The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 141 Immigration Growth
british castle
Feng Guohui led a large number of troops across the fortress and meandered forward. When passing by the open river beach not far ahead, his eyes couldn't help but look at the mountains and forests on one side.

At first glance, this mountain range seems nothing special.

It is just a relatively gentle mountain ridge with a wide ridge and an upward slope of more than 50 degrees. Like the surrounding area, it is lush with shrubs and full of green.

Actually

This was a trap that had been heavily invested. Almost all of the lush forest located in the middle and lower parts of the mountain top had been sawed off by the roots, and a large amount of the sawed wood was abandoned nearby in the valley.

A small part was used to fill in the hollows on the hillside.

After clearing these forest obstacles, large dry vines and iron wires were used to weave a large takraw ball with a diameter of two to three meters. Gunpowder was installed in a large jar, and it was stuffed with various iron nails, iron scraps and other items. The mud mouth is tightly sealed.

Inside each large sepak takraw ball, there are also four small jars of fire oil placed at a relatively close position.

Then when the big takraw balls roll down the hillside, these small altars will shatter due to the impact of external forces, thus pouring more fire oil on the big takraw balls, making the burning more intense.

There are more than a hundred large takraw balls fixed high on the top of the mountain, all fixed with ropes. As long as one of them is cut, the big takraw balls will slide down from the height.

To prevent these big takraw balls from sliding down from the top of the mountain after the ropes rot.

The Semarang Division has occupied Pekalongan. As a result, the Nanyang Army's power continues to expand forward, basically taking 80% of Central Java into its hands.

Feng Guohui also did not expect that with the joint operation of the Semarang Division and the Sail Fleet, the Northern Army, the main force of the Dutch colonial army, would be directly annihilated, showing a one-sided massacre.

The original plan was to hold on here for two to three months, and then give the Dutch army a heavy blow. Depending on the specific battle situation, whether to take advantage of the victory and pursue it, or to abandon the Belisi Fortress and retreat to Dahe Fort to prepare for a decisive battle.

Its function is to consume a large amount of the Henan Army's effective strength, weaken its edge, and win a situation favorable to the Nanyang Army for the final decisive battle.

The main force of the white colonial army was wiped out in World War I. The victory of the Semarang Division greatly boosted the confidence of the Nanyang Army. Everyone was rejoicing from top to bottom. Many officers and soldiers shouted "Kill to Bandung" and "Occupy Batavia". slogan.

In this expedition, Feng Guohui planned to capture Salatiga and Kraden County, 79 kilometers to the southwest, and capture all three important towns in the hinterland of Central Java.

A battalion was dispatched to this secret project, which continued to work hard for half a month before it was completed.

The remaining areas are only a few areas such as Belik, which are still under the control of the Dutch army. They are also key areas where the white colonial army is stationed, confronting the Nanyang Army dozens of kilometers away.

If you had to tell him this beforehand, it would be like a heavenly book. He would not believe it no matter what.

The battalion that was originally under construction had been transferred back to Tieshan Town for rest and recuperation after the news of the glorious victory in the Battle of the Gulf came, and a silence order was issued.

In Tieshan Town, no news can be spread.

Just keep it for now, maybe you can use it later.

The plan is good, but it cannot keep up with changes.

To this end, two small sheds were built on the mountain for temporary living, which can hide five to six people and live in them for more than ten days.

This is because Belisi Fort is limited by the natural environment and the battlefield is small. Excessive troops cannot be deployed at all, and it cannot become a decisive battle place.

It's okay for a short time, but after a while people will have to go up the mountain and re-reinforce it with wire.

Riding on the horse, Feng Guohui's deep eyes passed over the Datengqiu Mountains. When he saw the lush green of this mountain forest, it was almost the same as other mountains, and there was a hint of smile at the corner of his mouth.

He planned to face Helan's tens of thousands of troops at Brexi Fort. In addition to continuously heightening and strengthening the fortress itself, he also made many preparations and traps. The "Burn the River Barracks Plan" was one of them.

Nowadays, this big takraw ball mountain has become a backhand, and more than a hundred big takraw balls are all fixed high on the mountain ridge.

The Dutch army was originally expected to camp on the wide river beach. The hundreds of fireballs rolling down from above, coupled with the sneak attack in the early morning, must have been able to inflict heavy damage on the enemy.

Not to mention, Feng Guohui was really excited for a while.

