"Didn't you say what this is called Balertoch?" asked Xiao Peng, pointing to the sign next to the parking lot.

Yumei opened the car door and stepped out of the car: "The Netherlands calls this the town of Ballernasho, and the Belgian calls it the town of Balertoch." My family loved this place so much that the whole family moved here. ”

The group parked their cars in the public parking lot and walked around the town first------ which was requested by Yumei's parents, and Yumei had never brought friends to the house, so they had to prepare first, so that everyone could have fun in the town now, and then go home at the end. This must be the style of Yumi's grandmother。。。。。。

"How did the Netherlands name this town?" Xiao Peng asked.

"Oh, this is the enclave of the Netherlands. Yumi replied.

In fact, the full name of the Netherlands is 'Kingdom of the Netherlands', and the official abbreviation is 'Netherlands', and the Netherlands is the name of the two provinces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, namely North Holland and South Holland.

Because several of the big cities we know today, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, etc., are in these two provinces, people use the name Holland to refer to the whole country. In fact, if you tell them about Holland in individual provinces of the Netherlands, they won't be very happy. Take the province of North Brabant, for example. But a growing number of Dutch people are simply calling themselves Dutch.

In fact, 'Holland' is an unofficial name in English, but in Chinese, 'Holland' has become the official name of the country. This is the same as the Inuit being called Eskimos (meaning cannibals) by the Chinese, which is not a very polite name. (But I'll use the Netherlands later, just to tell you about that.) ）

"Then this should belong to the land of the Netherlands, right?" Xiao Peng got out of the car and looked around, very beautiful towns, almost all of them were two-story red villas, not to mention the greenery, Xiao Peng began to understand why Youmei's parents moved here. But Yumei just said that this is a Dutch enclave.

In other words, this is a land under Dutch jurisdiction but not connected to the Netherlands mainland, such as Alaska, which is separated from the mainland of the Stars and Stripes by the Maple Leaf Country, and it is an enclave of the Stars and Stripes. Its laws and ownership belong to the Stars and Stripes. If this is a Dutch enclave, then the laws and ownership rights here also belong to the Netherlands.

Yumei shrugged: "Between Belgium and the Netherlands, there are dozens of such enclaves. This originated from the land dispute between the two landlords in the Middle Ages, when the Belgian knights came here because of the land dispute, and found that the farming in this area was lucrative, so they took this land, called Baalheltoch, and the land belonging to the Nashao family was called Balernachaus. Later, as the years passed, the power changed, both sides ceded land to the other, and a series of complicated treaties followed, and today, you should have come to a very strange place. ”

Xiao Peng looked left and right as he walked: "Weird?

Yumi suddenly stopped: "Welcome to the Netherlands." ”

"What's that?" Xiao Peng froze in place.

You Mei pointed to Xiao Peng's feet. Xiao Peng looked down and saw that on the ground were lines in the shape of a cross painted in white paint, with 'NL' written on one side and 'B' written on the other: "The Netherlands is on one side of NL, and Belgium is on one side of B." ”

Xiao Peng found out that the ground of the entire town was full of white lines like this, and what was even more fucked up was that this line was not regular, unlike the kind of straight line that divided the town into two as everyone imagined, and the line turned around as it walked. Xiao Peng couldn't even see any pattern in this line.

"The Netherlands has twenty-two enclaves in Belgium and Belgium has seven enclaves in the Netherlands, but the most special thing is here, it is possible that this street belongs to Belgium, but the building in the middle of this street belongs to the Netherlands. Yumi introduced.

Xiao Peng scratched his head: "According to what you say, that means that this town has two names, two nationalities, and two legal systems? And the territory is still yours and me, and I have you? This is too confusing, isn't it? Don't the two countries want to think of a solution?"

"Actually, in 1996, the two countries were interested in rectifying the enclave between the two countries, but the result of the referendum was that people preferred to maintain the status quo, and the two countries could not be reunified, and in the end, it became the least populous municipality of the two countries," Yumi smiled. The total population is less than 6,000 people, and it is divided into Dutch and Belgians. ”

Yali on the side suddenly laughed: "It's also quite interesting, think about it, I'm still in Belgium when I sleep, and when I go out to the Netherlands, how many times do I have to go back and forth between the two countries every day." ”

Yumei shrugged: "You don't have to go out at all, like my grandfather's house, the living room is still in the Netherlands, and the kitchen and back garden are in Belgium." ”

When Jimma Ward heard this, he looked envious: "This seems to be very interesting, I want to live in a house like this!

