Wild North America 1846

After the victory was established, the final battle continued until the evening of the fourth day.

Several remnants of the Dutch enemy who fled south fled for more than a hundred kilometers and arrived in the jungles of West Sumatra Province. They were immediately surrounded and annihilated by the imperial troops that followed.

In this large-scale battle that broke out at the end of August 1898, the Tang Dynasty and the Netherlands invested a total of more than 110,000 troops in the upper Indragili area of ​​central Sumatra Island. In the end, the Tang Empire's army won the victory with a crushing advantage.

Before the war, the Dutch were confident that they would teach the Tang Empire a lesson, but they were so shocked that they almost lost all their money.

post-war inventory;

Of the total 62,000 Dutch troops participating in the war, they suffered losses of more than 21,600, including 15,720 killed and wounded, 5,641 missing, and more than 40,000 captured.

Among the missing persons, some may have been blown to pieces by artillery shells, some may have been buried by collapsed chests, some may have drowned, and some may have fled to the mountains and forests or took off their military uniforms and blended into the crowd to pretend to be soldiers.

local indigenous civilians.

For a while, it was difficult to tell.

Fortunately, the main force of the white troops of the Royal Netherlands Army was captured in one fell swoop. Among the total 27,300 white troops of the Dutch Army, 4,011 were killed or injured, and the remaining 23,300 were captured.

The Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty suffered 3,286 casualties in this battle, including 1,379 killed and 1,907 injured. It achieved an outright brilliant victory.

Most of the casualties of the imperial officers and soldiers were lost in the previous artillery fire coverage and the post-war pursuit and annihilation battles. In particular, the remnant white army resisted fiercely, causing considerable losses.

For this reason, the Second Corps of the Royal Guards, which was never willing to suffer losses, launched a ferocious revenge. The captured wounded were basically not treated, and nine out of ten died of wound infection and various other diseases.

The same was true for the captured white troops. Some white troops who resisted fiercely were subjected to all kinds of cruel treatment after being captured. Nearly a thousand people disappeared quietly, which is not humane to outsiders.

The captured people, whether they were whites or local indigenous people, were immediately put into hard labor camps to undertake the ensuing large-scale road construction and widening projects, port and wharf reconstruction, and some urban construction projects.

According to the imperial edict of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty;

The Imperial Royal Army is not only a powerful armed force, but also a pioneer in colonization, a pioneer in building a new homeland for the Chinese people, an envoy to spread China's advanced civilization and well-being, and the loudest voice of imperial power.

As the most fanatical group of followers of His Majesty the Emperor, the Royal Guards of the Sumatra Regiment followed the imperial edict to the letter. While attacking the city along the way, they began large-scale construction of the island.

There were not only more than 40,000 prisoners of war newly recruited into the hard labor camps, but also a total of 130,000 local male young and middle-aged indigenous people, forming a huge construction army.

As for why a large number of local young and middle-aged indigenous people were sent to coolie camps for what crimes?

As conquered people, perhaps this was their original sin.

in the late 19th century

The worldwide colonial wave reached its climax after the Treaty of Berlin, when world powers poured into Africa to compete for new colonies. No one cared about the rights of the colonial people at all.

Decades later, in the era of the awakening of modern civilization, a very small number of European scholars and descendants of aborigines living in Europe raised this issue that went to the core and demanded a public apology from the imperial government.

However, he spoke softly and was soon overwhelmed by various accusations and remarks from the public opinion circles that suggested ulterior motives. He himself also suffered various suppressions and exclusions, and did not cause much waves.

early September

The first Chinese immigrant ship arriving in Sumatra docked at Palembang, and 2,213 new immigrants disembarked from the ship. They were the beginning of the wave of Chinese immigration to Sumatra at the end of the 19th century.

In order to cooperate with the colonization strategy of the East Indies, the Colonial Department of the Tang Empire basically abandoned the traditional Central Pacific immigration route and shifted its focus to immigration to the East Indies.

actually

Since the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty enfeoffed vassal kings on a large scale, Chinese immigrants from the Central Pacific Immigration Route have not set foot in the empire for 12 years.

