The signing of this bill clearly means that France and the Netherlands have officially declared an alliance, which is a shock to break the balance for Europe and has produced subtle changes to the current situation in continental Europe and even the entire Europe.

Although the Netherlands is small in area, even 10,000 square kilometers smaller than the Portuguese Kingdom in southern Europe, the impact of its alliance with France cannot be underestimated. Especially for the German Confederacy in Central Europe, there will be a coastline that is basically completely driven south from Denmark to Spain, except Denmark. It is controlled by this alliance and is in charge of important port routes on maritime routes.

It can even be that except for the British Empire, there is only the lonely Belgian port in it. For the Baltic coast countries, this is like they need to face the double killing of maritime hegemony, and they need to carefully choose to take sides on both sides of the English Channel.

Anyone who offends will be unable to move forward at sea in the future.

In 1830, the British Empire showed a hateful and evil face, and promoted Belgium's independence was still fresh in memory. When the British Empire's warships were directly driven to Amsterdam, the Netherlands and France were forced to admit defeat without fighting. However, many people did not laugh at the Netherlands for such a result, because the strategic space of the Netherlands was too small. As long as the guns on the British Empire's battleships were ignited gently, they could greatly squeeze the living space of this country.

Many of the Netherlands' territory is almost flush with sea level or low-lying places below sea level.

If the fight really starts, the Netherlands will also face the risk of a dam breaking on its own territory.

But France is different. France's territory is several times that of the Netherlands, and France's strength is just a line of weakness than the British Empire. In addition, the "Common Defense Act" means that the Netherlands, which had no reserve strategic space in the past, reduced the large number of army troops set up by France's mutual guard against each other and could remove some of them. These vacant soldiers can be used on other battlefields.

This suddenly appeared in the rear of Britain, which is very important for the Netherlands. Not only facing the British Empire, but now Prussia in the east is becoming stronger and stronger. Many people speculate that the Netherlands is also guarding against Prussia.

As for what the Netherlands has gained and lost, many people are also calculating for them.

......

"What can we get? I know many people are thinking about this question. After all, the alliance between the Netherlands and France has made us stand directly opposite the British Empire. We are going to bear the possible anger of the British Empire. Now I ask you, are you afraid?"

"Not afraid"

"You have to be louder"

"Not afraid or not"

"Okay, very good, very good, Prime Minister Tolbek, tell me the situation we are going to face. Let everyone be mentally prepared at least."

On the left is a civil servant, and on the right is a military man.

The civil servants were headed by Prime Minister Tolbek, followed by Home Secretary Jonlell, Finance Minister Jane Von Capelo, Foreign Minister Hesbet Von, Industry Minister Waim Cott (1829-), and Education Minister Lude Bells (1831-).

The military is Mark Lude (1813-), Chief of Staff of the Navy and Army Armed Forces Jan Peter (1820-), Secretary of the Army Pete Dejong (1816-), Chief of Staff Joseph Karls (1824-), Chief of Staff Jop Il (1823-), and Secretary of Arms Louis Bell (1833-).

"Yes, Your Majesty." Thorbek looked at the characters in the Privy Council in front of him, and his heart was filled with blood. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, but more than ten years ago, it was still a monarchy country, with the king being the heaven and the minister being the earth. The king is the heaven and the earth of the Dutch people. As written in the national anthem "Ode to William", the king is the ruler sent by God, and the subjects must surrender to him and maintain loyalty.

The king is the highest commander of the army. Of course, although the government regards him as the prime minister as the highest leader and the highest official in the cabinet, the most recognized leader of the country is the king. He is at most the king's deputy, just like Mark Lude, the chief of the general staff of the military.

Another point is that although the Minister of Defense and others are also members of the cabinet, just like other cabinet members here, these people are members of the Privy Council recognized by the king.

That is, it is directly under the king's direct control. But directly talking to King William IV, the Prime Minister still cannot restrain these people. In theory, this is what he said.

"What we are facing now is that our country's population is one-fifth of the British Empire, which means we are only 20% of the British Empire's population.

In terms of comprehensive national strength, we are even less powerful than them, because their industry is developing faster than us, so we are still catching up.

In terms of military affairs, the army is almost the same as the navy on the ships, but on the surface, we are indeed not of the same level as the United Kingdom, and the tonnage is less than half as high as others 9 to 23.

According to the strength competition, the first-class battleship with the most powerful firepower is 10 to 3 compared to us. The entire army, the British Empire has 600,000 people, while we have 200,000. One-third, more than one-third are the current situation in the Netherlands.”

Speaking of this, Thorbek was also confused. Why?

Because even now, he still doesn't understand why His Majesty William IV did this, but he won't ask you, because she understands where the boundaries should be known and shouldn't be known.

"You heard it, everyone?" William IV looked surprisingly good recently. Even the guards and maids in the royal palace were very curious. Didn't I hear that when a national event is coming, my skin will be bad and my appetite will become smaller when I feel anxious? Why did it become different when William IV?

"I won't say much about the potential enemies we are going to face. Everyone knows that the British Empire has become stronger since it replaced our maritime status, but"

The tone changed, and the smile on his face just now became serious instantly. At this time, he felt like the majesty of the king.

"But, we should not underestimate ourselves. Although Prime Minister Thorbek's words are unpleasant, they are also uncomfortable, and they are even more good. But don't forget that the British Empire's navy is indeed larger than our tonnage, with more firepower than ours, but their navy needs to take care of more places than us.

We are relatively concentrated, mainly in our local area, Guyana, East India and the South Pacific islands that are rapidly occupied under the leadership of Linden. Although we need to divide our troops to the many small islands in the South Sky Pacific, don’t forget that these islands are simply not war-free, and we just send people to garrison them. Moreover, although the Netherlands only has 200,000 regular troops now, we have also learned the military system of the Nordic power Sweden, the system of the two-year military service for all men, and our reserve army has reached 300,000.

In this way, we can place these reserve troops on the islands in the South Pacific, indirectly saving the dispersion of the regular army's forces."

"And, we have new secret weapons"

"Secret weapon? I don't know what it is?" The first thing that happened to Navy Secretary Yang. Peter thought of was that this should be given to the navy. After all, what was just talked about was the British Empire. What is the most famous British Empire, so it is naturally the navy. He thought so, and it was not wrong.

However, although he just shouted like his other colleagues, he had to say that although he was not afraid of verbally, in today's world, there is a country's navy that dares to say that he is not afraid of the Royal Navy of the British Empire? Are they powerful? As the Dutch Navy Minister, Peter knew very well, but he didn't understand why His Majesty William IV still looks like he doesn't need to worry.

Could it be that we really have secret weapons that don’t have to be afraid of the British Empire’s Navy?

In fact, it was not just Young Peter, but other generals such as Navy Chief of Staff Joseph Karls, all looked at him with anticipation.

However, William IV looked at the Secretary of Arms Louis Bell, who stood up knowingly.

"Your Majesty is right. We now have many secret weapons that are enough to prevent the British and even people from other European countries from acting rashly.
Chapter completed!