The Tang Empire's plan for each expansion and colonization goal is clear and unambiguous, that is, the new colonies adopt a strategy of thorough assimilation, digest and absorb them, and precipitate them into a deeper imperial heritage.

This is true in Mexico, it is true in Colombia, it is true in Cuba and Luzon, and certainly in the case of the East Indies.

Military conquest was accompanied by long-term colonial planning and domination, and the empire did not hesitate to invest heavily in the infrastructure of the new colonies, whether it was the planning of towns and roads, farmland, or the construction of bridges and reservoirs.

This can be done because the Tang Empire is really too rich.

In order to completely conquer the East Indies (Note; Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, excluding Java), the imperial government and the royal family spent a total of 230 million yuan on the war, which was enough to ensure a year and a half of high-intensity warfare and a large amount of infrastructure materials.

This included modern cement factories, brick and tile factories, timber processing plants, rice mills, flour mills, oil mills, and some other modern industrial plants, which established the initial industrial framework for the new colony.

Before that

The steel, cement and other infrastructure construction materials needed by the new colony can be transported from New Xi'an, Paradise Province, and can be transported by sea to the cities of Brazil and Samarinda, which belong to East Kalimantan Province, which is more than 900 kilometers by sea, and normal cargo ships can arrive in two days and two nights.

In Brazil, Samarinda, Palembang and other places, the landed Imperial troops encountered resistance from Dutch troops of various sizes, but they were all suppressed one after another.

In the face of the Royal Army of the Tang Empire, which was armed to the teeth, the Netherlands did not have an advantage in terms of strength and equipment, and it was easy to be defeated.

This is not because the Dutch are weak, but because the area that needs to be defended is too large, and there are too many target towns to defend, which inevitably leads to the dispersion of forces.

Coupled with the fact that the geography was extremely unfavorable for the mobility of large armies, the heavy groups of the Dutch tended to be concentrated inland.

It's like a shrinking hedgehog, waiting for the enemy to attack.

For example, in the Kalimantan archipelago, more than 80% of the Dutch army, with a total of about 33,000 troops, focuses on defending Central Kalimantan Province.

In the other four provinces, with a total of about 440,000 square kilometers of land, the total number of Dutch troops is only more than 6,300 people, including a large proportion of indigenous servant troops, with an average of only one or two thousand people in each province.

The main Dutch army is mainly distributed between Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan Province, and the coastal port of Sampit, which is connected by a gravel road about 6.2 meters wide and about 347 kilometers long, which is also one of the few good trunk roads in Kalimantan.

Even in the rainy season, it can ensure the difficult passage of freight wagons.

Why?

It's hard to describe this 270-year-old road, which was the only jungle passage from the indigenous kingdom of Palangkaraya to the seaside port, and has a very long history.

After the Dutch conquered the indigenous population with muskets, in order to allow the passage of freight carriages, they fought for more than 7,300 local indigenous laborers, and it took more than four years to build this gravel road with high standards.

After more than 270 years of ups and downs, this highway has long been a big pit connected with a small pit, repaired every year, rotten every year, and it is difficult to describe it in one word.

Following the principle of "easy before difficult", the Kalimantan Corps took the lead in controlling East Kalimantan Province, which was empty, and occupied important towns such as Brazil and Samarinda to gain a foothold.

The next step is to consider moving south to South Kalimantan Province, the capital of the occupation zone, Marchen.

Another royal army from Lan Phong invaded the territory of North Kalimantan Province and occupied it.

In the end, the two armies combined to attack Sampetite, which was heavily defended by the Dutch army, and Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan Province, and won the battle in one fell swoop.

Therefore, in the early days of the invasion, the Royal Army faced scattered and sporadic Dutch defenders, and the resistance was not strong.

Palembang and Jambi, where the Sumatran legion landed, were in the southeastern part of the island and were also areas where the Dutch army was weak.

In the central and northwestern parts of Sumatra, where the Dutch army was heavily armed, including the Aceh region, the total Dutch army exceeded 100,000 (note, including about half of the indigenous servant army), which was a tough nut to crack.

At a high-level military meeting

The next strategic deployment of military expansion was adopted, and a series of factory facilities such as cement plants in Brazil, Sanmarinda and other cities were also passed, and a grand plan of forcibly conscripting no less than 5~60,000 indigenous laborers to invest in coastal highway construction projects was passed.

In the early days of the Tang Empire's military colonial expansion, the most mature experience was real-time military management, and the large-scale infrastructure construction promoted under military management was rapid and efficient.

The Empire already had a wealth of experience in this area, and many colonial affairs were planned and carried out by colonial officials who arrived with the army, and the military only had to cooperate as needed.

For example, the army was sent to watch over the laborers in the camps, and military operations such as armed guards, patrols, and raids were carried out to cooperate with the work of colonial officials.

The Tang Empire was vast and covered with vast tropical rainforests in South America.

The vast majority of the legionnaires who made the expedition to the East Indies came from the nearby provinces of Paradise, Luzon, Cebu and Mindanao, and were well adapted to the climate of the region, and there were no insurmountable difficulties.

