On March 16, 1679, after a short wait in Madrid, Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy of the East Coast Republic of China to Europe, finally received news from the court: King Carlos was about to receive him. At this time, Gao Wengang was writing a report on his work to the mainland, a report on the current situation in Spain.

“…… The number of Spanish ships sailing the Old and New Continents before they were owned by Spain decreased by more than 75 per cent in the 80 years of the world. Spain's once-thriving shipbuilding industry, which has shrunk this year due to economic collapse, high inflation and a lack of local timber that has led to low competitiveness, has gradually shifted the construction of large warships to the Havana shipyards in the Caribbean. Correspondingly, the shipbuilding industry of the United Provinces, although in decline from its peak, is still unsurpassed in terms of size; England relied on the booming domestic steel industry, machine processing industry, textile industry, and the gradual rise of the East trade (trade with Russia and the Baltic region), which led to the rapid rise of the shipbuilding industry, whether it is London, Portsmouth, Norwich or Bristol, there are considerable shipbuilding industries, especially London; The development of shipbuilding in the Kingdom of France was the product of national policy and the will of the monarch, but it was undeniable that it developed rapidly, and the survey of 'heavy ships' organized by Colbert and the naval shipbuilding program of Louis XIV injected a strong impetus into the country's shipbuilding industry, making its development speed unique in the whole of Europe. ”

“…… Córdoba, Valencia, Seville and other places were once famous for their large handicrafts, but for more than a hundred years they have declined to the point of almost non-existence. Strong inflation, a 14% sales tax, and various taxes imposed by God's servants dealt a severe blow to Spain's handicraft industry, which weakened the country's industry to the extreme, and the market became a paradise for foreign goods. The road conditions are extremely poor, and the transportation is almost in the primitive stage, not to mention compared with our country, which has built a large-scale railway and national highway system, and compared with England and France, it is very inferior. These disadvantages in transportation further exacerbated the crisis of the Spanish industry, that is, their inhabitants could have all kinds of foreign goods, even grain, at a very cheap price on the coast or at the treaty ports - of course, this was when they still had money in their pockets, and in the last two years, the Spaniards had no choice but to spin their own wool and weave cloth, instead of simply exporting wool as a raw material, as in the past. ”

“…… The general low standard of living of the people forced countless Spaniards to abandon their homes, pastures, shops, workshops, and eventually even the country, and began to look abroad for opportunities. They are not to blame, because they have struggled to maintain a certain standard of living and have had to choose to emigrate overseas, a considerable number of them to France, and many to New Spain or Peru. Because of this wave of immigration, the population of Spain in the Old World has been growing sluggishly, and the large cities of Seville, Toledo, Burges, Barcelona, Valencia, Naples, Milan, Bruges, Antwerp, and Lorraine have lost a lot of people in recent decades, and the population of Madrid, the capital of Spain, has decreased from 400,000 to 200,000, and the country seems to be terminally ill. ”

“…… While poverty was rampant, Spain's upper nobility and court were constantly looting and squandering their wealth. For a long time, the aristocracy had enriched themselves by exploiting the natives of the New World or importing New World products, or by making business investments in cooperation with foreign merchants. There is no doubt that, despite the relative poverty of the government and the people of the country, these high-ranking hidalgos were very wealthy, and they often fought with each other for gold, jewels, and works of art, and their dwellings were rich and luxurious, and they were in and out of voluminous places, and they came and went in groups of servants, in contrast to the lives of ordinary burghers, merchants, and even the lower class nobles. The Duke of Elva, for example, had 7,200 gold and silver vessels and 9,600 silver objects; Prince Stigrano used gold and coral to make his wife's chair, which was too heavy to use, but they didn't care. Ah, by the way, the Church is getting richer in the midst of abject poverty, and it tends to get richer and richer, for not only do the common poor seek solace in their misery, but even the merchants and nobles donate their possessions to the Church in large proportions before they die. The fact that the Church had huge sums of money in its hands and did not invest in reproduction, but only blindly acquired land, pastures, and sometimes went around the bend to break the papal ban to make private loans, also seems to be a major cause of the economic difficulties of the Kingdom of Spain. ”

As he wrote this, the secretary came over and told him that King Carlos had agreed to receive him, and Gawain sighed lightly, and when the ink on the paper had dried, he carefully withdrew it in his briefcase, intending to continue writing when he returned.

King Carlos's half-brother, Prince Don Juan José, sent a team of richly dressed cavalrymen to meet them and escort them all the way to a newly built palace on the west bank of the river, where they awaited the king's summons.

Gao Wengang took the opportunity to take a large number of copies of the palace and found that all the materials were valuable. The bricks should be good quality strip bricks imported from the Netherlands, the stones may be good bluestone imported from Portugal, and the wood may have come from the Baltic Sea, although it is more likely from the Caribbean. The interior of the palace is very elegantly decorated, famous paintings, sculptures and other works of art are displayed in an orderly manner, the floor and walls are all top-quality blankets imported from the Ottoman Empire, plus some gold and silver utensils, coral jewelry set off, the whole palace looks magnificent, extravagant, and this is just a reception palace, I really don't know what the other palaces are like.

Moreover, on the way here, Gao Wengang also found that there was still a large palace next to him, so he suddenly had a very strong confusion now, does this Spanish kingdom still have money? The people's lives are hard to become like that, the government is in debt, and this royal family is still building and spending money, is this really good?

In the end, Gao Wengang could only reluctantly accept the reality that the Spanish aristocracy and royal family were rich, while the people and the government had no money. And at this time, he also remembered that the largest part of the income of the famous Potosí Mint was the Habsburg royal family, and the income attributable to the state was actually far less than that, which may explain the predicament of the Spanish kingdom from another angle.

