Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Therefore, although the British Empire has not yet responded, no one thinks that it will remain so. In fact, the British Empire is now discussing within itself how to deal with this matter.

And because of the weakness of the Belgian government, its Belgians suddenly felt shameless, and their faces were full of contempt when others looked at them, especially the people of the British Empire. Although there was no deliberate offensive action, This was already the beginning of their dissatisfaction.

Leopold I, who was so busy that he was dizzy, was even more dissatisfied with Alban as Prime Minister. Faced with the people's doubts about his impartiality, not only the Dutch people in the country, but also the French people on the other side of the accident also expressed their dissatisfaction. He was very dissatisfied with the way they handled the situation. As an old fox, he naturally had no part in taking the blame, so he secretly made a decision. He would use this decision to escape himself and appease the Dutch's anger.

“In 1850, when I first came to Brussels, the Parliament Building was still one of the most unsafe places in the city. On the wall of the police station on Parliament Hill, there was a dirty and old map hanging on it, with many tables on it. ×' marks all the street corners, sidewalks, and alleys where murders have occurred.

before. A person's life is so dangerous in the Capitol, so there is a roadside restaurant near the carriage station here that provides a special buffet for the local police. No matter what we eat, it only costs 1 Dutch guilder.

That hotel is called the Wonderful Hotel, and its managers like to let people see uniformed policemen eating at the table at the entrance, so that they won't worry about frequent robberies.

But it is a pity that it was razed to the ground five years ago and became the Yesterday Church. This former Capitol provided a cheap parking place for senior students and newcomers to Congress who wanted to have a night of fun and afford it. The place of the fanny pack no longer exists, it became a star point of the old coordinates.

But then I gradually realized that the Wonder Hotel is not just a geographical and historical location marker, it is also a historical marker. A story that happened here one winter more than 20 years ago can become the first lesson of any political education.

In 1840, when Belgium had just established its kingdom and chose Brussels as its capital, the Wonder Hotel became a hotel for people to eat and stay. There were several Belgian senators and at least one Supreme Court judge living there, as well as some tenants who did not remember their prominent status.

There are two floors of basements below the entrance hall, and there is this long row of rooms. Those bedrooms only have a common bathroom. Every night, this cold and humid underground world will be full of life, because it is filled with glowing eyes, The dreams of high-spirited young people, they are the lucky young people who work in the Belgian National Congress.

Among this group of underground tenants, there is a 29-year-old young man who is burly and clumsy, with a pair of huge ears that are as long as an elephant's.

He has just become secretary to Senate President Strmann, who two weeks ago was a municipal employee in West Flanders.

After his first night at the Wonderful Hotel, he started to behave strangely.

Those actions were very strange. He took a total of four showers that night. Four times he walked down the hall to the public office in a bath towel, four times he turned on the faucet and applied soap.

And in the early morning of the next day, he got up early again and went to brush his teeth five times, with only 5 minutes between each time.

This young man from West Flanders did this for his own purposes.

There are 60 secretaries of senators like him in the Capitol Building in the hotel, and there are 150 secretaries of representatives of the House of Representatives. He wants to get to know them as quickly as possible, and the more he knows, the better.

His move worked, and within five months of his stay in Brussels, the newcomer became the Speaker of the 'mini-parliament', a team composed of all the aides in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Some of them were noticed by many people, including his old boss, Senate President Sterman.

This was the first "performance" of this man named Joseph Beit in Brussels. He demonstrated his basic political methods, and he also proved to others that climbing up means making friends. The two are in fact the same thing. thing.

Joseph Beit has a very good way of making friends. He likes to work with people one-on-one. He claims to be a retail political businessman. Others may not know whether he understands this, but he has indeed become the most favored senator in Belgium because of this. Currently, he is a retail political businessman. It seems that there are only two people who can compare with him, and that is Jules Danetang, the most adaptable person in Limburg.

"Bait, we have to be careful about Danetang. This person is very adaptable. If you carefully observe his progress over the years, it is not difficult to find his superb game skills. In the past few years, no matter where he plays, Even when he fell down, he was able to stand up quickly, especially in the 1858 city council election, when he was running for the position of city councilor in the city of Mosaic in the province of Limburg. He actually published that terrible, procrastinated article at the campaign meeting. After the lengthy speech and seeing people's dissatisfaction, he quickly published it in the local newspaper and used his hilarious acting skills to resolve the unfavorable situation. He showed people the image of a big man who transcended his own predicament.

He is always able to come back when many people think he will fail. In 1860, Jules Danetant proved that he was such a character. He used the role rotation strategy vividly. He named himself the comeback child, thus turning defeat into victory in one fell swoop. Yixue was humiliated by losing to the opponent at the beginning. , won the Limburg Provincial Senate with a resounding victory, accounting for 75% of the support rate at the time. It can be said to have caused a sensation throughout Belgium. The most disparate set of votes ever cast for a Senate race."

