1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 407 Protection

"We, the Sanfa Sultanate, are willing to cooperate with you."

Akamuddin personally led his army to Pontianak City to pay homage to Liang Yao to show his sincerity in cooperation.

"It's not cooperation, it's protection."

Liang Yao looked at the Sultan who was in his prime and well aware of current affairs and emphasized.

He was not an equal partner with the Chinese resistance companies in West Borneo, let alone these local chiefdoms.

He took the risk and sent troops for the economic interests and strategic value of Borneo, not to come here to be a good guy.

He wants face, and even more respect.

"Protect?" Akamuddin was slightly startled.

"Yes, protection, but you still have the power of autonomy. We will not interfere too much in your internal affairs." Liang Yao said in an unquestionable tone.

"The Umbrella Company will provide security for the Three Fathoms Sultanate just as the British East India Company provided protection for the Brooke Dynasty."

As long as these chiefdoms are obedient and their interests in Borneo can be protected, Liang Yao still allows these chiefdoms to maintain their autonomy.

"So what do you need from us?"

After pondering for a moment, Akamuddin slowly asked. He knew that there was a price to pay for Liang Yao's blessing.

His mood seemed a little heavy.

Since the British and the Dutch set foot in Borneo, it can be said that the lives of the Sultanates in Borneo have deteriorated day by day, especially for small sultanates like Sanfa, which were already poor and weak. Their already poor life has been even worse.

There is no essential difference between the British, Dutch, and Chinese foreign forces for Akamuddin.

If there is any difference, it is that Akamuddin's resistance is slightly smaller when he accepts the protection of Chinese forces of the same skin color.

"Help us fight and help us maintain order on the island of Borneo. Of course, we will not let you be cannon fodder like the Dutch did." Liang Yao said.

Liang Yao has enough regular troops, and currently only has Pontianak, an overseas territory. In a sense, Liang Yao actually has a local military advantage in West Borneo.

Liang Yao had his own reasons for not letting the soldiers of the Sanfa Sultanate be used as cannon fodder.

As soon as the Sanfa Sultanate was the first local chiefdom to defect to him, it needed a good example to promote and attract other chiefdoms whose attitudes were wavering.

Secondly, even if these new recruits who have not received formal military training go to the battlefield to fight against the Dutch and Indian troops, they will not be of much help to him and will only cause chaos.

They are more suitable for taking on auxiliary tasks rather than fighting.

"I came to Pontianak this time just to assist you in your battle. It's just that our sultanate has suffered a disaster this year and is in urgent need of some life-saving food," Akamuddin said.

Liang Yao looked at Ye Tenghui, the former chief producer of Lanfang Company.

Ye Tenghui nodded to Liang Yao, Akamudin did not deceive him.

After the outbreak of the Dutch-Chinese War, the chiefdoms on the island were also forced to get involved in the Dutch-Chinese War, and normal production activities were also affected by the war.

Therefore, lack of food and clothing is the norm throughout West Borneo.

In order to maintain their basic livelihood, San Tiao Gou and other Chinese resisted the company and even gave up mining activities completely and engaged in agricultural production activities, barely surviving starvation and continuing to fight against the Dutch and Indian authorities.

"As long as you obey our arrangements, I can provide you with some food first," Liang Yao said.

After taking over the warehouse of the Dutch-Indian authorities in Pontianak, Liang Yao still has a little surplus on hand now, including the grain he transported from Xiangshan.

"We will definitely obey your arrangements." Akamuddin said hurriedly.

After the Royal Dutch Army's camp was set up, Andersen launched an attack on the city of Pontianak.

The tactics adopted by the Royal Dutch Army were still those of the line era.

On this basis, they were improved according to the characteristics of the colonial army. Their formation was basically with indigenous soldiers standing in the front and European soldiers standing in the back, so as to reduce the casualties of European soldiers.

Facing Andersen's offensive, Liang Yao decided to show weakness to the enemy and continue to paralyze Andersen, making Andersen think that his ability to capture Pontianak City was entirely due to some accidental factors.

Under the fierce offensive of the Dutch and Indian troops, Liang Yao took the initiative to abandon the first line of defense on the periphery.

After easily capturing the first line of defense outside Pontianak City, most of the officers and soldiers of the Royal Dutch Army were very happy, thinking that Liang Yao's army was nothing more than that, and was not fundamentally different from other Chinese armies.

The reason why they were able to capture Pontianak City was just because of some clever tricks.

Of course, this is also Andersen's idea, and Anderson has always been worried about the change of hands of Pontianak City.

After all, since the Dutch-Chinese War, only the Netherlands has occupied Chinese settlements, and the Chinese have no ability to seize settlements, especially large settlements, from the Dutch and Indian troops.

However, there were still a small number of Dutch and Indian army officers who felt a little abnormal. They always felt that there was something wrong with taking the first peripheral defense line outside Pontianak so easily.

These few Dutch and Indian army officers suggested suspending the offensive. They came lightly armed this time, and the artillery they carried were small-caliber artillery. They lacked heavy weapons for attacking fortresses.

But these few discordant voices were quickly drowned out.

Many officers of the Dutch-Indian Army said that they wanted to regain Pontianak in one fell swoop and achieve their first success.

Without exception, Andersen sided with the officers who advocated pursuing victory.

But this time, Liang Yao decided not to give up the second line of defense.

Because Pontianak City has only three lines of defense, the second line of defense can still wrap up the entire Pontianak City and provide protection to the entire Pontianak City.

Once the second line of defense is abandoned, Liang Yao will be left with only the last third line of defense, which is the wooden city wall in the core urban area of ​​Pontianak.

It is said to be a city wall, but it is actually just a wooden fence.

The bait can be placed, but it cannot be placed too large. Liang Yao will not risk losing part of the Pontianak city to lure the Dutch and Indian troops to take the bait.

"Let the cavalry company prepare well and catch more guinea pigs later." Liang Yao put away his binoculars and told the officers around him.

The Dutch and Indian troops arrived as scheduled.

A colonel of the Dutch-Indian Army led an infantry regiment composed of more than 300 European soldiers and about 800 Javanese native soldiers to intimidate a thousand native soldiers of the Pontianak Sultanate in a relatively neat line.

The queue slowly advanced towards Liang Yao's second line of defense, that is, the second line of trench fortifications.

The artillery of the Dutch and Indian troops took the lead in firing.

However, at this time, the soldiers of the Western Brigade had already huddled in the cat-ear holes that had been dug to avoid the shelling.

The artillery of the Dutch and Indian troops fired solid bullets. As long as the solid bullets did not roll on the flat ground, their ability to injure personnel was extremely limited.

Therefore, although the artillery of the Dutch and Indian troops fought with great enthusiasm and momentum, the actual casualties caused to the Western Brigade were almost negligible.

After the bombardment ended, the soldiers of the Western Brigade, under the command of the non-commissioned officers, emerged from the cat's ear holes, relied on the trenches, and waited for the Dutch and Indian troops to enter the firing range.

After the Dutch and Indian troops entered the firing range of the Western Brigade, they only heard a cry of subzero, and thousands of metal projectiles were ejected from the trenches, hitting the line formation of the Dutch and Indian troops like raindrops.

(End of chapter)