Li Mingxun stood at the top of the Peking University Fortress, overlooking the army returning along the seaside road. Various flags outlined mottled and colorful pictures, tearing the dark green jungle and the light blue sea apart. The soldiers were very tired, the team was not so neat, and the army looked a little sloppy. The most important thing was that many people were carried by stretchers, and slaves carried large baskets with shoulder poles, full of porcelain bottles, containing the ashes of the fallen soldiers.

The United States 6 military generally conquered the Malay Peninsula in two and a half months. Seven small countries were destroyed, their wealth entered the treasury of the United States, their people became slaves, and their land would be the living space of the Chinese nation in the future. However, the army paid a huge price.

There were only 670 soldiers who died in battle, but there were as many as 1,000 soldiers who died of disease and snakes and insects. The humid and hot combat environment of the Mara Peninsula was a huge test for the soldiers of the United States. The soldiers were severely reduced. In the next ten days, no less than 800 soldiers would die from various types of tropical soldiers. This was also the reason why Li Mingxun ordered the city to be burned down and withdrawn from Peking University. In the humid and hot tropical jungle, the harsh weather was more deadly than the poisonous arrows of the natives.

"Your caution is correct. If we attack Batavia and Malacca in the same way, I don't know how many people will die!" The commander of the 6th team bowed and said.

In the past few months, Lee Mingxun's prudence was not only to limit the United States to fight a fierce siege with the Dutch, but also to other aspects. In Peking University, the United States recruited two new recruits of 4,000 battalions, from Luzon, Siam, Myanmar and Borneo. A group of veterans and Portuguese mercenaries acted as the backbone of these two battalions, but most of the soldiers were natives of the South Ocean, who were more suitable for the harsh jungle environment of the South Ocean than the Han people.

On the other hand, Li Mingxun patiently used his own letter to unite the sultanate countries and tribes in the region that had hatred against the Dutch, and scattered a lot of rich and precious gifts, as well as millions of gold and silver coins. Now, he finally reaped the results. The King of Java, Madalan, stood on the side of the United States and besieged Batavia together. Several surrounding sultanate countries chose neutrality.

"Old Master Yuan!" The attendant walked to Li Mingxun and said, "The envoy of the Madara Sultanate has arrived and has been arranged in the conference room."

Li Mingxun nodded slightly, walked down the fortress castle, rode his horse into the city. In the main conference room of the administrative building in Peking University, Li Mingxun met the envoy of the Madalan Sultanate, Madalan's Privy advisor Arusha. The Privy advisor was one of the three members of the Madalan Sultan's consulting meetings, second only to the Sultan, the Tianfang Cult elders and the prime minister. The four decided to make all the military, political and religious affairs of Madalan. This shows the importance of the Madalan Sultanate to form an alliance to fight against the Dutch.

The Madalan Sultanate is a regional power, and can even be recognized as the largest power in the Nanyang region. This country has a population of more than three million, occupying the rich and fertile Java Island, the largest source of food in the United States, and also has a huge army. Twenty-two years ago, the previous Sultan Agon organized two sieges on Batavia, one of which was particularly large, with more than 100,000 soldiers alone, but it failed in the end.

Li Mingxun smiled and said, "This is what I want to say. Look, this is the Java Sea area. The Dutch chose to hide in the waters of Batavia and only sent a few ships to the Malay Peninsula to harass us. I think their purpose should be to force our fleet to consume at sea through contraction. When the United States fleet is exhausted and broken, it will leave the port to fight us."

Obviously, this was the tactic adopted by the Spanish in Manila Bay, and the Dutch also followed suit. Although showing weakness to the enemy was a taboo, it was the most stable approach. Perhaps the Dutch still hoped to get local support through procrastination.

Just as the United States chose Subic Bay when fighting Spain in Manila, this battle with the Dutch also required the support of a front-line port. This port not only had to be anchored to ships from the United States Expeditionary Fleet, but also had certain ship repair capabilities, and at least had a flat beach for warships to clear the aquatic creatures at the bottom.

"You mean to get support from the port, and your Majesty also thought of this, but I don't know which port you want to be?" Arusha asked.

Lee Mingxun said: "The best port is naturally Surabaya, oh, that is what you call Surabaya."

"This is impossible. Your Excellency, Surabaya is not within our options." Arusha refused directly, not giving the United States a chance to bargain.