The vast majority were replenished to the 15 vassal states in South America, as well as the Kingdom of Cuba, the Kingdom of Luzon, the Kingdom of Cebu and the Kingdom of Mindanao, which changed the local population structure to the greatest extent and stabilized the political situation of the vassal states.

12 years so far

The above-mentioned nineteen vassal states have added a total of 6.82 million new Chinese immigrants at an average annual rate of 550,000 to more than 620,000 people through the golden immigration route in the central Pacific.

This greatly improved the local population structure, strengthened the strength of mainstream Chinese society, stabilized the top-down governance structure of the vassal state, and formed a population distribution dominated by Chinese society. The effect was extremely obvious.

After the imperial military won the decisive Battle of Upper Indragili, they immediately started the immigration process.

With the full cooperation of the Imperial Colonial Department, in the next 5 to 7 years, the total number of immigrants in the Central Pacific, averaging more than 600,000 per year, will focus on the East Indies.

It is expected that 70% to 80% of them, or an average of about 480,000 people per year, will be gradually resettled in the Sumatra Islands, Kalimantan Islands and Sulawesi Islands to enhance the empire's dominance over the region.

Among them, Sumatra is the top priority for immigrants.

Because Sumatra has a farming tradition of more than a thousand years and a relatively complete farmland water conservancy foundation, the island is dotted with cities and towns and has superior natural conditions.

Although due to the devastation of the 25-year-long Asian war, agricultural production has declined, and many towns and fields have been abandoned. Every year, as many as hundreds of thousands of people die due to disease, hunger, and even various disasters.

But this is purely a matter of begging for food. Sumatra, located in the tropics, has superior natural conditions, with abundant sunshine, rivers everywhere, and complete farmland ditch facilities.

In order to cut off the logistic support of the Aceh rebels, the Dutch colonists forcibly merged villages and towns on the island's indigenous residents to strengthen military control.

They used force to drive the indigenous people away from their former home lands where they had lived for hundreds of years, and concentrated them into a few large towns, regardless of the life or death of these indigenous people.

This has resulted in the local indigenous people having land and being unable to farm, so they can only crowd into the fringes of large towns, forming slums with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

Due to the harsh environment and sewage flowing across the slums, various tropical diseases and epidemics breed, coupled with hunger and various violent crimes, leading to the death of as many as hundreds of thousands of people every year.

After the Battle of Upper Indragili that ended in early September, the Sumatran Corps, which won the war, rested for three days and then divided its troops into two groups to sweep across the entire central and northwest of Sumatra Island.

to the end of the year

The gunfire on the island gradually subsided, and the Sumatran Corps completely took control of the situation on the island, which meant that this new colonial war also came to an end.

As early as early August

The Kalimantan Corps assembled heavy troops, and after more than 10 days of fighting, it completely annihilated the more than 30,000 Dutch troops gathered in Sanpete and Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan, and took control of the situation in Kalimantan in advance.

.

The expeditionary force deliberately blocked the news. The Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia (Jakarta) on Java Island did not receive the news of the defeat until late November, which caused an earthquake-like panic among the local Dutch colonists.

Although there had been various ominous speculations for a long time, when the news was confirmed, pessimism and great fear quickly spread, as if it was the end of the world.

Regardless of the lamentations on the island of Java, the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan newly occupied by the imperial army have begun earth-shaking colonial transformation...

Sumatra has experienced 25 years of war and more than half a year of the Tang-Dutch War. The total local population has dropped sharply from more than 3.7 million to more than half, that is, less than 2 million.

After the Sumatran Army took control of the overall situation, they immediately began to recruit large-scale indigenous young adults from the urban slums and put them directly into hard labor camps, and began large-scale construction of the island's infrastructure.

The so-called overall recruitment of young indigenous people is a crude and simple method.

That is, the army directly blocked the entrances and exits of the slums on the edge of the town, and then sent soldiers into groups to arrest people. Those who resisted were killed on the spot.

This kind of military operation cleared out the young and middle-aged male indigenous residents in the local slums in one fell swoop.

