In the Philippines, the Spaniards and Reading Force were consumed for almost two years, almost being completely dragged down, and finally had to leave the whole of the Philippines.

How long the Dutch could drag on in the Dutch East Indies is a real question.

Since Borneo, which is predominantly Chinese, became a dominion of the British Empire and the Philippines was soon over, the Dutch have been increasing their military spending in Southeast Asia.

The problem was that on the island of Sulawesi, Yang Zongli used a team of more than 2,000 people to attract the main force of the Dutch colonial army of more than 10,000 people to the depths of the jungle, and then completely annihilated this part of the main colonial army in a few days.

In this battle alone, the Dutch had to withdraw from Sulawesi.

In Java, the two sides fought for a year, and the losses were so great that the Dutch were forced to evacuate.

Now only half of Sumatra is left in the Netherlands, as well as a few scattered islands.

In addition to Yang Zongli, there are also Ma Zongliang's Islamic Army in the Medan area, the Aceh people have the Aceh Army, and Yang Zongyue in Java also has more than 20,000 troops who are not in a hurry to come.

In terms of the navy, the Dutch have recently strengthened more ruthlessly, building a lot of ironclad ships, and the Chinese Reading Army only has a few gunboats, but these problems are not the key, the key is that the Dutch have no foothold at all.

The days of trying to annex a country with a few warships are long gone, and what is popular now is a war of attrition.

…… With the Betong Mining Area and the oil mining area in the upper reaches of the Musi River being occupied by the Chinese Reading Army, the losses of the Dutch colonial army in both areas exceeded several thousand, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands was forced to ask the British to coordinate on its behalf and try to negotiate with the Chinese Reading Force to redivide the territory of power.

The British Governor of the Straits Settlements sent an envoy to Jambi to negotiate with the Champee community, but Yang refused, and Yang refused on the condition that they did not intend to negotiate until the Dutch were not ready to withdraw completely from Asia.

The British minister to China, Dou Nale, could only come to Zhang Baixi, the foreign minister of the Qing Empire, hoping that the Qing Dynasty would come forward to negotiate with Yang Zongli.

Zhang Baixi didn't dare to make a decision, so he could only go to Hu Chuyuan and Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan, Zai Yan didn't know the severity, and continued to look for Hu Chuyuan, and the answer given by Hu Chuyuan was to continue to wait and see.

The war in Southeast Asia dragged on like this.

At the end of April 1898, the Dutch lost all their holdings in Patong, Lampung Port, Bengkulu, and Timor Island, and the last bastion was left in Palembang, which was guarded by a fleet.

In this successive battle, the Dutch colonial army suffered nearly 14,000 casualties, and the army defending Palembang was less than 6,000 men.

On the evening of May 1, Sir Mitchell, Governor of the Straits Settlements, arrived at the Prime Minister's Office in Yanjing as the Queen's envoy and came to consult with Hu Chuyuan on the matter.

This time, the British could not wait any longer.

If the Chinese in Southeast Asia continue to be left alone, one day, even Singapore may belong to the Chinese power, although it is uncertain whether these Chinese will be restrained by the Qing political axe, and how strong this containment is, the British political axe still wants to give it a try.

They hope to reach a stable agreement that will contain all parties and prevent the situation in Southeast Asia from continuing to deteriorate.

After holding a state banquet to entertain the surname, Hu Chuyuan continued to negotiate with Sir Mitchell in the office of the Yingtai Mansion, accompanied by Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Zhang Baixi.

Knowing Sir Mitchell's intentions, Hu Chuyuan still delayed his surname and talked about John Stuart Mill first, and talked with Sir Mitchell about "Principles of Political Economy" with great interest.

The two men held some talks on the current international economic situation and financial structure, and exchanged views with each other.

In layman's terms, Hu Chuyuan asked Sir Mitchell what the Bank of England's gold reserves were and whether he was interested in holding silver reserves at present.

It's also a hot topic.

