On the third day after the People's Warship launched its attack again, Prince Heinrich, who had been living in Qingdao, conveyed to the East China government that the Dutch government requested Germany to mediate the East China government and the Netherlands, and was willing to accept the compensation request from the East China government and conduct peaceful negotiations with the East China government alone.

It turned out that after the East China government announced countermeasures, the United States, which was highly anticipated by the five countries, only protested verbally to the East China government without any substantial action, which also disappointed all the five countries. Although Britain and France advised the United States to take more intense actions and put pressure on the East China government, they were politely rejected by the United States. After all, the United States does not want to be used as guns by Britain and France.

Of course, Britain and France can still stay steadily, and Japan and Russia can wait and see for a while. Only the Netherlands can't hold back. After all, among the five countries, only the Netherlands has the weakest national strength and the lowest tolerance. Moreover, the East China government's countermeasures clearly mentioned attacking Java, which is a loss that the Netherlands cannot bear in any case. So the Dutch government also contacted Britain and France continuously, hoping that Britain and France can come up with an effective response plan to deal with the East China government's countermeasures.

But now Britain and France are still on their own, so they really can't get any effective response plan. They can only persuade the Netherlands not to worry. The East China government is just bluffing, and they are now exhausted. It is impossible to dispatch a fleet to attack Java. As long as they last for a few more months, the East China government will automatically collapse, and then the five countries will win without a fight.

However, although the Netherlands is a small country, it is a European country after all. It is impossible for a naive country to gain a foothold in this land full of war and struggle. Moreover, the Dutch ancestors were also rich. 200 years ago, the famous sea coachman once competed with Britain for the sea overlord. He had played many conspiracies and methods in conspiracy. It is not easy to be fooled easily.

Due to the unpositive attitude of Britain and France, the Dutch government realized that it could not give its destiny completely to Britain and France, and had to plan other plans and find other ways for itself. At this time, in the Dutch government, someone suggested that Germany should be invited to mediate the Dutch and East China governments again.

Although Germany took the initiative to mediate the last time, but the Netherlands politely declined, it was not said to death. Moreover, in the Dutch government, a considerable number of people supported the abandonment of Britain and France and mediated by Germany, because they believed that Germany and the East China government had close relations, so there was still a great success in mediation. Because it was announced in the East China government, Britain and France had a perfunctory attitude. Some people even believed that if they did not follow the British and French countries and had a successful negotiation with the East China government, they might have to wait until now. Therefore, asking Germany to mediate again is also a feasible solution. Of course, this is also the only way out for the Netherlands now. Of course, this can also put pressure on Britain and France. If you still do this, then the Netherlands can only ask Germany for help.

So the Netherlands made a request to mediate with its ambassador to Germany. However, this time Germany made a statement. Prime Minister Bilo told the Dutch ambassador that although Germany really wanted to help the Netherlands, it was powerless at this time. After all, the words of the East China government have been released. Although Germany and the East China government have cooperated with it, they do not have too deep friendship, so it is difficult to persuade them to take it back. Moreover, the East China government may not accept Germany's mediation, so it is really unhelpful to ask the Netherlands to find other countries to help. Germany really can't help.

However, although Germany said it could not do the mediation work, there were also people in the Dutch government who knew that Germany was making a fuss, and that it was just to ask the Netherlands to bring some benefits. In addition, the Netherlands hoped that Germany would mediate, but it would not be verbal and needed to take some sincerity, such as whether to pay compensation to the East China government.

But at this time, Britain and France were also depressed. If the Netherlands really asked Germany to mediate, it would not only make Britain and France look dull, but also split within the five-nation alliance of the Expeditionary Force, which would have a huge impact on Britain and France, because the governments of Britain and France are under tremendous pressure. Therefore, Britain and France also expressed their concerns to the Netherlands through their ambassadors to the Netherlands, and advised the Netherlands not to request German mediation. However, in the face of the Dutch government's proposal to deal with the countermeasures of the East China government, Britain and France still could not produce it. It was still the same set of East China governments that would intimidate and would not attack Java. If they wait patiently, the East China government would collapse. But this set of rhetoric obviously could not convince the Netherlands.