However, considering the current international and domestic environment, he forcibly suppressed his fiery thoughts and told himself that he must not drift. The foundation of the Nanyang Army was very weak, and it was far from being able to do whatever he wanted.

This calm demeanor is like that of an old man in his forties or fifties.

The army moved forward and soon penetrated deep into the mountains.

Going east from Bresig Castle and entering Solo City, there is an open hilly plain. The huge Solo River meanders through it, giving birth to large fertile fields. This is an area with a long history of development.

Going west from Bresig Castle to the continuous central part of Java Island, Salatiga and Keladeng are both typical mountainous counties. They developed based on the geographical advantage of connecting the north, south and east. They are also ancient towns with a history of more than a thousand years.

The Nanyang Army was divided into two to the west. A team of 2200 people, under the command of Division Commander Wu Siwen, occupied Kraden to the southwest and carried out a planned clearing of the area.

Pull one faction, suppress another faction, and fight another faction of the local indigenous people, laying the foundation for the Nanyang Army to dominate the local situation.

Feng Guohui personally led an army of more than 3700 people and entered Salatiga almost without a fight. The methods implemented were almost the same as Craden, and he completely rectified the local situation.

Those local indigenous forces that had risen very high during the occupation by the Dutch army were without exception subjected to a thorough liquidation, which could be said to be uprooted.

Those indigenous forces that had a tough attitude towards the Nanyang Army, such as the Sandibar Tribe, the Entia-Mohamed Tribe, etc., had all their tribal assets confiscated, and the tribal leaders bloodbathed them from top to bottom. There was a strong smell of blood. It lasted for several days.

As for the tribal men who were sent to hard labor camps, a small portion of the women's profits were distributed to the Tomori tribe, which had always been submissive. The rest was either sold or given on credit to Chinese immigrants, who were quickly digested.

Especially worth mentioning is

Since the victory in the Gulf, news quickly spread throughout Southeast Asia and East Asia, causing a surge in immigration.

Until the end of March
The number of Chinese immigrants who have immigrated to Semarang and Surabaya has reached 3.3. Please note that this is only the total number of immigrants in one month, showing an explosive increase.

Why is this happening?

Unless the Nanyang Army now occupies large tracts of land in Central Java, and its thirst for manpower is almost endless, it really will not be able to accommodate such immigrants for a while.

As a result, the Nanyang Army easily accepted 3.3 Chinese immigrants this month. All it had to do was distribute them to a large area of ​​Central Java land that had been cleared of indigenous people, and provide them with seeds, cattle, women, farm tools, and building and purchasing houses. and other loans to help these new Chinese immigrants quickly integrate into society. The tropical climate in Java is extremely friendly. Basically, after three months, the crops are mature and harvested, and these new immigrants are settled.

At this time, the benefits of the strong industrial power of the Nanyang Military Region were reflected.

Hundreds of thousands of sets of farm tools were produced without blinking an eye, and then sold out almost instantly through Nanyang Department Store and other trading channels.

The funds returned were used for reproduction and resale, which undoubtedly further improved the Nanyang Army's ability to resettle Chinese immigrants, giving them a place to live, farmland, and women at home, forming a Chinese social community at a very fast speed.

All this rapid growth is not without trace, but also stems from the turbulent social situation in China.

The Changmao Rebellion is now intensifying. The Manchu Qing Dynasty set up the Jiangnan Camp and the Beida Camp to suppress Tianjing from two directions. The Taiping Army tried to break this passive situation and burn the war to Beizhili, the heart of the Qing court.

A Northern Expeditionary Army broke through Shandong, and Hebei provinces intercepted and attacked all the way to Hejian Prefecture, which caused a shock to the capital and greatly shocked the hearts of the people.

A large number of small and medium-sized landowners with some money in their hands were looking for a way out in the war crisis. At this time, the Nanyang Army had considerable influence in the coastal provinces through word of mouth among immigrants.

Even if there is only one ten thousandth of what is rumored, it is enough to fill the small island of Java.

You must know that the Taiping Uprising can be said to be the peasant uprising with the largest number of casualties in history. Because of the famine, disease and other suffering caused by the war, the Chinese Empire lost nearly 60 million people.

What is this concept?
Even if one percent is 60, this number is enough to double the Chinese population in the Nanyang area occupied by Feng Guohui. This is the benefit of having a big tree at your back.

Such population and immigration advantages can make the British and Dutch jealous eyes red.

