Chapter 218 The basis of the Sino-British alliance

In the Philippines, the Spaniards and the Reading Army spent nearly two years, almost completely dragged down, and finally had to leave the whole Philippines.

How long can the Dutch drag on in the Dutch East Indies is really a problem.

Since Borneo, with the Chinese as the main body, became the Dominion of the British Empire and the Philippines immediately read it, the Dutch have been increasing their troops in Southeast Asia and increasing military spending.

The problem is that on the island of Sulahwesi, Yang Zong Li used a team of more than 2,000 people to attract the main force of more than 10,000 Dutch colonial forces to the depths of the jungle, and then annihilated this part of the main force within a few days.

In this battle alone, the Dutch had to withdraw from Surawisi.

In Java, the two sides fought back and forth for a year. The loss was too big, and the Dutch were forced to evacuate again.

Now there is only half of Sumatra and some fragmentary islands left in the Netherlands.

In addition to Yang Zonglian, there is also Ma Zongliang's Islamic army in the Medan area. The Azi have the Yaqi army, and Yang Zongyue in Java also has more than 20,000 troops who are not in a hurry to come.

In terms of the navy, the Dutch have recently strengthened their strength and built many ironclad ships. The Chinese reading force has only a few gunboats, but these problems are not the key. The key is that the Dutch have no foothold at all.

The era of annexing a country with a few warships has long passed, and now the popular war is the war of loss.

... With the continuous occupation of the Bedong mining area and the oil mining area in the upper reaches of the Musi River by the Chinese reading army, the losses of the Dutch colonial army in these two areas exceeded thousands of people. The Kingdom of the Netherlands was forced to ask Britain to coordinate on its behalf, trying to negotiate with the Chinese reading army and redraw its power.

The Governor of the British Straits Colony sent a special envoy to Zhanbei to coordinate negotiations, but Yang Zong Li was rejected. Yang Zong Li's condition was that they did not intend to conduct any negotiations before the Dutch were not ready to completely withdraw from Asia.

Dou Nale, the British minister to China, could only come to Zhang Baixi, the foreign minister of the Qing Empire, hoping that the Qing Dynasty would come forward to negotiate with Yang Zongli.

Zhang Baixi did not dare to make a decision. He could only go to Hu Chuyuan and Guangxu Emperor Zaitian. Zaitian did not know the importance and continued to look for Hu Chuyuan, and the answer given by Hu Chuyuan was to continue to wait and see.

The war in Southeast Asia has been delayed.

At the end of April 1898, the Netherlands was completely lost in Patong, Nanbang Port, Minguru and Timor Island, leaving only a huge port guarded by a fleet.

In this successive battles, the Dutch colonial army suffered nearly 14,000 casualties, and the army guarding the giant harbor was less than 6,000.

On the evening of May 1, Sir Mitchell, the Governor of the British Straits Colony, as the special envoy of the Queen of England, arrived at the Prime Minister's Office in Yanjing to negotiate with Hu Chuyuan on this matter.

This time, the British can't wait any longer.

If the Chinese in Southeast Asia continue to be allowed, one day, even Singapore may belong to the Chinese power. Although it is not sure whether these Chinese will be restrained by the Qing Zheng Axe and how strong this restraint is, the British Zheng Axe still wants to have a try.

They hope to reach a stable agreement with multiple constraints to avoid the continued deterioration of the situation in Southeast Asia.

After the state banquet, Hu Chuyuan continued to negotiate with Sir Mitchell in the office of Yingtai Mansion. At the same time, Prime Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Baixi was also accompanied.

Knowing Sir Mitchell's intention, Hu Chuyuan still talked about John Stuart Mueller first, and talked with Sir Mitchell with great interest about the Principles of Political Economy.

The two made some discussions on the current international economic situation and financial structure, and exchanged views with each other.

Generally speaking, Hu Chuyuan asked Sir Mitchell what the gold reserves of the Bank of England were and whether he intended to hold silver reserves at present.

