In order to avoid a head-on collision with the Chinese Empire, the Dutch authorities immediately expressed their willingness to negotiate with the Chinese Empire on the Lanfang issue, hoping that the incident would be resolved peacefully.

After Lan Fang was occupied by the Dutch in 1884, it did not claim occupation, but set up a puppet regime. After the fall of the Qing Empire, the Netherlands took advantage of the unstable foothold of the Chinese Empire and went to war with Russia to announce the formal annexation of Lanfang. Unexpectedly, Russia was defeated, and the Netherlands was very afraid that the Chinese Empire would intervene in Lanfang. However, after the Chinese Empire completed the war against Russia, it prepared for war against Britain, so it did not have the energy to meddle in Southeast Asian affairs.

After the Sino-British War, the Netherlands was a member of the Eight-Power Alliance, and the Chinese Empire was busy creating hostilities between the Central and Entente powers, and did not spare its hands.

Today, the Chinese Empire has succeeded in provoking a large-scale global arms race and creating fierce tensions between the Allies and the Entente. The situation in Europe was tense, and the attention and military power of the European powers were diverted back home, leaving no time for Southeast Asia.

The Chinese Empire set up military regions in Singapore and Australia, and deployed the forces of the navy, land and air forces, while the Dutch East Indies was sandwiched between the Malayan territory of the Chinese Empire and the Australian territory, and held the passage of the Strait of Malacca, and the strategic location was important.

With the Chinese Empire talking about Lanfang, this excuse finally came to pass, and it was still grandiose, the European and American powers could not interfere at all, and the Dutch authorities did not dare to say no.

On January 5, the 12th year of Guanghua, negotiations between the Chinese Empire and the Dutch Republic began in Yanjing. Originally, the Netherlands hoped that the European powers would participate in the hearing and mediate, but both the Central Powers and the Entente saw through the essence of the Chinese Empire's intervention in Southeast Asian affairs. Under these circumstances, neither of the two major military blocs would have friction with the Chinese Empire for the sake of the Netherlands, and would even rather sacrifice the Netherlands to appease the Chinese Empire as a political strategy of the two major military blocs.

The Netherlands could not count on the help of European countries, and they might even be unable to help, so the Netherlands turned its attention to the United States, hoping that the United States would intervene in mediation.

The United States is the country with the greatest and fiercest economic competition with the Chinese Empire, both countries have huge resources, science and technology, and economic foundations, and the two sides are in full competition in steel, coal, petroleum, machinery manufacturing, electrical appliances, automobiles, airplanes, and other fields, and they collide fiercely. The U.S.-controlled Philippine industry is the largest rubber exporter in Southeast Asia, and the competition between the two countries in the Philippines is very fierce. During the Spanish-American War, in order to obtain military support and logistical supplies from the Chinese Empire, the United States allowed the Chinese Empire to enjoy the same treatment as the United States in investment and trade in the Philippines on the Philippine issue. This has caused the United States to regret it very much, and negotiations with the Chinese Empire to retract this promise have not progressed.

With the all-out political and military confrontation between China and the United States, the relationship is getting worse and worse, making the United States more and more tough on the Philippine issue, restricting the export of rubber and other important industrial raw materials to China. Similarly, the United States was the country with the most interest in rubber plantations in the Dutch East Indies, and the American political axe believed that the Chinese empire might act against the Netherlands because of the fierce competition for rubber resources, so the American political axe agreed to support the Netherlands and mediated it.

However, the Chinese Empire was extremely dissatisfied with the intervention of the United States, but the United States claimed that it had the right to intervene under the pretext that the Philippines was separated from the island of Kalimantan, where the Republic of Lanfang is located, and was also a neighboring country, fearing that the war would lead to a large influx of refugees into the Philippines.

However, the Chinese Empire did not abandon the United States at all, and directly put pressure on the Netherlands, and if Kalimantan Island was not ceded, then it would be tantamount to declaring war on the Chinese Empire. At the same time, the Netherlands occupied the Republic of Lanfang for 30 years, and must publicly apologize to the descendants of Lanfang in Nanyang, and at the same time return the proceeds of the plundering of the Republic of Lanfang for 30 years, and make compensation for the more than 10,000 victims of the Pontianak Massacre, with a total of 500 million dragon coins.

