The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 287: Smart or Smartass

Dong Wanlu, Colonel Adrian of the Dutch East India Company Army, wiped the mud spots on his white trousers with some uneasiness.

Beside him, a group of army officers, who also wore boat hats, dark green jackets and white trousers, kept complaining.

"Colonel, we can't do our job because the Chinese don't trust us.

More than 20 people disappeared from my company today. After searching for a long time, we found out that they had gone to another company. The only reason was that the people in that company were their relatives and friends.

Are these Chinese here for training or to have dinner with their families?"

Another man also sighed, "That's nothing. The soldiers in my company don't even want to talk to me. They only trust their own leader.

This leader firmly believed that line infantry did not need to fight in dense formations.

Because he felt that the soldiers who took up steel knives and spears and dared to charge at the enemy were the bravest warriors, and the flintlock rifles were only used to give courage.

So he requested that the rate of equipment for flintlock rifles be reduced and that as many hand-to-hand combat weapons as possible be equipped."

"Colonel, General Liu rejected our suggestion, saying he didn't think it was right to organize the army according to the European style.

He hopes that we can quickly teach the soldiers of the People's Army how to use flintlock rifles, so that they can fight on their own."

When Colonel Adrian heard this, he felt his blood pressure rising rapidly. After a long silence, he exploded in anger.

"What the hell do they know? Do these guys think they are facing the same mob as them?
No, King Xingtang’s army is a regular army like the Federal Army!

They actually wanted to fight the Xing Tang Army by defeating the indigenous Sultan. This was seeking death.

You guys keep urging these damn guys to train, at least let them get familiar with the formation, I'll go find Counselor Rainier."

After saying that, Adrian mounted his warhorse and galloped hurriedly towards Dongwanlu City.

Counselor Rainier's full name was Rainier de Klerk. A few years later, he would become the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company in Batavia.

At present, he is the counselor of the Dutch East India Company's colonial authority in the whole East - the Parliament of the Indies, and is considered one of the most capable people in government affairs.

When Counselor Rainier saw Colonel Adrian sweating profusely, he felt a headache.

Ever since he came to Dongwanlu as a special envoy to coordinate the actions of all parties, nothing has gone smoothly.

Although the parties to the alliance have sworn an oath, the gap between them is still very large and they extremely distrust each other, which brings great difficulties to coordination work.

"Mr. Counselor, this must be a smokescreen released by the Xing Tang Army.

Brigadier General Reinstein was no ordinary man. He had participated in the Seven Years' War and was once one of the most promising rising stars in the French army.

If he is willing to serve the company, Brigadier General William Ottoen can return to Europe as he wishes."

Rainier frowned even deeper. He didn't expect that the commander of the Xing Tang Army on the opposite side was so powerful.

Although this counselor had never returned to Europe since arriving in Batavia on the Flying Heart more than 1730 years ago in , he was not very familiar with the situation in Europe.

But he still knew the value of the French Army, and he understood even more clearly the capabilities of a brigadier general who had participated in the entire Seven Years' War and was once a rising star in the French Army.

"So..." Rainier paused before continuing, "Colonel, in your opinion, this must be a conspiracy. So how should we deal with it?"

Adrian couldn't help but walk back and forth thinking. He originally wanted to ask Counselor Rainier to continue coordinating so that the training could return to the normal track.

As a result, we got the news that Reinstein had declared that he would attack after the Chinese New Year.

This made Colonel Adrian, who also had rich war experience, keenly realize that this must be a trap.

After thinking hard, the colonel's brows relaxed slightly.

As long as he knows the other party's intentions, he can still come up with basic countermeasures.

"Mr. Counselor, from what we can see so far, King Xing Tang has no intention of engaging in a direct battle with the company. Otherwise, the war would have definitely started between the navies of both sides.

Since this is a limited contest confined to West Borneo, we need only consider the situation in West Borneo.

According to the current military strength, the Xingtang army that arrived at Sanfa is about 10,000 to 12,000 people.

Although they are smaller in number than us, they cannot be regarded as a traditional Eastern army. This is a regular army that is on par with the Federal Provincial Army.

