"Dear Uncle Christian, I can't describe how I feel at this moment. In this filthy and dreary port of Tatar, I felt like I was about to suffocate. It is full of warlike demons and ignorant infidels, and the light of the Lord is greatly obscured here, so that I do not want to flee from this place that binds the freedom of my soul, but my duty does not allow me to do so. "Inside the Port Oriental State Guesthouse, Raul from Lima. Baron Bravo was also sitting at his desk, writing a letter with a sad face.

"With regard to the colonial rivalry between the kingdom and the people of the East Bank in the area east of the Uruguay River, which you asked me about last time, and after compiling and gathering information for some time, I think I can now give a positive answer to your question. Facts may always hurt one's self-esteem, but the honesty of my heart and the brilliance of God make me refuse to lie, and I must solemnly answer to you: we have lost in this colonial competition, and we have lost completely! ”

"In general, it is our own lack of attention or slackness that we have completely lost control of the situation in the area east of the Uruguay River. In the 12 years since we established our first military post east of the Uruguay River in 1634, no official from Asunción has visited the hills west of the lake, and only one official from Asunción has visited the steppes on the east coast for a short time - if hunting is considered an alternative 'visit'. The geographers and explorers of our kingdom have never attempted to survey this vast and fertile land, and it is ridiculous that much of the information of the authorities of La Plata about these areas is nothing more than a copy of the short, incomplete travelogues of the people of the East Coast published in a journal called National Geographic. ”

"It was not until 1639 that a scholar in the Viceroyalty of Lima gave a cursory description of the situation in the region east of Uruguay. But the scholar, who had never traveled to the East Coast, lightly described it as a wild land of little value. He once described: 'Colonizing the whole of the East Bank did us little good. On the contrary, there are a number of adverse consequences. It's a quagmire. ’； 'The East Coast is a barren land, with nothing but grass and sparse forests, no furs, no minerals, and no slaves, and it cannot be the breadbasket of some people's imagination, especially when our colony of La Plata does not have the economic strength to finance it through the early stages of development. ’； 'The colonization of the East Coast will not only jeopardize our relations with the Republic of China, but also with the Portuguese, who are also interested in the ownership of this land. This is very disadvantageous at a time when we are deeply involved in the war in Europe. It's something we urgently need to avoid. ”

Such an argument is arbitrary, hasty and blind, as the latest evidence suggests that the abundance of the East Coast may surprise many who underestimate its value. Just yesterday there was a clipper coming from Buenos Aires to Port Tatar, and the captain handed me a letter from the General's Palace de la Plata, in which they warned me that there might be a gold mine of great size in the area east of the Taguarumbo River, a tributary of the Negro River. In the letter they use exaggerated rhetoric and bold speculation that the gold mines there are comparable to many of the gold and silver mines in New Spain, and although I have reservations about this, there is no doubt that there is great potential for the kingdom to generate a gold income worth one million pesos a year, and perhaps some additional silver income, which may exceed two million pesos. This was enough for the kingdom to rearm an army of more than 40,000 men and sustain it for a year. The benefits are so huge, what else do the so-called scholars who have lost their eyes say? ”

"Let's just imagine it. An additional Spanish army of forty or fifty thousand men in the South Netherlands, Bohemia, Milan, the Two Sicilies, Catalonia or Roussilon would dramatically change the situation we face on all fronts. Our enemies will be taken by surprise, our allies will rejoice, and we may well win the war. "Raul. "With this money we can also rearm our fleet, build new warships, add new transports, dredge clogged ports, repair broken batteries, and restore our main fleet, which was so badly damaged at the Battle of the Downs," Baron Bravo wrote with fanatical fervor that we could use the money to rearm our fleet, build new ships, add new transports, dredge up silted ports, repair broken batteries, and restore our main fleet, which had been greatly damaged at the Battle of the Downs." At present, the Kingdom of Spain is in dire need of a naval fleet commensurate with its own status, and our native fleet has only a dozen or so professional warships, which is not even comparable to the people of the East Coast of the New World. It's ridiculous, shameful, and it shouldn't have happened! ”

The main force of the Spanish naval fleet has been slow to recover since the destruction of the Dutch a few years earlier (the Mediterranean Fleet was completely destroyed and the Atlantic Fleet was severely damaged), due to the miraculation of war and the long-lasting financial crisis of the government. The current warship strength is barely enough to escort the fleet that goes to the New World twice a year for trading, let alone a war with the Dutch or the British at sea. Their current naval strength is on the same level as the Portuguese, perhaps not as good, and the naval strength of continental countries such as France and Sweden on the European continent is inferior to that of the Spaniards. As a colonial power, this shabby naval strength is indeed unattainable and urgently needs to be rebuilt.

