At the same time as the bloody purge of the indigenous people of the Jesuit mission area was being carried out in the native country, in the Transriver Colony of South Africa, across the Atlantic Ocean from the mainland of South Africa, a high-ranking diplomatic delegation led by De Young, the governor of the Cape Town colony of the Dutch East India Company, and Hagel, the city defense officer, was riding slowly on horseback on the open and distant steppe, preparing to go to the Good Hope Fort of the East Coast to hold regular diplomatic consultations. Around them were more than 100 cavalry escorts led by Leonid, deputy commander of the South African Cavalry Company.

Over the years, the Dutch and the East Coasters, having fully considered each other's needs, felt that the two sides should hold a regular diplomatic negotiation mechanism to settle the various interests and even territorial disputes between the East India Company and the overseas colonies of the East Coast Republic of China. Through years of continuous consultations, the two sides have reached an agreement on the territorial division of this part of the Western Cape Province of South Africa; At the same time, the territorial division of the Far East was largely on the horizon, and after the East Coast had abandoned its territorial claims to the East Indies, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, and the island of Taiwan, which in fact were fraught with the psychological shadow of these tropical regions that killed a large number of people every year, the Dutch also intended to recognize the East Coast's dominion over Jeju Island, the Yantai region, the Land of the Parliament, the Land of the Company, the Sakhalin Peninsula and its adjacent areas (which the Dutch considered to be peninsulas).

Moreover, in negotiations later last year, many members of the East India Affairs Council, the highest Dutch authority in the Far East, bypassed the stubborn Governor Van Diemen to communicate with the company's envoy plenipotentiary to the Far East, and then included in the negotiations with the East Bankers a clause for a feasibility of opening up trade between the two Far Eastern colonies. Liu Ang, the leader of the South African pioneer team who was in charge of the negotiations on the east coast at the time, cautiously agreed to this, and discussed with the other party the types of goods traded between the two colonies. The results show that the degree of trade complementarity between the two places is still very high.

The Dutch needed hides (mainly sealskins, deerskins) from the Blackwater region. A small number of cows and sheepskins), horses, bricks, silk, porcelain, tea (looted), and even slave populations. The people of the East Coast were increasingly hungry for high-quality shipbuilding timber, grain, sugar, and pepper (one of the cheapest spices) from the Dutch colonies. The two sides can completely open up trade.

Of course, this is only the long-term good wishes of both sides. But in the near term, full trade openness seems unlikely, because it will take some time and psychological change for the two sides to move from a cold and hostile relationship to a full-fledged friendly commercial cooperation. What's more, there are still many contradictions between the two sides, and not everyone in the camps on both sides is happy to see friendly relations between the East Coast and the Netherlands, which will take time to change.

As the sun rose, the group rode close to the south bank of the Berg River. The East Shore settlement was originally on the North Shore. However, after years of development, the fertile south bank has gradually become populated, and some peasant houses and pastures have appeared one after another, making this desolate prairie a lot of vitality.

Some East Bank children in cotton and linen blend clothes and trousers walked barefoot on the small beach by the river, guarding the sheep grazing on the river bank with the assistance of shepherd dogs, and watching curiously at the large group of riders approaching from a distance. In the distance, at the edge of the house, some peasants from the east bank with rifles on their shoulders, dressed in a variety of clothes, and wearing fur hats, were waving to the familiar cavalry. After saying hello, they began to spread the hay with the help of a drying machine. Their Persian wives toiled on the edge of the vegetable garden while carrying their young babies on their backs.

In the vast and sparsely populated riverine area, the houses of the residents are generally larger. Behind the house are a variety of trees planted in response to the government's call – there is an abundance of water in the area, and there is no need to worry about desertification if you plant trees in large quantities. In front of the house, celery, onions, turnips and other vegetables are grown in the private plot, some of which are used for their own use and some of which are sold to ocean-going vessels passing through the area. If we add in the wool, duck down, sorghum, wheat, cured meat, animal fat and other agricultural and animal products that are sold to the South African branch of the National Material Reserve every year, their life is still quite good. According to the officials of the Government Council who came to investigate last year, the living standards of the common people in the Hezhong colonies, which basically have no industrial base, have completely surpassed those of the local working class.

The cavalry passed through the narrow road between the two residential areas in turn and then came to the side of the ferry. As he walked through the residential areas, the observant Governor de Young noticed that this small residential community looked quite clean and tidy, unlike the traditional labor of spinning and weaving cloth in the countryside of England and the Netherlands, where the farmers on the east coast spent most of their time in addition to taking care of their livestock, either building water conservancy facilities under the organization of the government or undergoing rigorous military training, which made people shudder.

