Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Hirobumi Ito looked at the scrutinizing gaze of Emperor Meiji, who was born in 1852 and is now 29 years old, and the undisguised sarcastic gaze of his political rival, 43-year-old Prime Minister Okuma Shigenobu, and suddenly felt unhappy.

He is 40 years old this year, but he is extremely proud of it.

Facing the two people's questions, especially the attitude of Emperor Meiji, he knew that he needed to make a plan, otherwise he would not be able to cope with the current situation.

Hirofumi Ito then said: "At least the Netherlands has not completely severed diplomatic relations at present, which shows that we still have opportunities to develop relations with the Netherlands and improve them. I remember the sanctions between the Netherlands and France back then. It didn't take long for the Netherlands to announce that it had severed diplomatic relations with France. , so it fell into a 5-year severance of diplomatic relations with France. The private economies of the two countries were almost cut off by more than half. The economy of northern France almost immediately entered a recession, and even the GDP was less than two-thirds of the previous one, but the losses were heavy."

Emperor Meiji heard this and said: "But now Japan is almost the same as France. Now the Netherlands has also announced sanctions."

Ito Hirofumi: "Although they have the same sanctions, the treatment of Japan and France is still very different."

Okuma Shigenobu asked: "What's the difference?"

Ito Hirobumi: "The difference is that we in Japan are not like France. Not only are they sanctioned by the Netherlands, but also the allies of the Netherlands are also sanctioned countries."

Emperor Meiji's heart moved, and he said with hope: "Ito-kun, what you are saying is that the Netherlands has not yet mobilized its circle of allies to impose sanctions on Japan. It is just like it has not completely severed diplomatic relations, and there is still a glimmer of hope for us? "

Ito Hirobumi nodded respectfully and said: "Yes, Your Majesty, I have studied the Netherlands for a long time and found that every time it makes a diplomatic move, if it continues, it will be like arranging troops step by step, step by step, and will not make casual moves. It's a chess piece, so since it has not directly severed diplomatic relations with us, it means that the Netherlands still gives us a chance to make amends, and has not let the Dutch allies join in to sanction us, which shows that it is still unwilling to fully expand the scale of sanctions."

Okuma Shigenobu: "If, according to what you say, there is still room for improvement in the relationship between Japan and the Netherlands, then now that the Dutch Ambassador to Japan Maurice has begun to get on the boat to return to the Netherlands, Japan should How to open channels of communication with the Netherlands? How can we explain to the Netherlands and ease the relationship? "

Emperor Meiji Tian of Japan also looked at Hiroshi Ito after hearing this, waiting for his good plan.

Ito Hirofumi smiled and said: "We in Japan want to get through this difficulty. In fact, it is difficult to say it is difficult, and it is easy to say it is easy."

Seeing that Hirobumi Ito was still showing off at this time, political enemy Okuma Shigenobu sneered and said: "It seems to be said very lightly."

Ito Hirobumi said unconcernedly: "It's up to you whether it's light or not, the Netherlands has the final say."

After retorting, he turned to respectfully salute Emperor Meiji and then said to Okuma Shigenobu: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, what is the reason why the Netherlands currently imposes sanctions on Japan?"

Okuma Shigenobu said without thinking: "Of course it is because Japan and Britain have formed an alliance and signed an alliance. This is something that the whole world knows."

Ito Hirofumi: "Then I wonder why the Prime Minister thinks that the Netherlands has such a big reaction to the alliance between Britain and Japan. What is the reason?"

Okuma Shigenobu said directly: "Of course it's because the content of the treaty in the covenant offended the other party."

Ito Hirobumi: “I don’t know which article of the treaty is the main one?”

Okuma Shigenobu heard this, thought for a moment, and then said: "It's Article 4. According to the covenant, if one of the contracting parties is attacked by two or more countries, the other party should provide timely assistance and fight together."

Hirofumi Ito: "I also think this is what makes the Netherlands angry"

Okuma Shigenobu asked: "?"

Looking at Meiji Emperor, he also looked over.

Ito Hirobumi said: "Your Majesty and Prime Minister, since we all know that the reason for the dissatisfaction of the Netherlands is here, first of all, the Netherlands does not hate Japan as a country, but just hates the new relationship we have just established with the United Kingdom. In that case , then why don’t we just come over and think about the problem?”

This time Emperor Meiji was confused and thought about the problem, what does it mean?

Okuma Shigenobu stared at the other party in confusion.

Ito Hirobumi: "The reason why the Netherlands currently leaves us with a glimmer of hope is that the Netherlands wants to continue to interact with Japan. So most of the time when we interact with others, we actually do it with purpose.

Huh, the anger that the Netherlands is expressing now is nothing more than Japan's so-called offense against the interests of the Netherlands. To put it simply, Japan has lowered the interests of the Netherlands and harmed their interests.

In this case, we can compensate the other party in terms of interests. "

Emperor Meiji and Okuma Shigenobu were shocked when they heard this. Yes, compensation for benefits is enough. This is how people usually make deals with each other.

Okuma Shigenobu heard this and asked hurriedly: "How does Japan need to provide benefits subsidies to the Netherlands?"

Emperor Meiji also said: "If Japan makes too many concessions, we will lose more than we gain. After all, from the beginning, our alliance with Britain was aimed at Japan obtaining British industrial technology and military technology to improve Japan." -We can’t obtain the strength of our own country in front of us, but we will give it to others later, and it will easily offend the United Kingdom.”

Ito Hirobumi said: "His Majesty and the Prime Minister are right to have concerns, so we can focus on eliminating these things when making deals."

Okuma Shigenobu: "What do you mean?"

Hirofumi Ito: "We can put the Dutch interest remedy plan on things that do not harm Japan."

Okuma Shigenobu and Emperor Meiji: "?"

Ito Hirobumi: "The alliance between Japan and the United Kingdom is the source of the Dutch sanctions against us. If this is the case, why not remedy it at the source?"

Seeing the confused expressions on the two people's faces, Ito Hirobumi said: "Our alliance with Britain is destined that we will not antagonize Britain, but this does offend the Netherlands. Since we have just formed an alliance with Britain, breaking the alliance will naturally be a slap in the face of Britain. It is naturally impossible to make Britain turn against Japan, but our relationship with the Netherlands is complicated. The Netherlands is extremely powerful to the south of us. We cannot offend each other, so we will sign an alliance with the Netherlands to hedge the Anglo-Japanese alliance. That's it

This is my plan”

Okuma Shigenobu and Emperor Meiji were moved when they heard this, but then they denied it in their hearts. Because the Netherlands and Britain were trying to please each other, Dutch Ambassador Morris had already vetoed Japan's two-headed approach. Now that Hirobumi Ito proposes this, that's still the case. Vetoed by the Netherlands?

So Okuma Shigenobu said: "The Netherlands will not accept a plan like forming an alliance with Britain. Morris had already vetoed it before, and you were there at the time. I know."

Ito Hirobumi shook his head and said: "I know that an open covenant will not work, but what if we signed a secret covenant with the Netherlands?"

Emperor Meiji: "What is the focus of the transaction?"

Hiroshi Ito: "Selling British intelligence to the Netherlands"

Emperor Meiji and Shige Okuma were shocked.