Chapter 2474
Although the three countries jointly sent troops, the Dutch knew very well that Haihan's position was more inclined to the Portuguese side, so in order to avoid suffering losses in the subsequent distribution of benefits, they originally wanted to seize some territory in the Maluku Islands before the Portuguese. , but I didn’t expect that Spain was like a centipede, and its own armed fleet could not defeat the opponent.
At this time, the Portuguese Sea Combined Fleet far away from the northern tip of Sulawesi Island had not yet received news of the Dutch fleet's retreat, and was still following the original plan to clear out the local Spanish colonial settlements unhurriedly.
After the Spaniards had their hands free, they also tried to counterattack the enemies from the north. However, when they discovered that there were several Haihan warships in this fleet, they decisively chose to preserve their strength instead of rushing out to fight head-on with the combined fleet. Compared with the well-informed Portuguese, they are obviously more wary of the Haihan Navy. The records of the battles in the past few years have fully demonstrated that there is a clear gap in the equipment level and combat capabilities of both sides. There is really no need to use it as a last resort. All the money on hand was put into it.
Although the war situation is obviously advantageous, there is also a big problem for the Portuguese - even if they can defeat the Spanish in this area, they do not have enough immigrant population to move to this area, making it difficult to complete the task. long-term occupation.
Haihan is currently focusing all his energy on the East Asian continent in the north. He is not currently interested in this region, and he does not plan to spend material and financial resources to immigrate to this region.
According to the plan of the Executive Committee, Haihan must complete the preliminary construction and development of the "South China Sea Economic Belt" before the 30th anniversary of the crossing. Now the island chain on the east line has basically taken shape, starting from Taiwan Island all the way south, and before it in the Philippine Islands, There are no fewer than ten colonial areas under development in Palawan and northern Kalimantan. Neither the Ministry of Civil Affairs nor the military has the energy to develop new colonies further away from the mainland.
Although the sea area that the three European countries are currently competing for in Southeast Asia has many products, for Haihan, it is not the kind of place that must be captured as soon as possible. The purpose of participating in this operation is more to maintain relations with Portugal and the Netherlands. The degree of investment in the country’s diplomatic relations is naturally relatively limited.
After the combined fleet had been operating in this area for about a month, it finally received news of the defeat of the Dutch fleet. Although the Portuguese were happy to see their competitors defeated, they also knew that without the cooperation of the Dutch, it would be difficult to complete a comprehensive clearing of this area, and Haihan was unwilling to invest too many troops here, so he had no choice but to The only option is to end the action.
Although Spain suffered serious losses again during this period, it was able to save most of the industries in this area, and its armed fleet was almost undamaged. This is considered a great blessing among misfortunes.
However, after this battle, the Spaniard once again confirmed that giving in will not let his opponent let him go. As long as there is a chance, his opponent will definitely kill him. The ownership of these places in Southeast Asia will ultimately depend on strength. They cannot predict when their opponent will launch an offensive next time, so every day that follows is a countdown to preparations for the Spaniards. They must accumulate enough armed force before their opponent's next offensive in order to survive. Chance.
In distant Europe, a major event also happened at this time. King Charles I of England was executed, which ended the rule of the Stuart dynasty. Britain entered the republican era and established a protective government headed by Cromwell. . One of the missions of this new government is to eliminate foreign competitors and turn Britain into a maritime power that dominates the world.
This change in political system and national policy will not show immediate effects in a short period of time, but its impact will be far-reaching. For Haihan, who is far away in the east, this actually means that there will be another opponent competing for sea power on a global scale in the future. The British had actually been spying on the commercial shipping routes to the East for a long time, and had dealt with Haihan as early as 1635. At that time, the British and Johor coalition forces attacked Star Island at the eastern end of the Strait of Malacca, but were repelled by Roger's troops stationed in the area. Later, in order to redeem the captured personnel, Britain paid a heavy price and was forced to give up the opportunity to enter East Asia.
However, according to the course of history, Britain's first opponent after changing its national policy was actually France. In the next hundred years or so, wars between Britain and France continued, and each time they ended in Britain's victory. France overseas A large number of colonies also became British spoils of war. It was not until the second half of the 18th century that the focus of British overseas colonization turned again to the East.
However, the Executive Committee believes that the collision between Haihan and Britain should not wait until a hundred years later. With Haihan's current expansion rate, this time is likely to be ten or twenty years later. If Haihan can capture some key areas in South and West Asia before then, there will be a great chance of locking the British scope of activities to the west of the Arabian Peninsula.
But to do this, the area that Haihan needs to conquer is no smaller than the current scope of activities. The Bay of Bengal on the west side of the Indochina Peninsula alone is not much smaller than the South China Sea. Although Haihan has also established a nominal South China Sea theater, there are currently not many troops deployed near the Malay Peninsula on the southwest side of the Bay of Bengal. With Sing Island as the center, there are also two under construction at the north and south ends of Sumatra Island. Colonial Port.
Since Haihan's main focus is on the East Asian continent at this stage, the resources invested in the South China Sea theater are relatively limited, especially in the jurisdictions located in the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. In addition to providing step-by-step weapons and equipment upgrades, there is no How many other resources are there.
However, this is not necessarily a bad thing. The Executive Committee therefore gave Roger greater authority, including the ability to recruit soldiers in the region, expand as needed, reduce the proportion of regional taxes paid to supplement local military expenditures, and handle decision-making power in foreign affairs, etc. By granting these special treatments, Roger has the conditions to develop on his own in the region and achieve external expansion.
Roger took the initiative to lead troops on Star Island, so he was naturally ambitious. As Haihan's control over the two key waterways of the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Sunda becomes more and more stable, Roger will not stop at completing the task of guarding the country's borders.
In the spring of 1649, in the Dumai area on the east coast of Sumatra, the oil well drilling activities jointly funded by Roger and Tan Juren, the head of the Sing Tao Management Committee, achieved results. Although the drilling work before this took a lot of troubles and the investment was astronomical, after the successful extraction of crude oil, this place can quickly become an emerging industrial base.
(End of chapter)