Chapter 259: Counterattack

Upon learning the news of the conflict erupting on Jialimandandao, Gao Da felt not the slightest bit of worry; instead, he was pleased that the situation was shifting.

Whether or not the Kutai Sultanate had the backing of the Dutch did not affect Spain's support for the Lanfang Republic to launch a counterattack.

If not for this conflict, it would have been fundamentally impossible for Spain to take the initiative to expand on Jialimandandao. The British would not allow Spain to gain an advantage on Jialimandandao, and the Dutch would absolutely never cede the colonies they had already occupied.

But by relying on this conflict, Lanfang had sufficient reason to counterattack the Kutai Sultanate. Although the strength of the Lanfang Republic had not increased significantly, with their equipment—the twenty thousand new troops armed by Spain—it was no problem to easily crush the indigenous states on Jialimandandao.

There was only one possibility for the Lanfang Republic to be defeated: if either the British or the Dutch joined the fray, using more powerful and advanced weaponry to suppress the Lanfang Republic's army.

But such a situation was even less likely to occur, and Spain was even less likely to fear such a situation.

The British had successively experienced the Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War; it was impossible for them to dispatch an expeditionary force to attack the Lanfang Republic again.

Moreover, the British army would have no justification. This conflict had nothing to do with the British; if the British intervened, would that not mean the British government was admitting to the infamy of inciting the indigenous people to attack the Lanfang Republic?

The Dutch might indeed be willing to threaten the Lanfang Republic with war to preserve the Kutai Sultanate, but Spain was not in the least bit afraid of the Dutch's threats.

Twenty thousand men were far from the limit of the Lanfang Republic; arming a force of over fifty thousand was still quite easy for the Lanfang Republic.

The Lanfang Republic could continuously replenish its population from that great East Asian power to the north, while the Dutch could only send a small number of immigrants from their own homeland.

The combat effectiveness of the Dutch regular army might be higher than that of the Lanfang Republic, but the problem was that the Dutch did not have many regular troops to begin with.

The East Indies colony was composed mostly of auxiliary troops made up of local indigenous people; these forces possessed neither advanced weaponry nor qualified military training, and could only be described as a loose sand.

It is no exaggeration to say that, looking at the combat effectiveness of the Lanfang Republic's existing twenty thousand new troops, they were capable of a fight even when facing an indigenous force of over one hundred thousand.

Coupled with the continuous supply of materials from Spain, the Lanfang Republic was truly not afraid of the Dutch, who could only utilize indigenous people.

If the Dutch were to mobilize their regular army, that would be even more amusing. A country with a population of only 4. million—how many troops could they possibly assemble to launch an expedition against Lanfang?

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

A homeland defense war to protect one's country could stir up the public's passion to resist an enemy, but an expedition thousands of miles away from the homeland would clearly amplify the public's war-weariness.

The Netherlands was a small country to begin with; regardless of whether the expedition succeeded or not, it would ultimately be a failure for the Netherlands.

This also meant that on Jialimandandao at this time, Spain had already occupied an absolute advantage. Unless the British were willing to help the Dutch at all costs, the Dutch would have to choose between stabilizing their homeland and the Kutai Sultanate.

Far away in the Lanfang Republic, Andrew waited quietly for news for several days, finally receiving a response from Gao Da.

After receiving Gao Da's orders, Andrew did not hesitate in the slightest and notified the Lanfang Republic to mobilize troops to continue attacking toward the east, attempting to open up a connection between the Lanfang Republic and the Bulungan Sultanate controlled by Spain.

Once the connection between these two areas was opened, supplies from the Philippines could be transported to the Lanfang Republic more conveniently, and Spain could also strengthen its control over Jialimandandao.

The geographical location of Jialimandandao was quite important. The Dutch East Indies colony was a vast archipelago colony, and the four most important islands among them were Sumatra, Zhaowadao, Jialimandandao, and Sulawesi.

The distribution of these four islands resembled the character "mountain" (shan), and Jialimandandao was precisely the vertical stroke in the middle of that character. Because it was located in the central region, Jialimandandao had always been the land the Dutch primarily conquered, and it was for this very reason that the Lanfang Republic had perished.

But now, as long as the Lanfang Republic opened the passage to the Bulungan Sultanate, unless the Lanfang Republic betrayed Spain, it was impossible for it to be destroyed.

A nail had been driven into the Dutch East Indies colony; it would not be so easy for the East Indies to remain stable from now on.

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

Even on the four major islands, the areas not under Dutch control were countless. 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 would have to find a way to improve relations with the Spanish government, at least to ensure that Spain would not cause trouble for the East Indies.

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

The Sarawak Kingdom to the north, which had originally helped the Kutai Sultanate, saw that the situation was unfavorable and quickly retreated within its own borders, and even requested help from the British Empire's Straits Settlements.

Speaking of the Sarawak Kingdom, this was definitely the most unique existence on Jialimandandao. Although it was an indigenous state, the founder of this country was a genuine British white man.

James Brooke was originally an explorer. After arriving in the Sarawak region of Jialimandandao, James successfully conquered this land by relying on his iron-fisted methods and his relationship with the British colony, establishing an indigenous kingdom under his own rule.

James's country had also received the tacit approval of the British government; James even held the title of a British knight, which also reflected the connection between the Sarawak Kingdom and the British.

At the most critical moment, it was only natural for the Sarawak Kingdom to request help from the British colony. The British had always regarded this land as their sphere of influence and naturally 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 be a part of the British colony.

Gao Da's target was, of course, not the Sarawak Kingdom. The British had a large family and a big business, and now was not the best time to fall out with the British.

