On the third day after the People's Warship attacked again, Prince Heinrich of Germany, who had been living in Qingdao, conveyed to Huadong** that the Netherlands ** requested Germany to mediate between Huadong** and the Netherlands, and was willing to accept Huadong**'s demand for compensation and conduct peace negotiations with Huadong** alone.

It turned out that after East China announced the countermeasures, the United States, which was pinned on high hopes by the five countries, only made a verbal protest to East China, and did not take any substantive action, which also made the five countries very disappointed, although Britain and France persuaded the United States to take more drastic actions to exert pressure on East China, but the United States politely refused, after all, the United States did not want to be used as a gun by Britain and France.

Of course, Britain and France can still hold on, and Japan and Russia can wait and see for a while, only the Netherlands can't hold its breath, after all, among the five countries, only the Netherlands has the weakest national strength and the lowest endurance, and in the countermeasures of East China, it is clearly mentioned that it is going to attack Java, which is a loss that the Netherlands cannot bear anyway, so the Netherlands has also continuously contacted Britain and France, hoping that Britain and France can come up with an effective response plan to deal with East China's countermeasures.

But now Britain and France are still a bag on their own, and they really can't come up with any effective response plan, so they can only persuade the Netherlands not to worry, East China ** is just a bluff, and they are now exhausted, and it is impossible to send a fleet to attack Java, as long as it lasts for a few more months, East China ** will automatically collapse, and then the five countries will win without a fight or something.

However, although the Netherlands is a small country, it is a European country after all, and it is impossible for a politically naïve country to gain a foothold in this land full of wars and strife, not to mention that the ancestors of the Dutch are also broad, 200 years ago, but the famous sea coachman, once competed with Britain for the supremacy of the sea, what kind of conspiracy and conspiracy methods have also played a lot. It's not easy to be fooled easily.

Between the inactive attitude of Britain and France, the Netherlands** realized that they could not completely leave their fate to Britain and France, and had to find other plans for themselves. At this time, in the Netherlands, some people proposed that Germany should be asked to mediate between the Netherlands and East China.

Although Germany took the initiative to ask for mediation last time, it was politely declined by the Netherlands, but after all, it did not say anything to death, and in the Netherlands, there are also a considerable number of people who support the abandonment of Britain and France and the mediation by Germany, because they believe that Germany and East China have a close relationship, and there is still a great certainty of success in mediation. Since it announced its countermeasures in East China, and Britain and France had a perfunctory attitude, some people even thought that if they had not followed Britain and France to the black, they might have successfully negotiated with East China now, and it would have been necessary to wait until now. Therefore, it is also feasible to ask Germany to intervene, and of course this is the only way out for the Netherlands now. Of course, this can also put pressure on Britain and France, and if you are still perfunctory, then the Netherlands will have to go to Germany.

So the Netherlands through its ambassador to Germany to Germany to mediate, that this time Germany is on the table, Prime Minister Billow to the Dutch ambassador said that although Germany wants to help the Netherlands, but now at this time, there is nothing to do, after all, East China has been released, although Germany and East China have had some cooperation, but there is not too deep friendship, it is difficult to persuade it to take back, and East China may not accept Germany's mediation, so please ask the Netherlands to find other countries to help, Germany is really helpless.

However, although Germany said that it could not do the work of mediation, there were also people in the Netherlands who understood that Germany was putting on a show, nothing more than asking the Netherlands to come up with some benefits, and the Netherlands hoped that Germany would mediate.

But at this time, Britain and France are also not angry, if the Netherlands really seeks German mediation, not only will Britain and France lose face, but also the internal division of the five-nation alliance of the expeditionary force, which will have a huge impact on Britain and France, because now Britain and France are under tremendous pressure. Therefore, Britain and France also expressed their concerns to the Netherlands through their ambassadors to the Netherlands, and advised the Netherlands not to ask Germany for mediation, but in the face of the plan proposed by the Netherlands to deal with East China's countermeasures, Britain and France still can't come up with it. But this rhetoric clearly does not convince the Netherlands.

And at this moment, the fleet of East China's ** attacked again, and the target was pointed at Java, which became the last straw that pressed the camel. The Netherlands also knew that it could not be delayed any longer, otherwise it would be too late for Java to be occupied by East China. So, Dutch Prime Minister Theo de Mestre personally sent a telegram to Britain and France, hoping that Britain would send a few warships from the Singapore base, and France would be able to support some of its forces from the colonies of Indochina to jointly defend Java, but Britain and France refused.

