"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is a discordant plan of the British."

In the imperial study, Cui Shangan handed over the information transmitted from Nanyang to Xiao Ming, although now the news transmission in China is much faster because of the appearance of the telegram, but when the General Staff received the thunderous war report, half a month has passed since this sudden incident, after all, there is a distance of 3,000 miles from Indonesia to Guangzhou.

Xiao Ming snorted lightly and slammed the battle report on the table, he said: "This matter would rather be believed than not believed, I have always been worried about the Netherlands, after all, in Europe, the Netherlands is a small country, and the navy has also declined, and it is easy to compromise under the coercion of the powers." ”

"It's just that if there is a war with the Dutch, we will probably have to cut off our rubber trade." Cui Shangan is a little worried, as rubber enters every node of the industry, the importance of rubber is becoming more and more prominent.

In these years, even the trade in rubber with the Dutch could not meet the current needs of the empire, so the price of rubber products in the empire remained high.

mentioned this Xiao Ming was even more angry, and he said to Cui Shangan; "Don't believe in any friendship between nations, the Dutch know this better than we do, they make a lot of money in the rubber trade, and they are not soft on us in terms of prices, and if I had feared that the industrial development of the empire would be shackled by rubber, I would have stopped this unfortunate trade long ago."

In contemporary times, a ton of rubber can be sold for about 15,000, and in this era of rubber scarcity, the Dutch are even darker, and every ton of rubber Dutch sells for 1,000 dragon coins, almost reaching the ratio of one gram of gold to one gram of rubber.

He had long been dissatisfied with such a huge trade deficit, but now that he had a solution, he continued; "I have already thought of a way to solve this problem, after the fall of the Golden Horde, the grassland is the asset of the empire, there is a small grass called rubber grass near the Tianshan Mountains, if the rubber trade is interrupted, it can be replaced by rubber grass for the time being, and the empire has been opening up rubber tree plantations over the years, and now the Hainan generation has a large rubber forest, generally speaking, it only takes six years for rubber to be harvested from planting, and now six years have passed, and it can be collected, so that rubber grass is added, The Empire's own rubber has been able to meet the current needs of the Empire. ”

"Rubber grass." Cui Shangan showed a surprised look, he realized that he still knew too little.

Xiao Ming nodded and explained, "This kind of rubber grass is distributed in the Tianshan Mountains, it grows vigorously like pasture, the cycle is short, it can be planted like pasture grass in rotation, it looks a bit like dandelions, after the surrender of the Golden Horde, I have arranged for some slaves to go to the Tianshan Mountains to open up a rubber grass planting base, and it is estimated that the harvest will be seen that year." ”

Cui Shangan breathed a sigh of relief, and now the worries in his heart disappeared, and he said with a smile: "After being blackmailed by the Dutch for many years, now the empire can finally breathe a sigh of relief, in this case, the empire does not need to be afraid of them, as long as the evidence is conclusive, we will completely drive the Dutch out of Asia." ”

"Whether it is true or not, the defenders of the Ryukyus are now ordered to be on full alert, and if there is any disturbance from the Dutch, they will be annihilated immediately." Xiao Ming said coldly.

Cui Shangan's expression became serious and he answered.

……

The city of Geranza.

Eric was pacing uneasily in the Doge's Palace, where news of the capture of Nurant had reached him, and he was very disturbed.

Because while the news of the victory of the Chinese Empire was spreading, rumors of mysterious letters were also flying on the Governor of Nuland.

He couldn't tell if the rumor was intentional or leaked.

"Governor Eric, time is running out for us, and although it is not something we want to see, we are Dutch, and we must obey the decisions of Congress."

Stephen looked at Eric, who had arrived in the city of Geranza eighteen days earlier, and announced to him a new congressional appointment to him.

"A bunch of crazy people, you don't understand the horror of the Chinese Empire at all, the British and French are forcing us to die!" Eric was furious.

Stephen showed a helpless look, he said: "Eric, as a Dutchman, you have to think about the safety of the Dutch people, if we continue to adhere to the policy of being close to the Chinese Empire, we will suffer a British blockade at sea and a French attack on land, do you think we can resist the French attack?" Trade with the Chinese Empire is indeed lucrative, but the safety of the country is more important, and now is the time for you to make a decision, and I am sure that the letters they have found must have been about the political situation in the Netherlands, and if they do not act, I am afraid it will be too late. ”

Eric's expression changed again and again, according to the plan of the Congress, they would first deal with the imperial soldiers in the city of Geranza, and then gather Manila, the warships and soldiers from the two places in Malaysia would attack Xinjiapo, and after capturing Malacca, British and French reinforcements would arrive to stop the westward advance of the Chinese Empire with Malacca as the boundary.

Stephen's series of words made Eric let out a long sigh, and he said: "Stephen, you have to understand the consequences of making this decision, the Netherlands will completely lose Manila, Indonesia, and the trade routes in Asia. ”

"The British and the French agreed to cede a part of the colonial markets in Africa and the Americas to us to make up for our losses, Eric, let's open a little, Asia is too far away from us, and the British and French are too close to us."

Turning to look out the window at the bloody sun, Eric nodded slightly, he had hesitated for a long time about this matter, and now it seemed that the time had come for him to make a decision, after all, the contents of this letter were likely to expose them, and he could not take the risk.

Before the Chinese Empire could be ready, they had to flee the city of Geranza.

"In that case, let's take action tonight, may God bless us to return to Holland alive." Eric's expression was firm, the Netherlands was his country, his family was in Amsterdam, and he couldn't leave it all behind.

Stephen breathed a sigh of relief, he had underestimated Eric's fear of the Chinese Empire when he first arrived, and now his mission was finally accomplished.

At this time, Eric looked at the Imperial garrison outside the Governor's Palace, and continued: "I am afraid that it is impossible to evacuate from here intact, but our soldiers cannot die in vain, at least we must get the Han rifles and machine guns of the Chinese Empire. ”

Stephen's eyes seemed to twinkle, "That's right, it's going to sell for a good price in Europe, Eric, and you'll leave a big mark on Dutch history." ”