With the gradual and steady rise of silver prices, the United States has begun to pass an act of Congress in 1895 to reserve 6,000 pounds of silver every year, and under the influence of this trend, the world silver price has risen considerably.

Of course, this is not good for the Chinese economy.

Especially at this stage.

Therefore, Hu Chuyuan has been re-studying many basic works of economics recently, re-examining the economic system and structure of the whole world based on the experience of the past few years, trying to find the defects of the principle surname.

The two talked about this issue for half an hour, but Zhang Baixi was very anxious.

It was only after a while that Sir Mitchell deftly spoke about the situation in Southeast Asia from the question of gold.

He said: "Your Excellency, since the Boer War and the Dutch East Indies riots, the world price of gold and silver has risen sharply, and although in the short term, this increase will not affect the price base of the countries, but I believe that around this time next year, we will have to face an embarrassing financial inflation." The implications of this are far-reaching, as the UK has been forced to raise the central bank's discount rate due to increased capital flows to the gold market, and it is believed that Germany and France will follow suit. ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "I am also considering increasing the relevance rate to temporarily alleviate the problem of silver cashing out and outflow." ”

Sir Mitchell immediately advised: "Therefore, it is in the fundamental interests of our two countries that we all need to settle the problems of Southeast Asia as soon as possible, and whoever takes over the Dutch East Indies we need them to resume gold and silver mining as soon as possible." ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "If I can, I will send the South Ocean Fleet to the Dutch East Indies...... If your country does not object, I would like to send troops to stabilize the situation in the Dutch East Indies. I don't know how the local reading force will react yet, so I don't think it's too strong against it, as long as I can offer a sufficient price. ”

Sir Mitchell knew this, but said: "According to the terms of the signing of the suzerainty agreement between the Philippines and your country, I believe that as long as your country decides to send troops to protect the Dutch East Indies, the problem will be very easy to solve...... We may not object, but in the same way, we need a certain amount of commitment from your country to ensure that the Chinese do not engage in other unconventional acts in Southeast Asia. ”

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while, and then made a phone call and asked Gu Jiaxiang to come in with the information.

Soon, this prepared information was sent to Sir Mitchell, all about the massacre and looting of the Chinese by the Dutch during their control of the Dutch East Indies.

For China, the Netherlands will always be a very shameless country, and it is they who started the large-scale massacre of the Chinese, and later affected Portugal and Spain, and caused great trauma to the Chinese throughout Asia.

In Sumatra and Java, the Netherlands also deceived Chinese workers to mine gold and copper mines for a long time, seeking huge profits, wantonly killing Chinese workers, and not treating Chinese workers as human beings at all.

After Sir Mitchell finished reading the information, Hu Chuyuan said: "I personally think that the Netherlands are to blame, and the reason why they are in their current situation is that they are all caused by themselves, so this should have nothing to do with other countries." I understand the special relationship between the Netherlands and the British Empire, but I believe that there will be no real peace in Southeast Asia until the Dutch have completely withdrawn from Southeast Asia. ”

Sir Mitchell was silent.

He pondered for a long time in his heart, and said, "The Dutch are willing to withdraw, but hopefully, in a more decent way, they are willing to transfer the Dutch East Indies held by the Netherlands at a more suitable price." ”

Hu Chuyuan sneered and asked, "Who wants to take over such a mess?" Will the UK be willing? If you wish, I must advise you to be cautious because of our long-standing relationship with Great Britain. It doesn't matter how many tens of thousands of people died, but tens of thousands of people died but they didn't take this land for themselves, which is the biggest trouble. ”

Sir Mitchell continued to be silent for a while, and cautiously tried to ask, "If, with the assistance of our country, your country successfully obtains the authority of the local suzerain, what kind of connection are you willing to provide to our country?" ”