In fact, this is the last test of the Netherlands, and the results show that it is impossible for Britain and France to help the Netherlands resist the attack of East China, and it is also to make the politicians in the Netherlands who still believe in Britain and France completely wake up, so Dutch Prime Minister Theo de Mestre immediately visited Germany, and held talks with German Prime Minister Billow, and finally determined that the Netherlands will take Madura Island in the northeast of Java Island, and the southern peninsula of Sulawesi, a total of about 24,000 square kilometers, was transferred to Germany as a thank you for German mediation, and agreed to pay reparations to East China**, and even a part of the colonies, as a condition for negotiations, the Dutch goal was also very simple, as long as Java could be kept.

Germany was very satisfied with this reward, although the area obtained was not large, but it was a regain of a foothold in the Asian region, and the southern peninsula of Madura Island and Sulawesi Island were located on the coast of the Java Sea, and the geographical location was quite good, which greatly promoted the expansion of Germany's sphere of influence in Asia.

This is also the result that East China has been waiting for, so it also went along with the water, accepted the mediation of Germany, and conducted peace negotiations with the Netherlands, and the negotiation venue was set in Qingdao.

The Netherlands immediately proposed that since the two sides had decided to hold negotiations, East China should cancel the attack on Java and withdraw the fleet as a sign of sincerity. However, this request was rejected by Huadong **, saying that the fleet would not be withdrawn until the negotiations were completed, and the military operation to attack Java would continue as usual, unless the two sides could reach a peace agreement before the fleet arrived in Java and the contract was successful, and the military operation could be stopped. Whether the fleet docks in Java depends on the content of the contract between the two parties, or the fleet may dock in Java to fulfill the content of the contract.

Of course, the Netherlands knows that this is East China ** exerting pressure on itself, and the fleet will arrive in Java, that is, ten or twenty days, and if the Netherlands wants to keep Java, it must ensure the success of the negotiations during this time, but this is bound to go to East China** Giving up a lot of interests, but now the Netherlands has no capital to say no, and the mediator Germany also advised the Netherlands not to waste time on these details, to start negotiations as soon as possible, and to strive for an early peace agreement is the right reason, so the Netherlands can only accept this condition, of course, it can also think that this negotiation, I am afraid that I will have to pay a huge price, but at this point, the negotiations will be completed.

Due to the urgency of time, the Netherlands** appointed Bellas, the minister to the Qing court, as the negotiator, Koman, the former consul in Qingdao, as the deputy representative, and the representative of East China** was Li Sanjie, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the negotiations, East China ** set extremely harsh conditions, demanding that the Netherlands pay 30 million pounds in compensation, cede the Dutch colonial part of Kalimantan Island, Sulawesi, and implement Chinese autonomy in Java, the proportion of Chinese officials in Java colonization ** should rise to half, and at the same time, East China ** enjoys the most favored nation treatment in Java, and all tariffs are exempted.

Of course, such a condition is unacceptable to the Netherlands, because according to the conditions set by East China, the Netherlands only has the sovereignty of Java on the surface, but in fact it is completely hollowed out by East China, so it is better to simply let East China occupy Java, at least let the Netherlands save the reparations. Of course, the Dutch are also familiar with the rules of negotiation, which is nothing more than asking for a sky-high price, paying back the money on the spot, leaving room for concessions, and finally achieving the real goal they expected. It's just that I don't have much time to stay in the Netherlands now, and I don't have time to bargain slowly with East China** one by one.

But no matter how difficult the negotiations are, they still have to continue, so the Netherlands ** on the one hand let Bellas, Koeman and Li Sanjie discuss article by article, bargain little by little, and talk about the evening every day, and on the other hand, ask Germany to come forward to help the Netherlands speak, hoping that East China ** can make concessions.

The negotiations lasted for 7 days, and under the soft and hard bubbles of the Dutch negotiators, Germany also symbolically persuaded them, so East China ** also made certain concessions, reducing the compensation from 30 million pounds to 10 million pounds; the ceded area was only part of the Dutch colony on Kalimantan Island, and Sulawesi Island was abandoned; the Chinese autonomy was implemented in Java and the Chinese autonomous region was demarcated instead; the proportion of Chinese officials in the Java colonization ** still continued [Java Treaty] Unchanged, other such as most-favored-nation treatment, tariff reduction, etc., are also waived, and only need to give certain preferential treatment to East China.