Zhang Daniu, dressed in a dark blue army uniform, stood outside the door of the conference room with his head held high, staring ahead, motionless like a sculpture. But if you look closely, you'll see that this guy's ears are pricked up, and he seems to be trying to listen to the movement in the conference room.

An important diplomatic negotiation is taking place in the conference room. As a senior non-commissioned officer of the 5th Company of the Army, Zhang Daniu and his comrades from two platoons were mobilized inside and outside the town government compound, and together with the police, the entire courtyard was guarded. Zhang Daniu was fortunate to be assigned the treatment of standing guard outside the door of the conference room, and he was quite curious about the officials and gentlemen, so he listened attentively to what they said.

It's a pity that the sound insulation in the conference room is really good, which makes him hear vaguely all the time, which makes him even more itchy. Only occasionally when the two sides seem to raise their voices because of the dispute can Zhang Daniu hear a little more clearly.

"We firmly advocate the rights and interests of the entire New China Island, and we express great indignation at your company's wanton capture of indigenous people and felling of precious trees near Port Tulare, and we ask you to stop it immediately." Well, this voice seems to be the voice of Lord Liu Ang. He speaks in a deep and abrupt manner, which is very characteristic, and it is easy for anyone who has heard it to distinguish it. After Liu Ang finished speaking, his secretary seemed to translate it to the Dutch in French.

The Dutch quickly began to retort in a high-pitched voice. Well, it must be the Dutch governor who is dressed like a singer, this guy has a straight face all the time, and he shouldn't be very good at talking. Liu Ang's secretary quickly translated the Dutchman's opinion back word for word, and then Liu Ang opened his mouth to say something, but his voice was too soft to hear clearly.

Then there was a buzz of muffled words. made Zhang Daniu listen to it drowsy. Until another high-pitched voice woke him up. "Nope. This is impossible, these techniques are the core skills of our country, and they will never be allowed to get involved. Your Excellency the Governor, it is a pity that your request has not been granted by us. ”

What the? Those red-haired people want to buy our skills? How does this make! Zhang Daniu suddenly felt a little angry, he is no longer the mud leg who didn't know anything at the beginning, after so many years of study, he has a clear understanding of the importance of industrial technology to the country. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the lifeblood. How can this kind of thing be sold to others?

But the Dutch do not seem to intend to give up their entanglement on this issue easily, and they have repeatedly made a fuss about it, and their voices are very impassioned and very fast, and they seem to not give up until they have achieved their goal. And the people on the east coast are also-for-tat, and they seem to be holding an inch on this issue, and the two sides are caught in a laborious tug-of-war of words.

For the next two hours or so, there was this kind of "whispered" conversation, so that Zhang Daniu couldn't hear anything. In his frustration, the door suddenly opened from the inside. Liu Ang, the captain of the South African Pioneer Team, was the first to step out of the venue, and as he walked, he said angrily to Governor De Young, who was falling behind him: "It is also of great benefit to us to take the necessary measures against the Spaniards to reduce the pressure on your country and your company. And we have agreed to cut off the supply of weapons to the Brazilians, why are you so insatiable, and do you insist on getting involved in a war that should never have happened? ”

Governor Dejan smiled lightly when he heard this, and then said, "Frankly, the exchange benefits you have given are not enough. Stopping the supply of weapons to Brazilians is only one thing, respecting our company's rule over the East Indies is also one thing, and you must also show some sincerity, such as the design of the hydraulic sawing machine, planer, boring machine that we need. ”

In fact, these techniques are "backward" techniques that have been eliminated on the east coast, and they were also brought to La Plata and the French colony of Fort Dovon by some defectors last year, and it is a matter of time before they spread to the Netherlands, so it seems to be a pretty good business if they can be sold to the Dutch as a bargaining chip at this time. The reason why Liu Ang is still chattering with the other party on this issue is purely deliberate.

The negotiators sat under a long-planted pear tree in the town government compound and then continued the endless negotiations. At this time, the theme of the negotiations was still around the transfer of technology, and both sides continued to add chips or killer features to it. For example, the question of the long-standing war between the Kama tribe and the people of the East Coast, who were friendly with the Dutch in the east, the issue of the open shelter of the pirates of St. Mary's Island by the East Coasters, the question of the merchants of the East Coast and the Ottoman Empire squeezing out the Dutch, and so on.

This endless tug-of-war continued after lunch, and was not until the end of the evening, when only a handful of agreements were reached, and only one clause seemed to be the cessation of the attack on the Kama tribes on the east coast and the cessation of Dutch aid to them.

