Chapter 310 West Borneo
Nanyang, Kalimantan Island.
The terrain of this island is typical, with high in the middle and low around. The west is rich in gold, but the local indigenous civilization is relatively backward, and the main minerals are owned by the Chinese who went to Nanyang.
The overseas Chinese began to operate West Borneo as early as the Hongwu period. As Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He to the West many times, the power of the Chinese in Nanyang continued to increase, but with the beginning of the sea ban, this momentum was interrupted.
Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the people were in dire straits, the land of China sank, and the people and the dignitaries fled to avoid the war. Going to Nanyang rose again, and about 7 million people entered Nanyang to make a living, which was much larger than the Irish immigration wave.
But the overseas Chinese were not very united and were often harassed by the Dutch and Portuguese.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Yuansheng, a native of Jiaying, Guangdong, fled to Borneo because his plan to rebel against the Qing Dynasty was leaked. He founded the influential "Jusheng Company" in the local area and became the leader of the company.
It was because of the existence of the Jusheng Company that the status of the Chinese in Nanyang was changed. They united the Chinese in Nanyang to eliminate gang disputes. After that, in a battle in Daiyan Kingdom, they captured the palace of Daiyan with 56 people, shocking the entire Kalimantan Island. The indigenous sultans came to beg for the protection of the Chinese.
At this time, most of the Chinese in Nanyang were refugees, the remnants of the Ming army that failed to resist the Qing Dynasty, and the descendants of the Ming Dynasty survivors who were unwilling to serve the Qing court, as well as members of the Tiandihui who later failed in the uprising, so their fighting power was very strong.
Later, the prestige and strength of his subordinate Luo Fangbo gradually surpassed Wu Yuansheng. Luo Fangbo replaced his position as leader and established the Lanfang Company. Wu Yuansheng became Luo Fangbo's subordinate.
Later, the Lanfang Company became the Lanfang Grand Control Republic. At its peak, it once controlled the entire Kalimantan Island and was even recognized by the British.
I wrote the specific political measures of Lanfang in the author's words, but to sum up:
1. Unify currency and market.
2. Reform the military system, develop weapons on its own, and create a reserve force.
3. Chinese learning as the body, Western learning as the application.
4. Open state-owned enterprises and nationalize resources.
But unfortunately, by 1842, Lan Fang's territory had only 1% of its peak period, and West Borneo was divided into Sanfa, Lan Fang, and Pontianak, which were respectively managed by the three companies of San Tiao Gou, Lan Fang, and Dagang.
The masters of Kalimantan were no longer Chinese, but Dutch and British. West Borneo also became a semi-colony, led by the Kapitan appointed by the Dutch.
Every year, the Dutch East India Company could squeeze 15-20 million Dutch guilders in profits from West Borneo, and there were only 150 Dutch soldiers stationed there.
In addition, the natives who once begged the Chinese for protection also turned into running dogs of the Dutch. Moreover, these natives were more brutal than the Dutch. They not only wanted money, but also food and women.
At first, the Chinese could still tolerate the appetite of the native sultan, but as the sultan's appetite grew bigger and the income from the gold mine became unstable, the Lan Fang Company could no longer bear it and rejected the request of the Wan Na Tu Wang.
Through extortion of the Chinese over the years, the Wan Na Tu Bang is no longer the small tribe that often asks the Lan Fang General Manager to make decisions for them.
The Wan Na Tu Wang directly mobilized 20,000 native troops to fight a fierce battle with the Lan Fang Company. Due to the obstruction of the Dutch and the British, both sides of the war lacked firearms, and the main weapons were still broadswords, spears and bows and arrows.
Among them, the Lan Fang Company had 500 bird gunners, which was the courage of Gu Liubo. Each of these bird guns cost 200 taels. These 500 weapons that had long been eliminated on the European battlefield cost the Lan Fang Company 100,000 taels of silver.
(Gu Liubo, the then General Manager of the Lan Fang Company.)
What he didn't expect was that the Wan Na Tu Wang also had foreign riflemen and even foreign cannons under his command, and they were only more than him, not less than him.
On February 12, 1842, the first battle between the two sides ended with the loss of 300 soldiers and a mansion of the Lan Fang Company. After that, many Chinese joined the Lan Fang army to defend their country, but the situation on the battlefield did not change at all.
Wherever the troops of the Wanna native king passed, they would not leave a house, a grain of food, or a living person.
