Gao Wengang once came to United Province.

Since the relationship between the East and Holland countries became colder and the East Coast Special Envoy to Europe moved out of Amsterdam, Gao Wengang has not come to this European economic hot land for some years. This time, he quickly dealt with the affairs of the Ottoman Empire, and returned to Cadiz with Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun of the Black Sea Detachment. He had to make a decision on many things in the United Provinces. Especially those soldiers were extremely domineering and acted fiercely, and did not consider the consequences, he had to keep an eye on them.

Therefore, after staying in Cadiz for a few days and dealing with some affairs related to Spain and Italy, he set off for the Netherlands. On the way, he stayed in Lisbon for three days and had a secret talk with King Pedro II of Portugal, focusing on the ownership of the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands and other economic cooperation. This time, the eastern coast naval and army advanced into the lowlands, and all the supplies were purchased in Portugal, greatly energizing the economy of this former pioneer country and leading Portugal to smile.

At the same time, the mighty East Coast fleet also shocked the Portuguese. Once upon a time, the East Coast Navy fought with the Kingdom of Portugal. Although they were strong at that time, they were not as strong as the Portuguese despair. But the fleet that came this time really shocked the top leaders of this small Iberian country. They could not resist such a fleet! Perhaps only England and the United Provinces might come forward to compete, but they would have to pay a huge price, and they might not be able to win.

This cruel understanding made the Portuguese more and more sober and respectful. Their King Pedro brought all the civil and military officials of the court to receive Gao Wengang in his palace. According to rumors, Pedro II invited many well-known scholars and artists to attend, and used 10% of the royal family's annual expenses, which shows how grand the scene was.

In the secret talks, Gao Wengang affirmed the relevant policies of the Kingdom of Portugal, saying that the East Coast Republic still respects the friendly relations between the two countries as always, and said that the Kingdom of Portugal is a "firm ally" of the East Coast in Europe. In the future, the relationship between the two countries can be further improved, and the East Portugal can be promoted and developed together.

After leaving several entourages to discuss the Cape Verde Islands and trade affairs with the Portuguese, Special Envoy Gowen arrived at the Port of Bruges under the escort of two Portuguese naval warships, and then rushed to The Hague day and night by land, and moved into the residence arranged for him by Van Boyningen.

Van Boyningen has been in high spirits these days, and has been constantly receiving representatives of the provinces, either winning promises, intimidating, or moving them with emotion. In short, he is making every effort to stabilize the situation in the provinces and let the will of the republicans cover every corner of the seven provinces. For example, he made clear to the representatives from the two major regions of Limburg-Brabant and Drente that if they support the third-level parliament, he will consider giving political power to the people of these two regions in the future and no longer being represented by other provinces, that is, he intends to give these two de facto provinces a complete political entity status and transform the seven provinces into nine provinces.

There is no doubt that Van Boyningen's promise made the representatives of the two places happy. It is pitiful that after the United Province seized these areas, the locals have been treated as second-class citizens for many years. The most typical of these is undoubtedly that they have no voting rights in the parliament: the old land of Limburg-Brabant was represented by Utrecht, the Drente area sometimes was voted by Utrecht, and sometimes was voted by Groningen or Friesland. The locals could not do anything in various affairs, and it was also hard.

This time, when the situation in the United Provinces was turbulent and the people were unstable, the Republicans planned to formally give these two regions with a small population a certain number of people to absorb them into the alliance of seven provinces (it was previously said to be in an occupation state). Van Boyningen believes that these two new provinces will surely become important supporters of the Republicans in the future, allowing them to better control the country and dilute the opposition forces of the three northern provinces.

The East Coast advisers were not very clear about the inside story, but they appreciate Van Boyningen's decision. Now, it is necessary to use all the tricks to deal with the Orange faction, and any little strength is very critical. If the people of these two provinces are grateful, then this is indeed a very good political deal.

