Chapter 258: Negotiations
Considering the enormous strength gap between the Netherlands and Spain, the Dutch Government compromised very quickly, immediately ordering their ambassador stationed in Spain to contact the Spanish Government side and clarify the Dutch Government’s innocence in the conflict between the two indigenous forces on Borneo.
Of course, the Dutch Government would not be so naive as to think that Spain would stop its actions after they retreated.
On one hand, the Dutch Government prepared for the loss of the Kutai Sultanate; they did not want a larger conflict with Spain over a small Kutai Sultanate.
On the other hand, the Dutch Government also hoped that the European Powers could mediate to ensure that Dutch interests would not suffer too great losses.
If negotiating only with the Spanish side, the Spaniards opening their mouths wide like a lion was inevitable. The Netherlands would definitely be at a disadvantage in the negotiations, and by then the Dutch losses might not just be a small Kutai Sultanate, but possibly the entire Borneo, or even several surrounding islands.
Because of Borneo’s important geographical position, the Dutch Government was unwilling to completely lose Borneo, let alone lose other large islands beyond Borneo.
It must be known that Borneo is only a little over three hundred kilometers from Java, the core region of the Dutch East Indies. If Spain occupied South Kalimantan, would that not mean that Java might also face the Spaniards’ covetousness?
Precisely because of this, after internal discussions, the Dutch Government decided that the bottom line for concessions to the Spaniards was the Kutai Sultanate.
Anyway, it was the Kutai Sultanate that attacked Lanfang; everyone can settle grudges with grudges and grievances with grievances, without implicating other unrelated countries.
As for the vast land south of the Kutai Sultanate and east of the Lanfang Republic, the Dutch would absolutely not concede.
Because this was already the southern part of Borneo, the true core region of the Dutch East Indies.
If the Spaniards intervened here, the future Dutch East Indies would never have peace.
Of course, if Spain’s appetite was really too large, the Netherlands could also make certain concessions in other areas, such as New Guinea, where various countries were vigorously colonizing.
New Guinea can be seen as two parts: only the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal are colonizing West New Guinea, while Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, these three great powers, are colonizing East New Guinea.
According to the current colonization progress in West New Guinea, the Netherlands, as the country that has been cultivating there the longest, has hope of obtaining the largest colonial territory.
Although Spain is the strongest among the three countries colonizing 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, still having a certain gap with the Dutch.
If there are no accidents, the Netherlands will obtain a large area in the western part of New Guinea Island, Spain can obtain some relatively important regions and islands, and Portugal can only pick up some remote areas and uninhabited small islands that the two countries do not value much.
Although the area of New Guinea is larger than Borneo, because it is at the easternmost end of the Dutch East Indies, its geographical position is not that important.
For the Dutch, if they could ensure that the land in southern Borneo still belongs to them by abandoning part of New Guinea’s land, this would absolutely be a cost-effective deal.
Of course, the extent of Dutch tolerance was limited to this.
If Spain’s appetite was too large, and even the land outside the Kutai Sultanate plus part of New Guinea’s land could not satisfy Spain, then the Dutch could only ensure the safety of the Dutch East Indies by requesting the great powers to call a halt.
When the Dutch ambassador to Spain sought an audience with Carlo, it was already the fifth day of the Lanfang army’s full-scale counterattack.
The Dutch ambassador’s mood was quite urgent; if they could not reach an agreement with the Spanish Government before the Lanfang army fully occupied the Kutai Sultanate, it would not be so easy to negotiate once the flames of war burned into the Dutch colonies.
Compared to the somewhat urgent Dutch ambassador, Carlo’s mood at this time was obviously much better.
Currently, Spain’s colonization in Africa and Southeast Asia was going quite smoothly; the Congo Territory, Guinea Colony, and Philippine Colony were all in a state of continuous territorial expansion.
Since Carlo’s coronation as King of Spain, Spain had finally stopped the decline of constantly losing colonies and even obtained many important colonies with considerable area.
Although Carlo did not boast too much about such achievements, the Spanish people were still very attentive to their country’s colonial expansion.
During Carlo’s rule, Spain obtained two large colonies: the South Morocco Colony and the Congo Territory, with the Congo Territory alone having an area of millions of square kilometers.