Kalimantan Island, known as Borneo by the Chinese Empire, is the largest island in Southeast Asia and the third largest island in the world, with an area of 750,000 square kilometers, a population of 500,000, and a tropical forest coverage rate of 95%. Due to the huge area of tropical forests, rubber plantations have grown rapidly in recent years and have become one of the most important revenues for the Dutch Viceroyalty of the East Indies. If returned to the Republic of Lanfang, then the losses for the Netherlands will be enormous.

At the same time, the Dutch Republic obviously cannot accept the huge amount of compensation, and even if it does, it will not be able to come up with this huge amount of money. You must know that the annual financial income of the Dutch Republic is only 50 million dragon coins, and the compensation of 500 million dragon coins will be enough for the Dutch political axe to be repaid without eating or drinking for ten years.

The good offices of the US envoy had no effect, and this made the US political axe very annoyed, and two cruisers of the Philippine detachment of the US Asian Fleet sailed for the waters near Palawan Island on 8 August and anchored in the port of Pontianak for supplies, emphasizing the US presence in the area.

At the same time, the two battleships Yinglan (Crown Prince) and Min Zhu (Glory) of the South China Sea Detachment of the Chinese Empire's Home Fleet also forced their way into Pontianak Harbor, and the Dutch defenders sent two destroyers to expel them, but the Chinese Imperial Navy did not respond, and the Dutch East India garrison did not dare to open fire, so they had to announce to the people that the two Chinese Imperial warships were here for a friendly visit.

The two warships of the Chinese Empire sailed arbitrarily in the port of Pontianak and repeatedly encountered two warships of the US Navy.

Since 1907, the number of naval military confrontations between the Chinese and American navies began to surge, always once or twice a month, and the longest military confrontation occurred in March 1910, when the North Sea Detachment of the Imperial Chinese Fleet inspected the Bering Strait and expelled an American whaling ship, which attracted the Alaska Detachment of the United States Pacific Fleet, and the two sides began a military confrontation that lasted for 15 days. On the 16th day, the U.S. Navy mobilized the main forces of the Pacific Fleet to deploy in the waters near Midway Island to deter the North Sea Fleet of the Chinese Empire. After the 17th day, the Chinese Empire also responded to the provocation of the U.S. Pacific Fleet with the main force of the Pacific Fleet in the open sea, 50 nautical miles northwest of Oahu, Hawaii.

The main warships of the U.S. Navy are basically in the Atlantic Fleet, because the U.S. Navy is afraid that the Imperial Chinese Navy will adopt surprise attack tactics against them, so none of the latest capital ships are deployed at Pearl Harbor.

In this way, the strength of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet was far inferior to that of the Chinese Empire's Pacific Fleet, and finally the US Navy took the initiative to withdraw, ending the confrontation.

However, since this time, the US Navy has successively transferred a number of major warships from the Atlantic Fleet to the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in order to cope with the increasing scale of the military confrontation between the Chinese and US navies.

Beginning on the 9th, the Chinese Empire set a countdown for the Netherlands, stipulating that the Dutch authorities had to answer within the next three days, otherwise the Netherlands would bear all the consequences.

The Netherlands originally stationed 50,000 troops and a few warships in the Dutch East Indies, but the tense situation in Europe forced the Netherlands to transfer 30,000 troops back to the mainland to prevent the Franco-German war from spreading to the Netherlands. Of course, the most important goal is to stop the influx of refugees into the Netherlands.

There are less than 20,000 people left in the Dutch East Indies, and the combat effectiveness is almost zero, all of them are composed of local Dutch merchants and Dutch descendants, and it is enough to maintain local law and order, but it is not enough to serve as an army, and it cannot be compared with the Chinese Emperor [***] team, the gap is too big.

Therefore, the Dutch political axe knew very well in his heart that the loss of Kalimantan was inevitable. Their efforts were only to lower the amount of compensation to the Chinese Empire and to preserve the interests of the Dutch in the region. Because the Dutch knew too well about the Chinese Emperor [***], when the Atlantic Fleet ransacked the Cape Town Bank, the Dutch Bank also suffered from it, but there was no evidence to blame the Chinese Empire, and the British were all on their backs.

Faced with the ultimatum of the Chinese Empire, the Dutch government saw that the protests of the United States did not work, so they had to reluctantly return Kalimantan Island to the Republic of Lanfang, and at the same time make a written apology, admitting the crimes committed 30 years ago, and willing to make compensation. However, on the question of the amount of compensation, the Dutch authorities begged for a reduction in the Chinese Empire.