Gao Wengang arrived in The Hague on December 30. Lieutenant Yang Chengdong, the son of Yang Liang, rushed to the hotel to meet him immediately and brought him a lot of new news. Yang Chengdong told Gao Wengang that Dutch veteran Van Marberg led more than 25,000 soldiers (including mercenaries and troops drawn by nearby towns) to approach Nijmegen. The army set out from Amsterdam also posed a threat to Nijmegen from the flank, not to mention the uncooperative attitude of Nijmegen City and nearby Dutch militias.

In short, this mercenary invited by William III from Germany is now in a great crisis. William III has already gone to Britain, and no one has paid for the next quarter, and the surrounding towns are full of hostile Dutch troops. The local Dutch militia in Nijmegen has also changed their attitude, and the frequency of distributing supplies has been greatly reduced. Some small-scale conflicts broke out between the two sides, but fortunately no casualties have been killed or killed.

These Germans were not blind, so they naturally knew that the United Provinces had changed now, and their fate might be a little bad, so they were very anxious. Seeing that the Republicans had won a phased victory and initially integrated various forces, they had dispatched troops from the west and south directions, forming a semi-encirclement trend against them. In addition, tens of thousands of temporary Dutch militias have recently appeared in the Drente area in the east, which made them feel even more anxious, and many people were tempted to retreat.

Especially recently, something that touched their sensitive nerves in my hometown has come, that is, the French sent some makeup cavalry into the Rhine River Basin to conduct illegal reconnaissance activities. Many people say that this is the prelude to the French launching a war, and the Holy Roman Empire is once again facing a life-and-death crisis. Therefore, many people are asking Shangguan to give up this intervention that has become increasingly dangerous, and the entire army withdraws back to Germany.

The officers were in a dilemma. They were hired by William III. If they were withdrawn in the middle, they would lose a lot of credibility and would probably not be able to take on other people's business in the future. But on the other hand, the employment payment paid by William III was only until late this month. According to the agreement, the other party should pay the next quarter's fees half a month in advance. But now it is obvious that it is impossible. Everyone has gone to the UK and has no time to pay attention to the matter here, in fact, they can't even pay attention to it. There are the East Coast Navy and some Dutch Navy on the sea, and the British Parliament will not be able to allocate funds for him for the time being, so these Germans are destined to be out of stock.

The officers had thought of plundering surrounding towns and obtaining supplies and military expenses by themselves. However, there were a large number of Dutch militias in Nijmegen (they were "alliers", but now the Netherlands has changed, and the militias have also undergone great divisions, and many people tend to support the parliament). There are still 40,000 to 50,000 people eyeing each other. They really dare not do too much, so as not to be unable to pass the qualifiers when they are liquidated in the future.

They had thought of fighting a battle and defeating the three Dutch troops around them. But the problem is that these Dutch people were not mud-made, and their guns were not fire sticks. They had faced the French head-on, and their combat effectiveness could not be said to be high, but they could not be said to be too bad. But what about them? The morale was low, the morale was unstable, the financial owners even cut off their wages, and various living and military supplies were also in short supply. Therefore, they really had no confidence to defeat the Dutch army, which was two or three times their own, on the Dutch land. This was too fantasy.

Therefore, these German mercenaries are really confused now and don’t know what to do. But the Dutch did not intend to give them a chance to think carefully. They gathered large troops and came from different directions. The troops of Friesland and Groningen, which originally supported Prince Orange, were silent now. They only secretly sent some supplies to these German mercenaries so that they would not go hungry, and then they never appeared again, which made them even more disappointed.

Lieutenant Yang Chengdong believed that these German mercenaries were not very determined. They were summoned by William III's money. Although there were also many opinions from their lords, the problem was that they were cold now, they were out of pay, insufficient supplies, and had no food or clothing. Who would have done their life with the vague instructions of the lord?

Gao Wengang agreed with this. He felt that at this time, Van Boyningen only needed to send a smart and capable messenger to Nijmegen with a large amount of money to negotiate with the Germans, that is, to give them a severance fee, and then allow them to "submit gloriously" and return to Germany. I believe this is a condition that both sides can accept, and it is nothing more than the offer.

