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"Welcome to Manila, Lord Gretel!" On the pier in Manila, Eric, the British special envoy of the Straits Settlements to Manila, personally came to greet Gerrit and his party. Relations between the Netherlands and Great Britain were relatively close, except for the period when Britain and the Netherlands were vying for dominance of maritime trade. This time, the Dutch mission had travelled to Manila and Xinhua for negotiations, and Special Envoy Eric had already received orders from Governor Bonham to cooperate fully.

"Mr. Eric, thank you for being able to meet us at the docks!" Gerrit said with a smile. The Dutch Indonesian colonial authorities suffered a crushing defeat, leaving the Netherlands at great loss. What's more, tens of thousands of Dutch people were detained by Xinhuaguo. Their families have put a lot of pressure on the Dutch government, and if it is not handled well, the current government may even collapse.

"Your Excellency Gretel, this is as it should be! Please, I've already arranged a place to stay. In addition, tomorrow morning we will be able to hold a meeting with the foreign minister of Xinhuaguo. Special Envoy Eric said.

"Thank you!" After thanking him, Gerrit, accompanied by Envoy Eric, got into a carriage and headed to the hotel, which had already been prepared. The rest of the Dutch mission also got into the carriage that had already been prepared.

This time, no one wanted to make a noise about the negotiations between the Netherlands and Xinhuaguo, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Xinhuaguo did not make other arrangements. It was only a matter of informing Foreign Minister Lin Zihao of the time of the meeting with the Dutch mission.

"God, Mr. Eric. It's so hot, it's really not a place to be alone! As soon as he got into the carriage, Gerrit began to complain. Manila now. It's the hottest time of the year to make it. As a traditional European, it is indeed difficult for Gerrit to adapt to the climate here, which is completely torment for him!

"Your Excellency, it's good to get used to it. By the way, I have news for you, that the negotiations between the Spaniards and the Xinhua Kingdom have come to an end. They have agreed. However, the content of the negotiations is kept strictly confidential. We still don't know exactly what agreement the Xinhua and the Spaniards reached! Special Envoy Eric said.

"Spaniards? Hmph, it's just a declining country! They lost Luzon, and the huge expeditionary force was wiped out by the new country, now Spain. It's already in a slump! Gerrit said disdainfully. Feud between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Spain. It's known throughout Europe. But when Gerritt ridiculed the decline of Spain, wasn't the same true of the Kingdom of the Netherlands? In the beginning, the Netherlands, known as the 'coachman of the sea', controlled more than eighty percent of the world's maritime trade. In the end, after fighting the airport war with the British, they were completely defeated by the British. Now, even their most important colony, Dutch Indonesia. It also fell into the hands of Xinhuaguo. Spain still has colonies in the Caribbean, but the Netherlands. But there's nothing left!

"Your Excellency, I have to tell you that Xinhuaguo's attitude is very tough. So this time, I'm afraid the Netherlands won't be able to get any benefits from Xinhuaguo! Special Envoy Eric reminded.

Gerrit nodded, the crushing defeat of the Spanish expeditionary force gave the Kingdom of the Netherlands a great shock. The Dutch king and government also realized that there was almost no possibility that they would want to retake Indonesia. As for compensation, the powerful Xinhua State is a good thing not to let them lose money. This time, Gretel's main task was to bring the captured soldiers and the detained Dutch back to the Netherlands! These tens of thousands of Dutchmen are very important for the Netherlands, which has a population of only two million!

At 9 o'clock in the morning of the next day, Lin Zihao, Foreign Minister of Xinhua, met with Dutch Foreign Minister Gerrit in the office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the two sides negotiated the war between Xinhuaguo and the Kingdom of the Netherlands over Dutch Indonesia!

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, regarding the war that broke out between our two countries in Dutch Indonesia, this is a complete misunderstanding! Because of this misunderstanding, both of our countries have paid a huge price! The Kingdom of the Netherlands hopes to be able to resolve the misunderstanding between our two countries through negotiations with Xinhua on the issue of Dutch Indonesia! Gerrit said.

"Correct, Your Excellency. Now, it's no longer Dutch Indonesia, but the provinces of Sumatra, Java and Borneo in the new country! There, it's already the territory of Xinhua! Lin Zihao looked at Gerrit and said.

"But, Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary! This is what you took from the Netherlands! Gerrit said with some anger.

"Ha, if you say that, then these territories are all indigenous to Indonesia! Didn't the Netherlands also take these territories from the natives? We, the Xinhua Kingdom, have just snatched these territories from the Netherlands! Lin Zihao said with a smile.

