It should be said that the conditions at this time were much better than those at the beginning of the negotiations, and the East China Government did make considerable concessions, but of course these concessions were actually within the concession space that the East China Government had set aside long ago, and the current result was basically the actual goal set by the East China Government before the negotiations.

The Netherlands is a small country, with a territory of just over 40,000 square kilometers and a population of only 6 or 7 million, and it is not realistic to expect to receive a large amount of reparations from the Netherlands, but this is the first negotiation object of the five countries of the expeditionary force, and it has a great guiding role, so if the concessions to the Netherlands are too great, it will have an adverse impact on the subsequent negotiations, and Britain and France and other countries think that the East China Government is relatively weak; but if the asking price is too high and exceeds the range of the Netherlands, it is not a good thing to force the Netherlands to completely confront the East China Government to the end.

After serious discussions, the East China government held that although the initial principle of negotiation was to obtain as much compensation as possible, and land was given a secondary position, or even to give it up, it was necessary to change this principle in the negotiations with the Netherlands, because there was not much money to be squeezed out of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands had vast colonies in Southeast Asia, totaling more than 1.7 million square kilometers, so it was more realistic to ask for some valuable land from the Netherlands.

The East China government has its eye on the island of Kalimantan, which is also known as Borneo in China. Kalimantan Island has a total area of about 740,000 square kilometers and is the third largest island in the world; it is located in the central part of Southeast Asia, bordering the Java Sea in the south, the South China Sea in the north, Sulawesi Island across the sea in the east, and the Strait of Malacca in the west. In addition, Kalimantan Island is very rich in resources, and the continental shelf on the north coast contains rich oil resources, and during World War II in the old time and space, Japan relied on the oil resources here to sustain the needs of the Pacific War.

Although Kalimantan Island is now occupied by Britain and the Netherlands, the Netherlands accounts for about 73% of it, about 540,000 square kilometers, so if you can get the colony of Kalimantan Island from the Netherlands, you can also control most of Kalimantan Island, and then the East China government has to negotiate with the British, and you can take the rest of it from the hands of the British.

For the Dutch government, although the conditions at this time are higher than expected, but also within the affordable range, 10 million pounds sterling the Dutch government can still get it, although the colonial scope of Kalimantan Island is large, but the Dutch colony in Southeast Asia is mainly Java Island, followed by Sumatra, the rest of the Netherlands' national strength is insufficient, basically not much development, mainly to pound a little timber, open up some estates, plant some sugarcane, rubber and other cash crops, so the transfer to the East China government is not much loss.

However, it is acceptable that the proportion of Chinese officials in the colonial government of Java will remain unchanged from the [Java Treaty], and this rule has been implemented in Java for three years. Only in Java the demarcation of the Chinese autonomous region, it is indeed weakened the Dutch rule in Java, but with the victory of the East China government in the Far East War, the support for the overseas Chinese in Java will be greater and more resolute, the colonial government of Java can no longer limit the improvement of the social and political status of the overseas Chinese in Java, so instead of waiting for the overseas Chinese in Java to continue to grow stronger with the support of the East China government, it is better to carve out a Chinese autonomous region on the island of Java to limit the power of the overseas Chinese in Java within a certain range.

However, the two negotiators also hoped to fight for more benefits for the Netherlands, so the Dutch delegation proposed that the amount of compensation could be reduced to 8 million pounds, and Kalimantan Island was only half of the East China government.

Li Sanjie, the negotiator of the East China government, solemnly rejected the bargaining of the Dutch representative, saying that this is the bottom line of the East China government, and the East China government will not make any concessions, and the Dutch representative only agrees and disagrees with two replies, the former means that the negotiations have broken down, while the latter can enter the final stage of the negotiations, discuss the text of the negotiation terms, and then sign the contract. Moreover, Li Sanjie also specially reminded the two that the fleet of the East China government had already reached the waters of Kalimantan Island, and there were only 4 or 5 days left before Java, and there was not much time left.

At this point, the negotiations were at their most crucial, and Bellas said that he would send the draft terms negotiated by the two sides back to China for the Dutch government to decide, so the negotiations were suspended and could only wait for the Dutch government's decision.

