Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1683 Research and New Positions

April 1675, 4, sunny.

In an office in the courtyard of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bai Yutang, who had just returned from his investigation, had just sent away the aggressive United Provinces ambassador to the East Coast, Hieronymus Van Beveninghe.

Since the colony of the Dutch East India Company (Dutch South Africa) fell under the attack of the East Coast navy and army, he has fallen into extreme mania, restlessness and anger, and he has to request to meet with the East Coast diplomats almost every once in a while. Minister Zheng Yong "seriously discussed" the situation between the two countries with him.Zheng Yong met him twice at the beginning, and then he took the trouble to push it to the subordinates, and the subordinates were also very troublesome, and now he finally pushed it to Bai Yutang, who holds the title of senior assistant.Bai Yutang really had no choice but to bite the bullet and meet the ambassador of the United Provinces who was getting more and more bad-tempered.

The result of the meeting was the same as before, and the questions asked were all the same ones that had been asked before.For example, whether the East Coast Republic of China has officially declared war on the United Provinces, whether it has officially declared war on the East India Company, whether it has formed an alliance with the Kingdom of France, whether it is serious enough to tear up the sacred business contract between the two countries, and so on.

The heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have explained these issues to Van Beverninghe many times in the past few months, and now Bai Yutang has to follow the script again to explain to the ambassador that the current state of the East Bank policy: First, the East China Republic has not and does not intend to declare war on the United Provinces, unless its national interests suffer "unbearable" losses; second, the East China Republic has neither nor does it intend to declare war on the Dutch East Declare war, unless the East India Company takes the initiative to provoke a war. As for the previous attack on Dutch South Africa, it is just to temporarily "keep" this colony. Then jointly decide whether the Cape Town colony will stay or not; thirdly, the East Coast Republic of China has no intention of forming an alliance with the Kingdom of France or entering a state of war in a short period of time. People on the East Coast are peace-loving and have always maintained a neutral position; Regarding the business contract, the United Provinces were the first to break the contract, not the East Coast. Moreover, the United Provinces' vile breach of contract has already caused the individuals and enterprises of the East Coast Republic of China to suffer heavy economic losses. Therefore, the East Coast has taken the necessary measures. countermeasures are understandable.

The above are not Bai Yutang's original words, because he spoke much more tactfully, but the meaning was clearly expressed, and he believed that Mr. van Beverninghe understood it too.The problem now is that the two sides insist on their own opinions. The Dutch said that the reason for tearing up the commercial contract was that the East Coast army had created "appalling incidents" in The Hague. The military funds paid for the deposit were not released, and troops were brazenly sent to attack the Dutch South African colony. This is too much, and it is a dangerous move that will push the two countries into the abyss of war.

Bai Yutang said that the "Hague incident" was a complete misunderstanding, people with ulterior motives mixed in the crowd, deliberately made trouble, and attempted to kill the republican MPs of the United Provinces, which was extremely bad in nature.People from the East Coast were forced to be involved in this matter. In fact, like the people who died in The Hague, the soldiers on the East Coast were themselves victims. Therefore, it is meaningless to entangle who is right and who is wrong.

Moreover, after this incident happened, Mr. Li Qing, the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast Republic to Europe, tried many times to discuss the aftermath of this incident with Prince Orange, but all failed. In the end, he even received a paper to end the contract and stop Hiring, disbanding the army, and handing over the murderer's order naturally did not satisfy the people on the east coast.

Then, unfortunately, the Prince of Orange tore up many commercial contracts signed with the East Bank before the war, which brought the relationship between the two countries to the lowest point in 20 years, and forced the East Bank to "enter" the Dutch South African colony , to obtain collateral for dialogue and negotiation with the United Provincial Government.

From these questions and answers, it can be seen that there is indeed a deadlock between the Dutch and the people on the east coast, and the misunderstanding is not shallow, especially after the "Massacre in The Hague" incident and the incident of "illegal entry into Dutch South Africa". The East India Company also got into trouble with the East Coast Republic, and now the reputation in the Netherlands has dropped sharply, which in turn has affected commercial sales, and the loss is indeed not small.

