Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Before Palmerston arrived in Paris, Holland was the first to take action.

On April 18, 1862, King William IV of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, together with Foreign Minister Hesbert von, suddenly appeared in the western Kingdom of Norway ruled by Sweden. They were waiting there in Oslo, the capital of Norway, with King Karl XV of Sweden. He held a bilateral meeting with the country's Foreign Affairs Prime Minister Ladwig.

After a closed-door meeting, Hesbert von and Ladwig held a press conference and officially announced that the Netherlands and Sweden had officially reached a customs union.

For specific regulations, both countries will refer to the practices of the North and South German Customs Union to become appropriate regulations for both countries.

"We will abolish tariffs between the two places, and trade between the two countries will be tax-free; we will implement a unified tariff system and tax rate for trade with other countries.

At the same time, we will announce the tariff law later, but we have decided to use the Dutch tax law as a model to formulate tariff policies.

All tariffs between the two countries will be abolished from July 1, 1862.

In terms of foreign trade, both countries prefer free trade, but they impose protective duties on cotton fabrics and woolen goods in the British Empire, which are currently experiencing serious dumping of industrial products. The customs union between the two countries also aims to establish a unified currency exchange rate, measurement system and commercial regulations, in particular agreeing to use Dutch commercial law to conduct common commercial regulations.

Sweden also supports the Netherlands' newly established maritime tribunal in The Hague, recognizing the tribunal as an internationally authoritative level. Agree that Sweden will arbitrate here in case of disputes.

The two countries also announced that they would establish a steel alliance, with the Netherlands investing in Swedish steel companies and the two countries jointly developing Swedish and Dutch iron ore mines.

In short, we have established a complete economic alliance with the Netherlands, and politically we also support the Dutch foreign policy. "

King Karl XV explained this at a press conference in Oslo.

"Is what His Majesty William IV and His Majesty Carl XV just said true? The two countries have reached this level of progress in a customs union all of a sudden. Have the two countries been preparing for a long time? I am Correspondent from the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten”

Young William IV smiled at the reporter with a friendly smile. This action immediately gained the favor of many media present.

That's what being personable means.

"First of all, this sudden visit that everyone is talking about is actually not the case. I have longed for Sweden for a long time. The Nordic style is a place that all Europeans love to visit."

William IV looked towards Karl XV with a smile, and the latter smiled at him.

The tacit understanding between the two was instantly photographed by reporters from major media.

They all know that this photo will add several layers of thickness to their winnings on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper.

"In fact, I had met King Carl XV a few years ago in 1858 when I accompanied my father to Stockholm, but at that time, both of us were crown princes.

Now, four years later, a lot of things have happened around both of us, but our identities have still changed. We are now both in charge of a country. Although perhaps in your eyes, our country is not a big country, but a medium-sized country, but We don't mind, yes, what we care about is how to govern this medium-sized country well so that its people can enjoy the treatment of citizens of a medium-sized country as a medium-sized country. This is our ultimate goal. "

"His Majesty William IV, I am Stephen, a reporter from the Financial Times. Are you not afraid of causing conflicts between the Netherlands and Sweden by establishing a customs union with Sweden? For example, why do you think that establishing a customs union can benefit both parties? ?”

William IV glanced at Stephen with deep meaning, and then replied: "This customs union will open up cooperation between the two countries. Sweden has 6 million people and Norway has 2.48 million people, with a total population of 8.5 million people in the north. The coldness is undeniable. There are more jobs in the Netherlands but fewer jobs in Sweden. Therefore, the Netherlands needs workers and Sweden needs jobs.

Sweden has industrial iron ore and steel, while the Netherlands has capital, technology, global shipping experience and cargo ships, and the Netherlands also has markets in the Far East.

Our two medium-sized countries will form a reliable industrial chain that is comparable to that owned by a big country alone. As long as it succeeds, our economic development should not be much weaker than that of other big countries. After all, the local populations of the two countries combined There are already more than 14 million people together. This does not require Spain and other countries to have much smaller populations. After all, those big countries only have a population of about 30 million.

Demographic dividend, technological dividend, geographical proximity, maritime attributes, industrial complementarity, the same attributes of the Germanic race, similar status, consistent ideas, etc. Why can't such a combination achieve the ultimate complementarity? "

"Pap-pap-pap-pap."

"Well said, William IV is absolutely right."

“Yes, the Netherlands and Sweden are naturally complementary. A developed country with a Western European economy, and Sweden, a Nordic mineral resource exporter, can naturally complement each other. Sweden will even make a huge economic leap with the influx of technology from the Netherlands. "

"In less than ten years, we will definitely enter the ranks of developed countries in Europe."

