Gawain had just come to the United Province once.

Since relations between East and the Netherlands cooled and the East Coast's Special Envoy to Europe moved out of Amsterdam, Gawain has not been to Europe's economic hotspot for several years. This time, he quickly dealt with the affairs of the Ottoman Empire, and returned to Cadiz by boat with Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun of the Black Sea Detachment. Especially those soldiers are extremely domineering, acting fiercely, and not thinking about the consequences, he has to keep an eye on the point.

So, after a few days in Cádiz and some matters concerning Spain and Italy, he set off for the Netherlands. He stayed in Lisbon for three days, where he had a secret conversation with King Pedro II of Portugal, focusing on the ownership of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands and other economic cooperation. This time, the navy and army on the east coast made a big advance into the lowlands, and all the materials were purchased in Portugal, which greatly invigorated the economy of this former maritime pioneer country, and led Portugal to smile.

At the same time, the mighty East Coast Fleet also shocked the Portuguese. Once upon a time, the East Coast Navy was in great war with the Kingdom of Portugal, and although they were strong, they were not strong enough to make the Portuguese despair. But the arrival of the fleet this time really shocked the top brass of this small Iberian country. Such a fleet, they cannot resist! Perhaps only England and the United Provinces may come forward to compete with each other, but it will also come at a great cost, and it may not be possible to win.

This cruel perception makes the Portuguese more sober and respectful. Their king Pedro, with the Manchu civil and military forces, received Gao Wengang in his palace. According to the grapevine, Pedro II invited many well-known scholars and artists to attend, and used 10% of the annual expenses of the royal family, which shows the grandeur of the scene.

Gao Wengang affirmed the relevant policies of the Kingdom of Portugal in the secret talks, saying that the Republic of the East Bank respects the friendly relations between the two countries as always, and said that the Kingdom of Portugal is a "firm ally" of the East Bank in Europe, and that the relations between the two countries can be further enhanced in the future.

After leaving a few attachés to discuss the Cape Verde Islands and trade with the Portuguese, the envoy Gawaingang, escorted by two Portuguese naval warships, arrived in the port of Bruges, and then traveled overland day and night to The Hague, where he was accommodated in the lodgings that Van Boiningen had arranged for him.

Van Boiningen has been in a state of euphoria these days, receiving representatives from various provinces in succession, or soliciting promises, or threatening them, or moving them with affection, in short, making every effort to stabilize the situation in the provinces, so that the will of the republicans will will envelop every corner of the seven-province alliance. For example, he made it clear to the delegates from the two regions of Limburg-Brabant and Drenthe that, if they supported the Estates-General, then he would in the future consider giving political power to the people of these two regions and not leaving them to the other provinces, i.e. he intended to give the two de facto provinces the status of full political entities, and to change the Union of Seven Provinces into a Union of Nine Provinces.

There is no doubt that Van Boiningen's promise made the hearts of the delegates of the two places happy. Heavens pity the locals who have been treated as second-class citizens for many years after the seizure of these areas by the United Provinces. The most typical of these is undoubtedly that they no longer have a vote in Parliament: the former Duchy of Limburg-Brabant is represented by the province of Utrecht, and the Drenthe region is sometimes voted by the province of Oberijssell, and sometimes by Groningen or Friesland.

This time, in the midst of the turmoil and unstable morale in the United Provinces, the Republicans, in order to gain more support, planned to give the two regions with no small population an official name and absorb them into the Seven-Province Union (which had previously been described as occupation). Van Boiningen believes that the two new provinces will become important supporters of the republicans in the future, allowing them to better control the country and dilute the opposition in the three northern provinces.

The East Coast advisers don't know much about this, but they appreciate Van Boiningen's decision. Dealing with the Orange faction now does require all the best efforts, and any bit of strength is very crucial. If the people of these two provinces are grateful to Dade, then this is indeed a very good political bargain.

