The Netherlands was the only country in the world where the colonial army was stronger than its own army, which shows the importance of the East Indies to the Netherlands.

Since the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch Navy has been in a slump, falling behind in the naval construction of European countries, and at the end of the last century, due to a shortage of manpower, the Dutch Navy had to conscript colonial soldiers to serve, and the total number of naval personnel in 1900 was only able to exceed 10,000.

Even the naval forces of just over 10,000 people are divided into two parts: the home fleet and the colonial fleet, the warships of the Dutch naval navy are mainly offshore gunboats, although the Far East Fleet has cruisers, but they were all built in the last century, since the beginning of the new century, the Dutch navy has not had any new ships to replenish for up to ten years, most of the warships are still old wooden sail warships, and some warships are even unable to move.

In 1905, during the Russo-Japanese War, the main battleships were still armored ships, and the next year Britain began to build a new class of "dreadnought-class" battleships, and now the dreadnought class has become a symbol of the naval strength of various countries, but the Dutch do not even have heavy cruisers.

Affected by the arms race in Europe, two years ago, the Dutch government proposed a shipbuilding plan, hoping to build new warships to enhance its naval strength, but this plan was ultimately not implemented because of the opposition of the admiralty.

The reason for the opposition of the Minister of the Navy was simple: the shipbuilding plan proposed by the government not only did not have dreadnoughts, but also heavy cruisers, and was only ready to build offshore gunboats to enhance its strength, which simply could not meet the needs of the Home Fleet and the Far East Fleet.

What's worse is that the current Netherlands has lost the ability to design warships because it has not built warships for many years, and even the design of warships has to be entrusted to other countries, which is really unacceptable to the Minister of the Navy.

This is also where Roque's confidence lies, no matter how big the crisis in the East Indies is, the Netherlands itself cannot provide effective support at all, and those coastal defense gunboats in the Netherlands have no ability to sail to the sea.

Of course, the biggest problem of the umbrella company is that there are no offshore gunboats, and the Nile Crocodile is only equipped with four army-type 75mm rapid-fire guns, and its combat effectiveness is probably similar to that of armed merchant ships, and the warships of the Dutch Far East Fleet are a grade higher than those of armed merchant ships even if they are old.

Fortunately, the Dutch are now pinning their hopes on the adjustment of the British government, and have not sent a fleet to blockade the port of Medan.

The landing is impossible, the colonial forces of the East Indies are not the opponent of the mercenaries, this is very clear to the East Indian Governor's Office, but the fleet can still be used to blockade the port of Medan, as long as the mercenaries' logistical support is cut off, then the mercenaries in the port of Medan will fall apart sooner or later.

This was the benefit of the colonial unitary economy, in order to better control the East Indies, the Dutch implemented a forced supply system and rent in kind in the East Indies, forced plantations to grow coffee, rubber, sugar cane, and spices, and implemented a trade monopoly policy, so the East Indies had no industrial base at all, and could not even produce gunpowder.

Roque had been prepared for such a situation, although the mercenaries did not have cruisers, but they had aircraft, and the pilots in southern Africa would not serve Italy and the Ottoman Empire, and there was no pressure to accept the employment of the umbrella company.

At the same time as the Far East Fleet departed, the Nyasaland Ocean Shipping Company's "Phoenix Flower" transport ship arrived at the port of Medan, carrying in addition to six "Gale" fighters and 12 "Albatross" torpedo bombers.

It was at this time that Benson Tauhti learned what the purpose of the airport built next to the Port of Medan was.

Not surprisingly, the Dutch in the Dutch East Indies were so ignorant, and before that, Benson Tauhti had never even seen an airplane, only reading about air shows in the newspapers.

Benson Tauhti never imagined that the plane, which was originally similar to a circus, could be used against a cruiser in the hands of mercenaries.

"The albatross was developed two years ago, this time it was put into use for the first time to deal with the Dutch, the albatross can carry a 350-kilogram torpedo, the combat radius is 180 kilometers, we have observation stations in the port of Batavia and in the Lion City, as long as the Dutch fleet leaves the port, we have enough warning time." Ethan, the captain of the team, can't wait, as long as the Dutch dare to come, Ethan will teach the Dutch a profound lesson.

"Is this our best plane right now?" Benson Tauhty was curious, Nyasaland was always bursting with new weapons, and even David didn't know how deep Nyasaland's military potential was.

"I hope the Dutch will do it quickly, we will launch the cruiser next month, and your umbrella company will not consider buying one?" Ethan kept his mouth shut, and he had a strong sense of confidentiality.

