On March 1, 1703, Sheng Dehong, the plenipotentiary of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, appeared in Gibraltar. Almost at the same time as him, the negotiator of the Kingdom of Spain, Earl Gimenes. The East and West sides will hold a "candid dialogue" on the Gibraltar crisis to end the deadlock as soon as possible.

"According to the news revealed by Mr. Ramstein, the financial and business world, like the vast majority of people in the country, hope to end the war as soon as possible. Only some court figures, military generals and religious leaders insist on fighting. Philip V is hesitant. He longs for honor, but he does not believe that the war will end with the victory of Spain." In Sheng Dehong's temporary office, the secretary and intelligence adjutant was reporting to him: "Madrid is currently in a state of dysfunction, and overall there are more voices of peace. Especially some former noble regents who have ulterior motives, they are deeply afraid that the brilliant victory of the Spanish army will increase Philip V's prestige and weaken their power, so they have been moving privately and demanding that the war be ended as soon as possible."

"I heard that some people in Spain suggested mobilizing heavy fortress cannons to make Gibraltar the burial place of our army and navy. Who are they? Can they affect the final decision? I need a definite news." Sheng Dehong picked up a cup of fragrant milk tea and asked while drinking it.

"The main ones are hardliners and religious people. They think that the failure of the early offensive was very unfortunate, but if the war does not end with victory, the domestic situation in Spain may tend to deteriorate, which is even more unfortunate for them. Therefore, these people think that it is not appropriate to negotiate peace at present and should continue to fight, even if it is a year or two, and it can be dragged until we can't stand it and end it with a decent peace agreement, and they can declare victory internally." The secretary replied: "But I can confirm that they will not have decisive influence. The Baltic International Bank has already said hello, and the Deutsche Bank community has cut the loan amount to the Kingdom of Spain, and they will eventually be unsustainable."

"The establishment of the Baltic International Bank now seems to be a great move. The place with the most abundant capital in the continent is the Netherlands, but they are deeply involved in war and are short of funds; secondly, England, they are also deeply involved in war, and domestic industrial development is extremely eager for capital, and they are absorbing Dutch capital on a large scale; thirdly, Germany and Italian capital, which we can profoundly influence. After cutting off the Spanish's money, they will fight a bad war!" Sheng Dehong said confidently.

In fact, it is not impossible to fight without money. You see, the French don’t have much money, but they have certain industrial production capacity and good agriculture. At critical moments, they can use administrative means to uniformly allocate domestic resources and use them in a coordinated manner to reduce the import of foreign goods as much as possible, which can save a lot of money. But the Spanish do not apply this trick of the French because their industrial and agricultural foundations are too poor! It seems that the gold and silver mines that dominate the Americas are now not a good thing! One is that a large amount of gold and silver flows into the country,

This has caused terrifying inflation, and handicraftsmen have gone bankrupt and have completely de-industrialized. The second is that with gold and silver, they can import them casually and buy everywhere. The Spanish have become accustomed to spending money like soil, and they no longer have the ambition to engage in hard industrial and agricultural production. Perhaps the hard time in the past 20 or 30 years has restored them a little industrial and agricultural foundation, but it is still far from enough. More than 80% of daily necessities and industrial products in the country need to be imported, so they really can't survive without money!

"Continue to strengthen the ties with the Baltic International Bank and minimize the flow of German funds over Spain. In addition, the Portuguese should say hello. Don't they have historical territorial disputes with Spain? You can make a fuss at this time and make the king of Madrid who is already overwhelmed by the heavy burden of breathing more nervous." After putting down the milk tea in his hand, Sheng Dehong stood up and said, "The Spanish are really ridiculous. If you want to deal with them, military means are not even necessary. We can provide any way they want to die. Trade blockade, financial sanctions, military strikes, separatist forces, haha, we have many gifts to prepare, so you can enjoy it."

"By the way, we spent more than a month in Gibraltar, and the Northern Italian Federation has achieved sufficient benefits. How can we not express it?" Sheng Dehong said finally: "There is no free lunch in the world! Let them prepare the checks quickly. We have spent so much money to make up some."

In a quiet country house ten kilometers away, Count Jimenes, the chief negotiator of Spain, was also talking to people at this time.

"Sending a fleet to Gibraltar Bay can only lead to death." Earl Gimenes said bluntly: "How powerful are the iron-armored warships of the East Coast people? I think they may not have a clear understanding of them. Do you see the shells fired by the warship? Our warships cannot even get close to them, and they will be sent into the sea. Isn't this a death?"

Baron Enrique was a little silent. In fact, he was a little confident before coming, because he heard that the East Coast army had only a thousand people, and they had more than 20,000 troops, and the pile of people could even pile up the other party to death. But the problem lies in this "pile of people". They could not effectively utilize the number of people, and finally formed the current situation, which was helpless.

After his friend Morales died, soldiers like Earl Enrique became a little more awake. After losing 6,000 people, even the most fanatical soldiers would become more rational. The soldiers had no intention of fighting and would be lazy. The battle really had to be over.

"But the French asked us to continue to persist and attract the energy of the East Coast and Northern Italy. At present, their troops have entered the hinterland of Germany. Although they have been strongly blocked by the German princes, an elite group of more than 50,000 people still broke through the defense line and tried to march into Austria. At this time, they did not want any accidents. We are fighting against Spain and Northern Italy, which is not a bad thing for them." Earl Enrique said.

