Chapter 183

In order to show the importance attached to the development of the Navy, Gao Da personally participated in the commencement ceremony of 11 small and medium-sized warships and also inspected the construction progress of the Revival ironclad ship.

Although these small and medium-sized warships were basically designed by the British, the Royal Guanizo Shipyard made certain improvements on this basis, making it have a little difference from the original British design.

But in fact, the difference was not big; it was nothing more than changing the caliber of the artillery and increasing the tonnage of the warship a little bit.

The good news of doing this was that Spain could claim that these warships were independently developed, letting the public believe that Spain had richer experience and excellent concepts in shipbuilding, so as to increase the national pride of the Spanish people.

After all, warships that were independently developed and independently built definitely sounded more pleasant than imitating the warship models of other countries.

Anyway, there were no patent rights in terms of warships, and various countries generally imitated warship types with better designs, improved shortcomings, and carried forward advantages.

As the country with the most powerful navy, the UK's warship designs were even more imitated and learned by various countries. Spain doing this was not special, and could even be said to be the tacit choice of many countries.

Spain's recent expansion actions in the Navy also made the Dutch very panicked. Although the Dutch mainland was 108,000 miles away from Spain, the Dutch East Indies colony and Spain's East Indies colony had currently theoretically bordered each other.

The colonies of both sides were only separated by the Sultanate of Bulungan, where major powers had interests, and further south was the scope of the Sultanate of Kutai controlled by the Dutch.

Spain building a large number of warships was definitely not for the mainland. Considering Spain's expansion in the Philippines and Kalimantan regions, the Dutch believed it was very necessary to strengthen the defense forces of the Dutch East Indies colony.

On the second day of Spain's grand construction of 11 warships, the Dutch government urgently decided to send an additional army of more than 2,000 people to the East Indies colony and build two brand-new thousand-ton class offshore defense gunboats in the East Indies colony.

Such thousand-ton gunboats did not have ocean-going combat capabilities, but they were still very useful in Kalimantan and the surrounding islands.

Whether it was suppressing the local indigenous people or guarding against the expansion of the Spaniards, these 2,000+ troops and two brand-new warships could play a certain role.

It was not that the Dutch had not considered seeking help from the British, but the British's attitude toward this was somewhat ambiguous, obviously not very willing to directly help the Dutch.

Speaking of which, it was also true. The area of the East Indies colony occupied by the Dutch was not small, which made the comprehensive strength of the Netherlands, an industrial power, jump to become one of the top ten countries in Europe.

Letting the Netherlands and Spain engage in appropriate competition was also beneficial; at least it could let the Netherlands, this country, understand the importance of the UK, let the Netherlands listen obediently, and not have other thoughts.

However, this was not very wonderful for the Dutch. If Spain's actions were only these, it would be fine, but Spain had already reached a cooperation agreement with the Netherlands' vassal state, Lanfang.

The Lanfang Republic had already surrendered to the Dutch rule decades ago, and a considerable part of the taxes the Netherlands obtained from this land every year was also from there.

The biggest reason why the Lanfang Republic was established was because the gold diggers on this land had a certain scale.

A part of the wealth created by these gold mines was obtained by the Lanfang Republic, and the other part became taxes, which were handed over to the Dutch East Indies colony.

For the Netherlands, losing Lanfang, besides losing this part of taxes, also had to worry about the threat from Lanfang.

The Netherlands' rule over Lanfang was not that gentle, and the period was full of continuous squeezing and aggression. After these Lanfang people obtained a more powerful ally, would they be indifferent to the previous invasion behavior of the Dutch? Of course, it was impossible.

This also meant that in the future on Kalimantan Island, the Dutch were very likely to face a situation of being attacked from both sides by the Spaniards in the north and the Lanfang people in the west.

A Lanfang was not taken into the eyes of the Dutch. But if it was the Lanfang Republic that obtained Spain's support, then the threat was not comparable to a single Lanfang.

After all, the Netherlands was also a country with a population of more than 4 million, and the army that could be organized was really limited, and the army that could be used in the East Indies colony was even more limited.

On July 21, 1875, the military advisory group sent by Spain finally arrived at the Lanfang Republic and would help the Lanfang Republic organize a new army to better maintain national sovereignty.

