Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 3 Immigration to the Indian Ocean

"No, because the Kingdom of Belgium is close to Britain. If we follow suit, it will put a lot of pressure on France.

The same is true for Prussia. They will not deal too hard with us. After all, although our naval power has weakened over the years, it is not comparable to Prussia. Although France is ahead of us, it is not far behind. big.

In addition to making good relations with several countries, the new cabinet plans to continue to be the most friendly country of the Russian Empire in Western Europe, maintain a partnership with the Russian Empire, and at the same time promote trade between the two countries. After all, most of the gold of Russian Russia is now stored in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Continue Consolidating us is the best and most convenient channel for Tsarist Russia to integrate into Europe. "

Hendrick William IV nodded, "Tsarist Russia will continue to maintain this line, but Sweden cannot relax too much, especially their iron and steel, but"

"By the way, how many people do we have now, and how many overseas colonies are there?"

Tolbeck was familiar with this. He said: "The Netherlands has 575 million people, the Principality of Luxembourg has 25 people, the East Indies has 1000 million people, Dutch Guiana (later known as Suriname) has 4 people, and the Antilles has 2 people. .”

“How many Dutch people were there in the Dutch East Indies?”

"50"

"This is too little. 50 to manage 1000 million? Can you manage it well? Can you manage it?"

William IV said solemnly: "If the Netherlands wants to develop, relying on others is doomed to be unreliable. It is important to develop oneself. We need to get rid of the current constraints of surrounding countries. We must find a place to develop quietly. We need Only a good environment can develop to a certain level.

On the mainland, there are too many spies from European countries, and every move is under the eyes of others. The slightest big move will attract the attention of all countries, so I decided."

Tolbeck listened carefully, but he was a little curious. It was obvious that William IV, the new king, had done enough homework. So, it seems that what he heard next was the focus, and what he just heard was the appetizer. That’s all.

"We should focus on East India. The cabinet needs to quickly formulate an immigration plan. I am ready to start immigration to East India. We will use our fleet and the powerful force of the transport fleet to strive to immigrate more than 10 people every year,"

"But Your Majesty, even so, our population there is only a drop in the bucket, and it is difficult to keep up with the growth rate of the indigenous population there."

"Isn't that easy?"

In Tolbeck's longing eyes, William IV said wisely:

"Invite all the native groups there to the island of Kalimantan. Hum, Kalimantan is now co-administered by us and the British. The French even seem to get involved. It's very chaotic. In this way, we have brought the indigenous people If we move it up there, everyone will be in chaos, and it can even draw the British attention to the island of New Guinea.

Aren't the British competing with us for territory there?
We just happened to let these indigenous people compete with their natives, and the land vacated became used by our immigrants. I plan to use 20 years to ease the per capita land restrictions of the native Dutch population, and immigrate the current 200 million people to other parts of East India. islands and let them become the territory cultivated by our immigrants.

In this way, we, the Dutch, have the final say. From now on, we will refer to them as overseas territories instead of colonies. Over time, there will be the hinterland of our rise and the key to the second counterattack after the European powers attack us.

Based on this, our future focus will be on Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, the Nusa Tenggara Islands, and the Maluku Islands, and directly occupy the entire island of New Guinea.

With this as our base camp, the Solomon Islands and other Melanesian islands over there are the next step of our expansion. We will use it as the most important support for the Netherlands in the future to participate in the European hegemony. It is also what we secretly discovered. base area.

It's a pity that the Micronesian Islands and the Philippine Islands in the north were occupied by Spain. Otherwise, we could have made great plans in the Pacific and carried out the island encirclement strategy."

When he talked about Spain, he couldn't help but show a little fear in his eyes. Spain is not the second-rate European country in later generations.

Although Spain's current influence in Europe is not as important as that of the five countries of Britain, Russia, France, Prussia, and Austria.

But in overseas colonies, it is second only to Britain and France, especially in the Caribbean and the Philippines. Spain is also heavily guarded. Its naval strength is the third in the world, with a naval strength of 13 tons. .

William IV said with flashing eyes: "The New Guinea island plan cannot be missed. It will also be the most important key to our weapons construction, especially naval construction. This is a 2-ton armored battleship. My name is It's a dreadnought, don't send any telegrams, or they may be intercepted and leaked by other countries."

A 2-ton armored dreadnought?

Tolbeck's heart beat rapidly. Why?
Now even the navies of the British Empire and the French Empire and the United States, which are known as the world's largest and second largest, have just put such battleships into service, and the tonnage is 9000 tons, 6000 tons and 3000 tons respectively.

Originally, he heard that the Dutch naval officers kept envying the luck of the three countries, which made him feel uncomfortable.

But now, if the Netherlands can join this team in one fell swoop, it will be tantamount to a corner overtaking for the Netherlands. At the same time, it will trigger tsunami-level shocks in Europe and the world. If the number is large enough, then.
William IV liked to see this kind of expression on his subordinates, and he was very happy, but he did not forget to remind him: "Can steel keep up?"

