Chapter Eleven: Garimandan Three

  Since the early 19th century, there have been small-scale mining operations on the island of Kalimantan for gold, diamonds, antimony, magnesium, gypsum and iron.

  Brunei has several oil fields, both onshore and offshore, with the most important area being the Seria field.

  Since 1958, Datu Point in southwestern area has been developed for bauxite mining and coal mining in the southwest.

  Generally speaking, apart from a few fertile volcanic areas, the land of Kalimantan is poor.

  The main food of the residents is rice, and there are also corn, cassava, cucumber, pumpkin, indigenous people small-scale planting rubber, Chinese residents large-scale planting pepper.

  Recently, Paulownia and rubber trees have been well received in the market.

  Coastal areas export rice, dried coconuts, catechu dye, and fish products.

  Tobacco is planted in highlands and transported for sale in lowland areas.

  Trials of coffee, cacao and hemp have all been successful.

  The quality of agarwood is closely related to its origin, and Indonesia's Kalimantan is one of the important origins. Due to its unique geographical location, it has created a famous agarwood that is known far and wide. The wild agarwood native to Kalimantan is the best among all agarwoods.

  Hundreds of years ago, many Cantonese people went to Southeast Asia to make a living. As the Cantonese were skilled in business, many traders were highly respected by local chiefs.

  At that time, due to the harassment of many Europeans in the local area, the local Chinese community invited a team from Guangdong Province to come to Nanyang to play a role similar to that of a bodyguard. The most powerful among them was the Southern Company.

  Later, many chiefs asked the Southern Company for protection, so the then-boss of the Southern Company, Luo Fangbo, established a republic in the local area and served as the country's Grand General, overseeing national security and coordination between various tribes.

  The internal affairs of each tribe were still handled by the tribal chiefs.

  Moreover, as Luo Fangbo learned that the foreigners still had great reservations about the Qing dynasty, he immediately pledged allegiance to the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the founding of the country and sent envoys to Beijing to pay tribute.

  This move indeed made foreigners very cautious and stopped their harassment of local people.

  On the other hand, the tribes that had not joined earlier saw the success of the Republic of Lanfang and also expressed their willingness to join as member tribes.

  At its peak, the Lanfang Republic's sphere of influence encompassed the entire island of Borneo.

  The Republic of Lanfang has Kundur (East Montrado) as its capital, and the year it was founded, 1777 AD, is designated as the first year of Lanfang.

  The head of state is called the Great Tang Chief or the Great Tang Guest Chief, meaning the leader of Chinese people living abroad. The system is implemented with major national affairs being decided through collective consultation and carried out in a manner similar to democratic elections and abdication, with twelve successive chiefs having taken office.

  Later, due to the Qing dynasty's repeated setbacks in diplomacy, Western Europe began to realize that the Qing dynasty had weakened and was unable to take care of foreign affairs. Taking advantage of the outbreak of the Sino-French War, the Netherlands began to redeploy its occupation forces.

  In 1884, the Netherlands invaded the Republic of Lanfang. The Republic of Lanfang resisted but ultimately failed due to being outnumbered and its remaining forces fled to Sumatra.

  However, due to fear of retaliation from the Qing government, the Dutch did not openly declare that they had occupied the Lanfang region, but instead set up a puppet regime for governance.

  It was not until 1912, after the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China, that the Dutch formally declared their occupation of the territory.

  The Lanfang Republic existed for over a hundred years from its founding to its demise.

  The Natuna Islands lie west of the Anambas Islands.

  Some earlier Chinese family records in the Nansha Islands recorded: After the Qing army entered the pass and eliminated the Southern Ming regime in the south, hundreds of remnants who persisted in resisting the Qing on the coastal islands of Guangdong and hundreds of fishermen's families who refused to obey the Manchu rule escaped to a small archipelago in the South China Sea - later named by the Dutch as the Nansha Islands.

  The newly reorganized South Huafeng Federal Republic Navy made its debut in the battle against the Indonesian Air Force and Navy, showing its edge.

  On December 4, 1960, the Federation of South Maluku declared a sea blockade against Indonesia and bombed all airports on Java that night, damaging their runways, crippling Indonesia's air force, naval bases and ports.

  At the same time, a naval task force of the South Vietnamese Navy consisting of 2 patrol boats, 1 missile boat and 3 torpedo boats sailed westward under the cover of night to Surabaya Indonesian Naval Base, preparing to launch a surprise attack on the Indonesian Navy.

  On December 5, the South China Sea Fleet's naval flotilla arrived in waters about 20 nautical miles off the coast of Sihanoukville. Two escort vessels anchored to monitor the surrounding situation and guide missile boats and torpedo boats to continue advancing.

  When the missile boats and torpedo boats were still some distance away from their targets, they were discovered by an Indonesian naval base observation post. However, due to the cover of night, the observation post could not clearly identify the type of target.

  The Indonesian Navy immediately dispatched a destroyer, the USS Burle (standard displacement 2,325 tons, full load displacement 3,316 tons), which was on patrol.

  The poor destroyer hadn't even had time to figure out what was happening before it was hit by a torpedo, and the ship immediately fell into chaos. The destroyer sank into the vast ocean in an instant.

  It turned out that after the South China Sea Fleet confirmed the Indonesian warship, the torpedo boat quickly approached the enemy under the guidance of the escort ship and quickly occupied the attacking position.