On the contrary, we, except for the company's Surabaya Regiment which has not yet arrived at Dongwanlu, are all traditional Eastern troops.

So while it may seem like we have an advantage in numbers, our combat effectiveness is actually no match for the Xing Tang Army."

With every word Major Adrian spoke, Counselor Rainier's face darkened.

This man knew something about military affairs. He had served as the chief of staff of the company's army and the governor of Surabaya.

"Therefore, Mr. Counselor, I suggest abandoning Dongwanlu and Sankouyang and retreating to Daiyan City in the middle reaches of the Kun River.

There we relied on the dense jungle and the soft soil along the banks of the Kun River to restrict the deployment of the Xing Tang Army's line infantry, and then let the Dayaks attack their supply lines in the jungle.

At the same time, it can also extend the supply line of the Changxing Tang Army. You must know that the transportation conditions from Dongwanlu to Daiyan are very bad, and there are undeveloped jungles and swamps everywhere.

This will surely exhaust the Xing Tang army, but we can rely on the Kun River for supplies, so we don't have to worry about this at all."

Colonel Adrian didn't notice Counselor Rainier's look, he continued to talk excitedly.

“According to the information we received, King Xingtang is very eager to become the King of Annan.

His future focus will be on competing with another northern king of Annan for the sovereignty of Annan.

So he can't afford to delay. As long as we wait until the rainy season arrives, then the Xing Tang army, after enduring four or five months of terrifying logistical pressure, will either take the risk of crossing the river and fighting us, but in that case, he will most likely lose miserably.

If we don't fight a decisive battle, King Xing Tang will have no choice but to withdraw his troops and negotiate peace with us, and then the initiative will be in the hands of the company."

Colonel Adrian finished his plan happily, and then when he looked up, he was frightened by the expression of Counselor Rainier.

Counselor Rainier took several deep breaths to prevent his heart from exploding.

If he had the ability to make Sanxingtang evacuate Dongwanlu, abandon everything and retreat to the Dayak territory to hold his ground, he wouldn't have to worry so much now.

However, after thinking it over in his mind, Counselor Rainier also felt that Colonel Adrian's method might be the only plan to deal with the Xing Tang Army.

"Colonel, don't we have any other choice?

For example, we could hold on to Dongwanlu while having the Dayaks blockade the jungle between Sanfa and Dongwanlu. When the Xingtang army can no longer endure it, we can then engage in a decisive battle and defeat them."

Colonel Adrian shook his head slowly. After a while, he saw that Counselor Rainier looked very unhappy, so he said hesitantly, "It depends on everyone's determination.

First of all, although there are many fortresses near Dongwanlu, they were only built to guard the nearby mines and detain miners, not to deal with regular troops.

Therefore, it is difficult for them to withstand the bombardment of large-caliber cannons and mortars, both of which the Xing Tang Army has in abundance. Without the ability to withstand heavy casualties, they will not be able to defend Dongwanlu.

At the same time, the dense forest between Sanfa and Dongwanlu is too narrow. I doubt whether the Dayaks can use their characteristics as jungle rangers to restrict the passage of the Xingtang Army.

In short, a decisive battle with the Xing Tang army in Dongwanlu is by no means a wise thing to do. Only by retreating to Daiyan and other towns upstream of the Kun River can we have hope."

Counselor Rainier thought for a moment and said, "Let's make both of these plans into a plan. We can discuss this with the Chinese and at least let them know the difficulties this war will bring."

. . . .

The Liu Family Compound in Dongwanlu is a mansion built in the style of a government office on the mainland. Outside the red gate stands a pair of stone lions, and on the left there is even a drum for reporting.

It doesn't look like anyone's residence at all, it's more like a government office. And indeed, the Chinese in Dongwanlu call it the Old Yamen.

In the old yamen, Liu Qianxiang didn't feel that there was any problem at all. Instead, he was very excited.

He dusted off the gorgeous scarlet robe on his body. Although he did not have the inheritance of the Hexian Mo family and the Chen family and could not make official robes embroidered with animal patches, he could still make a scarlet robe.

The third son, Liu Yaozong, looked at his father's scarlet robe with envy, thinking that he would be able to wear such a robe in the future, and his mouth was grinning.