Of course, the loss of the people on the east coast could not have been so great, but who made the members of the executive committee so coveted the Dutch South Africa?Seizing such a good opportunity this time, he naturally swallowed it in one gulp!You must know that the full occupation of South Africa has been the basic national policy of successive governments on the east coast for the past 30 to [-] years.Moreover, they judged that under the current situation of domestic and foreign difficulties, the Dutch government can only make a few weak diplomatic protests. Even the behemoth Dutch East India Company will have to temporarily endure it due to trade and route problems. I don’t see that it has been more than half a year since the Dutch South Africa was defeated. Why hasn’t the Dutch East India Company come to retaliate?It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I haven't made up my mind yet!They are carefully weighing the gains and losses, evaluating the impact and gains and losses of going to war and not going to war, and it seems that those who choose not to go to war for the time being have the upper hand. They are more willing to negotiate with the high-level East Coast Republic through the United Provincial Government. The colony of South Africa wants to come back.

Van Beverninghe may have also received relevant information from the Prince of Orange or the 17-member Committee of Amsterdam (the highest authority of the East India Company), and he has a certain understanding of the current ideological trends and choices in China.Therefore, when he came to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East Coast this time, in addition to spraying a bunch of people as usual, he also emphasized one thing, that is, to finalize one thing with the East Coast people as soon as possible, that is, to open the former Dutch South African colony. A certain port—preferably Cape Town with all kinds of facilities—would be inconvenient and inconvenient for the ships of the East India Company to be resupplied to and from, instead of being forced to resupply in Mozambique and Benguela as they are now. Even less safe.

Due to various considerations, the East Bank Executive Committee did not agree to Van Beverninghe's request. Now that the integration of the Cape Town area may have achieved initial results, it instructed Bai Yutang to accept this condition when the Dutch ambassador raised it. Promise them to ease the increasingly tense relationship between the two sides. After all, the trade between the two countries has not been completely cut off. There is no need to continue to provoke them now, it is not worth it.

And this matter basically became the only thing that Van Beverninghe could feel a little bit satisfied with during his trip.Although the die-hard people on the east coast still do not intend to let go of other matters, they have at least helped the East India Company, the largest company in the country, solve a big problem in the past few months, and it is not without the slightest credit.

After seeing off Mr. Hieronymus van Beveninghe, Bai Yutang picked up some reports on South Africa's geography, environment, climate, economy, military and other aspects from under his desk and read them.These reports are also the first-hand information accumulated by many expeditions, investigation teams, and research teams over the years. Tang has been studying and studying carefully for the past few days, and he has read very seriously. When he encountered some uncertainties, he even recorded it with a special envoy, and planned to consult some professionals later.

The reason for this is that the political forces behind him have regrettably told him that the operation to the Far East has basically failed, and the difficulty is too great—the Blackwater Pioneering Team and the Southern Pioneering Team have already been preempted. The pit, the Denglai pioneering team, he is not yet qualified to win. Enterprises such as the Bank of Taiwan, Dongan Japan Company, and Dongan North Korea Company also have owners, and their background is not as bad as Bai Yutang's, so in the end they can only use the so-called The "backup plan" put Bai Yutang in operation as a commissioner of the Hezhong District Administrative Office in South Africa, which was basically a flat transfer to replace Jiao Tang who had just resigned from the post of the Hezhong District Commissioner due to his poor health.

In all fairness, although the great opportunity to go to the Far East for gold plating has been lost, it may not be such a frustrating thing to take the second place to be the top leader in the mid-river region of South Africa.In today's era when there are many radishes and few pitfalls, I don't know how many people are waiting to be released in ministries, commissions or enterprises. Bai Yutang can get a district administrative commissioner, and I don't know how many people are envious, especially those who are with him. They are the second generation of children of law or diplomacy.