"I don't think it will take five years. After all, the Netherlands is famous for doing business, and Dutch companies are famous for being strong. Just taking the East India Company, which dominated Europe at that time, has already made other countries timid. Had it not been for the fact that the Netherlands at that time only focused on making money and did not care about military development, but was eventually defeated and replaced by the British. Under the pressure of the British, the Dutch East India Company and the West India Company were forcibly dismantled and disbanded. The Netherlands at this time would definitely still be the same. The top country.”

"Let bygones be bygones. What I only care about is that Sweden's redundant labor force will now be available."

After seeing the power of William IV, the guy named Stephen in the Financial Times paid his attention to King Carl XV of Sweden.

"His Majesty Karl XV, with the establishment of the Customs Union between Sweden and the Netherlands"

Seeing that Karl XV listened quietly without changing his expression.

Stephen asked: "As we all know, Sweden is a relatively weak country in Europe in terms of enterprise development. Your Majesty will not deny this, right?"

"Naturally, Sweden is indeed a step behind," admitted Karl XV honestly.

"In this case, Swedish companies entered into a development economic alliance with the Netherlands before they developed. Taking Prussia and the 18 North German countries as an example, the remaining 17 countries are now basically penetrated by the Prussian economy, but the 17 countries are trapped in Economic encirclement, but dare not move, and oppose Prussia's current political struggle with the Austrian Empire. Does this reflect from the side that Sweden is not afraid that the Netherlands will do Prussian things?"

Wow!

I have seen bold people, but I have never seen anyone so bold as to raise such a provocative question in person.

They looked up and saw that although Karl XV still had a smile on his face, the expression of Foreign Affairs Prime Minister Ladwig next to him was no longer harmonious, but angry.

Karl XV waved his hand and calmly stopped Ladwig from ordering someone to drive the reporters out.

After King Karl XV waited for the venue to calm down, he said: "Although Sweden is weak, our country has been developing rapidly recently, and"

Karl XV glanced at William IV, who was sitting next to him with a gentlemanly smile, and said confidently: "Don't forget, we also have business giants in our country."

"Your Majesty, you mean the Wallenberg family and the Nobel family?"

"Not bad, any questions?"

The reporter was silent.

When William IV saw this, something strange suddenly occurred in his heart.

Nobel and Wallenberg?

Until he is reborn in the future, these two families will be the top big families in the world. One is invincible in terms of fame, and the other is top-notch in the world in terms of wealth. These two families are still rising now. At this stage, I don’t know if it can be taken back under the banner?

At the same time, Te felt deep admiration for Prussia.

The world's first economic alliance was established by them in 1834.

And many people think that Prussia is just the Bismarck. In fact, others are no worse than him.

Reject this statement?

It cannot be vetoed. After all, Bismarck was still a young man in 1834.

The German Customs Union, established in 1834 and gradually expanded, was the world's earliest customs union organization and played a role in promoting the economic development and political unification of the German Confederation at that time.

Before the unification of Germany in 1870, there were many checkpoints within the states of the German Confederation, which hindered the development of industry and commerce. In 1818, Prussia took the lead in abolishing inland tariffs, and then established the North German Customs Union in 1826.

The German Confederation was not a piece of iron. They were constantly fighting within themselves. So they saw that Prussia was getting closer to the countries of the North German Confederation because of this. So the Kingdom of Bavaria, the headquarters, established the Central German Customs Union and the Austrian Empire also established the South German Customs Union. alliance.

A good German Confederation is divided into three parts. The North and South German Confederation are gradually encroaching on Central Germany because of the two major countries of Prussia and Austria. In the end, the Kingdom of Bavaria can only rely on Austria, dissatisfied with Prussia's poaching, so now A situation is formed.

The 10-nation economic alliance of the South German Confederation. 18 countries of the North German Economic Union.

However, politically, Hanover in the North German Economic League still leans towards Austria, while Saxony remains neutral.

This is also the reason why Britain currently has an opportunity and wants to use the intervention of the British illustrators from the Kingdom of Hanover within the German Confederation.

"Your Majesty William, I am Mendesv, a reporter from the Tsarist Empire's "Voice of Tsarist Russia". What I want to ask is that in the territorial transactions between the Netherlands and the Tsarist Russian Empire in the Far East some time ago, the transaction area between the two countries was too huge. So much so that the Tsarist Empire thinks there is a risk of losing money, I don’t know, what do you think?”

“If losses and losses could be decided casually, there wouldn’t be so many disputes in the world.”

William IV said kindly: "Alaska is actually very large. Everyone who reaches the territory of the Dutch army will be more than twice as loud as before. Unfortunately, it is cold and freezing there, and it is difficult for people to survive. Therefore, this is also Alexander's The reason why the second generation is willing to trade, not to mention that sometimes the value of ignorance cannot be measured from one angle. Just like the same island with a size of 10 square kilometers, if it is in the Arctic, no one will care about it because it is too remote. Well, but what if it's outside the St. Petersburg harbor?

I think that even if he comes to the Alaska Peninsula again, His Majesty Alexander II will agree to the deal without hesitation, right? "(third chapter)