Because of the strength of the naval fleet, the Ocean Empire was able to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and watch the ebb and flow of the tide when the situation in East Asia was turbulent.

Li Fushou stood in front of the large world map, as if he had a full view of the general trend of the world, and after careful consideration for a long time, he nodded solemnly.

This is an affirmative action, which shows that Li Fushou has made up his mind.

From now until the outbreak of World War I, the empire will focus on economic development, thoroughly digest the colonies of Luzon and Madagascar, and will not participate in the competing interests of the Far East and South Asia.

This will be a long-term national policy for the next 10 years or so, and it needs to be unswervingly implemented.

The country's appropriate development of its army force is not for the purpose of participating in regional hegemony and trying to get involved in the Far East or South Asia, but only to deter the small and small from looking south.

Modern warfare is a gold-eating beast, not to mention that Britain has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in a costly war in South Africa, and it is far from the end in sight.

In the war to conquer the Luzon Islands alone, in two and a half years, the imperial royal family has invested more than 23 million gold oceans (including transfer money paid to Spain), and it is expected that the final settlement will reach 25 million gold oceans, about 12.5 million pounds.

War has become an expensive game that cannot be fought, and looking at the surrounding areas in the future, there is nothing to be easy about.

Li Fushou was not at all interested in the populous island of Guawa, which is only 130,000 square kilometers but has nearly 35 million indigenous people.

Li Fushou asked himself if he had the ability to digest such a large population, and he counted with his fingers, and it was only thirty or forty years before the worldwide wave of national consciousness awakening, and there was no time and space to toss and turn.

He was interested in Sumatra, the world's sixth-largest island in the Dutch East Indies, with a total area of 473,000 square kilometers, located opposite the British Straits Settlements and guarding the southern side of the Strait of Malacca.

The island has a long history, with several powerful indigenous dynasties overthrown, and remnants of religious leaders and indigenous nobles still leading wars of resistance after the invasion of Western colonizers.

This is the "Aceh War" that has lasted for 30 years.

In March 1873, the Dutch Governor's Office sent warships to invade Aceh and provoke the Aceh War.

In January of the following year, the Dutch army occupied the capital of Greater Aceh and the royal palace, and the Sultan of Aceh, Mahmad Shah, was forced to retreat to the mountains, where he died soon after.

In early 1874, the Netherlands announced the annexation of Aceh.

The local nobles of Aceh, who had always had a tradition of rebellion, supported the new Sudan and led the people of Aceh to continue the struggle against the Dutch. And repeatedly inflicted heavy losses on the Dutch colonial army, making the otherwise easy journey of conquest bumpy and difficult, and the war dragged on.

After the eighties of the XIX century

The Dutch East Indies Governorate fought a war with the Earllands of Queensland, known as the First East Indies War, which ended in a crushing defeat for the Dutch, losing large swaths of land and dealing a devastating blow to their colonial rule.

Take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Aceh's civil leaders Dugu Uma and Dugu Tyro launched a large-scale anti-Dutch "holy war" and adopted guerrilla tactics to deal a heavy blow to the Dutch colonial army.

After 1894, the Dutch colonists changed their commanders and adopted a new strategy of holding the defensive line, bribing the feudal princes and nobles, and isolating the leaders of the rebels, and the indigenous rebels of Aceh were greatly weakened.

Today

The large-scale armed struggle of the people of Aceh against the Dutch has not yet stopped, and they have always been able to get donations of weapons and well-wishers to fight this war that has lasted for 27 years, for which the Dutch colonists have spent a huge amount of 160 million guilders, and have been dragged out of exhaustion, but they do not see the day when the war will end.

If the original history has not changed

Years later

In 1903, the Sultan of Aceh, who had led the rebel rebellion, was arrested, and some tribal leaders were forced to surrender to the Dutch in the mountains.

Only one year later, in 1904, the anti-Dutch guerrilla war of the Aceh people re-emerged, and the scattered guerrilla war lasted until 1912.

However, the Aceh rebels are still alive and well, and they are still able to organize thousands of troops to attack the northern towns held by the Dutch from time to time, and from time to time there is news of success, killing and wounding dozens of hundreds of Dutch mercenaries.

The mountainous and forested areas in the north occupied by the Aceh rebels are about 5%~6% of the area of Sumatra Island, with their own rear towns and fields, and from time to time they attack and harass the Dutch.

This form of rebellion is far better than in history.

However, the negative effects of war are also obvious.

Decades of war, coupled with the bloody repression of the Dutch colonizers, caused social unrest and withering people's livelihoods in Sumatra, and the indigenous population lived in hardship, greatly reducing the population.

