Joan Matt Solko, the former Governor of the East India Company in Batavia, came to negotiate with the East Bank on the issue of the colonial status of Dutch South Africa. He had been in the port of Cape Town, with three or five attachés, and seemed to have nothing to do all day, and only came aboard when the ships of the Dutch East India Company requested a call, and they did not know what they were busy with.

And just when the people on the east coast were surprised by this, one day an official from the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs came over with an "order", and then had a secret conversation with Bai Yutang, an official who also came from the diplomatic system, for an afternoon. The next day, the two announced the commencement of negotiations with Joanne Matsolko, plenipotentiary of the Dutch East India Company, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East Bank Republic of China, on the status of the Dutch South African colony.

The negotiations lasted almost two months. During the period, we talked about stopping, stopping, and talking, and I don't know how many times, and finally formed an agreement that both sides could reluctantly accept, and now it has been written and handed over to the attaché to take back to the country for review and sealing.

The first – and most crucial one, on which everything else is based – is that the Dutch East India Company confirmed that the former Dutch South African colonies (including Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Bredasdorp and their annexed lands) were permanently "transferred" to the government of the East Coast Republic of China for a price of 100,000 guilders, and this was also approved by the United Provincial Government. William III, Prince of Orange, who ruled in the provinces of the Netherlands and other provinces, also signed off to confirm this.

The clause, written on the first page of the agreement, was not an easy decision for the Dutch, especially for the Prince of Orange. This young aristocrat turned the tide and rescued the League of Seven Provinces from the iron heel of the French army, and at the same time displayed a great diplomatic skill, not only allowing Denmark, Brandenburg-Prussia, Palatin, Luxembourg, Lorraine, Austria, Spain, etc., to stand with him and jointly declare war on France, but also to make England, Switzerland, and some of the Italian states de facto side with the United Provinces, and provided a lot of help, both openly and covertly, so that everyone was more emboldened to fight against the powerful French.

Therefore, the current Prince William III of Orange has a very loud reputation in the United Provinces and even in the whole of Europe, so that the Republican cadres who are still living in seclusion in the South Netherlands, including the DeWitt brothers, are saddened, and feel that even if they return to the United Provinces in the future, it will be difficult for them to fight with William III, because his prestige is so high that if there are no major mistakes, no one in his life will be able to shake him— This can be seen from the current political situation in the United Provinces, many wealthy businessmen and republican parliamentarians are also forced to grovel to the Prince of Orange, and even embarrass them, and the DeWitt brothers, their former spokesmen, have now been ruthlessly abandoned, and they don't know if there is a chance to make a comeback.

Therefore, we can see how such a strong national leader, a star of word of mouth in the courts of various European countries, and the number one organizer of the anti-French coalition, could easily accept the fall of the Dutch South African colony? You know, at the moment when the country he led was victorious, regained all the lost territory, and entered the confrontation with the French in the South Netherlands, the loss of the Cape Town colony was tantamount to a resounding slap in the face to him, which slightly overshadowed his glorious image, so he was unwilling to accept this matter at first, even though the East India Company was willing to face the reality of losing the Cape Town colony, but the Prince of Orange was unwilling, so he ruthlessly rejected the request of the Committee of Seventeen, Let them continue to negotiate with the East Bankers.

But how did the East India Company negotiate with the people on the East Coast? The purpose of the East Coasters was so clear that they wanted to colonize Cape Town, and if the East India Company did not give it, nothing could be discussed, so the negotiations between the two sides were really ineffective at first, and both sides were wasting their saliva, and even broke off for a long time.

What really accelerates the negotiation process is the changes in the international situation. It is said that the war between the anti-French alliance and the French in recent years has really been full of ups and downs, twists and turns. First, in mid-1676, Viscount Tyrenne, one of the French commanders of the Rhine, led his troops to attack Strasbourg, which was occupied by the German coalition (which was also the general logistics base of the Germans), but met with stubborn resistance from Montecucoli. The fighting between the two sides continued until the end of the year, and ended in the complete defeat of the Germans, but dramatically, Viscount Tirrenne also suddenly fell ill in the winter of that year, and his life was so desperate that the crumbling Germans began a counterattack and captured some land west of the Rhine in one fell swoop.

Of course, their good times didn't last long. In the spring of the following year, King Louis XIV of France sent Prince Condé to the Rhine theater of operations, and then through a series of beautiful battles, he once again salvaged the German army from the area west of the Rhine.

He was succeeded by Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, nephew of the former Duke of Lorraine IV, who had just died of illness. This person first fought against the Prince of Condé several times, and his record was less than good and more defeated. However, the Prince of Condé was very old, and after a year of exhausting himself on the Rhine, his health was not as good as before, so Louis XIV transferred the Duke of Bouteville to his position as commander-in-chief of the French army group on the Eastern Front.

The Duke of Bouterville is also a veteran of the battlefield, although the level is not as good as his eldest brother (he was adopted by the mother of Prince Condé since he was a child) and Viscount Tyrenne, but Charles V is not a military god, so the two sides are basically winning and losing, the French army's general logistics base Philipsburg was once conquered by the German army, but the 60,000 troops led by Charles V were also thwarted by the Duke of Buttville, and were always blocked out of his hometown, the family fief of the Duchy of Lorraine.

The younger brother of Louis XIV, Duke of Orleans, Philip I, who succeeded the Duke of Luxembourg as commander-in-chief of the French army on the Northern Front, the Prince of France, who liked to dress as a man and a woman, and determined his sexual orientation very late, showed a good art of war command, and through a series of battles launched by himself, he captured many towns in the South Netherlands, including Valenciennes and Gonde, and severely damaged the Western, Dutch, and German coalition forces, making the Prince of Orange under his command disgraced and panicked for a while. It was almost impossible to abandon the long-established line of defense on the Mez River and return to the United Provinces.

