Chapter 24

February 6, 1862, the Netherlands and France officially announced that after careful discussion and negotiation between the two countries, the two countries had reached a "Mutual Defense Act", which stated: When a country is attacked by another country for no reason. , the other party who signed the bill is obliged to send troops to help the other party without hesitation, and protect the security of the other party's citizens and territorial integrity.

The bill will be implemented immediately after it is passed by both houses of Congress later this month.

This bill came so suddenly that it was reached and announced without even knowing it, with no preparation at all.

Even Leopold I of Belgium was embarrassed. This was a lot of pressure, but the Netherlands and France always guarded against each other, which was his entry point. He always believed that as long as he persisted, the British Empire With the support behind his back, the pressure will soon disappear, but when he saw the emergency telegram he received today, he knew that he had miscalculated everything. He thought that the two countries were just playing tickets, but now he realized , people are real.

It seems that Belgium is really doomed to be attacked this time.

.....

As ugly as Leopold I were Queen Victoria, Henry John Tapper and John Russell.

"Secretary Russell, why didn't our Ministry of Foreign Affairs receive this information at all? Could it be that the negotiation of such a big thing as the alliance between France and the Netherlands didn't reveal it at all?"

Queen Victoria is very angry. Recently, the number of times she is angry and sad has doubled.

The husband died, the eldest son Edward was beaten, and the uncle's Belgium was now in danger. All these were bad enough, but the little guy, the sixth daughter, Louisa, was arguing and wanted to leave the Isle of Wight and resume her previous life. This made her even more dissatisfied, but Queen Victoria could only scold her for her ignorance, and she could only feel sorry for the daughter, whom her husband loved the most and often praised the brightest and brightest daughter.

Originally thought that it was like this, and it would pass slowly, especially in Belgium, it was just a small fight, and it was not worth her fighting.

But she was wrong, and horribly wrong.

France and the Netherlands openly allied themselves?

How ridiculous was this before?

No one would believe that this prediction would come true, but looking at the serious faces of Tapper and Russell, one powerful and the other powerful, the expressions of the two let Queen Victoria know that everything is not fake, Holland, true Allied with France!

John Russell replied succinctly: "Because the Netherlands and France have already completed this plan, but it has only been released now."

After a pause, Russell was unprecedentedly vigilant, and said: "Your Majesty, several colleagues from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and I speculate that the two countries may have completed the alliance plan before the Belgian public opinion war was launched, and Belgium is them. The first touchstone of mutual alliance"

Queen Victoria was shocked when she heard the words, and looked at Prime Minister Tapper in disbelief.

Tapper nodded and sighed seriously: "We underestimate the enemy, France has allied with the Netherlands, and the recent events have followed, but we can find that the actions against Belgium were coordinated. Even our consuls were attacked as part of their plan, in order to want their people to draw us into their sights, and then when the attention reached a certain level, whether it was pity or sympathy, we were deeply moved by them. Remember, when it was revealed that we were going to build a naval base in Belgium, it broke their original sympathy and turned it into hatred and anger."

Phew!

Prime Minister Henry John Tapper, who was nearly 80 years old, took a deep breath and said with a little trembling fear in his voice: "You two, no matter what the outcome of this time is, the people who planned this operation behind it, In the future, he will be one of the most formidable opponents of the British Empire, and from now on, he may also be the most formidable enemy of the British Empire in the future, no one."

The two are also veterans in the political arena. They didn't feel that Tapper was exaggerating their opponents, and even they felt that there was a tricky side in front of them.

"After the alliance between the Netherlands and the French Empire, what situation will the Empire face?"

This is what Queen Victoria wants to know the most. This is one of the few times over the years that she took the initiative to ask for the prediction result.

John Russell said with worry: "The sea opposite us will appear almost opposite the coastline of this alliance. At the same time, France is the second largest army in Europe, second only to the Russian Empire, but it has obvious advantages in equipment, and The navy is also under the British Empire, 230,000 to 200,000 tons, but the Netherlands has 90,000 tons. If these two countries are added together, then for us, can we completely keep the sea to suppress other countries? Sovereignty, still unknown"

Speaking of this, Russell is also a bit of doubts, although compared with France, the British Empire has an absolute advantage in the first-class sailing battleships, 10 to 4, even if you add the three first-class battleships of the Netherlands, it is only 10 to 7, What's more, in the construction of steam ironclad battleships, the British Empire has now served 3 ships and built 3 ships. According to the progress, it will be completed and launched in 3 years. Compared with France, which has only one ironclad battleship, it can be said to have an advantage. Like other countries except Britain and France, most of the Netherlands are still in the exploratory stage, but the Netherlands is a country with hundreds of years of shipbuilding history. We originally suspected that the Netherlands would be able to sail in a maximum of 2 years. build their ironclads, but with the signing of a treaty of alliance with France, perhaps with the help of France, this process in the Netherlands will be accelerated."

The Netherlands is now the third largest warship-building country in Europe. The warships they built even compete for business with the British Empire. For example, some time ago, they sold a first-class sail battleship to Argentina five years ago, which aroused dissatisfaction from Spain.

Therefore, there is not much doubt about the shipbuilding ability of the Netherlands.

"The area of ​​the Netherlands is too small, and when Viscount Palmerston you split Belgium out, it is equivalent to cutting off its wings. No matter how strong his shipbuilding ability is, so what? It can only be used in various European countries. Surrounded by great powers~www.mtlnovel.com~ I can only bow my head and admit defeat and form an alliance with France? Be careful not to leave any bones that are eaten."

Although Tapper wondered why the people in the Netherlands made such a decision, he did not think that an alliance with France would be the best policy.

Like him, there is William I of Prussia.

Now they are also talking about the variables of the Dutch-French alliance, and assessing the impact of this on Prussia?

Facing William I's worries, Bismarck smiled slightly and said indifferently: "The direct alliance between the Netherlands and France, in my opinion, the two countries are just a temporary deal, maybe as some newspapers say Yes, the Netherlands got on the French ship for protection because they were afraid of the British Empire's retaliation, but in any case, this is a side view that compared with other countries, the Netherlands is too weak, less than 6 million people, economical. No matter how good the development is, in terms of volume, there is still a huge gap."

"But, don't you think, this is not like the style of the Haysbert Feng we met some time ago? And the Pearson you mentioned, their intelligence has been proved, the Netherlands will not be confused Insects will not be courageous people."

Bismarck agrees with this. Especially when he thinks of the two people mentioned by William I, he is curious for a while. With such a talented person in the Netherlands, what kind of person would their William IV be?

...

Crazy, really crazy!

Although many people knew before that the multiple attacks in the Kingdom of Belgium would not end so quickly, they did not expect that there would be so many twists and turns and so many results.

It's almost like a drama in a theater. The plot is ups and downs, making people's heart skip a beat. It's really "amazing"!