It is estimated

The population of Sumatra Island has dropped sharply from about 620 thousand before 1873 to more than 350~380 million today, and in just 28 years, the population size has decreased by 40% and a half, which shows the tragedy of the Aceh War.

The protracted war had exhausted the patience of the Dutch, who began to use even more brutal methods to suppress the local natives.

And follow the example of the Luzon Islands to send labor to countries in the South American region.

Since these local natives are so unruly, it is better to send industrious and willing Chinese laborers from mainland China, or import laborers from the Indian Peninsula and Sri Lanka to achieve the goal of long-term colonization.

Li Fushou knew that the French were also playing the idea of Sumatra, but they were worried about the perception of the British, so they had to temporarily extinguish their attempts to expand.

It is necessary to give priority to the overall situation of Anglo-French relations, and if you can't bear it, you will make a big plan.

This concern is equally valid for the Ocean Empire, as the hegemon of the world today, Britain must have hegemony and arrogance commensurate with its position, and will not easily allow the great powers to challenge the existing international order.

Germany is a thorn, Tsarist Russia is a thorn, both are the object of repairs in London.

Li Fushou will not easily touch the sensitive nerves of the British, and to be honest, no one in the British believes it.

In order to prevent the expansion of the French in Indochina, the British launched two Anglo-Burmese wars, and finally destroyed the power of the Kingdom of Burma and placed it under the colonial government of British India.

In this way, a buffer zone was created between the French Indochina Peninsula and the Viceroyalty of British India.

In order to prevent the southern invasion of Tsarist Russia, Britain launched two Anglo-Afghan wars, completely occupied the Afghan region headed by Kandahar, and blocked the Tsarist Russian forces in the north of the lofty mountains and mountains of Central Asia, and could not move forward.

So, don't look at the current war between the British and the Boers, in Europe, the Dutch and the British are constantly quarrelling, in fact, the relationship between the two royal families is still quite strong.

As countries that are also Protestant, Britain and the Netherlands have a natural foundation of trust, and that foundation is that the Kingdom of the Netherlands is weak enough to follow in Britain's footsteps.

Therefore, the British would rather maintain the current international order and have the Dutch occupy Kalimantan than the French or the Ocean Empire to come in and get a piece of the pie, even if it is an ally.

Li Fushou knew that he still had a chance, and that could be the First World War that broke out fourteen years later.

When the time comes

In order to win over the Ocean Empire to the war, the allies led by Britain will definitely make a promise of interests, and there is no hurry now, and we will talk about it when the time comes.

The island of Java, with a population of tens of millions, cannot be swallowed, but the island of Sumatra, with a population of several million, has no problem, even if it is good to get a part.

People, you always have to pursue a little, right?

The plan has been decided

Li Fushou walked back, picked up an official letter on the table and looked at it, this is a secret letter from London, which means urging the Ocean Empire to give Fusang normal national treatment, abolish the unequal treaties signed before, and abolish the Nagasaki Concession, Britain and the United States and other countries have taken the lead in doing so, hoping that the Ocean Kingdom, as a responsible regional power, can reflect the responsibility of maintaining the region.

Needless to say, this must have been one of the conditions on which London agreed to Fuso, urging the other powers to cancel the unequal treaties imposed on Fuso.

Li Fushou thought about it for a moment and signed this diplomatic letter; Agreed, and transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for undertaking.

London's demands need to be responded to positively, and the privileges on Fuso Island will not last long anyway, so it is better to send a favor.

After solving these diplomatic troubles, the next step is to quietly develop the domestic economy.

Two pieces of good news came from Tasmania's Tasmanian base in Toubaolong;

The biplane Experiment No. 5 developed by the base has achieved a historic record of breaking through 200 kilometers per hour, flying for a maximum of 38 minutes, and a range of more than 100 kilometers, and has achieved phased success.

Next

It is to sum up the lessons learned before, develop biplanes with faster speed, longer flight time, and better flight performance, and move closer to a higher goal step by step.

From a worldwide perspective

The Toubaolong base has reached this milestone in the research and development of aircraft, which belongs to the world's advanced level, and the future is fully worth looking forward to.

The second piece of good news is that with the personal participation of Professor Tesla, a breakthrough has been made in the research and development of radio rangefinders, and the experimental test of moving targets in the Gobi Desert near the Toubaolong base has been successful.

The next step is to address EMI, deflection and trash issues and enhance the practicality of real-time measurement accuracy, especially in harsh climatic environments.

In the real sea battle, the environment is very harsh, the battleship spews thick black smoke to adjust the course attitude, the surrounding shells explode the water column forest is dense, and the heavy gunpowder smoke generated by the main gun launch fills the perimeter of the battleship, and the electromagnetic waves cannot even penetrate, which will have a significant impact on advanced radio ranging.

Therefore, it is important to solve the problem of practicality.