After three years of development, the Nanyang Army inadvertently managed to absorb this massive population flow, and its influence was only slightly fermented. What followed was a surge in Chinese immigrants.

For these reasons, Feng Guohui personally held a meeting to deploy the resettlement work and made new requirements.

Surabaya Port and Semarang Port are required to open immigration routes to the coastal areas of South China, East China and North China respectively, and widely publicize that immigration tickets that meet the requirements can be paid on credit, further lowering the immigration threshold.

What is a qualified immigrant?

That is, men and women aged between 16 and 26 who are in good health and have no diseases, have clear speech, a flexible mind, can read and hyphenate, or have certain specialties.

These specialties include carpenters, painters, blacksmiths, watchmakers, papermakers, bamboo craftsmen, cooks, Chinese medicine practitioners, midwives, opera singers, warriors, scholars, etc.

Considering that these people may be short of money for a while, they are allowed to obtain one boat ticket on credit. Those with special skills can get two tickets, which is convenient for bringing their wives and close relatives and children.

I believe that once such an immigration policy is introduced, the number of Chinese immigrants arriving in Java will be like a crucian carp crossing the river, and it will continue to surge in the near future.

There isn't much else in Greater China, but its population is as large as it needs to be.

What the Nanyang Army currently lacks is the basic Chinese population, and there is still a large amount of land that is uncultivated. There will be no problem in immigrating 25 to 30 people in a short period of time.

In the long run, it has the ability to accept more than 50 immigrants.

Feng Guohui happily estimates that even if the policy lags, it is expected to double the Chinese immigrant population to between 60 and 65 by the end of the year.

If married women and newly-born children are included, there is no problem that this number will exceed one million (note; a large number of subsequent male newcomers are not married).

Nanyang Bank, which was under the original system of the Nanyang Army, rapidly grew into a banking giant in the Nanyang region because hundreds of thousands of new immigrants became customers.

Its business scale reached more than 400 million silver dollars at the end of March, and the interest alone made a profit of more than million yuan, enough to support the military expenditure of the Nanyang Army.

Along with the huge bank mortgages, the banking industry has become the second largest contributor to the growth of the Nanyang Army, second only to the hugely profitable spice industry.

As the Nanyang Army continued to develop, it did not give up the spice trade where it started. Today, spice ships leave Java every month, and Spanish and British merchants are major patrons.

They waved banknotes and brought shiploads of silver ingots, madly hoping to get a piece of the spice trade.

Facing the extremely huge market in Europe and the gradually emerging American market, the spices produced in Java are simply not enough, and the price has always been very strong.

Feng Guohui was very satisfied with the current situation. The unexpected and brilliant military victory made the pressure on his shoulders suddenly lighten, giving him more time to calmly plan his plans.

The army still trains and replenishes troops in an orderly manner at a rate of 1000 men per month, maintaining the warlord's usual militaristic nature.

In fact, Feng Guohui cannot be blamed for this. He is even facing the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and there may even be European powers interfering in the situation in Java. This must be guarded against.

Based on this, maintaining a force that far exceeds what is needed to maintain regional military balance may be a deterrent to European powers, and it is a kind of more consideration before making a bet.

Therefore, at the end of March, a thousand recruits and 260 grassroots officers who had been trained in Tieshan Town were successively added to the combat units of each division.

The reorganization of the army has just ended, and what is needed now is to slowly fill up the establishment.

The Nanyang Army's establishment for each division is 7860 men, which is far from the current more than 4000 men.

Recruits who have completed subsequent training will be given priority to replenish the Semarang Division and front-line troops stationed in Solo City, Salatiga and other areas.

The last addition was the Yanwang Division. The Coast Guard Regiments and other units had lower priority in terms of their personnel and organization, as well as the priority of advanced weapons and equipment.

The position of the Yanwang Division itself is to be used as a reserve force for the entire army.

It is filled wherever it is needed. It is not a front-line field division, so it has advanced Mini rifles, self-produced steel hoop artillery and other military equipment. Until now, Yanwang Division has not started to replace a single Mini rifle.

compare with

All members of the Semarang Division have been equipped with rifled Mini rifles, which has greatly increased the combat effectiveness of the division and has become the undisputed ace field division of the Nanyang Army.

The illustrious achievements made by the division are fully worthy of its current status.

Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the Semarang Division are extremely proud. This is a military glory tempered in the flames of war and worthy of every officer and soldier to cherish.

(End of this chapter)