In the port of Batavia, Rear Admiral Hamilton, commander of the British fleet's advance fleet, received a notice from the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Owen, to go to the flagship Asterisk.

So Hamilton immediately came to the old man's asterisk, and in the commander's office, he saw Owen, and after the two saluted each other, Hamilton said: "Your Excellency, what are you looking for me?"

Owen said: "Major General Hamilton, we have just received two letters, this one ......" He picked up an envelope on the table, handed it to Hamilton, and said, "It was written to us by Rosbro, the governor of Batavia, the Netherlands, inviting us to go ashore and discuss the matter of guarding Batavia. ”

It turned out that the Dutch coalition army was completely defeated by the People's Army, and the army that eventually fled back to Batavia was less than 1,000 people, and among the main generals, only Van de Vit escaped back to Batavia, and according to some soldiers, the Supreme Commander Helwig was captured by the enemy, and the whereabouts of the other commander, Martinez, are still unknown.

And the whole Batavia city was shocked, because no one thought that the Dutch coalition army would be defeated so badly before the war, as a result, rumors spread in the city, the whole city fell into panic again, many people wanted to flee Batavia, and even some people began to buy property, trying to escape from Java, fortunately, there were 500 British troops stationed in Batavia to maintain order, and it did not cause major chaos, and at this time the governor of Batavia, Rosburu, could only ask the British fleet for help again, hoping that the British fleet could help defend Batavia.

After reading the letter, Hamilton nodded and said, "It seems that the Dutch are cornered, and this is to push us to the front line against overseas Chinese." However, the victory of the overseas Chinese was indeed much greater than I expected, they only took one day to defeat more than 14,000 Dutch allied troops, and their strength was at most about 5,000 people, is the overseas Chinese army really that strong?"

Owen nodded and said: "Major General, in fact, this is not unexpected, if you carefully study the Boxer War two years ago, you should know that in one of the wars, overseas Chinese defeated 23,000 Russian troops with 12,000 troops, which proved that their land combat effectiveness is not inferior to any European army, and this battle also directly contributed to the Shanghai negotiations, which is also the first time that European countries are in a disadvantaged position in negotiations with China." ”

Hamilton said: "I know that the battle was a victory achieved by overseas Chinese taking advantage of the navy, landing behind the Russian army, and attacking on two fronts, but it can also show that the overseas Chinese army has strong combat effectiveness." ”

Owen shook his head and said: "No, no, the use of tactics is also a part of combat effectiveness, you should know that landing is not a simple matter, this can reflect the organization, discipline, and scheduling ability of an army, which are all manifestations of combat effectiveness." After a pause, Owen said again: "Okay, we are not discussing the combat effectiveness of overseas Chinese, now is the time, we should ask the Batavia side to accept the conditions of overseas Chinese and negotiate." ”

said. He picked up another letter on the table and said, "At this time, the overseas Chinese sent us a notice, asking us to force the Batavian government to agree to negotiate within three days, otherwise they will attack Batavia. ”

Hamilton said: "This means that overseas Chinese do not hesitate to go to war with us?"

Owen said: "Maybe they are just alarmist, but we can't take this risk, and the overseas Chinese have already won a military victory, and we must reap some fruits of victory." ”

Hamilton said, "What if the Batavian government still refuses to negotiate with the overseas Chinese? I am afraid that the Batavian government also knows our bottom line, so it is very likely that they will use this as a threat to force us to directly confront the overseas Chinese. ”

Owen nodded and said: "We are not allowed to allow overseas Chinese to occupy Batavia, this is indeed our bottom line, but we cannot allow the Netherlands to use our bottom line as a threat, let us directly confront the overseas Chinese, if the Netherlands refuses to negotiate with the overseas Chinese, then we will control Batavia, re-establish the Batavia government, and negotiate with the overseas Chinese." ”

Hamilton was stunned and said, "We control Batavia?"

Owen said: "Yes, this is also the meaning of the country, this time our fleet brought more than 1,000 marines, and each warship can also draw some soldiers, adding up to almost a thousand, and the Dutch army after this defeat, there is not much strength, we control Batavia is not very difficult, of course, it is not a last resort, it is better not to do this, because this will lose points politically." ”

Hamilton thought for a moment, nodded as well, and said, "Then what should we do." ”

Owens said: "I want you to lead the rest of the marines ashore and control the situation in Batavia first, of course, you don't have to worry about these things, there are army officers in charge, and your task is to show the Dutch a showdown, asking them to negotiate with the overseas Chinese immediately, and on the premise of accepting the conditions of the overseas Chinese, you can decide for yourself what to do." ”

Hamilton said, "Okay, I'll go ashore right away." After a pause, he said, "But when overseas Chinese negotiate with the Netherlands, do we need to participate?"

