Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 258 Negotiation
Considering the huge power gap between the Netherlands and Spain, the Dutch government compromised quickly and immediately ordered its ambassador to Spain to contact the Spanish government to clarify the Dutch government's innocence in the conflict between the two indigenous forces in Kalimantan.

Of course, the Dutch government is not so naive as to think that Spain will stop its actions if it makes concessions.

On the one hand, the Dutch government was prepared to lose the Kutai Sultanate, and they did not want to have a bigger conflict with Spain over a small Kutai Sultanate.

On the other hand, the Dutch government will also hope that European powers can mediate to ensure that Dutch interests will not suffer too much damage.

If the Netherlands negotiated with Spain alone, it was inevitable that the Spanish would ask for too much. The Netherlands would definitely be at a disadvantage in the negotiations, and the Netherlands might lose not just a small Sultanate of Kutai, but the entire Kalimantan Island, or even several surrounding islands.

Because of the important geographical location of Kalimantan, the Dutch government is not willing to completely lose Kalimantan, and is even less willing to lose other large islands outside Kalimantan.

You know, Kalimantan Island is only more than 300 kilometers away from Java Island, the core area of ​​the Dutch East Indies. If Spain occupies South Kalimantan Island, doesn't it mean that Java Island is also likely to face the covetousness of the Spaniards?
It is for this reason that after internal discussions, the Dutch government decided that the bottom line for concessions to the Spaniards would be the Sultanate of Kutai.

Anyway, it was the Kutai Sultanate that attacked Lan Fang. We should take revenge if we have any grudges, and don't involve other unrelated countries.

As for the vast tracts of land south of the Kutai Sultanate and east of the Lan Fang Republic, the Dutch would never give up.

Because this is already the southern part of Kalimantan Island, it is the true core area of ​​the Dutch East Indies.

If the Spanish were allowed to intervene here, the future of the Dutch East Indies would never be at peace.

Of course, if Spain's appetite is too big, the Netherlands can also make certain concessions in other areas, such as New Guinea, which is being vigorously colonized by various countries.

New Guinea can be seen as two parts. Only three countries, namely the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, colonized West New Guinea, while three major powers, namely Germany, France and Britain, colonized East New Guinea.

According to the current progress of colonization in West New Guinea, the Netherlands, as the country that has worked here for the longest time, has the hope of obtaining the largest colony.

Although Spain is the most powerful of the three countries that colonized West New Guinea, because it has only been colonizing here for less than ten years, its current colonization progress can only be said to be slightly ahead of Portugal, and there is still a certain gap with the Dutch.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Netherlands will obtain a large area in the western part of New Guinea, Spain will obtain some relatively important areas and islands, and Portugal will only be able to pick up some remote areas and uninhabited islands that neither country pays much attention to.

Although New Guinea is larger than Kalimantan, its geographical location is not that important because it is located at the easternmost tip of the Dutch East Indies.

For the Dutch, it would definitely be a good deal if they could ensure that the land in southern Kalimantan would still belong to them by giving up part of the land in New Guinea.

Of course, this is the limit of the Dutch's tolerance.

If Spain's appetite was too big and the Kutai Sultanate plus part of New Guinea could not satisfy Spain's appetite, then the Dutch could only ensure the safety of the Dutch East Indies by requesting a ceasefire from the great powers.

By the time the Dutch ambassador to Spain asked to see Carlo, it was already the fifth day of the Lan Fang army's full-scale counterattack.

The Dutch ambassador was still in a very anxious mood. If he could not reach an agreement with the Spanish government before the Lanfang army completely occupied the Sultanate of Kutai, it would not be so easy to negotiate when the flames of war reached the Dutch colonies.

Compared to the slightly anxious Dutch ambassador, Carlo was obviously in a much better mood at this time.

At present, Spain's colonization in Africa and Southeast Asia is going quite smoothly. The Congo territory, Guinea colony and Philippine colony are all in a state of continuous expansion.

Since Carlo was crowned King of Spain, Spain finally stopped the decline of losing colonies and even acquired many important colonies of considerable size.

Although Carlo did not brag too much about such achievements, the Spanish people were still very concerned about the expansion of their country's colonies.

