Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 836 Are Britain and the Netherlands performing a double act for Germany?

The British Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street.

Foreign Secretary Granville continued to worry: "I am afraid that several Dutch countries will create chaos within the UK and help the Irish and Scots to prevent London's rule."

Lord Harcourt, the finance minister, also agreed: “At present, New York in the United States, Sydney and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and Berlin in the German Empire are all trying their best to attract global capital. London, as the seat of the largest financial capital in the world today, has been at war with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom since 1878. , capital outflows from London are currently increasing, and the purchase volume of our government bonds has begun to decline.”

Gladstone was shocked when he heard this. Whether it was the inability to sell the national debt or the massive loss of capital, this was definitely a big deal for Britain. The reason why British warships ranked first in the world was not only due to their own construction technology, but also mainly because of their own construction technology. With the help of the financial capital of London, the British government bonds are snapped up every time they are sold, etc., providing a steady stream of military support for the Ministry of Defense and others. Now, Lord Harcourt's words cannot help but scare him.

The Foreign Minister Greville next to him was also shocked and asked hurriedly: "What is the reason? Is the outflow of capital coming from the Netherlands?"

Gladstone also stared at Lord Harcourt. He hoped that the capital came from the Netherlands. After all, the share of Dutch capital in the UK was not large. If it was lost, it would be lost. But if it were from other countries...
Lord Harcourt smiled bitterly and said: "No, that would be better, but our Ministry of Finance discovered that even the Danish, Swedish and Spanish people who participated in this exercise have begun to evacuate London."

Greville lost his voice: "What, they are all participating? These four countries currently account for one-third of London's foreign capital. If we leave suddenly, it will cause serious damage to London's status as a financial capital. The impact, I'm afraid, will be a herd effect, with capital from other countries moving away from London, and it will be Sydney, Amsterdam, Berlin and New York that benefit."

"Let me think about it." Gladstone put his hands on his forehead.

Foreign Minister Greville said at this time: "This time the Netherlands and other countries conducted exercises around the islands around the British mainland, and carried out all-round exercises in the north, south and east, which fully demonstrated the firepower of the Netherlands and several other Nordic alliance countries to attack freedom and the British Isles. Freedom of movement and freedom of time choice; it reflects the thunderous determination of the Nordic Alliance army, the powerful ability to fight how they want, and the high level of self-confidence that is better than just strolling in the garden."

He said: The recent days of precision artillery strike drills by the four armies of the Nordic Alliance have shown that the Nordic Alliance only needs long-range artillery to block and control overseas islands, outlying islands and even the main island outside the British Isles."

"To implement an effective blockade on the island, we must first control the sea and deny the opponent's warships. To control the sea, we must control the artillery on the island and the equipment and positions of surrounding warships, such as coastal forts, command centers, military ports and other important locations. The ability of military facilities to carry out strikes, so the first wave of strikes usually uses the powerful artillery of warships to carry out point-type precision strikes, paralyze and suppress the firepower on the shore, and even the ability of the overall combat offensive and defensive system."

Greville said: "Our military side is also on the sandbox. We once prepared to conduct gunboat diplomacy on Dutch territory, but before we started to implement it, the Netherlands was the first to attack us."

"Now we are in a passive position. If we don't handle it well, we will be in a bitter battle. European countries will watch us fight against the Dutch alliance, and there will be consequences."

Lord Harcourt, Chancellor of the Exchequer: "Where is Napoleon III of France?"

Greville said dissatisfied: "He gets angry when he talks about it. We just received news from Paris that Napoleon III currently does not agree with our expansion of the British and French exercises in the English Channel to the coast of the European territory of the Netherlands - held off the coast of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. , and just now, Napoleon III gave the regency back to Queen Eugenie. You two should know that Eugenie has always had a close relationship with Isabella II of Spain. They were still best friends back then, so I am worried that this is Napoleon III. Don't do anything when you see things happen, to prevent France from being disadvantaged in the future, and once again, it is the prelude to changing the direction of France's diplomacy." Lord Harcourt cursed: "The Gauls have always been the most unreliable, and they are notoriously useless in Europe."

"It is better to seek help from others than from yourself." Gladstone stood up and said wisely at this time: "The diplomatic difficulties we are currently facing are, however, the best time for us to detonate European careerists."

"What the Prime Minister means?" Greville and the others moved in their hearts and looked at Gladstone, who held the pearl of wisdom.

"The two Germans must no longer want to settle down at this time. We have been wary of them all these years. However, Bismarck and Wilhelm I were cautious and wholeheartedly integrated the internal principalities and kingdoms of the German Confederation. They were very low-key. From 1867 Thirteen years have passed now, and the integration is almost the same. With Bismarck’s uneasiness and his iron-blooded ambition, do you think that if the Netherlands and Britain fight, and France is pushed to split by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire will have After forming a quasi-alliance with them, will they calmly wait for the results between us and the Netherlands?"

German Empire?
Greville, the foreign minister, and Lord Harcourt, the finance minister, were immediately shocked.

Then he woke up.

They looked at Prime Minister Gladstone and waited patiently.

"Our conflict with the Netherlands is not bad, but in fact, in 1870, when Her Majesty the Queen attended Princess Louise's marriage trip to Greece and visited Athens, she and the Netherlands signed an alliance proposal for sea power to besiege land power. It was proposed by William IV at the time According to the plan, Britain ranked first in the world in tonnage of surface warships, and the Netherlands ranked second. The Queen finally agreed, and there was an eight-year period of peace between the two countries."

Both Greville and Lord Harcourt rose to become cabinet ministers after 1874, so they did not know the news about top-level British politics before 1870.

So when Gladstone said it, they suddenly realized.

Immediately afterwards, the two of them suddenly had an association, and they were shocked by their own thoughts.

Gladstone saw their expressions and immediately guessed what they were thinking. He couldn't help but smiled bitterly and said: "Your idea is wrong. We and the Netherlands are not acting for Germany. The conflict between Britain and the Netherlands that is happening in front of us is It’s true, even now the war is true.”

Seeing the disappointed expressions on their faces, Gladstone followed the twists and turns and said: "However, our Queen and William IV originally agreed that the largest and second largest maritime powers can only be between our two maritime powers. It is born in time, that is to say, we will prevent other countries from taking advantage of it."

(End of this chapter)