In a faux-Romanesque castle on the outskirts of Amsterdam, Sidney sat on his couch and wondered how the Australians would react, and if it was true that Australia lacked the ability to build ships, as he had suspected, the Netherlands would be able to exchange it for the other side.

The Australians did not receive him on several of his visits, and it seems that they must still be angry about the delay in delivery, but it doesn't matter, as long as the Australians don't protest, it's fine.

"Sir, Australia has sent a document, and they say they want you to read it carefully," and while Sidney was thinking, the old servant respectfully handed over the document sent by Fei Zhangsong to Sidney.

"Are the people gone?" Sidney asked, confused.

"Yes, sir, someone said that you can go to the consulate to find their consul after you finish reading."

The old servant's words made Sidney suddenly come to his senses, the Australians have not seen themselves in the past few days, but now they have uncharacteristically sent a document, could it be that they are ready to protest, it should not be, according to the compensation price they gave, even if the Australians did not get the ship, they would not lose money.

Opening the papers written on expensive rice paper by Australians, Sidney felt that his luxury was like the gap between a country bun and an aristocracy compared to Australians, and he vowed to be more luxurious than Australians.

Looking at the clauses and suggestions in it, his head is a little big, what do these old Australians want to do, they actually put forward so many conditions, is this still cooperation. For example, the transformation point of a steamship must be placed in Australia or territory, so how can it be.

What else is the patent law, the cost of using the patents, these Australians are simply crazy about money. This can also be thought of.

"No, I need to go to the consul and talk to them." Sidney said to himself, and then told the butler to prepare a carriage and go to the city.

At this time, Fei Zhangsong and Yu Bowen were sitting in the room drinking tea, chatting about how long Sidney would take to come to the consulate.

"Consul, I guess Sidney will arrive at the consulate in an hour, and he must have been anxious about that agreement. We had said that we were talking to the Spaniards, and as a large shipyard owner, he knew better what the Spaniards would bring to him if they acquired this technology. ”

In fact, the negotiations with the Spaniards have not yet been officially launched, and this is just Yu Bowen delaying the delivery time in order to disgust the Dutch. Since you can delay the delivery, then I can continue to choose to cooperate with the Spaniards, and I believe that their old rivals will be very happy.

It's just that Sidney didn't know about the situation, and he didn't confirm and know about it through the intelligence services. Just saw the contents of the document and rushed to the consulate in a hurry.

"Mr. Consul. You can't do that, the Netherlands and Australia as allies, how can they cooperate with the Spaniards, you must know that the Spaniards are very cunning, they must not be good partners. ”

Sidney gave Yu Bowen such a sentence as soon as they met, which made him stunned, he didn't expect the other party to be so anxious.

"Mr. Sidney, please be seated, you should know that we are also partners with Spain. We couldn't refuse to accept the partner's request, and the terms they offered were very tempting. ”

"Tempting." Spain has fallen into a financial crisis, what tempting conditions can be offered, I'm afraid only the colonies of the Americas, Sidney thought to himself, but hoped that the other party could give him an explanation.

"I'm sure you've seen the material I've given you, if there are no comments, the progress of rebuilding the steamship will be very fast, and we hope that the Netherlands will enact a patent law, which is a kind of respect for our scientists."

"The patent law is too difficult, according to the suggestion put forward by Mr. Consul, then we will have to pay a patent royalty for each ship we renovate, and this cost is too great for domestic shipyard owners to agree."

"No, Mr. Sined, you should know that this is not a big deal, just this year England enacted a law that monopolizes the creation of inventions, and as a civilized person, the Netherlands I don't think it will disrespect the inventions of scientists."

Although the Netherlands was founded by a group of merchants and a new aristocracy, they did not consider themselves barbarians, and considered themselves more civilized than the British.

"Of course not, the Netherlands is a civilized country, how can you not respect private inventions, it's just that I need some time to convince the parliamentarians in the country, but I hope that during this time, can you not negotiate with the Spaniards."

"Mr. Sidney, I'm afraid this is very difficult to do, you also know that I am just a representative of the negotiation and cooperation with the Spaniards, and it is the Australian officials who can really make the decision, so if you really want to cooperate, you should urge Mr. Speaker to promulgate the patent law, which is also very beneficial to you, not only will more and more people embark on the road of invention and creation, but also inject a piece of fresh blood into the future development of the Netherlands."

Patent law was a new word to Sidney, but monopoly was not unfamiliar, for the Dutch had almost monopolized the spice business from the East to Europe by sea.

That is to say, once the government promulgates the patent law, the conversion of steamships will become a monopoly business, but it is a bit inappropriate for this transformation plant to be located in Australia, if only it could be directly in the Netherlands.

"Consul, I will definitely urge Mr. Speaker to enact the patent law, and please wait a few more days, I think we can talk about other things, there is no problem in providing highly skilled shipbuilders, the Netherlands has the best shipbuilders in all of Europe, you can also see this, but whether the construction plant is a little wrong in Australia."

"Mr. Sidney, this is for security reasons, steam engine technology is a great invention, once it is leaked you know it will happen, once someone with ulterior motives leaks out, our two countries will be in endless trouble."

"Yes, Mr. Consul, you are right, but the construction plant in the Netherlands does not necessarily leak secrets, we can strengthen our guards, day and night guard, and never leak out."

"No, Mr. Sidney, it's safe only if it's in our own hands, and you can choose whether it's in Australia or overseas, as long as it's in the name of Australia."

"Well, Mr. Consul, I will leave your proposal and Australia's proposal to the Speaker for decision, and I will do my best to persuade the Parliament to reach our cooperation as soon as possible."

"In this case, we will wait for Mr. Sidney's good news. Yu Bowen smiled. (To be continued......)