Gao Wengang arrived in The Hague on December 30, and Lieutenant Yang Chengdong, a veteran of the East Coast Army and the son of Yang Liang, rushed to the hotel to meet him as soon as possible, and brought him a lot of new news. Yang Chengdong told Gao Wengang that the Dutch veteran Van Marlberg led more than 25,000 soldiers (including mercenaries and troops drawn from nearby towns) to Nijmegen, and the army from Amsterdam also posed a threat to Nijmegen from the flank, not to mention the uncooperative attitude of the Dutch militia in Nijmegen and the nearby city.

In short, this mercenary army, which was invited from Germany by Wilhelm III, is now in great crisis. William III had already left for England, and the next quarter was not paid, the surrounding towns were full of hostile Dutch troops, and the local Dutch militia in Nijmegen had changed their attitude, and the frequency of supplies was greatly reduced, and even some skirmishes broke out between the two sides, but fortunately there were no casualties so far.

These Germans were not blind, and they naturally knew that now that the United Provinces had changed, they were afraid that their fate would be a little bad, so they were very anxious. Seeing that the republicans had won a phased victory and had initially integrated various forces, they had already dispatched troops from the west and south directions, forming a semi-encirclement posture against them. In addition, the recent emergence of tens of thousands of improvised Dutch militia in the eastern Drenthe region has made their anxiety even more anxious, and many have retreated.

In particular, there has been some sensitive news from their hometown recently, that is, the French have sent some disguised cavalry into the Rhine Valley to carry out illegal reconnaissance activities. Many people say that this is a prelude to the French going to war, and that the Holy Roman Empire is once again facing a life-and-death crisis, so many people are asking their superiors to abandon this increasingly dangerous intervention and withdraw their entire army to Germany.

The officers were in a dilemma. They were hired by William III, and if they were to leave halfway, they would lose a lot of credibility, and they would not be able to take over other people's business in the future. But on the other hand, Wilhelm III paid the employment payment until the end of this month, according to the agreement, the other party should pay the next quarter's expenses half a month in advance, but now it is obviously impossible, everyone else has gone to England, and there is no time to pay attention to this side of the matter - in fact, you can't pay attention to it, there is an east coast navy and part of the Dutch navy on the sea, and the British Parliament cannot allocate funds to him for the time being, so these Germans are already doomed to run out.

The officers were not without thought of plundering the surrounding towns and securing supplies and military expenses for themselves. But Nijmegen is monitored by a large number of Dutch militia (who were originally "allies", but now that the Netherlands has changed, the militia is also very divided, and many tend to support the parliament), and there are a total of 40,000 or 50,000 people from all walks of life around him, and they really dare not go too far, lest they will not be able to pass the test one by one when they are liquidated in the future.

It was not without their thoughts that they would fight a battle and break each of the three Dutch armies around them. But the problem is that these Dutch are not muddy, and the guns in their hands are not burning sticks, and they also faced the French head-on back then, and their combat effectiveness cannot be said to be high, but it is not much worse. And what about themselves? Demoralized, unstable, deprived of money, and in short supply of all kinds of living and military supplies, they really did not have the confidence to defeat the Dutch army, which was two or three times their size, on Dutch soil.

Therefore, these German mercenaries are now really entangled and do not know what to do. The Dutch, however, did not intend to give them a chance to think about it, they gathered a large army and pressed it from different directions. The troops of Friesland and Groningen who had supported the Prince of Orange were also silent, and they only secretly sent some supplies to the German mercenaries so that they would not go hungry, and then they never showed up again, which made them even more disappointed.

Lieutenant Yang Chengdong believes that the determination of these German mercenaries is actually not great. They were summoned by William III's money, and although there was no lack of their own lord's opinion, the problem was that now that the weather was freezing, they had no money, and they had insufficient supplies, and they were not well fed and clothed, who would work for the ethereal instructions of the lord?

Gao Wengang agreed. He felt that at this time, Van Boiningen only needed to send a shrewd and capable emissary to Nijmegen with a large amount of money, negotiate with the Germans, that is, give them a severance pay, and then allow them to "surrender honorably" and return to Germany. I believe that this is a condition acceptable to both parties, and it is nothing more than how much to offer.

