"Yes, yes." Pedro hurriedly picked up the words, and some borrowed the slope to get down the donkey road, "Portugal has always been very friendly to the British, and has never wanted to change this harmonious relationship. ”

"Allen is a little young, and he is not quite able to objectively understand the relationship between countries and countries." John restrained his smile and said softly, "I personally believe in Portugal's friendly position, in fact, our two countries still have many common interests, otherwise we would not have invited Mr. to such an informal and important private gathering today." ”

Several modifiers were used in a row to indicate the purpose of today's meeting, and the subtext was to tell Pedro that the two might not admit to having such a party after today.

Obviously, Pedro understood, nodded solemnly and said, "I can't ask for a precious friendship with the two of you." ”

Portugal is also a leader of a dictatorial nature? Ambiguous relations with Italy and Germany? So what?

As we all know, the British Empire has never distinguished between friend and foe by moral standards, and it is the tradition of the British Empire to unite the Dutch against the Spaniards, unite with Germany to balance France, and unite with France to balance Germany.

And Portugal is not strong enough to be valued by the British, just because Salazar is a dictator? Britain will find trouble with Portugal? The old men in London don't have such high moral standards.

So after a short period of trouble, John felt that the atmosphere was almost over, and went straight to the point, expressing his willingness to maintain the current relationship with the Portuguese, especially on the issue of the subcontinent.

"Here in South Asia, we in the UK and Portugal have common interests, and at the end of the day we are European countries. There is not only one colonial empire in the world, the British Empire, more or less, in addition to Germany and Italy, many countries also have many colonies, and what is the position of these colonies in the future! Alan Wilson tilted his head to look at John and nodded, "This is a very important issue, and we hope to maintain the current rapprochement." ”

"The British Empire has always taken a tacit attitude towards Portuguese Goa and has not paid attention to Goa, but if it were replaced by Indian politicians, it would not think so." John shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly, "It is a well-known fact that the Congress party wants the suzerainty of the whole of British India. ”

"Another fact is that Portuguese Goa also seems to have a grassroots Congress party." Alan Wilson smiled bitterly and said, "This is more difficult, in short, in the near future, the Governor's Palace of Goa, Portugal, seems to be facing a lot of problems." ”

"It is a well-known fact that Goa is part of Portugal." Pedro's expression became solemn, and he frowned, "Goa has been a Portuguese territory for nearly five hundred years, and British India didn't know where it was at that time?" ”

Alan Wilson stretched out his hand and shook it, signaling to be calm, and said with regret, "This kind of rhetoric is useful for us gentlemen, but it is of limited use to nationalists, and it is really well known that nationalists are usually unreasonable, they only believe in what is beneficial to them, and they are deaf to objective and neutral facts, and according to my many years of work experience in India, Indian nationalists are especially so." ”

While the two princely state commissioners and the representative of the Portuguese governor were chatting and laughing, the representative of the other princely state also had a good conversation.

For the big princely states on the subcontinent, the promises of the Congress party did not have much appeal. These big princely states will not be attracted by petty profits, no matter how good the Congress Party says, how can the monarchs of these princely states themselves say a good thing?

The situation in the South Asian subcontinent is very similar to the Spring and Autumn Period in China, where the hegemon led the small countries to deal with everyone's problems.

These alliances are usually conducted in private, but it is extremely rare for most of the great princely states to appear this time.

And this time the situation was different again, because representatives of the Portuguese Viceroyalty appeared.

"Actually, I'm a little puzzled, what can Goa do to help the UK?" Pedro was a little puzzled and said, "With the capabilities of the British Empire, it doesn't need our help. ”

"There are some things that we may not be able to do well in the future." Alan Wilson said with a stylized smile, "If Portugal had Goa, things would have been much easier." It's not just for us, it's good for Portugal as well. ”

The glory of Portugal's time of discovery has been completely relegated to history, replaced by backwardness and poverty. Although centuries of overseas trade and colonization brought untold wealth to Portugal, it did not translate into real development. This wealth was concentrated in the hands of the royal family, the nobility and the clergy, similar to that of Spain, another neighboring country that had brought Franco to power after a civil war.

Most of them were used for luxury consumption rather than production, so the real standard of living of the people did not improve much. To make matters worse, the inflow of wealth also led to inflation, making Portuguese products uncompetitive in the European market, causing a severe trade deficit and making Portugal the most backward country in Europe.

The republican regime did not change the situation, Salazar took advantage of the situation to enter the stage of history, and through the dictatorship to carry out difficult reforms, Portugal improved slightly, but remained the most backward country in Europe.

But it depends on who compares, Portugal's backwardness refers to the backwardness in Europe, British India? The level is not as good as Portugal, British India is defined as a dumping ground for British industrial products, the first step is to kill India's traditional textile industry, most of the South Asian market is occupied by the British, but Portugal because of the relationship with Goa, can always get a little benefit.

Portugal now has a vested interest in the subcontinent as well, and that's what Alan Wilson said, Portugal and Britain have a common interest.

It is not a bad thing to think that Portugal will cooperate to some extent in India and the United Kingdom.

"Honestly, do you value the Portuguese? How much can Portugal help us? It wasn't until Pedro went to the representative of the princely states that John asked his own question, and it was clear that he was not as calm as he appeared.

"Portugal is a strongman political country, and we are a British-style democracy, and democracy is discussed and discussed, and it is too late to discuss anything." Alan Wilson pursed his lips and smiled and asked, "Do you think that's the truth?" What if Goa is in our hands, Britain is in the position of the Portuguese, and the Indians attack us? ”