As many in the city had hoped, the Governor of Prima was indeed negotiating with the French and Dutch outside the city. to delay time, or to seek a surrender plan that would "guarantee the life, property, and personal dignity of the British people in Cape Town."

The reason for the delay is that just after the night battle in the Gulf of Saldania, Governor Prima realized that the loss of sea supremacy was inevitable. And he learned that the other side still had transport ships alive. At that time, Governor Prima judged that the prospects for this battle were not very good. From that moment on, he began to find a way out for the British in Cape Town.

Immediately after the night battle in the Gulf of Saldania, Governor Prima issued a new order to the cruiser "Miracle", which had just returned from a rapid battle, to go to India immediately, get in touch with the Indian side, and ask the Indian side to send personnel and ships to support, or to evacuate the overseas Chinese.

Theoretically, there is a big war on the European side, and the Indian colonies may get the news a little earlier than here, and those with ulterior motives may take the opportunity to cause trouble. So at this time, it stands to reason that the East India Company should be in need of reliable and useful immigrants. The East India Company also had enough capacity to transport the British here in Cape Town, along with their possessions.

But considering the distance is too far, it will take at least a month to send the news of distress from here, and then it will take more than a month for the ship from the East India Company to come. If you take into account the reaction time of the East India Company, it is really terrible.

Governor Prima knew that the East India Company, though a company, was hardly worse than the British government when it came to bureaucracy and the like. And they are influenced by the Indians, and in many places they are a bit Indianized. Well, Joseph Napoleon said, "When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares at you." ”

This is a phrase that applies to the East India Company guys, and that is: when you are always dealing with Indians who have no sense of time, you will also become an East India Company person who has no concept of time.

For example, when an East India Company guy tells you that he will be there for you in no time, and he has come to your door and is ready to knock, then generally you have time to light a Havana cigar and enjoy it for a while, and then you can hear a knock at the door; If he tells you that in ten minutes he'll be in front of you, well, you can take a shower and then take your girlfriend out and see a Shakespearean play, and then come back, and wait a little longer, and he should be there; If he tells you that you can arrive in an hour at most, then you can wash and sleep, and at least for today, he won't bother you. As for tomorrow, well, tomorrow's things, who can say clearly?

Therefore, the official document asking for help fell into the hands of the gang of uncles of the East India Company, and then let them spend a few days to discuss it, it was really like a monkey going to Li Tianwang to discuss the responsibility of Li Tianwang's daughter for robbing a man from a good family, and then Tai Bai Xing reminded him of the sentence: "Great Sage, you must know that the Kumon thing runs here for a day, and the world may have passed for a year...... Do you really want to go public about this? Then the monkey immediately chose to be private, and the public couldn't afford to wait!

So, Governor Prima had to be prepared with both hands. The first is to prepare for the transfer to India. If the East India Company guys could know what to do and send the ships in time, they would have retreated to India. But in case, if Kumon or something had been discussed on the East India Company's side for a few more days—well, a few days of East India Company time—then he would have to be prepared to surrender to the French.

But in either case, they have to negotiate to stall for time.

Since it is necessary to procrastinate time, there are naturally some tricks to procrastinating time. And the most important trick is to pick out the details.

"First, the other party's negotiating qualifications were questioned and they were required to issue legally valid identification certificates. In this process, you can drag on for a while, and then you can also pick on other aspects, anyway, just keep using details, constantly creating detail problems, and avoiding substantive problems. In short, we have to get the balance right, not only to stall for time, but not to make the French and the Dutch feel that we are completely insincere in negotiating, well...... Do you understand? Governor Prima said to Beauna, the representative who was preparing to go out of town to negotiate with the French and the Dutch.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I'm not sure about that." Bona replied truthfully.

"Ah, Boena, you never know how to pretend to understand, that's your best quality." "We can stress that there must be a very reliable way of ensuring the safety of the lives and property of the British citizens in the city. For example, the instrument personally signed by His Excellency Napoleon, the First Consul of France. And they asked them to allow us to leave with our belongings and weapons. In short, it is to put on the appearance that we know we can't beat it, but we can't trust you, and we want to save our money and our lives.

They actually have difficulties, their artillery, can destroy our artillery, but it is impossible for them to destroy our fortress with artillery alone - they can't have so many shells. Of course, without artillery, they could still rush in with rifled guns and explosive devices. But the fortress is a fortress after all, and it is impossible to rush in without dying, and it is not one or two who die when they die. Therefore, they also need to talk.

In addition, this is a marginal battlefield after all, and victory or defeat is not decided here, neither we nor they can actually delay. If, as they say, on the European battlefield, they are victorious, we here will be theirs sooner or later. If we win on the European battlefield, then even if they conquer Cape Town, Cape Town will be ours in the end. So, why did they die for the sake of storming the fortress a few days earlier? Well, in addition, you can observe whether they are in a very hurry to get into the city. ”

"Is there anything special about this?" Boehner asked again.

"Logically speaking, they don't need to be in a hurry at all, and if they are in a hurry, it means that what they have advertised about their decisive victory in Europe is false. For the most part, the war situation in Europe is still very anxious. We and them are likely to end up deadlocked, and in that case, it makes sense to hold Cape Town. If this is the case, then the bloodshed may really be avoided. But we still have to delay as much as possible. Well, you have to pay attention to the fact that there is a difference between verbal anxiety and actual anxiety. Got it? ”

"I see, Lord Governor." Boehner replied.

