Beijing, Dongjiaomin Lane, Dutch Embassy in the Qing Dynasty.

Krobe, the Dutch Minister to Qing Dynasty, sat in his office, with his legs invisible on his desk, holding a telegram translation in his hand, his eyebrows frowned, and his face full of sorrow.

At this time, Crobb's secretary pushed the door and said, "Mr. Minister, Director Deng of the Shandong Office requested to meet with Mr. Minister."

After hearing this, Crobb had to smile bitterly, and what should come will always come, so he lowered his legs from the desk and said, "Please come to my office."

When Deng Yongjian, director of the East China Government Office in Beijing, came to Crobb's office, the minister had changed his clothes and sat down at his desk. When he saw Deng Yongjian coming in, he immediately stood up and asked Deng Yongjian to sit down opposite him, and asked the servant to send coffee.

After being polite, Deng Yongjian said: "Mr. Minister, last time I submitted our letter of negotiation to Mr. Minister, asking your country to take measures to stabilize the situation in Java and protect the interests of Chinese in Java. It is now the 6th day. We hope to know what your government is and what measures you plan to take."

Crobb picked up an envelope from the desk and handed it to Deng Yongjian, saying, "Director Deng, this is the response attitude of our government. I only received it yesterday. I planned to visit you this afternoon, but I didn't expect you to come in person."

Deng Yongjian glanced at him, took the envelope, opened it and found that the reply from the Dutch government said: After investigation by the Dutch government, the negotiations raised by the East China government did not conform to the facts. The situation in Badavia is very stable now, and there were no anti-Chinese incidents. Only a small number of local Chinese violated the colonial laws and had conflicts with local indigenous peoples. They asked the East China government not to use individual incidents as excuses to make false accusations against the Dutch Batavia colonial authorities, which worsened the relationship between the Netherlands and the Qing court.

While Deng Yongjian read the letter, Cropp couldn't help feeling guilty, and he kept greeting all the women in the family of the decision-making officials of the Dutch government. Because while Cropp sent the negotiation letter from the East China government back to the Netherlands, he also attached his own opinions, indicating that overseas Chinese were not the Qing court, so he must not treat their negotiations carelessly. It is recommended that the country should immediately interfere in the situation in Batavia, stabilize the situation, and at least do it to avoid giving overseas Chinese an excuse to interfere. As a result, three days after the telegram was sent, there was no news in China. Cropp urged twice, and this reply was not heard from the country until last night.

After reading the domestic reply, Cropp knew that things were going to be bad. The domestic bureaucrats obviously did not take their opinions seriously. They thought that overseas Chinese were as easy as the Qing court, but Cropp knew that overseas Chinese could not fool them. Originally, Cropp wanted to send another telegram to the country to emphasize the seriousness of the matter, but he did not expect that Deng Yongjian had come to him on his own initiative. Cropp had to take the domestic reply, because it had been 6 days since the East China government submitted the negotiation letter, and it was unreasonable to say that there was no reply. I just didn't know what reaction would be made after reading this reply letter.

At this time, Deng Yongjian had finished reading it, stuffed the message back into the envelope, put it in his briefcase, and then said seriously: "Mr. Minister, I am quite disappointed with the attitude and position of your government. If your government did not conduct any investigation at all, it was deliberately reversed the facts and talked lies with his eyes open. We have grasped the true situation of Java through reliable channels, and there is sufficient evidence to prove that serious anti-Chinese incidents are occurring on Java Island, and the interests of Chinese living in Java have been seriously damaged. This is by no means a small number of local Chinese and indigenous people have clashed with indigenous people. So far, more than 10,000 Chinese families have been looted and looted. More than a thousand Chinese have died, and the anti-Chinese actions on the island are still continuing. If measures are not taken, more Chinese people will be affected."

Cropp smiled bitterly. In fact, it is not necessary for Deng Yongjian to say that he knew very well that the anti-Chinese incident in Batavia must be true. Because before he became the Minister to Qing Dynasty, Cropp was the counselor of the Governor's Office in Batavia. He had personally experienced an anti-Chinese campaign and learned about the history of anti-Chinese in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Cropp certainly knew that it was too normal for an anti-Chinese incident on Java. The domestic bureaucrats were just watching how much taxes, profits and dividends Batavia could bring every year, so that they would not care about whether they were not disregarded.