This is also a hot topic.

With the gradual and steady rise of silver prices, the United States has begun to pass a congressional bill in 1895, with an annual reserve of 6,000 pounds of silver. Under the influence of this trend, the world's silver price has risen sharply.

Of course, this is not a good thing for China's economy.

Especially at this stage.

Therefore, Hu Chuyuan has been re-studying many basic works of economics recently, re-examiing the economic system and structure of the whole world based on the experience of the past few years, trying to find the defects of the principle surname.

The two talked about this issue for half an hour, which made Zhang Baixi very anxious.

After a while, Sir Mitchell cleverly talked about the situation in Southeast Asia on the issue of gold.

He said: "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, since the Boer War and the Dutch East India riots, the world's gold and silver prices have risen sharply. Although this increase will not affect the price base of various countries in the short term, I believe that around this time next year, we must face an embarrassing gold. Melting and expanding. The impact of this is far-reaching. Due to the increased flow of world capital to the gold market, the UK has been forced to increase the discount rate of the central bank. It is believed that Germany and France will also increase one after another.

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "I'm also considering increasing the appropriateness rate to temporarily alleviate the problem of silver cashing out and outflow."

Sir Mitchell immediately suggested: "So, starting from the fundamental interests of our two countries, we need to solve the problems of Southeast Asia as soon as possible. No matter who will take over the Dutch East Indies, we need them to resume the mining of gold and silver as soon as possible."

Hu Chuyuan said, "If possible, I will send the Southern Ocean Fleet to the Dutch East Indies... If your country does not object, I would like to send troops to stabilize the situation in the Dutch East Indies. I don't know how the local reading army will react for the time being. I should not oppose it too strongly, as long as I can offer enough price.

Sir Mitchell knew it well, but said, "According to the conditions of the signing of the vassal agreement between the Philippines and your country, I believe that as long as your country decides to send troops to protect the Dutch East Indies, the problem will be very easy to solve... Our country may not oppose it, but in the same way, we need a certain foundational commitment from your country. Ensure that Chinese people do not engage in other unconventional acts in Southeast Asia.

Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment, and then made a phone call and asked Gu Jiaxiang to come in with the information.

Soon, this pre-prepared information was sent to Sir Mitchell, all about the massacre and looting of Chinese by the Netherlands during its control of the Dutch East Indies.

For China, the Netherlands is always a very shameless country. It was they who started the large-scale massacre of the Chinese and affected the later Portugal and Spain, causing great trauma to the Chinese throughout Asia.

In Sumatra and Java, the Netherlands has also cheated Chinese workers to mine gold and copper mines for a long time, seeking huge profits, killing Chinese workers wantonly, and not taking Chinese workers as people at all.

After Sir Mitchell finished reading the information, Hu Chuyuan said, "I personally think the Netherlands is to blame themselves. The reason why they have the current situation is all caused by themselves, so this should have nothing to do with other countries. I fully understand the special relationship between the Netherlands and the British Empire, but I believe that Southeast Asia will not achieve real peace until the Dutch completely withdraw from Southeast Asia.

Sir Mitchell was silent.

He thought about it for a long time and said, "The Netherlands is willing to withdraw, but they hope that in a more decent way, they are willing to transfer the Dutch East India held by the Netherlands at a more appropriate price."

Hu Chuyuan sneered and asked, "Who is willing to take over such a mess?" Is the UK willing? If your country is willing, out of the long-term cooperation between our country and Britain, I must advise your country to be cautious. It doesn't matter if tens of thousands of people die. It's the biggest trouble that tens of thousands of people died but didn't take this land to their own.

Sir Mitchell continued to be silent for a while and cautiously tried to ask, "If your country successfully obtains the authority of the local suzerain with the assistance of our country, what kind of connection are you willing to provide to our country?"