In addition, the Philippine Colony’s expansion area also reached nearly 100,000 square kilometers, making the title of third colonial empire finally look well-deserved.
Although these were not expansions of the homeland, pioneering colonies was equally a great achievement.
Carlo, who led the colonial expansion, had his achievements warmly praised by the Spanish people. Although not yet rising to the level of the greatest king in Spanish history, it was enough to enter the top five in the ranking of Spain’s greatest kings.
It was mainly due to the contrast with Ferdinand VII and Queen Isabella, the father and daughter, that made King Carlo appear so great.
Of course, personal adoration was actually a good thing for a monarchy country. As long as this monarch had sufficient ability, there was no need to worry about the drawbacks of personal adoration.
Benefiting from the public’s fanatical love and adoration for Carlo, the Spanish Government led by Carlo appeared quite relaxed when promulgating policies.
The vast majority of policies did not need to worry about the public’s reaction; the public would spontaneously support the policies promulgated by the government, with basically no opposition emotions.
Carlo had also repeatedly emphasized the importance of having more children; currently, Spanish people were proud of having more children, and many families with more than three children had already emerged.
It was precisely these Spaniards who loved Carlo and complied with every policy promulgated by the Spanish Government that made Spain’s construction work proceed so smoothly.
It is no exaggeration to say that, with Carlo’s current popular support in Spain, there was no need to worry about any country invading Spain.
Even superpowers like Britain, France, and Germany—if they dared to actively invade Spain, Spain could at least trade life for injury and drag down superpowers of the level of Britain, France, and Germany.
If it was a country like the United Kingdom, whose army was not strong to begin with, as long as they dared to confront Spain on land, the ones to fail would definitely be the British.
Although personal adoration had various drawbacks, for the army, sufficient adoration could greatly improve morale and fighting spirit, achieving the effect that with one order from Carlo, the Spanish Army would mobilize en masse, fearless of death.
It was just that Spain’s population was far inferior to great powers like Britain, France, and Germany; otherwise, Spain at this time would not be so low-key.
Even if Spain could gain military advantage through personal adoration and certain weapon technology, other countries could also wear down Spain through manpower consumption.
Therefore, before Spain’s population reached a certain level, Carlo did not plan to let Spain show too much on the international stage.
After all, at this time, the most powerful country was the British; any country whose international influence threatened the United Kingdom would face targeting and hostility from the British.
France was like this before, Russia is like this now, and Germany will be even more so in the future.
It was not just the British; every superpower at the top of the world would do this. The throne of world hegemon represented huge interests, and no country would cede such a position easily.
This also meant that every change of the world hegemon throne would face extremely brutal bloodshed.
The name of the Dutch ambassador to Spain was William; such a name was very common throughout Europe, and many rulers of various countries were also named William.
Of course, European names were generally very long, so the probability of exact name collisions was still small.
“Your Majesty the King of Spain, I, on behalf of His Majesty King William III and the Dutch Government and Dutch people, express deep respect to you.” Upon just meeting Carlo, Ambassador William immediately performed a standard European noble salute to Carlo.
In this era, those serving as diplomatic ambassadors for European countries were generally nobles, after all, most European countries were monarchies, and diplomatic ambassadors had to frequently meet kings and other nobles of various countries.
If not a noble, they would be inferior in status from the outset, and performing salutes upon meeting would also be quite difficult.
Just like Spain’s Foreign Secretary Everton at this time, he held the title of marquis, above count and below duke, also considered a great noble.
If baron was the bottom line for measuring nobility, then marquis above count was the standard line for measuring great nobles.
Of course, in some countries the standard line became duke, but overall it was more or less the same.
In Europe, no one would consider a count a great noble, even if that count owned vast lands and property.
Similarly, no one would consider a duke a minor noble, even if the duke’s property was not much.
Although there were many declining nobles, after reaching the duke level, the probability of complete decline was very small, unless the family faced a succession crisis or lost the nobility title due to some accident.
Facing Ambassador William’s respectful salute, Carlo nodded indifferently, with a faint smile on his face, and asked, “Ambassador William suddenly seeks an audience; is there something important?”
