On the morning of the 13th, Zhang Wei was disappointed that the system upgrade did not unlock the Air Force, and there was intelligence that Britain and the Netherlands were conspiring, which made Zhang Wei very depressed. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, the news from the General Staff on the afternoon of the 13th still made him excited.

The 1st Regiment of the 4th Division successfully occupied the city of Makassar, and the combined number of captured and surrendered Dutch officers and soldiers was more than 2,800 people; A large amount of Dutch wealth was seized in the city of Makassar, and when the island fleet arrived, warships were sent to escort the gold, silver, and jewels back to Shangjing.

The island military district has not yet sent a telegram back, and the Sumatra Provincial Military District has also received good news: all the areas south of the port of Padang in the Indian Ocean direction of Sumatra Island have been occupied; occupied Bangka Island and Belitung Island, rescued 10,200 Han Chinese indentured laborers, 23,300 indigenous laborers, and a large amount of tin ore powder and silver and other wealth; All pre-war plans have been completed, and a plan of action for the next steps has been requested, as well as arrangements for labor and seizures.

After reading the copy of the telegram, Zhang Wei sent someone to invite Lu Weimin and Li Zhaoshui to his study.

After the meeting, Zhang Wei first told the British and Dutch about the conspiracy, and the preliminary estimate should be that the Netherlands invited the British to send troops to jointly deal with the Lanfang Kingdom.

Lu Weimin said: "This is for sure, the British took the initiative to contact the Dutch troops in Sumatra without being invited, and the British must have hoped to destroy us." ”

"Then let's occupy the whole island of Sumatra before they can do anything, so that the entire Dutch East Indies colony will be ours."

"Your Majesty, no, you can't occupy all of Sumatra."

"Why not? After we occupy Sumatra, the Dutch army will be wiped out by us, and it is impossible for the Netherlands to send heavy troops to deal with us. ”

"We are not afraid of the Dutch army, nor of the British army, but we are afraid of turning the war into a long and protracted war; In addition, if the island of Sumatra is fully occupied, and the British army will have no foothold when they come, then we will not know the target of their attack, and we will not be able to fortify everywhere; If there is a part of the Dutch territory left on the island of Sumatra, then the British army will first join up with the Dutch army on the island of Sumatra, so that we can prepare for it. ”

Li Zhaoshui said: "I mean to occupy half of the province of Riau, at least to occupy the city of Pekanbaru, so that the enemy cannot make material replenishment through the port of Pekanbaru, stretching the enemy's supply line." And we can also threaten the safety of shipping in the Strait of Malacca, so that the British can be jealous. ”

"Staff Officer Li's plan is good, I support it, this is much stronger than occupying Sumatra in its entirety, and when the war with the British army reaches the later stage, we will take the opportunity to strike the final blow and annihilate all the Anglo-Dutch forces, and then fully occupy Sumatra."

"Well, now that you've got your plan in place, let's do it. Feel free to come to me if you need help. In addition, all the gold and silver and other wealth seized from various places were transported back to Shangjing, and the salaries of each unit were paid by the General Staff Headquarters. The indentured Chinese rescued from Belitung Island can be transferred to Kalimantan Island, and they will be given land and allowed to farm, and those who are in good physical condition can be absorbed into the garrison after obtaining their consent, and those who are willing to return to the mainland will be given an appropriate amount of travel expenses. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty"

"Now that the system has been upgraded to the provincial level, I believe it won't be long before it can be upgraded to the kingdom level, which is all thanks to everyone, but this time it's the cavalry that has been unlocked, do we need cavalry for the time being? I'll form a part of the cavalry if I need to. ”

Lu Weimin said: "Your Majesty, our territory is covered with waterways, and it is difficult to be suitable for cavalry to charge into battle, but it should be useful as communications, small troop raids, harassment, etc., and I can't say the specific effect, why don't you first assign a small cavalry battalion of 350 people to the Sumatra Provincial Military District, and test it first?" “

"Well, let's make a cavalry battalion first; In addition, the reply to the Archipelago Military Region is up to you to reply after you decide, and you can inform me of similar matters, and if I have any opinions, I will inform you in time. “

"Yes, Your Majesty, we will not delay."

On the afternoon of 14 August, the General Staff sent another telegram from the 6th Division announcing the occupation of Manado. The succession of good news made Zhang Wei feel good.

After the Archipelago Military Region occupies the entire eastern archipelago, the eastern part of the island of Java will be safe, that is, the enemy is coming, and the troops stationed there can give early warning. The whole north and east are safe, and now only the south and west are left, and it would be nice to solve the barrier problem in these two directions. There is no need to worry too much in the west, there are 3 divisions stationed on the island of Sumatra, no matter how many enemies come, they can deal with it for a while, but now the most worrying thing is the south, there is no barrier.

Zhang Wei called up the system map and carefully studied several islands in the south, Christmas Island and Cocos Islands, which are very close to Java Island, if these two islands can be occupied and a base can be set up on them, so that they can be warned in advance, and the security of Java Island will be greatly enhanced. However, these two islands are now occupied by the British, how can they be taken?

Zhang Wei didn't want to trouble Lu Weimin and Li Zhaoshui all the time, so he wrote down his thoughts on paper, if the British helped the Dutch to attack our Lanfang Kingdom this time, they would send troops to occupy these two small islands, increase the protection of our south, and at least give us early warning; If you really can't think of a way, you can pretend to be pirates, kill all the people on these two islands, and then we will take over these two islands; In addition, as long as it is confirmed that Britain and the Netherlands are joining forces to fight, it is necessary to send submarines to block the Indian Ocean routes, and to sink the British merchant ships and warships that they can encounter; It is hoped that the General Staff will come up with a plan for retaliation against Britain in advance.

On August 14, James sent a telegram saying that Japan, the United States, and other Western European countries were afraid of a major war in the East Indies, and they wanted to exchange more gold, and asked if they would exchange it. This is a timely rain for Zhang Wei, and it should be the best good news he has received recently. Recently, I have been worried about points, and even normal synthetic officers and soldiers are intermittent, but now if I exchange them, I will definitely be able to make a lot of money, and I can solve the temporary financial problem. Busy Power Report reported to James that as long as the customer deposited the Bank of Asia silver in advance, he can withdraw the gold on the last 2 days of the month, and there is no limit to the amount. For Zhang Wei, it is just to go to Pontianak once a month at the end of the month, although it is troublesome, but it can be exchanged for a large number of points, and he is willing to trouble.

Immediately after receiving the telegram, James sent a telegram to various countries, and the gold could be withdrawn at will on the last two days of each month, on the condition that the silver should be deposited in advance with the Bank of Asia, and the bank will make overall arrangements according to the silver collected in that month. It is believed that the credibility that Bank of Asia has built up over such a long period of time can make customers feel confident that they can deposit their silver with Bank of Asia first.

Of course, the countries that came to exchange gold were all countries that implemented the gold standard financial policy, and they were also worried that the war would lead to the appreciation of gold, so they exchanged it in advance, which was also the biggest support for Zhang Wei and the Lanfang Kingdom.