The Chinese Empire was only asking for 500 million dragon coins, which was too large for a small Dutch country, so it was reduced to 300 million, allowing the Dutch to lend money to the Chinese Empire with rubber and other export resources under the control of the Dutch East Indies.

This arrangement was clearly aimed at the rubber of the Dutch East Indies, and the Dutch knew about it, but the problem was that the Chinese Empire had found a very powerful excuse, and the Dutch had to knock out their teeth and swallow them in their stomachs.

On February 2, 1912, after two months of bargaining, the Netherlands chose to return Borneo to the Chinese Empire peacefully and pay 300 million dragon coins to the descendants of the suffering Republic of Lanfang.

Although 300 million dragon coins is an astronomical amount, the Dutch political axe can still afford it. However, the Chinese Empire did not allow the Dutch to pay off the 300 million yuan in compensation at one time, and insisted that the Netherlands take out a loan from the Chinese Imperial Bank to guarantee rubber and other exports from the Dutch East Indies. After repeated negotiations with the Chinese Empire, the Dutch finally agreed that the Netherlands would pay 200 million dragon coins, and the other 100 million dragon coins would be exported to the Chinese Empire for rubber and other resources. In this way, all rubber products in the Dutch-controlled East Indies could only be exported to the Chinese Empire, and could not be changed for a short time.

After the signing of the Pontianak Treaty between China and the Netherlands, more than 500 Dutch troops in Borneo withdrew from the island and retreated to Batavia. The Chinese Empire took over the military and administrative facilities left behind by the Dutch in Borneo for a peaceful redemption of 3 million dragon coins, and the funds were deducted from the 300 million indemnity.

Since the signing of the treaty, the Dutch stranded in Borneo have been allowed to sell their assets and leave within three months, and the assets of the former Republic of Lanfang are no longer included. At the same time, all the Pontianak gold mines and Sanfa gold mines that the Dutch had taken from the Chinese had to be returned unconditionally and temporarily managed by the Chinese Empire.

The treaty was signed between the Netherlands and the Chinese Empire, and the compensation was also paid to the Chinese Empire instead of the Republic of Lanfang, which meant that Lanfang had been classified as a subject state of the Chinese Empire and had no external autonomy. However, the Chinese in Borneo are the happiest and have finally turned over to become masters.

Li Yunlong only received 5 million dragon coins, which were used to rebuild Lan Fang's political axe, police and army, and all other compensation went into the pocket of the Ministry of Finance of the Chinese Empire.

On March 1, 1912, the Republic of Lanfang was successfully restored, and the 13th President Li Yunlong was sworn in in the Pontianak Congress. The Lan Phong Parliament was elected by 150,000 ethnic Chinese in the Republic of Lan Fong, completely excluding local natives and foreigners.

The first presidential decree signed by Li Yunlong was to deprive all indigenous people in Borneo of their rights and property, who had no right to vote and to stand for election, and at the same time their property was confiscated and redistributed by Lan Fang to the Chinese in need.

The decree was implemented by the Lanfang Army, and the 150,000 Chinese of the Lanfang Republic were all incorporated into the Lanfang Army, and the weapons and equipment were provided by the Chinese Empire.

Because the Chinese Empire was undergoing a major replacement of the weapons and equipment of the whole army, the weapons and equipment of the previous generation were piled up in the warehouses, and the arms dealers could not sell them all, so the Chinese Imperial Army promised to provide all the weapons and equipment needed by the Lanfang Army.

In this way, Lan Fangjun was equipped with a full set of equipment for the Imperial Chinese Army in a short period of time. Although it is not as good as the current equipment of the Chinese Imperial Army, this batch of equipment is still the world's mainstream army equipment, and although the armed Lan Fang Army is untrained, they are dealing with the indigenous people who have no weapons, so it is just right.

Borneo's topography is a middle high, surrounding low situation and is largely covered by tropical rainforests. Only the coastal plain area is a residential and trade area.

The 150,000 Lan Fang Army, plus a reading brigade sent by the Singapore Military Region of the Chinese Empire, began to confiscate the property of the indigenous people on a large scale, and captured the young men and women of the indigenous population as slaves and sent them to the mines, estates, and factories to replace the former Chinese jobs. The rest of the elderly, the sick and the disabled were all rushed to the primeval forest of the central no-man's land, and the natives who resisted at the slightest were immediately shot dead. The Chinese, who have been bullied by the aborigines for a long time, will naturally redouble their revenge now that they have turned over.

