Chapter 257: Counterattack
Upon learning the news of the conflict erupting on Borneo, Carlo felt no worry at all; instead, he was pleased by the change in the situation.
Regardless of whether the Kutai Sultanate had the support of the Dutch behind it, this did not affect Spain’s support for the Lanfang Republic to counterattack.
Without this conflict, it would have been basically impossible for Spain to actively expand on Borneo. The British would not allow Spain to gain an advantage on Borneo, and the Dutch would absolutely not give up their already occupied colonies.
But thanks to this conflict, Lanfang had sufficient reason to counterattack the Kutai Sultanate. Although the strength of the Lanfang Republic had not improved much, with the equipment—the New Army of 20,000 armed with Spanish weapons—it was still no problem to easily crush the indigenous nations on Borneo.
The only way the Lanfang Republic could be defeated was if either Britain or the Netherlands joined in, using even more powerful and advanced weapons and equipment to suppress the Lanfang Republic’s army.
But this situation was even less likely to happen, and Spain would certainly not fear its occurrence.
Britain had successively experienced the Anglo-Afghan War and the Zulu War, so it was impossible for them to dispatch another expeditionary force to attack the Lanfang Republic.
Moreover, the British army would have no justification for action. This conflict had nothing to do with Britain; if Britain intervened, wouldn’t that mean the British Government was taking upon itself the infamy of inciting indigenous people to attack the Lanfang Republic?
The Dutch might possibly threaten the Lanfang Republic with war in order to preserve the Kutai Sultanate, but Spain was not the least bit afraid of the Dutch threat.
20,000 men were far from the limit of the Lanfang Republic; arming an army of more than 50,000 would still be quite easy for the Lanfang Republic.
The Lanfang Republic could continuously supplement its population from that East Asian great power to the north, while the Dutch could only dispatch a small number of immigrants from their homeland.
The combat effectiveness of the Dutch regular army might be higher than that of the Lanfang Republic, but the problem was that the Dutch had hardly any regular army at all.
The East Indies colonies relied more on local indigenous subservient armies, which lacked advanced weapons and equipment and proper military training; they could only be described as a rabble.
It is no exaggeration to say that, with the current combat effectiveness of the Lanfang Republic’s 20,000 New Army, even facing more than 100,000 indigenous troops, they would still have the power to fight.
Plus, with Spain continuously providing logistics, the Lanfang Republic really had no fear of the Dutch, who could only rely on indigenous forces.
If the Dutch mobilized their regular army, that would be even more entertaining to watch. For a country with a population of just over 6 million, how many troops could they assemble for an expedition against Lanfang?
Even if the Dutch Government had the resolve to form an expeditionary force, would the Dutch public be willing to join such an expeditionary force?
A defensive war to protect the homeland could ignite the public’s passion to resist the enemy, but an expedition separated from the homeland by tens of thousands of miles would obviously amplify the public’s war-weariness.
The Netherlands was inherently a small country; regardless of whether the expedition succeeded or failed, it would always be a failure for the Netherlands.
This also meant that, on Borneo at this time, Spain already held an absolute advantage. Unless the British were willing to help the Dutch at all costs, the Dutch could only choose between stability at home and the Kutai Sultanate.
Far away in the Lanfang Republic, Andrew quietly waited for news for several days and finally received Carlo’s response.
After receiving Carlo’s order, Andrew did not hesitate at all; he notified the Lanfang Republic to mobilize its army to continue the eastward offensive, attempting to connect the Lanfang Republic with the Sultanate of Brunai under Spanish control.
Once the connection between these two regions was opened, supplies from the Philippines could be transported to the Lanfang Republic more conveniently, and Spain could also strengthen its control over Borneo.
Borneo’s geographical position was still quite important. The Dutch East Indies colonies were a vast archipelago of colonies, with the four most important islands being Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Sulawesi.
The distribution of these four islands resembled the character “mountain”, with Borneo being the central vertical stroke. Because of its central location, Borneo had always been prime land for Dutch conquest, and it was for this reason that the Lanfang Republic had perished.
But now, as long as the Lanfang Republic opened the passage to the Sultanate of Brunai, unless the Lanfang Republic betrayed Spain, it had no possibility of being destroyed.
A nail had been driven into the Dutch East Indies colonies, making it not so easy for the East Indies to remain stable.
