Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1015

And just when Li Renjun was "talking" with Cornelis, who came to represent the West India Company, in the administrative building of the Executive Committee in the northern capital, at the National People's Congress held at the end of last year, he was honorably elected as the Qiang Quansheng, chairman of the third executive committee of the East Coast Republic of China, is discussing the next diplomatic work with his most valued comrade in arms, Xu Xin, who is in charge of trade and foreign affairs.

Xu Xin was actually about to retire, but since Mo San, who was most likely to take over his position, would not be able to get out of Europe for a while, he could only hold on for a while until Mo San, who had finished handling the affairs at hand, returned to the mainland Besides.At that time, Qiang Quansheng will propose to convene a general meeting temporarily, and Mo San will be selected as a new member of the Central Committee, and Xu Xin, the retired veteran, will probably go to the newly established Jiaohe District as a commissioner to preside over the restart Jiaohe Basin Development Plan to play the remaining heat.

However, before resigning, Xu Xin has to continue to complete his work—especially in this extremely sensitive time period, how to maximize the interests of the East Coast Republic in the next period of time will be a test for him. What about human intelligence and ability?

"The relationship between Britain and Spain has only been good for a few years. Since last year, a lot of information shows that the relationship between the two countries has deteriorated again. There are many problems, such as the fishery disputes in Iceland and Spitsbergen Islands, For example, the disputes between the two countries on religious affairs, such as the friction between the two countries in the American colonies, and the disagreement between the two regimes, etc." Xu Xin flipped through the letters in his hand—all were sent from Europe by Mo San Back——and the analysis of some National Intelligence Agency, said: "Don't tell me, the United Kingdom has really been a sweet pastry in the past few years. The Spaniards wooed the United Kingdom in order to regain the lost land occupied by France, and France wanted to prevent Britain, The Western Alliance has also begun to form good relations with the United Kingdom, especially because they have spent a lot of money to achieve this goal, which has made the attitude of the United Kingdom to the French in the past two years, which is very anxious for the Spaniards."

Xu Xin's words are not false. In fact, since the end of the 30-year war, the Spaniards have been trying to tie up with the United Kingdom, but the income is limited. Ren decisively indifferent to the relationship with the Spaniards, quickly moved closer to France.Spaniards, in danger of being isolated in Europe!

"What does the Spaniard's special envoy, Baron Raul Bravo, mean? Recently, he frequently asked to visit me. What exactly does he want to do? Get benefits from us?" I am not very familiar with the affairs yet, so it is inevitable to ask Xu Xin.

Fortunately, Xu Xin is also an old diplomat, so he immediately replied to Qiang Quansheng: "Almost. The Spanish and the French have been fighting so far. It can be said that they are exhausted. If there is no external help, they will probably lose to France in the end." After all, the difference in national strength between the two countries is too great. France has more than 2000 million people, and its industry and commerce are relatively developed; It’s only about 400 million), and the industry and commerce are extremely shrinking. If it weren’t for the civil strife in France, this would not be a contest of magnitude. You know, the Spaniard’s finances are very difficult now, and they may find it difficult to persevere.”

"So what exactly are the Spaniards asking for? They're at war with England, they're at war with France and Portugal, they're indifferent to the Dutch, and their Austrian relatives can't help them. Damn, how do the Spaniards do diplomacy? Yes, how did they get to this point? Cough, well, let’s get to the point, what do they want? They actually set their minds on our former enemy country. The Spaniards are quite courageous, but I don’t know if they will do it or not. Get ready to bleed." Qiang Quansheng lit a pipe for himself, and started puffing——Virginia premium shredded tobacco, still with the old formula, still has a familiar taste.

"What they are asking for is very simple, that is a large amount of aid. Of course, this aid is not money, but materials. In fact, the Spaniards no longer need money. What they want is massive materials that can be quickly converted into national power, such as A series of industrial and agricultural commodities such as ammunition, medicine, and food are not what we are good at. Moreover, the amount they proposed is really not low. It is about 2000 million yuan worth of various commodities, and the appetite is not ordinary. "Xu Xin said with a smile.

"2000 million, how many years do we have to produce?" Qiang Quansheng laughed for a while, "Then what are they going to offer in exchange? They want us to work for them for a long time in the future, and we have to take risks. With the risk of offending Britain and France, what conditions are they going to come up with to satisfy us?"

"They definitely can't afford the money." Xu Xin said, "I think what Baron Bravo means is that the only thing they can afford is the land."

