1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 372 Going North

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

"What I'm worried about is not the problems on land, but the 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 local indigenous people to build a colonial army.

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 only place his hope 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 no matter what. It is better to go against the Netherlands than to go against the British. At least there is hope."

After resting at Deng Wenqi's home, Liang Yao went 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! Just 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 Deng brothers. Why can the second brother be the mayor of Los Angeles? The third brother can be a minister in the state government, but I have to keep you in the useless Nevada. It's better now, even Nevada can't stay."

I have 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 foundation, it is still a smog-ridden 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 because 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 have only seen the scenery of Los Angeles now, but you don’t know how sad Los Angeles was before. When the state was first established, the second son was almost shot to death by ghost guys 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.

In terms of culture, he is not as good as Deng Wenyu, and in terms of intelligence and cleverness, he is not as good as Deng Wenshun.

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 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 will slap you!" Deng Wenqi banged the table heavily.

"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, so why did he give birth to a daughter who is as ignorant as you?"

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

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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, the city of Yangzhou was lost to 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 troops grew bigger and bigger like a snowball, and they also captured big cities such as Wuchang and Anqing.

However, these large cities basically left after looting the treasury in the city, and the Taiping Army had no plans to stick to the business for a long time.

Therefore, until November 1853, the only areas effectively controlled by the Taiping Army were Jiangning City and Zhenjiang City, and even the suburbs outside the city could not achieve effective control.

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

Yue Yong's senior officials have different opinions on whether to send troops immediately.

The Guangzhou Merchant Faction, headed by Pan Shicheng, believed that the Taiping Army was now at its peak and should avoid its edge and wait for the opportunity to avoid losing the two battalions of Guangdong Yong who had just been trained.

The Guangdong gentry faction headed by Liang Shaoqiong believed that now that the Taiping Army was at its peak, it was an excellent opportunity for the Guangdong Yong to perform.

In the end, the two sides reached an agreement, and Liang Shaoqiong led the Shanzi Battalion and the cavalry and artillery teams to board the Global Shipping Group's large ship at Xiangshan Port and go north to support Yangzhou City.

Guangdong Yong took a boat to go north, and when he entered the Yangtze River, he attracted crowds of people on both sides of the river to watch. They were full of curiosity about this strange army.

There was a lot of discussion and pointing at the group of local heroes who were riding the steamer.

Of course, these people are more afraid.

What Xiang Yong did after leaving Hunan has long been heard by the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

They were worried that after entering Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Yue Yong and Xiang Yong would do the same thing.

Although the Yue Yong is named Yue Yong, its personnel composition is actually very different from that of the Hunan Army.

The Hunan Army is basically composed of children from Hunan.

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

It's just that the top management are basically Cantonese. After all, this is an army funded by the merchants and gentry of Guangzhou.

Guangdong Yong, who went north, took a large ship of more than 1,000 tons from 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 through it. Guangdong Yong could only take a locally collected water boat to Yangzhou.

Before disembarking, Liang Shaoqiong, who was dressed in military uniform, pressed his left hand on the handle of the Yanling knife, and summoned the backbone of the Shanzi battalion, artillery team, and cavalry team on the deck for a lecture.

(End of chapter)