At this moment, the East China government's fleet attacked again, aiming at Java, becoming the last straw to suppress the camels. The Dutch government also knew that it could not be dragged on, otherwise it would be too late to wait until Java was occupied by the East China government. So Dutch Prime Minister Theo German Mestre personally sent a telegram to Britain and France, hoping that Britain could send several warships from the Singapore base, and France could support some of its troops from the colonies on the Indochina Peninsula to jointly defend Java, but was rejected by Britain and France.

In fact, this was the last test of the Netherlands. The result showed that Britain and France could not help the Netherlands resist the attack of the East China government, and it also made the politicians in the Dutch government who still believed in Britain and France completely awakened. So Dutch Prime Minister Theo De Mester immediately visited Germany and held talks with German Prime Minister Bilo, and finally determined that the Netherlands would transfer a total of about 24,000 square kilometers of Madura Island in the northeast of Java and the southern peninsula of Sulawesi to Germany as a thank you for the mediation of Germany and agree to pay compensation to the East China government, even transferring a part of the colonies. As a condition of negotiation, the Netherlands' goal is also very simple, as long as Java can be saved.

Germany is very satisfied with this reward. Although the area obtained is not large, Germany has regained its foothold in Asia. Moreover, the southern peninsula of Madura and Sulawesi are located along the Java Sea coast and have a good geographical location. It has a great promoting effect on expanding Germany's sphere of influence in Asia.

This is also the result that the East China government has been waiting for, so it followed suit and accepted the mediation from Germany and conducted peaceful negotiations with the Netherlands, and the negotiation location was set in Qingdao.

The Dutch government immediately proposed that since the two sides had decided to hold negotiations, the East China government should cancel the attack on Java and withdraw the fleet to show sincerity. However, this request was rejected by the East China government, saying that the negotiations were not completed, and the military operations to attack Java will continue as usual. Unless the two sides can reach a peace agreement before the fleet arrives in Java and sign the contract successfully, the military operations can stop. Whether the fleet docks in Java depends on the content of the contract signed between the two sides. It is also possible that the fleet docks in Java, which is the content of the execution of the contract.

Of course, the Dutch government knew that the East China government was putting pressure on itself. The fleet arrived in Java for only ten or twenty days. If the Netherlands wants to save Java, it must ensure the success of the negotiations within this period of time. However, this will inevitably give up a lot of benefits to the East China government. However, the Netherlands does not have no capital to say no, and the mediator Germany also advised the Netherlands not to waste time on these little things, start negotiations as soon as possible, and strive to reach a peace agreement as soon as possible. Therefore, the Netherlands can only accept this condition. Of course, it can also think that this negotiation will probably have to pay a huge price. But at this point, they have to bite the bullet and negotiate the negotiations.

In a tight time, the Dutch government appointed Belas, the minister to the Qing court, as the negotiator, and the former Consul in Qingdao, Koman, as the deputy representative, and the representative of the East China government was Li Sanjie, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the negotiations, the East China government issued extremely harsh conditions, demanding that the Netherlands compensate 30 million pounds, ceding the Dutch colony of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and implementing Chinese autonomy in Java. The proportion of Chinese officials in the Java colonial government should rise to half. At the same time, the East China government enjoys the most-favored-nation treatment in Java and all relevant taxes are exempted.

Of course, the Dutch government cannot accept such conditions, because according to the conditions issued by the East China government, the Netherlands only has Java's sovereignty on the surface, but in fact it is completely undermined by the East China government. It would be better to just let the East China government occupy Java, which can at least save the Netherlands compensation. Of course, the Dutch are also familiar with the rules of negotiations, which are nothing more than asking for prices, paying back the money locally, leaving room for concessions, and finally achieving the real goal they expected. From this perspective, although the offer price of the East China government is high, it is not impossible to negotiate. It's just that there is really not much time left to stay in the Netherlands now, and there is no time to bargain with the East China government one by one.

But no matter how difficult the negotiations are, they still have to continue. So the Dutch government asked Belas, Koeman and Li Sanjie to discuss one by one, bargaining the price bit by bit, and talk about it every night. At the same time, they asked Germany to come forward to help the Netherlands, hoping that the East China government could make concessions.
Chapter completed!