Negotiations (2)

After several months of work, and finally reaching an agreement on various procedural issues, the negotiations could be considered to have entered a substantive phase. Then, well, the negotiations were interrupted for a few days due to weather. Then, after another month, the two sides finally made another breakthrough. The Britain politely escorted all the Netherlands people out of the city and assured the France and the Netherlands that all movable and immovable property they left in Cape Town would be respected after their arrival.

Relocating the peaceful inhabitants of the city was certainly in the interest of both the France and the Netherlands, and it would also reduce collateral damage during any future siege.

For the Britain, this approach wasn't bad. First, they didn't have to worry about the Netherlands backstabbing them while the fighting was intense. And driving these guys out—no, rather, sending them out politely—reduced the logistical burden on the city—you couldn't really let them all starve to death, could you?

Of course, the most important reason was that since the Britain had agreed to let the Netherlands civilians leave Cape Town, then according to the principle of reciprocity, the France and the Netherlands should also let the Britain civilians leave.

The France and the Netherlands agreed in principle to the Britain demands, but they argued endlessly over the details. These details, of course, referred to the various technical issues concerning how to evacuate the Britain civilians.

The Britain proposed that ships be sent from India to transport the Britain to India.

The France and the Netherlands vehemently opposed the plan, believing the Britain were actually trying to transport new troops to them via ships from India. They denounced the Britain for their lack of sincerity in negotiations and threatened an immediate attack. However, out of their love of peace, they ultimately let the matter drop.

However, the France offered a very creative counter-suggestion.

Philippe Treville said slowly, "We don't trust your ships, but your request to evacuate peaceful residents is in line with the spirit of the Paris Declaration. Therefore, we are willing to facilitate this in principle. I know that there are steam-powered port facilities in Cape Town, and therefore, there is coal to support their operation. As for us, I believe you know, we have two passenger-cargo steamships. These two ships are currently empty, and since they are idle anyway, you will need to provide some coal and transportation costs..."

"Then you'll use your ships to send our people to India?" Bona seemed quite interested in the suggestion.

"How is that possible?" Philippe Treville spread his hands. "From Cape Town to India, that's too far and too slow. We'll load your men onto the ship and then take you to a port in some neutral country on the east coast of Africa. Hmm, how about Maputo? It's a Portugal port. And for now, the Portugal are neutral in our war. Maputo is a relatively prosperous port, and it won't be long before they can board a ship to India. Then your men can go to India, although I think it's completely unnecessary. After you lose the war, you won't be able to hold onto India, and then we'll have to go through the trouble of sending you back to Europe from India —that's just too much trouble."

Philippe Treville's arrogant attitude was truly repulsive, Bona wanted to reject his proposal outright, but considering that directly rejecting the France's proposal would be a waste of time, he stood up and said:

"Regarding your countersuggestion, I cannot give you an immediate answer. I suggest we adjourn for two days before discussing this new suggestion."

Philippe Treville and Babel discussed it briefly and then agreed. Babel was somewhat anxious, but since the France weren't in a hurry, his anxiety wouldn't make a difference. Besides, after the unsuccessful attack on the fortress last time, no one was willing to take such a risk again. Moreover, Treville assured them that the Britain navy would not be able to break through the French Navy blockade and reappear on the battlefield.

So the peace talks were suspended once again, and everyone went to rest. Philippe Treville even went fishing at the beach. In short, the battlefield was filled with a dull peace.

Just as Philippe Treville was getting bored out of his mind, Leon Berthier found himself in a danger he had never imagined before.

The expedition team stipulated that everyone should apply mosquito repellent cream to exposed parts of their bodies every so often. According to research by the Academy of Sciences of Sciences, malaria, Africa's most dangerous infectious disease that sent countless colonists to heaven or hell, is caused by a tiny worm lurking in the blood, which is transmitted by those wretched mosquitoes.

So before entering the mountains, all the team members were tightly wrapped up, as Leon Berthier later put it. "Everyone wrapped themselves up like mummies."

Every day involves constant trekking, often requiring the use of machetes to clear paths through dense forests and mountains. The physical exertion is immense. Being wrapped up so tightly, like a mummy, naturally reduces the body's heat dissipation capacity, causing rapid energy depletion and significantly diminishing mobility.

Therefore, even François Guerrero, the academician in charge of the expedition, had to compromise and agree to allow everyone to expose more skin. However, he repeatedly emphasized that the exposed areas must be thoroughly coated with mosquito repellent.

These mosquito repellents are said to have been improved by the Academy of Sciences based on some indigenous people's secret recipes. Like those indigenous products, they have a pungent smell. However, their effectiveness is actually quite limited. It's likely that the local mosquitoes have long been accustomed to these products and have developed resistance.

