The Governor of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the colony of the East Indies had lost contact with him since 27 December and had not received any telegrams from the Governor, and none of the divisional units had shortwave telegraphs and could not communicate directly with the Kingdom. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 There are also many rumors about the governor in the kingdom, which makes the royal family and the government have a bad premonition that something must have happened in the East Indies colony.

It was not until January 10 that I received a telegram from the British Governor's Office in the Straits Settlements that I knew that the rumors were true, what the Dutch Governor had done in the colonies was true, and all the warships of the Dutch fleet had been sunk, the whereabouts of the Dutch Governor were unknown, Kalimantan and Java had been occupied by the Lanfang Kingdom, and Sumatra, Sulawesi and Papua could not be kept despite the trend of development, the Lanfang army attacked very quickly, and the army and navy of the Lanfang Kingdom were very strong, If you want to win, it's very big.

After many communications between the royal family and the government, this colony, which can generate a lot of wealth, cannot be lost in any case, otherwise the future life of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will be very difficult. In the end, it was decided that his kingdom could not defeat the Lanfang Kingdom, so he could only look for foreign aid, and the most suitable object to seek was the British Empire, first of all, the British Empire stationed a large number of troops in Asia, and the other was that the Lanfang Kingdom was very close to the colonies of the British Empire, if the Lanfang Kingdom developed, it would definitely bring a lot of trouble to the British Empire, and the British Empire would definitely want to eliminate the Lanfang Kingdom.

Based on the above speculation, the royal family and the government decided to send personnel to the United Kingdom to negotiate secretly, and the bargaining chip in the negotiations was to give Kalimantan Island to the British as military expenses for the military after the matter was completed.

The first British Foreign Secretary was Sir Edward Grey, a veteran diplomat who had a history of serving as Foreign Secretary until 10 December 1916.

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, this time the Netherlands needs the help of the British Empire, otherwise the Kingdom of the Netherlands will lose its entire colonies in the East Indies, which is a challenge to the Western powers, if these natives or Chinese become independent, it will have a great impact on the colonial cause of the whole world."

"We understand the nature of the matter, so we hope that the Kingdom of the Netherlands can act quickly to eliminate the Kingdom of Lanfang and contribute to world peace."

"Your Excellency, I am afraid that we in the Kingdom of the Netherlands alone will not be able to accomplish this mission, which is why the government has sent me to seek the help of the British Empire."

"It's not that we in the British Empire don't want to help you, we also know that if we let them become independent, it will play a very bad role in the other colonies of the world, but you should know that the British Empire has spent a lot of wealth in order to win the Boer War, and it has also caused a large number of good guys to lose their lives, and now the citizens of the entire British Empire are eager for peace, love peace, and do not want to be involved in any war."

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, we can understand the difficulties of the British Empire, and we also know that the British Empire is a peace-loving empire, but it is the responsibility of the British Empire to maintain world peace, so our king promises that as long as the Lanfang People's Army is eliminated, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is willing to give all the Dutch colonies on Kalimantan Island to the British Empire for military expenses."

Sir Edward Grey thought to himself that a poor island of Kalimantan was not enough.

"I think you misunderstood the British Empire, we do have all kinds of difficulties at present, just the Boer War has broken our bones, and our British Empire's energy is focused on the European part, after all, Europe is our foundation."

Nima, the Boer War has been mentioned many times, don't you know that the Boers are the descendants of our Dutch? Isn't this a naked slap in the face of our Kingdom of the Netherlands?

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, if the British Empire cannot maintain world peace, then the Kingdom of the Netherlands can only allow them to become independent, after all, the Kingdom of the Netherlands no longer has many colonies, and the impact on the Kingdom of the Netherlands is minimal, and what is lost is only a colony that it cannot keep."

Sir Edward Grey thought to himself, only this East Indies in the Kingdom of the Netherlands can bring you profits, and if you lose the East Indies, your Kingdom of the Netherlands will have to drink the northwest wind.

"It's not that we don't want to maintain world peace, it's that the army of the Lanfang Kingdom is too powerful, they have a large number of troops, and their strength is strong, and they can't win at all if they send a little army, and they must send a large number of army forces to fight to achieve victory; In addition, the navy of the Lanfang Kingdom is also very strong, and you must know that the price to pay to deal with such an army is too great, and the treasury of our British Empire is also very empty. ”

"Your Excellency, what do you mean by the British Empire?"

"Our prime minister once said that Sumatra is an island with a beautiful environment, and I would like to go hunting and sightseeing often."

Nima, really shameless, really greedy, actually fell in love with the island of Sumatra, the rich mineral resources of Sumatra brought one-third of the wealth of the entire East Indies colony to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and it was a pity to give it to the British.

"Your Excellency, I will not be able to be the master in this case, and I need to ask the kingdom for advice."

"Well, I also need to report to the Prime Minister, and possibly to convince the Parliament and the Admiralty, which will take a while, so I'll wait for your news."

After Sir Edward Grey reported the negotiations to the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell Banervan, the Prime Minister was very angry, Java Island was already very worthy of them if it were not for the relationship between Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca, we would not want Sumatra, we would have reached the point of exhaustion and still clung to the turf and did not let go, without the support of our British Empire, your Kingdom of the Netherlands would not be able to keep even a little land.

When the Kingdom of the Netherlands received a telegram from the secret negotiators, the angry Prime Minister scolded the greedy British, smashing several teacups, and even Queen Wilhelmina, who never got angry, trembled with anger. However, the situation is stronger than people, and there is no way but to accept the blackmail of the British Empire, otherwise even Java Island will not be able to be snatched back.

After receiving the telegram from China, it took a long time for the secret negotiators to calm down, knowing that now was not the time to be angry, and that they had to accept the reality and comfort themselves.

At the same time, in order not to let the British look down on the Dutch royal family, the secret representative secretly added some conditions, and then went to visit Sir Edward Grey after thinking about it.

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you."

"Your Excellency, Foreign Secretary, our kingdom has agreed in principle to your request, but we need your country's help to solve a problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, you should know that our kingdom's fleet was all sunk by cunning Chinese mines, and now we have no way to make it for the time being, so I hope that your country will help us with a small fleet, so that we can protect the security of the East Indies in the future."

"The peace-loving British Empire has come to your aid with a small fleet to protect the security of the East, which is a contribution to world peace, and the British Empire is happy to do so, do you have any specific requirements?"

"Your Excellency Foreign Secretary, by our royal family we mean 2 battleships, 4 cruisers, 8 large torpedo boats, 16 gunboats, 32 mine-strike boats. As for the quality of warships, it is enough to use the warships that have been eliminated after the replacement of your country, and it is more than enough to deal with those natives. “

"This amount is really not small, I can't be the master, I want to ask the prime minister, and I need the approval of the parliament."

"Then trouble Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary."

After much bargaining, the British Empire finally agreed to the fleet request put forward by the Dutch representative, but it could not deliver the warship to the Dutch Kingdom until the Lan Fang army was destroyed and Sumatra was taken over; The British Empire will send troops within half a month at the earliest, and the British Empire will bear its own military expenses; Dutch troops stationed in the East Indies were to be under the command of the Indian commander of the British Empire.