Of course, there was one more sentence that he didn't say, but everyone understood that it was to take advantage of the situation to occupy the whole of Sarawak.

Sure enough, it was Zeng Guoquan who was the first to understand, and he said directly: "Lord Tan, could it be that Your Majesty means to let us take the opportunity to occupy this stupid guy Yue this time, as the first overseas province of the Chinese Empire?" ”

"Not bad! That's what Your Majesty's secret order is! But in order not to spread it and cause unnecessary trouble, Tan specially summoned all the generals here. On this expedition, His Majesty hopes to show his majesty, so that the Chinese compatriots in Nanyang know that the Chinese Empire is their backer, and let those Western powers also know that the Chinese are not so easy to trample on and bully at will. In addition, His Majesty also specially explained that for the aborigines of Sarawak, there is no need to be soft, and all the disobedient will be killed, and by the way, this Sarawak, and even the entire Borneo island, Your Majesty said, this place has been inhabited by our Han people many years ago, and it should naturally belong to our Han people. Tan Tiyuan looked reverent, conveying the emperor's edict, although it was verbal, although it was thousands of miles away from the mainland on the sea, but that demeanor, there is no doubt, must be followed.

Schlieffen felt a pang in his heart, he had already understood the emperor's thoughts, first startled, and then suddenly. He came from Prussia, although he had not had much contact with the sea before, but after all, he was in Europe, and his vision was still open, and he knew that this Borneo was mainly divided into three forces, the largest of which was naturally the Netherlands, and most of Borneo was one of the components of their so-called Dutch East Indies, occupying most of Borneo except for the north. The Dutch have always been known for their commerce, not to mention the fact that they had just gained independence from French rule at this time, and Belgium had become independent from the Netherlands, and the overall national power of the Netherlands had declined, and the occupation of the East Indies was entirely due to the agreement reached with the British in 1824, and the two sides exchanged the results of each other. Today, the Netherlands' own military power is simply not to be feared. At this time, in the northern part of Borneo, the British participated in the control of the United States was not deep, Sarawak only supported an Englishman to establish the Bullock Dynasty to control, and the northeast of Sabah is currently undeveloped, are some indigenous tribes, in the middle of the north is the Kingdom of Brunei, which is not currently fully controlled by the British, but only became its protectorate. In other words, the current northern part of Borneo, although nominally a British sphere of influence, is not actually under the real control of the British. In that way, British interests in Borneo are not very deep. Schlieffen finally understood why the emperor dared to send troops to occupy Borneo.

This is simply the proverb I just learned, by the way, the fire is the chestnut, this proverb is the most appropriate to describe the emperor's actions. Schlieffen could even imagine how eager the emperor was to send troops when he learned that thousands of his fellow citizens had been slaughtered in Borneo. This is simply the perfect excuse: to protect the slaughtered people, punish the murderers, justly send troops to protect the people living abroad, and then drive out the murderers, and the remaining barren land is used as compensation to the families of the tragic deaths, and settle down by the way.

Hearing that the Dutch also participated in the massacre of those Chinese miners this time, His Majesty the Emperor will definitely not let go of this excuse to send troops and directly occupy the whole of Borneo. Then, taking advantage of the great opportunity of the British to take care of themselves and unable to take care of the East Indies before the Indian rebellion was resolved, the Netherlands could not rely on the British, and with their sea power and army, they could not stop the attack of the South Sea Fleet and an infantry division of the Chinese Empire. In this case, it may be possible to occupy the entire East Indies at a very small cost. That's a big piece of fat. It is conceivable that with the strong national strength and large population of the Chinese Empire, once the East Indies are really occupied and firmly established, within a few years, the national strength of the Chinese Empire will certainly be able to reach a higher level, not only limited to the current East Asian powers, but also the great powers that can stand side by side with Europe.

However, there must be a premise for this, that is, the UK really does not interfere.

Schlieffen shook his head, feeling that if he only occupied Borneo, it was likely that Britain would still hold back, and if the entire East Indies were occupied, even if Britain had not put down the Indian rebellion at that time, they would do their best to stop the Chinese Empire. Standing in the position of the strongest empire in the world, it is natural to be reluctant to see the rise of a great power, which will inevitably endanger its interests. The geographical position of the East Indies was so important, and so rich in goods, that Britain was willing to give it to a weak European country like the Netherlands, but it would never be willing to give it to a power that was close at hand, especially the old Eastern power that had almost become his colony.

It depends on how the emperor explains that Commander Tan.

Everyone nodded yes in unison.

