Mo San has been living in Spain for a long time, but compared to the situation where he was either running around or grinding with people before, his life now is really much more comfortable. He often travels between Valladolid and Zaragoza, and sometimes visits the Basque Country to see the economic and social environment in various parts of Spain.

The Spaniards did not prohibit him from moving around the country, and the only requirement was that if the king needed to negotiate with him, he must be present at the meeting as much as possible. The Spaniards were now increasingly desperate for a peace agreement, as their army had just suffered a humiliating defeat on the battlefields of the South Netherlands. The French army easily routed the South Netherlands legion that the Spaniards had managed to rebuild at the Battle of Lens, and then marched wildly, capturing many rich towns and extending the border of northeastern France much further.

Mo San, who has been paying attention to the situation in Europe, immediately realized that the last fig leaf of the Spaniards had also been torn off, and now this declining old empire was red-eyed and making its final struggle like a trapped beast. Encouraged by this news, the independence movements in Catalonia, Naples, Sicily and other places further increased, and the Spanish ruling order there fell into an unprecedented crisis.

You know, the South Netherlands, Naples, Sicily and part of the Rhine region have a population of nearly three million, and they are all very rich. If these regions become independent, what will Spain mix with? Not to mention Catalonia, which has a population of hundreds of thousands, and if it were also independent, then the Spaniards would have to defend narrow territories such as Castile. and the more than three million impoverished shepherds.

It was at this time. Proud Spaniards will bow their noble heads. A relatively pragmatic view of the ongoing peace negotiations between the East Bank Republic of China and the Kingdom of Spain is viewed. It was also at this time that they suddenly discovered that in the war with the people on the east coast, why had they not suffered a series of shameful defeats? They used to think that these were small and inconsequential setbacks, but in the incomparably weak state of the Spanish kingdom, these wounds have become festering, enlarged, and life-threatening.

The war must be ended as much as possible! This is the unanimous view of the Spanish government and the opposition. The French, having won a decisive victory, are now deep into the South Netherlands, and Antwerp, Dunkirk, Bruges, Luxembourg and other places may all be away from the great Catholic king; And that's not all. The French also began to turn their attention to the south, and they began to mobilize the army of southern France, and Louis XIV, who was also the Count of Barcelona, began to show naked territorial ambitions for Catalonia, Naples, Sicily, etc., under the guidance of Prime Minister Mazarin, who was at the height of his prestige.

The Kingdom of Spain has never been so close to the destruction of its country, and the iron-blooded nation that rose to prominence in the war to expel the Muslims has enjoyed its wealth for far too long, and they have lost the blood and aggressiveness of their ancestors, which has caused a series of humiliations. Losing to the French Spaniards is barely acceptable, who will let the other side have a lot of land and great war potential? The problem is that the Spaniards are now in a predicament that even the little "poor country" of the New World cannot deal with. Every time I think of this, Balboa and Fernando, who are in charge of negotiating with the East Coasters, have an urge to stop the peace negotiations and fight the East Coasters to the end. But that's just a fantasy in their minds. Now that the Kingdom of Spain is in ruins, the core territories of Europe are at risk of being dismembered and destroyed. Which is more important. They can still weigh it up.

Therefore, in August, Mo San, who was negotiating trade affairs with the Doria family in Zaragoza, was urgently recalled, and Balboa and Fernando, who were in charge of negotiations in Spain, were waiting for him with solemn expressions.

"Is your country willing to send an elite navy to join the Catholic king's side and fight the evil kingdom of France?" The Spaniard's first words surprised Mo San. In the Catholic world, France has never been heard of colluding with infidels or even openly forming alliances, but it has never been heard of Spain doing the same. You know, the king of Spain used to give the impression of being extremely pious, extremely cruel to heretics and heretics, and neither the Moors of North Africa nor the Ottomans of the Balkans had ever hoped to form some kind of alliance with the Spaniards. There was not even much commercial contact between the two sides, which is related to the fact that the Spaniards were not good at farming and doing business, but it also explained a lot from the side.

