Chapter 379: Heading North

Chapter 372 Going North

"My army is the face of the American Army after all. If I can't even deal with the colonial troops of the Dutch East India Company, then my reputation as an American brigadier general will be in vain," Liang Yao said.

"My concern is not about problems on land, but about problems at sea."

It costs money to keep the army at full strength for a long time, but there is also a benefit, that is, an army that maintains full strength all year round is often more effective than the average army.

The Netherlands is a maritime power, and its land power has always been its shortcoming.

The Netherlands has a population of only three million and cannot organize a strong army.

The colonial army of the Dutch East India Company was similar to that of the British East India Company. They both used local white people as officers and recruited colonial armies built by local indigenous people.

Such an army would not have very strong combat effectiveness.

Liang Yao was worried about the Dutch maritime power, which was the Dutch's strength.

Borneo is an island. If you want to send your own army to the island and maintain subsequent supplies, you need a moderate maritime force to compete with the fleet of the Dutch East India Company.

The American Navy is a fairly adequate maritime force, but Fremont also told Liang Yao just now.

The federal government that bullies Japan, a regime that is not recognized by mainstream Western countries, will make the navy support Liang Yao's expedition to Japan.

But when it comes to confronting European powers, the federal government will not send precious naval forces to assist Liang Yao.

If he wants to get involved in Southeast Asia, Liang Yao can only rely on himself.

Compared with its land power, Liang Yao's maritime power appears to be relatively weak.

He only had a total of three serious warships capable of operating in oceans. Liang Yao was not sure whether this small amount of maritime power could confront the Dutch East India Company's fleet head-on.

Liang Yao can now only pin his hopes on the new ship at the end of the year, which is a concealed ship equipped with new guns from the Sacramento Arsenal.

"The Netherlands started its fortune from the sea, and its maritime power cannot be underestimated." Fremont nodded and said.

"Wealth is gained through risk. We want to grow rubber in the East Indies. The Dutch East India Company cannot get around it anyway. It is better to go against the Netherlands than against the British. At least there is hope."

After resting at Deng Wenqi's home, Liang Yao headed to the border between the Nevada Administrative District of California and the Nevada Territory.

That's where the eastern section of the Pacific Railroad is currently being built.

"Only you can! Only you can! Do you know where Borneo is? You agreed without even thinking about it?"

After Liang Yao left, Deng Wenqi's wife Wu Jifen complained in Deng Wenqi's ear.

"We are all brothers from the Deng family. Why can the second brother be the mayor of Los Angeles? The third brother can be a minister in the state government, but you are left in Nevada, which is a wasteland. It's better now, even Nevada can't stay." I still want to go to Borneo, a place I am unfamiliar with.”

After finally settling down in Reno, Wu Jifen was reluctant to go to Borneo, which was tens of thousands of miles away.

Nevada is far away from the prosperous places of California, but at least it is still in California. After taking the train, it is only a day's work to go to Sacramento or San Francisco.

What about Borneo?

Not to mention the basics, it is still a smog-infested place in the South Seas.

"What do you know! Third brother has his own considerations on how to arrange it." Deng Wenqi shouted.

"The third child can be a minister in the state government. He has a bit of ink in his belly and can learn foreign languages ​​quickly.

As for the second son being the mayor of Los Angeles, you only see the scenery of Los Angeles now, and you don’t know the sadness of Los Angeles before. When the state was first established, the second son was almost shot to death by a ghost guy from the east. "

Deng Wenqi had no complaints about Liang Yao's arrangements.

Without Liang Yao, he would still be working as a miner for others in the mine.

He is a contented person and a self-aware person.

He was inferior to Deng Wenyu in terms of culture, and inferior to Deng Wenshun in terms of intelligence and cleverness.

Liang Yao was not partial to his arrangement. What he wanted to do most was to see the gold mine, but now it was just a different thing.

When Deng Wenshun was originally arranged to go to Los Angeles, it was also considered a very bad arrangement, because at that time Los Angeles was the poorest and most marginal town in California with no gold, and it was very different from the current Los Angeles city.

"If they are capable enough, let them go! Why should I let you go!" Wu Jifen refused.

"That's enough! If you keep making noises in my ears, believe it or not, I'll slap you!" Deng Wenqi banged the table hard.

"According to your logic, shouldn't the fourth child in Australia also come back to ask for an explanation?! My father-in-law is a very sensible person, why did he give birth to a daughter who is so ignorant like you?"

Seeing Deng Wenqi's anger, Wu Jifen said nothing.

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November 1853.

Although the Taiping Army had captured Jiangning Jianguo in March, the area controlled by the Taiping Army at this time was very limited, and it only controlled three large cities, Nanjing, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou.

Among them, Yangzhou City was lost under the siege of the Qing army in September.

The Taiping Army said they controlled Jiangning, but in fact they only controlled Jiangning City. Standing at the top of Jiangning City, you could even clearly see the Qing army's camp outside the city.

The Taiping Army marched all the way from Guangxi, and the team grew bigger and bigger like a snowball, and also captured big cities such as Wuchang and Anqing.

But these large cities were basically conquered and looted, and the Taiping Army had no intention of staying for a long time.

Therefore, until November 1853, the Taiping Army effectively controlled only Jiangning City and Zhenjiang City, and even the suburbs outside the city could not be effectively controlled.

The Guangdong Yong currently has two battalions of 1,500 people, a 200-man cavalry, and a hired artillery team with 10 6-pound guns and 10 12-pound guns.

The Guangdong Yong’s top leaders disagreed on whether to send troops immediately.

The Guangzhou Merchants, headed by Pan Shicheng, believed that the Taiping Army was now in full swing, and they should avoid its edge and wait for the opportunity, so as not to lose the two newly trained battalions of Guangdong Yong.

The Guangdong Gentry, headed by Liang Shaoqiong, believed that the Taiping Army was now in full swing, which was the best opportunity for the Guangdong Yong to perform.

Finally, the two sides reached an agreement. Liang Shaoqiong led the Shanzi Camp and the cavalry and artillery team to board the large ship of the Global Shipping Group at Xiangshan Port to the north to support Yangzhou City.

The Yueyong sailed north and attracted the attention of the people on both sides of the strait when entering the Yangtze River. They were full of curiosity about this strange army.

They pointed and talked about this group of local warriors riding on the foreign fire ship.

Of course, these people were more afraid.

The people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had heard about what the Xiangyong did after leaving Hunan.

They were worried that the Yueyong would do the same thing as the Xiangyong after entering Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Although the Yueyong was called Yueyong, it was actually very different from the Xiangjun in terms of personnel composition.

The Xiangjun was basically composed of Hunanese.

The soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the Yueyong were mostly selected from the refugees, and Guangdong soldiers and non-commissioned officers accounted for one-third of them.

It’s just that the top leaders are basically from Guangdong. After all, this is an army supported by Guangzhou merchants and gentry.

The Guangdong warriors who went north boarded a large ship of more than 1,000 tons of the Global Shipping Company. The Yangtze River was deep enough for large ships to pass.

However, the water in the canal was shallow and large ships could not pass. The Guangdong warriors could only take the local requisitioned grain boats to Yangzhou.

Before getting off the ship, Liang Shaoqiong, who was dressed in military uniform, put his left hand on the handle of the Yanling knife and summoned the backbones of the Shanzi Camp, the artillery team, and the cavalry on the deck to give a speech.