The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 292 Who is the real target?
The ambush site chosen by Reinstein was the widest section of the Kun River before it reaches Pontianak.

Being wide means that the river is not too deep, so it is easier to block the river with huge trees, boats and rocks.

However, since it was impossible to place the troops closer to the Dayaks, even though gunshots were heard, Reinstein still did not order the army to rush forward to attack. Instead, he only fired guns and cannons from the periphery to scare the Dayaks.

Reinstein himself observed the enemy from the top of the mountain, and relied on the relatively complete flags, drums, etc. designed by the French officers after arriving in Ha Tien to convey military orders to the Xing Tang army.

Therefore, whenever the frightened Dayaks wanted to break out from somewhere, the Xing Tang army would always be able to intercept them first.

At the same time, the Dayaks who were sailing in longboats on the river were also stopped by artificial obstacles stranded in the shallow waters. Most of the boats were unable to pass through and break out to downstream.

Half an hour later, the Dayaks, who had been trying to break out despite trying left and right, realized that things were not going well.

But after a while, they recovered from their initial panic and quickly began to form a battle formation to fight against the Xing Tang army.

"They can't escape. If we fight according to the battle formation, they won't be able to defeat anyone."

Seeing that the Dayaks had changed from running around wildly at the beginning to be well-behaved, Reinstein laughed out loud.

The staff officers around also laughed. The Dayaks were indeed brave and they were even the most combat-capable ethnic group in West Borneo.

Historically, the main force of the British Sarawak Rangers and later the Royal Rangers of Malaysia were these Dayaks.

But this still cannot conceal the fact that they are just a primitive tribe that has just broken away from the matriarchal society.

The primitive tribes formed a battle array to fight against the modern musket troops equipped with tiger squat cannons and large-lift guns, which is why they were doomed to fail.

Sure enough, the Dayaks, who had not suffered many casualties during their crazy outward charge, began to suffer a sudden increase in casualties after they formed a formation and fought.

At this time, the situation on both sides of the Kun River was exactly as Colonel Adrian of the Dutch Army had analyzed before. The land along the river was wet and soft, and the bushes were overgrown, which was not conducive to the formation of line infantry, and even more unfavorable for the transportation of artillery, and it also limited the power of the artillery.

Therefore, when the Dayaks were running wildly and charging around, they were not exposed to intensive fire.

But once they gathered together and had to rely on primitive bows and arrows and a small number of muskets to shoot at the Xing Tang Yibing, their casualties increased rapidly as the gunpowder smoke continued to rise.

If you were an elite archer like those in the late Tang Dynasty in China, equipped with the best bow and crossbow, it would be easy to deal with.

This kind of hunting bow is only suitable for hunting in the jungle. Using it against a flintlock rifle is like seeking death.

As time went on, the Rajas of Dayak realized that they had chosen the wrong way of fighting, but they were no longer able to change the situation.

Because at this time, the Xingtang volunteers had compressed the Dayak people's range of activities to a very narrow range, and the terrain forced them to become more and more concentrated.

Reinstein, a fanatical Romanist, perfectly demonstrated his command ability after leading an army independently for the first time.
Thousands of Dayaks were slowly put into a deadly noose by the Xingtang volunteers who were of similar number.

If they had taken a gamble and chosen several directions to break out at the beginning, perhaps most of them could have escaped.

But by this time, the noose had strangled them until their faces turned purple, and it was impossible for them to escape.

The screams were mixed with the roar of gunfire. The Xingtang volunteers were ruthlessly shrinking the encirclement. Now they had entered the final moment of expulsion and annihilation.

When the volunteers saw the Dayaks gathered together, they bombarded them with tiger squat cannons and large-lift guns, and then waited in place.

They waited for the frightened Dayaks to flee in all directions, and then fled to the Xing Tang army, where the volunteers would stab them to death as easily as killing pigs and sheep.

Blood flowed everywhere, soon dyeing the entire Kun River red. They could not rush out, and could not fight back.

The Dayaks, who were forced into a corner, could only run into the river in panic. In extreme fear, they would rather struggle in the water than fight with the Xing Tang volunteers.

Then, a large number of volunteers could stand calmly on the shore and fire indiscriminately, causing the Dayaks in the river to sink continuously like popped bubbles.

More than an hour later, when everything was almost calm, the relatively shallow river beach was littered with all kinds of things, and the corpses almost blocked the river.

. . . .

Just as Reinstein was about to annihilate the Dayaks, the battle outside Pontianak was reaching its most brutal stage.

Liu Yaozong and the Dutch joined forces to surround the hill southeast of Pontianak City where Luo Fangbai was stationed and launched a continuous fierce attack.

When the fighting became brutal, Liu Yaozong even forced the Pontianak Muslims under their control in the city to serve as cannon fodder to consume Luo Fangbai's gunpowder and lead bullets.

But after Luo Fangbai's mobilization, the miners, realizing that they could only survive by following someone, burst out with extremely strong fighting power.

They are very tough and know how to work together. Although they are a little unfamiliar with the use of weapons, their high morale and fearlessness of death perfectly make up for their shortcomings.

