On March 16, 1679, after waiting for a long time in Madrid, Gao Gang, the plenipotentiary of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, finally received news from the palace: King Carlos was about to receive him. At this time, Gao Gang was writing a work report to the local area in his residence, a report on the recent situation of Spain.

"...The number of times Spain's own ships sailed through the old and new continents has decreased by 75% in the 80 years of this world. Spain's once very prosperous shipbuilding industry also suffered low competitiveness due to economic collapse, high inflation and lack of local timber. This year, the construction of large warships has gradually shifted to the Havana shipyard in the Galle Sea. Correspondingly, although the shipbuilding industry in the United Province has declined from its peak, it is still arrogant and unrivaled in terms of scale; England relies on the booming steel industry and machinery processing industry in China,

The textile industry, as well as the rising trade in the East (trade with Russia and the Baltic), has led to a rapid rise in shipbuilding. Whether in London, Portsmouth, Novi or Bristol, there are considerable shipbuilding industries, especially in London. The development of shipbuilding in the Kingdom of France is the product of national policies and monarchy, but it is undeniable that it has developed at a rapid pace. Colbert's investigation of "heavy ships" and Louis XIV's naval shipbuilding plan have injected strong momentum into the country's shipbuilding industry, making its development speed stand out in the whole of Europe."

"...Cordoba, Valencia, Seville and other places once had a large-scale handicraft industry and was famous for it, but it has declined sharply for more than a hundred years to almost non-existence. Strong inflation, 14% trading tax and various taxes collected by the emperor's servants have greatly hit the Spanish handicraft industry, making the country's industry extremely weak, and the market has become a paradise for foreign goods. The road conditions are not bad, and transportation is almost in its original stage, needless to say, and large-scale repairs.

The railways and national highway system have been built, and my country's ministers are not as good as those of England and France. These transportation disadvantages have further aggravated the crisis of local industrial products in Spain, that is, their residents can have a very cheap price for various overseas supplies, even grains, at a very cheap price in the coastal or trade ports. Of course, this is when they still have extra money in their pockets. In the past two years, the Spanish have no choice but to start spinning and weaving fabrics themselves, instead of simply exporting wool as they used to."

"...The people's living standards are generally low, which has forced countless Spanish people to give up their homes, ranches, shops and workshops. In the end, even the country has abandoned them and began to seek opportunities overseas. This is not their fault, because it is difficult for them to maintain a certain level of life and have to choose to immigrate overseas. A considerable number of them immigrated to France, and many immigrated to New Spain or Peru. Because of this wave of immigration, the population of Spanish territory in the Old World has always been weak. Sevilla, Toledo, Burgues, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Naples, Milan, Bruges, Antwerp, Lorraine and other big cities have lost a lot of their population in recent decades. The population of Madrid, the capital of Spain, has dropped from 400,000 to 200,000. This country seems to be terminally ill."

"...As poverty rampant, the Spanish nobles and courts were constantly plundering and squandering wealth. For a long time, the nobles had been rich by exploiting the indigenous peoples of the New World or importing the specialties of the New World, or maintaining profits through commercial investments in cooperation with foreign merchants. There is no doubt that although the government and people of this country were poor, these top Hidalgos were very wealthy. They often fought for wealth with gold, jewelry and art, and their residences were gorgeous and elegant, with luxury and exquisite decorations. When they entered and left, they formed a group of servants, forming a distinctive confrontation with the lives of ordinary citizens, merchants and even lower aristocrats. For example, the Duke of Elva had 7,200 golds.

Silver vessels and 9,600 silver vessels; Prince Sdigrano used gold and coral to make seats for his wife. The seats were so heavy that they could not be used, but they didn't care. Oh, by the way, the church seemed richer and more wealthy, because not only ordinary poor people would seek spiritual comfort in their suffering, but even merchants and nobles had a large number of donations to the church before their death. The church held huge amounts of money but did not invest in reproduction, but simply acquired land and pastures, and sometimes broke through the pope's ban to get private loans. This seemed to be a major reason for the economic difficulties of the Kingdom of Spain."

When writing this, the secretary came over to tell him what King Carlos agreed to receive. Gao Gang let out a sigh of relief. After the ink was dry, he carefully took back the briefcase and planned to continue writing after coming back.

King Carlos' half-brother, Prince Don Juan Jose, sent a team of gorgeously dressed cavalry to greet him, and sent them to a newly built palace on the west bank of the river, waiting for the king's summons.

Gao Gang took the opportunity to take a lot of this palace and found that all the materials were valuable. The bricks should be high-quality strip bricks imported from the Netherlands, the stones may be high-quality bluestone imported from Portugal, and the wood may come from the Baltic Sea, and of course, the larger ones may be from the Galle Sea. The interior of the palace is very exquisite, with famous paintings, sculptures and other artworks displayed in an orderly manner. The ground and walls are all top-notch blankets imported from the Ottoman Empire, plus some gold and silver utensils and coral jewelry, the whole palace looks magnificent and noble, and this is just a palace for guests. I really don’t know what other palaces look like.

Moreover, on the way he came, Gao Gang also found a large palace nearby, so he suddenly felt a very strong confusion. Does the Spanish Kingdom still have money? The people's lives are so difficult, the government is in debt, and the royal family is still building big projects and spending money like soil. Is this really good?

In the end, Gao Gang could only accept helplessly that the Spanish aristocrats and royal families were rich, while the people and governments had no money. At this time, he also remembered that the biggest profit of the seemingly famous Potosie Mint was from the Habsburg royal family, and the income belonging to the country was actually not that much. This may explain the dilemma of the Spanish Kingdom from another perspective.

