Chapter 343: Chapter 297: Occupying Larantuka Kingdom (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

The swift compromise of the Dutch and the signing of the Batavia Agreemt provided a sigh of relief for Arthur and the Australasian Governmt.

Of course, this does not mean that Arthur would fear the Dutch Governmt. The sigh of relief comes from the fact that the Australasian Army could save some troops.

Although the population of Australasia is about to exceed million, many of them are immigrants who arrived in the last two years.

These immigrants still need a long period of education and influce before they can develop a strong sse of national idtity and national pride for Australasia.

Therefore, whever Australasia conscripts, there would be a rigid requiremt: they must have lived in Australasia for at least three years.

Of course, this is just the requiremt for ordinary troops. If it is Arthur's trusted Guard Division, the requiremt is at least five years of residce in the Australasia region.

Such a requiremt can effectively scre for soldiers who have a sse of idtification with the country.

After all, Arthur is confidt that under the influce of various policies and propaganda in Australasia, very few people would not have any sse of idtification with the country after living in Australasia for five years.

After the signing of the Treaty, the occupation of these Dutch ceded territories became the top priority for the Australasian Governmt.

Although most of the lands ceded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands are small archipelagos, they also include the only Catholic country in the Dutch East Indies, the Larantuka Kingdom.

This country still has a certain military strgth, and the Dutch's interferce in Larantuka Kingdom has be insufficit, resulting in this country having significant autonomy and military power.

For Arthur, this hidd danger must be eliminated. Besides, the force behind the attack on Charles Wynne includes the Larantuka Kingdom. Although it may not be the inttion of the national governmt, who would let the conspirators be from Larantuka?

On September , 9, the Australasian Governmt officially issued a public announcemt, declaring the expansion of Australian Timor to the tire East Timor Island, and forming a new provincial administrative region, the Royal Territory, for all acquired territories outside East Timor Island.

After the announcemt was made public, the Ministry of Defse officially began its operation.

The Ministry of Defse mobilized the First and Second Divisions, a total of more than 30,000 troops, to occupy and temporarily militarize the newly acquired territories under the escort of the fleet.

Among them, the important target of the army is the Larantuka Kingdom, located on Flores Island, which is the only country among all archipelagos with military power.

Arthur doesn't want other countries to exist in the territories he governs. Moreover, the currt appearance of this country shows that it is a typical rogue country.

The best outcome for the Larantuka Kingdom would be to be annexed by Australasia and become part of the Royal Territory.

If the people of Larantuka resist, Arthur doesn't mind letting them experice the fate of the Indigous Peoples, ev if they are the descdants left by the Portuguese and the local Indigous Peoples.

Didn't the Portuguese fight anyway? Will Arthur care about the descdants left by the Portuguese?

On September , the First and Second Divisions officially began their operation, heading together to Flores Island. They will capture and occupy the Larantuka Kingdom first, and th head separately to the regions east and west of Flores Island.

After resting on Flores Island for a day, on the morning of September 4th, Division One and Division Two left nearly 3,000 troops to be stationed on this island.

The remaining troops each set out to occupy a large number of islands and archipelagos in the west and east.

Division One was responsible for the western Dragon Eye Island, Sumbawa Island, and Sumba Island, and Division Two was responsible for the eastern Alo Archipelago, Southwest Islands, Southeastern Islands, Cay Islands, and Aru Archipelago.

In geral, the western part of Flores Island is mostly large islands, and the eastern part is tirely composed of small islands, and the span is huge.

In fact, not only this area, but there are countless large and small islands throughout the Dutch East Indies, which greatly affected the rule of the Dutch East India Colonial Governmt in this area.

To properly rule this area, in addition to having a hundreds of thousands strong army, you must also have a particularly strong navy.

But the fact is, the Dutch East Indies colony, including native divisions, has just over 0,000 soldiers in total.

Although 0,000 people look like a lot, more than half of them are Native Divisions made up tirely of natives, who can barely keep the rebellion under control, but in the face of a war against a powerful nation, they can only become cannon fodder.

As far as naval power is concerned, the Dutch navy is second-rate among many small and medium-sized European countries; however, the naval power in the Dutch East Indies is downright poor.

The Dutch East Indies currtly has only one medium-sized warship of just over 6,000 tons as its largest naval vessel; without the foundation of battleships, it is doomed that the Dutch East Indies navy can only suppress the domestic rebellion and not fight against external forces.

This is also why the Netherlands quickly succumbed to Australasia. After all, it's their territory, and they know that the military power of the Dutch East Indies does not support them for long. Ev if they are firm, they will only d up being occupied by Australasia later.

Instead of being tough and waiting for Australasia to completely occupy the precious Dutch East Indies territory, it is better to admit defeat and strive for more land to reduce the losses of the governmt.

The complex geographical vironmt of the Dutch East Indies territory actually determines that the controllers of the land cannot manage it well.

Take the example of a certain country established in the hinterland in modern times. Due to the multitude of islands and ethnic complexity, ev in modern times, domestic ethnic conflicts and conflicts are frequt.

But for Australasia, the more than one million native populations on newly acquired land are very useful.

Whether used as cannon fodder in future wars to gain a sse of presce and role in the war or as a free labor force to support the country's various constructions, they are very useful.

Anyway, various constructions need a large number of labor forces, and for the native part, Australasia is really undiscriminating.

Of course, Arthur is not worried about these natives causing trouble to the order of Australasia during peaceful times in the future.

In Arthur's plan, these natives simply ar't considered in Australasia.

This also means that apart from contributing their lives to the developmt of Australasia, their only choice is to become cannon fodder, allowing Australia to gain a sse of presce at the international level.

After all, Australasia will participate in the upcoming World War I, and if it wants to gain ough speaking power after the war, it must make certain sacrifices and efforts in the war.

It's better to let these natives pay for it than for the Australians to pay for it! According to the reproduction rate of these natives, Arthur would not be heartbrok if several hundred thousand died.