Hugo Cornelis left the East Bank capital disappointed.

Before leaving, he met with Hieronymus at the Dutch embassy on the east coast. He has also lived on the East Coast for many years, and although he often frequents the Dutch diaspora, his lifestyle and behavior patterns still inevitably bear many East Coast imprints. For example, he now likes to listen to East Coast opera, likes to ride horses and hunt on the grassland, likes to go to Penglai restaurant in Qingdao to eat, etc., in addition to some ways of thinking about problems, looking at things, etc., the Dutch taste of Ambassador Hieronymus is getting weaker and weaker, so that even Hugo can see it.

Ambassador Hieronymus had a long conversation with Hugo, and he said that he had also received diplomatic instructions from his own country, and that he would try to negotiate with the top level of the East Bank Government in the next period of time to see if he could change the mind of the East Bank Government and let them join the Dutch side. Of course, he also made it clear that now that the French ambassador is also moving around in three days, and the special geographical location of the east coast makes everyone dare not ignore it - the matter of who is open and who is not open to the Cape Town Freeport is already very serious - so the competitive pressure is particularly strong, and many things may not be possible.

Hugo Cornelis understands this. As one of the leading descendants of a well-known business family in Zeeland, he naturally has some knowledge of the current situation on the continent. France is really the Netherlands, and there is a fundamental difference in "values", for example, in the previous series of actions to encroach on the border territory, this country actually agreed to a fairly preferential tariff rate in order to stabilize the United Provinces; For example, after improving relations with the East Coast, they lowered the tariff rates on dozens of goods in one go, and in the end, they even gave the East Coast, a major exporting country, the average tariff level of other countries.

To be honest, these trade concessions could not have been made by the Dutch, let alone their style. These businessmen, who don't know how to grow their brains, regard small money as more important than anything else, and the French pounce on it and lick it as soon as they throw out some benefits. Even if the Prince of Orange had always looked down on the French, he could not go against the aspirations of most of the country's merchant community. To put it in jest, the Dutch would rather not expand their territory than to ensure the continuation of their commercial interests, which is the disposition of the good to give up.

Compared to them, the French, although they also love money, seem to love land a little more. Their king, Louis XIV, in particular, had been working for two things for many years, namely, spreading his fame and expanding the territory of the country. Look at his accomplishments after his own conquest, which was to the northeast to occupy large swathes of the South Netherlands, and also annexed Luxembourg and parts of German territory; the annexation of Franche-Comté, Alsace and Lorraine, the Free City of Strasbourg in the east; The southeast annexed a number of small castles and towns on the border with Italy; In the south, the annexation of many lands, including Roussilon, drove the power of the Kingdom of Spain south of the Pyrenees, making the mountain range a natural dividing line between the two countries.

All in all, the foundation of the hexagonal land area of later France (relative to the rest of Central and Western Europe) was laid at this time. The country's attachment to the land is still quite terrible, so it has caused a unanimous panic in the surrounding countries and is trying to contain them. Regardless, the French eventually succeeded in digesting most of the land they had eaten and turning it into their core. From this point of view, the Dutch, who value monetary interests, have fallen into inferiority, because they are inferior to France in terms of land area and population, and they are destined to become a great power after the advent of the industrial age.

After leaving Orient County, Hugo Cornelis sailed to the coast of Eastern Brazil to inspect the area and see where it was appropriate to invest in plantations. Having said that he had been tossing around on the East Coast for so long, he finally had time to do his own work, and the West India Company was indeed a little unbearable after seeing others making a lot of money, so it was inevitable to build a new plantation on the East Coast enclosure.

While Hugo Cornelius was carefully inspecting the coast of Brazil, Ma Wenqiang, chairman of the East Coast Executive Committee, also summoned Major General Li Zemin, chief of the General Staff of the Military Department, who had just finished inspecting the work of "suppressing bandits" in the southern cone, to discuss with him the current situation on the European continent and how the people on the east coast should fish in this pool of troubled waters.

