There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests!

In the 17th century, although it was more than two centuries before British Prime Minister Palmerston said this sentence in the 19th century, in the 17th century, this sentence was the foundation of Ming diplomacy, especially when dealing with Europeans.

While Pepis and Xiong were in secret talks in London, where they were negotiating on loans, interest, mortgages, and leases, another secret diplomacy was taking place on a French estate.

Li Long, who was the envoy of the Ming Emperor, was receiving a Dutch guest. However, the Dutch guest did not represent the Netherlands, but the parliamentarian Bawert, who represented the speaker of the Dutch parliament, Johann de Witt.

"Congressman Bawert, I can't imagine that we will be able to meet in France at this sensitive time."

Li Long, who was wearing a Ming official robe, stretched his voice and said to Bao Weirt opposite.

"I would like to congratulate your country on your victory at Great Britain, which is undoubtedly the most glorious victory in the history of world naval warfare."

In the face of the congratulations of the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, Bauwert couldn't help but be stunned, he didn't show anything unusual because of the other party's praise, but in his heart, he was still a little puzzled, after all, now the Netherlands and the Ming Dynasty are hostile relations, and the Ming Dynasty has taken away too many colonies belonging to the Netherlands.

"Our victory in Europe has not changed the reality of the occupation of the East Indies by your country, Your Excellency Special Envoy, does the Ming really think that at this special moment, the Netherlands will not have the strength to regain what belongs to us?"

There was discontent, even some hostility, in Bauvelt's tone, that perhaps the Netherlands had won the war with the British, but the Netherlands had lost a lot, even the spices that were most important to the Netherlands.

"Your Excellency, don't say that, the East Indies are the East Indies in your mouth, but for the Ming Dynasty, it is the vassal kingdom of the Ming Dynasty, which has been the territory of the Celestial Empire hundreds of years ago, and we, as the real masters there, are just free up and take it back."

"After freeing your hands? So, have you ever considered that the Netherlands also has a day after freeing up its hands? You see, our fleet has blocked the Thames, and soon, London will make concessions at the negotiating table, and at that time, our Admiral de Knight will be able to pull away and turn his sights in the other direction, after all, the British no longer have the strength to threaten the Netherlands, and their fleet will already be heavily damaged, at least for the next few years! The Netherlands don't even need to think about their threat! ”

There was a warning in Bauvelt's words, since de Knight's surprise attack on England, this admiral was the hero of the Netherlands, the most famous admiral in all of Europe, and naturally, it became his bargaining chip, and of course, the Dutch fleet.

"Oh, my friend, indeed, Admiral de Knight will be able to pull away, but I wonder how long the Netherlands will be able to hold out in the time that follows."

Li Long asked casually, his rhetorical question made Bauweert frown, maybe after the Anglo-Dutch war ended, de Knight could pull away, and so could the Dutch fleet, but the Netherlands no longer had the strength to fight another war, especially a war that required a voyage to Asia.

"And Britain may not agree to an armistice now!"

In the face of Li Long's directness, Bawert no longer beat around the bush. But I heard him speak to the other party quite bluntly.

"Neither your occupation of the East Indies nor your support for Great Britain has seriously hurt the interests of the Netherlands, which will not help the future between our two countries."

"The future? If you want to talk about the future, then we can start talking about it now, but when it comes to the ownership of the East Indies and other regions, the Ming will not make any concessions. ”

Li Long said in an aggressive posture.

"Your Excellency, you may have misunderstood what I meant. I have not come to discuss with you the belonging of the East Indies and other regions. We need to think about the future, you say? ”

At this point, Bawert added meaningfully.

"It's like you're sending people to London for that purpose, isn't it?"

What kind of purpose?

It doesn't matter.

Importantly, the Netherlands needs to win! The Netherlands needed victory in this war.

So, for the sake of victory in the war, some price can be paid. And what is the price of this cost?

As the Speaker of the Dutch Parliament, Johann de Witte knows all too well what the Netherlands will have to pay.