After three months of large-scale operations, the Chinese took control of the whole of Borneo, and Lan Fang established a system of ruling the indigenous inferior people with the Chinese as the superior people. After the raid, all Chinese had at least one spacious and comfortable house, a mine or manor, and at the very least, a part of a company, and their per capita personal assets reached the average level of the Chinese Empire.

Compared with the misery of the natives, the Dutch were forced to leave the country, and most of their property was forcibly purchased by Lan Fang Zheng Axe at the lowest price, and then distributed to Lan Fang Chinese. Foreigners' assets and companies need to be re-registered, and they have to pay high fees, which effectively force these foreigners to leave the country. This trick was very effective, and soon a large number of foreigners left the country, so their companies were bought at a low price by Lan Fangzheng and distributed to Chinese businessmen.

A series of decrees signed by the Republic of Lanfang have deeply dissatisfied countries around the world, but behind Lanfang is the support of the Chinese Empire, and European countries can only protest, and there is nothing they can do about it.

The United States was most furious because Dutch groveling meant that all rubber from the East Indies had to be exported to the merchants of the Chinese Empire, including the American rubber estates in the East Indies. What's even more infuriating is that after Lan Fang took control of Borneo, a large amount of rubber was only sold to the Chinese Empire, and the Americans had to evacuate from the region, and the losses were huge.

For this reason, the American political axe made a serious protest to the Chinese Empire, demanding compensation for the losses of American citizens in Lanfang. However, the reply given by the Chinese Imperial Political Axe was that Lan Fang was the only legitimate political axe in Borneo, the Dutch were the aggressors, and you Americans gave all the taxes to the aggressors, which in itself was aiding and abetting. The Republic of Lanfang has taken good care of you without holding you accountable for the taxes owed to Lanfang over the years, so the Chinese Empire has ignored the demands of the American political axe.

In response to the reply of the Chinese Empire, the American political axe was so angry that he almost vomited blood, which made the already poor relations between the two countries even worse.

After the establishment of the Republic of Lanfang, the islands near Borneo were also included in the territory of Lanfang, separated from the American Philippines by the sea, and the sphere of influence of the South China Sea Fleet of the Chinese Empire expanded to the Sulu Sea, the Celebes Sea and the Java Sea, and the patrol of the United States Philippine Fleet had a greater chance of meeting.

On June 5, 1912, the U.S. Navy held a large-scale military exercise in the Sulu Sea on the east side of Kalimantan Island.

In response, the South China Sea Detachment of the Imperial Chinese Empire's Home Fleet simultaneously held large-scale military exercises in the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea.

At the same time, after returning Borneo to the Chinese Empire, the Dutch political axe thought that war with the Chinese Empire would be avoided and the Dutch East Indies would be saved.

However, it didn't take long for the Dutch political axe to discover that they were wrong. After the establishment of the Republic of Lanfang, it joined the Federation of the Great China Empire and became a member of the Federation. After the purge of the indigenous people, the Lan Fang army, equipped with the advanced weapons of the Chinese Empire, appeared to be proud, and it did not take long for the Lanfang army to claim sovereignty over Sulawesi Island in eastern Borneo.

Sulawesi covers an area of 180,000 square kilometers, and the earliest traces of human habitation are the stone tools of the Toyala culture. A century before the arrival of Europeans, a Muslim sultanate on the Malay coast was established in southern Celebes. In 1512, the Portuguese, who wanted to monopolize the spice trade, arrived here, and in 1607 the Dutch established a colony in Makassar. The Dutch power gradually expanded until the states of Pony and Gowa lost their reading capacity in 1905 and 1911 respectively.

At this time, the Dutch had just announced the annexation of Bonny and Gova, but the Republic of Lanfang had received a request from the people of Bonny and Gowa to join the Republic of Lanfang, and the Assembly of Lanfang agreed to admit Bony and Gova, so it demanded that the Dutch colonial army withdraw from Sulawesi.

Obviously, there is the support of the Chinese Empire behind it, otherwise Lan Fang would not have attacked the Dutch East Indies colony so soon.

The Dutch colonial government in Batavia naturally did not agree and rejected Lan Fang's request, so the Republic of Lan Fang sent 30,000 civilian troops to land on Sulawesi Island on July 1, 1912, escorted by the warships of the Chinese Empire, and quickly defeated the 300 Dutch defenders stationed on the island by virtue of their superiority in numbers and equipment.

(To be continued)