Chapter 181 Military Guidance Group in Lanfang

In order to show his emphasis on the development of the navy, Carlo personally attended the groundbreaking ceremony of 11 small and medium-sized warships, and also inspected the construction progress of the Fuxing ironclad ship.

Although these small and medium-sized warships are basically designed by the British, the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard has made certain improvements on this basis, making them a little different from the original British design.

But in fact, the difference is not big, it is nothing more than changing the caliber of the artillery and increasing the tonnage of the warship a little bit.

The good news of this is that Spain can claim that these warships are independently developed, so that the people believe that Spain has more experience and excellent ideas in shipbuilding, so as to increase the national pride of the Spanish.

After all, independently developed and independently built warships must sound more pleasant than imitations of other countries' warship models.

Anyway, there is no patent right in warships. Countries generally imitate the better designed warship types, improve shortcomings and develop advantages.

As the most powerful navy country, the British warship design is imitated and learned by various countries. Spain's actions are not special, and can even be said to be the tacit choice of many countries.

Spain's recent naval expansion has also made the Dutch very panicked. Although the Netherlands is thousands of miles away from Spain, the Dutch East Indies colonies and the Spanish East Indies colonies are now theoretically bordering.

The colonies of both sides are separated by only the Sultanate of Brongan, where all the powers have interests, and further south is the area of ​​the Sultanate of Kutai controlled by the Netherlands.

Spain's large-scale construction of warships is definitely not for the mainland. Considering Spain's expansion in the Philippines and Kalimantan, the Dutch believe it is necessary to strengthen the defense of the Dutch East Indies colonies.

The day after Spain built 11 warships with great fanfare, the Dutch government urgently decided to send an additional 2,000 troops to the East Indies colonies and build two new 1,000-ton offshore defense gunboats in the East Indies colonies.

Such 1,000-ton gunboats do not have the ability to fight in the ocean, but they are still very useful in Kalimantan and the surrounding islands.

Whether it is to suppress the local indigenous people or to guard against the expansion of the Spanish, these more than 2,000 troops and two new warships can play a certain role.

The Dutch have also considered seeking help from the British, but the British attitude towards this is somewhat ambiguous, and they are obviously not willing to help the Dutch directly.

That's right. The area of ​​the East Indian colonies occupied by the Netherlands is not small, which has made the comprehensive strength of the Netherlands, an industrial power, leap into the top ten countries in Europe.

It is also good to let the Netherlands and Spain compete appropriately, at least it can make the Netherlands understand the importance of Britain, so that the Netherlands will be obedient and not have other thoughts.

But this is not very wonderful for the Dutch. If Spain's actions are only these, it's fine, but Spain has already signed a cooperation agreement with Lanfang, a vassal state of the Netherlands.

The Lanfang Republic had surrendered to the rule of the Dutch decades ago, and the Netherlands also received a considerable part of the tax revenue from this land every year.

The biggest reason for the establishment of the Lanfang Republic is that the gold diggers on this land have reached a certain scale.

Part of the wealth created by these gold mines was obtained by the Lan Fang Republic, and the other part became taxes and was paid to the Dutch East Indies.

For the Netherlands, in addition to losing this part of the tax revenue, they also had to worry about the threat from Lan Fang.

The Dutch rule over Lan Fang was not so gentle, and it was full of uninterrupted oppression and aggression. After these Lan Fang people gained more powerful allies, would they be indifferent to the previous Dutch invasion? Of course it is impossible.

This also means that in the future on the island of Kalimantan, the Dutch are likely to face a situation of being attacked from both sides by the Spaniards in the north and the Lan Fang people in the west.

A Lan Fang is not taken seriously by the Dutch. But if the Lan Fang Republic is supported by Spain, the threat is not comparable to that of Lan Fang alone.

After all, the Netherlands is also a country with a population of more than 4 million. The army that can be organized is really limited, and the army that the East Indies colony can mobilize is even more limited.

On July 21, 1875, the military guidance group sent by Spain finally arrived in the Republic of Lanfang, which will help the Republic of Lanfang to form a new army and better safeguard national sovereignty.

