Chapter 290 Going South
The Australian army deployed a total of 6 supply points along the Ma River.
On May 5th, a total of 4 supply points were attacked by Justice Company. The No. 4 supply point with the heaviest losses was completely destroyed. The Australian army lost more than 600 people on this day.
British Commander-in-Chief Powell was very angry, but he had no good solution. Although the Australian army was brave, its combat effectiveness was really poor.
Since Australia became a British colony, there has never been a war, and it does not even have a standing army.
The Australian troops who landed in Xiangfei City were recruited temporarily and had been trained for less than three months. Although their morale was strong, they had not been tested by war.
A force without any experience faced the mysterious rise of the Justice Company as soon as it came up. It was already pretty good if the entire army was not wiped out.
According to Powell's plan, the Australian army and the British and Indian troops must undergo rigorous training for at least half a year before they can undertake combat missions.
Justice Company's threat to the Lion City disrupted Powell's plan. The British Congress ignored the facts and kept urging Powell to launch an attack on Justice Company, which gave Justice Company a chance.
The British Parliament also had compelling reasons.
The Strait of Malacca is too important to Britain. Once the waterway is threatened, Britain's influence in East Asia will be seriously weakened.
The narrowest point of the Malacca Strait is only two kilometers, making it difficult for the Royal Navy's battleships to turn around.
The British had to urgently mobilize troops from major colonies around the world to reinforce Lion City, and the Australian troops who had penetrated deep into the interior of the Malay Peninsula also had to withdraw and stick to Xiangfei City.
Xiangfei City cannot be defended just by wanting to defend it.
The 30,000-strong army relied on the Lion City for supplies they consumed every day. Starting from May 15, Justice Company began shelling Xiangfei City, and the Australian army had to withdraw to the Lion City.
At this time, relevant news about the Malay Peninsula began to appear in the newspapers.
The British army’s attack on the Malay Peninsula did not follow the usual practice of inviting military observers. The outside world had no idea what the outcome would be.
On May 20, the French newspaper "Le Figaro" reported on the Malay War, saying that more than 60 villages and towns were destroyed by the Australian army, and all residents, men, women, old and young, were slaughtered. The death toll was More than 10,000 people.
The "St. Petersburg Daily News" conducted a follow-up report, which was not only detailed in content, but also rich in pictures and texts.
While advancing along the Ma River, the Australian army came to a village called Hasumuli. The Australian army gathered the men in the village in the open space outside the village, announced that they were rebels of the Justice Company, and sent them Mass shooting.
The women in the village were collectively humiliated by the Australian army, and even 10-year-old girls were not spared.
Although the Australian military later threw all the corpses into the Ma River and destroyed the remains, the evil deeds of the Australian army were recorded by the reporters accompanying the Australian army.
When photos of piles of corpses appeared in newspapers, the well-dressed British gentlemen finally took off their civilized disguises, and their demonic nature was revealed.
No one expected that Britain’s massive counterinsurgency would end in such an anticlimactic way.
Although the Straits Settlements insist that the war is not over and that the British army will come back after regrouping, the combat effectiveness of the British army has begun to be widely questioned.
Justice Company was previously characterized as "robbers" by the British army.
Although the Australian army was temporarily assembled, it was a regular army that attracted widespread attention.
Now the regular army was beaten to a disgrace by the bandits and lost all face, so they had to retreat to the Lion City.
Is the British army really as powerful as the British government boasts?
The British army was just questioned.
The Netherlands has become a complete joke.
After the "Sea Coachman", the Dutch are really getting worse from generation to generation and are on the way to becoming the "Sick Man of Europe".
In the Battle of Jambi, 20,000 Dutch troops were wiped out. The gateway to the middle road was opened, and the road to the old port was unobstructed.
The Dutch East Indies government was forced to withdraw the Dutch troops from Aceh and Lansa, strengthen the defense of the old port, and attack and defend the foreign positions.
During the Third Aceh War, the Old Port was captured by the Lansha Sultanate. All senior officials appointed by the East Indian government were taken away and the entire city was looted.
After two years of recuperation, Old Port had just regained some of its vitality and faced the threat of war again.
The impact of the fall of Jambi was extremely serious. Before the troops of the Aceh Sultanate reached the Old Port, the Old Port and white and wealthy people fled one after another, and Batavia was also affected.
In order to increase public support for the war in the past two years, the Dutch East Indies government has carried out a lot of demonizing propaganda against the Aceh Sultanate.
In the propaganda of the colonial government of Dutch East Indies, the Sultanate of Aceh was cruel and ruthless, burning, looting, and killing everything wherever it went.
Especially against white people, the Aceh Sultanate's methods were extremely cruel, and what they did was even worse than what the British army did in the Malay Peninsula.
Such propaganda did play a certain role. White people throughout East India supported the East Indian government's attack on the Aceh Sultanate.
But the side effects are also great.