As for Friesland, where members of the Orange family are often active, the two provincial capitals of Groningen paid money and sent troops to fight with them against the third-level parliament that had already received response from most regions, it was purely overthinking. As long as they could not afford to pay, they were doomed to be unable to summon mercenaries. How can employed mercenaries without money? Now that William III has gone to England to wander, the domestic regime has fallen, how can they embezzle funds?

Gao Wengang believed that the IQ of the guys of the Republicans would not have been unexpected. The reason why they made military pressure was probably to cooperate with the envoys to negotiate and reduce the enemy's asking price. As for money, the Republicans were still relatively rich in money, which was due to their basic plan. They gave 50,000 600,000 ruts of severance payment and allowed them to leave with weapons and equipment. The matter was almost understood. The Dutch tried this kind of money to disperse the enemy's army during the French-Dutch War last time. At that time, they dispersed the 30,000 troops attacked by Bishop Munster and successfully used silver bullet offensive to resolve the crisis of multi-line combat. Of course, this successful experience must be greatly promoted.

On December 31, Van Boyningen met with Gao Wengang in his office. It can be seen that he was in a good mood. As soon as he met, he gave Gao Wengang a warm hug, and then took the initiative to propose a significant reduction in the trade tariff rates between the East and the Netherlands and strengthen trade cooperation between the two countries.

Gao Wengang expressed his great satisfaction with this. The East Coast people worked hard to provide advice for the Republicans. Isn’t that what they did? During the years when William III was on stage, although the Republicans had been working hard to restore the trade level between the two countries, the resistance was always great. William III, the guy who tried his best to give in to Britain and squeeze out the market share of East Coast goods, was very annoying. Now Van Boyningen "remedy the trouble" and gave the business to the East Coast people. That was really great, and it was not in vain that the East Coast people were trying to make trouble for him.

In addition, Van Boyningen also proposed to carry out deeper cooperation with the East Coast Republic of China in the military field. Originally, the United Province imported a large number of British weapons, which were of low cost performance, and William III was the King of England (it was a foregone conclusion). The arms trade is likely to have twists and turns, so it will not turn decisively. When will it wait?

The military cooperation agreement proposed by the Dutch was naturally not just a weapon transaction. In fact, after seeing the high morale and skillful combat skills of the East Coast Army, the Dutch also proposed to hire some East Coast Army officers and soldiers to help them train the army. This was proposed by the East Coast intelligence officials, and the Republicans recognized it and then formally requested Gao Wengang.

Of course, Mr. Gao would not refuse such a good thing, so he agreed readily. Afterwards, the two sides talked about machine imports and financial cooperation, and overall they were very pleasant. Gao Wengang estimated that if these were implemented one by one in the future, it would be conservatively estimated that the trade volume of more than 2 million yuan could be increased by one year, and there was still a strong room for improvement in the future, which was indeed very good.

The trade volume of 2 million yuan is all purchased from the East Coast, which is crucial to the improvement of the industrial technology level of the East Coast. After all, without a consumer market, where will your company get technological progress? Is it all based on the country? Sorry, that is unrealistic and unscientific. The country can dig two million or even three to four million gold and silver mines, but this is useless for industrial technology, enterprise management improvement, and related talent training. Without consumers buying things, market feedback on commodity performance, and fierce competition among peers, the industrial technology and enterprise management of this country cannot be effectively improved.

Therefore, the market is very important. This is not only a profit factor, but also involves a whole set of things. Once you figure this out, you can understand why people in the East Coast are so persistent in obtaining the market.

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 proposed by the Dutch government, that is, to reissue their 600,000 rupees of severance, and at the same time allocated a batch of food, cold clothes and quilts, and then withdrew from the United Provinces and returned to their homes. At this point, a possible civil war was eliminated and the situation in the United Provinces was completely determined. The Oranges of Friesland and Groningen, the iron-core members of the Orange provinces could no longer make a fortune without money, power, and foreign aid. The United Republic of the Netherlands entered a new era!
Chapter completed!