The leader of this military guidance group is Andrew Rosso, who has not appeared for a long time. He is currently a lieutenant colonel. He previously served as the commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment of the 6th Infantry Division of the Spanish Royal Army and was personally appointed by Carlo as the commander of the military guidance group stationed in Lanfang.

As for Carman Esposito, who, like Andrew, also came to Spain from Italy, he has been promoted to the rank of colonel and served as the commander of the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the 2nd Artillery Division of the Spanish Royal Army, and has been more reused.

This aspect also reflects the focus of the development of the Spanish army. Because the number of Spanish troops is not large, the importance of the smaller artillery division is higher than that of the infantry division.

Kamman Esposito has obviously been integrated into the Spanish artillery force, and is even in the plans of the defense department. If the artillery force continues to expand in the future, he has the hope of serving as deputy commander of the new artillery division and thus getting the opportunity to become division commander.

From the current situation, this is indeed the case. Carman Esposito, who graduated from the artillery major, has a brighter future than Andrew, who majored in infantry. After all, there is no fancy tactical system for infantry combat at present, and the training of infantry commanders is simpler.

If Carman Esposito has integrated well into the Spanish army with his own abilities, then Andrew's situation seems a bit embarrassing.

It's not that Andrew's ability is not outstanding, but Carlo does need to reuse more Spanish native officers at present.

As an Italian, Andrew's position in such a Spanish army is somewhat awkward and it is unlikely to be reused more.

After all, he is a confidant who came to Spain from Italy. After consideration, Carlo made Andrew the head of the military guidance group stationed in Lanfang, responsible for helping the Lanfang Republic to form their new army and try to get in touch with colonial affairs.

If nothing unexpected happens in the future, Andrew has the hope of becoming one of the governors of the Spanish colonies. After all, he also has a title. Although he is only the lowest baron among the titles, he is indeed one of the many nobles in Spain.

In addition to Andrew as the head of the military guidance group, Medino, the military leader who was previously responsible for exploring Africa, was also appointed by Carlo as the deputy head of the military guidance group.

Like Andrew, Medino is also one of Carlo's confidants. Both of them are capable. It is not suitable to reuse them in the army, but they can also play their abilities in other aspects, such as colonial affairs.

From Spain to Lan Fang, you need to cross the Mediterranean, pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and then cross the entire Indian Ocean. Finally, you can reach Kalimantan through the Strait of Malacca.

This is an extremely long journey. The military guidance group took more than two months, or two and a half months to be precise, to reach Kalimantan.

The Republic of Lan Fang also attaches great importance to the arrival of the military guidance group. Of course, they can't help but pay attention to it. After all, Spain is indeed the only force they can rely on at present, and Spain's strength is also something they can't resist.

"Dear envoys of the Military Guidance Group, welcome to Pontianak." The ship carrying the Military Guidance Group had just landed, and Liu Asheng, the current Grand Commander of the Lan Fang Republic, Wu Guanghuai, the King of the Daiyan Kingdom, and many officials of the Lan Fang Republic had already stood at the port quite tactfully, specially coming to greet the guidance group.

For the Lan Fang Republic, they still put their attitude very low. After all, the current situation is that the Lan Fang Republic needs help from others, and Spain is the most powerful country between the two.

As the head of the Military Guidance Group, Andrew took the lead and nodded with a smile, without any arrogant expression.

Before coming to the Lan Fang Republic, Carlo had already told Andrew about the purpose and mission of the Military Guidance Group to come to Lan Fang, and how to get along with the officials of the Lan Fang Republic.

First of all, before completely defeating the Dutch colonial forces, Spain would not take the initiative to make enemies with the Lan Fang Republic, which is why Andrew's attitude is relatively friendly.

Of course, if the officials of the Lan Fang Republic do not know the limit, then Andrew will follow Carlo's orders to let them know the power of Spain.

Andrew is an Italian, and he learned Spanish after coming to Spain for a few years. But the language used by the Lan Fang Republic is Chinese, and Liu Asheng, the general of the Lan Fang Republic, does not speak Spanish or Italian.

This also leads to the need for translation for communication between the two sides. Fortunately, because of the long-term contact with the Dutch in the Lan Fang Republic, there are also a small number of translators who know European languages ​​in the country.