Two people who finally met Gao Gang were King Carlos and Prince Don Juan. The latter had just launched a court coup last year, driving away the former regent Queen Mother Anna and sent him to the monastery to imprison him. He had positions in the Privy Council and the army and became the most powerful person in Madrid.

"We will soon start a peace talk with the Kingdom of France." Gao Gang, who was still organizing the wording, immediately heard King Carlos's shocking words.

Then, Prince Don Juan, who was standing next to the king, whispered the origin. It turned out that the United Provincial Special Envoy, who had lived with Gao Gang in the State Guesthouse, also came to persuade the Spaniards to negotiate as soon as possible. It seemed that it was instructed by the government and parliament. Under his persuasion, the Spaniards seemed to be less resistant to the French peace talks.

Gao Gang didn't know what they were talking about, but if you think about it carefully, it was nothing more than threats and inducements. The current situation was that the French won a great victory on the Eastern and Northern lines, and in addition, they also gained considerable advantages in Italy. The local nobles even heard the independence of the French, so the situation of the Spaniards was quite bad. It is estimated that the Dutch envoy promised King Carlos to help them save the wealthy Southern Netherlands, and ceded Francheconte and Lorraine (the King of Lorraine Carlos did not have much interest) to the French, and at the same time asked the French to withdraw from the occupied Western Italian territory and the Western Galle Island (if any), to protect the vitality of the Spanish Kingdom as much as possible.

Of course, if this reason cannot convince the Spaniards, the Dutch envoy can also sacrifice the economic stick, that is, threaten the Spanish court with loans. You should know that the Italian bankers who have recovered a lot of vitality by doing business with the East Coast people have been very low-key recently and have tightened their lending to this country (this is naturally not without the influence of the East Coast people). King Carlos can only count on the Dutch bankers. This two-pronged approach, coupled with the real dilemma, Gao Gang also felt that even if the Spaniards were unwilling to accept it, they should not continue to fight again, so peace talks are inevitable.

"Ask peace with the Kingdom of France is the right choice, but what I want to say is that your country should not be involved in this war. This is too unwise, Your Majesty." Gao Gang felt that he had the obligation to emphasize the disadvantages of "war" to the Spaniards, so as not to be confused and use cannon fodder for others in the future.

"The ambitions of the Kingdom of France must be curbed. They are not only interested in the territory of Spain, but also ambitions for the throne, which is intolerable." This time, Don Juan did not speak, and King Carlos said in a higher voice. His speech was very unclear, and what he said was a bit difficult to understand, but Gao Gang still barely understood part of it.

Of course, he could not refute the statement of King Carlos, so he could only remain silent. Indeed, the Spanish's logic was very clear. If you, the French, wanted to extort some money, cut some land or get some commercial privileges, the Spanish were reluctant, but they were not unavailable. Unfortunately, you are still interested in other people's throne, which is a life of the Habsburg dynasty. No wonder Spain is obviously not strong, but they will not be absent every time they have the chance to confront the French. This is the reason!

Therefore, after understanding some details of peace talks, Gao Gang decisively changed the topic and moved the focus to the focus of this trip, namely the construction of the Yanbu Railway and the East Coast people operating various industries in the Pampa Plain. There is no doubt that Gao Gang raised this matter again, which made the Spanish more embarrassed, but it had to be raised, because the East Coast people felt very hungry about the land.

"The construction of the Yanbu Railway is very important for improving the security situation of the Pampa Plain. You must know that the frequent occurrence of horse bandits there has seriously affected the maintenance of many towns. The generals told me that if we do not take decisive measures, these horse bandits may threaten the existence of Buenos Aires, the Pampa Pearl." Gao Gang said without changing his face and his heart was beating, and he said: "The Chinese government has no ambitions for the Pampa Plain. What we ask for is nothing more than legal operating rights in the local area. For this reason, our pioneers are willing to pay a certain amount of land use fees and taxes to Your Majesty. And I believe that their existence will have a positive impact on the more prominent public security issues in the Pampa Plain. I firmly believe that this is true."

What should be faced still have to face! Now Gao Gang has found a door to force the Spaniards to express his opinion. King Carlos and Prince Don Juan have to give a positive explanation, that is, whether to meet the requirements of the East Coast people, and what consequences will be if they are not satisfied?

To describe these issues, the Spanish court and the Privy Council had already discussed it before. The nobles and scholars present at that time agreed that if King Carlos could not satisfy the East Coast people on the land, then perhaps as they said, the city of Buenos Aires would encounter a more severe "public security problem". The Buenos Aires Procuratorial Court District could withstand this threat, which should not be very optimistic, because the East Coast people were so crazy that they even dispatched their troops. How could this not make people feel scared!

But if you agree too quickly, it won’t work! Because neither King Carlos nor Prince Don Juan can be sure how big the appetite of the East Coast people is, and where is their bottom line! It is very simple to meet the requirements of the East Coast people with a big pen, but what if they are interested in the land west of the so-called Salt-Brail Railway in the future? What should I do then? Will continue to sell or cede the land? That would be ugly!

Therefore, King Carlos hopes to add a restriction clause in negotiations with the East Coast envoy, that is, to stipulate that East Coast people cannot get involved in the land west of the Yanbu Railway for a certain period of time. This period can be set longer. For example, for fifty years, Hidalgo in Spain always feels that the land in the Buenos Aires trial court area will be lost sooner or later, so they should try to delay the process. Otherwise, once the East Coast people obtain many territories including Pampa, Chaco, and Paraguay, the key Chalkas trial court area (Pottosy Silver Mountain is located here) can be completely exposed to the eyes of the East Coast people, which is too dangerous.
Chapter completed!