Batavia is covered by a sparse rain, and the people living in the city have not yet felt the terrible clouds coming from Surabaya.

Outside the luxurious Governor's Palace, Wang Zhaoming and Li Liejun had been waiting for almost half an hour, but the matter that they went to report had not come out for a long time, which made Hu Hanmin, who came with him, very angry: "What is this!" Hanging us here is clearly trying to stall for time! Get out of the way, I'm going to see the Governor, I'm protesting! ”

Hu Hanmin excitedly squeezed away the soldiers and was about to rush inside, but the Dutch soldier in charge of guarding them pushed him away coldly: "Your Excellency, please pay attention to your demeanor. This is the Viceroyalty of the East Indies in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and we have the right to arrest anyone who trespasses. ”

"Okay, then you're going to catch it! Lao Tzu is here, come, come! Hu Hanmin's temper came up, and he rushed in regardless of it. Wang Zhaoming was afraid that things would make a big deal, so he hurriedly stopped and said, "Cousin Zhan, don't be impatient." ”

"Why don't you be impatient! These Dutchmen are clearly deliberately delaying and humiliating us. The domestic telegram sent a reminder, if we can't reach an agreement, what will we do when Yang Qiu comes back? What will people think of us in the future? If you can't do this little thing, how can you win the trust of tens of millions of overseas Chinese and win the trust of the country? ”

Wang Zhaoming was also embarrassed. During this time, he can be regarded as seeing through it, since the British Navy intervened, the Netherlands has no fear at all, and slowly consumes his patience with a drag knife meter, wanting to let himself take the initiative to reduce the price. But the problem is that Yang Qiu has already let the wind out, if they can't find a way to ensure the long-term peace and stability of the Nanyang expatriate, what face do they have to explain to Nanjing? If they miss this opportunity to expand their influence, they will probably not have to think about governing for the rest of their lives.

Only Li Liejun is not impatient or impatient, because he knows that now the Kuomintang wants military power but not military power, and whether it wants strength or not, not to mention that Yinghe will not talk to his own people if he changes himself. It is precisely because Yang Qiu saw this that he boldly handed over the matter to the Democratic Party to deal with it, deliberately delaying the time, and wanted to wait for the end of his visit to the United States to make plans.

Seeing that his own people were about to quarrel, Li Liejun just wanted to persuade him, but then the soldier who went to report finally came out: "I'm sorry." His Excellency the Governor is receiving guests, and today's negotiations need to be rescheduled. ”

"What! Rescheduling again? Hu Hanmin jumped three feet high. It's been almost a month, but the negotiations have only been going on twice so far, and the result of pushing and pushing again and again makes him angry. Even Wang Zhaoming's good temper was provoked, and he was so angry that he stomped his feet and walked back: "Go!" Send a telegram back to Nanjing, we can't do this thing! ”

Seeing that the three of them were about to leave, the visiting Lieutenant General Livingston lowered the curtains: "Your Excellency, why don't you meet them?" ”

Lord Decaux was no longer nervous during the crisis, and after kicking the telegraph operator who had seen his wife to Banda Aceh to become a prison warden, he was in a good mood and slowly took out a cigar from his cigarette case: "General. This is the best cigar in the East India. ”

Vice Admirals of the Royal Navy, accustomed to the best of Havana, spat on bitter Batavia cigars, which were only for the lonely but face-saving Dutch. Of course, these words cannot be said in front of the Dutch, and God knows if they will go to His Majesty the King to cry.

"Very good." Lieutenant General Livingston complimented him against his will, quietly put the cigar on the ashtray without a trace, picked up the coffee and just wanted to drink it, but found that there was milk he didn't like in it, so he had to take a sip and put it back in place. Lord Decaux didn't notice his look. Looking at the three people who were leaving, they sneered: "Why do you want to meet?" Generals, they are not the ruling party, there is no point in negotiating with them! And don't you think $15 million is a naked blackmail? This is something that the Kingdom will not tolerate! I need to slowly wear out their patience. Let them not get off the stage. ”

Lieutenant General Livingston nodded, now the whole world knows that it is Yang Qiu who is in charge of China, and it is indeed in vain to negotiate with the KMT. But remembering the telegram he had just received, he still reminded him kindly: "Your Excellency, although your arrangements are very clever, I still want to remind you. Whitehall has sent a telegram that the Chinese Premier will visit Japan with five days later! From this point of view, it is likely that some kind of tacit agreement has been reached, and if Japan intervenes, the situation will be much more complicated. ”

China and Japan hand in hand? This does not bode well! Lord Deco was taken aback, don't look at him now leisurely, if China and Japan really want to join hands, I'm afraid Britain will have to make a compromise. Without the support of Britain, the Netherlands could not stop the navies of the two countries.

The sudden change of face made Livingston despise this timid governor, the crisis was originally a matter of the Netherlands, but now the British Empire had to come forward to confront China, and more than a month of intense work and drifting at sea had already made the young men below full of complaints, and seeing that Japan might also join, the situation would be complicated again. But the Netherlands was, after all, a die-hard ally of the British Empire. So he changed the topic and comforted: "You can rest assured that it is unlikely that China and Japan will join forces." What's really bad is that my lads haven't showered in a month and don't have tasty food. Oh, God! If the girls smell it, they'll kick them into the sea. ”

Lord Deco is a man who understands, as long as the Far Eastern Fleet does not leave, what can China and Japan do together? So skillfully took out a check from his pocket: "Please rest assured, I will let the food be prepared below." ”

The filial piety that was delivered to the door did not take it in vain, and Lieutenant General Livingston also skillfully put away the check, and when he picked up the coffee, he suddenly felt that the taste was not unpleasant: "I don't want to interfere with your decision, but please speed up appropriately." ”

"Okay." Lord Decaux nodded.