If the East Indian government can successfully strangle the Aceh Sultanate, then everything will be easy to say.
Once the war does not go smoothly, the backlash of demonizing propaganda will come.
Now the white people in East India know that once the Aceh Sultanate captures the old port, all the properties of the white people in the old port will be confiscated, and the people will either be driven away or disappear.
Therefore, after the fall of Jambi, it was difficult to get a ticket from the Old Port to the Lion City, and everyone rushed to escape.
The amazing thing is that some white East Indians do not go to the Lion City or the Netherlands, but go to Vladivostok.
Although Vladivostok has never recognized its relationship with the Aceh Sultanate, everyone knows that the Aceh Sultanate is supported by Vladivostok behind the scenes.
The Lion City was bombarded by the Justice Company some time ago, and it is possible that it will be besieged by the Justice Company someday, so it is impossible to completely escape the threat of war by going to the Lion City.
Even fewer people go back to the Netherlands.
The white people living in the colonies chose to live in the colonies because they could not survive in their own countries. For them, the mother country was a completely unfamiliar country. So when traveling around East Asia, white people are actually the safest in Vladivostok.
Unfortunately, Vladivostok’s attitude towards immigrants is no longer as open to all comers as it used to be.
Vladivostok still needs immigrants, but only high-quality immigrants.
For those international wanderers who had no choice but to go to Vladivostok, George refused.
"This group of people is good for nothing. The reason why they can survive in East India is not because of how smart and capable they are, or how hard-working they are, but because they become a privileged class in East India because of their skin color. Unless they are very rich, they can never settle in Amur."
The only thing George did not reject was investment immigration.
Although the white people in the colonies are hateful, it is undeniable that many white families who have been operating in the colonies for generations are indeed really rich.
If you are really worthless, you will still be unable to get ahead even in East India. There are poor white people everywhere. If you get into trouble, you may be buried alive by the local natives.
Price in Vladivostok is indeed very low for simply necessary supplies to maintain life.
But if you pursue a higher standard of living, prices in Vladivostok are very high.
The Yuriev Mountain where the Yuriev Palace is located is not open to the public.
If rich people want to own a mid-level mansion overlooking Vladivostok, they can buy a piece of land on Yusupov Mountain where Yusupov Palace is located and build it themselves.
You can build whatever you want.
Even if a winter palace is built, Amur officials will not care.
Therefore, the price of land on Yusupov Hill is very expensive, comparable to the price of land in the center of St. Petersburg.
There is no other way.
Although the Amur Governorate is large, there is not much land suitable for development.
George also needs to devote a large part of the area to ensuring food security in Amur, so there is even less land available for development.
As the population of Amur increased, Mikhail finally set his sights on the land on the south bank of the Amur River.
Across the Amur River lies the Qing Empire.
A little further down is Goryeo.
Mikhail was still very cautious and did not provoke the Qing Empire as soon as he came up. Instead, he sent people to develop the Goryeo land on the other side of Amur.
Gaozong and Concubine Min were overjoyed with Amur's investment. The closer the economic ties between Amur and Goryeo, the safer Gaozong and Concubine Min would be.
Last winter Gaozong asked Amul to help Goryeo train more troops.
With a stroke of his pen, George decided to increase the number of Goryeo troops to 20,000.
This decision was not made on a whim. George knew the role of the army too well.
The role of the military is not just to fight.
In terms of infrastructure construction and engineering development, the organization and discipline possessed by the army will achieve twice the result with half the effort. It is not only low-cost, but also effective.
The camp built by the Amur Military District for the Korean New Army is located in Korea on the other side of the Amur River.
So the new army began to develop the land around the camp in an orderly manner after training.
For ordinary people, opening up wasteland is a very difficult thing.
For the army, it could not be easier to open up wasteland.
Vladivostok cars sell well all over the world.
Of course George will not ignore the role of agricultural machinery.
The first tractor appeared in 1856.
However, tractors at that time were driven by steam engines, which were bulky, expensive, and inconvenient to operate. A tractor required several people to operate.
The Vladivostok Automobile Factory launched a tractor based on an internal combustion engine the year before last.
Different from the tractors in George’s impression, the tractors in Vladivostok only have two front wheels and one rear wheel. The steering is entirely controlled by the rear wheels. Although the power of 4 horses is not high, it is enough for plowing. .
George attaches great importance to agricultural machinery and established a separate tractor factory with an annual production of 1,000 tractors.
Tractors are not only needed by Amur, but also by new immigrants from Siberia.
But George refused to sell the tractor to Siberia. George would not sell the tractor to outsiders before meeting Amur's needs.
Although tractors are not sold to the outside world, the technology is not blocked.
George has provided tractor-related technology to the Empire's Ministry of Agriculture. If the Empire really wants to promote tractors, it can organize production on its own.
Unfortunately, two full years have passed, and the empire has no intention of setting up a factory to produce tractors.
You can't blame George.
(End of this chapter)