Chapter 1246 Disputes over territorial details
As a student who studied in the United Kingdom, King Rama VI naturally has a lot of research on East Africa, which "tied" with the United Kingdom in the South African War. After all, when it comes to the influence of various countries in the world on the Southeast Asian countries, several traditional powers, including those that have declined The Netherlands and Portugal both have great power in Southeast Asia.
The British are currently carrying the flag in the Nanyang region. No local country is not afraid of the British. Of course, those in the jungle are not afraid of life and death, except for the uncivilized indigenous people.
In fact, the more civilized and uncivilized the indigenous people are, the more indifferent they are to life and death. After all, their living environment is too harsh, and death and injury are commonplace for them.
Siam, an ancient civilization in the Southeast Asian region, is obviously much more "smart", which has also led to Siam's current weakness in foreign diplomacy.
This is the tragedy of backward countries at the beginning of the 20th century. Anglophobia, Francophobia, Germanophobia, Hispanophobia... so much so that the latest "East African phobia" always has one or even multiple powers suitable for these small and weak countries. of.
This is the situation in Siam now. It is considered a "blessing" to be taken turns to serve by the three imperialist countries of Britain, France and East Africa.
In recent years, with the deepening of East Africa's colonial activities in the Southeast Asia region, it can be said that East Africa has also firmly established its reputation as imperialism in the region.
In fact, in addition to East Africa, the United States, Japan and Germany are also new players in the colonization of Nanyang. However, Germany's colonial path has been cut off, the United States is still tossing in the Philippines, and Japan's strength is limited. At least for now, Japan is unable to intervene in Nanyang. situation, only East Africa is the most powerful.
It can be said that King Rama VI surrendered decisively because of his understanding of East Africa's strong military strength and the presence of East Africa's forces in the Southeast Asia region.
Now at least we can negotiate with East Africa to avoid the division of core territory. If we really wait for the East African navy to attack, not only will the Siamese navy be at risk of destruction, but the final compensation and land will only be more.
On September 1, 1916, Ande, a senior official of Lanfang Overseas Province in East Africa, led a team to Bangkok to launch detailed negotiations with the Siamese government.
Senior official Ande said to King Rama VI: “According to the previous verbal agreement between our two countries, this territorial division mainly involves Siam’s territory on the Malay Peninsula, so we ask that your country include the territory south of Chumphon. The entire territory and islands will be handed over to our country.”
Siam's first-level administrative regions are based on "prefectures", and the country is divided into nearly seventy prefectures. Their status is roughly equivalent to the first-level administrative divisions of "provinces, states, and states" in other countries.
Of course, in the eyes of East Africans, the so-called prefectures in Siam are only equivalent to the size of prefecture-level cities. After all, Siam’s national area is only about a few hundred thousand square kilometers, but it is divided into about seventy prefectures. Each prefecture has The average area is just over 5,000 square kilometers.
Chumphon Province is such an administrative district. The location of this province is just at the narrowest part of the Kra Isthmus, but to the west is the territory of Myanmar, not Siam.
However, there are many mountains in Myanmar, so the population is not large. This is the main reason why Myanmar was unable to compete with Siam on the Malay Peninsula.
On the other hand, Siam's side has many plains, hills, and well-developed water systems, so it is rich in population. This is the main reason why Siam can block Myanmar in the west and the penetration of Arab religious forces in the south.
King Rama VI watched Ander wave his big hand on the map casually, and his heart tensed up and said: "Your Excellency, this is impossible. According to your division model, we in Siam cannot afford it. The several provinces in the south and north Although the area is remote, it has a large population, relatively fertile land, and has transportation and location advantages.”
"So we will not cede the provinces in the south and the north. We in Siam can only accept that the provinces in the southeast are placed under the jurisdiction of East Africa."
If you look at the map, you can find that the protrusion of Siam on the Malay Peninsula also has a bulge that goes deep into the territory of Malaysia in the previous life.
These areas are also the southeastern provinces mentioned by King Rama VI, which also include parts of Pattani.
It can be seen from the name of the country that this country that was destroyed by Siam has the typical color of an Arab country along the Indian Ocean, such as the Sultanate of Zanzibar on the coast of East Africa.
Siam's conquest of the Pattani Sultanate was less than two hundred years old. The local indigenous beliefs were naturally different from Siam's, plus the part of Pattani land cut off by the British. It can be said that Pattani has superimposed two layers of negative influence on Siam, one is religion and the other is border. In this case, Pattani and the surrounding areas are naturally the places where Siam is most likely to be divided.
Therefore, if East Africa takes several provinces in the southeast into its hands, it will have both advantages and disadvantages for Siam. Needless to say the disadvantages, the advantage is that the Siamese government can get rid of this "burden" and at the same time isolate East Africa from the south. of the British, thus allowing the two to check and balance each other.
Naturally, Ande could not agree to King Rama VI's plan. Although East Africa did not mind taking the Pattani region into his pocket, one Pattani region was far from enough.
Ander said: "This is impossible. We are bound to win Pattani. As for other regions, we must also win."
"After all, several provinces in the southeast do not even meet one-third of our plan. If this is the case, it is far from what we expected."
"It is better for us to leave the Pattani area to you and leave other areas including Chumphon to us, so that you can relax a little bit."
King Rama VI scolded Ander in his heart, and thought very depressedly that he would not covet the little land in Pattani.
Of course, it's not that they are not greedy. After all, the more things like territory, the better. But now Siam has no choice, so it can only stop its losses in time.
Therefore, the Pattani region is a bargaining chip in the hands of Rama VI. He hopes to prevent other regions from being cut off by East Africa by leaving this burdened region to the East Africans. However, it is obvious that East Africa’s ambitions are too great, and the Pattani region is far from being able to do so. satisfy their greed.
King Rama VI had no choice but to change his words: "The Pattani area plus Songkhla Province, this is our greatest sincerity."
Songkhla is quite large, at least for the country of Siam, and it is right next to the Pattani area.
Ande's reaction to this was very bland and said: "We are bound to win the Thapi River Plain, so we still use Chumphon Province as the boundary. We can give up our demands for the southern Siam area, including Nakhon Si Thammarat and Krabi. The land to the south can continue to be controlled by your country. "
King Rama VI believed that East Africa’s intentions could basically be seen from here. The area East Africa sought was obviously the Tapi River Plain.
The Thapi River is the most important river in southern Siam and is currently the most densely populated area in southern Siam.
Obviously East Africa has also seen this. After all, according to the thinking of Rama VI, these Western powers generally like areas with high colonial economic value.
However, this is the only area that Siam cannot give up. After all, East Africans think it is valuable, and this is especially true for Siam. The Tapi River Plain can be said to be the essence of southern Siam.
In the era before the rise of the Malacca Strait, it was a node for east-west trade. Therefore, in terms of land fertility, population density, and strategic value, it was impossible for Rama VI to abandon this area.
Although Siam's land is fertile, its land area is small, which makes even the small Tabet River Plain of great value to Siam.
After all, Siam is a backward agricultural country, and the country's income mainly comes from agriculture, and the Thapi River Plain is one of the country's financial and taxation centers.
As for the areas further south, they have not been effectively developed, and the management costs are still high, so they are far less important to Siam than the Thapi River Plain.
(End of chapter)