The indigenous population of the East Indies was not only extremely large, but the entire colony consisted of countless large and small islands. The Dutch currently controlled only the four major islands and some important surrounding islands; most of the medium and small islands were still not under Dutch control.
Even on the four major islands themselves, there were countless areas not under Dutch control. In such a situation, it was still easy for Spain to create trouble for the Dutch.
If the Dutch Government did not want to spend the next few decades suppressing rebellions in the East Indies, they would have to find a way to improve relations with the Spanish Government, at least ensuring that Spain would not create trouble in the East Indies.
Under the offensive of the Lanfang Republic’s army, the Kutai Sultanate retreated defeat after defeat, and the land between the Lanfang Republic and the Sultanate of Brunai was successfully connected.
The Sarawak Kingdom to the north, which had originally helped the Kutai Sultanate, saw the situation turning unfavorable and quickly withdrew into its own borders, also requesting help from the British Empire’s Straits Settlements.
Speaking of the Sarawak Kingdom, it was undoubtedly the most unique existence on Borneo. Although an indigenous nation, its founder was a bona fide British white man.
James Brooke was originally an explorer; after arriving in the Sarawak region of Borneo, James successfully conquered this land with his tough methods and connections to British colonies, establishing an indigenous kingdom under his rule.
James’s state was also tacitly approved by the British Government, and James even held a British knighthood, which illustrated the ties between the Sarawak Kingdom and Britain.
At the most critical moment, it was only natural for the Sarawak Kingdom to request help from the British colonies. Britain already regarded this land as its sphere of influence and naturally would not refuse to support the Sarawak Kingdom.
Of course, such support was not free. Whether now or historically, the Sarawak Kingdom would always become part of the British colonies.
Carlo’s goal was certainly not the Sarawak Kingdom either. Britain was still a great power, and now was not the best time to fall out with the British.
One Kutai Sultanate was enough to satisfy Spain and the Lanfang Republic; if they could take the opportunity to sign a peace treaty with the Dutch Government and gain more interests in the Dutch East Indies, Spain’s planning in Southeast Asia would basically be complete.
Although the area of colonies Spain occupied in Southeast Asia was not small, because this land was far from the homeland, aside from future rubber planting, most colonies would not be properly developed.
Even, if there was a good opportunity, Carlo would consider selling off all the colonies in Southeast Asia in exchange for opportunities for Spain to expand in Europe or in the African region.
If the Philippines plus all the colonies on Borneo could make Britain acquiesce to Spain annexing Portugal, Carlo would certainly be willing to give up these colonies.
No matter how valuable the colonies, they could be abandoned compared to expansion of the homeland, unless they were like Morocco, which could also become part of the homeland.
It didn’t even have to be with British agreement; as long as Spain could win over any one of the three great powers Britain, France, and Germany, and keep the other neutral, it might be possible to achieve the merger of the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.
But achieving this was very difficult; at least for now, there was no hope.
Britain would certainly not allow Spain to annex Portugal, and France did not want a country on par with the five great powers to appear to its south.
Germany might not object, but Germany would not offend Britain and France for Spain’s sake.
Unless the price Spain was willing to pay far exceeded the benefits of annexing Portugal, Britain and France would not agree to Spain becoming a stronger nation after the merger.
If only one side opposed, it might still be manageable, but if Britain and France opposed together, even with strong support from Germany, annexing Portugal would be absolutely impossible.
Precisely because of this, Carlo had never shown any ambition to annex Portugal, and Spain’s expansion was only taking place in Africa and even farther Southeast Asia.
Returning to the situation on Borneo, under the Lanfang Republic’s offensive, the Kutai Sultanate was retreating steadily, able only to defend its capital Tenggarong with all its might.
While trying its best to resist the Lanfang Republic’s offensive on one side, the Kutai Sultanate desperately requested aid from the Dutch on the other.
Without Dutch help, the Kutai Sultanate could not continue to survive under the Lanfang Republic’s offensive.
Spain’s aid to the Lanfang People was not small at all; the Lanfang Republic’s 20,000 New Army was equipped not only with Spain’s most advanced rifles but also with dozens of cannons of various calibers.
Although these cannons were products retired by the Spanish Army and had certain gaps in power and range compared to the steel cannons currently equipped by Spain,
cannons were still cannons; when facing the Kutai Sultanate without heavy firepower, these dozens of cannons were the greatest killers.