“It’s not something particularly important.” Ambassador William hurriedly said, “Regarding the problem caused by the indigenous uprising on Borneo, I, on behalf of my king and government, express apology to Your Majesty and your government, and are willing to provide compensation for your country’s losses.
Not long ago, another indigenous uprising broke out on Java. This uprising caused the death of several of our immigrants, enraging His Majesty the King, who ordered the East Indies Government to dispatch troops to suppress the rebellion.
It was precisely because of the troop dispatch that Borneo became militarily vacant, ultimately allowing those damned indigenous people to exploit a loophole.
We also wanted to suppress the indigenous uprising, but due to the unstable situation on Java, we are somewhat powerless at this time.
We are willing to invite your government to enter the Kutai Sultanate for suppression of rebellion, and the resulting military expenses will also be borne by us, as compensation for your country’s losses in the uprising.
I wonder if your country is willing to accept such conditions? I hope this can mend the friendly relations between Spain and the Netherlands.” Dutch Ambassador William said with a very sincere attitude.
Carlo looked at Ambassador William with a smile, not surprised by what Ambassador William said.
Facing the much stronger Spain, the Dutch Government would most likely take the initiative to retreat. Since it was taking the initiative to retreat, the first thing the Dutch Government had to do was to clear itself of suspicion in this conflict, avoiding greater losses.
Sure enough, in Ambassador William’s words, a Dutch-led border invasion of the Lanfang Republic turned into an indigenous uprising caused by Dutch negligence.
Although the Dutch Government still bore some responsibility, Ambassador William’s words also made it clear that they were willing to compensate Spain with the Kutai Sultanate and certain funds.
The Dutch compensation was quite generous. The total area of Borneo was as high as 743,300 square kilometers, and the Kutai Sultanate was one of the largest indigenous nations on Borneo in terms of area.
Just the area of the Kutai Sultanate was at least 100,000 square kilometers, already more than twice the area of the Dutch homeland.
The Portugal that Carlo had long coveted had a total area of only about 92,000 square kilometers. Although the Kutai Sultanate was far from Europe, obtaining a piece of land over 100,000 square kilometers was still no small gain for Spain.
The problem was that the Kutai Sultanate, as the main force invading Lanfang’s border, had long been counterattacked by the Lanfang army.
Regardless of whether the Dutch Government was willing to abandon the Kutai Sultanate, it would soon become territory controlled by the Lanfang Republic, actually controlled by Spain.
The Dutch army definitely could not personally stop the Lanfang army’s attack, which also meant that the Netherlands losing the Kutai Sultanate was inevitable.
In this light, it was equivalent to the Dutch Government hoping to resolve this dispute with some indemnity, not wanting to pay more costs.
Was this possible? The dispute was proactively provoked by the Dutch; now wanting to pick it up lightly and put it down lightly still depended on Spain’s attitude.
“Ambassador William, I have already understood the situation of the uprising on Borneo. In this indigenous uprising, some of our immigrants faced relatively serious property losses and life-threatening danger, which I, as King of Spain, cannot tolerate.
Since the Netherlands is powerless to suppress the indigenous uprising, Spain naturally has the obligation to quickly suppress the indigenous uprising to ensure the personal safety and property safety of Spanish people.
Since we are settling accounts with these indigenous people, I think it is necessary to settle accounts with all indigenous people on the entire Borneo, which can also defend against their next uprising in a short time.
What is Ambassador William’s view? If your country does not have sufficient troops, the Spanish Army is happy to serve.” Carlo’s expression showed no change, still with a faint smile on his face, speaking in a very mild manner.
Although Carlo had a smile on his face, the words sounded like one threat after another to Ambassador William.
Carlo’s attitude was also very clear: he acknowledged the indigenous uprising as stated by the Dutch side. But at the same time, Carlo was not satisfied with the conditions offered by the Dutch.
The Kutai Sultanate was already fat meat in Spain’s mouth; the so-called sacrifice by the Dutch had no actual cost and could not attract Carlo at all.
If the Netherlands wanted to ensure peace in the Southeast Asia region through negotiations, it was best to propose some truly appealing conditions, rather than regions already actually occupied by Spain.
