African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 921: Spain does not play by the rules

And Ernst certainly would not say such stupid things to his subordinates as "I am a time traveler, and there will be a conflict between the United States and Spain..."

Ernst said: "We certainly don't intend to offend Spain. After all, I have a good relationship with the Spanish royal family."

The Hechingen royal family had made great efforts before Alfonso XII ascended the throne, so the relations between the two countries have always been friendly. Of course, Alfonso XII has passed away in November 1895, and the current King of Spain is his son, Alfonso XIII. The relationship between the two countries has not changed because of the change of king. Not to mention the connection between the two countries, even the current strength of East Africa is worthy of Spain's attention.

After the South African War, the relationship between East Africa and Spain became even closer. After all, Spain and neighboring Portugal were not on good terms. At that time, Alfonso XII even wrote a special letter to Constantine to express his congratulations.

"So, how do we get Mindanao? This requires your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to play a role," Ernst continued.

"What does your highness mean?" Hermann asked with some confusion.

"We purchased ownership of Mindanao from Spain through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Ernst explained.

This is indeed a solution, but Hermann is not optimistic about it. After all, although there is no precedent for selling land, the most classic one is the Alaska colony purchased by the royal family, but could Spain be the Tsarist Russia at that time? Hermann naturally did not believe that Spain would think of selling its colonies. After all, there was certain news that the Tsarist Russia sold Alaska.

But it’s not a bad idea to give it a try. It’s definitely more reliable than having the National Defense Security Agency’s spies stage a coup on the island.

So Herman asked, "Your Highness, how much will we spend to buy Mindanao?"

In Herman's opinion, whether or not Mindanao can be obtained depends on how much money is spent. If the price is right, not to mention Mindanao, even India will be sold, but no one can afford that price.

In response to Hermann's question, Ernst did not answer it directly, but instead raised two fingers.

"Twenty million? Pounds or dollars? Isn't that too high? After all, such a large piece of land in Alaska only cost a few million dollars. Even if the currency has depreciated now, it's not worth it."

Ernst said: "It's the Rhine guilder, how could it be pounds or dollars? And this is the highest price, it's impossible to exceed this price."

Twenty million Rhine guilders is about three million US dollars. If we look at the twenty million US dollars that the United States paid to Spain in the previous life, this price is indeed more sincere for purchasing Mindanao. After all, East Africa is not purchasing Luzon Island.

Of course, the accounts cannot be calculated in this way. After the Spanish-American War, the United States acquired not only the Philippines, but also colonies such as Cuba, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

Although 20 million may seem like a lot, in fact, Cuba alone costs much more than that. It is just a little "consolation" from the United States to Spain. After all, Spain is a great power. Even if it loses to the United States, a rising star, according to the strength of the United States at that time, it does not want to completely offend Spain.

Using 3 million US dollars to buy Mindanao seemed insincere. After all, Mindanao occupies nearly one-third of the Philippines. And why would Spain accept this price offered by East Africa? Spain was not defeated by East Africa and forced to cede land.

At this time, Hermann was thinking that even if Mindanao had no value, Spain was unlikely to sell its colonies. Of course, Hermann did not say much. After all, the offer of 20 million Rhine guilders was enough sincerity for him, and he could do a lot of things without buying territory.

In fact, Ernst also believed that Spain would not accept the conditions in East Africa. After all, the Philippine colony was very important to Spain, mainly because of its location. The north was the supermarket of the Far East Empire, and the conditions in the Philippines themselves were relatively mature after hundreds of years of development by Spain.

"Okay, your Ministry of Foreign Affairs should contact the Spanish government first. If this can be accomplished, that would be great. If not, we can only resort to other means. Of course, 20 million Rhine guilders is our bottom line. Don't offer it right away. Start bargaining with Spain from a lower price, provided that Spain is willing to sell Mindanao." Ernst made the final decision.

According to Ernst's idea, even if Spain does not sell now, when Spain and the United States fight next year, East Africa can make another offer. At that time, the Spanish will have no say. As for offending the United States by trading during the war, so what! In fact, there was another beneficiary in the Spanish-American War in the previous life, that is Germany. After the war, Germany took the opportunity to purchase the Palau Islands and the Mariana Islands except Guam from Spain.

In fact, before the Spanish-American War, Germany had the idea of ​​purchasing the Philippines and surrounding islands from Spain, but Spain did not agree.

Therefore, Ernst judged that Spain would not agree to East Africa's conditions. After all, even if East Africa made an offer, it could not be higher than that of the wealthy Germany.

……

However, the actual situation is always unexpected. What Ernst and the East African government thought was impossible actually happened.

"What? Spain agreed to our conditions?" Ernst asked Hermann in disbelief.

Hermann was also very excited at this time, but he calmed down and explained the reason to Ernst: "We first expressed our intention to buy Mindanao to the Spanish government, and then this matter attracted the attention of King Alfonso XIII, and they actually agreed. However, we had some disputes with the Spanish government on the price. According to His Highness's request, we initially only quoted 10 million Rhine guilders. Spain thought this price was too low. After some wrangling, the two sides finally set the final price at 17 million Rhine guilders."

Ten million Rhine guilders is equivalent to more than 2.6 million US dollars, which is nearly 400,000 US dollars lower than Ernst's psychological price.

"This shouldn't be the case!" Ernst couldn't believe it. "Why did the Spaniards agree to it?"

Hermann thought the same: "We in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also surprised, but later we got the answer from Count Rawls of Spain."

"What did he say?" Ernst asked curiously.

Hermann: "Mindanao is too barren. If we ask to buy Luzon and other islands like Germany did, Spain will definitely not agree. After all, Luzon is the essence of the Philippines."

"Of course, another important reason is that Mindanao is a hot potato in the eyes of Spain. They have not established effective rule there. The local Moro people are green believers and have been fiercely resisting Spain. Therefore, the Spanish government only has a few fixed bases in Mindanao and has no actual rule there."

As expected, there is no free lunch in the world. In fact, Spain is not optimistic about the prospects of Mindanao, which is why it is willing to sell Mindanao.

Of course, there may be other interfering factors, such as the attitude of Alfonso XIII and the offer from East Africa.

The price offered by East Africa is indeed low, but Spain also has its own considerations. First of all, East Africa is only purchasing Mindanao Island, which does not involve Luzon Island, the core of the Philippines. Otherwise, Germany would be a lesson for Spain.

Secondly, the Spanish government believed that if they did not sell Mindanao to East Africa, would East Africa have no other means? East Africa has also made some achievements in the Pacific region in recent years, such as the Lanfang Overseas Province, the South Ryukyu Islands, the North Hawaiian Kingdom, and Balabac Island, becoming a new player in the Pacific region.

Therefore, the Spanish government believed that there was nothing wrong with selling Mindanao, an island that could not be controlled, could not generate economic value, and was fiercely resisting, to East Africa.

Of course, this also means that the problems encountered by the Spanish government in Mindanao will be transferred to East Africa as Mindanao becomes an East African colony.

(End of this chapter)