Chapter 326 Colonial War - Invasion of Papua

[Today's first update, the second later]

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By the end of Shenwu's second year, immigration to the Luzon colony was close to saturation.

The governor of Luzon, Zhao Chuanfeng, said that the Spanish properties and estates that had been seized during the Luzon Colonial War had been distributed to the immigrants of the empire. Due to the imperial government's large-scale propaganda of Luzon's abundance of gold, the citizens of the empire frantically immigrated to Luzon and set off a gold rush. In less than a year, the number of immigrants in Luzon has increased by nearly 800,000 and has reached the limit of what can be accepted at present. If there is more immigration, it will have to occupy the property and property of the Luzon Tu people, and fear provoking a revolt. At this time, Luzon had just been plundered, and it was not easy to anger the locals again.

In the imperial study, Deng Haonan fell into deep thought after reading Zhao Chuanfeng's recital.

Originally, he planned to use the Luzon colony to transfer the displaced people and ordinary people who could not live there, and solve their survival problems, which was equivalent to solving the main social problems in the country and maintaining the long-term peace and stability of the empire.

However, according to the report of the Ministry of Households, there are still more than three million displaced people in the country, even with the Empire's policy of recuperation. In addition to the real displaced beggars, there are also some peasants who have lost their land, and more people who have been affected by the disaster. The natural and man-made disasters of the empire did not end with the new emperor's accession to the throne, let alone because of the policy of rest and recuperation, but intensified.

Although Deng Haonan had a headache for this, people could not overcome the sky, and this natural disaster could not be avoided, so Deng Haonan had to do his best.

"Emperor" Qian Qianyi stepped forward and said: "Luzon originally only resettled 700,000 immigrants, but now it has exceeded expectations, Luzon has resettled about 1 million immigrants, and it can't be increased, otherwise there will be chaos." However, after removing these million immigrants, there are still nearly two million displaced people and disaster victims in the country who are homeless, and it is feasible to rebuild after the disaster, but the natural disasters in the country and the dynasties, the frequent earthquakes in the northwest, the continuous drought and floods in the Central Plains, and the raging typhoons and tsunamis along the coast, the speed of reconstruction cannot keep up with the speed of God's destruction."

Speaking of this, Qian Qianyi was already a little choked, and Deng Haonan was also deeply touched. The Ming Dynasty in history was dragged into the abyss of no return step by step.

This Xiaoice Age will last for half a century, and the world will fight wars for half a century because of this influence. In order to avoid further domestic turmoil, the only way to do this is to continue to migrate the affected people overseas.

"Then continue to migrate overseas on a large scale"

Qian Qianyi asked suspiciously: "But the Luzon colony can't accommodate so many immigrants in a short period of time."

"Then keep expanding"

Deng Haonan smiled faintly, got up and walked to the screen, slid a few laps around the Luzon Islands, and then moved south, crossed the Dutch East Indies, and knocked on a very large land.

"That's it, enough to meet the Empire's immigration needs for the next twenty years"

Qian Qianyi looked at the direction Deng Haonan pointed to, which was marked with the word Australia.

"Australia?"

"That's right" Deng Haonan smiled: "It's the name of Australia, how about it?" ”

“……”

Qian Qianyi paused for a moment and hurriedly said yes.

"Your Majesty, it seems that there is no country here, but I heard that the Portuguese claimed sovereignty over Australia and changed its name to Papua, and the Dutch also renamed it New Netherland."

This time it made Deng Haonan stunned, but he didn't expect Qian Qianyi to know this in detail, which was beyond Deng Haonan's imagination.

Seeing Deng Haonan stunned, Qian Qianyi smiled and said: "Since Weichen served as the first auxiliary minister, he has been sighing all night, and I am afraid that he will not live up to the emperor's trust. The emperor has recently devoted his energy overseas, so Wechen has also inquired about some relevant news from many sources."

Deng Haonan sighed softly, secretly saying that he was proud, he originally thought that he could lead the people of this era with his historical knowledge, but Deng Haonan only knew probably, and now he was proud and did not inquire in detail, but he lost to Qian Qianyi in details.