Jimenes looked at him after hearing this. As a palace noble, he often went to and from the central key areas, he knew that although Earl Enrique believed that the Bourbon family would inherit the Spanish throne better than the Habsburgs, he himself had no good feelings for France. Especially Spain was passively involved in the Continental War, which greatly consumed the country's wealth and the lives of the people, which made him very upset.

Of course, Count Enrique had no good feelings for the Austrian Habsburg, because it would inevitably make Spain a colony for Austria to exploit wealth and soldiers, and to help Leopold's expansion. In short, since Spain became the "vampire" of the Habsburg Dynasty, it was really unlucky, and its national destiny fell to the bottom.

The most ideal thing for the Spanish Kingdom is to be a native noble as the king, just like the Braganza dynasty in Portugal. He was born in the country and his interests were in the country, and he always valued the interests of Spain more than the Habsburg or the Bourbon family who came from. But this matter can only be thought about in his heart, and he cannot even say it to the outside world. Blood inheritance is iron law, the blood of the royal family is noble, and the monarchy is granted by God, either Habsburg or Bourbon, and there is no third choice.

"But Spain has opened too many fronts now. The Rhine, the Southern Netherlands, Northern Italy, and Gibraltar will be overwhelmed if the national strength continues for a long time. The easiest thing to end here is the war with the East Coast people. Earl, the war is in the Iberian Peninsula, and over time, it will affect the interests of everyone. The warships of the East Coast Navy currently have only the scope of activities of the Strait of Gibraltar, but no one can guarantee that they will not go anywhere else. I think the nobles with a sense of responsibility and honor should unite to reach a consensus and end the war as soon as possible." Earl Gimenes said.

To be honest, Earl Gimenes hated the East Coast people very much, thinking that this is a dangerous imperialist country, with greed and strong desire for control. Recently, some shameless people in Madrid have no private connection with the East Coast people, and even argued in publicly published newspapers that some areas of Gibraltar occupied by the East Coast people were poor, barren, drought, without any minerals, and not rich in fishery resources, and very low value. This deepened his disgust for the East Coast people. What are these shameless people doing? The implication is that it is not painful to throw these lands to the East Coast people? It is simply ridiculous!

However, no matter how disgusted it in his heart, from the perspective of reality and rationality, Earl Jimenes had to admit that it was the right way to quickly end the endless war of attrition with the East Coast people and spend energy to deal with other crises. He had learned through some channels that foreign bankers who originally planned to provide loans to the Kingdom of Spain had cut their quotas or simply did not provide loans. He did not know what role the East Coast people played in it, but it would definitely have an impact!

So, let this nightmare end soon!

"Does the king have any advice?" He dared not answer some topics, so after a long silence, Count Enrique asked about something else. As the commander-in-chief of the war, he had to admit that the fight was not beautiful enough, and it could even be said to be bad. This may affect his future, so he was a little worried.

"His Majesty the King's teaching is: 'Everything follows God's guidance.'" Earl Gimenes said in a calm tone.

Earl Enrique had nothing to say. No one knew what God's guidance was! The king's words were completely shirking responsibility. Baron Enrique had friends in Madrid and had some news. It is said that His Majesty Philip V had "slept for nightmares" and was "very tired" these days. He often went to the church to "pray" and even "cryed" in front of his mistress.

Earl Enrique scoffed at this. Who is His Majesty the King doing a show for? He did not give clear instructions to the chief negotiator, nor did he express his attitude at the State Council. He often "has nightmares", was in poor health, and missed many key meetings. This meaning is actually very obvious: he is unwilling to take responsibility before the motherland and God, and admit his faults and crimes. He needs a culprit to help him sign an armistice agreement with the East Coast people. After all, he has not long been king and is still an outsider, and he really cannot withstand the blow of cede land and compensation.

Count Enrique had made up his mind that he would never sign the armistice agreement. Because Spain is not the winner of this agreement, he did not want to leave his mark on this document that undermined Spain's decentness.

Thinking of this, he glanced at Earl Gimenes, who was sitting opposite him, and thought that this person might be in trouble. In the past, Spain signed peace agreements with the East Coast, and most of the cedes were irrelevant New World land, but this also caused many people to bear huge infamous reputation and even ruined their political careers. Now the land on the Iberian Peninsula was ceded, and it was forced to hand it over to pagans. Whoever signed this word could immediately put it on the bed and go home.

"Peacemaking is a must, otherwise we will suffer greater suffering." Before Count Enrique could speak, Jimenes talked again: "Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief, I will take on all responsibilities. Of course I know what this means, but belief and responsibility guide me to do so, because it is good for Spain. In fact, I am also very distressed in my heart. On the one hand, reason and conscience tell me that if we sign an agreement with the East Coast people tomorrow, it will be an extremely happy day; on the other hand, the inner voice reminds me that if fate does not allow me to sign an agreement, I will be happier, otherwise others will push all this on me, but there is no way..."

Looking at Jimenes, who was somewhat depressed, Earl Enrique was in awe: "Any gentleman with a conscience and educated will understand your painstaking efforts and remember your sacrifices. The current situation is so difficult that no one should take the blame."

Earl of Gimenes shook his head with a wry smile, and was about to say something else. A young secretary walked in and said in his ear: "Latest news, the troops led by General Caritillo were defeated in the territory of the Duchy of Milan, with more than 6,000 people killed and injured, and were captured by more than 15,000 prisoners. The rest were ambushed by the Sixth Mixed Regiment of the East Coast Army on the way to withdraw, with most of the casualties. General Castillo was also injured, and he fled back to Turin with only more than 7,000 people. In addition, the two ironclad ships of the East Coast people had just pulled their anchor and headed towards Cadiz, with unknown purpose."
Chapter completed!