"In addition to our own slackness and lack of awareness, our diplomatic weakness has fueled the ambitions of the people on the east coast, who have intensified their colonization of the region east of the Uruguay River, encroaching on the territories that originally belonged to the Kingdom of Spain and expelling or killing the indigenous people who were dependent on us. In the past five years, the people from the east coast have continued to invade the hilly areas of Huxi, and although we have also sent personnel to negotiate, the final result of the negotiations has always ended in the victory of the people from the east coast. They were surprised by our concessions, which they saw as the result of military deterrence, which further fueled their barbaric perception that diplomacy is backed by force. ”

"But sometimes we have to admit that the people of the east coast have an absolute military advantage over us in the area of La Plata. Many of the bombastic Lima officials failed to correctly recognize this, believing that in the event of war, the Spanish and eastern armies would be evenly matched. But I have to say that this is a completely wrong perception. The people of the East Coast have established their country by force, and the whole country is filled with an air of disgusting fanaticism from top to bottom, and when they came into conflict with us more than ten years ago, they did not hesitate to go to war with us; When they had a major commercial dispute with the British East India Company, they went to war again; When their relations with the Dutch were at a low point, the whole country almost declared war on the Dutch; Now that their relationship with La Plata is gradually going to ruin, will the war be far away? ”

"The other day, some fanatical and arrogant East Coast soldiers tried to attack me and my retinue in the bazaar, but fortunately one of the East Coast Army lieutenants who was guarding me succeeded in persuading them to leave after talking to them. In fact, not only that, but in the many well-documented border clashes in recent years, all of them reflect the belligerent spirit of the people on the east coast. According to public information, they have 12 infantry companies, 6 cavalry companies and 3 artillery companies, a full 4,000 well-trained standing army, and all of them are equipped with modern weapons and equipment, which is not a strength that the Rio Plata infantry regiment or the militia, the volunteer army and other armed forces can compete with. You have asked me whether the people of the East Coast have made up their minds to wage war with us head-on, and I have not been able to answer your question in the affirmative. But having lived in the capital of the people of the East Coast for a year, and having come to know their way of behaving, the details of society, and public opinion, I am now incredibly sure that the people of the East Bank will eventually go to war with us in La Plata! ”

"I have made this judgment on the one hand on the basis of the public opinion of the people on the East Coast - they are a group of people who have not tasted the bitter fruits of defeat in the war, and almost all of them unanimously agree to go to war with us, and for this reason there are even young people who organize military donations in the streets, and many ordinary civilians even donate to it, and they seem to desire that the war will bring them a richer life; On the other hand, according to the past few decades of history, the East Coasters seem to be more accustomed to resorting to the use of force in disputes - the naked barbarian style. They never spit out meat that has already been eaten in their mouths, and just over a month ago, they set up an agency called the Northwest Reclamation Authority, which began openly recruiting residents from various towns to colonize the Taquarumbo gold mining area. Prior to the establishment of this Reclamation Bureau, it was an indisputable fact that the people of the East Coast had moved tens of thousands of inhabitants to the west of their territory for colonization and settlement, and had often clashed with missionary groups such as the Jesuits and Franciscans, and even with a few of our military posts. They have never backed down in this regard, and now the establishment of this reclamation bureau seems to have exacerbated the crisis in this regard, and they will not back down any longer. ”

"So now I am extremely sure that unless the Kingdom of Spain makes heavy concessions here, war will be inevitable. But can we really care about the Taquarumbo gold mine? Can we really turn a blind eye to the wanton massacre of Catholics by the East Coast? The kingdom's territory is constantly being encroached upon, can we really retreat step by step? Can gentlemen, including the royal family, be indifferent to the plummeting commercial gains in the New World? If we still want to pick ourselves up, then we have to do everything we can to strengthen the military forces of La Plata, because war is really not too far away! ”

After writing this last paragraph, Baron Bravo was still overwhelmed with emotion. After calming his mind a little, he put the letter close to his body and put on his coat. After doing this, he seemed to be the conceited, irascible nobleman again, and he would soon take his servants to the docks, where there was a merchant ship from Spain, the captain of which was his old acquaintance. He wanted the captain to help him bring the letter back to Spain and give it to his uncle, Christian of the House of the West Indies, in the hope that it would help improve the situation in La Plata, and that the kingdom would prepare for a war that seemed increasingly inevitable. (To be continued......)