The reason the Kutai Sultanate was retreating steadily was not only that the indigenous army lacked military training and morale easily collapsed after defeat, but also that the artillery inflicted massive damage on the Kutai Sultanate’s army.
Indigenous warfare had no tactics to speak of; most followed the principle of swarming forward in large-scale frontal assaults on the enemy.
This made them perfect targets for the Lanfang Republic’s artillery; with several years of training, the Lanfang New Army still had considerable combat effectiveness, and the artillerymen were personally trained by the Spanish Army—not to mention accurate, at least above the qualified line.
The result was that after a few large-scale frontal charges, the Kutai Sultanate’s army quickly began to rout.
The Sultanate’s officers could not stop these fleeing soldiers; fortunately, the soldiers had no substantial equipment, so they did not discard armor and helmets while fleeing.
It had to be admitted that, although these indigenous people had little combat power, once they scattered and fled, it was quite difficult to catch them again.
Borneo had a vast area, with overall terrain that was flat in the periphery and higher in the center. The battleground between the Lanfang Republic and the Kutai Sultanate was in the central mountainous area; these indigenous people plunged headlong into the mountains, and their escape speed even gained a boost.
Although the Lanfang People had lived here for a long time, they still could not match the indigenous people who grew up in the mountains from childhood. This led to, after several battles, the Kutai Sultanate suffering heavy losses, but the Lanfang Republic not killing many enemies.
Of course, although most of these scattered fleeing soldiers escaped, it was also unlikely for the Kutai Sultanate to reassemble them to fight Lanfang.
After several rounds of artillery bombardment, these indigenous soldiers were all scared out of their wits. Not to mention continuing to fight Lanfang—even returning to the army, they resisted more than one another.
If the Kutai Sultanate was in a dire situation like a house on fire, then the Dutch East Indies colonial government at this time was lifting a rock only to drop it on its own feet.
Inciting the Kutai Sultanate and the Sarawak Kingdom to conflict with the Lanfang Republic was the plan of the East Indies colonial government, aimed merely at testing the extent of Spain’s support for the Lanfang Republic and probing the strength of the Lanfang New Army.
But unexpectedly, Spain’s support for the Lanfang Republic was very strong, and the Lanfang Republic’s New Army indeed had sufficient strength.
The current East Indies colonies were in a dilemma, where every choice meant getting their feet smashed by the rock.
The Lanfang People’s counterattack was clearly ferocious, as if they were determined to take the Kutai Sultanate.
If they backed down now, the Kutai Sultanate would fall into Spain’s sphere of influence, and the Dutch colonies on Borneo would be left with only a small piece in the far south, less than the land occupied by the up-and-coming Spaniards.
But if they did not back down, the colonial government would have to risk a major battle with the Lanfang People.
The 20,000 New Army trained by the Spaniards clearly had extremely strong combat effectiveness; even if not as good as the Dutch regular army, they were certainly incomparable to these colonial armies.
What great price would the colonial government have to pay to thoroughly defeat this 20,000-strong Lanfang New Army?
If the losses were heavy, wouldn’t the Spaniards behind Lanfang laugh their heads off? After all, up to now in the conflict, the Spanish Army had not committed a single soldier.
If the Dutch suffered heavy casualties just in confronting the Lanfang Republic, how could they resist further harassment and aggression from the Spaniards?
After much deliberation, the East Indies colonial government had no good solution and could only hand this mess over to the Dutch Government to deal with.
When the Dutch Government learned of this news, King William III of the Netherlands was furious and angrily cursed the East Indies colonial governor as a useless waste who only brought trouble to the Netherlands.
Although the colonial competition between the Netherlands and Spain in New Guinea was quite intense, in reality, the Dutch Government did not dare to offend Spain at all, at least not proactively.
If Belgium still belonged to the Netherlands, William III might have allowed the colonial government to proactively test Spain’s attitude. But the problem was that the current Netherlands consisted only of the homeland and Luxembourg, with the total population just one-fifth of Spain’s.
For William III, he only wanted to see the Dutch throne passed down safely and did not want any accidents during this period.
Offending Spain at this time was something William III absolutely did not want, let alone the East Indies colonial government proactively provoking Spain.
Wasn’t this giving Spain a reason to attack? Now it was good—the Lanfang People had launched a counterattack with Spanish support; were the Dutch supposed to invest massive funds and manpower and materials to intervene in this war for a small Kutai Sultanate?