Women work in the fields, men work on the construction sites, and older children share in the family. Governor de Young noticed that in some alleys, groups of children were treating wool with bleaching powder or soda ash. They put the raw materials and tools together, and played around with them as they worked. Wool processing should be an important side income for their families, and the bleached and degreased wool is purchased by the government purchasing station, and then transported back to the country by ship for spinning and weaving, and the woven wool and blankets are even sold back here, typical of the colonial economic system.

In the countryside of the Netherlands, England and Spain at this time, handling wool was indeed a rather tedious and important task. It's a pity that the local European farmers do not have the cheap soda ash and bleaching powder produced by the industrial production of the East Coast people, and they can only rely on sunlight, rain and sour milk for a long time to bleach and skim the treatment, which is much less efficient than the East Coast people.

Correspondingly, the peasants of the Old World had a much inferior standard of living to their counterparts on the East Coast, at least they could not afford to wear the calico clothes that the women of the Old World had. In the Netherlands, even the slightly more sophisticated peasant wives will only use some black wool and white wool to weave their desired effect (provincial dyeing) through ingenious means, and it is impossible to buy real dyed cloth.

Governor Dejan vaguely heard that the East Coasters integrated several factories for the production of chemical products in the north of their country, and then set up an enterprise called the North United Chemical Plant, specializing in the large-scale production of sulfuric acid and soda ash, and the small-scale production of bleaching powder, soap and other goods, which made the Governor of De Young very jealous, this is all a thing to make money, how did the East Coast people do it? It's time to figure it out!

Of course, what Governor de Young said about trying to figure out a solution was not to prepare to obtain all kinds of techniques from the people of the East Coast by violent means, which is unrealistic! The East India Company was a businessman, and they would make an accurate assessment of every action, and not only the shareholders of the East India Company, but also the sailors who sailed on the sea, would not agree to a foolish move that might lead to the collapse of the Far Eastern spice trade, and they did not want to be killed in the belly of the fish for no apparent reason.

Governor Dejan still wanted to obtain some practical small skills from the people of the East Coast by peaceful means, such as diplomatic negotiations, payment of technical transfer fees, etc., such as those hydraulic sawing machines, planers, various types of hydraulic hammers with involute gears, road building techniques, techniques for mass production of bricks and tiles, fishing techniques and other practical small techniques. As for the manufacture of cannon casting, steelmaking, textiles, soda ash and sulphuric acid, the Dutch were fairly self-aware, and these could never be bought.

After several years of high rewards, the Dutch textile technology has made great progress, but the production cost is still not reduced, which shows that their equipment lacks revolutionary changes, and has never been able to compete with the East Coast textiles that have crossed the ocean. The Dutch capitalists, who refused to admit defeat, continued to spend large sums of money on Europe-wide bounties for the improvement of the machine. Therefore, even in such a situation, Governor de Young did not have the idea of buying textile techniques from the people of the East Coast, for it was impossible!

However, the big skills and core skills can't be bought, which doesn't mean that ordinary small skills can't be bought. The Dutch were not fools, and they also saw the relationship between the Spaniards and the people of the East Coast in the area of La Plata, which was now in a state of yellow-skinned pagans and ugly mulattoes, not without the slightest idea of the United Provinces, and they seemed to be in dire need of diplomatic support from the United Provinces. Since this is the case, then the two sides have to talk, and each takes what he needs.

Governor de Young and his entourage took a number of ferries to the other side of the river. The people of the east coast did not build bridges here, supposedly so as not to hinder the free navigation of large ships. After spending a certain amount of time to cross the river, the first thing that caught the eyes of everyone who arrived on the north bank was a huge stone statue of Taishang Laojun, which made the faces of Governor Dejan, Captain Hagel and others suddenly change.

"Evil gods worshipped by yellow-skinned pagans!" Captain Hagel said with a grim face.

Governor Dejan glanced at him, this German redneck was not a qualified businessman, so he could only be a martial artist. Governor DeYoung was a serious businessman, and he thought he could make a deal with the devil for money, just like the Jews. What is the point of doing business with pagans, as long as there are enough benefits, then everything is not a problem.

"Watch your words, Captain, the Governor of the East Coast has come to meet us, don't make anything happen to me." Governor DeYoung said to Captain Hagel with a warning sign. After speaking, he looked at Liu Ang who was walking towards him with a reserved smile. (To be continued......)