1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 398 Initiative

At the beginning, Liang Yao was worried that this was a suspicious strategy of the Dutch, so he didn't dare to go in hastily.

He just organized part of the strength of the Guangdong Navy and a battalion of infantry from the California Infantry Regiment to form an advance force, ready to fight steadily and advance to Pontianak, and then listened to the facts to confirm whether what the prisoners said was true.

Pontianak is very important to Liang Yao, but it is also very important to the Dutch and Indian authorities.

Losing the Dutch and Indian authorities in Pontianak is equivalent to losing the logistics supply point in West Borneo and losing the initiative in the West Borneo region.

This point, Liang Yao could see it, presumably the Dutch and Indian authorities could also see it.

Liang Yao's supplies are highly dependent on the port, and so are the Dutch and Indian authorities.

Soon, before the vanguard arrived in Pontianak, Elvis dispatched communications soldiers to inform Liang Yao of the current situation in Pontianak.

Pontianak has indeed fallen.

It was true that the Dutch prisoners had not deceived him.

The Dutch evacuated Pontianak in a hurry. Before leaving, even the warehouse in Pontianak had no time to destroy the materials in stock to avoid the enemy.

Knowing that Pontianak was captured, Liang Yao also heaved a sigh of relief.

A tough battle has just been fought at sea, and it is always a good thing to avoid a tough battle on land.

Now that Pontianak has been won, the first thing to do next is naturally to dredge the waterway of the Kapuas River and resume navigation as soon as possible.

Liang Yao didn't expect to rely on the inventory materials left by the Dutch and Indian authorities to keep Pontianak, the fruit of victory that he had just picked.

After all, the calibers of the guns on both sides are different. Soldiers of the Western Brigade who are used to using Walter M1851 rifles and Sacramento guns must not be used to the broken guns of the Dutch.

Of course, the beachhead cannot be lost.

He can fight Pontianak, and the Dutch and Indian authorities will also seek to retake Pontianak after they react.

Liang Yao left behind the Engineer Battalion and the Beaver Regiment, which were the two battalions of the Oregon Infantry that accompanied the team.

The engineer battalion is responsible for surveying and drawing maps on the spot, and at the same time designing and constructing the beachhead defense line and arranging forts.

Two battalions of the Oregon Infantry defended the beachhead.

As long as the beachhead position is well managed, Pontianak, 20 kilometers away from the beachhead, can be used as a stable and safe rear base without directly facing the artillery fire of the Dutch and Indian fleet.

Even if the Dutch Royal East India Army came in full force, Liang Yao would have enough reaction time and enough buffer space.

It is not like the Dutch Royal Dutch Indian Army lost Pontianak so quickly.

The Dutch and Indian authorities have operated the island of Borneo for many years, and the Dutch Royal Dutch Indian Army has other bases in Borneo.

If they lost Pontianak, they would have a place to retreat. If Liang Yao lost Pontianak, no enemy would be able to retreat if he wanted to. He could only retreat to the deep mountains and old forests inland to play hide-and-seek with the Dutch.

Such a result was unacceptable to Liang Yao.

"I'll stay and assist the engineer battalion in surveying and mapping and the construction of the beachhead defense formula."

Fremont offered Liang Yao to stay.

He is an engineer, and he is also a professional counterpart for this job.

"Then I'm going to trouble you. After I arrive in Pontianak City, I will recruit some personnel to help build the defensive positions on the beach. The positions built by the Dutch are too rough to use directly." Liang Yao cast a glance Said the rough position of the Dutch Indian army.

"General, can we transfer another battery of artillery?"

The commander of the Oregon Infantry Regiment, Kruger, who was in charge of beachhead defense, hoped that Liang Yao could assign him an artillery company.

Artillery is a unit directly under the Western Brigade, under the direct control of Liang Yao, and has not yet been delegated to the regiment level.

This is not because the artillery output of the Sacramento Arsenal can't keep up, but because the artillery talent pool can't keep up.

Expanding an artillery company to an artillery battalion is already the limit of California's artillery talent pool.

California's population size limits California's war potential, so although Liang Yao has been expanding his army, the scale of the expansion is relatively limited.

Furthermore, Liang Yao pursued a policy of elite soldiers, based on the principle of preferring shortages to excess, and had relatively high requirements for the quality of soldiers.

"I leave an artillery company for you. The field artillery of the artillery company can't block the Kapuas River. We have heavy artillery in the warehouse in Xiangshan. I will ask the global shipping company to transport the heavy artillery here immediately." Liang Yao pointed to the wide area. Said the mouth of the Capuas River.

"Before the heavy artillery arrives, you only have 6-pound and 10-pound field guns available. Even if you use these field guns, you must hold the mouth of the river. Don't let any Dutch warships, any Dutch soldiers enter Kunming. Dian, do you understand?"

Although Liang Yao had an artillery battalion, he only brought two companies with him this time, and the remaining company stayed in California to train recruits.

At most, he can only transfer one company of artillery to Kruger, and the remaining one company artillery must be kept to collect Pontianak or participate in follow-up military operations.

"Yes! Your Excellency, General! Please rest assured, General, even if we are the last one in the beaver regiment, we must hold our ground!"

Kruger straightened his chest and gave Liang Yao a military salute.

This was the first combat mission of the Beaver Regiment, and he hoped that the Beaver Regiment brought out by himself would perform well in this mission.

After Kruger left, Liang Yao asked the engineering battalion to immediately set up a telegraph line from here to Pontianak, so that he could know the situation of the beachhead as soon as possible.

Dredging the river would take some time, as the course of the Kapuas River had been blocked by the Dutch with sunken ships.

Liang Yao's large army could only go to Pontianak on foot.

After less than two hours of marching, Liang Yao rode a horse and entered Pontianak with the follow-up large troops.

The Dutch quickly and decisively withdrew from Pontianak, and no fierce fighting broke out in Pontianak.

Even if Elvis led the army into Pontianak, there were only sporadic exchanges of fire with the Dutch Royal Dutch Indian Army, and no artillery was used.

Therefore, the first battle of Pontianak caused little damage to the entire Pontianak city.

What Liang Yao got was an intact Pontianak with normal infrastructure.

"The Dutch ran really fast. I only captured 240 prisoners, of which only 65 were Dutch, and the rest were Chinese and local aborigines." Elvis came out to greet Liang Yao.

"Okay, I know that you have captured 240 prisoners." Liang Yao said, "You are the first to win Pontianak."

Liang Yao didn't know how Elvis used 70 people to capture 240 prisoners.

However, compared with the sea power of the Dutch and Indian authorities, its military power on land is indeed unbearable.

"Would you like to continue chasing the Dutch and Indian troops fleeing south to expand the results of the battle?" Elvis asked for instructions.

"The top priority is to consolidate the results we have already achieved, and it is not appropriate to rush after them." Liang Yao shook his head and said.

If he was familiar with the situation in West Borneo, Liang Yao would of course be willing to chase Remnant Yong to the poor, but in reality, Liang Yao was not familiar with the situation in West Borneo, and he didn't even have an accurate map of West Borneo.

Liang Yao's understanding of West Borneo basically comes from the information provided by the local Chinese.

Liang Yao does not want large-scale non-combat attrition, and prefers to consolidate the achievements already made.

"Borneo is a barren land. Outside the city, it is a place full of smoke and miasma. There are many snakes and insects. The snakes and insects here are more poisonous than our Guangdong snakes.

Those of us who have lived in West Borneo for [-] or [-] years are still lost in the deep mountains and old forests, let alone newcomers who have just arrived in Borneo. "Liu Shanbang also suggested not to pursue rashly.

(End of this chapter)