Hearing this, Tolbeck suddenly returned to reality, as if he had risen into the air and then fell back to the ground. He smiled bitterly and said: "Sweden exports the most steel, but the largest share has been ordered by Britain and Prussia first, and Ruidian also wants to rely on this. relationship to balance the hostility of the old enemy the Russian Empire.”

"That is to say, it is difficult for us to get enough steel to build enough warships?" William IV frowned for a while, but he forgot that this is not an era when steel is rampant in later generations. People everywhere are crying and shouting for external measures. Anti-dumping of steel at the national level is based on suspicion that too much steel is imported and suppresses domestic prices.

In this era, steel is a strategic material for various countries, and it is rarely exported, except for pure exporting countries like Ruidian.

Tolbeck also frowned, "Last year's coal output was 360 million tons in the Austrian Empire, 830 million tons in the French Empire, 1840 million tons in the Kingdom of Prussia, 8790 million tons in the British Empire, 30 tons in the Russian Empire, and Ours is 100 million tons.

However, according to your Majesty's information, we have indeed discovered a large coal mine in East India. If it enters the status quo soon, I believe that the supply of our coal mines will greatly increase within this year.

Crude steel output: Austrian Empire 3.6 tons, French Empire 8 tons, Kingdom of Prussia 14.3 tons, British Empire 33.4 tons, Tsarist Russia 0.7 tons, Russia 10 tons, our Netherlands 3 tons.

In terms of pig iron, the Kingdom of Austria has 40.3 tons, the French Empire has 117.8 million tons, the Kingdom of Prussia has 126.1 million tons, the British Empire has a terrifying 605 million tons, Tsarist Russia has 35.9 tons, the Kingdom of Italy has 2 tons, Sweden has 80 tons, and our Netherlands has 50 tons. Ton.

As for railways, Austria has 3000 kilometers, France has 9160 kilometers, Italy has 2400 kilometers, Tsarist Russia has 1626 kilometers, the Prussian Empire has 11050 kilometers, the British Empire has reached 14600 kilometers, and ours has 300 kilometers. "

Not to mention that traveling through time is not troublesome, this is the dilemma.

The size of the territory of the Netherlands determines the varying degrees of poverty of many types of resources, especially steel, which is most needed for industrial development. Without them, how can it become a major industrial and military power.

"How is the development of iron ore in Guyana?" William IV asked expectantly. There is more than 100 billion iron ore reserves there. If it is developed, the Netherlands will no longer worry about the iron ore problem. What a pity. , Tolbeck's answer made him slightly disappointed.

"It's hidden too deep, and development is much more difficult. However, there is currently no solution to our current predicament."

Hearing this, William IV was a little disappointed, but he consoled him: "Well, it's better to have something than nothing. Take the time to develop it."

"How is the construction of the bearing company?" This is the focus of his attention. But he knows that because of the problems of the big countries with bearing production laws, including World War I and World War II, no country dares to arbitrarily treat Sweden, which accounts for 80% of the world's production share. imposition of sanctions and aggression.

Because bearings are so important to industrialization, under his leadership, the Netherlands will naturally not let go of such strategic industrial weapons, because they are related to industrial machines and the operation of various large weapons, ranging from aircraft and tanks to as small as Small wheeled bicycle pulleys all need to use it.

"We have kept up with Sweden's pace and we have developed various bearings."

William IV nodded and said solemnly: "We cannot relax on this. We must also keep up with the pace of other countries in terms of domestic mechanical development. At the same time, we must implement more secret projects and pursue leading other countries."

"Your Majesty, it's iron ore." Torbek smiled bitterly and wanted to ask again.

William IV waved his hand to stop him, his eyes were extremely sharp, and he changed the subject with a sneer: "After the American Civil War, don't you think Europe has been too quiet recently?"

Tolbeck looked at him puzzled, wondering why he jumped so far.

After the 18th century, after the United States emerged from the British Empire, the south and the north developed along two different paths.

In the north, the capital economy developed rapidly. Starting in the 19s, the northern and central states began the industrial revolution, which was completed in the 20s.

Last year, the astonishing industrial output value of the northern states reached the fourth place in the world, with a value of US$18.8 billion.

（汇率：1英镑=5美元=25荷兰盾，美国北方2000万人口，人年均90美元，18英镑。

The UK's GDP during the same period was 10 billion pounds, with a population of 2010 million and a per capita figure of 50 pounds.

In the same period, the Netherlands had a population of 600 million, 60 billion Dutch guilders, 12 billion US dollars, 2.4 million pounds, and 40 pounds per capita.

The standard of living in the Netherlands is one of the best in Europe. This is a high quality of life that has been formed over hundreds of years. )
In the South, the plantation black slave system was implemented. There were 400 million black slaves in the South. However, the North had already abandoned this system and liberated the black slaves, so the conflicts between the two places became fierce.

(Chapter 1, there will be another chapter later.

Also, I received a contract signing reminder from the site manager at 10 o'clock this morning, and I am about to sign a contract.

So you can collect it with confidence. Please continue to support me. Thank you very much! )

(End of this chapter)