BSI Chapter 62, Year 2 of Hanchang
Chapter 62, Year 2 of Hanchang
Chapter 62 The Second Year of Hanchang
In the second year of Hanchang, after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Liu Yulong's eldest son, Chengzhi, was born.
Liu Yulong then issued a separate edict, bestowing upon Chengzhi's mother, Consort Qi, the title of Consort Shu, who would henceforth be known as Consort Qi Shu in the palace.
On the eighteenth day of the first month, Liu Yulong took the initiative to convene the chief officials of the Military Command, the Governor's Office, and the Military Advisor's Office in the Wuying Hall to discuss this year's war.
Once everyone had arrived, Liu Yulong first sat down to receive the greetings, and then led them to the map table.
Liu Yulong picked up the command pole and roughly circled the area around Sumatra: "According to the plan formulated last year, we will gradually take control of the entire South Seas."
"This year's primary goal is here, Sumatra, where the Ming Dynasty's Old Port Pacification Commissioner's Office was located."
"To control Sumatra and the surrounding islets, and thus control the southern side of the Strait of Malacca."
"Establish militia garrisons on the south side of the Strait of Malacca and build military ports and wharves."
"Do not engage in direct conflict with the Britons until the Dutch are eliminated."
After the generals received their orders, Li Wencheng, the commander of the vanguard, asked a question: "Your Majesty, since the plan has been decided to wipe out the Dutch, why not directly attack Java Island?"
"The largest stronghold of the Dutch in Southeast Asia was Batavia on the island of Java."
"Once we conquer Batavia, we can take over all the local Dutch strongholds, just like we did in Luzon."
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Liu Yulong casually explained, "Because Java is really a great place."
"Most of the land in tropical rainforests is very barren and requires continuous rice cultivation to nourish the soil."
"But Java Island has volcanic ash to fertilize the land, making the island's soil naturally fertile."
"The Great Han will definitely take complete control of Java in the future, and will not allow vassal states to exist like they did in Borneo."
"It is precisely because the land of Java is very fertile that there are now many native people on the island, estimated to be tens of millions."
"These natives are not all under the rule of the Dutch; they also have their own indigenous states."
"If the Great Han wants to take action against Java, it must completely control the entire island, conquer these natives at the same time, and then gradually and thoroughly eliminate them."
"Even if the enemy is weak, the war on Java will last a long time."
Batavia was the largest stronghold of the Dutch and also the most heavily fortified stronghold in Southeast Asia.
"The defenses of Batavia were more robust than those of the Spanish capital of Manila, and the Dutch were able to mobilize a large number of Javanese natives to assist them in organizing the defensive battle."
"Moreover, Java Island has a hot and humid climate, and more importantly, it is too far from the Han mainland. The Han has no foothold nearby, so it cannot fight a protracted and arduous war."
"If we rashly send a large army to press forward now, and we fail to conquer Batavia in a short time, the army will not be able to adapt to the climate under the city walls and will suffer an unexpected defeat, which will dampen the army's morale."
"The key issue is that the troops that landed on the island had nowhere to retreat. The main ports on Borneo are all on the north side of the island. For example, Brunei is more than 3,000 miles away from Java. Soldiers who landed on the island with nowhere to retreat may suffer heavy casualties."
"Therefore, we must first control Sumatra, and in the area closest to Java and Batavia, send militia to build enough military garrisons and stockpile food and supplies to serve as a base for attacking Java."
"Then we can go to Java to fight. If we encounter a place that is difficult to conquer, we can temporarily return to Sumatra, reorganize our troops there, and then attack again."
When Liu Yulong had said only half of what he wanted to say, Li Wencheng and the other generals understood.
Liu Yulong was still focused on stability and didn't want to take any risks.
A direct attack on Batavia, if the army were trapped on the shore and suffered heavy casualties, would damage Liu Yulong's reputation.
Liu Yulong also attached great importance to Java Island and was prepared to occupy it completely without leaving any space for the natives, which meant that he would have to clear it out through long-term slave capture.
Therefore, they planned to build a forward base nearby and then begin a long-term, comprehensive operation in Java.
Li Wencheng was somewhat dismissive of this.
My subconscious thought was: those are just some barbarians and natives, no matter how many there are, they are just a rabble. Your Majesty doesn't need to be so cautious.
But Li Wencheng stole a glance at Liu Yulong's expression and ultimately didn't dare to say such disrespectful words: "Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty. I was being rash."
According to Liu Yulong's plan, the army has been fighting for two consecutive years and has won easily both years.
Liu Yulong's prestige continued to rise, and Xun Gui and the generals became even more complacent.
Liu Yulong paused for a moment, then added some explanation: "The Dutch in Batavia, like the Spanish in Luzon, once killed tens of thousands of Chinese."
"In order to unite the hearts of all Han people, the Han Dynasty should make these Dutch people pay for their blood debts."
"Therefore, we cannot let the Dutch people of Southeast Asia escape; we must gather them together and annihilate them."
"If the Han Dynasty were to occupy the relatively desolate islands while allowing the Dutch to continue trading, the Dutch would likely harbor illusions."
