Sheng Dehong ended up staying in the Republic of Geno*Asia for about half a month.

Genoa celebrities have said they will consider investing more in the east coast to enhance the friendship between the two countries. The east coast provides refuge for Gena*ya, and Geno*ya naturally has to reciprocate, isn't that how the so-called reciprocity should be? They have decided that the East Coast is now vigorously developing the Pampa Plain and infiltrating the Chaco, which is where they come in.

At the same time, they expect that these investments will give them a good return in the future. Investing in a fast-growing economy with unlimited potential on the East Coast is something that this country with extremely strong capital has been doing. This time, they just want to increase their efforts and invest more manpower and material resources in the past, and they won't lose anyway, right?

Sheng Dehong was very appreciative of the knowledge and knowledge of the Genas. Together with the Venetians, they had previously lent money to the East Coasters, making Gawain's long-planned decision to take the lead in the Ottoman Empire's monetary reform come true, and their contribution was very large. This time, they pledged to increase investment in the mainland and overseas colonies on the East Coast (initially agreed to increase investment in Huaiyuan Island and Mobile Port by clearing land for plantations), and it was not in vain that the East Coasters gave them a guarantee of national independence.

On December 16, 1687, after taking care of some of the trading post business, he left the beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast and sailed to Ceuta, an outpost of the Spanish kingdom in North Africa, where he finally arrived before the end of the month.

Ceuta was originally a city ruled by the Portuguese, and was once one of the last glories of the Atlantic-facing kingdom in North Africa (the kings died here, and the result was only a few pitiful enclaves), but it was ceded to Spain in the sixties when it signed an independence treaty with them, so the five-arched crown flag was lowered, the Spanish cross flag was raised, and King Carlos II became the new owner of Ceuta, and it has been almost twenty years now.

Truth be told, the Spanish governance of the port of Ceuta for the past twenty years has been largely undisciplined. Apart from a few Spanish fishermen who settled in Ceuta, there was no other influx of people, and occasionally a few good pirates or bankrupt merchants came to live in seclusion, but the numbers were too small and disproportionate. The vast majority of the population is still descended from the Portuguese conquistadors and the Green Cultists who originally lived here – mostly Berbers.

In recent years, due to the rapid development of trade with Morocco, some merchants from the East Coast have also come to live here with the approval of the Kingdom of Spain, and the total number of people is about 200, including sales, finance, logistics, warehousing, maintenance, security and other talents. Most of these people are privately employed, in contrast to the commercial workers of the state-owned enterprises (South Sea Transport Company) in the southern Cape Verde Islands.

In the first half of last year (1686), with the approval of the mainland, Gao Wengang, the plenipotentiary envoy to Europe on the east coast, ordered the opening of a state-owned trading station in the port of Ceuta, which was mainly engaged in the sales of bulk commodities such as steel bars, hardware products, silk fabrics, etc., and also imported horses, grain, dried fruits, spices, dyes, cheese, seafood and other goods from the nearby Berbers.

And it is such a small business station that only earns tens of thousands of yuan a year, but it is currently crowded with more than 50 state workers of all kinds. Among them, there are business personnel, diplomatic personnel, intelligence personnel, and some military talents, who work together and work together to support this large business station.

Sheng Dehong was a little surprised when he came to the staff of the merchant station, especially the intelligence officers under his direct control, who were all in a worried mood, afraid that they would find out something wrong and reprimand. But fortunately, Sheng Dehong didn't do what they thought, he just routinely asked about their work in the past year, and then didn't comment much, and then brought the topic to the importance of this business station.

Sheng Dehong pointed out that the port of Ceuta is a choke point between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean, and its geographical location is extremely important. The Spaniards had such a difficult time and built forts and barracks here, which shows that everyone knows the importance of the port of Ceuta. In view of the friendly relations between the Republic of China and the Kingdom of Spain, the people of the East Coast were free to live and do business in the port of Ceuta, and at the same time to perform their own religious ceremonies, and their lives were not restricted. Therefore, with such good conditions, the people of the East Coast must not give up, but must do everything possible to expand their influence in the city, penetrate into all aspects of life, and prepare for any future changes in the Kingdom of Spain.

In a cryptic tone, he even reminded the intelligence officers that the powerful East Coast Navy was interested in the Spanish enclave in North Africa and wanted to secure a berthing there. At present, their main base of activities is still a little far from the Mediterranean Sea in the eastern Cape Verde Islands, and the nearby continent is mostly a barren arid zone, without much trouble. Therefore, the Navy was desperate for a place closer to the Mediterranean – preferably closer to both Spain and Italy – in order to intervene in the immediate vicinity.

Considering that the fleet into European countries is more sensitive, and it is easy to cause unnecessary disputes, which will affect commercial interests, the navy still wants to use the port of Ceuta as a base for them to dock and repair ships, but I don't know what the Kingdom of Spain thinks.