After taking away the main labor force in each family, how the remaining old, young, women and children can survive is not a problem that the military should consider.

When Chinese immigrants came in large numbers, local indigenous women were forced to live and were willing to follow as long as they were given a cake, thus forming a new family.

The military's vigorous and resolute actions have completely eliminated the high crime rate in the area. This is an unexpected blessing.

When 100,000 indigenous young adults are thrown into hard labor camps, it means that 100,000 local indigenous families have lost their backbone. It also means that no one will rob, steal or commit murder anymore, and no one will take up arms to resist.

.

The source of all these unrests was in the forced labor camps.

The Aceh War, which lasted for 25 years, was quietly resolved. The young and middle-aged local indigenous men were also organized into hard labor camps and worked hard day after day.

The idea that those who pick up their guns are rebel fighters and put down their guns and are civilians no longer works.

The wealthy Tang Empire's colonial methods were tough, simple and crude, but the results were so remarkable that other established colonial countries could not catch up.

On the island of Sumatra, dozens of highways have been constructed on a large scale, with a total mileage of various trunk and branch roads reaching more than 23,000 kilometers. At the same time, the Sumatra Railway line running through the island has also been constructed.

Thousands of bridges, dozens of dams and nine docks are being built at the same time. Tens of immigrant ships arrive every month, bringing tens of thousands of new Chinese immigrants.

There were originally more than 350,000 early Chinese immigrants and their descendants in Sumatra. They witnessed with their own eyes that the island had undergone earth-shaking changes in just one or two years.

The flat and wide road is hardened with asphalt, and lush street trees are planted on both sides of the road, making it very convenient to travel to various towns.

Farmland and water conservancy facilities have been renovated, and Chinese villages and towns have sprung up all over the island. There are more and more rice fields, fruit trees, chickens, ducks, cattle and sheep, and life has improved visibly to the naked eye.

The population markets in various towns were bustling, and many local indigenous women voluntarily put in the straw tags. Young and healthy women were quickly bought by Chinese immigrants, and the prices were astonishingly low.

In just two or three years

Hundreds of thousands of new Chinese families were established, becoming the most basic social structure in Sumatra. Chinese schools were built one after another, and the society was back on the track of stable development.

The colonial problems that the Dutch could not solve for three hundred years seemed to be easily solved in the face of the powerful Tang Empire.

But how much blood, tears and heartache, how much bloody oppression and cruel persecution are behind this is another matter.

By the end of the 20th century

In the imperial territories of the East Indies, mainly Sumatra and Kalimantan, the local Chinese population has accounted for more than 90% of the society. Taoism and Buddhism believed by the local people are prevalent. Mandarin is the first official language, and English is the third.

Two major languages.

Of the remaining population, about 3.2% are white people and their descendants, Malay indigenous people and their descendants account for about 5.4%, and less than 0.7% are Southeast Asians and Indians.

The news that the Tang Empire had fully occupied Sumatra and Kalimantan in the East Indies reached Europe in early 1899, and it did not cause much disturbance.

at this time

The British move to massively increase troops to South Africa has been made without concealment. More than 100,000 troops have been transferred to South Africa from various colonies. War against the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic is imminent.

In 1899, Europe launched a large-scale campaign to sympathize with and support the Boer Republic. The media's numerous reports attracted the attention of the vast majority of Europeans.

The Netherlands and Belgium formed numerous civil society groups, solicited donations, published articles, established foundations, donated wartime mobile hospitals and medical equipment to the Transvaal, and strongly condemned Britain's war attempt to bully the weak.

Thousands of volunteers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United States, Russia, Ireland, Italy and Scandinavian countries crossed the ocean and came to the Transvaal, preparing to fight alongside the Boers.

Amid this turmoil and chaos, the bad news from the Dutch defeat in the East Indies, apart from causing a huge shock in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, caused little repercussions when it was transmitted to European countries.