"Just like when the Great Han controlled Borneo last year, when the Great Han claims to control a certain island in the South Seas, the Dutch should back down on their own initiative."
"First, retreat to Batavia to observe the situation, and then decide whether to flee back to Europe from Batavia."
"The Han first controlled Sumatra, and then, using Sumatra as a base, they bypassed and blocked the Dutch retreat route."
"Once all preparations are complete, annihilate all the Dutch in Batavia."
Liu Yulong found a reason for his cautious approach.
At this time, most ordinary people in the Han Dynasty would not care about the Chinese in Batavia, and most of them would not even know about the massacre of local Chinese in the Netherlands.
However, while the imperial court was doing this, it would also spread the news widely.
The Han Dynasty's act of avenging the Chinese in Southeast Asia could serve as a united front against the enemy and garner more popular support.
In its most abstract sense, it could enhance the legitimacy of the emperor and the court.
The generals present also felt that this was the right thing to do.
The crowd responded in unison, "Your Majesty, we obey!"
With the operational strategy and direction determined, Liu Yulong, along with his military advisors and commanders, continued to discuss the strategy and details.
This time, Liu Yulong is not prepared to combine the tactics used against Luzon and Borneo.
First, they sent troops to occupy several important islands around Sumatra, including Batam Island opposite Singapore, and then went to Sumatra to issue a decree.
Although the possibility is low, Liu Yulong is worried that the British might go mad and take advantage of the Han's clearing out of the Netherlands to suddenly cross the strait and occupy Batam Island.
After discussing the operational plans in the South China Sea, Liu Yulong specifically mentioned the situation in the Americas.
Get this year's immigrant fleet to set sail as soon as possible and check on the status of last year's first batch of immigrants.
After the start of the second year of the Han Dynasty, construction in all aspects of the Han Dynasty resumed.
The Institute of Geology established a new project team and, in accordance with Liu Yulong's specific requirements, launched the planned scientific research projects.
The Metallurgical Department prepares alloy materials and observes, analyzes, and summarizes the metallographic characteristics of steel materials.
The Chemicals Division continued to research the separation and refining of coal tar and petroleum, attempted to formulate new paints and dyes, and explored a rapid industrial production method for "three acids and two bases".
The Machinery Division built a new large steam turbine for experimentation and designed a water-tube boiler.
Based on the all-steel steam turbine propeller experimental ship built last year, the Shipbuilding Division has modified the design to use a reciprocating steam engine as the prime mover and is designing and building a new steel steam experimental ship.
In accordance with Liu Yulong's requirements, prefectures, counties, and militia garrisons in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces developed and expanded coal mines.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Both provinces are rich in coal resources and have many coal mines of varying sizes.
As trees in the north become increasingly scarce, the demand for coal is already growing. However, in the past, mining required a special application from the imperial court and waiting for approval, which ultimately prevented the full release of construction capacity.
Now that the imperial court has taken the initiative to allow local government offices and garrisons to do so, small coal mines have quickly sprung up all over the two provinces.
The two railways running north and south across the North China Plain continued to extend towards the Yellow River as planned.
Construction continues on the Yellow River Bridge and the Huai River Bridge.
Construction began on the railway between Nanjing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, with eight teams of workers starting work simultaneously from the three key cities.
Meanwhile, four other groups of workers were building railway bridges along the designated route.
The dense network of rivers in the Jiangnan region has limited the speed of bridge construction, which has restricted the speed of railway construction. It is estimated that it will take a whole year to complete the project.
The two new industrial bases of Liaoyang and Jiangpu began to build and expand downstream factories such as machine processing plants, steam engine plants, boiler plants, steel pipe plants, and steel rail plants.
On January 25th of the second year of the Han Chang era, another concubine gave birth to Liu Yulong's first daughter.
On March 3rd, Liu Yulong had his second son.
On the morning of the same day, April 18, 1836, delegations from the United States, France, and Great Britain approached the waters off Java.
The new British mission was specially organized at the invitation of Liu Yulong and through the efforts of Palmerston.
The mission was to seek to restore trade with China and find investment opportunities.
France's mission was organized by the Francois because they felt it was a good thing for Britain to participate and wanted to find an opportunity to participate themselves.
The mission was established to secure nominal investment eligibility and guarantee participation in at least one trade activity with China.
As for the US mission to China, that's another story.
In the spring and summer of 1834, Liu Yulong ordered the temporary expulsion of the British due to the opium smuggling problem.
Americans from America were also expelled by their subordinates because their language and culture were too similar to those of the British.
Russell, the owner of Russell & Co., along with his two managers, Forbes and Delano, also fled directly to Manila.
After learning of the British businessman's plan, Russell sent his subordinates Forbes and Delano back to the United States to find a member of parliament to coordinate with the government to resolve the issue.
They were not prepared to place all their hopes on the British.
If the British can solve the problem, then the United States certainly has the opportunity to resume trade as well.
But if they can't solve it, then the United States will have to find another way.
The goal is to persuade the Han emperor and government officials that the United States is an independent country and should not be treated the same as the British.
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