Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On May 10, 1867, the French Empire launched an attack on Kampong Cham City in the north of Phnom Penh in the Cambodian region of the Kingdom of Siam. Crown Prince Chulalongkorn of the Kingdom of Siam led the Siamese soldiers to resist with all their strength. Although the French Empire finally won the victory and occupied The city, but due to the Siamese side's familiarity with the terrain, the French Empire suffered heavy losses.

The French Empire's troops participating in the war were 20,000 French troops and 10,000 South Vietnamese servants, and the Kingdom of Siam had 40,000 troops.

The French army suffered more than 5,000 casualties in this war, and the number of servant troops was also more than 4,000.

The Kingdom of Siam suffered only 12,000 casualties. Although it seems that the French army's losses were smaller than those of the Kingdom of Siam, you must know that this is the Far East. This loss of the French army has severely reduced the number of French garrison troops. Therefore, if The increase in troops will have a huge impact on the situation of the French army in the Far East, and the French may even turn from offensive to defensive.

If the Kingdom of Siam organized a sufficient number of troops, it might launch a counterattack against the French Far Eastern Army.

When the tragic victory in the Far East came, Napoleon III was first happy and then worried.

As a last resort, he once again sent 20,000 troops from the French mainland army to support the mobilization. Although many people in the country began to oppose his Far East policy, due to the victory, they are still at a stage where their voices are relatively quiet and can be suppressed. , but Napoleon III could not help but worry that with the slow progress in the Far East and the imposition of sanctions from European and American countries, more countries might join the ranks. This would cause the French Empire to gradually lose its international prestige and its own strength. .

"The Far East campaign must be fought quickly, otherwise it will affect other strategies of the French Empire."

Napoleon III secretly decided.

In fact, Napoleon III had the right idea, because just when he was worried about the situation of the French Empire due to the war in the Far East and the Kingdom of Siam, William IV launched a new provocation against the French Empire. Yes, it was a provocation. .

On May 12, 1867, the Netherlands sent Foreign Minister Hesbert von to visit Bangkok, the former Kingdom of Siam. During the visit, Hesbert von constantly emphasized the interests of the Netherlands in the Kingdom of Siam and asked the French Empire not to harm the interests of the Netherlands. Among them, it also lists an industrial assistance plan in which the Netherlands will invest more than 1 million pounds in the Kingdom of Siam in the next five years, of which the coastal cities of Sihanoukville and Kampot in the Cambodian region of the Kingdom of Siam will invest more than 200,000 pounds. GBP.

Haysbet Von purchased Phu Quoc Island in southern Cambodia from the Kingdom of Siam for 200,000 pounds. The effective date will be from May 20.

Phu Quoc Island is located between South Vietnam and the Cambodian region of the Kingdom of Siam. The soil of this island is average, and the island was of little value in the era of agricultural civilization. Therefore, the Kingdom of Siam did not have strong control over the island. The French Empire originally wanted to occupy it, but The Dutch and British navies eventually gave up on the idea.

Phu Quoc Island is roughly triangular, about 50 kilometers long from north to south, and 25 kilometers from east to west. Phu Quoc Island covers an area of ​​590 square kilometers. He gave an example of Cambodia’s coastline being only 12 kilometers. Phnom Penh, the largest city in Cambodia, is 150 kilometers away. It is 150 kilometers away from Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam. ming city is 280 kilometers away and Bangkok, the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, is 500 kilometers away.

Therefore, if the Netherlands had not proposed it, I believe many people in the Kingdom of Siam would not have known about the existence of this island.

£200,000? Quite a few.

It is also only 30 kilometers away from the coast of South Vietnam in the French Empire. It is too dangerous. If it is not sold, France may occupy it soon, and the Kingdom of Siam really has nothing. And if it is sold, the Netherlands can be there. The stronghold even became a Dutch military base on the sea to prevent the French Empire in the east from advancing westward from the sea. Rama IV felt that he had killed two birds with one stone.

So with Anna's deliberate approval. Although Chulalongkorn was opposed in his heart, he was forced by the situation and agreed to this territorial deal?

As a result, the deal was quickly approved, and the Netherlands gained an additional stronghold here. It only took a few days to complete the handover from Jakarta in East India, and all of this was occupied by the French Empire. conducted under the noses of South Vietnam and eastern Cambodia.

Invisibly, the Netherlands only used 200,000 pounds to obtain such a large area of ​​​​land, which made the French Empire very angry.

But when I saw Dutch battleships cruising around the surrounding islands, and the Netherlands actually sent more than 5,000 troops to the island, although more than 3,000 of them were East Indian indigenous troops and only 2,000 Dutch troops, facing Siam The French expeditionary army, which the Kingdom of Luo had already exhausted so much, could only look at the sea and sigh.

I just sigh that the Netherlands really makes money!

But are they really only the Dutch?

That's not right.

On May 16, 1867, Secretary of State Seward of the Commonwealth of America visited St. Petersburg in the Tsarist Russian Empire. During his visit, he negotiated with Prime Minister Gorchakov of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Eventually, the Tsarist Russian Empire and the Commonwealth of America reached a territorial agreement. Transaction Agreement.

The American Commonwealth and the Russian Empire agreed to settle the deal for 10 million US dollars (2 million pounds, including a handling fee of 200,000 US dollars). The land contract came into effect on October 18, 1867, and the 370,000 square kilometers of Kamchatka Peninsula was about to be completed. fell into the hands of the American Federation.

When this news came out, Europe suddenly looked in the direction of the Tsarist Russian Empire, which became a little complicated.

The Kamchatka Peninsula, just like Phu Quoc Island in the Kingdom of Siam that the Netherlands had just purchased, was a very unfamiliar place in Europe. If these two transactions were not for the Far East where Napoleon III launched the war, they would have never heard of it.

However, ordinary people quickly forgot about it, but European and American high-level officials were looking at the map in a daze.

Naturally so did William IV and his Privy Council.

"It makes sense for the Netherlands to write about Phu Quoc Island. After all, it is relatively close to the Kingdom of Siam, one of the Dutch Far East markets. If Phu Quoc Island develops, it will be enough for the Netherlands to have a trade transit station there."

William IV remembered the role of the southern administrative zones in his previous life, so this deal was a whim, so he stuffed it into the policy Hesbert von's Far East visit itinerary. He didn't expect everything to go so smoothly. It was beyond his expectation.

Phu Quoc Island can further consolidate the Netherlands' position in Southeast Asia. Regardless of whether this organization is established in the future, the Netherlands' influence is sufficient to run through the entire modern history of Southeast Asia.

The Netherlands can learn from the British example and make Phu Quoc Island prosperous and attract the Kingdom of Siam and the South Vietnamese, Malays, Filipinos and even the French and British there, making it a pearl of great influence for the Netherlands.

Penetrate the countries there, and even William IV thought, wouldn't it be more wonderful if Cambodia in the future was peacefully independent from the Kingdom of Siam by the Dutch themselves, and became a country similar to a vassal state of the Netherlands?

Thinking about it, William IV couldn't help but feel moved.

However, when I saw that the United States of America had actually reached a territorial deal with the Russian Empire, I couldn't help but feel shocked.