As a result, Major Leon Berthier was bitten by mosquitoes a few times and contracted malaria, developing a fever. Fortunately, the expedition was prepared for malaria, a common disease in Africa. At that time, there was already a drug for malaria called cinchona bark, or quinine. Although quinine at that time was not the chemically synthesized, high-purity industrial product extracted and crystallized in later times, it was still a very primitive cinchona bark powder. However, precisely because of this, the production of quinine was very low, and because these drugs were strictly controlled by a few large corporate alliances, the price was quite high. For most malaria patients (mainly indigenous Africa), the cost of their lives was even less than the price of the drug.

This is certainly a tragedy if we still acknowledge that Black lives matter. However, as the saying goes, "misfortune may be a blessing in disguise," because quinine did not receive the widespread use it later in history, there was no situation where the vast majority of common malaria parasites had been screened by quinine. In other words, there was no drug resistance to quinine at that time. Therefore, quinine remained a miracle drug for malaria.

After using quinine, Major Leon Berthier's symptoms were somewhat relieved. A few hours later, the high fever subsided, and his headache lessened, but he was still weak all over. Fortunately, the exploration team had reached their destination and no longer needed to travel a long distance; they only needed to conduct exploration nearby.

Major Leon Berthier's illness lasted about a week. However, this did not affect the progress of the exploration. In fact, the day after he recovered, Academician François Guerrero sent someone to find him and tell him, "There has been an amazing discovery."

"Major, I have something to show you. It was just discovered this morning." François Guerreiro, a trainee academician, stood in the sun outside Major Leon Berthier's thatched hut, holding a cloth bag in one hand and beckoning to him.

Major Leon Berthier stepped out of the thatched hut. He had just recovered and was still weak. In addition, to keep mosquitoes away, Academician François Guerrero had people burn a lot of damp bundles of some unknown grass in the camp, making the whole camp smell smoky. So as soon as he came out, Major Leon Berthier couldn't help but cough violently.

"Academician, your smoke is too pungent." Major Leon Berthier.

"Ah, Major, this is the only way to keep those damned mosquitoes away. Hmm, you look good, you're recovering really quickly," said Academician François Guerreiro.

"Academician, what have you discovered?" Major Leon Berthier asked. When he saw the barely suppressed joy on the probationary academician's face, a guess formed in his mind, a guess that made his heart pound.

François Guerreiros, the intern academician, handed the cloth bag to Leon: "Take a look for yourself."

Leon reached out and took the cloth bag. As soon as the trainee academician let go, Leon felt a sudden weight in his hand.

"What is this?" Leon's heart pounded. With trembling hands, he opened the bag, and a large, strangely shaped object, full of holes, reflecting a brilliant golden light in the sunlight, appeared before him. The dazzling light made him dizzy and weak, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

"This is... this is..."

"This is a natural gold nugget," the trainee academician said.

Leon couldn't help but look around. This place was so desolate; if someone else saw the gold and got greedy, suddenly... and then he took this large piece of gold, changed his name, and ran off to the Far East, that would be truly...

However, when this happened again, everyone was already prepared. The higher-ups promised that any gold discovered during the exploration would be divided equally among everyone, considered as their legitimate income. Moreover, the soldiers in this company were specially selected; they all had wives and children. With everyone legally and equally entitled to their share of the gold, the likelihood of these guys having malicious intentions was greatly reduced.

In fact, after the gold nugget was placed into the prepared large box and locked in the presence of the major, the probationary academician, and all the soldiers and staff, no fighting or fratricide occurred. The number of people remaining in the camp doubled each day simply to guard the box.

Another effect was that everyone's attitude towards this expedition and exploration changed, becoming much more enthusiastic than at the beginning. In the first few days, nothing was found, and many soldiers were quite resentful, even hoping to end this "exploration and exploration" as soon as possible. But now, apart from the soldiers guarding the gold nugget in the camp, the other soldiers wished they could search for the gold nugget 24 hours a day—after all, everyone gets a share if they find it.

It seems the trainee academicians have shifted their focus and are genuinely paying attention to plants and animals. In his words, he's now doing some personal work for himself.

However, in the days that followed, they never found another piece of natural gold as large as this nugget. Nevertheless, they continued to discover other veins and found some smaller pieces of gold. If it weren't for their lack of mining tools, and the discovery of large-scale Zulu activity nearby, making it unsafe for both people and gold to remain, they would likely have suggested exploring for several more months.

However, the Zulu spears and shields painted with snakes and lions convinced everyone that they would leave in order to return to France and enjoy the gold.