"Land?" Qiang Quansheng became interested. He pulled out a hand-painted map of South America and asked with great interest, "Where are they going to sell it?"

"It's not a sale, it's a mortgage. The Spaniards are also very obsessed with land, although they value European territories more." Xu Xin said helplessly: "Baron Bravo told me yesterday afternoon that they plan to transfer the 45 degrees south latitude Mortgage the territory in the south to us, and then borrow 2000 million yuan to support their war with Portugal and France, and at the same time restore the domestic economic order. After all, the Catalan succession war has just ended, and the Spaniards urgently need wealth The return of Aragon to its original state, which obviously cannot be separated from the investment of large sums of money."

It is said that since France officially declared war on Spain in 1635, the powerful Prime Minister Gaspar de Guzman (Duke of Olivarez) asked the Catalonia region to provide soldiers to Castile and supplies, but the Catalans rejected his request time and time again.

For example, in 1637, Spain prepared to deploy 1.5 soldiers here to attack the Languedoc province in southern France, but it ran aground because the Catalans refused to provide 6000 of them.In the following years, Aragon repeatedly refused to provide the supplies and salaries of the Castilian army stationed here, coupled with the poor military discipline of foreign mercenaries (burning, killing and looting in Aragon), the contradictions between the two sides Unprecedented intensification, and eventually led to the 1640 armed uprising.

After they revolted and invited the French army to enter Aragon, the situation changed dramatically. The French army occupied the north, and also burned, killed and looted here. In 1652, the Aragonese who had a large-scale plague broke out in their territory could no longer hold on, so they asked Philip IV for reconciliation and obtained a limited autonomy permit, and then the Catalonia region finally temporarily restored peace.

During this period, from 1647 to 1652, armed riots broke out in Andalusia. Although the riots were suppressed, it is an indisputable fact that the originally rich Andalusian economy tended to collapse.Local chaos, poor harvests, rising bread prices, dissatisfaction among the people, in short, everything is extremely bad.

In addition, in Naples and Sicily, Italy, aristocratic uprisings against Spanish rule also broke out, but were suppressed successively.But there is no doubt that although these riots or uprisings were suppressed in time, the contradictions were not completely resolved, but were only temporarily covered up, and sooner or later they would break out in a more violent way—of course here Before, His Majesty Philip IV could also remedy and eliminate conflicts through various means, but this would definitely require a lot of money and materials.

Let’s not talk about money. Spain has huge expenditures and high debts. In terms of goods, the Dutch used to have them but now they don’t have them, while the people on the east coast have always had them. This is one of the important reasons why they came to Xu Xin.

"Let them go! South of 45 degrees south latitude, they don't have a hair, and the few colonial strongholds have been abandoned for many years. Just want to give a huge sum of 2000 million yuan as collateral for this barren land, to be honest , I don’t think it’s worth it!” Qiang Quansheng immediately laughed when he heard that the Spaniards wanted to use the bad land south of 45 degrees south latitude to exchange 2000 million yuan of supplies, and they thought we were fools?

"Continue to discuss this condition." Qiang Quansheng took a puff of cigarette and instructed Xu Dao: "The Spaniards must have been overwhelmed when they came to us. They are doing so poorly in Europe, and the domestic economy is tending to collapse. West, The two borders in the north are still fighting at the same time, and they are carrying huge debts that seem to never be paid off. They have very little choice. Continue to talk, continue to persecute them, maybe 2000 million can become 1000 million Wan, 45 degrees south latitude can be changed to 40 degrees, it's impossible to say, let's continue talking! We're not in a hurry!"

"Even if they want 2000 million supplies, I'm afraid we can't afford them." Xu Xin said mockingly, "How much is our annual gross product value? The Spaniards ask for 2000 million. Nonsense. Besides, we still have to export a lot of supplies to other regions, and we must not leave all of them to the Spaniards, otherwise this market will not be able to continue. Well, I still have to go back and continue to talk to that old boy Bravo, Try to optimize the conditions and reduce the effort."

"En." Qiang Quansheng nodded, expressing approval.Immediately, he pulled out another document from the drawer, flipped through it briefly, and handed it to Xu Dao: "This is a compilation of reports written by several senior analysts of the National Intelligence Agency, mainly about the period of the Anglo-Dutch War. , the active countermeasures we should adopt in the New World. The scope of the topic is relatively large, and the ideas in it are also unconstrained, but there are also some bright spots, you should take a look first, and then tell me about it after reading it."

(End of this chapter)