Chapter 259: Counterattack

Learning the news of the conflict on the island of Kalimantan, Gao Da was not worried at all, but rather happy that the situation had changed.

Regardless of whether there was Dutch support behind the Kutai Sultanate, it did not affect Spain supporting the Lanfang Republic in counterattacking.

If there were no such conflict, it would be basically impossible for Spain to take the initiative to expand on the island of Kalimantan. The British would not allow Spain to occupy an advantage on the island of Kalimantan, and the Dutch would absolutely not allow the abandonment of the colonies they had already occupied.

But relying on this conflict, Lanfang had enough reasons to counterattack the Kutai Sultanate. Although the strength of the Lanfang Republic had not been greatly improved, relying on the 20,000 new troops equipped with Spanish weapons, it was no problem to easily crush the indigenous countries on the island of Kalimantan.

There was only one possibility for the Lanfang Republic to be defeated, and that was for Britain or the Netherlands, one of the two parties, to join in and use more powerful and advanced weapons and equipment to suppress the Lanfang Republic's army.

But this situation was even more impossible to happen, and Spain was even less likely to fear the occurrence of this situation.

Britain had experienced the Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War one after another, and it was impossible for them to send an expeditionary force to attack the Lanfang Republic again.

What's more, the British army was also teacherless. This conflict had nothing to do with Britain. If Britain intervened, wouldn't it mean that the British government had taken the infamy of inciting indigenous people to attack the Lanfang Republic?

The Dutch might be willing to threaten the Lanfang Republic with war in order to preserve the Kutai Sultanate, but Spain was not afraid of the Dutch threat at all.

20,000 people were far from the limit of the Lanfang Republic, and arming an army of over 50,000 people was quite easy for the Lanfang Republic.

The Lanfang Republic could continuously supplement its population from the East Asian giant to the north, while the Dutch could only send a small number of immigrants from their own mainland.

The combat power of the Dutch regular army might be higher than that of the Lanfang Republic, but the problem was that the Dutch regular army did not have many troops at all.

The East Indies colony was composed more of auxiliary troops made up of local indigenous people; these armies had neither advanced weapons and equipment nor qualified military literacy, and could only be said to be a pile of loose sand.

It is no exaggeration to say that judging from the combat power of the 20,000 new troops of the Lanfang Republic, even facing an indigenous army of over 100,000, they had the power to fight.

Coupled with Spain continuously providing material supplies, the Lanfang Republic really was not afraid of the Dutch who could only use indigenous people.

If the Dutch mobilized the regular army, it would be even more fun to watch. How many troops could a country with a population of only over 4.6 million organize to go on an expedition to Lanfang?

Even if the Dutch government had the courage to organize an expeditionary force, would the Dutch public be willing to join such an expeditionary force?

A defensive war for the mainland to protect the country could arouse the public's passion to resist enemy countries, but an expedition thousands of miles away from the mainland would obviously amplify the public's war-weariness.

The Netherlands was a small country, and no matter whether the expedition succeeded or not, it was always a failure for the Netherlands.

This also meant that on the island of Kalimantan at this time, Spain had already occupied an absolute advantage. Unless the British were willing to help the Dutch regardless of everything, the Dutch could only choose one between mainland stability and the Kutai Sultanate.

Andrew, far away in the Lanfang Republic, waited quietly for news for several days, and finally waited for Gao Da's response.

After receiving Gao Da's order, Andrew did not hesitate at all, notifying the Lanfang Republic to mobilize troops to continue attacking eastward, trying to open up the connection between the Lanfang Republic and the Bulungan Sultanate controlled by Spain.

Once the connection between these two areas was opened, materials from the Philippines could be more conveniently transported to the Lanfang Republic, and Spain could also strengthen control over the island of Kalimantan.

The geographical location of the island of Kalimantan was still quite important. The Dutch East Indies colony was a quite huge archipelago colony, and the four most important islands among them were Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, and Sulawesi.

The distribution of these four islands resembles the character "mountain," and Jialimandandao is precisely the vertical stroke in the middle of that character. Because it is located in the central region, Jialimandandao has always been the primary land conquered by the Dutch, and it was for this very reason that the Lanfang Republic perished.

But now, as long as the Lanfang Republic opened up the passage to the Bulungan Sultanate, unless the Lanfang Republic rebelled against Spain, it had no possibility of being destroyed.

A nail had been inserted into the Dutch East Indies colony, and it would not be so easy for the East Indies to continue to be stable.