Owens nodded and said, "Of course, although the overseas Chinese promised not to occupy Java, and in the negotiation conditions they proposed, there was indeed no intention of occupying Java or stationing troops in Java, but we still can't let the overseas Chinese lead this negotiation, let alone allow the overseas Chinese to take advantage of the opportunity of the negotiation to actually expand in Java." ”

Hamilton said, "So what's our bottom line?"

Owen said: "The negotiations of the overseas Chinese must revolve around the conditions they put forward, the first is that the colonial government will compensate the Chinese for their losses, and of course they must add their military expenses. ”

Hamilton said: "I'm afraid that the overseas Chinese will extort a lot of money from the Dutch." ”

Owen said with a smile: "It is a matter of course for the winner to ask for the loser, if the Dutch government accepts the conditions of the overseas Chinese earlier, as long as it does not fight this battle, it will not lose too much, but now it is up to the overseas Chinese to have the final say, and this money is paid by the Dutch government, which has nothing to do with us, of course, we can't let the overseas Chinese ask for too outrageous, at least within the scope of the Dutch government's affordability, so this article is not too much of a problem." ”

Hamilton said, "What about Article 2, which demands that the perpetrators of the anti-Chinese incident be severely punished?"

Owen laughed and said, " I think this article is a trap given by overseas Chinese to the Netherlands, because the perpetrator of this kind of thing is difficult to determine, and the overseas Chinese have fought so many tribes in Java, and those who should be punished have been punished, so I think this article is not a big problem, Guan Jian is in the last article, the Batavian government must ensure that there are no similar anti-Chinese incidents in the future, and protect the rights and interests of the Javanese Chinese, this article is very flexible, the simplest thing is that as long as a similar content is added to the treaty, it can get by, but I think the overseas Chinese will not accept this result, and will definitely ask the Batavian government to make substantial concessionsAt least we have to give the Chinese a certain amount of political power, and what I am most worried about is that the overseas Chinese demand autonomy from the Chinese in Java, and if the Chinese in Java really gain autonomy, then the overseas Chinese will essentially extend their influence into Java, which is unacceptable to us. ”

Hamilton nodded and said, "I understand, Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, I will do my best not to let the situation in Java get out of control." ”

After leaving the Old Man Asterisk, Hamilton immediately gathered the remaining 500 or so marines, landed on the land, and immediately dispatched troops to control all points in Batavia, and ordered the closure of all communication roads and docks, strictly forbidding people to leave Batavia, and then rushed to the governor's palace to ask for an audience with Governor Rosblue.

At this time, Rosburu was in a hurry in the governor's palace like an ant on a hot pot, because it had been half a day since the letter to the British fleet had been sent, and the British fleet had not responded, so Rosbro's heart was also uneasy, and he didn't know what the British thought. After all, he was a political official, unlike the straight-line thinking of soldiers like Helweig and Vandervuitt.

Although Britain had promised to help the Dutch colonial government defend Batavia, it was before the war, when the colonial government gathered a large number of troops to prepare to attack the farms, and there was no need for Britain to rush to the front line, so the UK's greatest possibility is to sell the Netherlands.

Hearing Hamilton's request to see him, Roseblue knew that the time had come for a showdown, so he hurriedly had Hamilton invited to his office.

After the two sat down, Hamilton was not polite, and said directly: " Mr. Governor, we know the outcome of the war against the farms, and although we are very sorry for the result, we believe that the present situation can no longer be resolved by war, and that the time has come for negotiations, and that we have contacted the overseas Chinese, and that the terms of negotiation that they had agreed to before the war are still valid, and therefore we believe that the Batavian government should accept these conditions, and on this basis, immediately enter into negotiations with the overseas Chinese for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Java. ”

After listening to Hamilton's words, Ross Blu suddenly felt like a basin of cold water was poured on his head, and he was deeply cold, although he also thought that the British might sell the colonial government, but he still had a trace of illusion, and now the illusion was finally completely shattered. After a long while, Roseblue said, "Mr. Major General, what if I refuse to negotiate with overseas Chinese?"