Chapter 405: Initiative

At first, Liang Yao was worried that this was a trick of the Dutch to provoke an attack, so he did not dare to go deep into the enemy's territory.

He only organized part of the Guangdong Navy and a battalion of California Infantry Regiment to form an advance force, ready to advance steadily to Pontianak, and then find out the truth and confirm whether what the prisoners said was true.

Pontianak was important to Liang Yao, but it was also important to the Dutch-Indonesian authorities.

The loss of Pontianak was equivalent to the loss of the logistics supply point in West Borneo and the initiative in the West Borneo region.

Liang Yao could see this, and the Dutch-Indonesian authorities must have seen it too.

Liang Yao's supply was highly dependent on the port, and so was the Dutch-Indonesian authorities.

Soon, before the vanguard arrived in Pontianak, Elvis sent a signalman to inform Liang Yao of the current situation in Pontianak.

Pontianak was indeed lost.

Those Dutch prisoners did not deceive him.

The Dutch hurriedly evacuated Pontianak, and before leaving, they did not even have time to destroy the inventory of supplies in the warehouse in Pontianak to prevent them from aiding the enemy.

Liang Yao breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that Pontianak had been taken.

A tough battle had just been fought at sea, and it was always a good thing to avoid a tough battle on land.

Since Pontianak had been taken, the first thing to do was to dredge the waterway of the Kapuas River and restore navigation as soon as possible.

Liang Yao did not expect to rely on the inventory materials left by the Dutch-Indonesian authorities to defend Pontianak, the fruit of victory that had just been picked.

After all, the calibers of the guns and artillery of both sides were different. The soldiers of the Western Brigade, who were accustomed to using Walter M1851 rifles and Sacramento guns, would certainly not be accustomed to the Dutch's broken guns and artillery.

Of course, the beachhead position could not be lost.

He could fight Pontianak, and the Dutch-Indonesian authorities would seek to retake Pontianak after they reacted.

Liang Yao left behind the Engineer Battalion and the Beaver Regiment, which were the two battalions of the Oregon Infantry Regiment that went with the team.

The Engineer Battalion was responsible for mapping on the spot, designing and constructing the beach defense line, and arranging artillery positions.

The two battalions of the Oregon Infantry Regiment were responsible for the defense of the beachhead position.

As long as the beachhead position is well managed, Pontianak, 20 kilometers away from the beachhead, can be used as a stable and safe rear base without having to face the artillery fire of the Dutch East Indies fleet directly.

Even if the Dutch East Indies Army came in full force, Liang Yao would have enough reaction time and sufficient buffer space.

It would not be like the Dutch East Indies Army, which lost Pontianak so quickly.

The Dutch East Indies authorities have been operating Borneo for many years, and the Dutch East Indies Army has other bases on Borneo.

If they lost Pontianak, they would have a place to retreat. If Liang Yao lost Pontianak, he would have no place to retreat, and could only retreat to the deep mountains and forests inland to play hide-and-seek with the Dutch.

Such a result was unacceptable to Liang Yao.

"I will stay to assist the engineering battalion in surveying and building the beachhead defense formula."

Fremont took the initiative to ask Liang Yao to stay.

He was an engineer, and this job was also professionally suitable.

"Then I'll trouble you. After I arrive in Pontianak, I will immediately recruit some personnel to help build the beach defense positions. The positions built by the Dutch are too rough and cannot be used directly." Liang Yao glanced at the crude positions of the Dutch-Indonesian army and said.

"General, can you transfer another artillery company?"

Kruger, the commander of the Oregon Infantry Regiment responsible for the beach defense, hoped that Liang Yao could allocate him an artillery company.

The artillery is a direct unit of the Western Brigade and is directly under the command of Liang Yao. It has not yet been delegated to the regiment level.

This is not because the artillery production of the Sacramento Arsenal cannot keep up, but because the reserve of artillery talents cannot keep up.

Expanding an artillery company to an artillery battalion is already the limit of California's artillery talent reserve.

California's population size limits California's war potential. Therefore, although Liang Yao has been expanding the army, the scale of the expansion is relatively limited.

Moreover, Liang Yao pursues a policy of elite troops. Based on the principle of "better to have less than less", he also has relatively high requirements for the quality of soldiers.

"I'll leave an artillery company for you. The field guns of the artillery company can't block the Kapuas River. We have heavy guns in the warehouse in Xiangshan. I will ask Global Shipping Company to transport the heavy guns here immediately." Liang Yao pointed to the wide estuary of the Kapuas River and said.

"Before the heavy guns arrive, you only have 6-pound and 10-pound field guns available. Even if you use these field guns, you must guard the estuary for me. Don't let any Dutch warships or any Dutch soldiers enter Pontianak. Do you understand?"

Although Liang Yao had an artillery battalion, he only brought two companies with him this time, and the remaining company stayed in California to train new recruits.

At most, he could only transfer one company of artillery to Kruger, and the remaining company of artillery had to be kept to take Pontianak or participate in subsequent military operations.

"Yes! General! Please rest assured, our Beaver Regiment will hold the position even if we fight to the last man!"

Kruger straightened his chest and saluted Liang Yao.

This was the first combat mission of the Beaver Regiment, and he hoped that the Beaver Regiment he had brought up could perform well in this mission.

After Kruger left, Liang Yao asked the engineering battalion to immediately build a telegraph line from here to Pontianak so that they could get the latest information on the beachhead.

Since the Kapuas River had been blocked by the Dutch with sunken ships, it would take some time to dredge the river.

Liang Yao's large force could only walk to Pontianak.

After less than two hours of marching, Liang Yao rode a horse and led the follow-up large force into Pontianak.

The Dutch quickly and decisively withdrew from Pontianak, and no fierce battle broke out in Pontianak.

Even when Elvis led his army into Pontianak, there was only sporadic exchange of fire with the Royal Dutch-Indonesian Army, and no artillery was used.

Therefore, the battle of Pontianak caused minimal damage to the entire city of Pontianak.

Liang Yao got a Pontianak that was intact and had normal infrastructure.

"The Dutch ran so fast. I only captured 240 prisoners, of which only 65 were Dutch, and the rest were Chinese and local natives." Elvis came out to greet Liang Yao.

"Okay, I know you captured 240 prisoners." Liang Yao said, "You are the first to capture Pontianak."

Liang Yao didn't know how Elvis captured 240 prisoners with 70 people.

However, compared with the Dutch-Indonesian authorities' naval power, their military power on land was indeed weak.

"Should we continue to pursue the Dutch-Indonesian army fleeing southward to expand the results of the war?" Elvis asked.

"The most urgent task is to consolidate the results we have achieved. It is not appropriate to pursue rashly." Liang Yao shook his head and said.

If he was familiar with the situation in West Borneo, Liang Yao would certainly be willing to pursue the enemy with all his remaining courage, but in reality, Liang Yao was not familiar with the situation in West Borneo, and he did not even have an accurate map of West Borneo.

Liang Yao's understanding of West Borneo basically came from the intelligence provided by local Chinese.

Liang Yao did not want to see large-scale non-combat casualties, and was more inclined to consolidate the results that had been achieved.

"Borneo is a wild land. Outside the city, it is a place full of smoke and miasma. There are many snakes and insects. The snakes and insects here are more poisonous than those in Guangdong.

We old guests who have lived in West Borneo for 20 to 30 years still get lost when we enter the deep mountains and forests, not to mention the new guests who have just arrived in Borneo." Liu Shanbang also suggested not to pursue rashly.