"The situation? In fact, there is nothing to say, the European continent is bound to fight, there is no need to have any doubt about this. Major General Li Zemin, who was wearing a military uniform, lit a cigarette and said with a serious face: "It just so happens that I have just read an intelligence report about France, which was written by the intelligence officer of the military police command who has been paying attention to the military forces of European countries, which mentions the dragoon movement in France, which has killed many Protestants, and there is a risk of religious war, if there is interference from external forces." ”

And the so-called dragoon movement, in fact, to put it bluntly, is just the persecution and oppression of Protestants by French soldiers. According to French tradition, the army was allowed to stay in the homes of ordinary people, and all food and drink were provided by the people. Louis XIV's favorite vassal Loire suggested to him that if any Huguenots converted to Catholicism, his family would be exempted from garrisoning. At the same time, with the acquiescence of the upper echelons, the middle and lower rank officers instigated the soldiers living in the Huguenots' homes to cause trouble, and they began to commit misdeeds, which progressed to adultery and plunder, and the Huguenots suffered unspeakably.

And when the matter was reported to Louis XIV, he only lightly reprimanded the generals of the two dragoons who had gone too far, and did not even dismiss him, what kind of punishment was this? As a result, more and more generals joined in this political speculation, and the Huguenots were so annoyed that many were forced to pretend to be converted, and of course many Huguenots chose to flee to other countries.

Louis XIV saw this situation and realized that the Kingdom of France was now almost entirely Catholic (only 1.5 million Huguenots out of a population of more than 20 million), which was very different from the situation of 1598 when Protestants were everywhere, so there was no need to be tolerant of those Protestants, so he openly announced the abolition of the Edict of Nantes a few months earlier, and the Huguenots in France were suddenly in ruin.

The above news has just spread to the east coast, and Cornelius and other Dutch may not know about it, and Ma Wenqiang certainly doesn't know either. After listening to Li Zeminyi's retelling, I suddenly felt that the French were really crazy and crazy, so what good is it to mess up their own country like this? You must know that although the number of Huguenots is small, many of them are merchants, craftsmen, artists and other professions, and their social wealth and influence cannot be underestimated. Colbert feared that excessive persecution of the Huguenots could lead to a significant decline in France's foreign trade revenues, due to their high proportion of trade and commerce.

So, these people actually belong to the French elite. What is the difference between persecuting them and the expulsion of the Moors by the Spaniards several times? Although France has a big family, it cannot afford to toss and turn like this, and if these Huguenots slip away to the United Provinces or France, the French will be really in trouble.

"So, war between France and the Netherlands is inevitable?" Ma Wenqiang also lit a cigarette and said in a muffled voice.

"It's more than 90 percent." Li Zemin shook his head and said: "As long as the French do not stop their own expansion, I think it is impossible to stop this war." The Dutch government is actually aware of this, you see, they are now running to the Southern New World to win over manpower, doesn't that show their determination? ”

"The Dutchman was wrong. If we do join their camp, we will be able to make the French East India Company unable to use the port of Cape Town freely, and most of the business in the Far East will be lost. Does this hurt the French a lot? No, don't be funny, the French don't frown, their main source of wealth is the vast arable farmland and the country's population of more than 20 million, not overseas trade at all. Ma Wenqiang spit out the circles in his eyes and said worriedly.

"So, President Ma, my suggestion is that our country wait and see for the time being and not rush to join either side. Wait until the situation is a little clearer, and then make a decision based on the situation. Li Zemin said. When he said this, he was actually the tone of a scheming politician, not a military general who likes to fight - of course, the chief of the general staff of the military department is not a pure military man strictly speaking, and the attributes of a politician are indeed a lot more.

"It's right not to rush to show your attitude." After thinking for a while, Ma Wenqiang nodded lightly and said, "Now the trade volume between the Kingdom of France and us is rising, and this country with the second largest population in continental Europe is already an important customer of East Coast goods. I think everyone is very clear about the benefits of this. It's ridiculous that this Dutchman doesn't give any substantial benefits, and just wants us to be cannon fodder for them, which is ridiculous to think about. Aren't they afraid that we will enter into a direct alliance with the French? That would be an unspeakable disaster for their overseas trade, for the French East India Company and the United Provinces East India Company were not the same thing at all. The French can afford to lose, but the Dutch can't! ”

Li Ze*min nodded with a smile when he heard this, and then added: "In the future, we have more choices, and there are many conditions to mention. For the sake of our country's overseas interests, it is very important that we choose an appropriate time to intervene in the war. Whoever gives us good conditions will join whomever we want, of course, this alliance object is better to be the Dutch. ”