The leader of this military advisory group was Andrew Luo Suo, who had not appeared for a long time. He was currently a Lieutenant Colonel and previously served as the commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division of the Spanish Royal Army, and was personally appointed by Gao Da as the commander of the military advisory group stationed in Lanfang.

As for the confidant Ka Man Esposito, who came to Spain from Italy like Andrew, he had currently been promoted to the rank of Colonel and served as the commander of the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the 2nd Artillery Division of the Spanish Royal Army, receiving more importance.

From this aspect, it could also reflect the focus of the development of the Spanish army. Because the number of Spanish troops was not large, the importance of the smaller number of artillery divisions was higher than that of infantry divisions.

Ka Man Esposito had obviously integrated into the Spanish artillery force, and even in the plan of the national defense department, if the artillery force continued to expand in the future, he had the hope of serving as the deputy division commander of the new artillery division, thereby obtaining the opportunity to become a division commander.

From the current situation, it was indeed the case. Ka Man Esposito, who graduated from artillery major, had a brighter future than Andrew, who was an infantry major. After all, infantry combat currently did not have any too fancy tactical system, and the cultivation of infantry commanders was simpler.

If Ka Man Esposito integrated well into the Spanish army by virtue of his ability, then Andrew's situation appeared a bit awkward.

It was not that Andrew's ability was not outstanding, but Gao Da currently indeed needed to reuse more Spanish local military officers.

As an Italian, Andrew's positioning in such a Spanish army was a bit awkward, and it was unlikely to get more reuse.

After all, he was a confidant who came to Spain from Italy. After consideration, Gao Da let Andrew become the commander of the military advisory group stationed in Lanfang, responsible for helping the Lanfang Republic organize their new army, and try to come into contact with colonial affairs.

If there were no accidents in the future, Andrew had the hope of becoming one of the Spanish colonial governors. After all, he also had a title, although it was only the lowest Baron among titles, but it was indeed one of the many nobles in Spain.

Besides Andrew as the commander of the military advisory group, the military person in charge of exploring Africa, Me Tino, was also appointed by Gao Da as the deputy commander of the military advisory group.

Like Andrew, Me Tino was also one of Gao Da's confidants. Both of them were capable. It was not suitable to reuse them vigorously in the army, but they could also exert their abilities in other aspects, such as colonial affairs.

From Spain to Lanfang, one needed to cross the Mediterranean, pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, then cross the entire Indian Ocean, and finally, arrive at Kalimantan Island through the Strait of Malacca.

This was an extremely long journey. The military advisory group spent more than two months, accurately speaking, two and a half months, to arrive at Kalimantan Island.

The Lanfang Republic also attached great importance to the arrival of the military advisory group. Of course, they could not help but attach importance to it. After all, Spain was currently indeed the only force they could rely on, and Spain's strength was also something they could not resist.

"Messengers of the military advisory group, welcome to Pontianak." Just as the ship carrying the military advisory group docked, the current Grand President of the Lanfang Republic, Liu Asheng, and the King of the Dayen Kingdom, Wu Guanghuai, and many officials of the Lanfang Republic had already stood at the port quite sensibly, specifically to welcome the advisory group.

For the Lanfang Republic, they still put their posture very low. After all, the current situation was that the Lanfang Republic had something to ask of others, and Spain was the most powerful country between the two.

As the commander of the military advisory group, Andrew stepped forward first, nodded with a smile, and did not have any arrogant or domineering expression.

Before coming to the Lanfang Republic, Gao Da had already instructed Andrew about the purpose and mission of the military advisory group coming to Lanfang, and how to get along with the officials of the Lanfang Republic.

First, before completely defeating the Dutch colonial forces, Spain would not actively turn against the Lanfang Republic, which was also the reason why Andrew's attitude was relatively gentle.

Of course, if the officials of the Lanfang Republic did not know the measure, then Andrew would also follow Gao Da's orders and let them know Spain's strength.

Andrew was an Italian, and after coming to Spain for a few years, he also learned Spanish. But the language used by the Lanfang Republic was Chinese, and the Grand President of the Lanfang Republic, Liu Asheng, did not know Spanish or Italian.

