Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

William IV carefully observed the treacherous trajectory of Britain's successful arms sales, and found that Britain was almost creating wars. The anti-Napoleonic war made British weapons rich in money sold to European countries, which made the Tsarist Empire, the Kingdom of Sweden, and The Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia became its arms dealer customers.

Later, in the Crimean War in 1853, the anti-Russian coalition was formed, and the French Empire was brought into their arms dealer customer base. Even Italy and the Ottoman Empire bought more weapons than France, and the British made a lot of money. Full.

In less than ten years, the pressure of weapons accumulated by arms dealers finally promoted the split of the United States and supported the Confederate States, which had a poor industrial base and found it difficult to be self-reliant in weapons. The British were allowed to transport all the mountains of weapons to southern America, and the British arms dealers made another war fortune during the war.

Naturally, William IV followed suit, and even recently dragged Britain into it behind the scenes. In this way, Britain's own weapons were not enough, and there would be no way to sell them. This in turn gave the Netherlands the opportunity to occupy Britain's original international territory. market.

However, the Netherlands will also develop new markets. For example, William IV was thinking about the intelligence he had seen some time ago. The British and French colonies in the East-South Asia Peninsula in the Far East were gradually advancing. The Netherlands was hesitant. The situation around the Kingdom of Siam is expected to be more tense, so that the Dutch arms sales will be smoother.

However, William IV was worried that as a result, the peaceful situation in the Far East would enter a troubled period.

Therefore, he has always been very cautious, fearing that one move would affect the whole body and affect the development trend of the Dutch Far East.

Especially the industrial product sales market. If a war breaks out, the market of 8 million people in the Siam Empire may shrink sharply. This will lose a reliable market for the industrial products of the Dutch East Indies and the Australian continent, although it is said that it can It can be filled by expanding South America. Even the big country in the Far East can increase its offensive efforts. However, due to the dominance of Britain and France there, the Dutch Surian ranks third in terms of market share, but it is still difficult to completely conquer Siam. The market that the Kingdom of Luo may have lost.

However, there are disadvantages as well as advantages. Looking at the current living environment of the Kingdom of Siam facing the attack from both Britain and France, it is quite ironic.

In the past, what the Dutch Tolbeck cabinet government was unable to do after several years of hard work, but now France's expansion in South Vietnam and Britain's expansion in Lower Burma have made it easy to settle this situation.

Originally, Rama IV had always wanted to balance the relationship between the Kingdom of Siam and European countries. Especially recently, he had applied to join the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the International Red Cross, the International Women's League and other organizations. However, he was unwilling to increase defense spending and purchase more Dutch The advanced weapons were produced in a perfunctory manner because they did not want to irritate Britain and France and wanted to continue the West's neutrality among the four major countries in the Far East: Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Spain. Tolbek even once complained to him about his dissatisfaction with Rama IV. In anger, he threatened to push his wise man, the handsome Crown Prince Chulalongkorn, to power. Fortunately, he was appeased by William IV. calm.

Having said that, just like the Netherlands in Europe, the Kingdom of Siam faced the industrial products attack of the Netherlands, and also faced the French and South Vietnam's step-by-step northward expansion, expanding the border with the Kingdom of Siam. Now it is interested in the Cambodian region in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Siam. The unintentional infiltration made Rama IV very uneasy. The British infiltration from lower Burma to Upper Burma in the west inevitably caused unrest 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 has just discovered that it is difficult to avoid becoming a wrestling field for Western countries.

Prime Minister Tolbeck: "Britain and France have ambitions for the territory there, but the Netherlands does not. This makes the Kingdom of Siam naturally gravitate towards the latter. Therefore, it has frequently shown goodwill to the Netherlands recently, and even Rama IV expressed his agreement after passing by Anna. The Netherlands has always requested to join the Dutch Military Alliance, and the Kingdom of Siam completely relies on the Netherlands for security.

Due to the treacherous situation in East-South Asia, since this year, the Kingdom of Siam has also purchased batches of Dutch arms manufactured in the Far East. It even expressed that it wants the Netherlands to help expand several naval bases in the Bay of Bangkok and eastern Cambodia. The Kemalapmin Port and Sihanoukville Port in the region, of course, and Songkhla Port, Phuket Port, etc., which are close to the British colonial Malaya region, also want to invite the Netherlands in the name of expansion, but in fact they want to invite the Netherlands. The Dutch helped prevent British dissatisfaction and ambitions of expanding northward in Malacca.

Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Siam now needs something from us, and I think it’s time for us to ask the country for the place we wanted back then.”

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

"Well, my Excellency, Prime Minister, please wait a moment. Now, if you want to provoke King Rama IV's displeasure, isn't it because France has ambitions in the Cambodian region?

It just so happens that Napoleon III has been too idle recently, so we let both sides suffer, so that we can enter the game. That way, when Rama IV arrives, he will beg us, instead of now we need to oppress the other party, and the other party's heart Give it to us unwillingly. "

Hearing this, Tolbeck agreed.

William IV: "France has been taking frequent actions in Mexico recently, but because the Confederate States of America are focusing their energy on fighting the Confederate States of America in the north to prevent the north from expanding its disadvantages going south, it has recently stopped conflicting with France in the direction of Mexico. Therefore, France is progressing smoothly, and it can be said that it is reaping the benefits. The same is true in the European direction. Britain's international status has declined, while 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, assisted by Olivier, bullied good and feared evil, and did not dare to easily confront Britain.

This is why they were willing to give up control of the Suez Canal to Britain, and then pretended to be indifferent when Italy (the former Kingdom of Sardinia), a former ally, rebelled and became Britain's little brother.

Therefore, I estimate that Napoleon III would not easily start a fight with Britain in the Far East. The biggest situation would be to try to reach a private understanding on the issue of infiltrating the Kingdom of Siam. The two countries would act independently in the east and west without interfering with each other. This would be very important to the Netherlands. This is not a good thing at all. Therefore, the Netherlands needs the Kingdom of Siam, a weakling in the eyes of France, to secretly support the other side and trap France, even the kind that cannot be easily pulled out, just like the United Kingdom. Only then can France be weakened like North America, and then"

William IV was finally surprised by Tolbeck and said: "In the end, Prussia's ambitions were lured out, both sides suffered losses, and the three Western European carriages were completely reduced to a state of weakened national power."

Thanks to book friend Gem. Chess, CC, and book friend 20201013184258194 for the reward. I also thank other book friends and various votes for their support.