However, the good times did not last long, and in the late Qing Dynasty, the foreigners realized that the Qing Dynasty had weakened, and took advantage of the outbreak of the Sino-French War, and the Dutch began to redeploy their invasion operations.

In 1884, the Dutch invaded the Republic of Lanfang. Although the Republic of Lan Fong resisted, it was eventually defeated by being outnumbered, and the remnants fled to Sumatra. However, due to the fear of the Qing Dynasty, the Dutch did not openly claim to occupy the Lanfang region, but set up another puppet to rule.

The Imperial War Department in Beijing City, Yang Jichang walked to the door of Ren Chao's office with a paper clip in his hand, although Ren Chao is now the prime minister of the cabinet, but he still holds the post of secretary of the Ministry of War. "Report!" Yang Jichang shouted respectfully.

"Come in!" Ren Chao's answer sounded inside the door, and Yang Jichang pushed the door and walked in.

"Handsome! The South China Sea Fleet has just sent news that they have successfully reached Borneo and successfully captured Pontianak, expelling the local Dutch colonists. Yang Jichang said and handed a telegram in his hand to Yang Jichang.

"Good!" Ren Chao took the telegram and nodded and said, then stood up and walked to a map hanging on the wall, glanced at Borneo on the map, and said with a stern face, "Inform them to use the territory of the former Lanfang Republic to gain a foothold in the local area, and then gradually encroach on the nearby indigenous tribes and strive to occupy the entire western part of Borneo." We have so many Chinese compatriots there, we must make full use of this advantage, mobilize the local Chinese compatriots to support us, as for those natives, treat them politely at all, if they are obedient, it is naturally good, if they are not obedient, then beat them until they are obedient. ”

Borneo, also known as Kalimantan, is located in the middle of the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia, bordered by Sumatra to the west and Sulawesi to the east. It is bordered by the Java Sea to the south and the South China Sea to the north. It covers an area of 743,330 square kilometers. In later generations, most of them were in Indonesia, including the territory of the former Lanfang Republic occupied by the current Ren Chao's troops, which belonged to Indonesia in later generations. Even at the end of the 20th century, a large-scale anti-Chinese movement broke out, known as the 'May Riots', in which thousands of rioters burned office buildings, shops, residences, and cars, and systematically burned, killed, raped, and looted ethnic Chinese. More than 2,200 people were killed in the riots. More than 5,000 Chinese shops and homes were burned down, and even more outrageous, Indonesian thugs raped hundreds of Chinese women in broad daylight. According to women's organizations, about 170 Chinese women were raped and gang-raped during the riots, and more than 20 of them died of serious injuries, including a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old girl.

So for such a brutal rogue state, Ren Chao does not have the slightest favor, if possible. Ren Chao didn't even mind destroying them all humanely.

"Yes!" Yang Jichang responded, but then frowned and said, "We are constantly expanding in the Nanyang region, and we are naturally not afraid of the Dutch who have declined." However, for fear of arousing the opposition of the British, judging from the current form, it seems that it is not a wise move to make enemies with the British. ”

"You come here." Ren Chao said as he stretched out his hand and pointed to a strait not far west of Borneo.

"Strait of Malacca?" Yang Jichang followed Ren Chao's fingers. Seeing that Ren Chao was referring to the Strait of Malacca.

"Yes, this is the Strait of Malacca!" Ren Chao nodded and said. The Strait of Malacca, also known as the Strait of Malacca, is a strait located between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra. The Strait of Malacca has a southeast-northwest trend. Its northwest end is connected to the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean and to the southeast to the South China Sea. The total length of the strait is about 1080 kilometers. It is 370 kilometers wide in the northwest and 37 kilometers in the southeast, and is an international waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean.

Ren Chao continued, "I think that the reason why the Dutch were able to become sea coachmen in the first place is that they defeated the Portuguese fleet twice and controlled the Strait of Malacca, thus completely controlling the trade channel between the East and the West. Later, during the Napoleonic period, the French army occupied the Netherlands proper, and the British took the opportunity to occupy the Strait of Malacca and all the Dutch colonies in the South Seas. Although the British and the Dutch later negotiated peace, and the British returned the Dutch colonies to the Dutch, they did not return control of the Strait of Malacca to the Dutch. Why? That's because the Strait of Malacca is so important. ”

"Does the marshal want to take the opportunity to take the Strait of Malacca?" Yang Jichang asked in surprise.

Ren Chao smiled and shook his head, "You can also see that the Strait of Malacca is also very important to us. So in the future we have to take this strait. But now we don't have the strength to compete with the British, so we can only endure it for the time being. I guess the British also have a bottom line for their tolerance of us, and this bottom line should be the Strait of Malacca, and as long as we don't touch this bottom line, the British may not be willing to go to war with us. Moreover, our occupation of Pontianak this time is to restore the vassal state, and we are not expansion, let alone aggression. So even if the British protest, we have enough reason. I don't think the British are too aggressive, after all, we are not easy to bully. ”

"Hmmm! That said, it's better to be cautious. Yang Jichang nodded and said.

"Hmmm! Then let them keep a low profile for the time being, and stand firm first. Ren Chao nodded and said.

Sure enough, the Dutch protested strongly afterwards. But the first reply the Dutch minister received at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was, "When did you Dutchmen come to the territory of the Republic of Lanfang, why don't we know?" ”

The Dutch minister was speechless, although the Dutch had destroyed the Republic of Lanfang more than ten years ago, but at that time, the Dutch did not publicly announce the matter at all because they were afraid of the interference of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the Qing government was in a state of anxiety, and no one had ever taken such a small Nanyang country seriously, and they never expressed any opinion on the occupation of the Republic of Lanfang by the Dutch. And now? The Foreign Ministry used this as an excuse to push back the protests of the Dutch. And the current Qing Dynasty is not something that these Dutch can afford to provoke, so the Dutch can only stop it.

As for the British, although they also protested against this, the Dutch as the parties have already died down, and how can he, the British, toss. In addition, at this time, the British had even greater interests in China, and now the Qing government controlled by Ren Chao was no longer what it used to be, and the British were busy fighting the Boers at this time? In addition, in the current international situation, it is not in the interests of Britain to start a war with the current Qing Dynasty in any way, and the Qing Dynasty has not violated the interests of the British, at most it can only be regarded as a threat to it. So in the end, the British could only acquiesce to the fact that Ren Chao occupied West Borneo. (To be continued......)