This also led to the need for translation for communication between the two sides. Fortunately, because the Lanfang Republic had been in contact with the Dutch for a long time, there were a small number of translators in the country who understood European languages.

The most mainstream among European languages was French; after all, the former France was the most powerful country. Although the usage scene of French had decreased slightly, French was still one of the mainstream languages in Europe, and basically most European nobles could speak French.

Besides French, there were many mainstream languages, such as Spanish, English, and German.

Spanish was not a niche language, which was also the reason why the translators here understood Spanish.

Compared to Spanish, Italian was indeed a niche language at present. Besides being used within Italy, Italian was rarely seen in other parts of Europe, and even in Italian diplomatic occasions, Italian would not be used, unless it was with other weaker countries.

"Messengers, our country has prepared a sumptuous welcome banquet for you, please move." The Grand President of the Lanfang Republic, Liu Asheng, said with a smile.

After hearing the translator's words, Andrew nodded with a smile and gave his attitude: "Very willing."

Although the purpose of the military advisory group was to help the Lanfang Republic establish a new army, this obviously could not be completed in one day.

Andrew was not in a hurry for this day, but wanted to understand the current situation of the Lanfang Republic as much as possible, so as to determine how the Lanfang Republic's new army should be organized and trained.

Fortunately, Spain already had the experience of military reform and had already transported several batches of weapons and equipment to the Lanfang Republic.

Currently, the old-fashioned firearms hoarded by the Lanfang Republic reached more than 20,000, and the ammunition exceeded 1 million rounds. It was completely fine to organize a new army of about 20,000 people.

For the Lanfang Republic, which had only 500,000+ Han people, organizing a new army of 20,000 people was almost the limit.

If the number was larger, not to mention the problem of whether weapons and ammunition were enough, the Lanfang Republic could not afford to support so many soldiers.

The group of people headed to the mansion of Grand President Liu Asheng, where relatively sumptuous dishes had been prepared, specifically to treat the members of the military advisory group who came from afar.

At the banquet, Liu Asheng introduced some main officials in the military aspect of the Lanfang Republic to Andrew, as well as the King of the Dayen Kingdom, Wu Guanghuai, and stated that the organization of the Lanfang Republic's new army would listen to Andrew's command and arrangement.

The relatively cooperative attitude of the Lanfang Republic made Andrew relatively satisfied, but Andrew obviously could not believe all the words said by the officials of the Lanfang Republic.

After the dinner ended, Andrew returned to the room prepared by the Lanfang Republic for his group to rest, and understood the current situation of the Lanfang Republic through materials.

The history of the establishment of the Lanfang Republic was relatively complex, and even the current political system of the Lanfang Republic was relatively complex.

Saying that Lanfang was a country was correct, and saying that it was just a Chinese company was also correct. Although there was a so-called Grand President as the ruler of the country, Lanfang's system did not look like a perfect country, but more like a company with an army.

The establishment of the Lanfang Republic had been nearly a hundred years, and the Han population had reached the highest level of 500,000.

But the current situation of the Lanfang Republic was relatively bad, and the population also had a certain loss. Many Han people chose to go to the Sarawak Kingdom in the north, where there were new gold mines waiting to be mined.

And a considerable part of the gold mines of the Lanfang Republic had been mined, and gold diggers naturally liked gold mine areas that no one visited.

Then there was the crazy expansion of the Dutch, which severely squeezed the living space of the Lanfang Republic and the Dayen Kingdom.

The so-called Dayen Kingdom was actually an indigenous force in the east of the Lanfang Republic. And the first King of the Dayen Kingdom was Wu Yuansheng, the founder of the Jusheng Company, the predecessor of the Lanfang Company.

At that time, the Jusheng Company was also a relatively large Chinese company on Kalimantan Island, but because the prestige of Wu Yuansheng's subordinate Luo Fangbo gradually exceeded Wu Yuansheng, the Lanfang Company eventually replaced the Jusheng Company.

After Wu Yuansheng's status was replaced, he was sent to guard the Dayen Sultanate east of the Lanfang Company. Because the Sultan King at that time was quite cruel, causing dissatisfaction among the local indigenous people and a small number of Chinese, Wu Yuansheng eventually killed the Dayen Sultan, and he himself was supported by the local indigenous people as the new Dayen King.

(End of chapter)