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

Although the area of the colonies Spain occupied in Southeast Asia was not small, because this land was far from the homeland, most of the colonies would not be properly developed, except for future rubber plantations.

If there were a good opportunity, Gao Da would even consider selling off all the colonies in Southeast Asia in exchange for opportunities for Spain to expand in Europe or to expand colonies in Africa.

If the Philippines plus all the colonies on Jialimandandao could make the British tacitly approve of Spain annexing Portugal, Gao Da would certainly be willing to pay with these colonies.

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

It did not have to be the British who agreed; among the three great powers of Britain, France, and Germany, as long as Spain could win over any one of them and keep the other neutral, it might be possible to facilitate the merger of the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.

But achieving this step was very difficult; at least for now, there was no hope.

The British would certainly not allow Spain to annex Portugal, and the French would not want to see a country that stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the five great powers appear to their 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 the price Spain was willing to pay far exceeded the benefits brought by annexing Portugal, neither Britain nor France would agree to Spain becoming a more powerful country after the merger.

If only one side objected, it would be easier to talk, but if Britain and France both objected, even with the strong support of the Germans, it would be absolutely impossible to annex Portugal.

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

Returning to the situation on Jialimandandao, under the offensive of the Lanfang Republic, the Kutai Sultanate could be said to be retreating steadily, and could only do its best to defend its capital, Tenggarong.

While doing its best to resist the Lanfang Republic's offensive, the Kutai Sultanate was desperately requesting aid from the Dutch.

Without the help of the Dutch, it was impossible for the Kutai Sultanate to continue to survive under the Lanfang Republic's offensive.

Spain's aid to the Lanfang people was not small at all; these twenty thousand new troops of the Lanfang Republic were not only equipped with Spain's most advanced rifles, but also equipped with dozens of artillery pieces of various calibers.

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

But artillery is artillery; when facing the Kutai Sultanate, which lacked heavy firepower, these dozens of artillery pieces were the greatest lethal weapon.

The reason why the Kutai Sultanate was retreating steadily, besides the fact that the indigenous army had no military literacy and was prone to losing morale after a defeat, was that the artillery caused too much damage to the Kutai Sultanate's army.

How could the indigenous people have any military strategy when fighting? Most of them adhered to the principle of swarming up and launching a large-scale frontal assault on the enemy.

For the Lanfang Republic's artillery, this was the best target. Because they had several years of training, the Lanfang new army was quite combat-effective, and the artillerymen were all 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 began to collapse rapidly after experiencing several large-scale frontal charges.

The Sultanate's officers could not stop these fleeing soldiers at all, and fortunately, the soldiers did not have any decent equipment, so they did not abandon their armor and weapons when running away.

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

Jialimandandao had a vast area, presenting a terrain that was flat around the edges and higher in the middle. The place where the Lanfang Republic and the Kutai Sultanate were fighting was in the mountainous area in the middle, and these indigenous people drilled into the mountains all at once, which actually gave them a bonus to their escape speed.

Although the Lanfang people had also lived here for a long time, they were ultimately no match for 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 high.

Of course, although most of these scattered soldiers ran away, 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. Let alone continuing to fight against Lanfang, even returning to the army was something they resisted more than anything else.

If the Kutai Sultanate was burning with anxiety, then the Dutch East Indies colonial government was now lifting a rock only to drop it on its own feet.

Inciting the Kutai Sultanate and the Sarawak Kingdom to clash with the Lanfang Republic was a plan of the East Indies colonial government, and the purpose was only to test the extent of Spain's support for the Lanfang Republic, and incidentally to probe the strength of the Lanfang new army.

But they did not expect that Spain's support for the Lanfang Republic was very strong, and the Lanfang Republic's new army indeed had sufficient strength.

The current East Indies colonial government could be said to be in a dilemma; no matter how they chose, they would be hit by the rock.

The Lanfang people's counterattack was clearly aggressive, and they seemed determined to take the Kutai Sultanate.

If they retreated at this time, the Kutai Sultanate would be incorporated into Spain's sphere of influence, and the Dutch colony on Jialimandandao would only have a small piece left in the southernmost part, which was not even as large as the land occupied by the late-coming Spanish.

But if they did not retreat, the colonial government would have to take a huge risk and fight the Lanfang people.

The twenty thousand new troops trained by the Spanish clearly possessed extremely strong combat effectiveness; 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 of a price would the colonial government have to pay to completely defeat this twenty-thousand-man Lanfang new army?

If the losses were heavy, wouldn't the Spanish behind Lanfang laugh their heads off? After all, up until now in the conflict, the Spanish army had not committed 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 it over, the East Indies colonial government had no good solution and could only leave this mess for the Dutch government to solve.

When the Dutch government learned of this news, the Dutch King William III was furious and scolded the East Indies colonial governor as a piece of trash who only knew how to cause trouble for the Netherlands.

Don't look at the fact that the colonial competition between the Netherlands and Spain in New Guinea was quite intense; in reality, the Dutch government did not dare to offend Spain at all, at least not actively.

If Belgium still belonged to the Netherlands, William III might have allowed the colonial government to actively test Spain's attitude. But the problem was that at this time, the Netherlands only had its homeland and Luxembourg left, and the total population of the entire 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 any accidents happen during this period.

Offending Spain at this time was something William III absolutely did not want, let alone the East Indies colonial government actively provoking Spain.

Wasn't this actively giving Spain a reason to attack? Now it was fine; the Lanfang people had launched a counterattack with Spain's support. Were the Dutch going to invest a large amount of funds, manpower, and material resources to interfere in this war for the sake of a tiny Kutai Sultanate?

(End of chapter)