It seems that you can't be proud and conceited anymore in the future, Deng Haonan thought in his heart.

"Both the Dutch and the Portuguese claimed sovereignty over Australia, but neither actually sent troops to occupy it, and now it is all native, and it is full of minerals, gold and silver, and even all kinds of precious stones."

Qian Qianyi was already immune to Deng Haonan's surprising words, and only regarded it as the reason why Deng Haonan's intelligence work was very developed.

"Judging from the map, Australia has a radius of seven or eight million square kilometers, and there is no problem in relocating tens of millions of people to settle for land, and besides, such a large area is rich in gold, silver and precious stones, with this excuse, presumably the people will set off a feverish gold rush."

Deng Haonan nodded, he knew that at this time, for the people to immigrate to Australia willingly, it was necessary to ensure that they had land to cultivate, grass to graze, gold and silver to collect, and they could solve the problem of food and clothing in a short period of time, and they could become rich in the near future.

Fortunately, Australia has a pleasant climate and is able to avoid the Xiaoice period in the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, there is a huge amount of arable land and grazing grassland that can be cultivated there, which is enough for the common people to cultivate grain and graze. And what Deng Haonan values most is Australia's rich gold, silver and iron ore, and even the rich diamond mine. Although there is no need for oil for the time being, it is good to occupy the place first.

"It's just that Australia has a vast land, and it is not easy to establish colonial settlements for a while, and there are still millions of people in the empire who need to be resettled."

Yes, even though Australia has unique conditions, it is not possible to develop it in a short time. Qian Qianyi frowned, thought for a while, and asked, "What does the emperor mean?" ”

Deng Haonan pointed to Papua (Dutch Guinea) next to Australia and New Zealand to the southeast, and said: "There is a large population here, and after launching a colonial war, the vacated properties and properties are enough to temporarily solve the disaster victims in the empire."

In 1526, the Portuguese Meneses sailed from Malacca to the Maluku Islands, but the sea breeze blew the ship into nowhere, and the Portuguese called the land Papua.

In the Dutch-Portuguese war, the Dutch were victorious, and Papua became a Dutch colony, called the island of Dutch New Guinea, also known as Irian Island. However, Papua had a large population of more than 3 million people, and the Dutch colonists were too few to fully control Papua, so they co-ruled Papua with the Portuguese, and from then on it was called Papua New Guinea.

When the empire colonized the Philippines, it plundered huge wealth, which made Deng Haonan very happy to continue plundering, so he chose the most populous places to launch colonial wars.

When the Philippines was first colonized, when the imperial army reached the southernmost tip of the Philippines, it was ready to continue to conquer the island of Papua across the sea. However, since Papua was under the rule of the Dutch, the Dutch were at war with several other countries. The empire did not want to transfer the anger of the Dutch to itself and therefore did not launch an offensive against Papua.

At this time, the remnants of the British, French, Swiss, and Spanish armies had already taken control of the Dutch East Indies, and several countries were preparing to send troops to occupy Papua.

Deng Haonan did not want the East India Company of several other countries to expand in Southeast Asia, so he needed to get the first shot.

At the same time, Papua also has New Zealand to the south, which has a large population, and can also plunder a lot of wealth by launching a colonial war.

New Zealand remained uninhabited for 50 million years until the 10th century, when Polynesian navigators from the Cook Islands and Tahiti arrived in canoes. By the twelfth century, New Zealand had hundreds of settlements with a population of about 600,000, mainly Māori. In 1622, the Dutch navigator Abel Jansson-Tasman discovered the west coast of New Zealand during an ocean adventure, but was attacked by the Maori during an attempt to land and quickly left, but he named the land after a Dutch region called New Zealand, and he mapped part of the west coast, but did not actually control it.

The two places had a population of up to 4 million and accumulated a lot of wealth, so Deng Haonan was ready to launch a colonial war against them and carry out colonial plunder. After the colonial war, a large number of ownerless properties and estates will be left in the two areas, which will be used by the imperial nationals after emigrating.