With the help of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the Southern African Navy has made rapid progress, and in any case, Britain is the most powerful naval country in the world at this time, and as long as Roque asks for it, the engineers of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard can come up with a corresponding design plan.

Originally, Viscount Gladstone wanted Edward Shipyard to try the dreadnought, but Roque weighed it again and again and gave up on this unrealistic idea.

Not to mention whether Edward Shipyard has the ability to build dreadnoughts, with the help of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Edward Shipyard can most likely still build.

The point is that the navy of southern Africa does not have the need for dreadnoughts, and the whole of Africa, except for southern Africa, the colonies of other countries cannot even build destroyers, and even if dreadnoughts are built in southern Africa, there is no place for them.

So the cruiser became the first choice of Roque, and it was not the kind of heavy cruiser comparable to a battleship, a light cruiser of about 5000 tons was enough.

As a result, Viscount Gladstone was still unsightly, saying that he wanted to build an armored cruiser similar to the British Invincible-class battlecruiser, and the 5,000-ton class would be a little larger than the destroyer, which would not be useful at all once a world war broke out.

Roark also looked down on the battlecruisers, which were later called fast battleships, and the armored cruisers were not well armored compared to battleships, and not fast enough compared to destroyers, and the British battlecruiser Invincible was hit by shells from the German fleet in the Battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, and as a result, the ammunition depot exploded and sank, and the shortcomings of weak armor protection were exposed.

What southern Africa needs is light cruisers, because there is no need to face strong opponents, and light cruisers in southern Africa do not need thick armor, do not need heavy firepower, what they need is fast speed, quick response, and have a certain anti-submarine capability, and when necessary, they can have a certain firepower strike capability, so light cruisers are the most in line with the actual needs of southern Africa.

Eventually, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Edward Shipyard jointly designed a new type of light cruiser, which has a displacement of 6,500 tons, is equipped with six 152 mm fifty times the naval guns, because of the use of the latest engines, the top speed can reach an astonishing 32 knots, and the ship can also carry two seaplanes at the same time, which can be used for reconnaissance and fire correction, this kind of cruiser is named the Cape Town class, the first ship Cape Town will be launched at the Edward Shipyard next month, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

"No, what we want to buy is a destroyer, but it's a pity that the Lord doesn't sell it." David is still a little regretful, don't think that destroyers can't work, in the Strait of Malacca, this kind of terrain is precisely the most suitable for destroyers.

To coincide with the use of Cape Town-class cruisers, new destroyers armed with torpedoes are being built at the Port Edward and Bella shipyards.

Compared with the previous Beihai, the biggest improvement of the new Salisbury-class destroyer is that it has finally installed 533mm torpedoes, making it capable of attacking large battleships, and the new destroyer firepower is not weak, with 125mm naval guns installed on the ship, and a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, which are all prepared for future aircraft carriers.

The destroyers produced in southern Africa use the latest steam engines, and the maximum speed can run to 35 knots per hour, purely in terms of artillery caliber, the destroyers in southern Africa may not be as good as the cruisers of the Dutch Far East Fleet, but the destroyers rely on their high speed and high maneuverability, and in the narrow waters of the Strait of Malacca, the threat to the cruisers is greater.

It doesn't take much, as long as David now has two Salisbury-class destroyers in his hands, it will be enough to deal with the threat of the Dutch Far East Fleet.

The Southern African Navy's warships are named after the cities of Southern Africa, such as the highest-ranking cruiser, which is named after the three capitals of Cape Town, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.

The same is true for the naming of the destroyer, Salisbury does not refer to the former British Prime Minister Marquis Salisbury, but the city of Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia, so there may be Little Rock-class and Johannesburg-class next, which is normal.

As for the aircraft carriers of the future, they will certainly be named after the states, with the Cape, the Transvaal, and Nyasaland being among the alternatives.

The stationing of the flying brigade marks that the port of Medan has a preliminary defense capability, and there is actually more work to be done in the future, only 3,000 mercenaries will definitely not be able to drive out the Dutch, so the umbrella company must also form a servant army dominated by the indigenous people of East India to launch a full-scale attack on the Dutch.

Just across the strait, on Langkawi Island, a large base of the umbrella company is under construction, which will in the future be the headquarters of the company's Far East division.

Langkawi is the main island of the Langkawi archipelago, which consists of 99 islands with an area of 526 square kilometers and is less than 300 kilometers from Mindan.

Langkawi Island is British territory, and the Dutch have no right to interfere, so the construction of the base on Langkawi Island is progressing well, and British Malaya has helped a lot in this regard.

Therefore, it is not Roque who wants the Dutch to get out of the way, but the British Empire.