"These red-haired devils are quite trustworthy. As soon as you raised the banner of protecting the territory and the people, they actually invited the Rajas of the Dayaks and the local kings of Bangalore to come to the alliance, and even honored father as the commander-in-chief."

"Hahahaha!" Liu Qianxiang was originally prepared to be reserved, but he was so happy that he couldn't hold it back.

After laughing, he probably thought this was too good to be true, so he quickly put on a stern face and deliberately found fault to scold Liu Yaozong.

"You, don't be too happy, we have only completed the first step.

The red-haired devils are now helping to contact the natives and giving them guns and cannons, just because they want us to help them repel the Ha Tien Mo family and stabilize the spice market in West Borneo.

Once the Mo family is defeated, they might withdraw their support, so you have to be careful and make sure that all the soldiers and guns are in our hands.

When the war is over, we will use this as an excuse to quickly devour the Dayaks and those local kings, and firmly secure our position."

Historically, there was a deep conflict between the Liu family of Sanxingtang and the Dayak people. In order to defeat the Dayaks, the Liu family father and son even cooperated with the Hakka people in Dapu and the Teochew people of Jusheng Company.

Although the two sides came together at this time due to Mo Zibu's pressure, the contradiction did not disappear, but was overshadowed by the greater danger of the Xing Tang army landing.

"Then we still can't get our hands on the gold mine!" Liu Yaozong was a little unhappy.

In order to conquer the Dayaks and the Bangalore kings south of the Kun River, they must continue to make concessions to the unscrupulous Chinese mining owners who currently follow them.

Because the Liu family alone is insufficient in manpower to take over West Borneo.

Liu Qianxiang is very open-minded. Among the 47 companies in West Borneo, 31 have chosen to cooperate with the Liu family. The reason is that these people hope to continue to maintain the current operating model that treats miners as consumables.

After repelling the Xing Tang Army, not only will a large portion of the population obtained by defeating the Dayaks and the Bangal King be taken away by these unscrupulous mine owners, but the Liu family must also ensure their monopoly on the mining rights of the gold mines.

"Don't focus on money. I think you are obsessed with money."

Liu Qianxiang scolded Liu Yaozong again, "The gold mine is naturally scarce, and it will eventually be mined out.

Moreover, gold and silver cannot be eaten when hungry and cannot be used as clothing when cold. If I don’t sell anything to them, even your gold nuggets will be worthless.

Since ancient times, farming has been the kingly way to establish a career. Hongwu Taizu achieved his hegemony by building high walls and storing abundant grain. Just give them some gold mines."

Compared with Mr. Liu San, Liu Qian has more knowledge and some skills, but this is not enough for him to see the current situation clearly.

Soon, the Liu family's spies in Pontianak came running back in a hurry, "Master, Third Young Master, great news!"

"That pedantic scholar, Luo Fangbai, has actually offended Master Silifu. The Muslims in Pontianak have fallen out with them, and Pontianak is in chaos!"

"Really?" Liu Qianxiang exclaimed, his face full of disbelief. He really couldn't imagine that Luo Fangbai would lose his composure at this time.

"I brought back a handwritten letter from Master Silifu. Also, the master's third brother is waiting outside the government office." The spy said as he took out a letter written in Chinese with a brush.

This Sirif is a cultured man. In addition to Arabic and Brunei dialect, he is also proficient in Chinese and Dutch, and can write calligraphy as well as a beginner.

Liu Qianxiang quickly finished reading and burst into laughter. "Not only is Luo Fangbai pedantic, but Mo Zhao is also a pedantic guy. Instead of quickly recruiting talents, he is still entangled in this teaching and that teaching."

"Yaozong, open the middle gate and follow me out to welcome Master Xilifu's envoy!
Let's take advantage of this opportunity to capture Pontianak and Luo Fangbai and Chen Lanbo, and then we'll be able to eliminate our worries and win this battle."

"Hahahaha, the Xingtang soldiers are going to celebrate the New Year. We are not that squeamish, so let's go to Pontianak to celebrate the New Year!"

(End of this chapter)