The negotiations began the next day, but the meeting was moved to Liu Ang's private estate outside the city, where they continued for 10 days until February 20. First of all, the Dutch expressed their neutrality in the possible war between the Eastern Republic of China and the Kingdom of Spain (the war between the Dutch and Spain was basically over at this time), and was willing to sell some important war materials to the Eastern Coasters at a preferential price; At the same time, they are also willing to reduce and control the scale of the trading post in Toulaire and reduce the damage to the local environment; In the end, they also agreed to open the ports of Dutch Brazil, the West Indies, and the African colonies to the people on the east coast, which was basically agreed to most of the conditions put forward by the people on the east coast.

Correspondingly, in order to get the Dutch to agree to the above terms, the East Coasters themselves also paid a huge price. They abandoned their support for the Portuguese in Brazil, decided to restrain the incessant raids of the South African Eight Banners against the Kama tribes, and the raids of the St. Mary's pirates on Dutch merchant ships; At the same time, the ports of South Africa and New Huaxia Island were opened so that Dutch ships could dock and replenish; The techniques of hydraulic sawing, planing, boring, and forging hammers were transferred to the Dutch East India Company at the cost of five thousand tons of rice, and the Dutch were to ship the grain to the port of Da Po for delivery by the end of October 47.

Finally, the two sides mutually recognized the extent of their present colonies and agreed in principle to open up trade between their respective colonies, which of course required a higher level of approval. Once ratified, the next negotiations between the two sides will focus on the types of goods traded by their respective colonies. If possible, the two sides could also conclude a non-aggression pact to guarantee a rare outcome of peace negotiations between the two sides.

In fact, if you really want to talk about it, the agreements reached by the two sides this time have basically been negotiated several rounds before, and both sides have a preliminary understanding of their respective bottom lines, and some unrealistic and outrageous conditions will not be mentioned in this negotiation, so the negotiation process is generally relatively smooth. According to Governor de Young, the Dutch envoy plenipotentiary who had come to negotiate this time, Governor Van Diemen, who insisted on a tough attitude towards the people on the east coast, might soon be resigned, so that there should be fewer differences between the two sides, and business should be able to proceed happily in the future.

In fact, there was a small episode in which the Dutch asked if it was possible to open an investigation into the armed merchant ship "Voyager", which disappeared in the waters near Xinhua Port a few years ago, to find out whether the ship had been wrecked. Liu Ang's face remained unchanged after hearing this, but he was extremely embarrassed in his heart, this ship has now become a warship of the East Portuguese Combined Fleet after being remodeled by the East Coasters, how can it be returned to the Dutch, so he can only pretend to be stupid and divert the topic.

Eventually, the Dutch also demanded that the East Coast lift restrictions on steel exports. In recent years, with the gradual détente between the Dutch and the East Coasters, there have been some trade links between the Colonies of Transriver and the Colonies of Cape Town, the most important of which is naturally the inflow of steel from the East Coast. The Dutch craftsmen at Good Hope took these high-quality steels, in the form of steel bars, and then forged them into various utensils of much better quality than they had bought from Europe.

As for why we don't directly buy all kinds of utensils produced by the East Coast, it is mainly a cost issue. The Dutch had a large number of slave craftsmen at Fort Good Hope, and cost was not a problem for them, and the East Coasters were not necessarily able to provide the wide variety of metalwork they needed. The shelves of the East Coasters were always monotonous iron products: shovels, pickaxes, rakes, hoes, etc., and exports to the Cape Town colonies were restricted. The Dutch were left to be self-reliant, and the steel flowing in from the riverine colonies was not a regulated commodity on the east bank, so it became a favorite of Dutch craftsmen and played a huge role in their colony.

All in all, after determining that they would not covet their respective spheres of power, the tension between the East Coast and the Netherlands has gradually eased in recent years. After the East Coasters took the initiative to release some goodwill, the relationship between the Dutch East India Company, which regarded itself as a businessman, and the East Coasters was greatly improved. It is believed that the bilateral relationship may develop further in the coming years after the two sides gradually open up colonial trade (if possible).

Having secured relations with the Dutch, the East Coasters were able to devote more energy to dealing with the Spaniards. After all, multi-front warfare has always been a taboo for soldiers, and the Spaniards with big careers can not care about this (in the war, with a few enemies), but the East Coast people who are not strong enough can bear it. Now, after getting rid of the big burden of the Dutch, whether it is war or peace, the people on the east coast have a great room for maneuver. (To be continued......)