Many miners howled and rushed into the enemy groups that outnumbered them by several times with only a pickaxe, fighting a bloody battle without regard for their lives. This was something that the cannon fodder forced by Sanxingtang could not withstand.

"Colonel Adrian, it's your turn now. Luo Fangbai's firepower has weakened a lot, and if all of you fire your guns spontaneously, you will be able to charge in quickly."

Liu Yaozong pointed at Luo Fangbai's troops who had been compressed to the top of the mountain and said to Major Adrian.

These days, the red-haired devil general has been keeping his six hundred red-haired devil musketeers at bay, only letting the Bangal natives fight. I wonder what his intentions are.

When Colonel Adrian saw Liu Yaozong's gritted teeth, he knew he had no choice but to go.

This guy had just forced thousands of Pontianak natives to eat lead bullets at knifepoint for half a day. In the previous fierce attack, hundreds of young men from the Three Stars Hall were killed or injured. If he didn't go up, this alliance would be broken.

However, Colonel Adrian was still a little uneasy, because he had no idea why Luo Fangbai, who was already ready at the Lao Bafen Mine and waiting for their attack, would take the initiative to approach Pontianak City with his men?
They also built various fortifications on the hill. In particular, they stored a large amount of firewood and stones on the hill, but did not use them to repel their own attacks.

what is this?
"Dayaks, oh no, there's something wrong with the Dayaks!"

A thought suddenly flashed through Colonel Adrian's mind, and then he was so scared that his heart started beating wildly.

"Liu, have you received any news from the Dayaks recently? According to their route, they should be arriving today."

Liu Yaozong was startled, then immediately shook his head. "You have always been in charge of contacting the Dayaks. We have not interfered, and they have never contacted us."

"I have a bad feeling. This is all very unusual, General Liu. I think we need to send out some rangers to investigate. At least we need to find the whereabouts of the Dayaks. Without them, it will be difficult for us to deal with the Xing Tang army."

Colonel Adrian knew very well that the thousands of Dayaks who were adept at moving through the jungle were his most important reliance.

Without these people's harassment and blockade, it would be a dream to wait out the Xing Tang army's retreat.

In fact, this is also the fatal weakness of the Dutch. Because of the weakening of their own national strength, the resources that the Dutch East Indies authorities in Batavia can mobilize are very limited.

Not to mention establishing a power model for the Dayaks like the British did in history, incorporating white people into the Dayak mythology, or even establishing a Brooke Kingdom with a white person as king, in order to profoundly influence and mobilize these indigenous people.

Not only were the Dutch unable to do this, they couldn't even gain the loyalty of the natives of Borneo.

This resulted in the fact that Reinstein's Jungle Special Operations Battalion had already inflicted heavy casualties on the Dayak elite troops in the jungle between Sanfa and Dongwanlu half a month ago.

This not only prevented the Dayaks from defending Dongwanlu, but also blocked their route from Dongwanlu back to the middle and upper reaches of the Kun River. However, the Dayak Rajas considered this crucial situation merely a relatively costly battle, unrelated to the Dutch, and therefore unnecessary to inform them.

If Colonel Adrian knew all this, he would not have fully understood Reinstein's large-scale detour tactics, but at least he would not have summoned the Dayaks in the middle and upper reaches to join him at this time.

Liu Yaozong glanced at Colonel Adrian, thought about it carefully, and decided that this red-haired devil was not trying to shirk responsibility again, so he nodded and prepared to send some people out.

At this moment, shrill cries came from far away, and there seemed to be a lot of people.

Liu Yaozong thought that it was the relatives of some Pontianak natives who came to cause trouble again. He cursed angrily and was about to go down and teach these ignorant guys a lesson.

But before he could move, he saw someone running towards him crying. It seemed to be his little cousin Ah Hai from his second uncle's family.

"Ah Hai, aren't you in Dongwanlu? Why are you here?"

Ah Hai's clothes were torn and even his shoes were gone. When he saw Liu Yaozong, he cried and fell to the ground.

"Third brother, something terrible has happened. That thief Liu Yaoliang has colluded with the Xingtang soldiers to sell out Dongwanlu. Master and mistress, all... all, wow!"

Before Ah Hai could finish his words, he couldn't help but howl miserably again.

"Mother!" Liu Yaozong felt dizzy and howled miserably, then fell to the ground with a thud.

Colonel Adrian didn't understand Chinese and was extremely anxious. After he managed to find out what was going on, he immediately pointed at the hill where Luo Fangbai was and started yelling loudly.

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is. This guy isn't here to provoke us, he's here to cut us off."

The hill occupied by Luo Fangbai is located in the southeast of Pontianak City. It is too far away to attack Pontianak and is not suitable for setting up camp, so it is not a key place.

However, if they wanted to cut off Pontianak from the Bangalore Sultanate in the south, it would be very easy to do so here because they were not far from the main road.

Colonel Adrian also understood the purpose of Luo Fangbai's stockpiling of so many stones and logs.

This is not used to defend the hill, but to block the road not far to the south of the hill, which is almost the only way in and out of Pontianak.

"Everyone in the Sishui Regiment, gather and prepare to storm this hill immediately. We must take it."

