Branzen left Amsterdam that very afternoon—he still had all the materials he had used when surrendering to France, so there was almost nothing he needed to prepare.
Less than three hours after he set out, Kan Peilun submitted his resignation to the Dutch Parliament, and without waiting for parliament to approve it, he boarded a ship the next day and fled to the United Kingdom.
Speaker Dandels used the excuse that he might have to lead troops to resist the Flemings' invasion and flatly refused to accept the post of Prime Minister.
In the end, Minister of Finance Vibo Feynje had no choice but to step into the post at short notice and become the Dutch interim Prime Minister.
Another day passed, and Branzen, who had gone to negotiate a ceasefire, returned.
He had not gone very far before he ran into Sean Hayes at Tiel on the northern bank of the Waal River.
In truth, there had been no negotiation process at all. He had merely returned with the ceasefire terms Sean Hayes had proposed.
In the parliament building, Branzen was lowering his head as he repeated the Flemings' demands to the interim Prime Minister:
"...Aside from recognizing the Flemish Republic and ceding the three southern provinces to them, they also demand that our country's standing army not exceed thirty thousand men, and that cannon not exceed forty pieces...
"Our country's colonies in the Far East must open their markets to the Flemish Republic and may not levy tariffs..."
Branzen swallowed and said with difficulty:
"And, War Reparations... they want thirty million Dutch Guilders..."
The veins at Feynje's temples instantly throbbed.
Right now, he simply wanted to beat the version of himself from the day before yesterday half to death. Why had he taken over as this interim Prime