On November 12, 1687, the Republic of Geno*Asia on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea welcomed a distinguished guest, that is, Sheng Dehong, the ambassador of the East Coast Republic of China to Madrid.

Sheng Dehong is in his forties this year, and it is the prime of life in the Spring and Autumn Period. Born in the intelligence system, he is full of energy and has made a lot of contributions to the State Intelligence Administration, and now he is a cadre at the deputy bureau level, and his future is favored by many people. His transfer to Spain to serve as ambassador to Madrid this time was an important step in his career, and as long as he did not make any major mistakes during his work in Europe and did some work that was acceptable to his superiors, he could be promoted to deputy director of general in a few years' time, and he could not but be envied by the fact that he would become one of the most powerful people in the intelligence system.

Some people may ask, why was he, Sheng Dehong, an intelligence chief, transferred to the diplomatic system and also served as the ambassador of such an important country as Spain? Well, in fact, Sheng's identity as an ambassador is just a cover-up, and it is convenient for him to go in and out of various occasions to spy and collect intelligence. Basically, he didn't have to do much of the essential work of a diplomat, so he naturally had assistants to help, and his real job was to reorganize and maintain the East Coast's intelligence network in Europe—a network of embassies, trading posts, and agents (periphery)—and make it work as it should, serving the interests of the East Coast Republic of China.

In other words, when Sheng Dehong came to Europe, he was still engaged in the old profession of intelligence. He will take over the work of the former chief intelligence officer, who unfortunately died of illness, straighten out the intelligence front, improve work efficiency, and be responsible to Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe, to provide a basis for his decision-making.

No, it had only been more than three months since he arrived in Spain to take office, and he arrived at the eastern Spanish port of Barcelona by land, and took a ship to the Republic of Geno, which is across the sea. Before leaving by boat, he stayed in Barcelona for a few days, both to listen to the report of the director of the Barcelona Merchant, and to wait for the ship to be repaired, which was a galleys ordered in Geno*a, which ran short distances between Italy and Catalonia on weekdays, delivering news to the merchants, and also trafficking goods to subsidize various expenses.

Barcelona has been a little quieter in recent years. Although in the past ten years, King Louis XIV of France, in the name of the Count of Barcelona, has been secretly sending officials to spy on intelligence and incite riots, but they have all been resolved by the central government in Madrid. Especially later, with the support of the East Coast, Madrid mobilized three infantry regiments into Catalonia, relieved the local nobles of military power, and exiled some of them to the wild Texas General District, enriching the local wealth and population, which made the whole Catalonia a little silent for a while, and no one messed up anymore.

Because of the close relationship between the East and the West, the people of the East Coast are in Barcelona, an important commercial and handicraft city - do not doubt that Catalonia was one of the few remaining handicrafts in Spain when the Castile region was still raising sheep and horses, which can well explain why in later generations this region was still a relatively wealthy part of the Kingdom of Spain - it was easier to move, basically no one cared about it, and they could do whatever they wanted, so they learned a lot of information. Some of them can, strictly speaking, be detrimental to the sovereignty of Spain.

However, the people on the east coast had no territorial ambitions for the Kingdom of Spain, let alone a deep hatred, so they only kept records of these news, and sometimes even secretly revealed the Madrid court through some tortuous channels, so that they could prepare in advance. In short, the people on the east coast basically have only commercial interests in the local area, and have no political or military interests, so the responsible reporting of the trading station is mainly in this regard.

"The merchants of Gena, Tuscany, Lucca, Milan and other places have a greater influence here. These Italians opened banks, shops and workshops here, and were a force to be reckoned with in the local economy. It is fair to say that these Italian merchants were very shrewd and capable, they were generally well educated, able to endure hardships, good at camping, and at the same time fought in army groups with the ties of large families, so they were very successful in business and made a lot of profits. We have cooperated with them a lot, such as importing cheese, wine, leather, furniture, sculptures, paintings, dresses, gold and silverware from the Italians, and selling them to the interior of Spain, and the profits are not bad. The head of the trading station stood in front of Sheng Dehong and replied earnestly: "However, the Italians lack a strong backer in politics, and they are treated differently in the whole of Catalonia. Extortion by local nobles and officials was common, and heavy taxes were a matter of course, with the exception of Genoa merchants of a certain state status. Compared to them, some of the so-called harassments that our businessmen have suffered in Barcelona are really nothing. ”

"If you have money but don't have enough force to protect yourself, you will naturally be bullied." Sheng Dehong casually flipped through the documents and materials archived by the merchant station, and said, "Do you think that the Republic of Gena * Ya is very strong? They may have some influence here because they lent money to the Spanish crown, but what is their ridiculous influence in front of the French? They don't know anything about real power! The prosperity of the factory manufacturing industry, the prosperity of commerce, the courage and skill of the army, and the stability and efficiency of the system are the source of a country's strength. The Republic of Geno*, with a population of less than 600,000, and only a small and cramped land on the Mediterranean coast, surrounded by either the sea or mountains, can be seen as far as the eye can see. To put it mildly, the French covet this small but rich country, but they don't really have much interest in us on the east coast. There are many better places in the world than Genoa or even Northern Italy. ”

In other words, the French are coveted by Italy, and everyone can see it! If their expansion in Franche-Comté and Lorraine was aimed at pushing their territory to the Rhine and coveting the outside of Germany, then their ambitions for expansion in the Southern Netherlands and northern Italy were purely based on the enormous wealth of the region. These two regions, which have been very prosperous in commerce, finance and handicrafts since the Middle Ages, are not inferior in navigation, and produce amazing wealth, and have always been the objects of coveting by various forces.