You Mei smiled bitterly and shook her head: "It's not as simple as you think, I said, this town has two zhengfu two legal systems and two sets of civil affairs departments, like my grandfather, who has to pay Belgium for electricity and water to the Netherlands every month, oh, and pay Belgium for TV." ”

Xiao Peng's mind turned around, and there was a faint pain in the egg, a town of 6,000 people, there are Dutch and Belgians, so everything is double: two churches, two mayors, two police stations, two fire brigades, two cleaner teams。。。。。。 It's annoying!

After hearing this, Jima Ward sighed: "It seems that romance comes at a price. That's troublesome enough. ”

"But there are benefits. Yumi replied, " Like my grandfather, he chose medical care in Belgium, and Belgium is cheap to buy a car and related expenses, but the schools and jobs in the Netherlands are better, and there are more festivals and celebrations in the Netherlands, oh, people also prefer to go to the Dutch supermarket when shopping, where the price of many things is much cheaper than in Belgium, and even the nearby Belgian town will drive dozens of kilometers to the Dutch supermarket here to buy, but on the contrary, if the Dutch want to buy fireworks to celebrate, they have to go to Belgium, because Dutch law prohibits the sale of fireworks, but Belgium does not have these regulations, so if the Dutch want to buy fireworks to celebrate the wedding or something, they can only go to Belgium. A lot of people here do this, but it also has the downside of having to pay taxes in both countries. ”

Xiao Peng suddenly had a brain hole: "If I lose my wallet or something in an area that belongs to the Netherlands, should I go to the Dutch police or the Belgian police?"

"Dutch police, of course!" Yumi replied, "but you need to make an appointment." ”

"What the hell, do you have to make an appointment with the police?" Xiao Peng's eyes widened.

Yumei nodded: "Although there is only one police station in this town, there are indeed two police systems, but there are too few Dutch territories in the police station, only the size of a desk, so the Dutch police are not on standby at any time." ”

Xiao Peng asked speechlessly: "Then what can the police do if there is a major case?

"Of course not, he will turn to the nearest Dutch city, and transfer the police from there, this is a major matter between countries, how can you ask for help casually in a big case? Of course, they usually patrol together, after all, they work together every day, isn't it?" Yumi replied.

Xiao Peng covered his face, so why should he pay attention to the sense of ritual at this time?

"Na, that's the police!" You Mei pointed ahead, Xiao Peng looked, okay, the two men in uniform are shopping together, although they are both wearing police uniforms, but they are obviously different, it is the Belgian police who are wearing small berets. Seeing Xiao Peng and others smiling and raising their hands to say hello, such a town is very enthusiastic when it comes to seeing outsiders because there are few people.

"There are two sets of legal systems here, isn't it particularly troublesome to be a policeman here?" Xiao Peng was even more curious.

Yumi nodded: "When I first arrived here, I made a joke, when I was riding a motorcycle, I was pointed down by the police to the Belgian police and educated for a long time. Because I didn't wear a helmet that day, it's okay to ride a motorcycle without a helmet in the Netherlands, but not in Belgium, and I know that, so I've been riding in the Netherlands, but at a junction, my front tires are in Belgium。。。。。。 ”

"What do you think would happen if there was a war between the two countries?" asked Gilmarward.

Xiao Peng also seemed to think of something: "Yes, for example, in the First World War, the Netherlands was a neutral country, and Belgium declared war with the Germans, and was later captured by the Germans, so how to deal with it here?"

Yumi suddenly listened to the footsteps and pointed to a building that resembled a church, where there was a monument where a woman stood with her head held high, and behind her there were several children and people in the image of soldiers.

"During the First World War, the Germans occupied Belgium, and in order to prevent the Belgians from escaping, a 200-kilometer 'death cable' was divided on the border between the Netherlands and Belgium, and thousands of people died under the high voltage, and at that time, the Netherlands did not participate in the war, so it was safe here, after all, it was Dutch territory. The woman on the statue is called Maria, the mother of the current mayor of Barernassau, who took in Belgian refugees and helped them escape Belgium until World War II, but was found and executed by the Germans, so there is now this monument to commemorate her. Here, the relations between the two countries have been tested by war and baptized by history. So to this day, the relationship between the two countries has always been excellent. ”

Xiao Peng sighed after hearing this, the Netherlands still wanted to learn from World War I and maintain neutrality during World War II, but after less than a year of neutrality, it was swallowed by Germain. Does he call you neutral or not?

If you want peace, you must arm yourself. Now there are seven permanently neutral countries in the world. If there is a war, I am afraid that only Sweden and Switzerland will be truly neutral, and the rest of the countries will be a joke.