber.

Weber thought for a moment and answered seriously: "I really don't know——"

Marco was indifferent, attached a short sword to the mechanical hand, and slashed hard at the table in front of him, directly cutting the table in half.

"wrong answer!"

The war between the natives of East India was more tragic than the war between the British and the Boers.

The name Singkawang seems to be related to Japan at first glance, but in fact it has nothing to do with the Japanese.

The name Singkawang was given by the Chinese. When the Hakkas came here, they saw mountains, ports and oceans here, so they named this place Singkawang.

There are many Chinese living in Singkawang, accounting for more than half of the total population. Therefore, the rebellion in Singkawang was not serious compared with other areas in East India. Therefore, Singkawang became the first city actually controlled by the East India Company.

The rifles captured by the East India Company at Singkawang came from Kuching, the capital of the Kingdom of Sarawak.

Kuching means cat in Malay, so Kuching is also called the "Cat City".

Although Sarawak is nominally independent, it has actually become a British colony, and most of its officials are British.

Unlike the reckless North Borneo Company, after the East India Company took over Singkawang, Sarawak not only did not provoke border provocations, but also actively restrained Sarawakians to avoid conflicts with the East India Company. There are a total of 200 Martini rifles in this batch from Kuching. The shipper and receiver are commercial companies registered in France.

This does not exonerate Sarawak, and is suspected of deliberately creating conflicts between Russia and France.

After Weber left Sena, the rifles returned to Sarawak.

On December 12, a post on the Sarawak border was attacked by rebels. All 26 Sarawak soldiers were killed, including a British commander.

Weber came to Xana again and asked the East Indian government to restrain the rebels in the territory.

"If a rebel obeys the restraints, are he still a rebel?"

Marco sneered, rebellion is a double-edged sword, it can hurt others as well as yourself.

If East Indies were still a Dutch colony, rebellion would indeed be the most effective way to control the Dutch East Indies government.

There are eighty, if not one hundred, rebellions that break out every year in the Russian Empire. They have long been commonplace.

The East India Company did not care about losses. Not only did it not stop the melee between the indigenous tribes, but it also made profits by selling weapons. If there was no gold, it could pay for it in other ways.

On Wen Island alone, the population flowing in through the war has exceeded 2.

The war caused great losses to Kalimantan. When the Netherlands sold East India to George, there were more than 20 relatively large tribes in Kalimantan alone.

Now only four remain.

The most powerful tribe is no longer the Mullah. The Mullah was injured in October this year and died of inflammation of the wound. His tribe has been annexed by other tribes.

"And why do you think the rebels are from East India and not from Sarawak?"

Marco continues to land punches.

Weber's face turned pale. The little gangster finally met the big gangster.

It's easy to make a gangster surrender, just beat him painfully.

That's the problem.

The Kingdom of Sarawak gained its independent status with the help of the Royal Navy.

The so-called Brooke dynasty is completely a puppet of the United Kingdom and has almost no strength of its own.

When the Royal Navy was at its peak, the Kingdom of Sarawak used the rebellion of East India and Bo Ni many times to expand its territory rapidly. The Dutch and Bo Ni could not defeat the Royal Navy and retreated steadily.

Now the opponents of the Kingdom of Sarawak have changed, and their offense and defense are in different positions.

At this time, if the Kingdom of Sarawak wants peace, it depends on whether the East India Company agrees.

Britain was mired in the Boer War, and the Royal Navy now had no regard for Sarawak.

Weber also wanted to take advantage of the Royal Navy: "If you dare to go against the Royal Navy, the only outcome will be death!"

"Please, go to London and ask the Royal Navy to come over and kill all the East Indians. Do you know how many peasants in the Russian Empire have no land?"

Marco laughed. It was a joke to threaten the Russians with this.

The East India Company is recruiting immigrants from Amur to develop East India. As long as they are willing to come to East India, each person will receive one hundred acres of land, which will be cashed immediately.

This time it is really not a lie, I will give it as promised.

Of course there are conditions.

If the land given to newcomers was not developed within five years, the East India Company had the right to take it back.

Moreover, those plantations that have been fully developed will not be given to new immigrants. The East India Company will operate them themselves.

If you want to acquire fully developed plantations, you can buy them according to the East India Company's valuation.

Although the conditions are somewhat harsh, there are still many people willing to come to East India.

100 dessians is 1635 acres. Even if only one-tenth of such a large area can be developed within five years, it will be enough for a family to live without worries.

This place in East India is rich in products. Planting some fruit trees and catching fish can provide enough food and clothing for the whole family.

If you are lucky enough to find an uninhabited island, you can still work as an island master.

"You - how could you do this -"

Weber's face turned pale, and he finally realized what level his opponent was.

Britain itself was underpopulated and had to rely on colonial populations to fully benefit.

At this time in 1900, the Russian Empire had 1.3 million people, accounting for about 8% of the world's total population——

Therefore, Britain's attempt to threaten the East India Company with the population of East India not only failed to achieve any effect, but also exposed the hollow nature of Britain.

On the contrary, Sarawak's population has now become the weakness of the Kingdom of Sarawak.

If there are no people in Sarawak, can the Kingdom of Sarawak attract enough people from the British mainland to fill Sarawak?
Don’t be ridiculous, the British prefer to go to the United States, Canada, or Australia, no one wants to come to Sarawak at all.

(End of this chapter)