"Well, Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary! The Kingdom of the Netherlands admits that we are not in a position to retake Indonesia from the Xinhua Kingdom for the time being. If there is a war between our two countries, more innocent young people will surely lose their lives. Therefore, the Kingdom of the Netherlands intends to recognize the ownership of Xinhua to Indonesia. However, given the huge interests of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Indonesia, those interests are now being compromised. If Xinhua is willing to compensate the Netherlands for this, then this problem will end here! Gerrit said. Now that Indonesia has lost its decision, the Netherlands does not want to continue to invest too much effort in Indonesia, so it is better to take advantage of it to make the last money. Over the centuries, the Netherlands have also grabbed a lot of wealth from Indonesia.

"So, how much compensation do you think is appropriate?" Lin Zihao asked.

Gerrit was overjoyed and hurriedly said: "Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, after our estimates, the losses of the Netherlands in the war are more than ten million pounds!" As long as Xinhua is willing to pay 10 million pounds to the Netherlands, the Netherlands will agree to transfer Indonesia to Xinhuaguo! ”

In Gerritt's view, it was too good to buy Dutch Indonesia for 10 million pounds, which also included the Dutch property in Indonesia. According to preliminary estimates, the losses of the Dutch Indonesian colonial authorities in the war were at least about 20 million pounds. It was feared that the price would be too high, so the Dutch side lowered the requirements.

"Ha Lu Ha! Ten million pounds? Lord Gerritt, does the Kingdom of the Netherlands have a revenue of 10 million pounds a year? Lin Zihao asked with a smile.

"Nope!" Gerrit replied truthfully.

"Why, then, did the Netherlands want Xinhua to pay 10 million pounds in compensation? I'll tell you the truth, Xinhua won't pay a copper for Indonesia! There, it was the soldiers of the Xinhua Army who exchanged their lives and blood for it, and it was our trophies! Unless the Dutch army can defeat us, there will be no more Indonesian problems! "Lin Zihao is very strong.

Gerrit was dumbfounded, he finally understood, why did Eric's envoy specifically inform him that Xinhuaguo's attitude was very strong. Where is this strong, it is simply arrogant!

"Well, Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary! Indonesia's problem, we put it aside for the time being! Gerrit said through gritted teeth. The military strength is not as good as the people, and the waist pole can't stand up, so there is no way, so I have to endure it!

For the compromise of the Dutch, Lin Zihao was very satisfied. He is now enjoying the situation, and Xinhua's military strength allows him to ravage other opponents at the negotiating table. Even those high-flying foreign devils are the same!

"Your Excellency Foreign Minister, we have tens of thousands of officers and soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians who have been detained by Xinhua State, and now that the war is over, can we release them?" Gerrit asked. This is the top priority of his visit to Xinhua this time!

"Of course, those prisoners of war and civilians, can be handed over to the Netherlands! However, the premise is that the Netherlands have to pay a ransom for them! Lin Zihao said.

"Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, we can pay the ransom for the prisoners of war, but what about the civilians? They are innocent, and Xinhuaguo's practice of detaining civilians is very inappropriate! Gerrit retorted.

"Your Excellency, Xinhuaguo is just protecting those civilians! After the Dutch army was annihilated by the Xinhua State, could the Dutch civilians still live under the hostility of the natives? For the sake of their safety, we can only protect their heads in unison. During this period, how much manpower, material and financial resources we wasted! Shouldn't the Dutch government pay for this? Lin Zihao asked rhetorically.

"You!" Gerrit was very angry, but after seeing Lin Zihao's cold eyes, he didn't dare to vent it. Now, the lives of those Dutch people are in the hands of Xinhua Kingdom.

"Well, how much ransom do we have to pay to ransom them?" Gerrit gave up resistance.

"Not much, we have more than 60,000 Dutch prisoners of war and civilians in our hands! In this way, it is enough for the Netherlands to pay Xinhua 10 million pounds! Lin Zihao said.

"What? Ten million pounds? This is robbery, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands will not accept such conditions! Glitter jumped.

"Is it too expensive? Then the price can be negotiated again! Lin Zihao said.

The two bargained for more than an hour, and in the end, the ransom was determined to be three million pounds. After losing Indonesia, the Netherlands also suffered a big loss of national strength, and the three million pounds is also a huge amount of money for them! Xinhua demanded that when the ransom was paid by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Xinhua would release the hostages, no, prisoners of war and protected civilians!

Both the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of the Netherlands sent missions to Xinhua to negotiate with Xinhua and finally reached an agreement to end the state of war. This makes Xinhua once again famous in Europe, and all European countries know that in the East, there is already a great power on the rise! (To be continued......)