It seemed that the natives were about to rush into Dongwanlu to rob money, food, and women.
At this time, Gu Liubo seemed to have only one way to go, that is, to ask the Dutch to mediate.
In fact, the Dutch had been prepared for a long time, after all, those natives did not know how to operate gold mines at all, but they could not let the Chinese power be too strong. Captain Arjan Penghe, stationed in West Borneo, had already mobilized 50 soldiers under his command, ready to "mediate" at any time.
But he suddenly felt that his eyes were dark, and a huge super-class battleship sailed into the port, and then one large battleship after another anchored at the port.
The leader was the newly built "Venetian" of Austria, a super-class battleship with 120 guns and a full load of 4,700 tons, and it still adopted a sail steam hybrid power.
The other four were 3,400-ton first-class battleships made in Egypt and modified by Austria, but they were too terrifying compared to the less than 600-ton frigates that the locals had been dealing with for years.
Then rows of well-equipped soldiers walked out, and the laborers and merchants in the port were stunned. Usually, dozens of Dutch soldiers were scary enough, but this time there were thousands of white troops, and they were really at a loss.
Captain Arjan Bonhe was so scared that he rode away after just one look, and the Dutch soldiers behind him also fled in panic.
150 Dutch soldiers hid in the fortress and trembled, even forgetting to ask for help from the headquarters on Java Island.
Of course, even if they asked for help from Java Island, no one would come to rescue them, let alone the Dutch East India Company. Even if all the Dutch warships were gathered together, they could not defeat Franz's fleet.
If the intelligence of the secret spies of the Zhenla Church was correct, there should still be time.
"What about the group of ants?" Friedrich asked. He felt that it was a bit of a loss to come all the way here without fighting a battle.
"You mean the Dutch? As long as they don't take the initiative to provoke, we don't need to go to war with them. After all, we are just here to save people, not to fight."
Franz shook his head and said, he didn't want to make a big deal.
"It's a bargain for them." Friedrich smiled.
Just as the people on the dock looked at each other, a few guys who usually didn't like to talk suddenly straightened their backs and walked towards the white army.
In the surprised eyes of the merchants and laborers, they took the white army on the ship and headed straight for Dongwanlu.
A large number of Western-style troops suddenly appeared on the battlefield of Dongwanlu, which made both sides of the battlefield confused and unsure whether they were enemies or friends.
In fact, the Austrian soldiers were also confused, but they didn't care, because they had absolute confidence in their weapons and commanders.
"Franz, who are you going to help? In the city or in the forest? Otherwise, we will clean them all up in one go, so as not to be the same as in Togo."
Friedrich looked indifferent.
"I said, we are here to save people, of course we will help the weaker party." Franz felt a little speechless about his uncle. He seemed too proud. Due to the crushing brought by technology and weapons, he felt that victory was not worth mentioning.
"Then it's time for the barbecue."
Friedrich snapped his fingers, and rows of rocket launchers were set up.
The political system is divided into five parts: judicial, military, financial, economic, and educational.
In terms of armaments: set up arsenals and cast weapons. Except for a small number of standing troops stationed in strategic military locations, there were no garrisons in other places. In normal times, everyone worked hard, and young people of appropriate age were selected to practice shooting. Once something happened, these young people were recruited to form an army (similar to today's reserve force).
In terms of finance: set up tax inspectors to implement taxation to enrich the treasury; collect commodity taxes from merchants, and take export as the principle of generating income. For example, those who opened gold mines had to pay "foot imitation gold", those who farmed had to pay "opium, rice and tobacco households", and those who did business were also taxed. And issued their own national currency.
In terms of economy: actively expand the market; minerals were formed into companies by the state (now called state-owned enterprises) and implemented unified management.
In terms of education: organize Chinese schools, hire Confucian scholars to teach, and focus on traditional Chinese culture.
In terms of justice: based on the Tiandihui program (after the Lan Fang Company had a hard military struggle with the Tiandihui, it annexed the Tiandihui, so the Tiandihui's more systematic and complete program was also absorbed by Lan Fang), and then revised into popular and easy-to-implement laws and regulations. In addition to organizing defenses against foreign enemies and collecting taxes, another major job of officials was to "solve cases." Serious crimes were punishable by beheading, fights were punished by whipping, and quarrels were punished by apologies in the form of red silk and candles.