In addition, the well-known head of Guo Handong Guo had already managed the entire Dutch South Africa nearly a year ago and brought it under the control of the Hezhong District Administration.After more than half a year of rectification, I even heard that Dutch South Africa was going to be divided into two counties a while ago. The application was submitted to the National Development Administration and the Executive Committee, but it was temporarily rejected due to diplomatic considerations. Applied for the establishment of the county.However, it is an indisputable fact that these two counties have a large population and strong economic strength. It is also difficult to say who will be the first county under the jurisdiction of the South African Regional Administration in the future.Therefore, when Bai Yutang went to work in the River Central region of South Africa, to be honest, there was still a good opportunity to show his strengths, and if he did well, it would only be a matter of minutes for Gao Sheng to return to the central government in the future.

"The six old counties of Hezhong, Tianxiong, Bailang, Jingyuan, Lishan, and Changqing, plus the two counties of Cape and Pinglu that actually existed although they were not established, and the Namib Desert under the administration of the Hezhong District Administration The coastal ports along the coast, the authority of the administrative commissioner of the Hezhong area is really not small. In terms of territory, it is no smaller than a province in the Ming Dynasty in the Far East, and there is indeed a lot of places that can be moved around." Bai Yutang read the documents while Rubbing his chin, he said to himself with satisfaction: "Especially the annexation of the Dutch South African colony this time will be of great benefit to the entire region. It is a high-quality asset. Now look at the Dutch ambassador Hero The attitude of Nimus Van Beveninghe, the East India Company, the bitter owner, does not seem to dare to really fall out with us because of this matter. Maybe they are extremely angry and humiliated in their hearts, but they have to obey the overall situation of the United Provinces , they will be asked to be patient. Maybe in the future they will attack some of our country’s trading ships or immigration ships in private, and prohibit the export of food, spices and other commodities to the Bank of Taiwan (this is actually not very likely), but on the whole they dare If you dare not speak out, this will be very beneficial for us to carry out the work in the next step."

"Hehe, the profiteers of the East India Company are also naive. They don't even look at where the Cape Town colony is, and how important its geographical location is. They are so naive as to think that we will return this colony in the subsequent negotiations. How is it possible? We have been coveting this place for many years, and the national policy of occupying all of South Africa is not in vain. At worst, in the future, at most, the port of Cape Town can be declared a permanent national security, and ships from all countries can freely The berth and supplies will relieve a lot of pressure, but I don’t believe that the United Provincial Government, which is deeply mired in war, can find any way to get it back to Cape Town.” Bai Yutang finally thought with a smile.

On April 1675, 4, after submitting the "clean version of the research report" in the Niuzhuang area to the Spanish ambassador, Baron Sebastian, and satisfied with the embarrassment on the ambassador's face, Assistant Bai Yutang finally After finishing his 24-year working career in the diplomatic and trade system, he officially received an order from the executive committee to appoint him as the commissioner of the Central Region of South Africa. "Inside, the future development prospects are gradually being optimistic by some people.

On May 1675, 5, Bai, who had finished packing his luggage, boarded a cargo ship belonging to the East African Shipping Company returning to Xinhua Port (stopping at Cape Town Port on the way), and after forty days of slashing through the waves After a long life, he arrived at the port of Cape Town, where the flag of the East Coast has been raised for a year, on June 1th.

After arriving here, he immediately sent his entourage to Hezhong County to make contact, and he planned to take a walk around Cape Town first to learn about all aspects of this special city under his rule, so that he could do something in the future. He knew it well, just like the research he had done in Niuzhuang Port area before.

At this time, there are still several Dutch merchant ships moored in the port of Cape Town, which are undergoing maintenance. They were all seized by the East Coasters in the previous war and have not yet entered the auction process. This time, the superiors demanded that these ships be returned to the original ships. Dong, and let them go, it made these people feel astonished and grateful.

Tranquility has basically been restored in the city.The Dutch residents should work and do business, but the situation of black slaves has not improved (because the people on the east coast require them to continue to work for at least five years before they can be free), they are still working in the plantations, and the whole city is in danger. It's like not having experienced any wars or changing rulers.

Of course, the above are just appearances. On May 5th, when the head of Guo Handong Guo returned from the east of Changqing County with a team of troops, he reminded people once again that the owner of this place has changed.

(End of this chapter)