"There is simply no way to continue this war now, the reason why the British are unable to carry out this war is because their finances have collapsed, and we are not in much better position than them, and even if the war goes on for a few more months, our finances will collapse and we will lose everything in this war, and the British ......"

Looking at Gao Nayi, John DeWitt said helplessly.

"They have found an ally, the Ming people, who will not only provide them with huge economic aid, but may also send their fleet, which is why the British are unwilling to make concessions at the negotiating table, if the war continues, every month of delay, our difficulties will be, so now our only choice is to negotiate with the Ming people."

"However, the Ming Kingdom occupied the East Indies and occupied almost all the Dutch colonies east of the Cape of Good Hope, even if we negotiated and lost the East Indies and lost the spice trade, then what did the Netherlands gain in this war?"

As John's younger brother, Gourney de Witte naturally sided with his brother, but it seemed to him that such negotiations were extremely risky, after all, it was difficult for the Netherlands to gain anything through negotiations, and John replied at once when his words lagged behind.

"Time!"

After spitting out these two words, John continued,

"We can get time, the war may stop, but the war will go on as well, only this time we can't get what we need, but after the armistice, we can unite with the Spaniards and form a new alliance, my brother, now that the British have established their alliance, if we can't convince the Ming to withdraw from this alliance, then all this will eventually turn into a catastrophe."

As John's words fell, Gao continued.

"But if we negotiate, it will also be a disaster for us, after all, if we negotiate with the Ming Kingdom and cannot take back the East Indies, then the parliamentarians of the Ozhilan faction will drive us down!"

The Ozhilans mentioned by Gao Nayi are the faction that supports the Prince of Ozhilan, they advocate the establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and in this war, the mentality of the Ozhilans is complicated, they want the Netherlands to win, but they also want to lose, if they lose, they can take the opportunity to overthrow the parliament, and the Prince of Ozhilan can become the ruler of the Netherlands again, and the Netherlands will become a kingdom again. Gao Nayi had to consider this factor, after all, he knew a lot about the Ozhilan faction.

"Of course they will, my brother, but do we have any more options for the Netherlands?"

Shaking his head, John said helplessly.

"What we must see is that now for the Netherlands, there is no more, better option, if we can not end the war now, then, the war will become more and more unfavorable to the Netherlands, if the war drags on for half a year, the Ming fleet may reach the British, by that time, we will not even have the funds to continue this war, we will have to be like the British, and even have to cede the colonies in exchange for peace with the Ming people."

The spies in London had already passed the negotiations between England and the Ming to the Netherlands, and even the terms of the negotiations, and John had learned that the British, in order to gain the support of the Ming Kingdom, had decided to make huge concessions, and on the colonial question, they would agree to the conditions of the Ming Kingdom,

"Shall we not cede the land now?"

Gao Naiyi asked rhetorically.

"If we had cut the land like the British, then the Ozhilandites would have overthrown all this at once! They would never agree to cede the East Indies to the Ming people, and without the Spice Islands, there would be no more Holland! ”

"Without spices, there is no trade! Instead of the East Indies, cede ......"

Shaking his head, John retorted to his brother's point of view before continuing.

"It's impossible, I will never cede the land of the Netherlands, but we can negotiate with the Ming people in another way to get them to accept our terms, what are our terms?"

After a pause, John looked at Gao Naiyi and said.

"Trade, now we need to negotiate with the Ming people on trade issues, we need to restore trade, only in this way, can we restore the Dutch economy, and then, we can have enough financial resources to carry out the next war, but our negotiations are only limited to trade, and will not negotiate on the status of the East Indies, but we need to create a false appearance, this false appearance, is to make the Ming people realize that we are willing to make concessions on the East Indies issue, of course, not now! Let them know that we are reluctant only because of the situation, but we can admit certain facts, such as the fact that they occupy, and we can acquiesce to all this, but it has to make them make a commitment! ”

Staring at Gao Nayi, John said in an extremely serious tone.

"They must promise that they will never send a fleet to support the British, and even if there is the problem of borrowing, they must also make some flexible adjustments!"