Colonel Adrian roared loudly, without even looking at the Chinese people in Sanxingtang who were already in chaos. His eyes were completely fixed on his only way of retreat.

"Colonel, it's too late." A Dutch army major was about to carry out the order, but suddenly said bitterly and stopped.

Following the direction of the major's finger, Colonel Adrian saw at a glance a large red and blue pennant raised on the sentry post in the northeast corner in the distance, symbolizing the large-scale approach of the enemy.

February 1774, 2, the 3rd day of the th lunar month, the th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty.

Reinstein almost wiped out the Dayak army that was heading towards Pontianak in the middle reaches of the Kun River, 40 kilometers away from Pontianak.

Hundreds were killed in the battle and more than two thousand drowned. The three Rajas, namely Dayak Iban, Idaan and Yaju, or their kings, were all killed in the battle.

More than a hundred other chiefs, high-level headhunters, wizards, etc. were killed, and almost all the famous warriors in the three tribes were wiped out. As a tribe, they have lost the basis for their continued existence.

Afterwards, Reinstein personally led the main forces of 4,200 people from the Yuan Guards, Wuding Regiment, Central and Southern Yicong Regiment, Hakka Second Regiment, and Chen Lian's 800 volunteers, a total of 5,000 people, with the support of more than 2,000 liberated serfs, and arrived at Pontianak.

This large-scale flanking operation can even be called a miracle.

Because Reinstein not only led his team to complete an arduous march of 270 kilometers in a circuitous route for eight days in the rainforest of West Borneo, but also completed two large-scale operations.

They only carried five days' worth of rations, but by collecting food as they went, they not only completed the journey successfully, but also had enough food to last them two days when they arrived in Pontianak.

With the help of Fengyoujing, quinine water, allicin, and Hexianshisan (montmorillonite powder), the entire army of 5,000 people not only did not suffer from any infectious disease, but even the number of people who fell behind was no more than ten.

This not only trained Reinstein's command ability, but was also a huge improvement for the soldiers of the Xingtang Army.

This is a true improvement in every sense of the word. While their tenacity and bravery have been enhanced, these elite soldiers of the Xing Tang Army have been doing righteous deeds of punishing evil and avenging the people since they appeared in the third wave.

They liberated more than 60,000 Chinese serfs and miners, and arrested and tried nearly 100 heinous criminals.

While liberating their compatriots, they were also repaid many times by their rescued compatriots. This rescue journey with lofty ideals sublimated their souls.

For many officers and soldiers of the Xingtang Army, it was the first time they experienced the feeling of a mighty and righteous army as described by Mo Zibu. This wonderful feeling will be unforgettable for them for the rest of their lives.

. . . .

In Pontianak City, the people of the Liu family of Sanxingtang were directly knocked down. They fell into great panic, and the black-hearted mine owners who followed them were also struck by lightning.

Reinstein surrounded the southwest and southeast of Pontianak, opened up the north, and stationed troops there for two days without fighting, just waiting for them to start an internal conflict.

Afterwards, these Chinese lived up to everyone's expectations. Their leaders sent people to surrender to Reinstein like crazy.

But as expected, they were all rejected by Reinstein.

So, on the 26th day of the 12th lunar month, four days before the Chinese New Year, an internal conflict broke out among the Chinese in the city.

More than a hundred young men killed several unscrupulous mine owners and some middle and senior management of Sanxingtang, and ran out of Pontianak to redeem themselves for their crimes.

Liu Yaozong immediately mobilized all the forces he could and asked for help from Colonel Adrian, and then he suppressed the unrest.

But this cannot fundamentally solve the problem. As long as the siege continues, the next unrest is only a matter of time.

"Liu, don't even think about returning to Dongwanlu. I'm sure these roads are filled with King Xingtang's soldiers. They're waiting for you to leave Pontianak and then kill you all in the dense jungle."

Adrian was very confident. He felt that Reinstein's target was Chinese people like Liu Yaozong.

"If I don't go to Dongwanlu, where else can I go?" Liu Yaozong's heart was still very strong. Such bad news did not completely knock him down.

"You select three hundred brave men to join our team and go to Batavia." Colonel Adrian spoke confidently.

"After this incident, the hatred between King Xing Tang and us is completely irreconcilable. I believe that Governor Petrus will definitely welcome you."

Liu Yaozong was about to nod, but suddenly felt extremely disappointed. "Colonel, you are now trapped in Pontianak just like me. How can you get to Batavia?"

"General Liu, please rest assured." Colonel Adrian smiled, "I believe the company's warships are already on their way from the mouth of the Kun River to Pontianak.

King Xing Tang did not use the navy in this battle because he did not want to antagonize us, so as long as the company's warships appear, we will be safe."

　Sorry, this matter is quite troublesome because my nephew was hit by a classmate from another grade, and the classmate's parents had to be present. The doctor also said that he could not guarantee 100% that there would be no sequelae. Lao Hu was very nervous and ran around the hospital, school, and even the police station for a whole day.

　　Fortunately, Tiger's cousin and his wife will be back tomorrow. Tiger will try to make up for the 2,000 words missing today and the extra update by the leader by Wednesday.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)