In the case of the Republic of Geno, do you think that the last time the French sent a fleet from Montpellier to intercept their ships at sea was a whim? Not really! The so-called construction of four warships for Spain is nothing more than a pretext, and the reason why the French want to relate to Rina is not because they want to annex this country, which has a very developed financial and commercial industry, to replenish their somewhat empty treasury! In particular, the Genoians have followed the East Coast with all these years, and the business has been done in the Americas and Africa, and the profits they have made are so amazing that the city has already had the honorary title of "City of Wealth", which their arch-rival Venice once wore on its head, so it is not surprising that it is remembered to want to take it.

In the last case, if it had not been for the toughness of the people on the east coast, he would have been bombarded by the French fleet as in history, and then the consul was forced to go to Paris in humiliation, with all the power of groveling, and with a large sum of money in the process. The French have always been very concerned about these regions, which offer a great deal of wealth. Otherwise, why do you think he wants to seize Casal Castle, a strategic location with access to the Duchy of Milan? It's not ready for a military invasion in the future!

Now in northern Italy, the Austrians are staring at it, and the French are staring, so to speak, it is surrounded by wolves, and it is extremely dangerous. The kingdom of Spain, which had dominated the region, had been declining in power in recent decades, and it seemed that a war was coming, and if it was not possible, it would become a battlefield. The local Italians actually know this well, so they have begun to look for backers to hug their thighs over the years to ensure their status.

The Genoians have always had close ties with the East Coast, investing heavily in the East Coast mainland and in the colonies of New China Island, and their governments have been working with the baton of the East Coasters for many years to help the East Coast Republic expand its commercial interests in the Mediterranean. For example, when they went to the Crimean Khanate to develop trade and import agricultural products, for example, this time they raised funds and loans to the Ottomans on the east coast (the St. George Comptoir alone cost 10 million bank lira, which is very amazing), for example, they introduced the east coast to the upper echelons of the Moroccan court, etc., with a very good attitude and a great contribution.

Therefore, for such high-quality allies, the East Coasters have always paid great attention to protection. The last time the French Navy's Eastern Fleet was in trouble, the people on the east coast organized merchant ships to resolutely transport supplies to Geno*a, and in fact broke their blockade. At the same time, the ambassador to Paris, Lin Dingzhi, also urgently asked for a meeting with King Louis XIV of France, reiterating to him the "special relationship" between the East Bank and the Republic of Geno*, and hoped that the Kingdom of France would think twice and not make any more unfriendly actions against this "peaceful country". Although Louis XIV was conceited, he did not want to offend the people on the east coast at this time, fearing that overseas interests would be damaged, and he was even more afraid of losing a channel for purchasing goods (especially the cheap and good goods on the east coast), so he temporarily pinched his nose and endured it, and restored the previous state of peace with Geno*a, and the maritime trade between the two countries was also re-embargoed.

After this experience, the Geno*s realized the influence of the Republic of the East Bank in the court of Paris, and they became obedient to the East Bank. They even suggested that some warships could be stationed in their ports on the east coast, and that Geno*a, with its strong shipbuilding capacity and well-developed port facilities, could provide the east coast fleet with first-class logistics support for them to exert influence in the western Mediterranean. Although this did not work out in the end, it can also be seen from this that the country (and possibly some nearby towns) was really frightened by the French, and had already fully exported its sincerity to the east coast, after all, even the matter of garrisons was raised, what else could be said?

One of the important tasks of Sheng Dehong's departure from Barcelona to Genoa is to make clear to the country's business and political circles that the East Coast Republic of China and the Republic of Genoa are traditional allies, and the East Coast will not sit idly by and watch the sovereignty of Genoa be violated. In the event of aggression by a hostile state, the Republic of the East Coast does not rule out the option of joining the war and fighting alongside Gena*a.

To be honest, when it comes to this, it's not much different from an independent guarantee. Even if the French were to be conceited of their own strength and covet the wealth of Genoa, they would have to weigh it up, and at the risk of losing their colonies in the Caribbean and North America, at the risk of the trade routes between India and China being cut off, at the risk of losing their trading partners in the event of a war with Britain and the Netherlands, would it be worth going to war with such a country with considerable naval strength on the east coast? Will the wealth gained make up for the loss of the above-mentioned benefits? There are too many enemies, but this is not what an ambitious country like France, which aspires to use natural barriers as its borders, is not to do. Perhaps they could reconsider a tougher policy towards northern Italy when they annexed the lowlands and invaded the Rhine, but definitely not now! The French are not stupid!

Sheng Dehong finally set foot on the land of Genoa at the end of November, and immediately came into contact with the upper class, including consuls, business tycoons, and political celebrities. During these many meetings, Shengdehong repeatedly reaffirmed the traditional friendship and special relations between the two countries, and openly and covertly cheered up those who were anxious about French expansion, and convinced them that if Geno* was invaded by external forces, the East Coast Republic of China would help them to fight together.

If Sheng's words had been believed by too many people in the past, they would have taken them as polite words, but now that he had just experienced a crisis and was rescued by the people of the East Coast, his words were very credible. In these meetings, both the politicians in the ruling council and the business bigwigs such as the St. George Chamber of Commerce and the Doria family all expressed their gratitude and joy. Especially when Sheng Dehong told them the latest news that the 150,000-strong army of the Russian Empire had been defeated at the foot of Azov, and that the people on the eastern coast could slowly draw their energies back to the western Mediterranean, which was now the only task left to contact the Oirat Mongols and establish a state along the Don and the North Caucasus, the Italians were even more excited.

Their security seems to have gone deeper!