Hu Chuyuan drew a circle with both hands very peculiarly and said, "Sir, let's take a long-term view and look at all the problems." Last year, your country's new foreign investment totalled only £140 million, a drop of 27 per cent from the growth of 1895, and I believe this should be an important economic issue for your country. Analyzing this problem separately, I believe that there are two reasons, one is the impact of the war in South Africa, but this magnitude is not large, South Africa did not ship gold last year, and the total world gold production remained at 3,450 tons last year. This means that there is no reduction in outward investment around the world, and that the decline in outward investment is only a problem for the United Kingdom. If we look at the ratio of total foreign investment in France, Germany, the United States and Russia, it has been increasing year by year in the last decade. ”

Sir Mitchell was a little difficult to determine the exact number, but nodded in agreement, and said: "The economy of the British Empire is indeed experiencing some problems at present, but our country still maintains a steady growth in the scale of industry, and the total output of coal and steel is also increasing year by year, especially in the shipbuilding industry, and our country still maintains a far lead. I must remind you that in the rapid development of your country's shipbuilding industry and textile industry, our country has always had a special support policy, which has a huge negative impact on our economy, but our country considers the inevitable surname of long-term cooperation and does not raise objections. ”

Hu Chuyuan did not deny it.

Britain has maintained a low tariff on Chinese textiles, even lower than France, there are many reasons for this, but it cannot be denied that in the development of China's textile industry, Britain has a very important role in promoting, and it does have a lot of damage to its own textile industry.

This damage is not the decline of the British textile industry, but the compression of the growth space of the British textile industry, on the other hand, it is also the result of the free flow of capital.

In the United Kingdom, France's textile industry profits are gradually depressed, and the development space is gradually decreasing, capital will naturally be transferred to other areas for investment.

China's shipbuilding industry can be said to be supported by the British, in the early days it almost completely relied on British technology transfer, and there were many factors in it, initially in order to maintain influence on China, and then gradually became a regional policy to restrict France, and finally became a bargaining chip to balance Germany and the Franco-Russian Entente.

At present, judging by the quality of individual warships, the average level of China's shipbuilding industry should surpass that of France and Russia, roughly equal to that of the United States, and second only to Britain and Germany.

In terms of the maximum tonnage and speed of merchant ships, China can already build 15,000-ton merchant ships with a speed of more than 21 knots.

In recent years, the supply of ships in Asia has also been mainly done by China, especially the huge market within China, which is also a disservice to the British shipbuilding industry.

As a politician, we must first learn to judge the overall international situation and the bilateral relations between the two countries from a macroeconomic perspective.

In a question and answer, Hu Chuyuan and Sir Mitchell actually sorted out the necessary and important surnames in the bilateral relationship, which is much higher than the regional surname interests in Southeast Asia.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan continued: "We should find new investment space for the UK, which is the basis of our bilateral cooperation. Therefore, I intend to implement a liberal suzerainty policy in Southeast Asia, allowing other countries, especially British capital, to intervene. However, I need a few prerequisites. First, Tibet is China's core interest, and the British Empire must stop its infiltration into Tibet and respect the Buddhist traditions of Tibet. In the Yunnan region, especially the border between Burma and Yunnan, the British Empire did not have to worry about the gains and losses of some small areas, and should be given appropriate respect to the Qing Empire. This is very important, if even our territory is within the scope of the British prying eyes, then how can we share the interests of the vassal state with the British...... This is a bit outrageous! ”

Sir Mitchell replied decisively: "There is no problem, and we are willing to reach a new agreement if your country can provide a reliable and reasonable demarcation of the border." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "Then, the second condition, Borneo must belong to our vassal state; Thirdly, Britain should ensure that our capital and merchants are equal suzerainty citizens in Singapore; Only when these three conditions are satisfied, most of our Southeast Asian vassals will be open to British capital within a relatively relaxed range, and at the same time, we will set up a solid financial concentration market in Singapore to pool the capital forces of the two countries to invest and account in Southeast Asia. ”

Sir Mitchell pondered silently for a moment.

Personally, the deal was appropriate, which meant that the new space for British capital in Southeast Asia was expanding, and the loose suzerain-vassal relationship that Hu Chuyuan was trying to promote was also very beneficial to Britain.

