Chapter 397: Ultimatum

When Ye Tingfan's men used a crowbar to pry open the wooden cargo box, Elvis and Wang's hands had already reached to their waists involuntarily, preparing for the worst.

Ye Tingfan pulled away the straw on the upper layer, and what came into view was a brand new steam engine.

The foreign code on it was clearly printed: Made in California.

"This is California goods, why is your cargo ship flying the British flag?" Ye Tingfang asked vigilantly.

"Sir, California and the Dutch East Indies are under mutual embargo. If the Dutch East Indies want to buy goods from California, they can only do so through a third country." Elvis answered with reason.

Elvis' answer dispelled Ye Tingfan's doubts. Indeed, now the Dutch East Indies can only let a third country come forward if they want to buy goods from California.

As for why Ye Tenghui bought steam engines and other gold mining equipment from California, the reason is also very simple. California's gold mining industry chain is relatively mature, and gold mining tools produced in California are very popular among miners.

As far as he knew, even the gold mines in Australia used gold mining tools made in California.

Ye Tingfan still gave Ye Tenghui face and opened another wooden cargo box. After seeing that it was still a steam engine, he waved and let it go.

Ye Tenghui snorted coldly and pulled the goods to the mine.

After Liang Yao arrived in Xiangshan, the reaction of the governor of Guangzhou was far less intense than the last time Liang Yao came to Xiangshan.

Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen both said that Liang Yao was just temporarily resting in Xiangshan and would not rashly go deep into the hinterland of Guangdong.

Of course, even if Liang Yao really wanted to deploy troops under the city of Guangzhou, they could not do anything to Liang Yao.

Liang Yao issued an ultimatum to the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Sir Albertos Jacobus Dumar van Tewis, in the name of Umbrella Company.

In the letter, Liang Yao claimed that he had obtained evidence of crimes against humanity committed by the Dutch East Indies authorities in the East Indies, and asked Tevez to stop all criminal acts against humanity and stop the massacre of the Chinese and indigenous people in Borneo, especially the Chinese Americans.

At the end of the letter, Liang Yao asked the Indian authorities to withdraw troops from Borneo, apologize to the Qing and American governments for the massacre of local people by the Dutch East Indies authorities, and give corresponding compensation.

After receiving Liang Yao's letter, the 45-year-old Tevez was angry and amused. He had never seen such an outrageous ultimatum.

What did the Dutch East Indies authorities massacre of natives and Chinese in the East Indies have to do with Liang Yao?

This American general was too broad.

Of course, Tevez would not agree to Liang Yao's conditions. He quickly wrote back to reprimand Liang Yao for his greed and rudeness, and warned Liang Yao not to be whimsical and try to get involved in the East Indies.

What Liang Yao was waiting for was Tevez's rejection letter. As soon as the reply from the Dutch Governor arrived, Liang Yao gathered his team and set off from Xiangshan to Borneo.

"Don't you leave some reserves?"

Fremont asked before boarding the ship.

Fremont felt that it would be too reckless to go all in. The maritime force that Liang Yao now controls is already the limit of California's mobilization capabilities. If he loses, and loses miserably, California will not be able to organize a large-scale maritime force for a long time.

"Our paper strength at sea is not as good as that of the Dutch authorities. Instead of being timid and keeping reserves to preserve strength, it is better to fight to decide the outcome and take Pontianak directly." Liang Yao said.

If strength and conditions allow, Liang Yao would certainly want to keep a reserve team in case of an emergency.

At present, Liang Yao's maritime strength is not dominant. Keeping a reserve team will only widen the gap between his maritime strength and that of the Dutch authorities.

If he loses the first battle, what can he do with the reserve team he left?

The ships of the Guangdong Navy also removed any flags that could highlight the identity of the Qing Dynasty at Huangpu and sailed to Xiangshan Port to meet Liang Yao.

In addition to the three loach-class ships, the most commonly equipped ships of the Guangdong Navy were rice boats, Tongan shuttle boats and large horizontal ocean shuttle boats.

The rice boat was originally a civilian transport ship famous for its fast speed and sturdy hull. The largest rice boat was only 95 feet long (67 meters) and 20 feet and 6 inches wide (87 meters).

The situation of the Tongan shuttle boat and the large horizontal ocean shuttle boat was not much better.

The dimensions of the Tongan shuttle boat were 72 feet long (24 meters) and 19 feet wide (33 meters).

The large horizontal ocean shuttle boat was 82 feet long (33 meters) and 26 feet wide (67 meters).

The tonnage of these ships was only 200 tons, and there were only a few old guns on board.

The firing conditions of these mini boats were also very harsh. Only when the wind and sea were calm could they hit the enemy ships, otherwise they would just hear the noise.

According to the British Royal Navy ship classification standards published by the British Navy in 1817, the number of guns in the British Royal Navy's lowest-level sixth-class ships, such small gunboats, is between 20 and 24, the shortest ship length is 1 meter, and the minimum displacement is 450 tons.

In other words, if the sixth-class ships of Great Britain were placed in the Guangdong Navy, they would all be treasures that could be used as flagships.

Even though Liang Yao was mentally prepared, the poverty of the Guangdong Navy still surprised Liang Yao.

What kind of ships are these? Except for the loach-class ships, it is impossible to find a ship with a displacement of more than 300 tons.

Such ships are not only difficult to sail in the ocean, but also difficult to defend near the coast. Maybe even the ships of Southeast Asian pirates are better than those of the Guangdong Navy.

And the Guangdong Navy was already the most impressive navy of the Qing Dynasty before the Westernization Movement.

The only thing that was gratifying was that Xu Guangjin and Ye Mingchen did not object to Hong Mingxiang's expedition in the name of exterminating pirates.

Xu and Ye knew that Hong Mingxiang was taking the Guangdong Navy to follow Liang Yao to the sea to earn extra money, so they turned a blind eye.

"Does the Guangdong Navy have no bigger ships?"

The moment Liang Yao saw the Guangdong Navy's expedition fleet, he instantly felt that his 100,000 US dollars was too much and a huge loss.

In the current situation of the Guangdong Navy, at most it can only be an atmosphere group to liven up the atmosphere.

"These are already the essence of the Guangdong Navy." Hong Mingxiang said with a dry cough.

Liang Yao was silent after hearing this and had to order to set sail.

Not long after the fleet sailed out, a third-level fleet of the British Far East Fleet flying the Union Jack was seen following Liang Yao's fleet, paying attention to every move of Liang Yao's fleet.

The third British Governor of Hong Kong, Sir James Bonham, learned about the changes in Borneo Road from the mouth of Sir James of the Brooke Dynasty. He was very interested in whether Liang Yao could overthrow the ruling position of the Dutch Indies on the island of Borneo.

Liang Yao ignored the British. The British in Hong Kong did not respond to his various actions of the Dutch Indies, which showed that the British Hong Kong authorities had no intention of intervening in the dispute between Liang Yao and the Dutch Indies.

Of course, from another level, it can also be understood that the British Hong Kong authorities, like the Dutch Indies authorities, did not take Liang Yao seriously at all, and both believed that Liang Yao's strength was not enough to change the current power structure in the East Indies.