Of course, the negotiations between the East China government and the Netherlands have also attracted the attention of the whole world, and the relevant countries such as Britain, France, Japan, and Russia hope to understand the attitude of the East China government from this negotiation and decide their next move. Seven merchant ships were intercepted by the People's Army Navy, some were detained, some were sunk, this is just the beginning, who knows how big the loss will be in the end, so now Britain and France are hoping to end the war as soon as possible, and even have quietly changed the bottom line from never paying reparations to paying a small amount of reparations, it can be said that as long as the conditions reached between the East China Government and the Netherlands this time can be passed, Britain and France are also ready to start negotiations with the East China Government.

In principle, the negotiations between the East China government and the Netherlands are carried out in secret, and it will not be officially announced until the final negotiation is signed, but of course there is no problem on the side of the East China government, and it is difficult for the Netherlands to keep the real secret, because the Netherlands wants to transmit the content of the negotiations to the country, only through the cable telegraph, piece by piece back to the country, and in the middle of the transmission, there are too many loopholes, so that Britain and France can obtain the telegraph signal, although the Netherlands will also encrypt the telegraph signal, but for Britain and France, to obtain the Dutch telegraph codebook, it is not a difficult thing。

After getting the draft of the negotiation conditions, Britain and France were taken aback, because this condition was too harsh, although 10 million pounds is not counted, but the Netherlands is big, not to mention the loss of more than 500,000 square kilometers of colonies, and the Netherlands is the smallest of the five countries in the expeditionary force, all of them have paid such a price, so how much they have to lose, but if they continue to bear it so hard, the losses will only get bigger and bigger, so now we must try our best to prevent the Netherlands from signing a contract with the East China government and resist. Either the East China government will be forced to lower its conditions, or the negotiations will break down, so that the Netherlands will remain in the alliance of the five countries of the expeditionary force and bear the pressure together.

So French Prime Minister Armand Fallier immediately made a surprise visit to the Netherlands to hold talks with Dutch Prime Minister Theo de Mestre, and on behalf of Britain and France expressed concern about the negotiations between the Netherlands and the East China government.

Meester, on the other hand, asked rhetorically, now that the fleet of the East China Government is about to arrive in Java, if the Netherlands does not accept such a treaty, how to ensure the security of Java, and whether Britain and France can help the Netherlands to help defend Java and resist the attack of the East China Government.

Fallier made it clear that Britain and France could not provide military support to the Netherlands at present, but according to the expectations of Britain and France, the finances of the East China government could only support for three months at most, and after three months, it would inevitably collapse financially and have to compromise with the five countries of the expeditionary force, as for Java, Fallier suggested that the Netherlands could give up Java first without visiting, and the personnel could be withdrawn to Singapore first, and after three months, the East China government compromised, and the Netherlands could return to Java in negotiations, and Britain and France would do their best to help the Netherlands, so as to ensure the interests of the Netherlands in Java。

The goal of Britain and France is actually to stabilize the Netherlands for another three months, and during these three months, Britain and France will join the United States to negotiate with the East China Government and strive to reach a peace agreement with the East China Government at a lower price.

However, Mestre is not a naïve person, he can't see the routine of Britain and France, this is clearly fooling himself, and he has already greeted the women of the previous generations of Falier's family in his heart, but he can't show it on his face, after all, France is also a neighbor of the Netherlands, and he can't rely on it, and he must be very careful when he is sandwiched between the two powers, otherwise the big Bobo who was in Pingdu Town will end up. Therefore, Mester first expressed his gratitude to Britain and France for their concern, but pointed out that the Dutch people could not bear the result of losing Java, even if it was only three months, and whether or not to sign a contract with the East China government was decided by the Dutch people, not themselves, and of course the opinions of Britain and France would be conveyed to the people.

Fallier hit a soft nail but couldn't say anything, so although he knew that Mestre had rejected him, he could only return home disappointed, and the next day, the Dutch parliament held a vote and finally approved by a majority in favor of signing the treaty with the East China government, and authorized the two negotiators to sign the treaty.

After getting the authorization from the country, the two negotiators also breathed a sigh of relief, anyway, the negotiations were over, and their tasks were completed. However, now the two sides have only negotiated a draft, and the two sides will have to negotiate the signing clause of the treaty again, because the text of the treaty is quite exquisite, and it is also in both Chinese and Dutch, so it is not a day or two to determine, but now the fleet of the People's Army has arrived in Java, so after the two sides negotiated, each took a step back, the colonial government of Java allowed the fleet to dock, troops and personnel ashore, and the East China government promised that the fleet would leave the port within three days.