Hu Chuyuan strangely drew a circle with his hands and said, "Sir, let's look at all the problems in the long run. Last year, your country's total new foreign investment was only 140 million pounds, down 27 percentage points from the growth rate in 1895. I believe this should be an important economic problem for your country. Analyzing this problem alone, I believe there are two reasons. One is the impact of the war in South Africa, but this range is not large. South Africa did not ship gold last year, and the world's total gold output remained at 3,450 tons last year. This means that the worldwide foreign investment has not decreased, and the reduction of foreign investment is only a problem for the UK. Judging from the total foreign investment ratios of France, Germany, the United States and Russia, the past decade has been increasing year by year.

Sir Mitchell was a little difficult to determine the specific figures, but he nodded and agreed, saying, "The economy of the British Empire has indeed encountered a little problem at present. However, China still maintains a stable growth in industrial scale, and the total output of coal mines and steel has also increased year by year, especially in the shipbuilding industry. It is still far ahead. I must remind you that in the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry and textile industry, your country has always had a special support policy, which has a huge negative impact on China's economy, but China has not raised any objection to the inevitable surname of long-term cooperation.

Hu Chuyuan did not deny it.

Britain's tariffs on Chinese textiles have always been low, even lower than those of France. There are many reasons for this, but it is undeniable that Britain plays a very important role in the development of China's textile industry, and indeed has a lot of damage to the domestic textile industry.

This damage is not the decline of the British textile industry, but the compression of the growth space of the British textile industry. On the other hand, it is also the result of the free flow of capital.

Under the situation that the profits of the textile industry in the United Kingdom and France are gradually depressed and the development space is gradually reduced, capital will naturally be transferred to other fields for investment.

China's shipbuilding industry can be said to be supported by the British. In the early days, it was almost entirely dependent on British technology transfer. There were many factors. At first, it was to maintain its influence on China. Later, it gradually became a regional surname policy restricting France, and finally it became an agreement to balance Germany and France and Russia. The bargaining chip.

At present, judging from the quality of a single warship, the average level of China's shipbuilding industry should surpass that of France and Russia, and roughly comparable to that of the United States, second only to Britain and Germany.

In terms of the maximum tonnage and speed of merchant ships, China has been able to build 15,000 tons of merchant ships with a speed of more than 21 knots.

In recent years, the ship supply in Asia has also been mainly completed by China, especially the huge market in China, which is also a kind of damage to the British shipbuilding industry.

As a politician, you must first learn to judge the entire international situation and the bilateral relations between the two countries from a macroeconomic perspective.

Hu Chuyuan and Sir Mitchell actually clarified the necessary and important surnames of bilateral relations in a question and answer, which is much higher than the regional surname interests in Southeast Asia.

At this time, Hu Chuyuan continued: "We should find new investment space for Britain, which is the basis of our bilateral cooperation. Therefore, I plan to implement a loose clan policy in Southeast Asia to allow other countries, especially British capital, to intervene. However, I need a few prerequisites. First, the Tibetan region is the core interest of our country. The British Empire must stop infiltration of the Tibetan Province and respect the Buddhist tradition of Tibetan Province. In the Yunnan region, especially the junction of Myanmar and Yunnan, the Great British Empire did not have to struggle with some of the gains and losses, and should give appropriate respect to the Qing Empire. This is very important. If even our territory is within the scope of British peeping, how can we share the interests of the vassal state with Britain... This is a little ridiculous!"

Sir Mitchell replied decisively, "There is no problem. If your country can provide a reliable and reasonable border demarcation, we are willing to reach a new agreement."

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "Well, the second condition is that Borneo belongs to our vassal state; third, Britain should ensure the status of our capital and merchants as the same patriarchal citizen of Singapore; only if all three conditions are met, most of China's Southeast Asian vassal states will be in a relatively It is open to British capital within a relaxed scope. At the same time, we have set up a stable financial concentration market in Singapore to gather the capital forces of the two countries to invest and account in Southeast Asia.

Sir Mitchell thought silently for a moment.