But that's okay, the East Coasters can afford to wait! The Kingdom of Spain is located in a disputed part of the European continent, and there is also the Kingdom of France, which has hundreds of thousands of troops and an equally large fleet, and the probability of being drawn into various conflicts is not low. The people of the East Coast did not even have to do anything to obtain a series of privileges in the port of Ceuta from the scorched Spanish crown, including sovereignty - as long as the people on the East Coast could withstand the pressure and give the Spanish Kingdom the right price, then nothing was impossible.

Several intelligence officers at the Ceuta Merchant Station had vague speculations since the first day they were stationed here. This time, Sheng Dehong directly explained to them, which undoubtedly confirmed their conjecture, so they were all very excited, and at the same time a little emotional: once upon a time, people on the east coast did not have a fixed foothold to do business in Europe, and they could only consider themselves unlucky when they were robbed by pirates - especially those flute-shaped transport ships with only sail power, which had been captured by pirates for decades - and now after they entered the Kingdom of Portugal, they were trying to establish a supply and maintenance base in such a key choke point as Ceuta. This influence on the Mediterranean is really powerful, and in the future, we can do a lot of "big things" with this as the core to seek greater benefits for the East Coast Republic of China.

After chatting with the intelligence staff of the Ceuta Commercial Station about the next work arrangements, Sheng Dehong hurriedly left the port of Ceuta by boat and arrived at the port of Cádiz, where the envoy of the plenipotentiary to Europe on the east coast was located. At this time, the envoy was still in Ottoman Turkey and had not yet returned, but some news from the Black Sea had already been transmitted through a quick liaison ship on standby. As the supreme intelligence officer in Europe, Sheng Dehong has the right to look through all intelligence documents, even the highest level of secrecy.

Among all this information, the news about the war situation between Croatia and Russia naturally attracted his attention the most. Sheng Dehong sorted out this information and learned that the Black Sea detachment led by Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun had successfully arrived in the lower reaches of the Volga River without a major battle, and met the herdsmen of the Oirat's Mongolian Dulbert Division here.

The chieftains of the Dulbert Department did not plan to take the people from the east coast to Ayuqi Khan at first, but after Mao Jun bribed them heavily (all of them were the things of the nobles and merchants of Mao Zi who had been robbed along the way), they reluctantly agreed to the request of the people on the east coast, but only allowed Mao Jun to bring dozens of horsemen to go, and Mao Jun agreed to this request and happily went.

Ayuqi Khan finally found time to meet Mao Jun and his party. The two sides discussed behind closed doors for a long time, but there were not many constructive results. Although Ayuchi Khan is more far-sighted, admitting that the pressure given to them by the Russian Empire has increased over the years, and they only have more than 70,000 accounts, and their strength is somewhat weak, but they have been nomadic in the lower reaches of the Volga for more than 100 years, and now they are the fourth generation, and it is difficult to say that they will just leave. Unless you make them feel a very serious security threat, such as when they were nomadic in the Western Regions, they encountered the threat of annexation by the rising Yuros (i.e., Dzungar Mongols), which were also part of the Oirat Mongols, they will hardly have enough motivation to move westward.

Ayuqi Khan was not a well-informed barbarian, and their Turkut tribe had been operating in the Volga region for so long, and they were not ignorant of the situation in the lower reaches of the Don and the Caucasus. He knew that it had been a point of contention between the Russians, the Crimean Tatars and the Turks, and that there would be constant fighting in the future. In addition, there are some vulgar barbarians living in the area—yes, yes, the Turgots, who are fairly civilized, also despise those barbarians—and they will have to quarrel over land, pastures, and water sources, and cause trouble for themselves.

Therefore, Ayuqi Khan believed that unless they were offered a "condition that could not be refused", they would not easily nomadize to the lower reaches of the Don River and the North Caucasus. As for what is the "condition that cannot be refused", hehe, Ayuqi Khan, an old and cunning guy, also gave Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun a rough explanation, which is nothing more than a large amount of money, materials and weapons aid, as well as security guarantees, land gifts, etc. By the way, they did not guarantee that they would not return to their lair in the lower Volga, depending on the situation it was up to Ayuchi Khan himself.

Lieutenant Colonel Mao Jun could not make a decision on this, so he could only report it in writing, and Gao Wengang and the local executive committee made a decision. But in any case, their breakthrough was not without gain, at least they found out the specific location of those Mongols, and at the same time learned that Ayuqi Khan was not an ignorant person, and he was very clear about the real threat to Russia, so it would be easy to do! As long as the price of the two sides is negotiated in the future, it cannot be ruled out that the Don River and the North Caucasus will usher in a new chapter.