Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On September 20, 1862, the Dutch fleet finally arrived at Point Noire Port in the north of the Congo River, the new overseas territory of the Netherlands.

There, William IV met the 1,000 Dutch soldiers stationed there, and saw that each of them was in high spirits. William IV gave them an encouraging speech and made a promise to increase wages and benefits for everyone, which attracted the attention of those present. Everyone cheered.

So on the land of Pointe-Noire, the Dutch national anthem "Ode to William" was sung neatly.

After correcting for half a day, the fleet continued south and arrived at the port of Cabinda at the mouth of the Congo River. After meeting Braga, the new Dutch major general, he accompanied him upstream and arrived at Kinshasa, the new city of Congo. After a day of repairs, , and began to continue upstream along the Congo River. After one day, we arrived at Mbandaka, the former capital of the Kingdom of Congo, and directly entered the former Congo Royal Palace.

There, a grand welcome ceremony was held that day, and he formally received the original King Antonio X of Congo.

Next to him is Martinas, the former leader of the Transvaal Republic and the current Deputy Minister of Army of the Netherlands.

With everyone envied, William IV officially announced that they would be granted the title of Dutch Baron, and Major General Braga also received the title of Dutch Knight.

Several people also swore an oath of gratitude and eternal loyalty to William IV and the Dutch royal family.

During the two days of repairs, William IV and the small cabinet held many secret meetings with these three people in Mbandaka. At these meetings, William IV affirmed that the situation in Congo was stable, and at the same time I commend Baron Martinas for grasping the situation and taking Northern Rhodesia for the Netherlands as planned, as well as the northern part of Southern Rhodesia, and applauding the Netherlands for occupying the entire upper reaches of the Zambezi River.

However, William IV asked the three to open up land passages with eastern Kenya and Tanzania as soon as possible to elevate the connection between the three places to a new level.

At the same time, the three people also received new instructions from William IV, requiring the three people to assess the situation and cooperate with each other. If necessary, they can attack Angola in the south and the common Aya King colonies in the southeast. However, At present, it mainly focuses on developing economic resources and so on.

Provide a steady stream of nutrients to the native land and Australia.

In addition to holding secret meetings, William IV also watched the military parade and conducted military exercises, requiring the Transvaal troops to conduct PKs between their respective teams and each other, as well as mixed team exercises.

In the past few days, the Dutch native army, the native Congolese and the Transvaal army grew rapidly. This army, which totaled 50,000 people, quickly integrated. Seven days later, after they completely became one, William IV set off again After arriving at the outlet along the Congo River, continue south.

By this time it was September 29th.

However, this fleet has about 3,000 more soldiers than when it arrived. They are all Transvaal soldiers who fought bloody battles with the British. They can be said to be brave and good at fighting.

After passing through Portuguese Angola, Prussian Southwest Africa (later Namibia), and South Africa, which is now fully occupied by the British, it took them 7 days to finally arrive at Toliara, a port town in the southwest of Madagascar, and landed on October 6. .

There, William IV met the long-lost Dutch Chief of General Staff Leon Booker.

"My formerly fair face turned dark. The heat in Africa was so intense that even General Booker, who was known as the cunning fox of the Dutch Army, dared to tease me."

"Hahaha" everyone laughed heartily.

However, there were two people who couldn't laugh when they saw this scene. They were the Commander-in-Chief and Foreign Minister of Madagascar, Reinile Yalivoni, and the former King Radama II.

Reinile Yalivoni was born in a new aristocratic family in Antananarivo. His ancestors were freedmen from the West. They later joined the royal family and made a fortune through business and military industry. His ancestors assisted Rambo Azara. Mu ascended the throne of the King of Imelina (the dynasty within Madagascar) and therefore became the king's secretary.

Reinileia Rivoni's father and brother recognized him as Prime Minister of the Imelina dynasty of the Kingdom of Madagascar.

Rainile Yalivoni has been talented and eloquent since he was young, and he won the appreciation of the elderly Queen Ranavalona I in the royal palace of Madagascar.

In 1852, as the Queen's private secretary and senior general, he became one of the most important figures in the palace.

In 1860, when the current King Radama II came to power, he was promoted to Minister of Foreign Affairs.

However, since the 1950s, various anti-social conflicts in Madagascar have become increasingly intensified. The conflicts between the new aristocratic forces, which hold almost all important positions in the dynasty and represent the interests of the emerging nobility and landowners, and the old aristocracy represented by the royal family have intensified and surfaced.

The struggle of the broad masses of farmers, handicraftsmen, small merchants, and ordinary soldiers against feudal exploitation, labor, and the king's tyranny became more and more intense.

