Chapter 178

Inside the Royal Palace of the Netherlands.

In the King's Office, there are only William III and William IV and their sons.

Today's King William IV of the Netherlands and King William III of Greece.

"Father, is the situation in Greece okay?"

With William III becoming the king of the Kingdom of Greece, it seems that his complexion is not really busy, but it is like the second spring, but he is full of energy.

This made William IV suddenly sigh with emotion, men, still have a career and more support.

"It's not bad, thanks to your many arrangements beforehand, originally in Greece, many people wanted to do some perfunctory retreats with me, but they didn't expect that the Prime Minister of Greece, Constantine Canaris, was already our people"

William IV was silent when he heard it.

At the beginning, he personally went to the Greek prison to meet with the other party, and finally reached a cooperation agreement, so that after he supported William III, the former prime minister was able to become the prime minister of Greece again.

However, William IV naturally would not pin his hopes on the integrity of others, which is unrealistic and unreliable.

Therefore, in addition to the acquisition of Constantine Canaris, he also acquired Demetrios Vulgaris, another former prime minister of Greece, under his banner.

"Demetrios Vulgaris can really check and balance Konstantin Canaris, but his father is to prevent the family from becoming dominant politically"

William III nodded.

Apparently he agrees with his son's words.

"Greece is in turmoil, but it can rest and recuperate. Recently, the major countries have been hampered by the situation in Africa, but we can take this opportunity. Father can develop his own strength to smash Greece. After all, relying on them is still too risky. Well, it's not good for my father's rule either."

"You are right"

William III said with satisfaction: "Alexandra is a good child, very suitable to be the queen of our kingdom of the Netherlands, but you should not let others down."

Seeing William IV nodding, William III smiled and said, "I'm just curious, when are you going to add children to our Nassau Orange family?"

Rao is that William IV has always been fearless, and he blushes when he hears this.

But he was also curious how many children he and Alexandra would have.

In history, after she married Edward VII, the British king, Alexandra gave birth to 6 children between 1864 and 1871, and only the last one died, the others survived. down. Therefore, 5 members of the royal family have been added to the British royal family, the first two princes and the latter three princesses, and the one who died is also a prince.

It can be said that the inheritance of the British royal family is very important.

It is precisely because of this that William IV chose Alexandra because of her ability to give birth and safety. Originally, she wanted the British princess, but hemophilia made him discouraged.

At the same time, many of Queen Victoria's princesses were childless, so for William IV, that bit of political value seemed to him to be of low value.

William III did not know the thoughts of his son William IV, and he continued: "Now that Greece has fallen into the hands of you and my father and son, it can be considered that the power of the Orange family has expanded. What are you going to do next? Greece can How can I help you?"

William IV said: "Greece's geographical location, for the Netherlands, the most important thing is that the Mediterranean has an eye and an eye since then, and other fathers do not need to do it now. The most important thing is to consolidate the position and be careful to cause backlash.

As for the future of the Netherlands, Australia is the foundation of the future of Nassau-Orange, and I have already transferred most of Nassau-Orange's wealth there."

William III frowned: "This will make many nobles in the Netherlands feel dissatisfied with our royal family."

William IV paused for a while, and said astonishingly: "Father, this is the final guarantee"

William III: "Are you sure that there will be a continental war in Europe similar to that of Napoleon I in the future?"

William IV nodded: "Now all countries are developing their military power rapidly. Although the British navy dominates, all countries are not willing to let them continue to treat them so preferentially, especially France and Prussia. This is the future trend, and the land On the other hand, Prussia's ambitions are even bigger than that of Tsarist Russia, especially the history of the rise of Bismarck, the prime minister, is a history of ambition.

Every step he takes betrays his ambition.

This is why William IV is optimistic about him, and with Mao Qi, this Prussian triangle is destined to leave a legend on the European continent."

William IV thought of William IV and said: "Father, but these kinds of things, although they are crises, but for the Netherlands, they are an opportunity, an opportunity to rise."

William III: "The war has become an opportunity, and is it still a war that affects the Dutch mainland?"

William IV: "Since America can have a Monroe Doctrine, why don't we learn from each other"

William III's eyes brightened slightly: "The rise of the United States over the years depends on the Monroe Doctrine which requires Europe not to interfere in the affairs of the Americas, so the advance is the retreat, and the local economic development is maintained. You mean, we can also do the same in Australia. the same implementation?"

"Yes, Australia is a separate continent, and its location is even more advantageous, and the East India to the north is also our Dutch territory for generations. In addition, the Dutch navy has recently won the surrounding islands in the Pacific Ocean. This has laid a big net, It laid the foundation for Australia to be the sole hegemon in the region, but now Britain and France have established their power on many islands in Malaya, so they have become an obstacle for us."

