v3 Chapter 135： Anna and the King

The Siamese Empire, the capital of Bangkok.

Rama IV has been having a headache recently, why?

Because the British have recently started urging him to open up free trade between the two countries, saying that the Kingdom of Siam cannot be friendly to the Netherlands alone.

Following the British, there is also the French Empire, which is also a ruthless character.

The invasion of South Vietnam brought a huge crisis to the Kingdom of Siam.

Since his father Rama III died on April 2, 1851, he was officially proclaimed as Rama IV on April 6 at the Grand Palace Ama Golden Palace in Bangkok.

He originally wanted to report his mourning to the suzerain state, the Qing Dynasty, but unfortunately, when he went to the Qing Dynasty in the north, the Daoguang Emperor of the Qing Dynasty also died.

In 1853, he sent people to the Qing Dynasty to pay tribute again, but the Taiping Rebellion broke out again, and finally returned without success.

Since then, the Kingdom of Siam and its northern neighbors have officially cut off their vassal relations.

In order to resist pressure from his northern neighbors, he was delighted by an opportunity in 1855, when Queen Victoria of the British Empire sent an envoy, Sir John Pauling, Governor-General of the British Far East, to Bangkok to attack him with diamond-encrusted pocket watches and stationery bag and so on,

Zheng worried that he had no chance to resist the Qing Dynasty, so he took the opportunity to pretend to be half-assed, agreed to the British's request, signed the "Treaty of Siam", the two countries formally established diplomatic relations, and sent envoys to each other's countries.

To his surprise, one after another, Napoleon III of the French Empire also sent Charles Nicole to bring the bronze statues of the king and queen, as well as new carriages and other gifts to him, so in September of that year, he signed with the French Empire. The Treaty of Siam and French established diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In the same year, the United States was not to be outdone. US President Franklin Pierce appointed the consul in Japan, Townsend Harris, as an ambassador to Siam, and signed the "US-Siam Friendship and Commerce Treaty" with Siam, and established the United States in Bangkok in 1856 the following year. The consulate, Stephen Manton became the first U.S. consul in Siam.

In 1857, Rama IV sent a special envoy to London to meet Queen Victoria. For the first time in Europe, a Siamese envoy appeared.

In April 1858, Rama IV signed a treaty with Denmark, for which the Kingdom of Denmark minted coins.

In October 1858, Rama IV signed the treaty of establishing diplomatic relations with the Netherlands and the "Dutch-Siam Friendship and Commerce Treaty", which finally opened the Siamese market for the Netherlands.

In November of the same year, Rama IV hired Anna, a widow of Dutch origin in East India, as a royal tutor to teach Dutch and other modern scientific knowledge to princes and princesses and some noble children in the palace.

In 1859 Rama IV signed a treaty of friendship with Portugal

In March 1860, he sent a special envoy to Paris to meet with Napoleon III. In October of the same year, Rama IV sent another special envoy to bring gifts to President Lincoln in order to establish friendly diplomatic relations with the United States.

In 1862, Rama IV signed a treaty of friendship with Prussia.

"Is the Netherlands reliable?" Rama IV originally rejected it, but looking at Anna in front of him, he loosened up.

"The Netherlands is not strong, but Your Majesty, the technology of the Netherlands is not weaker than that of other big countries. On the contrary, the big countries may lock up their technology because they do not want other countries to be advanced, but the Netherlands is relatively lax in this regard. This is the biggest benefit for Siam, which is eager to introduce technology, and the two countries are simply the best complementary partners.”

Rama IV was noncommittal, instead frowned and asked, "I heard you say just now that the king of the Netherlands is coming to the Far East?"

"good"

Anna is really beautiful, even though she is almost four years old now, but this not only does not reduce her beauty, but adds a bit of plumpness to a young woman, European appearance, fair skin, all these add up to Anna, However, the 58-year-old Rama IV did not feel that he was old, but felt that he was still very young.

"It is said that this time is mainly to inspect Australia."

Australia!

Rama IV swallowed the saliva in his throat sharply.

Australia is too big. It is several times the size of the Kingdom of Siam. Some time ago, it was owned by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Now, in a short period of time, it has become the property of William IV of the Netherlands, which made him dazzled.

"You Europe don't care about territory so much?"

Rama IV asked Anna suspiciously.

The transactions were too frequent, and as Ana told him about all aspects of Holland, he naturally knew a lot of recent events in Holland. The Dutch people of South Africa even fought the British gradually retreated, and established the occupation point in Tanzania on the west coast of the Indian Ocean, and on the African continent westward to the Atlantic Ocean are their Dutch. Coupled with the icy Alaska that seems to be close to the United States, and the East India of the Netherlands, the territory is more than ten times that of the Kingdom of Siam.

These are all things that happened in less than a year, and he was simply overwhelmed.

He was struck by Europe's contempt for territory and its ready exchange.

Can the Kingdom of Siam learn from the Netherlands and build a good territory?

"It's not that they don't pay attention, it's just that the exchanged goods are in line with the other party's appetite."

"However, territory that is sacred to us cannot be exchanged"

"Your Majesty, don't forget that these territories are not actually mainland, they are all newly developed overseas territories. What's wrong with using them in exchange for the territories you want?"

Rama IV I was passively accepted for a while.

His eyes flickered: "The Netherlands wants to support the Burmese Gongbang Dynasty?"

"Yes It is said that the request made by Upper Burma wants the Dutch East Indies to sell them a batch of arms to the Gongbang government of Upper Burma, and they want to enter Upper Burma only through Siam."

"But Britain knows the consequences, Anna, do you think I should do it?"

"After all, the Netherlands has just arrived, I don't understand that now we have entered into a stable diplomatic relationship with the UK. The situation in Upper Burma is in crisis and there are many ethnic groups. As a result, the British suffered serious losses in that mountain forest. For anyone who supports them, the UK will hold a grudge when they want to come. in the heart"

Anna was very familiar with King Rama IV, so she retreated to advance, causing the suspicious person in front of her to express some concerns.

"And Your Majesty, have you forgotten that the Netherlands has no interest in Myanmar. I suspect that they have other purposes"

"For what purpose?"

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten that the current location of the Netherlands, which is closest to our island of Sumatra, I suspect that the Netherlands is building a trade corridor with Siam and Burma, and wants to occupy Burma's trade market, Your Majesty, In the development period of the Netherlands, economic development is still the first priority.”