After all, the UK is the world's largest economy for foreign investment, and foreign investment and earnings are the UK's main economic growth index.

After a short period of thought, Sir Mitchell and Hu Chuyuan said: "There is no problem with all this, the key is whether your country will stay in Southeast Asia?" If your country does not have a fleet, we are willing to increase the strength of our Straits Fleet in Singapore to protect the interests of our two countries in Southeast Asia. ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "China has the strength to protect Southeast Asia. If the British Empire does not object, China will set up a military port in Brunei and redivide the territory of the Kingdom of Brunei to ensure the development space of the Kingdom of Brunei in the long run, so that the commercial capital of our two countries is willing to invest in Brunei on a larger scale and obtain long-term economic benefits from it. ”

Due to the emergence of the autonomous state of Borneo, the British power has not been able to continue to penetrate into Sarawak, nor has it successfully gained suzerainty in Brunei.

Considering that Brunei's position was already far away from the Singapore Straits Fleet, Sir Mitchell was very satisfied, and immediately said: "Then, we can talk to the monarchs of the two countries first, and if everything goes well, we will continue to negotiate the follow-up details in a week!" ”

Hu Chuyuan bowed slightly, expressing his agreement.

Only then did Sir Mitchell stand up gracefully and prepare to take his leave.

The two shook hands and said goodbye, and Hu Chuyuan personally sent the queen's envoy out of the Yingtai Mansion.

When Hu Chuyuan returned to the office, Zhang Baixi looked very incredible, and he couldn't wait to sigh with Hu Chuyuan: "Lord Shoufu is really admirable, I don't know how long this problem has bothered me, I can't imagine that adults can solve it so easily!" ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly, not knowing if he was too capable or Zhang Baixi was too incompetent.

Zhang Baixi is not an incompetent person, but he lacks understanding in many professional knowledge areas.

Hu Chuyuan sighed silently, what can he do?

He took out a newly translated copy of "Political Economy" from his office, gave the book to Zhang Baixi, and instructed: "Take a good look, if you stay at the level of ten years ago, you will not be the one who will serve as the second assistant and the first assistant in the future." ”

Zhang Baixi even claimed that it was.

At this time, Zhang Baixi also suddenly had a feeling in his heart that it was impossible for him to reach the top just by relying on the trust of Emperor Guangxu Zaiyan, because he really did not have Hu Chuyuan's ability and knowledge.

Hu Chuyuan glanced at him, frowned slightly, and continued: "With the United Kingdom and the United States...... It is not difficult to deal with other foreign powers, the key is to understand what others are thinking and what others are thinking. Everyone and every country has a kind of logic when thinking about problems, others don't know Confucius and Mencius, how can they use Confucius and Mencius to speculate on other people's thoughts? Besides, I'm not a person who is in favor of governing the country entirely with the knowledge of the world, and to govern the country, you have to learn to analyze data. As a foreign minister, you have to know more, and recently think about the silver standard and the gold standard. ”

"Yes!"

Zhang Baixi was a little unwilling, but he had to admit that in front of Hu Chuyuan, he seemed to be the same subordinate forever.

Even if it is now on an equal footing, it is only half a cut below Hu Chuyuan.

After Zhang Baixi left, Hu Chuyuan called Gu Jiaxiang into the office again, and asked Gu Jiaxiang to quickly formulate a set of plans to transfer a part of the main force from the Nanyang Fleet to Palembang and suppress the Dutch fleet in Palembang.

In terms of the chief admiral of the navy, he chose to let Sa Zhenbing lead the team, with six Fuzhou-class ironclad ships as the main body and two Zhiyuan-class ironclad ships as the flagship.

On the other hand, he sent a telegram to Zhang Lingpu, asking the Borneo Autonomous State to assemble its fleet to Pontianak, and the Borneo Autonomous State also to make relevant preparations, and the military port they established in Brunei was to be transferred to the Qing Empire.

(To be continued)