readx(); It can be said that Van der Spiegel was still a little excited to hear that the Tang people intended to pull the Netherlands in the Anglo-Dutch war. After all, the Netherlands is now basically at the end of its rope. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British used three Anglo-Dutch wars to basically deal a heavy blow to the Dutch position as a coachman on the sea. The Dutch, who had strong trade capabilities and fleets, and were very poor in military organization and tactics, also swallowed the bitter fruit, not only losing to the British colonies in North America and other colonies, but also losing their monopoly position in the world's trade.

By the time of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the Netherlands had fallen behind Britain in terms of national strength, and even the Dutch consul William V and the Grand Adviser Van der Spiegel believed that it was impossible for the Netherlands to defeat the British. Even if the British lost a lot of troops in the previous North American War of Independence and the War of the Three Great Powers, they consumed a lot. But the British were very good at picking their opponents and picked up the Dutch piece of fat to nourish.

What alarmed the Netherlands even more was that the Royal Navy would grow stronger and stronger over time. This is because the British shipyard signed a contract with the Datang side to help it transform dozens of sail warships into steam ironclad warships, and the Dutch have not had a similar warship so far, and the Dutch can be said to have no resistance in the face of the Royal Navy that optimizes its combat power.

Van der Spiegel, of course, hoped that the Don Army would be able to go out and help the Dutch resist the British. Even in Europe, Van der Spiegel has heard a lot of news about the military strength of the Tang Dynasty. It was not only the Don Army that supported the Americans in defeating the British, but also armed the French and the Spaniards with arms and severely chopped a piece of meat on the British. Moreover, the Dutch, whose trade involves Asia, naturally knows that the Tang Republic launched a war against the Qing State, a large country in the Far East, two years ago, crossed the Pacific Ocean, sent tens of thousands of troops to the Far East, and directly attacked the capital of the Qing State. This war directly enabled the Tang Dynasty to gain a special status in the Qing State and won great economic and trade interests. There is no European country that is not coveted. Afterwards, the British, the Dutch, and even the Portuguese all wanted to obtain a trade status equivalent to that of the Tang Dynasty, but before the Qing people could say anything, the Tang people jumped out and said that they were delusional. And the heads of European countries are not bad enough to dare to fight against the Tang people in the Far East. The Tang had an extremely strong military presence there, and the Europeans thought of sending tens of thousands of people to China to fight. It's already something that feels impossible. The point is that you can't beat it yet.

The main battlefields of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War were at sea and in the colonies, and the part involving the land was not large. The Dutch did not have many strong garrisons in their colonies, and the British could almost easily win. If the Tang people provided military assistance, then even if the sea was vast, then the British Royal Navy would become incapacitated, even if they had steam ironclads, they would still not be able to fight against the Tang Navy, this logic is understandable. Because it is impossible for the Don to sell the best weapons to foreigners.

Chu Bai naturally would not provide armed assistance to the Netherlands on behalf of Datang, because it would not benefit Datang much. Dutch merchant ships are constantly sailing on the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States, even if the Tang Navy fleet is huge, it can't take care of it, there will always be a merchant fleet will be targeted by the British, and the British are also using such means to constantly grab benefits, so as to make up for their previous war losses. The effect of Datang sending troops to help each other will not be good, and Datang does not want to send troops in the first place. Although the Tang Dynasty is still engaged in colonial wars in Southeast Asia, the core content of the country is already immigration and development. A large number of immigrants in the country are moving in and settling down, and the United China Special Economic Zone is also rapidly prospering and developing. Building a country requires a lot of money and manpower, and it is not easy for Datang to supply the colonial war in Southeast Asia, so naturally it will not send additional troops around the world to help the Dutch fight against British pirates.

And take advantage of the fire to rob. Making a fortune by the way has always been characterized by the spirit of pragmatism and extremely pragmatic Tang politics, so Chu Bai also brought his own solutions.

"Although there is no way to send troops to help the Netherlands against the British, after all, we have signed a peace agreement with the British before, but we have a way to solve the Dutch plight, and at the same time minimize the losses of the Netherlands, and even make the Netherlands more benefits later." Chu Bai said.

