Chapter 406: Pontianak

"Half of the people in Pontianak are Chinese, and the rest are local natives. Those who believe in Islam are called Borneans, and those who believe in native religions are called Dayaks."

Ye Tenghui accompanied Liang Yao to visit Pontianak and introduced the situation in Pontianak to Liang Yao.

The Islam that Ye Tenghui mentioned is Islam.

Islam is the main religious belief in the Indonesian archipelago.

In addition to Islam, the local ethnic groups have their own complex religious beliefs. Even for the same religion, people in different regions may not believe in the same gods, which is difficult to say.

But these local native religions have one thing in common, that is, they all believe that birds, beasts, plants and trees have spirits, which can be summarized as animism religions.

Just like the Chinese who are at odds with each other based on their hometowns, clans and regions, the Islamists and animists on the island also are at odds with each other, and they think each other is pagan.

"Are there any Dutch expatriates?" Liang Yao asked.

"Of course there are red-barbarian expatriates, but their number is not large, only about 500 to 600 people. Now many red-barbarian expatriates have fled to the south, and the remaining red-barbarian expatriates are estimated to be no more than 300 people." Liu Shanbang replied.

Dutch expatriates have always been a minority in the Indonesian archipelago, and their population share is not high.

The population of the Netherlands is very limited, and it is impossible to Dutchize the colonies. Even in Java Island, where the Dutch rule has the deepest foundation and has been operating for more than 200 years, the Dutch population share is at an absolute disadvantage.

There are nearly 10 million Javanese in Java Island, and the number of Dutch settled in Java Island has not exceeded 40,000 so far, and most of the Dutch in Java Island are still concentrated in Batavia.

What does this mean? The population of the Han people, another foreign immigrant group on Java Island, is 400,000 to 500,000.

In other words, the population of the Dutch in the core ruling area of ​​the Indonesian archipelago is less than one-tenth of the Chinese immigrants.

Implementing limited tributary rule over the colonies, controlling important trade bases, and extracting as much economic benefits as possible from the colonies are already the limits of what a country of the size of the Netherlands can do.

"Just a few hundred people bullied tens of thousands of you like this." Liang Yao sighed.

When the Han people were a minority in California, they were not bullied like this by the whites.

"The red barbarians are very cunning and good at sowing discord. When the Cantonese became powerful, they instigated the Chaoshan people to fight the Cantonese. When the Chaoshan people became powerful, they instigated the Hakka people to fight the Chaoshan people. When the Hakka people became powerful, they instigated the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou people to fight the Hakka people. When the Hakka people became powerful, they instigated the natives to fight the Hakka people. When the natives became powerful, they instigated the Chinese to fight the natives, weakening each other's strength, and so on." Ye Tenghui argued.

"If you all work together, the Dutch will be helpless even if they want to sow discord." Liang Yao shook his head and said.

The most important reason why the Chinese on Borneo Island are in such a mess is that they are fighting among themselves.

"Let's talk about the situation of the nearby native chiefdoms."

"There are four main native chiefdoms near us, namely the Pontianak chiefdom in the south, whose chief is Alkadri, with 100,000 chiefs. The Sanfa chiefdom in the north, whose chief is Akam, has 70,000 to 80,000 chiefs. The Brunei chiefdom in the northeast, whose chief is Omar, has 200,000 chiefs. The Xindang chiefdom in the inland east, whose chief is Abdul, has more than 40,000 chiefs."

Liu Shanbang replied.

"Except for the slightly rich Pontianak chiefdom, the rest are very poor and not to be feared. The only difficult thing in the entire Borneo Island is the red barbarians."

Liu Shanbang also fought with the local chiefdoms, but they were just a group of rabble and not to be worried about.

These chiefdoms can be dealt with by themselves without Liang Yao's help.

"What about the Lan Fang Company? How are they doing?" Liang Yao asked about the situation of the Lan Fang Company.

Liang Yao certainly did not intend to accept the senior officials of the Lan Fang Company who defected to the Dutch Indochina authorities.

But Liang Yao was willing to accept the ordinary miners and their families under the rule of the Lan Fang Company.

Population, especially the core population, is sometimes a more valuable resource than natural resources.

Liang Yao could not convert the local Borneans who believed in Islam and the Dayaks who believed in native religion into core populations that he could use for himself in a short time.

But the Chinese with the same cultural background could, which is why Southeast Asia is so large, and Liang Yao finally set his sights on the island of Borneo and decided to open a rubber plantation in Borneo. ,

"Part of the Lan Fang Company's armed forces that stayed in Dongwanlu followed Andersson to Kendawangan in the south, and another part took back the old nest in Dongwanlu. The remaining small part is now our captives." Liu Shanbang said.

Kendawangan is a port 300 kilometers south of Pontianak.

Of course, the 300 kilometers here refers to the straight-line distance. In fact, Andersson traveled more than 300 kilometers by land from Pontianak to Kendawangan.

The long march and retreat in the tropical rainforest, I believe that even if the Royal Dutch East India Army successfully retreated to Kendawangan, the non-combat casualties would not be low.

Unlike Pontianak, there are very few Chinese in Kendawangan. 70% of the local residents are Borneo people, 25% are Dayak people, and the remaining sparse population is a small number of Chinese and Dutch.

Unlike the Dutch-Chinese co-governance in Pontianak, Kendawangan is a port completely controlled by the Dutch.

Kendawangan is only 550 kilometers away from Batavia by sea. It was an important bridgehead for the Dutch to infiltrate Borneo and their base in West Borneo. The Dutch-Indonesian authorities deployed far more troops in Kendawangan than in Pontianak.

As for Dongwanlu, it is the capital of the Lan Fang Company.

The gold mines of the Lan Fang Company are also mainly distributed near Dongwanlu.

"The tens of thousands of soldiers of the Lan Fang Company all rely on the gold mines of Dongwanlu for their livelihood. As long as we take Dongwanlu next, the Lan Fang Company will fall apart!"

Ye Tenghui suggested that Liang Yao take Dongwanlu in one go and directly cut off the financial resources of the Lan Fang Company.

"Does the Lan Fang Company really have tens of thousands of soldiers?" Liang Yao asked.

"There are not many Chinese on the island of Borneo. The employees of various companies usually mine and farm, and take up arms to fight in wartime. The Lan Fang Company is no exception.

The Lan Fang Company can still gather tens of thousands of people. Not to mention the Lan Fang Company, even the Hakka people who were beaten by the red-haired ghosts and retreated into the mountains and forests to make a living by farming can also gather tens of thousands of people.

But whether it is the soldiers of the Lan Fang Company or the soldiers of our Chinese resistance company, they are not as professional as the soldiers of Mr. Liang."

Liu Shanbang said.

Liu Shanbang wanted to say that the combat effectiveness of the Lan Fang soldiers was similar to that of the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty, but Hong Mingxiang was present, so Liu Shanbang was not convenient to say so, and he had to give some face to the admiral.

In fact, Liang Yao also regarded the military strength of the Lan Fang Company as the Green Camp of the Qing Dynasty. After all, the military strength of the Lan Fang Company was built based on the Green Camp as a template.

Its combat effectiveness may be slightly higher than that of the Green Camp, but this does not make any essential difference to Liang Yao.

No matter how elite the Green Camp is, it is still the Green Camp.