During Carlo's reign, Spain acquired two large colonies: the southern Morocco colony and the Congo territory. The area of ​​the Congo territory was as high as millions of square kilometers.

In addition, the area of ​​colonial expansion in the Philippines reached nearly 100,000 square kilometers, and the title of the Third Colonial Empire finally seemed worthy of its name.

Although these are not domestic expansions, the development of colonies is also a great achievement.

Carlo, who led the colonial expansion, was praised by the Spanish people for his achievements. Although he has not risen to the level of the greatest king in Spanish history, he is still one of the top five greatest kings in Spanish history.

It is mainly because of the contrast between King Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabel, father and daughter, that King Carlo looks so great.

Of course, personality cult is actually a good thing for a monarchy. As long as the monarch has sufficient ability, there is no need to worry about the shortcomings of personality cult.

Thanks to the people's fanatical love for Carlo, the Spanish government led by Carlo seemed quite relaxed when issuing decrees.

For most government decrees, there is no need to worry about the public’s reaction. The public will spontaneously support the decrees issued by the government and will basically have no opposition.

Carlo has also repeatedly stressed the importance of having many children. Currently, the Spanish people are proud of having many children, and many families with more than three children have been born.

It was precisely because these Spaniards who loved Carlo obeyed every decree issued by the Spanish government that Spain's construction work proceeded so smoothly.

It is no exaggeration to say that judging from Carlo's current popularity among the Spanish people, there is no need to worry about any country invading Spain.

Even if superpowers like Britain, France and Germany dared to invade Spain, Spain could at least exchange lives for injuries and bring down superpowers of the level of Britain, France and Germany.

If a country like Britain, which does not have a strong army, dares to confront Spain on land, it will definitely be the British that fail.

Although personality cult has its shortcomings, for the army, sufficient worship can greatly enhance the morale and spirit of the army, so that the Spanish army will go out in full force and fearlessly at the command of Carlo.

In other words, Spain's population is far less than that of great powers such as Britain, France and Germany. Otherwise, Spain would not be so low-key at this time.

Even if Spain can gain military advantages through personality cult and certain weapons technology, other countries can also drag Spain down through manpower consumption.

Therefore, Carlo did not intend to let Spain gain too much attention at the international level until its population reached a certain level.

After all, the most powerful country at this time is the British. Any country whose international influence threatens the British will be targeted and hostile by the British. This was the case with France before, and it is also the case with Russia now, and it will be even more so with Germany in the future.

It's not just the British, every superpower that ranks first in the world will do this. The throne of the world's number one represents huge interests, and no country will give up such a position.

This also means that every time the throne of world hegemony changes, there will be a very cruel and bloody storm.

The name of the Dutch ambassador to Spain was William. This name was very common throughout Europe, and the rulers of many countries were also named William.

Of course, European names are generally very long, so the probability of having a complete coincidence is still very small.

"Your Majesty the King of Spain, on behalf of my Majesty King William III, the Dutch government and the Dutch people, I would like to express my deepest respects to you." Ambassador William, who had just met Carlo, immediately performed a standard European aristocratic salute to Carlo.

During this era, most European ambassadors were aristocrats. After all, most European countries were monarchies, and ambassadors had to meet kings and other aristocrats from time to time.

If you are not a noble, your status is already inferior to others, and it would be quite difficult to greet others when meeting them.

For example, Everton, the Spanish Foreign Minister at the time, holds the title of Marquis, which is higher than Earl and lower than Duke, and is considered a great nobleman.

If baron is the bottom line for measuring whether one is a noble or not, then marquis above earl is the standard for measuring whether one is a great noble.

Of course, in some countries the standard line has become a duke, but generally it's pretty much the same.

In Europe, no one would consider a count to be a great noble, even if the count owned large tracts of land and property.

Similarly, no one would consider a duke to be a minor noble, even if the duke's property was not large.

Although there are many nobles who have fallen, the probability of complete decline after reaching the rank of duke is very small, unless the family becomes extinct or the title is lost due to some accident.

Facing Ambassador William's respectful salute, Carlo nodded calmly and asked with a faint smile: "Ambassador William suddenly asked to see you, is there something important?"