The number of indigenous people in the East Indies was not only quite huge, but the entire colony was also composed of countless islands of various sizes. The Dutch currently only controlled the four major islands and some important islands in the surrounding area, and most of the small and medium-sized islands were still not under the control of the Dutch.

Even on the four major islands, there were countless areas not under the control of the Dutch. Under such circumstances, it was very easy for Spain to cause some trouble for the Dutch.

If the Dutch government did not want to spend the next few decades suppressing rebellions in the East Indies, they had to find a way to get along well with the Spanish government, at least to ensure that Spain would not cause trouble for the East Indies.

Under the attack of the Lanfang Republic's army, the Kutai Sultanate retreated one after another, and the land between the Lanfang Republic and the Bulungan Sultanate was successfully opened up.

The Sarawak Kingdom, which had originally helped the Kutai Sultanate in the north, saw that the situation was not good, and quickly retreated to its own national borders, and also requested help from the British Empire's Straits Settlements.

Speaking of the Sarawak Kingdom, this was absolutely the most special existence on the island of Kalimantan. Although it was an indigenous country, the founder of this country was a genuine British white man.

James Brooke was originally an explorer. After coming to the Sarawak region of the island of Kalimantan, James successfully conquered this piece of land and established an indigenous kingdom under his own rule by relying on his tough wrist and relationship with the British colonies.

James's country was also acquiesced by the British government, and James even had the title of British Sir, which could also reflect the connection between the Sarawak Kingdom and Britain.

At the most critical moment, it was a matter of course for the Sarawak Kingdom to request help from the British colonies. Britain had already regarded this piece of land as its own sphere of influence, so naturally, it would not refuse to support the Sarawak Kingdom.

Of course, such support was not free. Whether now or in history, the Sarawak Kingdom would always become a part of the British colony.

Gao Da's goal was naturally not the Sarawak Kingdom. Britain was big and had a big business, and now was not the best time to turn against the British.

A Kutai Sultanate was enough for Spain and the Lanfang Republic to eat their fill. If they could take the opportunity to sign a peace treaty with the Dutch government and obtain more benefits in the Dutch East Indies, Spain's planning for Southeast Asia would basically be over.

Although the colony area occupied by Spain in Southeast Asia was not small, because this piece of land was far away from the mainland, except for future rubber planting, most colonies would not be properly developed.

Even if there was a good opportunity, Gao Da would consider selling all the colonies in Southeast Asia in exchange for Spain's expansion in the European region, or the opportunity to expand colonies in the African region.

If the Philippines plus all the colonies in Kalimantan could allow Britain to acquiesce to Spain annexing Portugal, Gao Da would naturally be willing to pay these colonies.

No matter how precious the colony was, it could be abandoned compared to the expansion of the mainland, unless it was a colony like Morocco that could also be turned into the mainland.

It didn't have to be the British who agreed. Among the three major powers of Britain, France, and Germany, as long as Spain could win over any one of them and let the other party remain neutral, it might promote the merger of the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.

But wanting to achieve this step was very difficult, at least at present, there was no hope.

Britain would definitely not allow Spain to annex Portugal, and France would not hope that a country standing shoulder to shoulder with the five major powers would appear in its south.

Germany might not have any objections, but it was impossible for Germany to offend both Britain and France for the sake of Spain.

Unless Spain was willing to pay a price far exceeding the benefits brought by annexing Portugal, neither Britain nor France would agree to Spain becoming a more powerful country after the merger.

If one side opposed it, it would be fine, but if Britain and France jointly opposed it, even with the strong support of the Germans, it would be absolutely impossible to annex Portugal.

Precisely because of this, Gao Da had never shown the ambition to annex Portugal, and Spain's expansion was only carried out in Africa and the more distant Southeast Asia.

Back to the situation on the island of Kalimantan, under the attack of the Lanfang Republic, the Kutai Sultanate retreated one after another, and could only try its best to defend its capital, Tenggarong.

While trying its best to resist the attack of the Lanfang Republic, the Kutai Sultanate desperately requested help from the Dutch.

Without the help of the Dutch, the Kutai Sultanate could not survive under the attack of the Lanfang Republic.

Spain's aid to the Lanfang people was not small at all. Besides being equipped with Spain's most advanced rifles, the 20,000 new troops of the Lanfang Republic were also equipped with dozens of artillery pieces of various calibers.

Although these artillery pieces were products phased out by the Spanish army, they had a certain gap in power and range compared to the steel artillery currently equipped by the Spanish army.

But artillery is artillery. When facing the Kutai Sultanate, which had no heavy firepower, these dozens of artillery pieces were the biggest killers.