The most mainstream European language is French. After all, France was once the most powerful country. Although the current use of French has slightly decreased, French is still one of the mainstream languages ​​in Europe. Basically, most European nobles can speak French.

In addition to French, there are many more mainstream languages, such as Spanish, English and German.

Spanish is not a niche language, which is why the translators here know Spanish.

Compared with Spanish, Italian is indeed a less popular language at present. Except for the use of Italian in Italy, Italian is rarely used in other parts of Europe. Even Italian will not be used in diplomatic occasions in Italy, unless it is with other weaker countries.

"Dear envoys, our country has prepared a sumptuous welcome banquet for you. Please move." Liu Asheng, the general of the Lan Fang Republic, said with a smile.

After hearing the translation, Andrew smiled and nodded, expressing his attitude: "I'm very happy."

Although the purpose of the military guidance group is to help the Lan Fang Republic establish a new army, this is obviously not something that can be completed in one day.

Andrew is not in a hurry for this day, but wants to understand the current situation of the Lan Fang Republic as much as possible, so as to determine how the new army of the Lan Fang Republic should be formed and trained.

Fortunately, Spain has experience in military reform and has transported several batches of weapons and equipment to the Lan Fang Republic.

At present, the Lan Fang Republic has stockpiled more than 20,000 old muskets and more than 1 million rounds of ammunition. It is no problem to form a new army of about 20,000 people.

For the Lan Fang Republic, where there are only more than 500,000 Han people, forming a new army of 20,000 people is almost the limit.

If there were more people, the Lan Fang Republic would not be able to support so many soldiers, not to mention whether there were enough weapons and ammunition.

The group went to the residence of the Grand Commander Liu Asheng, where a relatively rich meal had been prepared to entertain the members of the military guidance group who came from afar.

At the banquet, Liu Asheng introduced some major military officials of the Lan Fang Republic and Wu Guanghuai, the king of the Dai Yan Kingdom, to Andrew, and said that the new army of the Lan Fang Republic would obey Andrew's command and arrangement.

Andrew was satisfied with the more cooperative attitude of the Lan Fang Republic, but Andrew obviously could not believe everything the officials of the Lan Fang Republic said.

After the dinner, Andrew returned to the room prepared by the Lan Fang Republic for his group to rest, and learned about the current situation of the Lan Fang Republic through information.

The history of the founding of the Lan Fang Republic is relatively complicated, and even the current political system of the Lan Fang Republic is relatively complicated.

It is right to say that Lan Fang is a country, and it is also right to say that it is just a Chinese company. Although there is a so-called Datong system as the ruler of the country, the system of Lan Fang is not like a perfect country, but more like a company with an army.

The establishment of the Lan Fang Republic has been nearly a hundred years, and the Han population has reached a peak of 500,000.

But the current situation of the Lan Fang Republic is relatively bad, and there is a certain loss of population. Many Han people choose to go to the Sarawak Kingdom in the north, where there are new gold mines waiting to be mined.

A considerable part of the gold mines in the Lan Fang Republic have been mined, and gold diggers naturally like unvisited gold mining areas.

In addition, the crazy expansion of the Dutch has seriously squeezed the living space of the Lan Fang Republic and the Dai Yan Kingdom.

The so-called Dai Yan Kingdom is actually an indigenous force in the east of the Lan Fang Republic. The first king of the Dai Yan Kingdom was Wu Yuansheng, the founder of the Jusheng Company, the predecessor of the Lan Fang Company.

At that time, the Jusheng Company was also a relatively large Chinese company in Kalimantan Island, but because the prestige of Wu Yuansheng's subordinate Luo Fangbo gradually surpassed Wu Yuansheng, the Lan Fang Company eventually replaced the Jusheng Company.

After Wu Yuansheng was replaced, he was sent to garrison in the Daiyan Sultanate east of the Lan Fang Company. Because the Sultan King at that time was quite cruel, it caused dissatisfaction among the local indigenous people and a small number of Chinese. In the end, Wu Yuansheng killed the Daiyan Sultan and was elected as the new Daiyan King by the local indigenous people.