"It's not an important matter." Ambassador William said quickly: "Regarding the problems caused by the indigenous riots in Kalimantan, on behalf of His Majesty the King and the government of our country, I would like to express my apologies to your Majesty and your government, and I am willing to compensate your country for the losses.

Not long ago, another native riot broke out in Java, which resulted in the death of several of our immigrants. His Majesty was furious and ordered the East India Government to send troops to quell the riot.

It was precisely because of the withdrawal of troops that the island of Kalimantan was left with a shortage of manpower that those damn natives eventually took advantage of the opportunity.

We also wanted to quell the indigenous riots, but due to the unstable situation on Java Island, we are somewhat powerless at the moment.

We are willing to invite your government to enter the Kutai Sultanate to quell the rebellion, and the resulting military expenditure will be borne by us as compensation for the losses suffered by your country in the riots.

I wonder if your country is willing to accept such conditions. I hope this can help to improve the friendly relations between Spain and the Netherlands. ” Dutch Ambassador William said sincerely.

Carlo looked at Ambassador William with a smile on his face. He was not surprised by what Ambassador William said.

Facing a more powerful Spain, the Dutch government is likely to take the initiative to give in. Since it is taking the initiative to give in, the first thing the Dutch government has to do is to clear itself of suspicion in this conflict and avoid suffering greater losses.

As expected, in Ambassador William's words, a Dutch-led border invasion of the Lan Fang Republic turned into an indigenous riot caused by Dutch negligence.

Although the Dutch government still bears some responsibility, Ambassador William's words are also very clear, that is, it is willing to compensate Spain with the Sultanate of Kutai and a certain amount of funds.

The Dutch compensation was really generous. The total area of ​​Kalimantan Island is as high as 74.33 square kilometers, and the Kutai Sultanate is one of the largest indigenous countries on Kalimantan Island.

The area of ​​the Kutai Sultanate alone is at least 100,000 square kilometers, which is more than twice the area of ​​the Netherlands.

The Portugal that Carlo had always dreamed of only had a total area of ​​about 9.2 square kilometers. Although the Kutai Sultanate was far away from Europe, gaining a piece of land with an area of ​​more than square kilometers was also a great gain for Spain.

The problem is that the Kutai Sultanate, as the main force invading the Lan Fang border, had long been counterattacked by the Lan Fang army.

Regardless of whether the Dutch government is willing to give up the Kutai Sultanate or not, this place will soon become a land controlled by the Lanfang Republic and actually controlled by Spain.

It was certainly impossible for the Dutch army to stop the attack of the Lan Fang army by themselves, which also meant that the Netherlands was bound to lose the Kutai Sultanate.

From this perspective, it is equivalent to the Dutch government hoping to resolve the dispute through some compensation and does not want to pay more.

The question is, is this possible? The dispute was initiated by the Dutch, and now it depends on Spain's attitude if they want to handle it with care.

"Ambassador William, I have learned about the riots in Kalimantan. During this indigenous riot, some immigrants in our country faced serious property losses and life risks, which I, as the King of Spain, cannot tolerate.

Since the Netherlands is unable to quell the indigenous riots, Spain should have the obligation to quickly quell the indigenous riots to ensure the safety of life and property of the Spanish people.

Since we need to liquidate these indigenous people, I think it is necessary to liquidate the indigenous people of the entire island of Kalimantan. This will also help prevent the next riot by the indigenous people in a short period of time.

I wonder what Ambassador William's intention is? If your country does not have enough troops, the Spanish army is happy to serve. "Carlo's expression did not change at all, and he still had a faint smile on his face and spoke in a very gentle manner.

Although Carlo had a smile on his face, his words sounded like threats to Ambassador William.

Carlo's attitude was also very clear. He agreed with what the Dutch said about the indigenous riots. But at the same time, Carlo was not satisfied with the conditions offered by the Dutch.

The Sultanate of Kutai was already a piece of fat meat in the mouth of Spain. The so-called contribution of the Dutch had no actual cost and could not attract Carlo at all.

If the Netherlands wanted to ensure peace in Southeast Asia through negotiations, it would be better to propose some conditions that would truly impress the people rather than the areas that Spain had actually occupied.

(End of this chapter)