Personally, this deal is appropriate, which means that the new space of British capital in Southeast Asia is expanded, and the loose Zongfan relationship that Hu Chuyuan is trying to promote is also very beneficial to the UK.

After all, the UK is the world's largest foreign investment economy, and foreign investment and income are the UK's main economic growth index.

After a short period of thought, Sir Mitchell and Hu Chuyuan said, "There is no problem with all this. The key is whether your country will stay in the fleet in Southeast Asia? If your country does not have a fleet, China is willing to increase the strength of the Straits Fleet in Singapore to protect the relevant interests of our two countries in Southeast Asia.

Hu Chuyuan said, "Our country has the strength to protect Southeast Asia. If the British Empire does not object, our country will set up a military port in Brunei and re-divide the territory of the Kingdom of Brunei to ensure the development space of the Kingdom of Brunei in the long run, so that the commercial capital of our two countries is willing to invest in Brunei on a larger scale and obtain long-term economic benefits from it.

Due to the emergence of the autonomous state of Borneo, British forces have not been able to continue to infiltrate Sarawak and have not successfully obtained the suzerainty of Brunei.

Considering that Brunei's location is far away from the Singapore Strait Fleet, Sir Mitchell was very satisfied and immediately said, "Well, we can report to the monarchs of the two countries first. If everything goes well, we will continue to negotiate the follow-up details in a week!"

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and agreed.

At this time, Sir Mitchell stood up gracefully and was ready to leave.

The two shook hands and said goodbye, and Hu Chuyuan also personally sent the Queen's envoy out of Yingtai Mansion.

When Hu Chuyuan returned to the office, Zhang Baixi looked very incredible. He couldn't wait to sigh with Hu Chuyuan, "Lord Shoufu is really admirable. I don't know how long this problem has bothered me. I didn't expect that the adult could solve it so easily!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly. He didn't know whether he was too capable or Zhang Baixi was too incompetent.

Zhang Baixi is not an incompetent person, but lacks understanding in many professional fields of knowledge.

Hu Chuyuan sighed silently, what can he do?

He found a newly translated book "Political Economics" from his office, gave it to Zhang Baixi, and said, "Take a good look. If you have stayed at the level of ten years ago, you will not be the person who will be the second assistant and the first assistant."

Zhang Baixilian claimed that it was.

At this time, Zhang Baixi suddenly had a feeling in his heart that with the trust of Emperor Guangxu alone, he could not reach the peak, because he really did not have the ability and knowledge of Hu Chuyuan.

Hu Chuyuan took a look at him, frowned slightly, and continued, "It's not difficult to deal with Britain, the United States... and other foreign powers. The key is to understand what others are thinking and what others think. Everyone, every country has a logic when thinking about problems. Others don't know Confucius and Mencius. How can they use Confucius and Mencius etiquette to infer other people's ideas? Besides, I am not a person who is in favor of governing the country with the learning of the world. To govern the country, you have to learn to analyze the data. As a foreign minister, you need to know more. Recently, you should consider the silver standard and the gold standard.

"Yes!"

Although Zhang Baixi is a little unwilling, he has to admit that in front of Hu Chuyuan, he seems to always be the same subordinate.

Even if it is now on an equal footing, it is only lower than half of Hu Chuyuan.

After Zhang Baixi left, Hu Chuyuan called Gu Jiaxiang into the office again, asking Gu Jiaxiang to quickly make a plan to transfer part of the main force from the Nanyang Fleet to the giant port and suppress the Dutch fleet in the giant port.

As for the admiral, he chose to let Sa Zhenbing lead the team, with six Fuzhou-class ironclads as the main body and two Zhiyuan-class ironclads as their flagships.

On the other hand, he sent a telegram to Zhang Lingpu, asking the fleet of the Borneo Autonomous State to gather in Kundian, and the Borneo Autonomous State should also make relevant preparations, and the military port they established in Brunei will be transferred to the Qing Empire.

(to be continued)