Qian Qianyi previously disagreed with Deng Haonan's colonial war, believing that it would damage the image of the Celestial Empire. But since Mr. Zhao brought back to Beijing the vast wealth he had plundered from the Philippines, he had changed his mind. At this time, he was supportive of the colonial war.

Soon, operational orders for the colonial war against Papua and New Zealand were issued by the General Staff, and the Papua-New Zealand Dispatch Force Command was established, under the command of Lieutenant General Liu Feng. The Royal Army mobilized the 8th and 9th Infantry Divisions from the mainland, as well as the 68th Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division of the Royal Army stationed in the southern part of the Luzon colony, to carry out the execution, and the Second Fleet of the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet to escort the ships and provide naval fire support.

On December 8, the 2nd year of Shenmu, the 8th and 9th Infantry Divisions of the Royal Army were transported to Matapura Fortress on Kalimantan Island, rested for a week, and then marched to Papua.

During this recuperation period, the Pacific Fleet dispatched five Beigumo-class battleships, and thirty cruisers and frigates to carve out a safe landing zone in the waters near Malaochi, Papua.

On the 16th, the 8th and 9th Infantry Divisions arrived southwest of Malaoqi and landed safely three days later. At the same time, the 68th Regiment of the 17th Infantry Division, sent from the Luzon direction, also arrived and completed the landing.

There was no Dutch army in the Marauch area, only the local police to maintain law and order. When the governor of Dutch Guinea, Akeli, learned that the Chinese imperial army had landed at Malaochi, he quickly withdrew all the Papuan garrison to the capital city of Moresby. The Imperial army captured Malaochi lightly.

At this time, Papua had more than 7,000 Dutch troops and police forces, and if you count the Dutch and Portuguese immigrants and merchants, the number would be 25,000. It has to be said that it is a miracle that such a small number of people rule Papua, which has a population of more than three million.

After a day's rest in Marauch, the Imperial army decided to concentrate its forces on the capture of the Dutch stronghold in Papua, Moresby, and then occupy the whole of Papua.

On the 20th, the 68th Regiment of the Royal Army took the lead and captured the coastal towns of Booker, Barino, and Zicoli all the way, followed by the 8th Infantry Division and the 9th Infantry Division, while learning the combat methods of the 68th Regiment and summing up the experience of the colonial war.

In fact, the General Staff did not use the integrated 17th and 18th infantry divisions stationed in Luzon mainly to gain war experience for the infantry divisions in the country. Papua is not a big battlefield, but it can help the two integrated infantry divisions of the Imperial Army to conduct actual combat training and learn from experience.

After the 68th Regiment conquered Zicoli, the main attack was changed to the 8th Infantry Division and the 9th Infantry Division, with a total of eight main regiments, which took turns to play the vanguard.

Eight main regiments attacked the small towns, and met with little decent resistance, all by the Dutch and Portuguese private armed forces within the towns. In order to make the soldiers as bloody as possible, the Papuan Dispatch Corps Command decided to disperse the eight regiments, attack the Dutch and local settlements in all directions, and finally converge before the general attack on Moresby. As a result, the headquarters left only the 68th Regiment on guard, and the other eight regiments fought the autumn wind everywhere.

Of course, this was what the Dispatch Corps Command said to the officers and men below the battalion level, but the officers above the battalion level knew that there was another tactical purpose, that is, the Dutch troops stationed in the fortress of Moresby would go out of the city to fight.

The main reason for this decision was that the Dispatch Army Command did not want to fight in Papua again. Liu Feng knew that when the Spanish army besieged the fortress of Matapura, it consumed a lot of troops and time, and finally paid a great price to defeat Matapura. As for the star fortress of the Europeans, Liu Feng believes that this thing is a nightmare for the army.

However, the Dutch built a star-shaped fortress in Moresby, which made the Dutch easy to defend and difficult to attack, and could rule the Papuans with a small army of more than three million people.