And if the defeat on land was a little uneasy for the Dutch, then the defeat of Admiral Druitl off the coast of Spain was even more shocking to the Dutch. In this battle, the French Eastern Fleet led by Duquetner was repulsed, but they fired a lucky cannonball that hit Admiral Deruitel, the commander-in-chief of the fleet of the United Provinces, who was standing on deck and commanding the battle, forcing him to withdraw from the battle with wounds.

This accident dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Dutch navy, because not only did they not win a close battle at sea, but they also lost their commander, the commander of the navy who was known in Europe, who was conservatively estimated to have to recuperate for half a year or even a year, and who retired like the ailing Prince Condé - how could this be acceptable to them?

Of course, all of the above things have happened in the last few years, and some of them have only happened in the first half of this year. However, it is also an indisputable fact that the overall situation has been tilted in favor of the French since Montecucoli's retirement, so the attitude of the Dutch has softened a long time ago, but it has not been shown until this year, when everything reached its climax.

Now, the United Provincial Government, which has taken into account all the circumstances, has indeed felt that the situation is quite bad, and has begun to consider whether to continue to use diplomatic skills to reverse the current unfavorable war situation. Before that, of course, it would be imperative for the United Provincial Government to quickly reach an agreement with the people on the East Coast to get rid of a quagmire that could lead them into war. It was under such circumstances that the arrogant Prince of Orange was able to bow his head a little, and instructed the Council of Seventeen in Amsterdam to negotiate with the people on the east coast, to quickly clarify the status of the Dutch Cape Colony, and to deal with everything here.

Joan Matsorko, who was appointed to negotiate, immediately accelerated the negotiation process with the Easterners after understanding the bottom line of the Amsterdam side, and reached an agreement with the Easterners in the shortest possible time. No, after learning that the Dutch had accepted the fact that the Dutch had permanently ceded the colony of the Dutch Cape Town, the East Bank diplomatic department immediately sprang into action, sending representatives to accompany them to Cape Town for final consultations on some details.

Now, the final result has finally settled, and the East Coasters have received the Cape Town Colony at a very small price, while the Dutch East India Company has been compensated for the permanent opening of the port of Cape Town to the company's ships free of charge, that is, the capital city of the former Dutch South African colony has become a *** against the Dutch East India Company, which is not bad.

In addition, in the view of Joanne Matsolko and others, another major victory for the Dutch was that the new Dutch churches in the counties of Cape and Pingyu (i.e., the former Dutch South African colonies) could be preserved, and priests could continue to preside over religious activities and develop believers, provided that they were under the leadership of the Religious Affairs Office of the Republic of China.

To be honest, in order to win this right, the Dutch paid a lot of other costs to come in exchange. Because in their opinion, even if Cape Town becomes the first place, but there is no heart church in the city, there is no pastor, this is still an extremely unthinkable thing for them, so they have repeatedly fought for this right, which once made the people on the east coast very confused, thinking that these people are really religious madmen, a bit unreasonable.

However, although the Dutch East India Company lost its colony of Dutch South Africa, which had been operating for many years, they still had strongholds such as the Masculin Islands, Cape Town, West African colonies, and the Eastern Cape Verde Islands on their routes to and from Europe to replenish and dock, and in essence, there was not much loss, because it was obvious that they were doing business and the market was not lost, so what was there to be suspicious? What the? The East Coasters might close the port of Cape Town in wartime? Come on, nothing is smooth sailing, so why go against the East Coasters? Wouldn't it be nice for everyone to get rich together?

Another so-called victory for the Dutch was the right to invest in South Africa – and not just the whole of South Africa, not just Dutch South Africa. This right is highly valued by the Dutch East India Company, these guys who love to pursue commercial interests, to be honest, do not particularly value the land, many times in their opinion, the land is lost, but there must be a business to do! The pursuit of commercial interests has almost become an instinct that has penetrated into their bones, and for this reason, they do not hesitate to give up some rights and interests in land.

This attitude or philosophy of the Dutch is not good or bad for the East Coast people, but the East Coast people, who have been striving to fight for more sun-drenched land for future generations from the very beginning, do not agree with these, at least not completely! Because they obviously value land resources more, especially in South Africa, a region that is geographically critical and rich in resources, it is even more unreasonable to give it up.

Joanne Matsolko negotiated with the East Coast delegates and returned to Amsterdam at the end of January 1678 on a merchant ship sailing from Batavia. After dealing with the diplomat from the mainland, Bai Yutang also hurried back to Hezhong County and continued to work on the matter he was most concerned about, that is, the construction of the South African Railway. In his opinion, this negotiation was just a small episode, and whether the Dutch agreed or not, the two counties of Kaipu and Pingyu were actually the territory of the East Coast Republic of China for a long time, and this time it was just a formality to make the East Coast people more justifiable, after all, the legal right to rule a land is sometimes quite important.

The Dutch East India merchant ship on which Joanne Mattsorko was aboard sailed swiftly north along the Benguela Current, cleaving the waves and finally crossing the rough waters of the North Sea at the end of April 1678 and making a detour through northern Scotland (to avoid the French Western Fleet, which might be operating in the Strait of Dover) and returning to the outer harbor of Tesser in Amsterdam.

Li Qing, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe on the east coast who had just been invited back to Amsterdam by the Dutch from Cadiz, Spain, at the end of last year was also the first to learn of the news that the two sides had reached an agreement on the Dutch South African colony, which made him very relieved.