Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 777
On March 1880, 3, Li Hongzhang, the second minister of the Qing Dynasty's governor's office and the minister of Northern Commerce, a bachelor of literature, and a first-class Su Yibo, who held many positions and was honored as Li Zhongtang, was Accompanying the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Jules Danetang of the Netherlands, the dominant power in the Pacific.

This time, Li Hongzhang and Prince Gong, the chief minister of the Prime Minister's Office, accompanied Jules Danetang in Xiyuan Ziguang Pavilion. There, Jules Danetang was greeted by Cixi and Cian, who were the regents of the harem. During the interview with the Queen Mother, Jules Danetang also met the 9-year-old Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty for the first time.

"Who is there?" A thick and majestic female voice sounded.

Jules Danetang smiled expectantly and said: "The foreign minister comes from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and pays homage to the Emperor, the two Queen Mothers and His Majesty."

Since he listened to politics behind the curtain, Jules Danetang didn't know who was speaking just now, but from the information he inquired about and his secret channels, he guessed that it must be the powerful Empress Dowager Ci-Xi.

He looked at the nine-year-old emperor sitting in front of him outside the curtain.

"Since you know you are a minister, why don't you kneel down?" The same voice came from behind the curtain, and the dissatisfaction in the voice was clear.

Li Hongzhang, who was standing next to him, changed his face slightly when he heard this, and hurriedly looked at Jules Danetang, fearing that the other party would have a direct attack. If that were the case, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which had been closest to Qing Dynasty, might be the first to do so. They are attacking the Netherlands, and maybe they will side with Britain, France and Japan.

"As a big country in the Pacific, the Netherlands' status is not lower than that of China. What's more, we have a developed economy, a peaceful country and a peaceful people. The Netherlands is also a well-known presence in the Western world."

Jules Danetang said with an ironic smile: "I don't know, when will the ministers of the Netherlands need to kneel and kowtow to foreign kings?"

"you"

Behind the curtain, Cixi was about to get angry, but her hand was held down by the Empress Dowager Ci'an next to her. Empress Dowager Ci'an shook her head towards Cixi and whispered: "Sister, Holland is standing now. Come to our side”

After saying that, Empress Dowager Ci-an said loudly to the outside of the curtain: "I heard that Minister Li Zhongtang has been accompanying you to visit various places in our capital during this period. I don't know, Li Zhongtang, I don't know that this official from the Netherlands is in the Netherlands. What position does the official hold that he needs to be accompanied by such an important minister of our Qing State for many days in a row?"

Li Hongzhang bowed and replied: "For the Queen Mother, Mr. Danetang is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, um, equivalent to the Deputy Prime Minister of our country."

Seeing that Jules Danetang had no objection, he was moved in his heart.

He paused, showed a solemn expression, and introduced: "Mr. Danetang is also the leader of the Socialist Party, the third largest party in the Netherlands."

"Since he is the leader of the third largest party, how did he become the deputy prime minister?" Wen asked the Empress Dowager Ci-Xi.

"I know this," Prince Gong said without waiting for Li Hongzhang's answer: "Because this time the Netherlands is holding an election, in order to defeat the former ruling party of the Netherlands, the Liberal Party, which has been in power for 16 years, the Socialist Party of Mr. Jurda Netang, together with the The two major parties, the Christian Party, cooperated and jointly used their respective resources to combine and successfully defeated the Liberal Party last year. The Christian Party and the Socialist Party jointly governed. Mr. Linden, the leader of the Christian Party, was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, while Mr. Danetang, the leader of the Socialist Party, was the Deputy Prime Minister. , the two parties divided the positions of the Dutch cabinet government.”

"So that's how it is." Ci-Xi sighed and said, but no one outside saw it. The two queen mothers inside had a look of shock on their faces.Obviously, such a pattern would occur in the Netherlands, which was unexpected by the two of them.

Ci-Xi whispered to Ci-'an: "It seems that the king behind Holland is not a simple person."

Ci-an nodded in agreement and said: "Checks and balances exist regardless of which country. Sister, what do you think we need to do to face the Netherlands next?" Ci-xi frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Holland, it seems not bad"

Ci An said with a meaningful smile: "I think so too."

She said: "Li Zhongtang is so hard-working, the Netherlands should be very important in his diplomatic deployment."

Cixi nodded in agreement and said loudly: "Since you are the deputy prime minister and the leader of a party, then, Prince Gong and Li Zhongtang, you must entertain people well and don't lose the face of our Qing country."

Prince Gong Yisu and Li Zhongtang bowed and said: "Yes"

The meeting ended like this. Jules Danetang discovered that during the entire conversation, the six-year-old Emperor Guangxu, as the emperor, remained silent like a puppet.

Jules Danetang secretly said: "It seems that the Qing Emperor is really a puppet. In the future, the Netherlands will cooperate with them, but they need to pay more attention to this. Perhaps, in the future, they can focus on the Queen Mother of the Two Palaces, Prince Gong and Li "On Hong Zhang's body"

Thinking of this, the corner of his eyes fell on the two people next to him.

.........

Melbourne, Australia.

William IV is holding a photo in his hand. This is a middle-aged photo of Li Hongzhang taken by British photographer John Thomson in 1875. That is, in the first year of Emperor Guangxu, the British used the excuse of "Ma Jia-Li Case" to prosecute Qing. Under pressure from the Chinese government, Li Hongzhang cleverly used international law to reverse the breakup under the threat of war from British Minister Wade, and signed the "Qing-British Yan-tai Treaty" with Britain in 1876, the second year of Guangxu's reign. ”, at his suggestion, the Qing government sent Guo Songtao to London, England, to apologize, making him the first foreign minister of this ancient country. The treaty also opened a number of inland and offshore ports and allowed The British entered the southwestern provinces of this country, but they harmed the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty.

William IV couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of this.

"As a person in two lives, there are still some things that I can't let go of. Although I used to want to maximize the benefits of my position, but when I really need to make up my mind, I have a headache. The patriotic information from my previous life still lingers for a long time."

The Franco-Vietnamese War and the Qing-France War began in the second half of the 19th century. France began to continuously invade the Nguyen Dynasty of North and South Vietnam, a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. Through the two "Sai-Gong Treaty", France forced North and South Vietnam to recognize France as North and South Vietnam. protectorate.

In order to invade the southwest of Qing State and expand French power in the Far East, France would historically launch another invasion of the northern region of North Vietnam close to Qing State in 1883, the ninth year of Guangxu's reign, occupying the strategic location of Beipei and defeating Qing State. The Qing-French War broke out, and the Qing State accepted Li Zhongzhang's order to coordinate the border war.

"But Li Hongzhang is too cautious.
He believed that the coastal defense troops in each province were short of pay and their navy was not fully trained, so they could not engage in war with the European powers.

He first signed the "Li-Bao Agreement" with Bao Hai, the French ambassador to the Qing Dynasty. However, he immediately regretted it for the French government. Later, he was deceived by France, and negotiations with the French minister in Japan failed.

William IV's eyes were sharp and he said sternly: "Fortunately, I have already prepared it for Jules Danetang, but I can give him a strong medicine and force him to take the road."

(End of this chapter)