But now the problem arises: the Spaniards actually asked the east coast to send a navy to help fight the war with France, which is an unprecedented thing, and it seems that the Spanish king was really frightened by the aggressive attitude of France, and began to rush to the hospital. They may have also approached the British and the Dutch, but the Dutch must have rejected them, because they were connected to the French land, and they did not dare to offend the land powers, but secretly there might be some financial assistance.

It's hard to say to the British, Mo San thinks that the British have a good reason to intervene in this war, although they only have more than 20 professional warships now, and the tonnage is not very large, but after all, it is a big trouble, it depends on how the French operate. If some interests are ceded, it may not be impossible to persuade the British to remain neutral or even to side with the French, and the-for-tat attitude displayed by the British at present is not so much hostile to the French as a kind of natural-stirring instinct of the island nation. All in all, the position of the British is not unchangeable, and everything depends on the operation.

Comparatively speaking, the East Coast people who are not very deeply involved in the interests of the Old World are a good help. Now that the whole of Western Europe knew how powerful their warships were, how unrivalled their maneuverability were, and how well trained their officers and men were, such a small but elite navy could not be found in all of Europe. If they had planned well, they might have been able to take advantage of the negligence of the French and inflict a heavy blow on their modest navy - at least to seize sea supremacy in the Bay of Biscay for a while, so that the Spaniards would have taken the initiative.

Mo San quickly figured out this section, but the matter was too big for him to call the shots, so he could only say that he would write their opinions into letters and send them back to China - of course, this would first require Spain to send a fast ship to the east coast of the New World, but it would be at least seven or eight months before he got a reply.

After hearing Mo San's reply, Balboa and Fernando looked at each other very tacitly, and then put forward a new condition to Mo San: that is, whether the people on the east coast could supply a batch of weapons (including muskets, spears, Spanish standard bayonets, leather armor, steel armor, artillery, and military kettles, leather boots, hemostatic bandages, field cans and other odd and miscellaneous materials at a favorable price in a short time.

The Spaniards, who had lost not only a large number of soldiers but also a larger number of weapons and war materiel in their previous successive defeats, were now stepping up their purchases from the British and the Dutch, while at the same time asking the people from the East Coast. As we all know, the ability of the East Coasters to organize the supply of goods is quite strong -- because their production capacity is quite strong, and the weapon parts and components are very versatile, and most of them are interchangeable, which greatly reduces the cost and speed of repair, and in addition, the quality is also quite good, and they are definitely the first choice for bulk purchases. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Spaniards hit the idea on this.

However, there is a "small" problem now, and that is that Spain has no money to pay its bills. Of course, as a veteran diplomat and senior commercial salesman, Mo San had already helped the Spaniards make up no less than five "payment methods" at this time. After some thought, he decisively rejected the first and proposed the last.

"Your envoy does not mention that I also know that your country's current financial situation is not good, so if you need to get this batch of military funds, your country still needs to choose a more appropriate payment method. This can be cash, of course, or something else, such as land, minerals, etc., and the government will give a fair valuation for this. Mo San rubbed his chin with his right hand, and said with a look that was a little arrogant in Balboa's eyes—perhaps he was too sensitive—"Your envoy should not expect to pay war reparations now—well, this account is to be paid out of the land purchase fee, not to mention that the use of every riyar in that account has been arranged in advance, and whether or not the government approves it or not, is it a matter of between." I suppose that this purchase of arms, well, probably five hundred thousand dollars, should be listed separately, and as to the payment terms, I will grant your country the right to open up some mines, ports, or forests and lakes to the east coast, because it seems to me that it is easiest to obtain the approval of our government. ”

"Mines, ports, or forest lakes?" Balboa looked at Mo San with a puzzled gaze and asked, and Mo San seemed to hear a tremor in his voice.

"Exactly." Mo San nodded, then opened his hands and gestured, "For example, open the right to harvest forests on Tierra del Fuego, the right to graze and build roads in the southern part of the Patagonian wilderness, and...... Limited tenure in the Galapagos Islands. ”

"Galapagos Islands?" Balboa's face turned pale, and Fernando, who was standing beside him, also looked rather unsightly after hearing this. This matter is also too big for them, because this place is so sensitive that they have no right to make decisions! (To be continued......)