Tan Tiyuan then arranged directly: "General Ding led the second fleet, plus the two main infantry regiments of the 38th Infantry Division, to the northeast of Wenlai Bay. According to intelligence, although Na Bun Rai was powerful in the 16th century, it was now in decline, and after the Nablok Dynasty seized the Nablok region, its national strength was even weaker, with a total force of less than 2,000 people, of which nearly one-tenth of the Chinese compatriots could surrender. You have a 1,500-ton frigate and three gunboats, which should be able to sail directly into the Boonai River, attack the defensive walls of the Boonai Palace, cover the landing of troop transports, and directly occupy Bunei. For the Sultan of Wenlai, His Majesty explained that it was a muddy country before, and it has always paid tribute to our Chinese Celestial Dynasty, starting from the Great Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, and each generation of kings will pay tribute to China. Until Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty was still in the Wanli period, there was a civil strife in the muddy country, the royal family died, and the other clans did not pay tribute to the Heavenly Dynasty. Therefore, if the Sultan of Brunei surrenders, it is enough, if not, he must be taken prisoner and escorted to Beijing, where he will be personally interrogated by His Majesty, and then handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice for joint trial and punishment. ”

Schlieffen secretly said in his heart, the emperor is so calculating, he can find the allusion of the tribute of the Wenlai Kingdom from the history of China, this time the teacher is famous, and he directly asks for the responsibility of not paying tribute in the name of Xingshi, or under the pretext of avenging the previous Wenlai royal family, that is, the British know that they are looking for an excuse indiscriminately, and they are not very good at saying anything, Your Majesty is really amazing.

Ding Ruchang and Zeng Guoquan immediately received the order.

Ding Ruchang's face was flushed and his expression was excited.

Zeng Guoquan is even more gearing up, he can't lead the troops to Wenlai in person, this is a major event that will leave a name for the ages, but although he is the commander of the infantry division, Tan Tiyuan is the commander who has been going to Nanyang since then, and he can only be in a hurry.

I only heard Tan Tiyuan continue: "General You led the Third Fleet, plus a main infantry regiment of the 38th Infantry Division and the special forces battalion, to attack Kuching, an important city in Sarawak, and wiped out the so-called Bullock Dynasty and his mercenaries in one fell swoop, and at the same time saw if he could save some surviving Chinese compatriots." I heard that the Nablok Dynasty had borrowed two or three armed steamships from the British colony of Xingjiapo and a British-funded company called the Mu Niang Company, which had just been established last year, and led hundreds of armed soldiers to slaughter those Hakka compatriots along the Sarawak River, maybe they would still remain in the Sarawak River, so the 300-ton gunboat of my first squadron was also assigned to you to command. Be careful, it's best to let the special forces scout along the banks of the river, now is the time for them to show their skills. Destroy those beasts at the lowest cost, the lives of the brothers are precious, and they cannot be exchanged with those beasts.

As for General Zeng, he led the rest of the 38th Division brothers, together with this commander, directly to a small town called Sankouyang in the westernmost part of Borneo, where I heard that there were thousands of Hakka people from Guangdong and Fujian mining there to make a living, and I wonder if they were poisoned by those beasts. Just after inquiring about the latest news, the commander led the fleet to cruise on the sea, escorting the troop transports, and when the news was clear, General Zeng could lead his soldiers to the main destination of the trip, Pontianak, the nest of the Republic of Lan Phuong. ”

Speaking of this, Tan Tiyuan paused, took out the summarized information reported by the Special Service Department, and handed it to Zeng Guoquan. Moreover, Tan Tiyuan briefly explained that this Pontianak is the main destination of this expedition. When His Majesty sent him to send troops, he specially explained that this Pontianak was the capital or headquarters of a Chinese group called the Lanfang Republic or the Lanfang Company, and the local people were all Chinese who had migrated from Guangdong and Fujian, and its leaders had submitted letters of state to the Manchu court at the beginning of its establishment, proclaimed himself a vassal to the Qing Dynasty, and sent people to Beijing to pay tribute. However, now that Lan Fang has become less and less powerful, and the leader has changed for 10 terms, I don't know if the current leader is willing to submit to the Chinese Empire.

According to His Majesty's speculation, the eleventh general manager of Lanfang, named Liu Asheng, whom the secret agent heard about, is very likely to have no intention of paying homage to the Chinese Empire, otherwise according to the situation of Lanfang's company, he should have heard that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was overthrown by the Chinese Empire and came to take refuge.

Moreover, the area where Lanfang Company is located no longer belongs to Sarawak, but to West Borneo, which is considered the sphere of influence of the Dutch. Most likely, the Dutch will intervene, so be prepared for a big fight.

Tan Tiyuan had to be cautious, after all, some of the information he knew was not very much, and it was the intelligence that the spies of the Special Services Department had changed hands several times, which was not only seriously delayed, but also very likely to be extremely inaccurate. Therefore, for Lan Fang, a Chinese organization, it is not certain that it must be 100% an ally. Therefore, he had to find out the detailed information of Pontianak and the entire Lanfang Republic in that small town of Sankouyang, which was not far from Pontianak and not too close, and then decide how to deal with it.

After hearing this, Zeng Guoquan was in high spirits, he was afraid that there was no war to fight, not to mention that compared to fighting those Wenlai and others, the European powerhouse Netherlands made him more excited.

After the order was issued, except for Zeng Guoquan, who still remained on the flagship "Nanyang No. 1", Ding Ruchang and You Wanrong left the flagship in small rowboats and returned to the flagships of their respective detachments to command.

The Second Squadron and 30 troop transports left eastward, while the Third Squadron and 20 or so troop carriers led by You Romantic still followed the main force and continued to approach the coast to the south.