Joseph Beit kept tapping the table with the middle finger of his right hand, and his voice came out loud and clear. Opposite him was his close friend and campaign consultant Heites, both of whom had been partners for many years.

Heites finally said: "In this presidential election, Danetang has positioned himself as a third-party force. He is neither biased towards those in the Dutch-speaking area nor the French-speaking area. He is conservative and liberal. He even directly promotes the The middle road was originally a good choice, but now that we are operating, if something like this happens in the Dutch-speaking area, it will naturally not be easy for Danetang."

Speaking of this, Heites felt a little better. At the same time, he secretly praised Joseph Beit for doing a good job this time. He actually directly gave the other party's original campaign plan a blow. Danetang's campaign platform was not biased. Not biased, how can you still be impartial now? As a Dutchman, how do you feel about your colleagues being bullied and pretending not to see it? This will naturally cause dissatisfaction among the Dutch people, and they will no longer want to vote.

And if he was born to help the Dutch and used his own campaign platform, it would be like farting in the mouth. Therefore, he was sarcastically watching a play, waiting for Danetang to make a fool of himself.

Bait seemed to see what he was thinking, and sighed: "We'd better not be complacent first. You also said that this person always likes to turn defeat into victory. Now the situation is still unclear. Don't you think it's too much to celebrate proudly at this time?" Is it early?"

When Heites heard this, he immediately felt that it made sense, but he still felt that Danetang was going to fall into a trap this time.

There are many people who think the same as him. For example, the current Prime Minister of Belgium, Orban, attaches great importance to his two opponents in the Dutch region. After all, only by defeating them can he unify the votes in the Dutch-speaking region against the French-speaking region. The launch candidate over there.

However, he didn't know why recently, he always felt uneasy, but he couldn't find the reason for it.

"Your Majesty, now the two chess pieces we secretly arranged in Belgium have sprouted, and everything is moving towards our plan, but the British Empire is still motionless. Will Palmerston see through our plan? Is it a trick?"

Tolbeck said worriedly.

It has been several days, but there is still no reaction from the British. The development of the situation in Belgium seems to have nothing to do with them. This makes the original script of bringing the British Empire in and causing resentment among the Belgian people somewhat inconsistent.

Therefore, he suspected that the British had seen something and were unwilling to take the bait.

William IV also frowned, but he didn't believe that the other party would continue like this.

"The British Empire has always been nosy. I don't know exactly why, but we have to be patient and wait. Just because they are not moving now does not mean they are not making secret arrangements."

He looked at Tolbeck and said, "They probably think the matter is not big enough."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Torbeck asked uncertainly.

"Then let's make things bigger," William IV said seriously but cruelly.

Tolbeck reconfirmed, "Understood"

It’s been one wave after another. Belgium is so unlucky.

In the south, just after the French-speaking area had just attacked campaign staff in the Dutch-speaking area, there was another attack on January 24, 1862, but this time the target of the attack was the British Empire stationed in Montmont, the capital of Hainaut Province. At the Sri Lankan Consulate, the consul general died on the spot, more than 10 other staff members died, and 20 others were seriously injured.

Once the news broke out, Belgium immediately became the focus of Europe. Unlike before, it was just a fight between Belgium and France, but this time it was a fight with the British Empire, and this time it was a direct attack on the British Empire in Belgium. The official garrison was a red-blooded attack on a foreign Belgian envoy, and it was a very serious diplomatic incident.

No one would think this was a separate accident, it was an obvious attack.

While people and countries were paying attention, an organization claiming to be "Give Me Back France its Rights" announced that they were responsible for this incident because they were dissatisfied with the British Empire's repeated deprivation of France.

"We are proud French people. We are very dissatisfied with the British Empire taking away our rights in the Suez Canal. We are dissatisfied with the British domineering in the English Channel and occupying our French waters. We are even more dissatisfied with their warships in the Mediterranean. Originally, It's our territory, our pond's wandering in a show of glory, in short, we use this attack to remind the British Empire that we are serious and don't mess with our noble and powerful French Empire again."

Wow!

As soon as this declaration came out, the world suddenly changed.

Even Napoleon III's face turned dark, and Prime Minister Olivier almost couldn't stand still.

At the same time, they hastily denied the involvement of the French government and disowned the organization.

But no one thought that things would clear up for them.

The political centers of Berlin, the British Empire, and Vienna and St. Petersburg were as if they were watching a drama. Seeing the busy Napoleon III, they felt relieved and at the same time looked forward to London. At this time, You should stand up.

Yes, there is also a lot of discussion in London. The citizens have begun to take to the streets to resist the French attack, and Viscount Palmerston is convening an emergency cabinet meeting.