Surabaya was still a small port at this time, but it was the second largest city and port in Indonesia in later generations. The Surabaya Strait protected the port deep, and there were also Da agriculture and handicrafts in the region. However, the reason why it was rejected by Arusha was because East Java where Surabaya was located was a special place of the Madalan Sultanate. This was once the territory of the Palaan Kingdom. This kingdom was destroyed by Agon Sultan twelve years ago. What is even more uneasy is that the Palaan Kingdom was a Hindu country. So far, there are many Hindus on this land, and their power is so great that it forces the Madalan Sultanate to implement the Patti system, that is, the Sudan directly sent the prefect to rule the core area. In these newly conquered people, you should have the princes and implement semi-autonomous and semi-finalization.

A rich place with strong centrifugal force and a powerful foreign force are not good for the rule of the Malan Sultanate.

Arusha did not help but make more demanding demands, saying: "His Majesty Susuhunan does not recommend you choose a port in Java, but His Majesty has prepared three good choices for you, Banga Island, Padang Port and Sukadana Port, you can choose one of them."

Li Mingxun had only heard of Bangka Island, and had no detailed understanding of the rest. He immediately recruited staff members familiar with Nanyang from the commander-in-chief and asked for a long time.

Badong Port is located on Karimata Island, and Sukadana is located on the southwest side of Borneo. These two ports are enclaves outside of Java. Although Sukadana is located in Borneo, the port conditions are very poor and are not enough to moor large warships. Badong Port on Karimata Island is also similar. If it were not for the local iron ore that is easy to mine, the iron smelting industry would also be of small scale, and this island and port are meaningless.

The rest is Bangka Island, a large island located next to Sumatra Island. Its geographical environment is similar to that of the Malay Peninsula. Its tropical rainforest area, brick red soil, and many swamps along the coast. There is no good anchorage. However, Li Mingxun knew that not only pepper and nutmeg were produced here, but during the sail era, this island has always been the largest tin mineral area in the world. In addition, lead, copper, and iron ore are a mining island. However, Bangka Island is the most suitable place to be a frontier military port. This was once the area under the jurisdiction of the Xuanwei Department of the Ming Dynasty. Even in the 17th century, a large number of Chinese people were still gathered, and it was under the jurisdiction of the Sudan Palembang. This sultanate was constantly filthy with the Dutch because of spice trade disputes. Nine years ago, he organized a joint fleet with Madalan, but unfortunately he was defeated.

"So, Palembang agreed to join our alliance?" After learning about it, Li Mingxun chose Bangka Island.

"It can be said that in fact, Palembang and Zhanbei have the same attitude. They do not support them publicly, but can provide various conveniences. Bangka Island is one of them, and in addition, they provide supplies at preferential prices." Arusha responded.

Li Mingxun nodded. After all, the Dutch had not yet fallen, and none of the forces around Batavia dared to express their opinions easily, including the Sultanate of Vandan, which bordered it and had hatred.

"Then did you choose Banga?" Arusha asked.

Lee Mingxun said: "This is my only choice, isn't it?"

Arusha breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. He was afraid that Li Mingxun would insist on obtaining a port in the Java Islands. After all, Ma Da Lan didn't want to end up driving away the tiger and the evil wolf.

In fact, Bangga Island is more suitable than Surabaya. Defining the frontier military port here means cutting off the liaison between Ceylon, Malacca and Batavia. As long as several waterways in Borneo and Sumatra are controlled, the Dutch fleet's sphere of influence will be compressed into the Java Sea, which is particularly important for reducing the losses of the war to the United States.

"This is also the best choice, so I wish you a victory. His Majesty Susuhunan and his army will wait for your arrival outside Batavia City." Arusha said respectfully.

Li Mingxun smiled and nodded, and sent away the envoy. The support of Ma Dalan's 6th Army could only be achieved after the United States gained the sea control power. Li Mingxun knew very well that the success or failure of the naval battle would completely change the political structure of the Nanyang region, and this battle could only be won but not lost.

After Arusha left, Lee Mingxun asked, "What do the British say?"

Lin He said: "The British rejected our alliance request. They promised to secretly help Portugal on the Indian coast, and the rest had no promises and were even unwilling to convince Sultan of Wandan to support us."

"Then what I will tell you..." Li Mingxun was quite dissatisfied.

Lin Hedao: "I have made it clear to the British envoy. Don't think about joining us after we decide the winner with the Dutch. This time I refused to form an alliance and there will be no chance in the future... But the British are very arrogant and think we are bluffing."
Chapter completed!