African Entrepreneurship Record

After all, Siam, the little brother, has been quite obedient to Britain and France in recent years. In addition to Siam's strategic position and important value, Britain and France will not give up on Siam unless it is a last resort.

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East African Legation in Siam.

At this moment, the East African embassy has been tightly protected, the door is closed, and the East African soldiers with loaded ammunition are wary of passers-by.

Obviously, the East African Legation is still relatively cautious. After all, it would not be good if the news spread in Siam and caused public outrage among the local Siamese people, causing local people to attack the East African Legation.

In the local afternoon after the conversation with King Rama VI, Sir Clare and Minister Kliaba came to the fully armed East African Legation.

"Sir Clare, the East African embassy should be here!" French Minister Kliaba asked.

The British Minister Sir Clyde nodded and said: "I am also the first embassy to come to East Africa, but judging from the flag, it should be here."

After confirming, the two knocked on the door, and a head poked out from the small window of the iron door.

"Who are you?"

Claire and Kliaba reported their homes respectively. After confirming their identities, the staff of the East African Legation let them in and took them inside the embassy.

The East African Minister to Siam, Weir, came up and said, "Haha, Sir Clare and Minister Kliaba, you two are here to make our place flourish!"

Although it was the first time for the two of them to come to the East African Legation, Weir and the others still knew each other. After all, diplomats from great powers often had the opportunity to meet.

Minister Kliyaba said: "Minister Vere, we are here to act as lobbyists for His Majesty Rama VI. We hope that the two countries can resolve this misunderstanding."

There is naturally a reason why Kliaba took the lead. After all, among the two countries, Britain and East Africa have had troubles, while France has always had good relations with East Africa.

When he heard this, Weir's face immediately changed. He said to the two of them: "What's there to talk about? Siam just needs to accept our conditions. After all, they are directly killing our citizens. This Obviously challenging the bottom line of the empire.”

Minister Klyaba said: "Minister Weir, don't refuse in a hurry. We are here with the goal of maintaining regional peace and consolidating regional stability."

"Siam did make a mistake this time, but the crime will not lead to death. The conditions offered by your country are too harsh, and it is impossible for Siam to accept such conditions."

Weir said: "I think the empire's attitude towards Siam is relatively generous. After all, such a small amount of compensation and a few pieces of land can turn conflicts into friendship. It is definitely an advantage for the Siamese government."

Hearing Weir's shameless words, the two of them frowned. What do you mean by a small amount of compensation? Eighty million Rhine guilders is not a small amount. Most countries in the world cannot afford it.

As for the several pieces of land that Weir mentioned, the area is indeed not large, but it also depends on the location? East Africa proposed that Siam cede four pieces of land along the Gulf of Siam to East Africa.

These include parts of Bangkok and most of the surrounding areas, which can be said to be the most elite places in Siam. If East Africa gets these places, East Africa can use them as a springboard to control the national economy of Siam.

This is not an exaggeration at all. Thanks to the efforts of Britain and France, Siam's sea outlets are currently mainly concentrated on the southern coast.

Although Siam also has an outlet to the sea on the Malay Peninsula, it originally belonged to the protruding part of Siam's territory and was not closely connected with the hinterland of Siam. At the same time, there were also pagan forces distributed there.

If East Africa occupies Bangkok and surrounding lands, it basically means that the economy in the hinterland of Siam is controlled by East Africa. This is definitely not what the two governments want to see. After all, neither Britain nor France did this back then.

Sir Clare said at this time: "Mr. Weir, let's just open the skylight and tell the truth. In fact, everyone knows clearly what the purpose of East Africa is this time. You must have some plot against Siam."

"We can allow East Africa to gain some benefits, but your demands must not exceed Siam's ability to bear, so the compensation must be reduced, and the land can be ceded, but it must not be the areas divided by your country."

Weir said: "Oh, I wonder what Sir Clare has to say?"

Sir Clare said: "As for the compensation issue, I think it should be reduced to less than five million rhine guilders. As for the land, it shouldn't be so large, or your country can choose another place." Weir said: "No, five million rhine guilders." Too little. You must know that the empire's Pacific Fleet has already set off. The cost of dispatching the fleet this time is quite a lot, not to mention the compensation for the sacrifice of our country's citizens and the cost of damage to the empire's reputation..."

In fact, East Africa's Pacific Fleet did make preparations, but did not set off. After all, East Africa naturally hopes to win without a fight.

War is often the last option, and based on the strength of the East African Pacific Fleet, sending a random squadron is estimated to be able to completely annihilate the Siamese Navy, without the need for a full-scale attack.

After all, the Siamese Navy's capital ships are nothing more than steam-powered ships of several hundred tons. To put it bluntly, this kind of warship can be easily dealt with by the East African gunboat formations of the 1970s.

What's more, the Siamese Navy only equipped a few of these most "advanced" warships for Siam, as well as a bunch of wooden-hulled ships.

On the other hand, although the East African Pacific Fleet is the weakest among the three major navies in East Africa, it can still rank third in the Pacific region, and the top two are the United States and Japan.

Therefore, the East African Pacific Fleet does not need to exert too much effort to deal with the Siamese Navy, and it can break the Siamese naval dream.

In fact, Siam is also the country with the most maritime power awareness in the South Seas, but the country is poor and weak, and there are external threats, so it can't develop at all.

"How about 8 million Rhine guilders?" Sir Claire said tentatively.

Will said: "For the sake of the two countries, 78 million."

"Ten million Rhine guilders can't be higher!"

"76 million..."

The two were caught in a long negotiation, and the gap between the expectations of the two sides was too large, so they could only fall into a stalemate.

At this time, Kliyaba acted as a peacemaker, and he said: "Why don't we talk about the land first!"

So the three began to fight fiercely about where Siam ceded to East Africa.

Britain and France did not want East Africa to have too much influence in Siam, so they tried their best to prevent East Africa from entering the core area of ​​Siam.

Minister Vere did the opposite, and made a fuss about Siam's seaports and key cities.

The negotiations between the two sides lasted for three days, and Vere finally made concessions: "60 million Rhine guilders, no less, and at the same time, the territory of the Malay Peninsula in southern Siam will be ceded to the Empire. This is our last bottom line. If the Siamese government does not agree, then the two countries can only see the outcome at sea."

Vere issued a war threat, and this move was very effective. After all, if a war really broke out, East Africa might not give up.

Britain and France had no time to care about Siam's life or death, nor did they have the strength to care, unless they negotiated peace with Germany and Austria in Europe at this time.

Sir Clare and Kliapa looked at each other and finally accepted the result.

Although the conditions of East Africa were still harsh, at least the compensation was 20 million less than before, and the territory of the Malay Peninsula was not too important to Siam.

Siam is a Buddhist country, while the residents of the Malay Peninsula are mainly Arabic, so if it is this area, Rama VI should be able to accept it.

And this is indeed the case. The Siamese government represented by Rama VI accepted the conditions of East Africa. After all, looking at the modern history of Siam, the Siamese have never been a country that can be tough to the end.

Rama VI, who has studied abroad, also understands the strengths and weaknesses of East Africa. East Africa has never been something Siam can provoke, otherwise he would not have asked Britain and France to mediate.