Therefore, if there is a war in Europe, Britain and France will inevitably be forced to join. When the two sides weaken their strength, it is an opportunity for the rise of the Netherlands.

One that dominates the surrounding area of ​​Australia, which I collectively call Australia that is on par with Europe, dominates Australia and looks north to the Southeast Asian peninsula, and the opportunity for penetration is just around the corner. "

"So you have recently developed the name of that side, and moved as much local population as possible to Australia, in order to avoid the loss of population in the European war?"

"Yes, father.

It turned out that Belgium now has 5 million people, of which 3 million are of Dutch origin. However, due to the disintegration of France and the Netherlands, there are only about 3 million people left.

Now that the mainland has won the two northern provinces of Belgium, the Dutch mainland has increased by 1.8 million people, and the other 1.2 million people are French, becoming the current French.

The Netherlands therefore has 7.8 million people, and because of the return of 500,000 goosenecks in the South African Republic of Transvaal and the Orange Free State, our current population is about 8.5 million. "

"It's already quite a lot. How many native Dutch people are you going to leave behind?" William III asked, wondering how his son William IV would arrange it.

William IV: "3 million people are enough, and the remaining 5 million people, I want to use three years, I can immigrate to speed up the development of Australia and East India and even New Guinea, and Madagascar, this is my core, as long as With the development of these places, the status of the Netherlands in the world will be based on the huge Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, which will be enough to successfully enter the ranks of world hegemons, alongside the Russian Empire, the French Empire, and the British Empire."

"Why not Prussia and Austria?"

"Father, the location of these two countries is in the middle of Europe, where there are four wars, surrounded by great powers, and there is no rear depth, so the status of great powers is difficult to last, especially in the future with the rapid development of science and technology.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is difficult to be on par with the other three countries in terms of status."

"Where is Denmark's help to the Netherlands?" William III couldn't help but ask.

"In Iceland and Greenland. For the Netherlands, this is a key point of the future route to Alaska now. Of course, Denmark's position in the Baltic Sea, the key to the Atlantic Ocean, but it allows our two countries to cooperate in the Atlantic Ocean. Britain is afraid.

Father, don't forget the grievances between Sweden and Denmark"

"It was born from the same root, so why is it too urgent to fry each other?" William III sighed: "The three Nordic countries are now ruled by Norway from Denmark to Sweden, but the thorn in the hearts of these two countries cannot be removed. This is a death sentence. Bureau"

"Father is wrong"

"Why is it wrong?" William III asked curiously.

"If the two countries really want to reconcile, then this knot can actually be untied." Seeing William III's interested eyes, William IV said: "Dad, have you forgotten that Norway's own domestic self-reliance has gradually formed, and Sweden's Carl Ten The V also complained many times in private that this was caused by the forces of Britain and Denmark, especially the remnants of Denmark who stayed there.

If the two countries really want to reconcile, in fact, I think Liang Gong might as well change his thinking, let the royal families of the two countries marry, send the married prince to become the new king of Norway, and marry the woman as the queen, which can make the two countries reconcile. But in this way, Sweden's status as a great power is even more insecure, so I estimate that Sweden does not have this market now, and Denmark will not be easily involved."

When William III heard the words, he immediately recognized it.

The two father and son chatted very hotly. If there were outsiders, they would definitely think that it was not father and son, but colleagues, but now both of them are kings of their respective countries, so it is not bad to call them that.

King to king, what is not a colleague?

On July 3, 1863, on the third day after the wedding of William IV of the Netherlands, the Austrian Empire began to formally attack Ali Sabieh, where 10,000 Ethiopian troops were lined up to wait for the new enemy of Austria. , faced the challenge without fear, and in the end, although it was defeated by the impact of 40,000 people in Austria, Ethiopia lost more than 3,000 people, and the rest retreated to the direction of Harar.

The Austrian imperial army was the main attack~www.mtlnovel.com~, so the loss was slightly larger than that of the Ethiopian army, with 4,000 killed and the remaining 1,500 injured in varying degrees.

The first battle ended in a victory for Austria.

However, this battle made the Austrians suddenly dignified, because the strength of the Ethiopian army made them realize the fact that the Austrian army did not grab much more than Italy.

This time, it was Prince Olsperger, who was the first prime minister after the founding of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the history that William IV knew.

This is the famous chicken thief.

It is precisely because of this that he gained the trust of Franz Joseph I, believing that he could lay a colony for Austria in Africa.

He is different from the Italian star Giuseppe Garibaldi, who likes to fight head-on.

But Prince Olsperger likes the combination of odd and positive, and the emphasis is on odd.

This also made Tewodros II under unprecedented pressure when he was in Austria, England