But even though the attitude in China is like this, Crobb cannot disagree with China, so he said: "Director Deng, what you just said is just your own opinion. I don't deny that you have also conducted a serious investigation. However, in this reply letter, I believe that the Chinese government has made a conclusion after a serious investigation. Of course, due to the tight time and the distance, it is not ruled out that our information has some deviations. Therefore, I will report your investigation results to China and ask the domestic to conduct a detailed investigation, but you also need to give the Chinese government enough time."

Deng Yongjian sneered and said, "Mr. Minister, no need."

Crobb couldn't help but feel a little ugly and said, "No need?"

Deng Yongjian nodded and said, "Yes, given your government's attitude, we are seriously skeptical about whether your country can conduct a serious investigation and notarize the handling of this anti-Chinese incident. Moreover, according to the situation we have, the situation in Java is still deteriorating further. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the lives and property of the Javanese expatriates and their legitimate power and obligations will not be further violated, we decided to send warships and troops to Java Island to protect the Chinese expatriates until the situation on Java Island stabilizes and the Batavian authorities make substantial guarantees that no similar incidents will occur in the future."

When Cropp heard this, he was shocked. He did not expect that the reaction of overseas Chinese was much more intense than he expected. He would actually take such the most extreme measures. This is actually an act of war. Cropp knew very well that with the current strength of the Netherlands, it could not be an opponent of overseas Chinese, so he subconsciously said: "No, you can't do this."

Deng Yongjian said: "Why can't it? Even though the Batavian authorities cannot ensure the interests of Chinese overseas Chinese, we can only protect Chinese overseas Chinese by ourselves."

Crobb said: "Jabad is protected by the Netherlands. You do this to violate the sovereignty of the Netherlands and violate international law."

Deng Yongjian snorted and said, "For our East China government, the safety of Chinese expatriates is the most important thing. Protecting the interests of Chinese expatriates is the purpose of our government, and nothing can restrict us."

Crobb said: "Let me do this, I will contact our government again immediately. I will definitely ask Batavi Adam to take measures immediately to stabilize the situation in Java and ensure the safety and interests of the Chinese expatriates."

Deng Yongjian shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, we have a high degree of distrust of your country's ability to control the situation and the position held by your government, so the military's decision to protect overseas Chinese will not change."

Crobb said again: "So, since you cannot trust our government, why not ask the third country to mediate the arbitration, and the third country will send an observation team to Java for investigation. Of course, you can also send someone to participate in the observation team and conduct joint investigations. How about it?"

Deng Yongjian still shook his head and said, "In principle, we do not oppose the formation of an observation team with the participation of the third country, but this will take too long, and the situation on Java is still deteriorating further, so we must immediately send troops to protect the Chinese expatriates. If the Dutch government wants to ask the third country to mediate, it can be arranged immediately, but our overseas Chinese protection action will not stop, and our overseas Chinese protection action will not be targeted at the Batavian authorities, nor will there be any requirement for the Dutch power in Java. But we also hope that when our warships arrive in Java, the Batavian authorities will not stop it, otherwise we will regard this as a war act for us, and all consequences will be responsible for your government."

When Deng Yongjian mentioned the war, Crobb couldn't help but feel anxious and said, "You are not a formal government, so you are not qualified to represent the Qing government to protect the Qing expatriates."

Deng Yongjian sneered and said, "Mr. Minister, don't confuse us with the Qing Dynasty. We represent the East China government rather than the Qing government. Regardless of whether the Minister agrees or not, this is the attitude of our government. If the Minister wants to complain or protest, you can go to the Qing Dynasty's Prime Minister's Office to negotiate." As he said that, Deng Yongjian took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Crobb, saying, "This is the official document of our East China government."

In fact, when Cropp said that just now, he regretted it. He knew that he had said the wrong thing. The ministers of all countries knew that although overseas Chinese were on the surface and surrendered to the Qing court, they were actually a completely independent political group. All countries actually treated the East China government as an independent country. Therefore, Cropp's words were quite wrong at least on the diplomatic level. And at this time, Cropp was also very clear that the decision of overseas Chinese to send troops to protect overseas Chinese would not change. He had already reminded the country, but the domestic bureaucrats did not take it seriously at all. Moreover, he was just a minister, and it was impossible to change anything at all. So he nodded and said, "Okay, I will immediately notify our government's attitude. If our government responds, I will notify Director Deng as soon as possible."

Deng Yongjian nodded and said, "Okay, if our government makes other decisions, we will immediately notify the Minister and say goodbye."
Chapter completed!