When Lieutenant General Livingston accepted the check, Yang Qiu, who was far away in the United States, also took out a check in the hotel where he was staying and handed it to Hoover, who accompanied him on a tour of the industrial and commercial development of the Great Lakes: "Your Excellency, this is last year's manganese ore income. I took the liberty of bringing it without telling you beforehand. ”

The bearer cash check for $300,000 startled Hoover, who didn't expect the manganese mine on Groot Island, Australia, which the two invested together, to be so profitable, and thought it was a deliberate bribe. Yang Qiu smiled: "Minister, please rest assured, this is indeed the profit of the mine, if you don't believe it, you can send someone to check the accounts." ”

Of course, Hoover would not send someone to check the accounts, he just asked a friend in the Australian government to get a mining license for $2,000, so it was only a small investment for him, but he didn't expect such a big return. Excitedly, he hurriedly put away the check, and deliberately quipped: "It's a pity, I should have asked for more shares at that time." ”

"Haha, the minister laughed, you can do it now."

Hoover waved his hand, and he was already very happy with the three percent shares, after all, this was a no-capital deal. And he values his personal relationship with Yang Qiu more, and has a good relationship with a president who will lead a country with hundreds of millions of people in a few years. It's very helpful to my career, but I didn't expect the mine to be built so quickly. But in any case, this is a big favor, Hoover, who is well versed in Eastern philosophy, after receiving the check, remembered the crisis of Nanyang, and asked: "Your Excellency, Vice President." You can call me Clark. I heard you're in trouble in the South China Sea, do you need my help? ”

Yang Qiu knew that Hoover had a strong influence in the American business community, especially his work in helping Wall Street open up the Soviet Union and German markets, which made him very popular, which was the main reason for his success in the election four years later. Hearing him take the initiative to ask about Nanyang, he pretended to be embarrassed and lit a cigarette: "The situation is very bad, since the riot. Our diaspora lives in fear and fear on a daily basis. I meant to send the navy to protect the diaspora, but I found that this would not solve the racial tensions that plagued the area.

So I hope that our diaspora in West Borneo will be given limited autonomy, that they will have the opportunity to participate in the management of the city, that they will be able to protect themselves and be safe. But obviously, some people misunderstood what I meant, they thought it was an outward expansion, but in fact I had no interest in the land there, and of course I would still invite you to invest if it was a mine. ”

The last joke brought the two closer again. Hoover was slightly relieved to hear him say that he had no interest in the land of the South Seas. He was afraid that China would take this opportunity to seize the colony of Borneo, but if he didn't want land, then it would be much easier. Still, he wanted to make sure. "With all due respect, don't you really want that land?" It is said to be very rich and has a lot of gold mines. ”

Yang Qiu shook his fingers very affirmatively: "Mr. Clark, you are my friend, so I don't want to hide it." Do you feel the need to go to war against Britain for a land that is already home to hundreds of thousands of expatriates? This is the stupidest thing to do. Yes, the construction of our country requires a lot of money, technology and all kinds of resources, but it should be clear to you that our diaspora has been living there for hundreds of years, and the same effect can be obtained by commercial means of acquisition and joint mining! Why let the soldiers bleed? This is not the choice of a wise politician. ”

This is a bold statement. Even Pei Zuyi, who was accompanying him, was secretly anxious, wanting to remind Yang Qiu that he shouldn't dig out his heart and lungs like this. After all, this Hoover has a bad reputation in the US government, and he accumulates money and colludes with private officials and businessmen, second only to Harding, the "office bridge president" who plays cards in the office and openly accepts bribes. But before he could move, Gu Weijun smiled and grabbed him and shook his head quietly.

Contrary to Pei Zuyi's expectations. Hoover was very satisfied with Yang Qiu's frankness. West Borneo is said to be a Dutch colony, but in fact everyone knows how influential the Nanyang Chinese community is. As Yang Qiu said, it is the most unwise act to seize by force, and his real purpose is autonomy, as long as autonomy is obtained, West Borneo will be controlled in the hands of China! He knows this, the United States knows it, the Netherlands knows it, Britain knows it, the whole world knows it!

So he nodded unexpectedly in agreement: "I can understand your painstaking efforts to protect the diaspora, but I'm afraid autonomy is very difficult, Britain will not let this kind of behavior go, they have too many colonies to protect." If Britain insists, I don't think the U.S. government will intervene, you know, the Philippines also has a lot of your expatriate. ”

Hoover's concern was also that of the United States, which also feared that this autonomy would spread to the Philippines, especially since the independence movement there was actually not much less than that of the East Indies. Yang Qiu could understand this kind of psychology, took a few puffs of cigarette and pretended to be contemplative, and after a while, he came up with another plan: "Mr. Clark." You have to understand that standing in my place is to ensure the safety of the expatriate no matter what! But in order to accommodate the mood of other countries, I can give up my autonomy, and perhaps the establishment of the Sino-Dutch Free Trade Area in West Borneo is a good choice. But the premise must be made clear, our expatriates must have sufficient rights of self-defense, and the right to manage the trade zone must be given! ”

"You are very wise!" …… (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )