September 6, 1697, Port Ceuta, sunny.

The Port of Ceuta is not large, with an area of ​​less than 20 square kilometers. It is located on the south side of the Strait of Gibraltar and on the Mediterranean. More than two centuries ago, the Portuguese occupied this place and maintained its rule for more than two hundred years. At that time, the Port of Ceuta was not only a trade port to the land of North Africa, but also a berth of the Portuguese Navy. Their warships set off here to fight against the Green Cultist pirates who plundered Catholic people to show their piety to the Lord.

During the merger of Spain and Portugal in this century, the Port of Ceuta was controlled by the Spaniards. At the beginning, the Spaniards actually had ambitions, intending to rely on the two strongholds of Gibraltar and Ceuta to firmly control the shallow strait entering and leaving the Mediterranean, one in the south and one in the north. Unfortunately, ideals were full, reality was skinny, Spain's state affairs were getting worse and worse, and it was impossible to make good use of these two so-called Mediterranean portals, England, the Netherlands, the East Coast, and any one in France kicked it down, and could knock the Spanish so-called portals over. This is because they are not strong enough, and no matter how good the geographical location is, it will be useless!

Until now, although Port Ceuta is still nominally in the hands of the Spanish, the East Coast people who live here for many years have even exceeded one-third of the total population. Moreover, their economic strength is very strong and their mother country has a strong background. Therefore, they have basically turned against Ceuta and have gained the upper hand, making the Spaniards here very depressed.

However, the people on the east coast are not very satisfied with this port, for no reason, it is too small! The land of more than ten square kilometers is only the Portuguese's stingy virtue. Think about it carefully, Ceuta, Mozambique, Mombasa, Diu Island, Macau, hello, he is all pitiful and frustrating! But the Portuguese are quite happy, and they like such a small town, without any expansion at all, which is really helpless.

Not to mention anything else in Port Ceuta, if you open the door to do business, there are not many places to build hotels, hotels, brothels and other government facilities, let alone necessary factories, military camps and warehousing and logistics facilities. If Port Ceuta wants to achieve greater development, it is best to expand its depth, such as going deeper into the inland area for ten kilometers or twenty kilometers. Several East Coast merchants have discussed this before. They used their respective influences to storm the municipal council and then reported to the Spanish mainland, and the result was naturally like a mud cow entering the sea, without any more.

In fact, this is understandable. The Kingdom of Spain is like a person who is ill for a long time. His body is extremely deficient and his condition may continue to deteriorate. At this time, it is natural that he is not as good as calm as he moves. It is necessary to maintain his body and survive. Not to mention, Morocco is not an object that can be bullied at will. They also have considerable strength. How much strength does Spain need to invest to achieve its goal? Is it still alive?

So, Port Ceuta is still so narrow and cramped that even the hotel room in which Cai Zhenguo, the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, is pitifully small, but it looks like twenty or thirty square meters, which makes people feel very unhappy. Cai Zhenguo has been pampering for many years and is slightly dissatisfied with this, but he is not a person who cannot bear the hardship. He can tolerate such a poor environment on the ship, let alone this tidy and clean hotel?

The day after Cai Zhenguo arrived at the Port of Ceuta, he secretly met with several businessmen serving the navy and listened to some of their opinions. In fact, the navy attached great importance to the Port of Ceuta, because it could almost pinch the throat of the Strait of Gibraltar, so that anyone entering and leaving the Mediterranean must move in the circle designated by the East Coast people, and it is not beyond the limit. But they also felt that this port was too small, and it was small to be a pure military base. You should know that this was not the era of high-end and sophisticated weapons in later generations. This would be a large military base with tens of thousands of soldiers, workers and their families. Not to mention being a dual-purpose port for military and civilians.

Cai Zhenguo could hear the navy's meaning and knew that they wanted to expand the area of ​​the Port of Ceuta. But firstly, this place is still Spain's territory, and because it is very close to the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish have strong control; secondly, the navy's warships cannot drive ashore. If Morocco wants to nod to agree to this matter, it will probably have to use the army, which makes the navy very worried, and thinks that the army will probably stand by or speak loudly, which is not easy to deal with.

However, the Navy really likes this port. In the end, they might give up their face and ask the Executive Committee to persuade the Army to help them open up a larger hinterland for the Port of Ceuta. Now that the East Coast is sailing, the Navy is glorious and has countless benefits. They have bargaining chips to exchange with the bitter army. To put it bluntly, it is just a loss of face, but compared with the major interests of the Port of Ceuta, face is a goal!