  The torpedo boat immediately took aim at the target and launched two 533mm caliber torpedoes, both of which hit their mark. The Indonesian destroyer was struck by the explosions.

  Another torpedo boat then sank the Indonesian Navy minesweeper KRI Muara Tebo.

  The first missile boat approached the coast and fired two missiles at Surabaya harbour.

  At the same time, two South Vietnamese Navy patrol boats also sped into the harbor at high speed and shelled facilities and ships inside, sinking a fellow Patrol Boat - HQ-502 (ex-USS PC-784) and damaging a minesweeper.

  After the successful sneak attack, the South Vietnamese naval task force quickly withdrew. Due to the sudden strike, the Indonesian Navy had not yet counterattacked, and the South Vietnamese naval task force vanished into the vast ocean.

  On December 9, the South China Sea Fleet repeated its previous plan and dispatched a fleet of ships for a second attack.

  The troops participating in this raid were organized into two assault groups.

  Composed of 2 corvettes, 2 missile boats and 2 torpedo boats, the First Strike Group was to attack the Jakarta Naval Base and then subjected it to a barrage.

  The 2nd Assault Group, composed of destroyers and escorts, was scheduled to bombard numerous military targets along the Surabaya coast.

  Following this attack, 12 of Indonesia's 34 military warehouses were shelled and burned down, with shore-based military facilities also suffering significant damage.

  In addition, 4 Indonesian merchant ships and 1 Dutch merchant ship were sunk.

  In these two naval battles, the South Vietnamese Navy's missile boats fired a total of 10 missiles, with nine hitting their targets on enemy ships and shore-based facilities, while the combined fleet suffered no losses.

  The Southern Huá Navy's new missile boats were tested in combat for the first time, exciting the Southern Huá Navy and prompting large-scale construction and equipping plans to be implemented.

  This successful example of the South China Sea Fleet can also be regarded as a model for modern naval warfare, with small forces achieving great results. With minimal cost, it achieved significant effects, proving the feasibility of this tactic.

  In addition, during this period, the South Vietnamese Federation also dispatched naval and air forces to attack Indonesian naval bases and airports many times, weakening Indonesia's naval combat capabilities and firmly grasping the initiative on the sea battlefield.

  When the smoke of Kalimantan island was blown away by the sea breeze, those suspended tiny gunpowder particles were still faintly lingering in the air until they were finally wrapped up by the salty and humid sea breeze and rushed towards the South China Sea and the Indian subcontinent.

  Islands, waves, lighthouse, mountain ranges, the wind's whereabouts makes these fleeting tiny sparks in the ocean's breath float northward, always northward.

  The air gradually dries up, and the water vapor that has condensed during this time is slowly dissipating. It's said that it's because of this that the land here is so beautiful, always filled with an enchanting flavor.

  The cold wind at night was so chilling that it penetrated to the bone, and even two thick fleece-lined jackets could not ward off the chill.

  Jianming Zhong, dressed in military uniform, shook his head and gazed coldly at the distant lights with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

  "Tell the brethren that the future of the Marine Corps will be glorious, not like the sinking shame."

  He raised his hand to cover his nose and took a deep sniff before turning around to face the soldiers standing behind him.

  "Understood, sir! We will fight for the future of the Nanhua nation!" A young man with a second lieutenant rank saluted and patted his chest respectfully in front of Major General Zhu Jianming.

  "Navy and Air Force have done a great job, we are the crocodiles in the water, the tigers on land. Next is Africa, we will soon embrace you."

  Gabon is located in the central western coast of Africa, across the equator, bordering the Republic of Congo to the east and south, Cameroon to the north, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, with a coastline of 800 kilometers.

  The country covers an area of 267,667 square kilometers, with coastal areas being alluvial plains and inland regions being plateaus and mountains.

  The main mountains are: the Kirthar Mountains in the north, the Gum Nari-Bugti and Suleiman Mountains in the south, and the Bhir Mound in the southeast.

  All mountains are above 1,000 meters in elevation, with Mount Ibongji being the highest peak at 1,575 meters.

  The longest river in the country is the Ogooué River, which originates on the Batéké Plateau of Congo and flows 1,200 km west through Gabon to empty into the Atlantic Ocean at Port-Gentil.

  Ngunie, Iwindo, Ofoue, Okano and Abanga are its 5 main tributaries, with a basin area of 220,000 square kilometers.

  Other rivers include: Komoe River, Lompo-Nianga River and Niangba River, all flowing from east to west into the Atlantic Ocean.

  Gabon is rich in natural resources, mainly oil, timber and manganese.

  The exploitable petroleum reserve is about 400 million tons.

  Manganese ore reserves are 200 million tons, accounting for a quarter of the world's proven reserves.

  The niobium reserve is about 400,000 tons, accounting for 5% of the world's total reserves.

  Iron ore reserves of 800 million to 1 billion tons, with a grade of over 60%.

  Other mineral deposits include phosphate, gold, barite, nickel, chromium and zinc.

  The forest area accounts for 85% of the country's land area, with a timber reserve of about 400 million cubic meters, ranking third in Africa.

  There are over 400 species of commercial trees nationwide, mainly Okoume and Ozigo, with a stock volume of 130 million cubic meters for the former, ranking first in the world.

  Aquatic resources 817,000 tons, of which fishery resources about 234,000 tons, including marine fish 210,000 tons, freshwater fish 24,000 tons.