This made Van der Spiegel very curious, and asked, "I wonder what kind of genius idea this is?" ”

Chu Bai smiled: "Geniuses don't dare to be, in fact, the method is very simple." It was also to take advantage of the fact that there was a peace agreement between Tang and England, if the Dutch would take the colonies under the jurisdiction of the Dutch East India Company. All of them will be transferred to the Republic of Datang and make it sovereignly the territory of Datang. Then the British naturally did not dare to attack. ”

Van der Spiegel almost broke the delicate Datang production glass in his hand, and said in horror: "What? Let's transfer all the colonies to you, why? reads();！ ”

"First of all, not all the colonies, but all the colonies of the Dutch East India Company, that is, the colonies of Batavia, Sumatra, the Maluku Islands, and the colonies of Southeast Asia such as Makassar. As I said, this proposal is very operable and beneficial to the Netherlands. Once these colonies are transferred to our Datang, the Datang will send men and ships to defend these areas, and the British will not dare to make a mistake to us. In the colonies, the various industries of the Netherlands will naturally be protected, and the life and property of the Dutch people will not have to worry. What we are asking for is the transfer of local sovereignty and governance by the Netherlands to us, with the protection of you. And for the sake of Sino-Dutch friendship, we can offer the Netherlands preferential terms, such as a wide range of exemptions from the trade duties of Dutch merchant ships and traders in these former Dutch colonies, and allow the Dutch to operate here. Even for the sake of friendship, we can further open up our trade with the Dutch in Borneo, Mindanao, Srivijaya and Siam in the same way as Batavia and Sumatra. You see, although the Netherlands nominally transferred their colonies to our Tang Republic, in reality you gained more regional trade access. Needless to say, what is the current operating capacity of the Dutch East India Company, as everyone in Europe knows, it is full of * and inefficient, which cannot bring more wealth to the United Republic of the Netherlands, and even drags down the Netherlands. With the management ability of our Tang people, we will be able to develop Batavia and other regions more thoroughly, expand the market and economy, the Dutch friends have saved a lot of energy, but they have more choices, and can earn greater profits, why not? ”

His words made Van der Spiegel actually have the idea of "what you said is so reasonable, I can't refute it". Van der Spiegel belonged to the Orange faction on the Dutch political spectrum, in opposition to the so-called Patriot faction, that is, to support the ruling Prince of Orange, William V. But Van der Spiegel knew that the Dutch East India Company was at the end of its rope as it grew. One of the important reasons for this is that the Tang Republic, which dominates the Asian seas, has crowded out the trade of the Dutch East India Company. Although the two sides had been doing business, Datang goods and Asian goods controlled by Datang had greatly reduced the competitiveness of the Dutch East India Company. At the same time, the company's own * and mismanagement problems are also a huge disaster. On the other hand, after the Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch East India Company came to an end, and was finally officially dissolved in 1799.

Even though the Dutch East India Company was the world's first mega-corporation, had the state function of issuing currency to hire soldiers, and was a private capital company, it was also under the control of the Dutch government. In fact, this kind of thing is not uncommon, and after the colonial company develops to a certain point, it will be directly picked by the relevant countries, which is their mission.

Now that the Netherlands is in the dust, the British may send troops to occupy these areas at any time, then they may lose all the East Indies colonies, the British will not even leave them Mao, the goods will be taken away, people will be killed, and the colonies will be directly occupied, and it is impossible for the Dutch to enter again in the future. And if, as Chu Bai said, the colony was transferred to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty still protected the property and business of the Dutch here, and guaranteed the trade of the Netherlands, then the loss would be limited. Datang is originally a trading country, similar to the Netherlands, and should not regret this. In addition, the Tang Dynasty also agreed to open up their trade with other colonies in Southeast Asia, which was equivalent to expanding Dutch trade in Southeast Asia in disguise, which was quite good.

This kind of thing that changes colonies in war is not without precedent. During the Seven Years' War, the French handed over Louisiana to Spain to prevent the British from seizing the region directly from France after the war. And because the French had a deep presence there, even though they were nominally Spanish, the French still enjoyed local privileges and traded with the Indians, while the Spanish colonial government had to accommodate the local French.

In the end, Chu Bai added another bargaining chip, he proposed that Datang should borrow 20 million Tang Yuan from the Netherlands at low interest, and provide low-cost Datang weapons to the Netherlands, and transform and manufacture new warships and new steam merchant ships for the Netherlands. These things may not have any obvious effect on the Netherlands in the short term, but considering that Datang's intervention itself is a deterrent to the UK, and with these new weapons and new technologies, the Netherlands will also enhance its national strength in the future, and it will be more confident in the face of the enemy, which can be regarded as a major benefit. (To be continued.) )