Cai Zhenguo knew what the navy meant. He wanted to use the power of their diplomatic departments to help speak and finally achieve the goal of making the Moroccans surrender. Of course, Cai Zhenguo was not disgusted with this. The navy has always been "aware of the generalities" and naturally he would have to help them. For this reason, he had actually contacted the Portuguese before. Lisbon agreed to send troops, and coupled with a mixed group of East Coast Army and some Italian soldiers, achieving the goal is not a long way to go.

Of course, the benefits of getting the Portuguese and Italians to send troops are naturally indispensable. It is easy to say that it is enough for the Italians to offer some of their commercial interests and support their expansion in the Apennine Peninsula. As for the Portuguese, the East Coast people promised that they could seize part of the Spanish territory adjacent to them after the war, especially some lands that had disputes in history, which they could swallow them all, and the East Coast people made the decision, no problem! However, the Portuguese seemed a little hesitant, and they valued overseas interests more. To put it bluntly

Yes, I prefer money rather than the little bit of land in front of me. In fact, this is easy to understand. Portugal has a small territory. Even if it swallows up a little Spanish land on the border, how big can it be? And this may also plant eternal disasters between Spain and Portugal. If Spain's national strength recovers in the future and there are any talented and stubborn figures, how much blood will Portugal plan to shed to defend such land? Therefore, they are still very hesitant, and Cai Zhenguo also understands it very much and does not urge them to figure it out before answering.

Cai Zhenguo also saw a lot of British people in the Port of Ceuta. These people are all here to do business, but it is hard to say whether there are spies in the middle. But it doesn't matter. Cai Zhenguo knew exactly what the British were doing, and it was just to win over the powerful combat power of the East Coast and stand with them. But according to the local meaning, the East Coast people are likely to not stand with the British, and of course they will not stand with the French. In fact, they would not be directly at the beginning.

Participating in the war will only inspire the Italians to take action on the Apennines, expel Spanish forces and control more territory. Then, they will officially come to an end and declare war directly on Spain. No matter which side Spain stands on, it is likely that France will be on, because most of the nobles in Spain tend toward France, and because of the strong combat power of the French army, they will stare at Spain and beat them up, seize their own interests, and then select allies and establish a new order.

The British government had previously tested the attitudes of the East Coast people through informal channels. However, Cai Zhenguo did not give a clear answer, which made the British a little worried. It is also funny to say that England, which is the most industrialized in Europe, is the most afraid of the East Coast, because the more they develop industry, the deeper they depend on the East Coast. Now the biggest import of England from the East Coast is machinery and equipment and parts, followed by industrial raw materials or semi-finished products, is the kind of stupid thing like Spain. Although they have been beaten up many times by the East Coast, they are still not very sober and may suffer a big loss next.

The British now want to figure out the attitude of the East Coast people. They are very clear about the strength of the East Coast. Even if the cross-hemisphere combat will greatly weaken the strength of the East Coast people and make them unable to exert their ten successes, it still makes people feel scared. England is really worried that they have bet the wrong treasure. Think about it, when they happily formed an alliance with Austria, the Netherlands, and fought Spain, they suddenly found that the East Coast people joined the Spanish camp, wouldn't that be stupid? But the British cannot drag and express their opinions like the East Coast. After all, they are in the European situation and cannot get rid of them, so they want to figure out the attitude of the East Coast people. Unfortunately, Cai Zhenguo is real and has never told the truth.

Cai Zhenguo finally stayed in Port Ceuta for about a week. During this period, he also visited a newly built Taoist temple here and a primary school serving the children of East Coast merchants. He also talked with business representatives, as if he was the owner of Port Ceuta and had no concerns about the Spanish.

On September 14, Cai Zhenguo left Ceuta by boat and returned to the port of Cadiz, which is close to the corner. Here, a doctor sent to Madrid on the east coast was about to return home. When he saw Cai Zhenguo, he reported on King Carlos's condition. The general meaning was that this person could survive for a while, but he was indeed terminally ill and not far from death. Considering that he had no children and his two relatives were not good at robbing, a fierce war was inevitable. He solemnly reminded the East Coast Navy and Army that could be prepared to be dispatched, but should be kept low and carried out in batches, so as not to make too much noise and mess up major events.

Cai Zhenguo admired this doctor with a very political vision, but he didn't say much. The East Coast Navy and Army has begun to raise enough vacancies and complete the equipment. At the latest, the first batch of naval transport ships will carry materials out of the port in the second half of next year. This is a war that determines the destiny of the country for a century, so there is no need to say much.
Chapter completed!