Only Germany had the strongest reaction. Kaiser Wilhelm II said firmly when receiving a delegation from the Kingdom of the Netherlands in his palace outside Berlin;

"Tang's shameless act of war of invasion is another huge damage to the white world. This is not the first time they have done this. The international community, mainly in Europe, should unite to face this huge threat."

"The British and Tang Dynasties worked together in collusion and did not hesitate to harm the interests of other countries to satisfy their own colonial desires. This is the biggest cancer in today's international order."

"Sadly... Europe cannot come together."

Under heavy pressure from the threat of war, in early 1899, President Kruger of the Transvaal Republic told Milner;

The government can consider reducing the period of stay for foreigners to obtain Transvaal citizenship from 14 years to 5 years, but requires the United Kingdom to stop raising suzerainty claims on the Transvaal Republic in the future, immediately stop sending troops to South Africa, and withdraw from the British

The armies belonging to each colony.

Influenced by domestic public opinion, the British Parliament said in its reply to Kruger:

"... Her Majesty's Government considers that the response of the Government of the Republic of South Africa is negative or inconclusive... Her Majesty's Government reserves the right to reconsider the current situation and adopt appropriate final measures."

In order to increase military pressure on the Transvaal, starting from the beginning of the year, Britain dispatched another two thousand people from India and the Mediterranean to reinforce the Natal colony. This greatly increased the strength of the local British army again.

Early 1899

In a letter sent to the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Lord Pos, stated;

"The Governor's Palace has lost the transportation and communication capabilities to contact the islands. The latest information available shows that 42,000 white prisoners were tortured and abused in the hard labor camps, and some people died in pain every day."

"The colony cannot bear such a huge loss. Java Island is shrouded in great fear. Escape from the island is the aspiration of all white people. In just a few months, more than 17,000 people have been lost."

"The foundation of colonial rule has been shaken. The Governor-General is unable to launch an effective resistance. It urgently needs external support and all supplies including arms..."

"The situation has deteriorated to the point where it cannot be further worsened. Whether it is war or peace, the Royal Government must make decisive decisions. Continuing to delay will only lead to a more serious disaster."

Different from the panic in the Governor-General's Office of the Dutch East Indies, in less than half a year, the empire massively immigrated more than 270,000 people to the newly occupied colonies in the East Indies.

a new Year

Due to the short distance, the Colonial Department of the Tang Empire set a goal of immigrating 600,000 people to the new colony, including 435,000 people from Sumatra, 145,000 people from Kalimantan, and 20,000 people from Sulawesi and other islands.

A large number of roads in the above-mentioned areas have been completed, farmland water conservancy facilities and new development projects have been completed, which has greatly enhanced the ability to accept new immigrants.

This also made large-scale immigration possible. With the massive injection of imperial funds, thousands of factories sprung up, such as rice mills, flour mills, oil mills, sugar mills, tobacco factories, and wood processing plants.

, cement factory, brick factory, sand and gravel factory, etc., and a large number of Chinese businessmen came to inspect and prepare to set up a series of enterprises such as textile factories, dyeing and finishing plants, shipping companies, and shipyards.

The Tang Empire, which had a strong industrial economy, had no shortage of funds, and the blank industrial field in the new colonies was the new field and new market for imperial capital to compete, and it was also their new stage.

From a geographical point of view

Sumatra is very close to the entire Southeast Asia and South Asia, so it has become the most valued place for imperial industrial capital, which can radiate to the entire South Asia and the Indian Peninsula.

Because of this, some transnational capital from the empire also landed, forming a wave of investment in new colonies in South Asia at the end of the 19th century.

For example, the eight major banking consortiums in the empire, the five major oil giants, and the three major multinational telegraph companies have set up South Asia headquarters and branches in Sumatra to further expand the market.

The colonization of the Tang Empire was never a simple military operation, but a comprehensive expansion of military, political and economic affairs, and the colonial effect was extremely significant.

At the same time that hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants landed, a large amount of imperial capital poured in, and the East Indies ushered in tremendous changes that had not been seen in hundreds of years.

Every day, there will be new changes here, new factories will be built, new roads will be extended, and a varying number of local indigenous people will melt like ice and snow and disappear in the long river of history.