The reason why the Kutai Sultanate retreated one after another, besides the fact that the indigenous army had no military literacy and was prone to collapse when defeated, was that the damage caused by artillery to the Kutai Sultanate army was too great.

Indigenous people had no military strategy to speak of when fighting, mostly upholding the principle of swarming up and launching large-scale frontal impacts on enemy troops.

This was the best target for the Lanfang Republic's artillery. Because they had undergone several years of training, the Lanfang new army was quite combat-effective, and the artillerymen were also trained by the Spanish army themselves. Not to mention good accuracy, at least they were above the passing line.

The result of this was that the Kutai Sultanate's army quickly began to collapse after experiencing several large-scale frontal charges.

The officers of the Sultanate could not stop these fleeing soldiers, and fortunately, the soldiers did not have any decent equipment, so they did not throw away their helmets and armor when fleeing.

It had to be admitted that although these indigenous people had no combat power, it was relatively difficult to catch them after they scattered and fled.

The area of the island of Kalimantan was huge, presenting a terrain that was flat on all sides and high in the middle. The place where the Lanfang Republic and the Kutai Sultanate were fighting was in the mountainous area in the middle. These indigenous people drilled into the mountains in one go, and their fleeing speed was instead boosted.

Although the Lanfang people also lived here for a long time, they were ultimately not as good as the indigenous people who grew up in the mountains. This also led to the fact that after several wars, although the Kutai Sultanate's losses were great, the number of enemies killed by the Lanfang Republic was not many.

Of course, although these scattered soldiers mostly ran out, it was impossible for the Kutai Sultanate to gather these people again to fight against Lanfang.

After several rounds of artillery bombardment, these indigenous soldiers were all scared out of their wits. Not to mention continuing to fight against Lanfang, even returning to the army, they were one more resistant than the other.

If the Kutai Sultanate was anxious like a fire burning its eyebrows, then the Dutch East Indies colonial government was lifting a rock to smash its own feet at this time.

Inciting the Kutai Sultanate and the Sarawak Kingdom to break out into conflict with the Lanfang Republic was a plan of the East Indies colonial government, and the purpose was only to test Spain's support for the Lanfang Republic, while exploring the strength of the Lanfang new army.

But I didn't expect that Spain's support for the Lanfang Republic was very large, and the Lanfang Republic's new army also indeed possessed enough strength.

The current East Indies colony could be described as being in a dilemma, and no matter how they chose, they would be smashed by the rock.

The counterattack of the Lanfang people was obviously aggressive, and they seemed to be determined to win the Kutai Sultanate.

If they retreated at this time, the Kutai Sultanate would be included in Spain's sphere of influence, and the Dutch colony on the island of Kalimantan would only be left with a small piece in the far south, not even as much as the land occupied by the late-coming Spanish.

But if they still didn't retreat, the colonial government could only risk great danger to fight the Lanfang people.

The 20,000 new troops trained by the Spanish clearly possessed extremely strong combat power, and even if they were not as good as the Dutch regular army, they were definitely not something these colonial troops could compare to.

How much price would the colonial government have to pay to completely defeat this 20,000-strong Lanfang new army?

If the losses were heavy, wouldn't the Spanish behind Lanfang laugh their teeth off? After all, up to now in the conflict, the Spanish army had not invested a single soldier or a single soldier.

If the Dutch suffered heavy losses in the confrontation with the Lanfang Republic, how could they resist further harassment and aggression from the Spanish?

After thinking about it, the East Indies colony had no good way, and could only hand this mess to the Dutch government to solve.

When the Dutch government learned of this news, Dutch King William III was furious, and scolded the Governor of the East Indies colony as a waste who only knew how to find trouble for the Netherlands.

Don't look at the fierce competition between the Netherlands and Spain in New Guinea, in fact, the Dutch government did not dare to offend Spain at all, at least not dare to offend actively.

If Belgium still belonged to the Netherlands, William III might allow the colonial government to actively test Spain's attitude. But the problem was that the current Netherlands only had the mainland and Luxembourg left, and the total population of the country was only one-fifth of Spain's.

For William III, he only wanted to see the Dutch throne passed down safely, and did not want to see accidents happen during this period.

Offending Spain at this time was something William III absolutely did not want, not to mention that it was the East Indies colonial government that took the initiative to provoke Spain.

Isn't this actively giving Spain a reason to attack? Now it's good, the Lanfang people launched a counterattack with Spain's support. Do the Dutch want to invest a large amount of capital and manpower and material resources to interfere in this war for a small Kutai Sultanate?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 260 =====