The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 70: Whoever has the bigger fist is justified (please vote for me, please collect, please support.)

What is the military strength of the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies today?

The Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Dutch East Indies Army is concurrently served by His Excellency the Governor-General. He has jurisdiction over the East Indies Colony with an area of ​​nearly 3 million square kilometers and a length of more than 7,800 kilometers from east to west.

Beginning in the late 1830s, the ratio between European and Aboriginal soldiers under the Governor-General's command changed from 1:1 to 1:3.

The first reason is that there are not enough European volunteers, and the second reason is that the cost is too high, which is not cost-effective from an economic point of view.

During the period of Governor Pos, that is, from 1845 to 1856, due to the launch of several conquests against the Kingdom of Aceh, the number of European troops remained at around 12, and there were another 000 indigenous servants ( Mainly from Java, Ambon and Manado) served.

After the Trade Agreement was signed in 1857, the Dutch Governor-General stopped recruiting European volunteer troops. The white army was reduced to more than 8300 people, a reduction of one-third, and the indigenous servant army was also partially reduced.

Its purpose is to significantly reduce military spending.

Today, the Royal Army of the Dutch East Indies has about 1100 officers and more than 1200 horses. The officer corps is composed entirely of white people and is responsible for commanding white troops and indigenous servant troops.

Its military deployment, mainly in Sumatra, exerted strong military pressure on the rebellious Aceh Sultanate.

The situation in Sumatra is very complicated. The Sultan of Aceh lives in a remote corner and does not recognize the rule of Sultan of Shiak. Aceh rules several areas from Damian to Batu Bara.

The Rili tribe and the Lungge tribe tried to use Western forces to get rid of the fetters of the Kingdom of Aceh and the Kingdom of Siak, and they had deep conflicts with each other.

Coupled with the frequent intervention of traditional British forces in the region, it is simply a mess. This made the Dutch colonists one and two large, and the main military power was used in this area.

The white military force left by the Dutch Governor-General on Java Island was only more than 2000 people, 2217 to be precise, belonging to three dissatisfied Royal Fusiliers.

Even if several thousand indigenous servants are included, the number is less than 10,000.

These military forces mainly guard the elite areas with Batavia and Bandung as the core. There are only a few in Central Java and West Java, as well as Kalimantan Island, Sulawesi Island, Guinea Island, Sunda Islands and other places. A symbolic military presence of hundreds or even dozens of people.

And in the above areas

There were many indigenous tribes who were dissatisfied with the rule of the Dutch colonists. Many remote indigenous nobles did not listen to the greetings or pay taxes, and closed their doors to act as mountain kings.

The Dutch Governor-General had no choice but to let it go.

as expected

When Mr. Link made his request implicitly, he was directly scolded by Secretary Schneider who had a straight face and was kicked out mercilessly.

Even Mr. Lin Zongguang was tired and left the Governor's Mansion in disgrace.

After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Mr. Lin Zongguang found an excuse and left in a hurry, just like escaping from the god of plague.

What happened in Surabaya really had nothing to do with him, the "Kapitan" master.

Being implicated for no reason, he had long screamed "bad luck" in his heart.

In a Western carriage

Mr. Link looked as if he had aged a few years at the moment. He looked out the window with dull eyes and his heart was in confusion. He didn't know what to do.

Letters for help came one after another from Qiao Yunnan in Surabaya City, but he never responded accurately because he didn't know how to reply.

Link von Biedrins was not a wise and decisive leader. He was just a white plantation owner who had been on the island of Java for generations.

I have never seen much of the world in my life. The furthest I have been is Batavia many times. I don't know much about the rapidly changing world outside. It would be wrong to call me a country bumpkin.

What keeps him arrogant and confident is his natural white skin.

When encountering a gangster like the Nanyang Company, with no support from the Governor-General behind it, he was immediately dumbfounded.

This is like an old man in the countryside who got angry at the entrance of the village and went home without resentment to call his seven sons, but all of his sons were shirking work and being too busy to get away from work. Isn't that stupid?

After thinking about it for a long time, Link von Biedrins could only sigh secretly and prepare to return to Surabaya to see how the wind direction turned before he made any further calculations.

After all, Surabaya is a business that the Biedrins family has been running for hundreds of years, and he needs to go back and take charge of the overall situation.

The carriage gradually goes away

There was always a gaze behind him on the carriage that was going away. It was an ordinary-looking Chinese man who soon returned to the rental house in the square.

Not long after, I walked into the post office not far away with a letter...

More than ten days later

rock watch city

It has been quite some time since Feng Guohui led the cavalry and his entourage to arrive here. In the meantime, he took the time to visit Bromo Town and Tianjia Town to carefully consider the army training situation.

Through Chen Yong's confrontation training between cavalry and infantry, many problems were also discovered and ordered to be trained one by one.

Feng Guohui paid close attention to military training, and the people below did not dare to perfunctory it.

In Chengdong Manor

Open several tables

Feng Guohui entertained the first battalion stationed in Yanwang City and some of the key officers of the fifth battalion trained here with big fish and meat, most of them were old brothers.

