Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Kingdom of Prussia,

berlin royal palace

In a huge and magnificent palace.

An old man wearing the gorgeous attire of the Prussian royal family is slowly reading the latest information in his hand. Although he is old, his face has a bit of heroism, which shows that he must have been an extremely handsome man in his youth. A somewhat majestic temperament was cultivated in him.

This person was King William I of the Kingdom of Prussia.

At this time, he was sitting behind his desk, standing with memorials presented from various places.

Unlike how he usually remained kind when exposed in public, his eyes now showed a menacing look, as if he was choosing people to devour.

Opposite him was Bismarck, Europe's iron-blooded Prime Minister who always maintained his extremely serious attitude.

Both of them showed a hint of exhaustion.

The two of them worked quietly for not long.

"The Kingdom of the Netherlands is very wary of us."

A moment later, what William I held in his hand was the latest intelligence from the Netherlands. On the front page, he saw a directory composed of letters "Dutch Army Deployment".

Bismarck nodded: "William IV never trusted anyone. In order to deal with Britain and prevent us from plundering colonial territories in Africa, he proposed the formation of the Franco-Prussian-Dutch Alliance. In the end, Britain had no choice but to follow us. Grabbing territory in Africa.

I thought that the alliance between the three countries would last for a long time, but I didn't expect that the agreement would be abolished within just five years of the agreement, and it was the Netherlands who took the lead in abolishing it.

Afterwards, allies turned into enemies, and the Netherlands enlisted other countries to sanction the former French Empire, and it was ruthless and ruthless.

Has His Majesty even discovered that although we have already planned to go to war with France, it seems that the Netherlands can always predict our steps and make various corresponding arrangements along the way.

Therefore, it is understandable that William IV, who is so cautious, should be on guard against us, and this is even the real him."

William I sighed: "The position of the Netherlands is more important to us than Denmark. The Netherlands is the biggest wall that prevents us from entering the Atlantic. If the Netherlands is Prussia, how could we attack Denmark in the first place? The Netherlands occupies The coastline is fully twice that of our Atlantic coastline (plus the Belgian part). If it belongs to Prussia, then when we face the British Empire in the future, we will have enough military ports to start a confrontation.

Prussia's current rise is unstoppable, and it will definitely compete with the British Empire at sea in the future, and will definitely confront it on various issues in Europe.

At present, the Netherlands is confronting the British in the Indian Ocean. Although there is no real use of swords or guns, they are engaging in a series of contests. This past experience has to make us wary and warn us that we must take precautions earlier. Your Excellency Prime Minister, if Prussia does not make more preparations, the limitations we will face in the future will be difficult to remove."

Prussia was his life's work, and he could expand it a little bit. This was why he agreed to use Bismarck, a man who was very dedicated to expanding territory, to reuse it.

It can be said that the two of them are soldiers in the same trench, but one is in charge and the other is the commander in the rear.

Bismarck looked at his pocket watch and said with a smile: "The world must be shocked that the Netherlands lent us the Duchy of Luxembourg. At this time, the Netherlands has yellow mud in its crotch, not just shit, but also shit. I think Britain will definitely stare at the Netherlands." With one move, the French Empire would hate the Netherlands to the core. Both the nobles and the lower classes of France became hostile to the Netherlands.

Your Majesty, in order to obtain the large fertile territory and long Atlantic coastline of the Netherlands, what we need to do is to do more things, so that the Netherlands slowly lowers its defenses against us, the Dutch mainland defenses are empty, and the Netherlands is surrounded by v Countries were hostile to the Netherlands, and the Netherlands even started fighting with them. At that time, we took advantage of the Netherlands like a bag, which reduced unnecessary losses. Moreover, it also allowed us to face less international condemnation. Why not? "

William I nodded and said: "As for the Netherlands, we can't be in a hurry. However, William IV has now gone to the Kingdom of Greece to participate in the marriage between Greece and Britain, but he has handed over the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Queen Alexandra of the Netherlands. That Coming from the regency of Princess Alexandra, the eldest princess of Denmark, I admire the courage of William IV. This man is a stroke of genius."

Bismarck also exclaimed: "France wanted to pursue the matter lent to us by the Principality of Luxembourg. William IV had already run to the Greek mainland before that happened, and calculated that he was already far away from France. At that time, I felt sorry for his actions. It feels wonderful.

After that, Alexandra's regency even allowed a female regent, Queen Eugenie, who was also in France, to bring soft power to the extreme. It seemed that the Netherlands was showing weakness to France, but it also seemed to let the Netherlands and France compete. A female versus female regent rivalry.

In short, the Dutch position has become even more ambiguous. France seemed unwilling to immediately establish a confrontation with the Netherlands at this time, and only sent troops there to act as a threat or mostly for defense.

It has to be said that William IV's repeated actions have made the water more turbid, making it difficult to see clearly. Even for me, my vision has become blurred after he used it, and my grasp of the situation is no longer as stable as before. "

It's hard to describe this atmosphere. Bismarck had only experienced it from Metternich, the former Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire. Even Viscount Palmerston, the former Prime Minister of the British Empire who had passed away before, had no such experience as William IV. The feeling was so strong, at least the threat to him was not that great. It was precisely because of this that after the successful layout, under the warning of Viscount Palmerston, he still forcefully launched Prussia against Denmark and the Austrian Empire. The war between the two countries was because at that time, he had already realized that compared to the old fox Viscount Palmerston, he was as good as the other party in terms of diplomatic and political abilities.

And William IV's unpredictable approach worried him even more.

Wilhelm I knew that Bismarck had never spoken to him, so he knew that Bismarck was telling him that he had no chance of winning against the Netherlands.

So he cleverly changed the subject and said: "The Netherlands currently has less than 3 million people in Europe. Depending on what William IV means, it has become a foregone conclusion to attach importance to the Far East and Europe. We can put aside the threat of the Netherlands and just follow this Again, as long as the Netherlands knows how to lend its way to Prussia, we can tolerate the existence of the Netherlands.

What's more, it is a wall for us. It is actually a door closed to the outside world. It can isolate the infiltration of British forces. At present, if we do not win the Netherlands, this is the best outcome."

Bismarck nodded and said with a smile: "Napoleon III has stayed in Reims long enough. It's time for us to attack. In my opinion, let's start from October 16, 1869, the first day after the Greek wedding."

William I laughed: "That's it, I agree."