In May 1861, a people's uprising finally broke out in the capital Antananarivo. On May 12, the new aristocrats headed by the Rainilai Rivoni brothers launched a political rebellion against the royal family. The power overthrew the rule of Radama II and helped Queen Labodo to the throne of the queen. Reinile Yarivoni was appointed commander-in-chief, and his brother became prime minister. From then on, the monarchy system gave way to the power of the prime minister.

In January 1862 of this year, because he was not satisfied with the power being checked by his brother, Reinileia Rivoni encouraged the queen to join him in forming a political force to oppose his brother, the Prime Minister. They dismissed the Prime Minister, and Reinile Yalivoni successfully took over as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Madagascar.

After that, Britain and France were finally appeased and they gave up their invasion of Madagascar. They had just regained their power and were proudly watching Britain being invaded by the Republic of Transvaal and the Kingdom of Zulu in South Africa. Especially after seeing Britain being beaten and retreating, I felt sarcastic and ridiculed towards Britain.

But what he didn't expect was that France, Prussia, and the Netherlands, like bandits, would join forces to directly grab territory on the African continent.

This news not only caused shock in Europe, but he in Madagascar was also frightened.

When he and the Queen secretly prayed that the Three Kingdoms would not take a fancy to Madagascar, but he underestimated Madagascar too much, the Netherlands actually chose Madagascar.

After these years of civil strife, the Kingdom of Madagascar, which has a population of only 300,000, has less than 10,000 troops left. In front of the bullet-filled Dutch army, they originally thought of holding a battle, but what they didn’t expect was that the former king Radama II actually escaped from imprisonment and came out with an army loyal to him, but instead of fighting, he wanted to rely on the army of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to regain power.

In the end, the Netherlands actually took less than a month, with the former king, the largest leading party in Madagascar, taking over the entire island of Madagascar except for the capital Antananarivo.

He originally wanted to insist on waiting for the British to rescue troops, because he had previously sent a letter of distress to the British Governor of South Africa, John Boone. However, what he and the Queen did not expect was that the British voluntarily dissolved the Republic of Transvaal and the Ancestor Army. After the Lu Kingdom was wiped out, they actually chose to stand still and ignore his and the Queen's letters for help.

This forced him, the prime minister, to give up resistance and choose to submit.

At this time, he saw King William IV of the Netherlands, and the laughter filled his and Radama II's hearts with bitterness.

The two have been feuding for many years due to the power struggle in Madagascar. With the successful invasion of the Dutch palace, they became prisoners of the enemy. Everything in the past seemed so ridiculous.

"You two are the most familiar with things on the island of Madagascar. God has good intentions. Since both of you have chosen to surrender to the Netherlands, you need to be loyal. What do you think?"

Radama II did not wait for Reinile Yalivoni to speak, and said: "Your Majesty, you are right. I, Radama, am absolutely loyal to the Netherlands. I can even swear an oath to show that I am loyal to Your Majesty." His admiration is as endless and continuous as the waters of the Bezibuka River.”

"Damn" William IV suddenly got goosebumps.

Reinileyarivoni and other indigenous people looked at Radama in stunned silence, as if they knew this man as a king for the first time.

When did this former king become so eloquent? He seemed to be even more powerful than Reinileia Rivoni, who was known as an eloquent person.

After Leon Booker whispered a few words in William IV's ear, William IV pretended to cough a few times and then said: "Since you two are willing to be loyal to the Netherlands, I will not treat those who are loyal badly. Well, let's do it. I'm going to build railways throughout Australia. These are Tom, the Dutch Deputy Minister of Finance, and Wem Kotter, the Minister of Industry. Let these two test the loyalty they want to show. You Each chooses a team of 10,000 people to go to northern and southern Australia respectively to help build the railway. I will put it here. If either of the two can complete the task first, then I will grant the other party the title of a Dutch knight, and the loser will Those who leave will continue to serve there for more than 10 years.

I will set the duration of this mission at 5 years. "

Radama II was originally proud of himself for expressing his opinion first, but now he is dumbfounded.

To build railways, he, the king of Madagascar, was actually going to help the Netherlands build railways?

Is this William IV overestimating my talents?

Also, it took five years to obtain a small knighthood? Is that too stingy?

Rainile Yalivoni was different when he heard this. He was more cautious, otherwise he would not have stepped from a noble boy to become the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Madagascar in less than 10 years. And It was also carried out under the overthrow of the former King Radama II.

Many people suspected that he was having an affair with the queen at the time. In fact, only he knew that he was innocent, but he was just more of a threat to the queen.