So Boena, the representative of the British, left Cape Town with a few cavalrymen, and began the first negotiations between the two sides in the farmstead not far from Cape Town at Babbel.

After the two parties meet, they first introduce their identities.

"I am the plenipotentiary appointed by His Majesty the King and appointed by Sir Bowen Prima, Governor Plenipotentiary of the Colony of Cape Town, to negotiate with you the cessation of hostilities with a view to finding a peaceful solution. Here's my certificate of authorization. Bona first showed the power of attorney to Philippe Treville and Babbel, who represented France and the Netherlands, respectively.

The two looked at the power of attorney—it was just a walk-around formality—and then Babbel nodded, "Well, we can get started—although your country is still not a party to the Paris Declaration." However, as long as you lay down your arms and surrender to us, and comply with your obligations under the Paris Declaration, we will treat your officers and soldiers, as well as the peaceful inhabitants, in accordance with the principles of our Paris Declaration and that of the Holy See, in accordance with the humanitarian and Christ-loving spirit of Christ. ”

Looking at the triumphant look of the Dutch bun, Bona wanted to give him a slap in the face and tell him not to daydream. But he took a deep breath and held back.

"Before we begin negotiations in earnest, I would also like to ascertain your mandate and whether you have been authorized by your government to negotiate with us on behalf of your government......"

Of course, neither Babbel nor Treville could have a fully compliant certificate of authorization. So the two sides quarreled over this issue.

Beaune insisted on seeing a valid document that could prove the identity of the other party, preferably an authorization document personally signed by His Excellency Napoleon, the First Consul of France, in order to be effective in negotiations.

"Otherwise, even if we talk about something, what if your government says that you don't have the authorization at all, and that the documents you signed are completely illegal? Are you going to give us back the weapons and Cape Town? And then we re-fight, re-talk? No, no, you have to have a lot of authorization documents, otherwise, we can't talk about it. I advise you to get in touch with the country as soon as possible to obtain authorization. ”

"We have the mandate, Governor Babel has the mandate of the Dutch government."

"Yes, but Mr. Babbel's mandate says that he is the Provisional Governor Plenipotentiary of the Colony of Cape Town, appointed by the Government of the Netherlands. However, Cape Town is still in our hands, that is to say, the Cape Town colony in the Netherlands does not exist now, so Mr. Babbel's status as governor of this non-existent colony is naturally problematic. When the time comes, you say that the Cape Town Colony in the Netherlands did not exist at that time, so the agreement signed by the Governor of the Cape Town Colony in the Netherlands will naturally be null and void, and then refuse to implement the agreement we have reached. Aren't we deceived in vain? Boehner replied with a shake of his head.

As a result, the two sides argued for more than a week on the issue of the identity of the representative. In the midst of this, Babbel repeatedly slapped the table and threatened to let "cannons and rifled guns debate", but after all, the combined forces of France and the Netherlands did not really launch a larger operation, and continued to feint - shelling, feints - shelling every day. The infantry feint artillery bombardment, and the artillery bombardment finished the infantry feint. There was even a feint attack by the Dutch infantry, and the British did not fire at all, intending to put it closer and use muskets to shoot, and then the Dutch themselves retreated to the story. Of course, Babbel said it was a demonstration of "the sincerity and generosity of the Dutch people towards the negotiations".

After more than a week of pulling the skin, the British were finally willing to admit the other side's negotiating qualifications, and then new problems arose. That's the seats on both sides, and the flags on the table.

PropNex found that the seats behind the negotiating table were not the same size. The backs of the seats of the Dutch and French seem to be a little higher than those of the seats of the British delegation. So he lodged a strong protest against this, and everyone quarreled all day over the height of the back of this chair. The next day, when Boehner came again to the negotiating place, he brought with him a high-backed chair, the back of which was noticeably higher than that of the French and Dutch chairs.

Then there was a race to make the backrest of the chair higher and higher, and soon the chair had to be moved into the negotiation room in two parts, and then installed in the room on the spot - because the height of the back of the chair was already higher than the height of the door. If this situation continues, I am afraid that the day when the back of the seat against the ceiling is also approaching.

So everyone had to spend another day and come to an agreement on the standard of the chairs they used. Further negotiations were allowed to continue.

However, after only two days of talking, Treville discovered that the flag that the Englishman had placed on his table was larger and taller than the flag that the Dutch and French had placed on their table. So the flag on the table took the place of the seat back and began to grow wildly, and it grew faster than the seat back...... So it took another week to reach an agreement on the various arrangements and arrangements for the negotiation venue, as well as the dress standards of the personnel on both sides. Then, this brutal comparison was put to rest. Otherwise, it is estimated that next week, everyone will compete with whose hat on the head, or whose heel is higher.

All in all, it took almost a month to finally achieve the first major outcome of the negotiations - the Agreement on the Disposal of Relevant Matters under Negotiation.

It took more than a month for the French artillery to land on land, and more than half a month for the British to shell the British after landing on land, and then more than a month of negotiations on what kind of seats, what kind of flag, and what kind of hats to wear. Governor Prima felt that the Indian side should have been called for help, and it was time for them to respond.