As for the provincial capitals of Friesland and Groningen, where members of the Orange family are often active, to send money and troops to fight with them against the Estates-General, which has already received the response of most of the region, it is purely overthinking. The fact that they can't come up with the money means that they can't call in mercenaries. Mercenaries mercenaries, how to hire without money? Now that William III has gone to England and the domestic regime has fallen, how can funds be embezzled?

Gao Wengang thinks that with the IQ of those guys in the Republicans, he would not fail to think of this. The reason why they made a posture of military coercion was probably to cooperate with the envoys to negotiate and reduce the enemy's asking price. Well, the republicans still have more money on hand, thanks to their basic plan, a severance pay of five or six hundred thousand guilders, and then allow them to leave with weapons and equipment, and the matter is almost understood. And this kind of thing of paying to dismiss the enemy's army was tried by the Dutch during the last Franco-Dutch war, when they dismissed the 30,000 troops attacked by the Bishop of Münster, and successfully defused the crisis of multi-front operations with a silver bullet offensive, and this successful experience should of course be greatly extended.

On December 31, Van Boiningen met with Gao Wengang in his office. It can be seen that he is in a good mood, and as soon as they meet, he gave Gao Wengang a warm hug, and then took the initiative to propose a substantial reduction of the trade tariff rates between East and the Netherlands and the strengthening of trade cooperation between the two countries.

Gao Wengang was very satisfied with this. Isn't that all the people of the East Coast trying to do for the republicans? During the years of William III's reign, although the republicans also worked to restore the level of trade between the two countries, the resistance was always great. William III, the guy who desperately ceded profits to Britain and squeezed out the market share of goods on the East Coast, was very annoying. Now Van Boiningen is "putting things right" and giving business to the East Coast people, which is really excellent, and it is not in vain that the East Coast people stick a knife in his ribs.

In addition, Van Boiningen also proposed to carry out more in-depth cooperation with the East Coast Republic of China in the military field. Originally, the United Provinces imported a large number of British-made weapons, which was cost-effective, and William III served as the king of England (which is already a sure thing), this arms trade is afraid of twists and turns, so this will not be decisively turned, and when will it wait?

The military cooperation agreement proposed by the Dutch was naturally more than just the sale of weapons. In fact, after seeing the high morale and skillful combat skills of the East Coast Army, the Dutch also offered to hire some East Coast Army officers and soldiers to help them train their army. This was raised by intelligence officials on the East Coast, and the Republicans endorsed it, and then formally requested it from Gao Wengang.

Of course, Gao would not refuse such a good thing, so he readily agreed to this matter. Subsequently, the two sides talked about the import of machinery and financial cooperation, and on the whole they were very pleasant. Gao Wengang estimated that if these are implemented one by one in the future, it is conservatively estimated that the trade volume can increase by more than 2 million yuan a year, and there is still a strong room for improvement in the future, which is indeed very good.

The trade volume of 2 million yuan is all bought in the East Coast, which is very important to the improvement of the industrial technology level of the East Coast. After all, without a consumer market, where will your company's technological progress come from? Is it all up to the state? I'm sorry, that's unrealistic and unscientific. The state can dig two million or even even three or four million gold and silver mines, but this is useless for industrial technological progress, enterprise management improvement, and relevant personnel training, no consumers buy things, no market feedback on commodity performance, and no fierce competition among peers, the country's industrial technology and enterprise management cannot be effectively improved.

Therefore, the market is very important, and it is not just a factor of profit, but also a whole set of things. With that in mind, you can understand why East Coasters are so obsessed with gaining access to markets.

On January 2, 1689, after two days of negotiations between the two sides, the 20,000 German mercenaries stationed in Nijmegen finally agreed to the conditions put forward by the Dutch government, that is, to pay them 600,000 guilders back to their severance pay, as well as a batch of food, warm clothing, etc., and then withdraw from the United Province and return to their respective homes. At this point, a possible civil war was eliminated, the situation in the United Provinces was completely settled, and the hardcore elements of the Orange faction in the provinces of Friesland and Groningen could no longer afford to make a big wave without money, power, or foreign aid, and the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands entered a new era!