In the end, he was met by two men, King Carlos and Prince Don Juan, who had just staged a palace coup last year to oust the regent Queen Mother Anna and send him to confinement in a convent, while he became the de facto most powerful man in Madrid, both in the Privy Council and in the military.

"We will soon start peace talks with the Kingdom of France." As soon as he sat down, Gao Wengang, who was still organizing the wording, immediately heard King Carlos's earth-shattering words.

Later, Prince Don Juan, who was standing next to the king, explained softly. It turned out that the special envoy of the United Province, who had lived with Gao Wengang in the State Guesthouse, had also come to persuade the Spaniards to negotiate peace as soon as possible, and it seemed that it should have been instructed by the government and parliament, and the Spaniards seemed to be less resistant to the French peace talks under his persuasion.

Gao Wengang didn't know what they were talking about, but if he thought about it carefully, it was nothing more than a threat to Gali Temptation. The situation was now quite unpleasant, given that the French had won great victories on both the eastern and northern fronts, and that they had gained considerable superiority in Italy, and that the local aristocracy had even become independent with the help of the French. It is estimated that the Dutch envoy promised King Carlos to help them keep the rich South Netherlands, cede Franche Comté and Lorraine (who did not have much interest in Lorraine Carlos anyway) to the French, and at the same time demand that the French withdraw from the occupied Spanish Italian territories and Spanish Caribbean islands (if any) to preserve the vitality of the Kingdom of Spain as much as possible.

Of course, if this reason could not convince the Spaniards, the Dutch envoy could also use the economic stick to threaten the Spanish court with loans. Considering that the Italian bankers, who had recovered a lot by doing business with the Easterners, had recently been very low-key and tightened their lending to the country (and of course there was no Easterner influence in this), King Carlos could only count on the Dutch bankers. Such a two-pronged approach, coupled with the practical predicament, Gao Wengang also felt that even if the Spaniards were unwilling, they should not fight anymore, so peace talks were inevitable.

"Making peace with the Kingdom of France is the right choice, but I want to say that your country should never have been involved in this great war in the first place, and that would be unwise, Your Majesty." Gawain just felt obliged to stress to the Spaniards the disadvantages of "belligerence" again, so as not to be used as cannon fodder for others in the future.

"The ambitions of the Kingdom of France must be curbed. They were not only interested in the Spanish land, but also had ambitions for the throne, which could not be tolerated. This time Don Juan didn't speak, and King Carlos raised his voice. His speech was very inarticulate, and what he said was a little difficult to understand, but Gao Wengang still barely understood part of it.

Of course, he could not refute this statement of King Carlos, and could only remain silent. Indeed, the logic of the Spaniards is very clear, if you French want to extort some money, some land, or some commercial privileges, the Spaniards are reluctant, but it is not impossible to talk about it. It's a pity that you are still interested in other people's thrones, this is the life of the Habsburgs, no wonder Spain is obviously weak, but every time there is an opportunity to scare the French, they will not be absent, and this is the reason!

Therefore, after learning some more details of the peace talks, Gao Wengang decisively changed the topic and shifted the focus to the focus of the trip, that is, the construction of the Yanbu Railway and the operation of various industries by the people on the east coast on the Pampa Plain. There is no doubt that Gao Wengang raised this matter again, which was more embarrassing to the Spaniards, but it had to be brought up, because the people on the east coast had a strong hunger for land.

"The construction of the Yanbu Railway is crucial to improving the security situation in the Pampa Plain. You must know that the frequent occurrence of horse bandits there has seriously affected the maintenance of many towns. The generals told me that if no drastic measures were taken, the bandits would most likely threaten the existence of Buenos Aires, the Pearl of Pampa. Gao Wengang's face did not change color and his heart did not beat, and he only listened to him: "Our government has no ambition for the Pampa Plain, what we ask for is nothing more than the legal right to operate in the local area, and for this reason, our pioneer operators are also willing to pay a certain amount of land use fees and taxes to Your Majesty." Moreover, I believe that their existence will have a relatively positive impact on the more prominent law and order problems in the Pampa Plain, and I am convinced of this. ”

What should be faced is still to be faced! Now that Gawain has come to the door to force the Spaniards to take a stand, King Carlos and Prince Don Juan have indeed had to give a positive explanation, that is, whether to meet the demands of the people on the east coast, and if not, what will be the consequences?

In fact, these issues had already been discussed by the Spanish court and the Privy Council. At that time, the nobles and scholars present agreed that if King Carlos could not satisfy the people of the East Coast on the land, then perhaps as they said, the city of Buenos Aires would encounter a more serious "law and order problem", and the Buenos Aires Prosecutor's Court District could withstand this threat, which should not be very optimistic, because the people of the East Coast had been so mad that even the army was dispatched, how could this not make people feel frightened!

But if you say yes too quickly, you can't do it! Because neither King Carlos nor Prince Don Juan can be sure of how big the appetite of the people on the east coast is, and where their bottom line is! It is easy to satisfy the demands of the people on the east coast with a stroke of the pen now, but what if in the future they become interested in the land west of the so-called salt cloth railway? What to do then? Continue to sell or cede land? I'm afraid it's ugly!

Therefore, King Carlos wanted to include in the negotiations with the envoy of the East Coast a restriction that the people of the East Bank would not be able to touch the land west of the Yanbu Railway for a certain period of time. This period can be set for a longer period of time, such as fifty years, and the Hidalgos in Spain always feel that sooner or later the land in the Buenos Aires Prosecutorial Court District will be completely lost, so they should try to delay the process as much as possible. Otherwise, it would be too dangerous for the East Coasters to gain territory including Pampa, Chaco and Paraguay, and then the crucial Chalcas Inquisition Court District (where the Silver Mountain of Potosí is located) would be completely exposed to the noses of the East Coasters.