Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne Chapter 278

William IV carefully observed the devious trajectory of Britain's success in arms sales, and found that Britain was almost creating wars. The anti-Napoleonic war of the year made British weapons sold to European countries to make a lot of money, making the Tsarist Russia Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, The Kingdom of Prussia, Austria, etc. became his arms dealer customers.

After the Crimean War, the anti-Russian coalition forces brought the Kingdom of France into their arms dealer customer base. Even Italy and the Ottoman Empire bought more weapons than France, and the United Kingdom made a lot of money.

In less than ten years, under the pressure of weapons accumulated by arms dealers, it finally promoted the division of Millikin, and supported the Confederate States of the South, which had a poor industrial base and could not be self-reliant in weapons. All the weapons accumulated by the British were transported to the south of Millikin, and the British arms dealers made war fortunes in the war.

William IV naturally followed suit, and even recently pulled Britain in behind his back. In this way, Britain's own weapons were not enough, and there was no place for them to sell them. Instead, it gave the Netherlands the opportunity to occupy the original British market. .

However, the Netherlands will also develop new markets. For example, William IV was thinking about the information he saw some time ago. The colonies of Britain and France on the Far East-South-Asia Peninsula are gradually advancing. Should the Netherlands push it? The tension around the Kingdom of Siam has made the sales of Dutch weapons smoother. However, William IV was worried that the peaceful situation in the Far East would enter a troubled time, so he was always very cautious and was afraid of making a move. Whole body, influence the development trend of the development of the Dutch Far East.

Especially in the sales market of industrial products, if there is a war, the market of the Siamese Empire with a population of 8 million may shrink sharply, which will lose a reliable market for industrial products in the Dutch East Indies and the Australian mainland, although it is said that it can be It is filled by expanding South America, and even the big country in the Far East can increase its offensive efforts, but due to the dominant position of Britain and France, the Netherlands Suri'an ranks third in the market share, but it is still difficult to completely eat Siam. The market that the Kingdom of Luo may have lost.

Some people say that the Asian version of NATO is already under construction, and the AustraliUK-US alliance (AUKUS) is a prototype. A Bloomberg reporter recently raised this question during an interview with Foreign Minister Dr. Wei Wen, and Wei Wen replied: I can immediately deny it. Why? The Minister's explanation was, firstly, ASEAN is not a military alliance, and secondly, we are not looking for any superpower to be the godfather of Southeast Asia. ASEAN is focused on trade, economic integration, and expanding our connectivity with all our partners, including the superpowers. We are not interested in military alliances at all.

However, there are disadvantages and advantages. It is quite ironic to see the living environment of the Kingdom of Siam facing both Britain and France.

In the past, what the Tolbek cabinet government of the Netherlands could not do after years of hard work has now allowed the expansion of France in South Vietnam and the expansion of Britain in lower Burma and upward Burma, but this situation has been easily settled.

Originally, Rama IV always wanted to balance the relationship between the Kingdom of Siam and European countries, especially recently he also applied to join the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the International Red Cross, and the International Women's Union. The advanced weapons of China are perfunctory, because they do not want to stimulate Britain and France, and want to continue to maintain the neutrality of the West among the four major powers in the Far East, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Even Tolbek once complained to him about his dissatisfaction with Rama IV. He was so furious that he threatened to push his crown prince Chulalongkorn, who was a handsome man, to power. Fortunately, he was appeased by William IV. calm.

Having said that, just like the Netherlands in Europe, the Kingdom of Siam faces the attack of the Netherlands' industrial products, and also faces the French and South Vietnam's step-by-step northward expansion. The unintentional infiltration made Rama IV very uneasy, and the western British infiltrated lower Burma to upper Burma, which inevitably led to turmoil in Laos in the northern part of the Kingdom of Siam, which made Rama IV even more uneasy. The Kingdom of Siam It seems that it is only discovered, but it is difficult to avoid becoming the wrestling field of Western countries.

Gu Yong

Prime Minister Tolbeck: "England and France have ambitions for the territory there, but the Netherlands does not, which makes the Kingdom of Siam naturally want the latter. So recently, I have frequently courted the Netherlands, and even Rama IV passed through Anna and expressed his consent. The Netherlands has always asked to join the Dutch military alliance, and the Kingdom of Siam is completely dependent on the Netherlands for security.

It is the turbulent situation of East-South-Asia. Since the beginning of this year, the Kingdom of Siam has also purchased Dutch arms made in the Netherlands Far East in batches, and even expressed that it wants the Netherlands to help expand several naval bases in Bangkok Bay and eastern Cambodia. The Kemara Puming Port and Sihanoukville City Port in the region, of course, the Songkhla Port, Phuket Port, etc., which are close to the British colony of Malaya, also want to invite the Netherlands in the name of expansion, I really want to invite The Netherlands helped to stem the dissatisfaction and ambitions of Britain's expansion north in Malacca.

Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Siam has requests from us now, and I think it's time for us to propose to the country what we wanted back then."

William IV hesitated, and finally, agreed with Tolbek's idea. The Netherlands seems to be in the Far East, and it has been quieter recently compared to Britain and France.

"Well, my Excellency Prime Minister, wait a minute, and now I propose that you only provoke Rama IV's ill will, isn't France having ambitions in the Cambodia region?" It just happened that Napoleon III was too busy recently, and we let both sides suffer, we It is good to enter the game, so that when Rama IV arrives, he is begging us, not now that we need to oppress the other side, and the other side will give us reluctantly."

Tolbek heard the words and agreed.

William IV: "France has been making frequent moves in Mexico recently, but since the Confederate States of Millikin are fighting with the Commonwealth of Millikin in the north, to prevent the disadvantage of the north from going south, it has recently stopped fighting with France. There is a conflict in the direction of Mexico, so France is progressing smoothly. It can be said that it is taking advantage of the fisherman. The same is true in the direction of Europe. The international status of the United Kingdom has declined, and France seems to have improved. The national strength is also slowly recovering due to the damage in Mexico.

This is not necessarily a good thing for the Netherlands. We need a pit for France to fall into. Napoleon III, who is assisted by Olivier, bullies the good and fears the evil, and does not dare to easily confront the United Kingdom.

This is also why the former ally in Italy (the former Kingdom of Sardinia) who was willing to give up control of the Suez Canal to the United Kingdom turned into a younger brother of the United Kingdom and could only pretend to be indifferent.

So I estimate that Napoleon III will not easily fight with the British in the Far East. The biggest situation is to try to reach an understanding in private on the issue of infiltrating the Kingdom of Siam. It's not a good thing to say. Therefore, the Netherlands needs the Kingdom of Siam, a weak person in the eyes of France, to secretly support the other party, to trap France, even the kind that can't be easily pulled out, just like the United Kingdom. North America, then, can weaken France, and then

In the end, William IV was surprised by Tolbeck and said: "In the end, we can lure the Prussian ambitions out, lose both, and put the Western European troika into a state of weakened national strength."

Chapter end