In order to conquer the new colonies, the imperial side has made detailed preparations for more than ten years, and the mosquito nets for the soldiers, tropical military uniforms, wide-brimmed military hats, anti-mosquito bite drugs and drugs for the treatment of tropical diseases are all prepared, which are important aspects that cannot be ignored.

After the military meeting, all the senior officers dispersed and got busy according to the military deployment.

Marshal Don Leeshin came to a castle-like residence not far away, which was his temporary lodging.

Originally the residence of Viscount Van Stenberg, a down-and-out Dutch aristocracy, the towering roof ridges and white arched window lattices give a hint of the old days of Dutch aristocratic life.

I took off my military uniform and took a shower, feeling relaxed and happy.

Marshal Don Leeshin came out and changed into a large and light Down's linen coat, walked to the rocking chair in the living room and sat down, and the attendant military attache immediately presented hot tea and cigar smoke.

Lighting a mellow cigar cigarette, Marshal Don Leeshin took two deep puffs and then slowly exhaled, and the surroundings were immediately filled with strong and mellow cigar smoke.

His brain began to review the combat deployment so far, was there anything missing?

Of the three archipelagos to be occupied, Sulawesi is the simplest, the vast majority of which remains uninhabited and uninhabited, with a total population of only 11,700 to date, living in and around two small towns on the southern coast.

The expeditionary force sent a battalion of more than 370 troops to take full control of the area.

In the next step, with the arrival of Chinese immigrants, the construction of the port in the southern part of the Sulawesi archipelago will also enter the stage of advancement, and the labor force will of course be the local forcibly recruited indigenous people.

The colonial policy was consistent and unified, that is, all men over the age of 10 were sent to the forced labor camps, bridges, roads, docks, and towns, and there was an endless amount of hard work to do, not to mention the indigenous women.

The pre-invasion of the Kalimantan archipelago, the target of the second colonial occupation target, is progressing in an orderly manner, and there will be no problems for two or three months.

Having lost cargo ships and passenger ships from coastal ports, in fact, the various parts of Kalimantan province are divided by endless rainforests, rivers and valleys, and large regiments are unable to carry out movement operations.

This also means:

The Dutch army could only concentrate heavily on the line between Sampet and Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan province, and could not pose a threat to the Royal Army hundreds of kilometers away, nor could it attack in a big way.

The Dutch army could only defend the area passively, building forts or other defensive facilities, establishing a strong defensive line, and striving to inflict maximum damage on the invading enemy.

According to the latest information received by the military;

The Dutch defenders did not build large-scale defensive facilities, and depending on the situation, it seemed that they wanted to fight a few battles with the royal army of the Tang Empire.

It is not surprising that in the late 19th century, the traditional theory of decisive battles in European armies was still to line up and shoot, that is, line infantry tactics.

Digging trenches, building defensive breastprints or fortifications are all considered cowardly acts, symbols of lack of courage, and disgraced by traditional soldiers.

Brave soldiers should stand tall in the face of the rain of bullets and bullets, and march forward in great strides......

The Dutch stubbornly adhered to this tradition, and they were not willing to hide in the waterlogged trenches like rats, but rather to fight vigorously.

This pedantic view was good news for the army of the Tang Empire.

His Majesty the Holy Emperor has long said it;

Heroism does not mean senseless sacrifice, and in the case of retaining one's own strength to the greatest extent, destroying the enemy more is the correct way of war.

Therefore, the royal army of the Tang Empire has begun to try a variety of new methods such as skirmisher line operations, movement operations, and infantry and artillery combined operations, and has been ahead of the world's infantry theory in this field.

The problem is back to the beginning, and it is only a matter of time before the stubborn resistance of the 33,000 Dutch troops on Kalimantan Island is completely resolved, and the situation of closing the door and fighting the dogs is properly resolved, and the final victory is only a matter of time.

The biggest nail in the coffin is in the Sumatra archipelago, where the Aceh War in the northwest of the island has been going on for 25 years, and the Dutch Governor's Office has continued to send heavy troops and deploy large quantities of supplies to the island.

The Dutch have gathered a heavy army group of more than 100,000 on the island, and in a desperate situation where there is no way to go to the sky and no way to enter the ground, it is possible to break out with strong combat effectiveness.

The Second Corps of the Royal Praetorian Guard, led by Lieutenant General Liu Zhongguo, totaled more than 89,000 people, and did not occupy any advantage in troops.

It is quite predictable that the heaviest fighting will break out on the island of Sumatra.

His Royal Highness Don Li Xin was already a veteran who was accustomed to seeing life and death, he took a deep puff of his cigar, and then slowly exhaled it, his eyes becoming extraordinarily bright.

He's already decided

After a week's rest for the Royal Task Force, the entire fleet split into two, and the main force of the fleet went to Sumatra to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Dutch heavy army group on the island.

In addition, a fleet of cruisers, the main force of the island, will be divided to carry out a complete blockade and patrol mission of Java Island in order to maintain the current situation of fragmentation of the islands.

Divide and conquer, each break.