The main wall of the Moresby Fortress is a hexagonal rhombic fort, although it is not a superposition of two quadrangular castles, but it is surrounded by two twelve-sided inclined embankments and trenches, which are connected by hidden roads, leaving enough shooting holes, which is very difficult to deal with.

Liu Feng preliminarily calculated according to the intelligence given to him by the Military Intelligence Bureau that this castle only needs 2,000 people to withstand the attack of 10,000 people for several months, which is really easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Today, more than 10,000 regular troops are stationed in the city of Moresby, and including other personnel assisting in the defense, there are enough 20,000 people to defend the city. In this way, the sending army will have to pay a great price to achieve the goal of destroying the enemy and capturing the city.

Therefore, Liu Feng gave up the idea of taking the fortress by force, and prepared to lure the enemy out and annihilate the enemy in the field.

Therefore, the command of the dispatch army divided the two infantry divisions into eight regiments, attacked from all sides, and fought the autumn wind everywhere, so that the Dutch felt sorry for their families, and finally lightly attacked the enemy out of the city.

In the fortress of Moresby, the office of the governor of Dutch Guinea, Akeli, was filled with smoke, and Dutch officials and officers, as well as Dutch merchants, were debating countermeasures.

"I just received news that the Chinese army has reached Yihu, and dozens of nearby settlements have been looted by them, and our losses are very large, you must give us an explanation"

The Dutch merchants shouted that they had given the Dutch garrison a large amount of money every year, and that it was time for the army to fulfill its responsibilities.

"There are more than 20,000 people on the other side, and we only have 10,000 troops combined, so there is no way to help

Acrylic hurriedly explained and reassured them, but it didn't seem to have much effect, for the merchants had already lost a lot. Not to mention the looting of property, the troops of the Chinese Empire opened fire everywhere, putting their relatives, friends, and servants in serious danger to their lives.

"The barbarism of the Chinese army was already clear after the fall of the Philippines, just like the Spaniards back then, it was too barbaric"

Another Dutch merchant protested, but they seemed to have forgotten a little. When the Dutch occupied the East Indies and Papua, they were no less barbaric than any other country.

In a Chinese proverb, only the governor is allowed to set fires and the people are not allowed to light lamps, or they do not have a backache when they stand and talk.

The Dutch military has always been very calm, and the commander Thehke has kept his eyes closed, and the behavior of the Chinese Imperial Army seems to him to be normal.

"Listen to me," Acrylic said after his head grew several times, and after shouting at the gossip of the crowd, "the current situation is that we must hold the fortress and wait for rescue."

"Do you want to be like Batavia? It's been a year and a half now, but I haven't seen any reinforcements."

"Your Excellency the Governor, who will compensate us for our economic losses in the end?"

"This-" Acrylic hesitated for a moment and said, "Naturally, the Chinese Empire will compensate, they are the main culprits in starting the war"

"Can you guarantee that they will compensate?"

"This is the East, the Chinese Empire is the master here, even the Spaniards have to swallow their anger when they lose the Philippines, do you think they will come to compensate us?"

"We can't wait, then our losses will make us jump off the building"

A Dutch businessman couldn't stand it anymore and was the first to get up, but the office was a mess again.

Naturally, Acrylic could not give them assurances, in fact, he simply could not believe that one day the Chinese Empire would compensate for the losses. However, if these merchants are not appeased, I am afraid that they will make some regrettable moves.

Acrylic whispered to Thehke, "Colonel Tehek, what do you think should be done?" ”

"We can't strike"

Acrylic suddenly hit the wall, and said unhappily: "You can also see that if I don't give them an explanation, they will make me uneasy."

"We have half the strength of the enemy, what do you think we can do other than hold the fortress?"

Acrylic said, "Didn't you say they had dispersed? Outside there were eight regiments, each of which numbered no more than two thousand men."

Thehek looked at Acrylic suspiciously and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

"You mobilize 5,000 troops, secretly go out of the city to kill a regiment of the enemy, and then come back quickly, so that I can give them an explanation."

"You're making me kill myself"

"If you don't go, I'll kill myself"

“……”E