1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 399 Pontianak

"Half of the people in Pontianak are Chinese, and the rest are local natives. Those who believe in Islam are called Borneans, and those who believe in native religion are called Dayaks."

Ye Tenghui accompanied Liang Yao to visit Pontianak and introduced the situation of Pontianak to Liang Yao.

The Islam Ye Tenghui refers to is Islam.

Christianity is the main religious belief in the Indonesian archipelago.

In addition to Christianity, each local ethnic group has its own complex religious beliefs. Even within the same religion, people in different areas may not believe in the same gods, making it difficult to discuss.

However, these local religions all have one thing in common, that is, they all believe that all things, such as birds, animals, plants, and trees, have spirits, which can be summarized as animistic religions.

Just as the Chinese do not deal with each other based on their native clans and regions, the Catholics and animists on the island also do not deal with each other and consider each other to be heretics.

"Are there any Dutch expatriates?" Liang Yao asked.

"Of course there are Hongyi overseas Chinese, but their number is not large, only five or six hundred people. Now many Hongyi overseas Chinese have followed them to the south, and the number of remaining Hongyi overseas Chinese is estimated to be no more than three hundred.

Liu Shanbang replied.

Dutch expatriates have always been a very small minority in the Indonesian archipelago, and their proportion of the population is not high.

The population of the Netherlands itself is very limited, and it is impossible to Dutchize the colony. Even on Java Island, which has the deepest roots of Dutch rule and has been operated for more than two hundred years, the Dutch population is at an absolute disadvantage.

There are nearly 10 million Javanese people on Java Island, but the number of Dutch people who have settled on Java Island has not exceeded 40,000 so far, and most of the Dutch people on Java Island are still concentrated in Batavia.

What is this concept? Han Chinese, another immigrant group on Java Island, have a population of four to five million.

In other words, in the core areas governed by the Dutch in the Indonesian archipelago, the population is less than one-tenth of the Chinese immigrants.

Implementing limited regulatory control over the colonies, controlling important trading strongholds, and extracting as much economic benefits from the colonies as possible is the limit that a country the size of the Netherlands can achieve.

"A few hundred people bullied tens of thousands of you into this." Liang Yao let out a long sigh.

When Han Chinese were a minority in California, they were not bullied like this by white people.

"Hongyi are very cunning and good at sowing discord. When the Cantonese people became powerful, they instigated the Chaoshan people to fight the Cantonese people. When the Chaoshan people became powerful, they instigated the Hakka people to fight the Chaoshan people. When the Hakka people became powerful, they started to instigate fights again.

The Zhangquan people beat the Hakkas, and when the Hakkas got big, they incited the natives to fight the Hakkas. When the natives got big, they incited the Chinese to fight the natives, weakening each other's strength, and so on," Ye Tenghui argued.

"I hope you and I will work together as one, even if the Dutch want to provoke them, they will be helpless." Liang Yao shook his head and said.

The Chinese people on the island of Borneo are like this. In the final analysis, the most important reason is internal fighting among themselves.

"Tell me about the situation in the nearby indigenous chiefdoms."

"There are four main indigenous chiefdoms near us, namely the Pontianak Chiefdom in the south, whose chief is Alkadri and has a chief of 100,000 people. The Sanfa Chiefdom in the north, whose chief is Akam, has 100,000 chiefs.

The chiefdom of Brunei in the northeast has a chief of 700,000 or 80,000 people. Its chief, Omar, has a chief of 200,000. The chief of the Sindang chiefdom in the east inland area has a chief of Abdul, with a chief of 40,000.

Remain."

Liu Shanbang replied.

"Except for the Pontianak chiefdom, which is slightly rich, the rest are very poor, so there is nothing to fear. In the entire Borneo island, only the red barbarian ghosts are difficult to deal with."

Liu Shanbang also fought against the local chiefdoms, but they were just a ragtag group of people and were nothing to worry about.

These chiefdoms can handle it themselves without Liang Yao taking action.

"Where is Lanfang Company? How is their situation?" Liang Yao asked about the situation of Lanfang Company.

Liang Yao definitely did not intend to accept the senior management of Lanfang Company who had taken refuge with the Dutch Indian authorities.

But Liang Yao was willing to accept the ordinary miners and their families under the control of Lanfang Company.

Population, especially core population, is sometimes a more valuable resource than natural resources.

Liang Yao, the local Borneo people who believe in Christianity and the Dayak people who believe in Envelope religion, was unable to convert them into a core population that could be used for their own use.

But Chinese with the same cultural background can. This is why Southeast Asia is so big. Liang Yao finally set his sights on the island of Borneo and decided to open up rubber plantations on Borneo.

"Part of the Lanfang Company's armed forces who stayed behind in Dongwanlu followed Andersen to Kendawang'an in the south, and the other part took back the Dongwanlu nest. The remaining small part are now our prisoners," Liu Shanbang said.

.

Kendawangan is a port 300 kilometers south of Pontianak.

Of course, the 300 kilometers here refers to the straight-line distance. In fact, the distance Andersen had to travel by land from Pontianak to Kendawangan was more than 300 kilometers.

After a long march through the tropical rainforest, the Royal Dutch East India Army must have retreated to Kendawangan this time, and the non-combat attrition will not be low.

Unlike Pontianak, there are very few Chinese in Kendawangan. Seventy percent of the local residents are Borneo, 25% are Dayak, and the remaining sporadic population is a small number of Chinese and Dutch.

Unlike the Dutch-controlled port in Pontianak, Kendawangan is a port completely controlled by the Dutch.

Kendawangan is only 550 kilometers away from Batavia in a straight line on the sea. It was an important bridgehead for the Dutch to penetrate into Borneo and was also their home base in West Borneo. The Dutch and Indian authorities deployed troops in Kendawangan far away.

Above Pontianak.

As for Dongwanlu, it is the capital of Lanfang Company.

Lanfang Company's gold mines are also mainly distributed near Dongwanlu.

"The tens of thousands of soldiers of Lanfang Company depend on the gold mines in Dongwanlu for their sustenance. As long as we take Dongwanlu next, Lanfang Company will definitely fall apart!"

Ye Tenghui suggested that Liang Yao take over Dongwanlu in one go and directly cut off Lanfang Company's financial resources.

"Lanfang Company really has tens of thousands of soldiers?" Liang Yao asked.

“There are not many Chinese on the island of Borneo. Employees of various companies mine and farm during the day, but take up arms to fight in times of war, and Lanfang Company is no exception.

Lanfang Company can still put together tens of thousands of people. Not to mention Lanfang Company, even those of us Hakkas who were beaten by the red-haired ghost guys and retreated to the mountains and old forests to make a living by farming can also put together tens of thousands of people.

It's just that neither the soldiers of Lanfang Company nor the soldiers of our Chinese Resistance Company are as professional as Mr. Liang's soldiers."

Liu Shanbang said.

Liu Shanbang originally wanted to say that the combat power of Lanfang's troops was similar to that of the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty, but Hong Mingxiang was present and Liu Shanbang was not in the position to say so, as he had to save some face for the admiral.

In fact, Liang Yao also regarded the military power of Lanfang Company as the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty. After all, the military power of Lanfang Company was modeled on the Green Camp.

Its combat effectiveness may be slightly higher than that of Green Camp, but to Liang Yao there is no essential difference.

No matter how elite the Green Camp is, it is still a Green Camp.

(End of chapter)