There are also more than a dozen leading Chinese merchant families in the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, headed by Wang Fugui and Chen Bolun. Everyone has benefited from the opening of the southern trade route. Now they are like grasshoppers tied on a rope.

The Nanyang Chamber of Commerce beat, pulled and suppressed them, using all means. Those stubborn Nyonya Tian Qiwen and Tian Qiwu who were unwilling to cooperate have now been wiped out, and the indigenous noble Yusuf family has also been torn to pieces.

As long as the rest are not too stupid, only the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce will follow suit.

Feng Guohui wants to make every effort to build Yanwang City into his own weather-proof foundation. The main reason is that it is located on an important transportation road, and it is the only way to open new trade routes to the south and west in the future. From the perspective of overall control of East Java

Yanwang City is an unavoidable key point. It has been an important transportation thoroughfare throughout the ages. According to this place, you can advance and attack, and retreat and defend.

The banquet was full of wine, and we returned home happily.

Feng Guohui left Wu Siwen, Wang Fugui, Chen Bolun and other leading figures in Yanwang City to sit down to eat some fruit, drink tea and chat, and talk about current affairs.

After chatting for a while

Feng Guohui brought the topic to the right track and said;

"Since April, tropical crops in surrounding areas have entered the harvest season, and the number of goods being escorted northward from various places is increasing day by day. The burden on you is not light.

Yanwang City will be the headquarters of our Nanyang Chamber of Commerce in the future, and the strength here will be further strengthened.

Blind man, your first battalion will continue to expand. I will give you a quota of 200 people. Weapons and equipment will be distributed from above, and the personnel will be recruited and trained by yourself.

Chen Yong's cavalry team will also be stationed in Yanwang City from now on, helping to check the transportation team, communicating with the troops in Tianjia Town and Bromo Town, and hunting down mountain bandits.

Yanwang City formed a militia group, including the Blind Man's Battalion, Brother Fugui's Chamber of Commerce Armed Team, and Chen Yong's Cavalry Team.

The blind man will be the leader of this militia group, and Brother Fugui and Chen Yong will be the deputy leaders. The scope includes Yanwang City and surrounding areas, so they can act expeditiously in case of emergencies.

Confirm and report afterwards to avoid delays.

But I want to reiterate one thing

All goods passing through Yanwang City, regardless of whether they are white, indigenous or Nyonya, are subject to a transit tax of 10 out of 1. Violators will be subject to heavy fines.

Anyone who dares to resist will have all their goods confiscated.

I heard that some red-blooded ghost guys are playing tricks here, and some people are weak at the knees and just let them go by paying a token fee and turning a blind eye.

Next time something like this happens again, you will not only have to make up for the missing tax, but you will also be held responsible and severely punished. "

After saying this, Wang Fugui's face turned red and blue. He secretly complained about who had leaked the news again?

On the other hand, he showed a flattering look and bowed repeatedly with his hands clasped in fists.

Feng Guohui just pretended that he couldn't see it and continued talking...

Some things cannot be expected to be accomplished overnight because of the cartilage that has been formed over decades or hundreds of years. You must allow room for mistakes.

"Now the Landoshan mine requires a lot of manpower, and more than 700 of the Yusuf tribe's strong laborers have been taken away again, and there is not much left.

There is still a big gap between this requirement and at least 3000 laborers.

Take a look, where can you find a solution? "

After Feng Guohui said this, he stopped to take a sip of tea and turned his attention to everyone.

Wu Siwen was the "blind man" in Feng Guohui's words. When he heard the old man calling his nickname, he not only didn't get angry, but also felt cordial to Yourong Yan.

After thinking for a moment, Wu Siwen replied;

“Master Ding, leave this matter to me.

If we are in urgent need of manpower, then we will stop the group training these days. I will lead the brothers to suppress several thorn-headed indigenous tribes, and move all the old and young to Landa Mountain.

It's just a good time to practice by playing to test the training results during this period.

There are several indigenous tribes in the west of the city who have never been very honest, and I have long disliked them on the only way to open up trade routes to the west, so I took the opportunity to throw them away.

Doing the math, I estimate there are four to five thousand people. "

"Okay, it just so happens that Captain Chen Yong is accompanying you. That...Brother Fugui, let's drag your Chamber of Commerce armed team out to see the blood. A sword is not sharpened, but it is useless." Feng Guohui agreed immediately.

Who would be willing to spend money to hire someone when there are hard labor prisoners who can be picked up for free?

It just so happened that these indigenous tribes were wiped out. Next, the Chinese immigrants transferred from Surabaya City would have a place to resettle.

Nowadays, the name of Nanyang Company is getting louder and louder, recruiting people everywhere, and the appeal of Surabaya City is getting stronger and stronger.

Many Chinese immigrants from surrounding areas have arrived, including Nyonya children, new customers and mainland workers. There are thousands of people every month.

They were recruited and placed in traditional areas of indigenous tribes. From now on, they will be Mr. Feng’s tenants.

The free land is given to them to build houses and villages, and they can collect rent every year from now on. This kind of business is a happy one.

In the future, the villagers will still be the best source of soldiers. They are not only loyal and obedient, but also have good obedience, which can be regarded as their basic base.

Whoever has the bigger fist these days has a point.

(End of this chapter)